Eastern Standard Time: 6:34 a.m.

The clashes in Damaj broke out on Wednesday when Houthi fighters, who control much of the border province of Saada, accused their Salafi rivals of recruiting thousands of foreign fighters to attack them.

The Salafis say the foreigners are students who travel from abroad to study Islamic theology at Dar al-Hadith academy.

Shiite, Sunni Fighters in Yemen Agree to Ceasefire After 100 Killed | World Affairs Journal – 11/5/2013.

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(CNN) — Shootings and explosions killed at least 15 people and wounded 22 others across Iraq on Monday, police said.
The deadliest attack came in Taji, where a car bomb exploded amidst civilian vehicles on a highway, killing four people and wounding six others, Baghdad police said.

Iraq’s violent year shows no signs of slowing – CNN.com – 11/4/2013.

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BEIRUT – Before he became head of an al Qaeda-linked group that is one of the most feared bands of radicals fighting the Syrian regime, he was a teacher of classical Arabic who fought American troops in Iraq and quickly rose through the ranks of the global terrorist network.

Little else is known about Abu Mohammad al-Golani, the man who leads the Nusra Front

Elusive head of al Qaeda-linked group fights Syrian regime from shadows | Fox News – 11/4/2013.

“They are very well-funded, they are well-equipped, they are highly trained, they are highly disciplined and highly motivated, and as a result, although their numbers are still small in comparison to the larger Free Syrian Army, they are the ones that are proving to be the most effective,” Jouejati says. “This is not good news for Syria, for the regional neighborhood or for the world.”

Syria’s Moderate Rebels Fight A Battle On Two Fronts : Parallels : NPR – 11/4/2013, with radio feature (4:05 minutes).

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Bashar Assad brewed an evil bath out of corruption and greed in Syria, but it seems to be Islam and its distribution through zealots that has wrecked the country and compromised and weakened the political legitimacy of the revolution, starving the moderates for arms and western support and leaving the Al Qaeda affiliates, who in effect have become religious anarchists, each defining and pursuing their own agenda within their immediate force structure, flush with sympathetic and private Arab Muslim funding.

Syria’s not really a local (state-level) fight anymore, is it?

Or was it ever?

The sponsors of the proxies may find themselves dragged into the ring after all.

They’re certain to be dragged into the news, either as shadows we know are there, or, one day, by name for the fortunes wagered on the side of medieval theocratic barbarism.

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The Afghan President expressed hope that the death of the Pakistani Taliban leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, would not undermine cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan aimed at achieving a successful peace process.

Afghanistan slams drone strike that killed Pakistani Taliban leader – CNN.com – 11/4/2013.

I happen to believe both Afghanistan’s and Pakistan’s respective administration quite pleased with the U.S. drone program and related defense and civil development economics plus the reduction in potential challenge to their authority.

In increasingly familiar behavior, such “protests” would appear to pander to and placate Islamic sentiment within their constituencies, i.e., they’re cooperating with the United States while making a show about “standing up” to the same.  As the disparity between state military and paramilitary operations and expressed sentiment for the Islamist’s drive for barbaric power increases, expect the tough-to-the-west image and related posturing to disintegrate.

Neither President Karzai nor Prime Minister Sharif would seem able to support or sustain a credible defy-the-west! stance.

What drones — visible to basic air space controlling radar and therefore vulnerable to respective state air defense attacks that don’t take place — have done is grown the Taliban down.  If they appear at peace talks, it will be with the knowledge that their ends may be pure but their ranks and leadership resources have been changed.

From the perspective of evolving language, the duplicity, if it’s there as I suggest, maintains a sad double story: “history is killing you,” says the drone program, while “history is making you greater” says the politician eliciting head-nodding approval.

Pakistan for years secretly endorsed the CIA’s drone program in spite of repeated denouncements of the campaign, according to a new report by The Washington Post based on CIA and Pakistani documents it obtained.

Markings on the papers indicate they were intended to be shared with Pakistan’s government, and in the early years of the campaign, the CIA used Pakistani airstrips, the Post reports.

Report details Pakistan support of drone program – 10/24/2013.

Related: Drone Wars Pakistan: Analysis | The National Security Studies Program – current.

The New America Foundation, publisher of the above web report, compiles data on strikes that it then expresses through charts, maps, and abbreviated reports on a data-by-date basis.

I would think such information not the least new to the regional Taliban-side forces, but the detail imparted may be fresh to casual or orienting readers of war-related news.

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On top of all the human misery inflicted upon the people of Syria by civil war, now comes the polio virus. The disease, which can lead to irreversible paralysis and death and mostly strikes children 5 and younger, can be spread in situations with poor hygiene and sanitation. The World Health Organization has confirmed 10 cases of wild polio virus in samples taken from Deir al-Zour province in northeastern Syria.

This is the scourge of war.

Editorial: Polio becomes yet another threat of war – 11/4/2013 – by Staff, The Washington Post.

The distribution of polio outbreaks exceeds the bounds of Syria — see, for example: Horn of Africa: Polio Outbreak – May 2013 | ReliefWeb – May 2013 — and of course does not offset other scourges of conflict, much including today hunger.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Rana Obaid began her life less than two years ago in a comfortable house draped with roses, the daughter of a grocer locally famous for his rich homemade yogurt. But war and siege brought hunger so quickly to their town near Damascus that when she died in September, at 19 months, her arms and legs were as thin as broomsticks.

Stick Figures and Stunted Growth as Warring Syria Goes Hungry – NYTimes.com – 11/2/2013.

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