NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT THURSDAY 2/6/2020  FINAL IOWA CAUCUS COUNT SHOWS SANDERS POPULAR VOTE WINNER

(LIMITED SERVICE WHEN ABLE THROUGH LATE THURSDAY)

The murky mucky situation in Iowa continued to unfold today with the Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez calling for a review of the vote as the final results approached from Monday's caucuses.

This whole process started last Saturday when a major public opinion poll was stopped from release at the request of the campaign of South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Then of course the app failure when results were to be tallied Monday night leading to days of agonizing counting that included votes for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders being allocated to another candidate then being put back into his column.     The most populous county in Iowa where Des Moines is located, Polk County, was the last part of the state to be added to the vote tally.

THE FINAL POPULAR VOTE IN IOWA SHOWED BERNIE SANDERS THE WINNER BY MORE THAN 2,500 VOTES...BREITBART STORY

And at 99 percent of the vote counted in terms of delegate allotments  at the top Pete Buttigieg with 26.2 percent, Bernie Sanders with 26.1 percent,  Senator Elizabeth Warren with 18 percent and former Vice-President Joe Biden with 15.8 percent.

No media organization willing to make a final call on any winner in this contest amidst the very clouded process that has unfolded.

President Trump appearing publicly at the White House today to discuss the impeachment process following his acquittal yesterday by the Senate.   The President says the process to force him out of office began the night he won the election in 2016.....VIDEO LINK

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports Russian and Syrian air attacks in northwestern Syria's Idlib today claiming that a Turkish observation post was targeted by the Syrian military.

Last night there was an Israeli attack on Damascus said to have been aimed at an Iranian related target.   23 are reported to have died in the attack, three of them Iranians according to the Syrian Observatory group while the Syrian government says that eight were wounded in the attack.

THE RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY ANNOUNCING FRIDAY MORNING THAT A PASSENGER AIRCRAFT WAS FORCED TO MAKE AN EMERGENCY LANDING BECUASE OF THE ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE IN SYRIA.

"Southfront" reports that Syrian government forces have encircled the second largest.....LINK ....city in Idlib, Saraqib.

The Turkish foreign minister Mevlut  Cavusoglu vows that Turkey will have a "tough" response if "regime attacks" continue in Syria....TASS NEWS STORY

And the latest news is that Turkish artillery has begun to shell Syrian government positions in Idlib province in support of a jihadist counterattack......TASS NEWS STORY   Late reports say that the counterattack was pushed back by the government forces.

The Syrian military has issued a statement saying that "simultaneous Israeli and Turkish attempts" to support terrorists will not prevent Syrian forces from achieving their objectives.......SYRIAN ARAB NEWS AGENCY STORY

Russia is now acknowledging that some of its soldiers have been killed in Syria where Russian military police are patrolling areas to help maintain cease-fire zones and to assist in maintaining order and providing relief in areas retaken by the Syrian government....PRESS TV IRAN STORY

Terrorist attacks reported in Israel in recent hours.

First a vehicle struck a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem overnight with 12 injuries reported.   The vehicle fled the scene and was found this morning.    A suspect was taken into custody later in the day.

An Israeli police officer near the Temple Mount was shot today in Jerusalem as well.

The Gaza based Hamas group says it is behind the attacks and that they are a response to President Trump's "Deal of the Century" plan.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling for reversal of the vote in the state of Thuringia yesterday that saw Free Democrat Thomas Kemmerich elected premier with the support of his party, her Christian Democrats and the anti-mass immigration Alternative for Germany.

Premier Thomas Kemmerich says he will seek to dissolve his government in favor of new elections in the state.   That will require 2/3 support in the state parliament.

The coronavirus statistics from China Friday morning local time include a total of more than 31,100 cases.   There are 636 deaths reported and some 1,540 cases of people recovering from the virus.......TASS NEWS STORY

That's the way it really is Thursday February 6th, 2020.