President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said Turkey would “clear terrorists” on its border in northern Syria if Syrian Kurdish militia did not withdraw by the end of a deadline agreed with Russia.
“If the terrorists are not cleared at the end of the 150 hours, we will take control and clean it ourselves,” Erdogan said during a televised speech in Istanbul, referring to the YPG militia viewed as a “terrorist” offshoot of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.
Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed a deal in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday in which Moscow will “facilitate the removal” of the fighters and their weapons from within 30 kilometers (18 miles) of the border. The deadline ends at 6 pm local time (1500 GMT) on Tuesday.

Iraq’s intelligence services provided US forces with the location of elusive Islamic State group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ahead of the raid that killed him, the security forces said Sunday.
In a statement distributed to journalists, the forces said intel units had created a “specialized team” that worked for a year to track Baghdadi.
“The Iraqi national intelligence service, according to precise information, located the hideout of Daesh chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” it said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
“On this basis, US forces in coordination with Iraqi intelligence carried out a military operation that led to the elimination of Abu Bakr and those with him,” it added.

US Ambassador David Friedman lauded the opening of the first Israeli medical school in the West Bank on Sunday after years of legal battles and international pressure.
“A new medical school has opened in Samaria. It’s worth saying that again: A new medical school has opened in Samaria! How many people ever thought those words would be spoken?” said Friedman at a ceremony marking the start of the school year for the inaugural class of 70 students at Ariel University in the northern West Bank.
“The lives of people everywhere, in this region, whether you are Jewish, Muslim, Christian — they have now been improved and will continue to be improved in so many profound ways,” the envoy, who is known for his close ties to the settlement movement, continued.

Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn’s attorney, on new court filings claiming FBI agents deceptively edited Flynn 302s.
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A man purported to be the reclusive Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi making what would have been his first public appearance, at a mosque in the center of Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the internet on July 5, 2014. Photo: Reuters / Social Media Website via Reuters TV / File.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Iraqi jihadist who rose from obscurity to declare himself “caliph” of all Muslims as the leader of Islamic State, has died in a raid by US special forces in northwest Syria.
US President Donald Trump said in a televised address from the White House that Baghdadi killed himself during the raid by igniting a suicide vest. Test results from the aftermath of the raid had positively identified Baghdadi, he said.

PHOENIX (AP) – A lawsuit filed against Southwest Airlines by a flight attendant alleges pilots on a 2017 flight had an iPad streaming video from a hidden camera in a bathroom in one of the airline’s jets. Southwest responded Saturday by denying it places cameras in aircraft lavatories and by calling the 2017 incident an […]

Authorities are investigating the desecration of a 300-year-old Jewish cemetery near London, reported the United Kingdom’s Jewish Chronicle.
Assailants reportedly used sledgehammers to shatter, upend and split headstones at the Chatham Memorial Synagogue cemetery. The damage was discovered hours before Yom Kippur started on Oct. 8, though it is believed that the vandalism took place on Sept. 30, the night of Rosh Hashanah.
“It’s the most important time of the year for self-reflection and saying sorry. To have something like this happen at that time is quite appalling,” said Dalia Halpern-Matthews, chair of trustees at the synagogue, according to the Daily Mail.
 (JNS)
{Matzav.com}

Negotiators from the Likud and Blue and White parties met on Sunday for the first time since Blue and White leader Benny Gantz was given the mandate by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to form a government, according to a Ynet report.
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin and attorney Michael Ravillo attended on the Likud side, while Yoram Turbovitz and Shalom Shlomo spoke on behalf of Blue and White. The meeting was held at the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel in Ramat Gan.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also set to meet Blue and White head Gantz on Sunday in Tel Aviv, reported i24 News. The Blue and White leader is then set to meet Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman on Monday.

Israel’s winter officially began on Motzei Shabbos as clocks turn back one hour, marking the end of daylight savings time.
At 2 a.m. overnight Motzei Shabbos, Israelis winded their clocks back to 1 a.m. again.
Daylight saving time will return officially on March 27, 2020.
Read more at Times of Israel.
{Matzav.com}
 

Vice President Mike Pence comments on what Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death means for the future of ISIS.
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