Everything to do with ISIS

[visionary]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31760656

Nimrud: Outcry as IS bulldozers attack ancient Iraq site

 

Archaeologists and officials have expressed outrage about the bulldozing of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud by Islamic State militants in Iraq.

IS began demolishing the site, which was founded in the 13th Century BC, on Thursday, according to Iraqi officials.

 

The head of the UN's cultural agency condemned the "systematic" destruction in Iraq as a "war crime".

 

IS, which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria, says shrines and statues are "false idols" that have to be smashed.

"They are erasing our history," said Iraqi archaeologist Lamia al-Gailani.

 

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/06/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-idUSKBN0M21NS20150306

Advancing Iraq troops enter strategic town on edge of Tikrit

 

Iraqi government forces and Iran-backed militiamen entered a town on the southern outskirts of Saddam Hussein's home city Tikrit on Friday, pressing on with the biggest offensive yet against Islamic State militants that seized the north last year.

 

Military commanders said the army and mostly Shi'ite militia forces had retaken the town of al-Dour on Tikrit's outskirts, known outside Iraq as the area where executed former dictator Saddam was found hiding in a pit near a farm house in 2003.

 

It was not immediately clear if the town had entirely fallen. Some officials said the troops were still only in the south and east of the town, which had been rigged with bombs by retreating Islamic State fighters.

 

But Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the largest Shi'ite militia group taking part in the operation, said al-Dour had been "totally liberated" and that the advance on another key town north of Tikrit, al-Alam, would take place on Saturday.

 

The army, joined by thousands of Shi'ite militiamen backed and advised by Iran, is five days into an advance on Saddam's home city of Tikrit, by far the biggest target yet in a campaign to roll back last year's advance by Islamic State fighters.

 

The assault by the Shi'ite-led army and its militia allies on Tikrit in Iraq's Sunni heartland has symbolic importance for both sides. Officials said on Friday they had captured a farm to the east of Tikrit that belonged to Saddam's deputy Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, now a prominent ally of the jihadist fighters.

 

Douri, King of Clubs in the U.S. army's deck of cards depicting Saddam-era officials wanted after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, is the only member of Saddam's inner circle still at large. Recordings purportedly of him pledging allegiance to Islamic State last year were one of the factors that helped the militants portray themselves as liberators of Sunni territory.

 

Tikrit is the first major city that Iraq's forces have attempted to recapture from Islamic State in northern Iraq, and the government hopes the campaign will reverse the momentum that saw the fighters sweep across the north last year.

 

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/05/from-mosul-to-motor-city/?utm_content=buffer7bf68&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

From Mosul to Motor City

The thousands of Christians from Syria and Iraq who made new lives in America's rust belt mourn the fate of their homeland from afar.

 

DETROIT — It’s easy to miss Tigris Restaurant in Detroit’s Chaldean Town, a tiny stretch of businesses and residences on Seven Mile Road just off Woodward Avenue, the city’s main thoroughfare. Chaldean Town is like many parts of Detroit: a mix of still-operational community centers and businesses with an increasing number of blighted vacant storefronts. Tigris’s exterior — nondescript, with foggy windows — could be mistaken for either.

 

Tigris is no doubt a restaurant, however, offering lamb, chicken, and even quail dishes, with most menu items under $5. But it’s also a gathering place for the city’s Chaldean population. Most Chaldeans these days live in the city’s suburbs, but Tigris is a haven for older men who come to play cards and dominoes, keeping score on sheets torn from Newport cartons. The lingering smell of cigarette smoke overpowers the meat spinning on a rotisserie in the back, and occasionally some of the younger patrons play music from the home country on their cell phones.

 

The only TV in the joint, sitting near vintage wood-paneled video slot machines, is tuned to an Arabic-language news channel. And aside from the occasional African-American customer who comes in for a takeout dish, the only languages spoken here are Arabic and Aramaic, the historic language of Chaldeans. A ceramic statue of the Virgin Mary sits on a shelf above the main entrance. The mood is solemn, with men shuffling from table to table sharing quiet conversation throughout the afternoon.

 

Since the early 20th century, the Detroit area has been a refuge for Middle Eastern immigrants of all religious sects, a group that includes Chaldeans and Assyrian Christians. From the worn east-side neighborhoods off Seven Mile Road and Woodward Avenue, hard hit by economic losses, to wealthier, far-flung suburbs like West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills, to Dearborn on Detroit’s southern border — known worldwide as the largest concentration of Middle Easterners outside the region itself — about 150,000 Chaldeans and Assyrian Christians are spread out across southeast Michigan, all connected by a tight network of religious and commercial organizations.

 

Now, with the Islamic State on a murderous rampage in Syria and Iraq, ripples are being felt in this part of the American heartland. The sense of concern only grew when, last week, Islamic State militants kidnapped some 220 Assyrian Christians in northern Syria.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/these-americans-have-headed-back-to-iraq-to-fight-the-islamic-state/2015/03/01/6d881174-b78c-11e4-bc30-a4e75503948a_story.html?wprss=rss_middle-east

These Americans return to Iraq as Christian warriors against Islamic State

 

In a smoky living room in a makeshift military headquarters, Brett, a former U.S. serviceman with tattoos of Jesus etched on his forearms, explained how he hopes to help keep the church bells of Iraq ringing.

 

“Jesus tells us what you do unto the least of them, you do unto me,” said the 28-year-old from Detroit who served an extended tour in Iraq in 2006 and 2007. He asked for his surname not to be published, to protect his family at home. “I couldn’t sit back and watch what was happening, women being raped and sold wholesale.”

 

So in December he traveled to northern Iraq, where he joined a growing band of foreigners leaving behind their lives in the West to fight with new Christian militias against the Islamic State extremist group. The leaders of those militias say they have been swamped with hundreds of requests from veterans and volunteers from around the world who want to join them.

 

The new arrivals add to a varied array of foreign fighters and donors drawn to the expanding conflict, which has had a brutal impact on Iraq’s minority sects and is threatening Christianity here at its roots. But while they say they welcome the gesture, Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq are wondering how to vet foreign recruits who are clamoring to sign up.

 

Brett’s group, Dwekh Nawsha, which means “self-sacrifice” in Aramaic, the ancient language spoken by Jesus, has only six Westerners among its 200 Iraqi Assyrian Christian fighters. But Emanuel Khoshaba Youkhana, the secretary general of the Assyrian Patriotic Party, which funds the group, says that more than 900 other foreigners have been in touch to find out how to join.

Some of the volunteers said they have come to fight for their religion — others just to fight. Brett calls himself the “King of Nineveh,” after the province of ancient Christian villages now occupied by the Islamic State. He lifted his shirt to show a tattoo on his back of Saint Michael, and Psalm 23 inked up his side.

Um....ok.

 

 

https://twitter.com/Raqqa_Sl

Raqqa Violent clashes are taking place now around Jalabeyah area between FSA and Kurdish Protection Units against ISIS militants

3:01 AM

 

Raqqa ISIS Official of education in Ain Issa who named Walid al-Omar and nicknamed (Abu Tammam) has killed in battles around Jalabeyah area
3:10 AM

 

Raqqa ISIS Coalition aircraft carry out air strike on "Jalabeyah" area west of Tell Abiad in the countryside of Raqqa
3:14 AM

[mistertim]

Oh great. Christian warriors now. I can see absolutely no way that could possibly backfire.

[Destino]

Is ISIS correctly labeled a terrorist group? I thought terrorists (separate from terrorism) were groups without a country with political aims looking to advance them through attacks on civilian population. The goal is to create fear and erode the faith of people in their government's ability to protect them this intimidating nations into capitulation.

ISIS is flying a flag and seeking to create their bloody utopia. They are an army of genocidal conquerors that don't seem to be operating at all like other terrorist groups. Al Qaeda certainly never fielded an army and invaded cities.

It seems to me that terrorism is a tactic they employ but labeling them as terrorists falls short of what these monsters really are.

[mistertim]

Is ISIS correctly labeled a terrorist group? I thought terrorists (separate from terrorism) were groups without a country with political aims looking to advance them through attacks on civilian population. The goal is to create fear and erode the faith of people in their government's ability to protect them this intimidating nations into capitulation.

ISIS is flying a flag and seeking to create their bloody utopia. They are an army of genocidal conquerors that don't seem to be operating at all like other terrorist groups. Al Qaeda certainly never fielded an army and invaded cities.

It seems to me that terrorism is a tactic they employ but labeling them as terrorists falls short of what these monsters really are.

I think that's a valid point. Genocidal conquerors sounds much more apropos to what they really are.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Nimrods destroy city of Nimrud. 

[visionary]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/03/isis-members-interviewed-book.html?mid=twitter_dailyintelligencer

‘Why Would Someone Participate in the Beheading of Their Cousin?’ Talking With an Author Who Interviewed Dozens of ISIS Members

 

Since ISIS is a group that kidnaps and murders Western journalists, finding out about the movement’s members and modus operandi — generally a task well-suited to traditional reporting — has proven very difficult. There are many aspects of life inside ISIS’s large swath of territory in Syria and Iraq that remain opaque.

 

For his new book, ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, columnist and analyst Hassan Hassan spoke to dozens of ISIS members in attempt to shed light on the group that President Obama aims to "vanquish from the Earth." Hassan is an analyst at the Delma Institute, a think tank in Abu Dhabi, and writes for The National newspaper there. As a Syrian from Al-Bukamal, a border town that serves as gateway for jihadists moving out of Iraq, Hassan has a close understanding of the stakes.

 

Hassan's primary goal in the book, which was published by Regan Arts last month, is to explore the appeal of the black banner. Along with his co-author Michael Weiss, he delves into both the motivations of youthful converts and the veteran militants who’ve shaped the group’s strategy. I spoke with Hassan about ISIS’s logic of savagery, its enduring success, and what Americans don't understand about the fight against the terror group.

 

How did you get access to dozens of members of ISIS?
It makes sense for me because I’m from eastern Syria. ISIS occupies my territory, my ancestors’ territory. So because I’ve covered the Syrian conflict from day one, I’ve developed contacts with everyone from all sides; I’ve tried to be objective from the beginning.

 

The story of how I spoke to these people is the story of how ISIS developed, or how they gained ground and strength in eastern Syria and in Iraq. Because in the beginning, people joined the Free Syrian Army and developed a certain relationship with them — sometimes they’re friends of friends or just contacts. A lot of these people changed sides. So they became members of ISIS when ISIS took over,or when they became disenchanted with the groups they were in. I spoke to ISIS members from a range of sectors: clerics, security officials, media activists, and fighters. There is this misconception that ISIS is dominated by foreigners in Syria, but the opposite is true.

 

And once you had access, were ISIS members easy to talk to?
Well, no. It’s not easy. Obviously they are suspicious because part of the training when they get into the camps is to learn something about counterintelligence. So they don’t trust anyone, sometimes even their own siblings. They don’t talk about their daily job. But you know, sometimes they don’t have to ... You just talk to them and you can see how passionate they are about the group. You get insights into how they were recruited, what inspired them to join the group.

From the American perspective, we tend to think their motivations for joining are mainly religious. But you say it’s more complicated than that.

The question of ideology is complicated, and it’s very important. Islamic fundamentalism is central to the group. Everyone has to comply with it, even if they don’t agree with it. So it’s important to bear that in mind even if you argue that some people join the group for other reasons. In terms of recruitment, in terms of propaganda, especially outside the conflict zones of Syria and Iraq, it has a lot to do with ideology — the end of time narrative of hadiths and Islamic traditions.

 

There are the young zealots who are more like converts. They feel like they just found Islam. And they fight for ISIS as if it’s the true message that has been obscured by the mainstream for so long. There are also people who join for pragmatic reasons, for profiteering, for local rivalry. In the book we identified around half a dozen distinct categories of people.

 

Although young zealots and long-standing radicals comprise only two categories of people who join, they are the most important component of ISIS. Why? Because they formulate the group’s identity and they ensure its resilience. People who join ISIS for other reasons can leave the group any time of the day.

 

I spoke to someone who is a “defector,” and he left ISIS because he couldn’t take in the violence. He also got a work opportunity to go to the Gulf region. Now, when he left he wasn’t bad mouthing the group, he was praising it. He believed in the ideology of ISIS but he just couldn’t do it anymore.

 

If you want to talk about the long-term menace of ISIS, it’s these two components — young zealots and long-standing radicals — that you should focus on because you can always defeat the group militarily, but you can’t defeat it in terms of ideas and ideology.

[visionary]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/08/tikrit-isis-can-only-defeated-in-iraq-by-the-sunni?CMP=share_btn_tw

Win or lose Tikrit, Isis can only be defeated in Iraq by the Sunni

 

The military offensive against Isis forces in Tikrit, Iraq, is shaping up to be one of the most decisive moments in the profound struggle unfolding across the region. On Saturday no less a figure than General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff and so America’s top officer, declared that the combined force of Iranian-backed militias and Iraqi government troops was likely to prevail against Islamic State forces in the battle and that the Islamist militants would be pushed out of Saddam Hussein’s home town. “The numbers are overwhelming,” he said.

 

But there are ominous signs that the campaign faces many perils and there are fears that its impact may unleash fresh waves of sectarian conflict, as well as long-term rebalancing of political forces in the region.

 

The campaign, which entered it’s second week on Sunday, is the first serious attempt to dislodge Isis from a Sunni area it has governed since the group’s military blitz in Iraq last June. Despite the American-led air strikes since the summer, the militant group has faced little pressure inside what can be described as its heartlands, such as Mosul, Falluja, Raqqa and Deir Ezzor. The offensive in Tikrit is therefore a critical development that will be monitored closely and nervously by almost everyone involved in the conflict. It is also the first major effort led by pro-government forces without consulting the United States and members of the international coalition. That latter fact leaves many question marks about the campaign. The Iraqi government portrays it as a national effort, led by the security forces and including thousands of Sunni tribal fighters. It also claims that Tikrit is all but empty of civilians.

 

But these claims are not entirely accurate. Hashd al-Shaabi, the umbrella organisation for Iranian-backed Shia militias, put together in the wake of Isis’s takeover of Mosul in June to serve as a de facto replacement for the army in the fight against the terror group, is leading the offensive. Any Sunni forces participating, notwithstanding their numbers, take a back seat at best.

 

The claims with regard to civilians are particularly alarming. Hashd al-Shaabi has a track record of human rights abuses and sectarian and ethnic cleansing, as documented by Human Rights Watch. Instead of highlighting that Tikrit’s civilians have almost completely fled the city, the government should focus on ensuring no similar reprisals against civilians by these notorious militias are committed in Tikrit.

[visionary]

http://carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=59268

Rising Out of Chaos: The Islamic State in Libya

 

[visionary]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/the-islamic-state-is-fraying-from-within/2015/03/08/0003a2e0-c276-11e4-a188-8e4971d37a8d_story.html?wpmk=MK0000203

The Islamic State appears to fray from within

 

The Islamic State ­appears to be starting to fray from within, as dissent, defections and setbacks on the battlefield sap the group’s strength and erode its aura of invincibility among those living under its despotic rule.

 

Reports of rising tensions between foreign and local fighters, aggressive and increasingly unsuccessful attempts to recruit local citizens for the front lines, and a growing incidence of guerrilla attacks against Islamic State targets suggest the militants are struggling to sustain their carefully cultivated image as a fearsome fighting force drawing Muslims together under the umbrella of a utopian Islamic state.

 

The anecdotal reports, drawn from activists and residents of areas under Islamic State control, don’t offer any indication that the group faces an immediate challenge to its stranglehold over the mostly Sunni provinces of eastern Syria and western Iraq that form the backbone of its self-proclaimed caliphate. Battlefield reversals have come mostly on the fringes of its territory, while organized opposition remains unlikely as long as viable alternatives are lacking and the fear of vicious retribution remains high, Syrians, Iraqis and analysts say.

 

The bigger threat to the Islamic State’s capacity to endure, however, may come from within, as its grandiose promises collide with realities on the ground, said Lina Khatib, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/markito0171

Aleppo Rebel-cell freed dozens of prisoners in IS held town of al-Bab,but many killed during escape.  10 IS guards killed.Now curfew
3:38 PM

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/AFP

BREAKING IS claims execution of Arab Israeli accused of spying: video
3:07 PM

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/03/09/3-times-u-s-foreign-policy-helped-to-create-the-islamic-state/

3 times U.S. foreign policy helped to create the Islamic State

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/world/africa/isis-seizes-opportunity-in-libyas-turmoil.html?_r=1

ISIS Seizes Opportunity in Libya’s Turmoil

The Islamic State has established more than a foothold in this Mediterranean port. Its fighters dominate the city center so thoroughly that a Libyan brigade sent to dislodge the group remains camped on the outskirts, visibly afraid to enter and allowing the extremists to come and go as they please.

 

“We are going to allow them to slip out, because the less people we have to fight, the better,” said Mohamed Omar el-Hassan, a 28-year-old former crane operator who leads the brigade from a prefabricated shed on a highway ringing the city.

 

“Why make the city suffer?” he said, trying to explain his delay more than 16 days after the brigade arrived in Surt.

 

Nearly four years after the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, Libya’s warring cities and towns have become so entangled in internal conflicts over money and power that they have opened a door for the Islamic State to expand into its oil-rich deserts and sprawling coastline. Libya has become a new frontier for the radical group as it comes under increasing pressure from American-led airstrikes on its original strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

 

While other extremists organizations may have only sought to capitalize on the Islamic State’s fearsome name, the contingent here in Surt has not only taken over a major Libyan city but also demonstrated clear coordination with the parent organization, also known as ISIS or ISIL and based in Syria.

 

At least one group of fighters from each of Libya’s three regions has joined a wave of militant forces in Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria that have publicly linked themselves with the Islamic State and its brutality.But while many of those affiliations may primarily be attempts by local extremists to capitalize on the Islamic State’s fearsome name, the contingent in Surt stands apart. In addition to dominating a city of more than 120,000 residents, the Islamic State militants here have demonstrated clear coordination with the original group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, based in Syria.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/11460124/How-Gaddafis-home-city-in-Libya-fell-under-the-rule-of-Islamic-State-jihadists.html

Islamic State: Inside the latest city to fall under its sway

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/HaraldDoornbos

Syria's "Children of the Corn": In new ISIS video a child kills prisoner, shoots "spy" point blank in the head.

5:40 PM

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/11/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-idUSKBN0M60UD20150311?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter

Iraqi troops, militia retake strategic town north of Tikrit from Islamic State

 

Iraqi troops and militias drove Islamic State insurgents out of the town of al-Alam on Tuesday, clearing a final hurdle before a planned assault on Saddam Hussein's home city of Tikrit in their biggest offensive yet against the ultra-radical group.

 

The power base of executed former president Saddam's clan, Tikrit is the focus of a counter-offensive against Islamic State by more than 20,000 troops and Shi'ite Muslim militias known as Hashid Shaabi, backed by local Sunni Muslim tribes.

 

If Iraq's Shi'ite-led government is able to retake Tikrit it would be the first city clawed back from the Sunni insurgents and would give it momentum in the next, pivotal stage of the campaign - to recapture Mosul, the largest city in the north.

 

A Reuters photographer saw dozens of families, who earlier fled al-Alam to escape Islamic State rule, return to the town, celebrating and slaughtering sheep for the victorious forces.

 

"I announce officially that the town is under the total control of security forces, the Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) units and local tribal fighters," said local mayor Laith al-Jubouri.

 

"We rejoice in this victory and we want al-Alam to be the launchpad for the liberation of Tikrit and Mosul," he told Reuters by telephone.

Mosul in the far north is the largest city held by the ultra-radical Islamic State, who now rule a self-declared cross-border caliphate in Sunni regions of Syria and Iraq.

 

But the ultra-radical group over the past few months has gradually lost ground in Iraq to the army, Shi'ite militias and Kurdish peshmerga forces, backed by air strikes carried out by a U.S.-led coalition of mainly Western and allied Arab states.

 

The United States says Baghdad did not seek aerial backup from the coalition in the Tikrit campaign. Instead, support on the ground has come from neighboring Iran, Washington's longtime regional rival, which backs the Shi'ite militias and has sent an elite Revolutionary Guard commander to oversee part of the battle.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/world/middleeast/iraqi-forces-seize-large-parts-tikrit-islamic-state-militants.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1

Iraqi and Shiite Forces Seize Large Parts of Tikrit From Islamic State

 

Iraqi security forces and allied Shiite militias seized large parts of Tikrit on Tuesday, amid reports that most of the Islamic State militants battling to hold the city had begun retreating, security officials said.

 

The progress came after a week of heavy fighting to retake Tikrit, a city in the so-called Sunni triangle that holds strategic and emotional importance in the effort to roll back the Islamic State’s lightning advance toward Baghdad in June.

 

The offensive is the largest pro-government military operation yet, involving a combined force of more than 30,000. And if it succeeds, it would be a significant step in the march north to Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and an early conquest for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

 

Still, previous announcements of victory for the Iraqi government have been reversed before, notably in parts of Anbar Province and at an oil refinery near the city of Baiji. And already, the government offensive has exposed tensions in the American-Iraqi alliance.

 

So far, the United States-led international coalition has sat out the battle for Tikrit, with American officials saying they were uncomfortable with the prominent role of Shiite militias and Iranian military officials in taking a predominantly Sunni city.

 

Rafid Jaboori, the spokesman for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, said in a recent interview that despite the absence of direct American involvement in Tikrit, the United States would have “a significant role” in any operation to take Mosul, as would Kurdish pesh merga forces.

 

He added, that the United States and Iran shared an interest in seeing the Islamic State defeated.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

It would be so cool if this was the beginning of the end of this ISIS movement. 

[visionary]

 

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/11/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-tirkit-idUSKBN0M713X20150311?utm_source=twitter

Iraqi forces push into Tikrit, bombers hit Ramadi

 

Iraqi security forces and militias fought their way into Saddam Hussein's home city of Tikrit on Wednesday, advancing on two fronts in their biggest counter-offensive so far against Islamic State militants.

 

In a possible response to the fighting north of Baghdad, militants in the Islamic State stronghold of Anbar west of the capital launched 13 suicide car bomb attacks on army and security positions in the provincial capital of Ramadi.

 

Army and militia fighters captured part of Tikrit's northern Qadisiya district, the provincial governor said, while in the south of the Tigris river city a security officer said another force made a rapid push toward the center.

 

"The forces entered Tikrit general hospital," an official at the main military operation command center said. "There is heavy fighting going on near the presidential palaces, next to the hospital complex."

 

Islamic State fighters stormed into Tikrit last June during a lightning offensive that was halted just outside Baghdad. They have since used the complex of palaces built in Tikrit under Saddam, the executed former president, as their headquarters.

 

More than 20,000 troops and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias known as Hashid Shaabi, supported by local Sunni Muslim tribes, launched the offensive for Tikrit 10 days ago, advancing from the east and along the banks of the Tigris.

 

On Tuesday they took the town of al-Alam on the northern edge of Tikrit, paving the way for an attack on the city itself.

 

"The governor of Salahuddin announces the purging of half of Qadisiya district, the largest of Tikrit's neighborhoods," a statement from governor Raed al-Jubouri's office said.

 

The army and militia fighters raised the national flag above a military hospital in the section of Qadisiya they had retaken from the militants, security officials said.

[visionary]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/dirty-brigades-us-trained-iraqi-forces-investigated-war/story?id=29193253#.VQCIRnQpRP4.twitter

'Dirty Brigades': US-Trained Iraqi Forces Investigated for War Crimes

 

U.S.-trained and armed Iraqi military units, the key to the American strategy against ISIS, are under investigation for committing some of the same atrocities as the terror group, American and Iraqi officials told ABC News. Some Iraqi units have already been cut off from U.S. assistance over "credible" human rights violations, according to a senior military official on the Pentagon's Joint Staff.

 

The investigation, being conducted by the Iraqi government, was launched after officials were confronted with numerous allegations of “war crimes,” based in part on dozens of ghastly videos and still photos that appear to show uniformed soldiers from some of Iraq's most elite units and militia members massacring civilians, torturing and executing prisoners, and displaying severed heads.

 

The videos and photos are part of a trove of disturbing images that ABC News discovered has been circulating within the dark corners of Iraqi social media since last summer. In some U.S. military and Iraqi circles, the Iraqi units and militias under scrutiny are referred to as the "dirty brigades."

 

“As the ISF [iraqi Security Forces] and militias reclaim territory, their behavior must be above reproach or they risk being painted with the same brush as ISIL [iSIS] fighters,” said a statement to ABC News from the U.S. government. “If these allegations are confirmed, those found responsible must be held accountable."

 

 

https://twitter.com/missy_ryan

Dempsey says 3K ISF are taking part in Tikrit operation; 1K Sunni forces; 20K militias. iraq
5:50 PM

[visionary]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-12/jake-bilardi-left-ieds-at-family-home-before-leaving-to-join-is/6307370

Jake Bilardi: Melbourne teenager left explosive devices at family home before leaving to join Islamic State

 

Australian teenager Jake Bilardi, who has been linked to a suicide bombing attack in Iraq, left a series of improvised explosive devices at his family home before going to Syria, the ABC has confirmed.

 

It is understood Bilardi's family in Melbourne located the devices and alerted authorities.

 

Following the discovery, Australian authorities began attempting to track Bilardi's movements in the Middle East.

 

Although it has been reported Bilardi planned to conduct terrorist attacks in Australia, news of the discovery of the bombs is the first evidence this went beyond mere intent.

 

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she did not want to comment on whether Bilardi was involved in planning an attack in Australia.

 

"These are matters we are currently seeking to confirm, and once I've had a briefing from our agencies on these issues, I will make a comment on it," she said.

 

Ms Bishop said she had been aware of Bilardi's presence in the Middle East for a number of months.

"Indeed, we are aware that he travelled overseas last August," she said.

 

"In October, on the advice of our security agencies, I cancelled his Australian passport."

 

Islamic State propaganda released overnight claimed Bilardi was among the latest group of suicide bombers that struck in Iraq's Anbar province.

 

One image claimed to show a suicide bomber dubbed Abu Abdullah al-Australi — Bilardi's pseudonym — before he attacked an Iraqi army unit west of Baghdad.

 

https://twitter.com/cnni

BREAKING: Australian government seeking to confirm reports 18-year-old ISIS recruit Jake Bilardi killed in Iraq suicide attack.
10:51 PM

[visionary]

http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-forces-enter-held-tikrit-113054737.html;_ylt=AwrTWf3wBAFVkEQATEHQtDMD

Iraqi forces enter IS-held Tikrit after 10-day push

 

Iraqi forces entered Tikrit Wednesday, dodging bombs and sniper fire in search of their biggest victory yet against embattled jihadists who tried to light new fires elsewhere in Iraq and Syria.

 

The Islamic State group has suffered stinging defeats in the heart of its self-proclaimed "caliphate" recently, but its ultraviolent ideology has inspired attacks and recruits globally.

 

With IS brutality and population displacement reaching new highs, Washington sought increased powers from the US Congress to take on a group threatening to reshape the Middle East.

 

However, it was without direct support from the US-led coalition's air campaign that Iraqi government and allied forces punched into parts of Tikrit, marking a new phase in a 10-day drive to wrest the city back from IS.

 

A combination of army, police and volunteer forces moved into northern and southern Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and a main IS stronghold.

 

A major general told AFP on condition of anonymity that government forces were battling "to cleanse the neighbourhood of Qadisiyah" in Tikrit.

"But we are engaging in a very delicate battle because we are not facing fighters on the ground, we are facing booby-trapped terrain and sniper fire. Our movement is slow," he said.

 

An army colonel said forces coming from another direction had also retaken the main hospital on the city's southern edge.

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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/03/isil-accepts-boko-haram-pledge-allegiance-150312201038730.html

ISIL 'accepts Boko Haram's pledge of allegiance'

 

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has accepted a pledge of allegiance to the group made by Nigerian armed group Boko Haram, according to an audiotape purportedly from its spokesman.

 

"We announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to West Africa because the caliph... has accepted the allegiance of our brothers of the Sunni group for preaching and the jihad," ISIL spokesman Mohammed al-Adnani said in the message, using the name in Arabic of the Nigerian group.

 

Al Jazeera cannot authenticate the audio recording, which was posted on ISIL-affiliated websites on Thursday, but it is similar to previous messages from Adnani.

Boko Haram's pledge to ISIL, attributed to leader Abubakar Shekau, was made in an audio recording posted on the group's Twitter page on Saturday, but it could not be immediately verified.

 

The video script identified the caliph as Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Awad al-Qurashi, who is better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL, which controls large swathes of territories in Iraq and Syria.

 

http://somalianewsroom.com/2015/03/12/will-al-shabaab-follow-boko-haram-and-pledge-loyalty-to-isis/

Will Al-Shabaab Follow Boko Haram and Pledge Loyalty to ISIS?

 

After Boko Haram recently pledged loyalty to the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), many are wondering whether al-Qai’da affiliate al-Shabaab will follow the same path.

 

ISIS supporters have been pushing al-Shabaab to align with the group for some time, and some militants in Somalia may want to heed their call.

 

On 2 March 2015,  Rasmi News published a report alleging that there was a dispute in al-Shabaab over whether to maintain its affiliation with AQ or pledge loyalty to ISIS.

 

Rasmi News claimed that al-Shabaab’s intelligence chief Mahad Karatey and an unstated number of foreign fighters and others wanted to pledge bayah to ISIS, while the group’s chief Ahmed Diriye wanted to maintain loyaly to AQ.

[visionary]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/12/the-u-s-is-helping-iran-gobble-up-iraq.html

U.S. Warplanes Are Helping Iran Win

 

Iran and America are still enemies, technically. But U.S. airpower has ISIS pinned down in Iraq. And that’s helping Iran move in.

Forces loyal to Iran are threatening to break ISIS’s grip on the key Iraqi city of Tikrit. Officially, the American military isn’t helping these Shiite militias and Iranian advisers as they team up with Iraqi forces to hit the self-proclaimed Islamic State. But U.S. officials admit that American airstrikes are a major reason Iran’s proxies are advancing on Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown.

 

The U.S.-led air campaign has not only crippled ISIS’s ability to move freely. It’s also providing air cover for Iraqi troops and the Iranian forces fighting alongside of them. It is a perilous, yet unspoken, military alliance between the U.S. and its top regional foe that some said could lead to an ISIS defeat in the short term and ethnic cleansing of Sunni Iraqis in the long run.

 

“Like it or not, right now [the U.S. and Iran] are on the same side,” said Vali Nasr, dean of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and longtime Iranian expert.

 

U.S. officials have repeatedly stated their concerns about the sectarianism that could emerge even as the strategy now decisively helps one side, the Shiite, in the push to defeat ISIS.

 

But two U.S. officials concede that the effect of the airstrikes helps Shiite forces—while swearing that there is no strategy to help Iran. Rather, as one explained, “the goal is to provide Iraqi forces the operational space to take back territory.”

 

The eight-month U.S.-led air campaign has consistently targeted any large groups of suspected ISIS forces moving around the country. That’s made it all but impossible for ISIS to send major reinforcements to come to the aid of ISIS fighters under fire from Iraqi forces, Shiite militias, or Kurdish peshmerga forces.

 

ISIS “has shown a pretty good ability to move small number of forces. What they can’t do is move 5,000 people at a time” because of the U.S.-led air campaign, Christopher Harmer, a senior naval analyst with the Middle East Security Project at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War. ISIS is “spread a mile wide and an inch deep, and I don’t think they have the mass to put bodies everywhere they want.”

 

https://news.yahoo.com/un-resolution-needed-nato-role-libya-spain-172356866.html

UN resolution needed for any NATO role in Libya: Spain

 

UN Security Council member Spain called Thursday for a deal to end unrest in Libya within weeks and said a UN resolution would be needed to approve any NATO intervention there.

 

Concerned by violence and the rise of Islamist groups in Libya, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo appeared in Madrid alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to tout security cooperation in the region.

 

A NATO air campaign in Libya in 2011 backed the uprising that ousted and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi. Rival groups are now battling for control of the country's cities and oilfields.

 

Western powers including Spain, which this year holds a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, have insisted on a political solution but have not definitively ruled out another intervention.

 

Garcia-Margallo said that if UN-brokered talks led to the creation of a "unity government" in Libya, that body could then "request the support that it considers appropriate in Libya, which is the top item on our agenda".

 

"Any NATO intervention in Libya, which right now it is too soon to decide upon, would require a UN Security Resolution," Garcia-Margallo told a news conference alongside Stoltenberg.

"Once such a resolution is passed, it will be up to the bodies within the alliance to take the most appropriate decision to achieve stability in Libya, which is an urgent matter," he added.

 

"We are not talking months, we are talking weeks, to reach a solution," he said, warning that the security situation in Libya "is posing a risk to the stability of a whole region around us".

[visionary]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/13/middleeast/iraq-isis/

ISIS blows up Iraqi army HQ in battle for Ramadi

 

More than 40 Iraqi soldiers were killed when ISIS blew up the Iraqi army headquarters near Ramadi in Iraq's western Anbar province, an Anbar provincial leader told CNN, as the battle continues for control of key cities in Iraq.

 

Ramadi has been the focus of a fierce ISIS assault since Wednesday, launched at the same time as Iraqi forces made gains against the Sunni extremist group in an offensive in Tikrit, about 100 miles to the north.

 

ISIS fighters in Ramadi dug a tunnel underneath the army headquarters and detonated hundreds of homemade bombs, Sabah Al-Karhout, the head of the Anbar Provincial Council, said Thursday. The headquarters are located in the Albu Diab area, just 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) north of Ramadi.

 

Al-Karhout also denied reports that the U.S.-led coalition had bombed the headquarters.

 

A statement released early Friday by the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS said the Iraqi security forces had successfully repelled the ISIS attack on Ramadi, despite coming under attack from several directions on Wednesday.

 

"The successful defense of Ramadi by Iraqi Security Forces is another example of their increasing ability to defeat Daesh in multiple locations and prevent the terrorist group from gaining ground," said Lt. Gen. James L. Terry, the coalition force's commander, using another name for ISIS.

 

"The ISF continues to hold terrain in some locations while making gains in others."

 

In an audio message posted Thursday, ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al Adnani called reports of victories by coalition members against the extremist group "delusional and fake."

 

He spoke of the coalition's use of fighter jets, heavy artillery and tanks, saying it is a "nightmare and will go eventually."

 

Faleh al-Issawi, the deputy head of the Anbar council, said Wednesday that officials believe the Ramadi assault "is an ISIS response to the Tikrit operation that is ongoing in the north."

[visionary]

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/150313/iraqi-sunnis-join-feared-shiite-militia-battle

Iraqi Sunnis join feared Shiite militia to battle IS

 

Wearing a camouflage uniform with militia patches and a green headband, Nawar Mohammed is the image of an Iraqi Shiite fighter except for one detail: he is Sunni.

 

Mohammed is one of some 250 Sunni residents of Al-Alam who joined Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iranian-backed Shiite militia with a fearsome reputation for kidnappings and killings targeting their community, to battle the Islamic State group after it seized their town.

 

It would once have been all but unthinkable for a member of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority to join a Shiite militia, but opposition to IS, which overran large areas north and west of Baghdad last June, is transcending deep-seated sectarian divisions.

 

"The whole world is surprised by this -- it's the first time in the history of Asaib that they formed a Sunni unit," said Mohammed, standing with a Kalashnikov assault rifle hanging at his side.

 

"Asaib trained us, and we became part of Asaib," he said.

 

"Asaib, Sunni or Shiite, there is no difference -- these circumstances united Iraq," Mohammed said. "God willing, there will not be any more sectarianism."

The formation of the unit, which some call "Asaib al-Alam", is a positive sign and its fighters seem genuine when praising Asaib Ahl al-Haq.

 

Having Sunnis fighting for Shiite militias brings direct practical benefits to both sides: the Sunnis receive training and support they need to retake their homes, while the militias take a step toward shedding their reputation for sectarian killings.

 

Despite having only limited training, Asaib al-Alam took part alongside more experienced militiamen and security forces in the fight for Al-Alam, part of a major drive aimed at retaking the nearby city of Tikrit from IS.

 

"The purpose of forming the local Asaib in Sunni areas is to strike sectarianism," said Shiite militiaman Hussein Abdulabbas.

 

He also noted that having fighters who come from an area where a battle takes place brings useful local knowledge.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/14/us-libya-security-idUSKBN0MA0U020150314?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Islamic State fighters and force allied with Tripoli clash in central Libya

 

Clashes erupted in central Libya on Saturday between Islamic State fighters and a force loyal to a Tripoli-based faction, a military official and residents said.

 

Islamic State, the militant group which has seized much of Iraq and Syria, has expanded in Libya in recent months, helped by the chaos and lawlessness of a fight for control between two rival governments and their respective allies.

 

Local supporters of the militants executed a group of Egyptian Christians and have claimed attacks on a luxury hotel, foreign missions and police stations in the capital Tripoli.

 

On Saturday, Islamic State militants clashed with the al-Shorooq force allied to a Tripoli-based government that was established by the armed faction Libya Dawn.

Libya Dawn seized the capital in August, forcing the internationally recognized government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni to operate from the east.

 

"Clashes between Shorooq forces ... and a terrorist group calling itself Islamic State have killed one and wounded two from Shorooq forces," Shorooq spokesman Ismail Belhadj said.

 

Residents confirmed the fighting, some 60 km east of Sirte, a major city where Islamic State have taken over government buildings, a university and a radio station.

 

"The clashes started when a report arrived that the terrorist group had set up a checkpoint at a coastal road and started inspecting motorists," Belhadj said.

 

"Shorooq forces went to the location to see what was going on but they were attacked by the terrorist fighters," he added.

[visionary]

http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-official-says-force-may-needed-combat-islamic-231735684.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=DTN+Iraq:

Vatican official says force may be needed to combat Islamic State: interview

 

The Vatican's ambassador in Geneva has said the use of force will be necessary to protect minority groups from Islamic State aggression if a political solution cannot be achieved.

 

In an interview with U.S. Catholic website Crux, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said the jihadists, who have declared a cross-border caliphate after seizing land in eastern Syria and northern Iraq, were committing "genocide" and must be stopped.

 

"What's needed is a coordinated and well-thought-out coalition to do everything possible to achieve a political settlement without violence," Crux quoted Tomasi as saying on Friday, "but if that's not possible, then the use of force will be necessary."

 

Tomasi's words follow repeated condemnations of Islamic State by Pope Francis, who decried the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya in February and has said it is "lawful" to stop an unjust aggressor.

 

The ambassador's comments were published on the same day a group of countries led by the Holy See, Russia and Lebanon issued a statement calling on the international community to support all ethnic and religious communities in the Middle East.

 

The Vatican said more than 60 countries including the United States have endorsed the statement, which warns that Christians in particular now "live a serious existential threat".

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/shiite-soldiers-of-god-color-tikrit-battle-1426204654

Shiite ‘Soldiers of God’ Color Tikrit Battle

 

By TAMER EL-GHOBASHY in Baghdad and  MARIA ABI-HABIB in Beirut

Updated March 12, 2015 8:06 p.m. ET

 

Iraq prepares to retake city from Islamic State, but religious overtones of fight spark concerns

 

With one large section of Tikrit remaining in the hands of Islamic State militants and Iraq’s government preparing to declare victory, Shiite fighters working to retake the city said the relative ease of the battle isn’t the result of better weapons, better strategy or even a weakened opponent.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/14/us-mideast-crisis-islamicstate-chlorine-idUSKBN0MA0OT20150314

Iraqi Kurds say Islamic State used chlorine gas against them

 

Iraqi Kurdish authorities said on Saturday they had evidence that Islamic State had used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against their peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq in January.

 

The Security Council of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region said in a statement to Reuters that the peshmerga had taken soil and clothing samples after an Islamic State car bombing attempt on Jan. 23.

 

It said laboratory analysis showed "the samples contained levels of chlorine that suggested the substance was used in weaponized form." The Kurdish allegation could not be independently confirmed.

 

Chlorine is a choking agent whose use as a chemical weapon dates back to World War One. It is banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits all use of toxic agents on the battlefield.

 

Peter Sawczak, spokesman for the Dutch-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said: “We have not had a request from Iraq to investigate claims of use of chemical weapons in Iraq, and the OPCW cannot immediately verify the claims.”

 

Chlorine has been used “systematically” in the civil war in neighboring Syria, an OPCW fact-finding mission found last year. The OPCW would have to get its own samples to confirm the use of chemical weapons in a member state.

 

The Kurdish statement said the car bombing attempt happened on a highway between Mosul and the Syrian border. A Kurdish security source said that the peshmerga fired a rocket at the car carrying the bomb so there were no casualties, except for the suicide bomber.

 

About a dozen peshmerga fighters experienced symptoms of nausea, vomiting, dizziness or weakness, the source said.

 

The statement said the analysis was carried out in a European Union-certified laboratory after the soil and samples were sent by the Kurdish Regional Government to a "partner nation" in the U.S.-led coalition that is fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

 

The source described the samples as "leftovers from the suicide bomber", but declined to identify the laboratory.

 

The White House said in a statement it could not confirm the allegations but found them "deeply disturbing" and was monitoring the situation "very closely."

 

A U.S. defense official said the use of chlorine as a weapon was a possible sign of "growing desperation due to the pressure being applied by coalition air power and Iraqi ground forces."

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/15/us-mideast-crisis-syria-northeast-idUSKBN0MA0C120150315

Kurds battle Islamic State in Syria, U.S.-led coalition jets strike

 

U.S.-led coalition jets struck Islamic State positions in northeast Syria for the second day in a row, in an area where the militants are battling Kurdish forces, a Kurdish official and a group monitoring the war said on Saturday.

 

The Kurdish YPG militia, which has emerged as the coalition's main partner fighting Islamic State on the ground in Syria, has made significant gains in recent weeks in the north, cutting an important supply route from Iraq.

 

Last week Islamic State appeared to try to seize back the initiative, attacking Kurdish fighters using tanks and heavy weapons close to the Turkish border.

 

Air strikes hit areas close to the town of Tal Tamer, south of the Turkish border, overnight on Friday and on Saturday, said Redur Xelil, spokesman for the YPG.

"There is fighting which continues around Tel Tamer but the coalition warplanes have targeted the area, the last strikes were a short while ago," he said by telephone.

 

The overnight strikes were the first on the area since last month, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

 

There were reports of casualties on both sides on Saturday, the Observatory said, without giving precise figures.