A man accused of killing an Iraqi police officer under orders from the Islamic State was arrested in Sacramento, California this week; setting the stage for his deportation to stand trial in Baghdad in the coming months.
According to CBS Sacramento, Omar Abdulsattar Ameen was taken into custody after Iraqi officials asked the US government to extradite the suspected gunman.
The incident occurred in June 2014 when ISIS seized control of al-Anbar province.
“The government of Iraq has charged Ameen with premeditated murder that happened during an ISIS takeover of the Rawah District of the Al-Anbar Province. ISIS took control of the area on June 21, 2014, and the next day investigators say Ameen was part of a four-vehicle ISIS convoy that opened fire on a home of a former Iraqi police officer on June 22,” writes CBS.
“It makes me nervous. We were shocked, didn’t suspect anything like that,” said Ameen’s California neighbor. “He didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to make you feel suspicious, just a friendly Muslim, family man.”
“It’s a wakeup call that bad guys can end up anywhere in the world,” added a federal prosecutor.
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AL QAEDA RETURNS: Terror Leader Calls for ‘NEW JIHAD’ Against US
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri resurfaced over the weekend after months of hiding and questions over his health; releasing a five-minute video that called for a new “jihad” against the United States and its western allies.
The video, titled “Tel Aviv is Also a Land of Muslims” slammed the Trump administration for its decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, saying the Americans were “clear and explicit” in their “modern crusade” against Muslims across the world.
“[Americans] are the first enemy of the Muslims, and swore that it will not dream of security until it is lived in reality in Palestine, and until all the armies of disbelief leave the land of Muhammad,” he added.
Zawahiri took control of the global terror network after US forced killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, choosing to avoid the spotlight after the United States shifted its anti-terror efforts to focus on ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
Despite the warnings, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo believes the Mideast peace process is “decidedly not dead,” telling Fox News “We’re hard at work on it. We hope we can achieve a successful outcome there as well.”
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BUTCHER ABROAD: Syria's Assad Visits PUTIN in Rare Russian Summit
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad made a last-minute trip to Russia this week to hold high-level talks with Vladimir Putin; visiting the leader’s summer residence near the Black Sea to discuss the ongoing civil war.
According to the Associated Press, Assad trekked to Russia to discuss his country’s fight against “terrorism” and his efforts to help end the seven-year-long struggle between his regime and American-backed rebels.
“It said the two also discussed economic cooperation and growing investments by Russian companies in Syria,” writes the AP. “Russia has been a key ally of Assad throughout the seven-year Syrian civil war. Moscow launched an air campaign on behalf of Assad’s forces in 2015 that tipped the conflict in his favor.”
Though the United States and Russia cooperate in the regional fight against ISIS fighters, each nation finds itself on opposite sides of the brutal civil war; with Russia supporting the Assad regime and the United States arming Syrian rebels aimed at overthrowing the dictatorship.