Everything to do with ISIS

[Dan T.]

Holy **** this is ****ing awesome. Never seen anything like it before. Serious must watch

https://twitter.com/HaraldDoornbos/status/587976414768537600?s=17

 

 

Was Wile E. Coyote driving? Because that looked like something out of a Road Runner cartoon.

[visionary]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/16/middleeast/iraq-ramadi-isis-damon/index.html

'I grabbed my children and ran' -- Families flee ISIS in Iraq

 

The call from Faleh Essawi, the deputy chief of the provincial council, who we were supposed to be meeting up with, came just as we were about to hit the bridge -- the only safe route from Baghdad to neighboring Anbar province.

 

"ISIS has taken the east of the city, it's not accessible," he says, sounding frantic, rapidly rattling off the neighborhoods and areas ISIS fighters had just stormed into.

 

Moments later, we see the impact: An endless stream of humanity, shell shocked, and exhausted. Parents cradle babies in blankets, some struggle under the weight of their belongings, some carry small plastic bags, while others nothing but the children clutching at their hands.

 

Cars are not permitted to cross this bridge across the Euphrates. The government feels that restricting vehicles will decrease the likelihood of explosives making their way into Iraq's capital.

 

Those too young or too tired to walk pile into metal carts pushed by boys or young men, normally used to carry produce to markets. An elderly woman sits in one, a child in her arms, a worn down plastic doll in her hand.

 

Many don't want to talk, at least not for long. What they just went through is too raw, too painful.

Over the weekend ISIS moved into towns just to the north of Ramadi, which lies 68 miles (110km) west of Baghdad, sending thousands fleeing on foot into the city. ISIS had already blocked off access from the south months ago, and the west was contested territory. The east, until now, was not just a relatively safe zone but the only viable entrance and exit.

 

At a hospital in Amriyat al-Falluja, about a 15-minute drive away, a wounded local fighter winces in pain. He was shot by a sniper in Ramadi that morning as ISIS fighters advanced -- the bullet barely missed his heart.

 

"We had been warning we could see their movements," he tells us. "But we just didn't have the force to hold them off. We didn't leave a single person we didn't call and ask for back up."

 

But none came.

 

Hours after our morning conversation we speak to Essawi again by phone.

 

"Security is collapsing in the city," he screams. "This is what we warned Baghdad would happen. Where is Baghdad? Where is al-Abadi?

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/17/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-douri-idUSKBN0N81EZ20150417?utm_source=twitter

Saddam aide, Iraqi insurgent leader al-Douri reported killed

 

Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, former right-hand man to late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and a leader of Iraq's Sunni insurgency, has been reported killed by Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militias.

 

Douri was killed in a military operation, Raed al-Jubouri, the governor of Salahuddin province, told Reuters. The pan-Arab television network al-Arabiya showed images of a dead man who looked like al-Douri.

 

Baghdad has mistakenly announced al-Douri's death several times before, but this time photos are circulating showing a man with features and red hair like his. Al-Jubouri told Reuters DNA from the body would be tested and results released "very soon".

 

His killing, if confirmed, would be a big blow to the Sunni insurgency, an alliance of former Baathist officers and Islamic State.

 

"The mastermind of terrorist operations has been killed and he is Ezzat al-Douri," al-Jubouri told Arabiya TV. "Al-Douri is the biggest mastermind behind all attacks that undermined Iraq. This news will have an impact on the morale of the fighters."

 

After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Douri was ranked sixth on the U.S. military's list of 55 most wanted Iraqis and a $10 million reward was offered for his capture. Iraqi and U.S. officials accused him of organizing and leading the insurgency that swept Iraq in 2005-07.

 

He evaded capture during the long U.S. occupation as other Saddam aides were killed or put on trial and sectarian civil war engulfed the country.

 

Karim al-Nouri, a leader in the Badr organization and spokesman for Shi'ite militias fighting Islamic State, said his forces had been involved in the operation although they thought the target was the leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

 

"We received intelligence from our sources that a VIP was in the city of Hawija and we were waiting to ambush him. Based on our intelligence, it was believed that the man was al-Baghdadi, but it turned out to be al-Douri."

 

"He was the second man after Saddam Hussein and was the coordinator between the Baath party and IS. The body is now taken for identification, but we are certain it is al-Douri," al-Nouri added.Khdhayer Almurshidy, an exiled spokesman for Iraq's former Baath party, said in comments to Iraq's al-Hadath TV that the reports of al-Douri's death were false.

[visionary]

http://news.yahoo.com/ethiopia-condemns-purported-executions-libya-christians-144554939.html

Ethiopia condemns purported executions in Libya of Christians

 

Ethiopia condemned Sunday the reported killing of Ethiopian Christians captured in Libya, and vowed to continue its fight against Islamist extremists.

 

"We strongly condemn such atrocities, whether they are Ethiopians are not," Ethiopian Minster of Communications Redwan Hussein told AFP.

Ethiopia's embassy in Egypt was working to verify if those killed were indeed Ethiopians, he added.

 

The Islamic State jihadist group on Sunday released a video purportedly showing the executions of some 30 Ethiopian Christians captured in Libya.

 

The 29-minute video purports to show militants holding two groups of captives, described in a text on the screen as "followers of the cross from the enemy Ethiopian Church".

A masked fighter in black brandishing a pistol makes a statement threatening Christians if they do not convert to Islam.

 

A large number of Ethiopians leave their country -- Africa's second largest in terms of population with more than 90 million people -- seeking work elsewhere.

Many travel to Libya and other north African nations for jobs, as well as to use it as a stepping stone before risking the dangerous sea crossing to Europe.

 

Ethiopian troops are fighting in neighbouring Somalia as part of an African Union force battling the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab Islamist insurgents.

 

"There are elements of IS around Ethiopia who are already carrying out operations, even though under a different name," Redwan said, in reference to the Shebab. "We will keep on fighting them."

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/19/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-kurds-idUSKBN0NA11T20150419?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Iraqi Kurdish forces widen buffer around oil-rich city of Kirkuk

 

Kurdish authorities said their forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, drove Islamic State militants from an 84 square kilometer (32 sq mile) area in northern Iraq over the weekend, widening a buffer around the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

 

The Kurdistan region's security council said in a statement at least 35 insurgents had been killed by its peshmerga forces in the offensive south of Kirkuk, which began on Saturday on two fronts.

 

The peshmerga have emerged as a key partner for the United States in its campaign against Islamic State. They have rolled it back in northern Iraq, significantly expanding the formal boundary of their autonomous region in the process.

 

The Kurds took full control of Kirkuk last summer as Islamic State overran the north of the country, and several divisions of the Iraqi army disintegrated. Kurdish leaders say they will never give up the ethnically mixed city, to which they, as well as Turkmen and Arabs, lay claim.

 

The U.S.-led coalition said in a statement on Sunday it had provided "reconnaissance (and) advise and assist elements" as well as airstrikes in support of the peshmerga, who had gained "dozens of square miles".

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/ShababLibya

Deeply saddened by the vicious attack in Derna today resulting in the murder of 8 members of the Al-Harrir [Al-Mansouri] family الله يرحمهم
7:03 PM

 

Ten Islamic State members were killed and 20 others were injured at the hands of Al-Harrir family; a last act of bravery Derna Libya
7:12 PM

[visionary]

http://www.newsweek.com/isis-replace-injured-leader-baghdadi-former-physics-teacher-324082

ISIS Replace Injured Leader Baghdadi With Former Physics Teacher

 

The Islamic State’s temporary leader is a former Iraqi physics teacher located in the country’s second-biggest city, Mosul, the adviser to the Iraqi government on ISIS has revealed.

 

Yesterday, it was reported by the Guardian that the terror group’s caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was seriously wounded in a U.S. coalition airstrike in western Iraq in March, leaving him with injuries which allegedly rendered him incapable of carrying out the day-to-day duties as caliph. The revelation raised questions about the leadership structure of the group and reportedly led to frantic meetings between senior ISIS officials on life after Baghdadi.

 

Speaking to Newsweek, Dr Hisham al Hashimi, the Iraqi government adviser, confirmed that Abu Alaa Afri, the self-proclaimed caliph’s deputy and a former physics teacher, has now been installed as the stand-in leader of the terror group in Baghdadi’s absence.

 

“After Baghdadi’s wounding, he [Afri] has begun to head up Daesh [arabic term for ISIS] with the help of officials responsible for other portfolios,” confirms Hashimi. “He will be the leader of Daesh if Baghdadi dies.”

 

It is believed that Afri is located in the al-Hadar region of the city of Mosul. He has risen through the ranks of the group, becoming more prominent in the eyes of the group’s leadership and even more important than Baghdadi himself, Hashimi claims.

 

“Yes – more important, and smarter, and with better relationships. He is a good public speaker and strong charisma,” says the adviser when asked if Afri is now more important within the group than Baghdadi. “All the leaders of Daesh find that he has much jihadi wisdom, and good capability at leadership and administration.”

 

Little is known about Afri, also known as Haji Iman, but Hashimi reveals some details about the previous life of Baghdadi’s mysterious right-hand man.

 

“He was a physics teacher in Tal Afar [northwestern Iraqi city] in Nineveh, and has dozens of publications and religious (shariah) studies of his own,” he says. “He is a follower of Abu Musaab al-Suri [prominent jihadi scholar].”

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/29/us-france-syria-jihadists-idUSKBN0NK2E720150429?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

France to set up center for returning young jihadists by year-end

 

France will open a center late this year to help reintegrate young French citizens who return from conflict zones such as Syria but are not subject to prosecution, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Wednesday.

 

France is a top Western source country for jihadi volunteers and more than 100 have returned home after fighting in Syria and Iraq, which can land them in prison. Their lawyers say heavy sentences risk making them in to hardened criminals.

 

But there are also those who return disappointed and repentant, including young women, for whom France has so far had no plan to receive and reintegrate.

In April last year, the French government adopted a plan aimed at preventing potential jihadist sympathizers before they leave by setting up an online service for families who suspect relatives are about to go and join these radical groups.

 

Reception centers were created at prefectures for parents of potential jihadists. A year later, nearly 1,900 cases have been registered, of which a quarter are for minors and more than 40 percent for young girls, Valls said.

 

"We have to go further and explore new avenues," he said at the end of an international meeting of anti-terror magistrates in Paris.

 

"A structure will be created by the end of the year to take charge, on a voluntary basis, of young people returning from conflict zones who are not, of course, being prosecuted."

 

It was not immediately clear how many repentant returnees there are who would want to seek this psychological counseling. Most attention to returning jihadists so far has been focused on breaking up plots by those determined to attack.

[visionary]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32565809

Islamic State: Militants 'kill 300 Yazidi captives'

 

Several hundred Yazidi captives have been killed in Iraq by Islamic State (IS) militants west of Mosul, Yazidi and Iraqi officials say.

 

A statement from the Yazidi Progress Party said 300 captives were killed on Friday in the Tal Afar district near the city.

 

Iraqi Vice-President Osama al-Nujaifi described the reported deaths as "horrific and barbaric".

 

Thousands of members of the religious minority group were captured last year.

 

It is not clear how they were killed, or why this has happened now, says the BBC's Middle East editor Alan Johnston.

 

Many are reported to have been held in Mosul, the main stronghold of IS after the militants swept through large areas of northern and western Iraq, and eastern Syria in 2014.

The Yazidi Progress Party's statement, quoted by the Kurdish Shafaq News website, condemned the latest incident as a "heinous crime" and called on Iraqi forces to free those still held by IS.

 

In January, IS released some 200 mainly elderly Yazidis into the hands of Kurdish officials near the city of Kirkuk.

 

Many of them, held in Mosul, had disabilities or were wounded, though no reason was given by IS for their release.

 

In recent months, IS has been pushed back from some of the areas it captured, though many Yazidi villages are thought to remain under the militants' control.

 

In December, Kurdish Peshmerga forces drove back IS militants in north-western Iraq, relieving a long siege of Sinjar mountain where thousands of Yazidis had sought refuge.

 

The Iraqi government, with forces backed by Iran, also declared it had taken back control of the city of Tikrit in April.

[pjfootballer]

This the last straw.

[visionary]

http://news.yahoo.com/us-targets-leaders-multi-million-dollar-bounties-194112577.html

US targets IS leaders with multi-million-dollar bounties

 

The United States ratcheted up pressure on the leaders of the Islamic State jihadist group on Tuesday, adding four names to those targeted by multi-million-dollar bounties.

 

The IS group has seized a wide stretch of eastern Syria and northern Iraq and declared it a "caliphate," within which it has enslaved female captives, carried out sectarian massacres and murdered hostages.

 

Iraqi and Kurdish security forces are fighting back, supported by Iranian advisors and a US-led air coalition, but IS is holding on in its heartland and allied groups have sprung up as far away as Libya and Nigeria.

 

Tuesday's statement from the State Department adds four names to the list of high-value US targets sought by the "Rewards for Justice Program."

 

The militant with the largest price -- $7 million (6.25 million euros) -- on his head is Abdel Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, who was designated a global terrorist for the purpose of US Treasury sanctions in May last year.

[visionary]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/14/world/uk-syria-isis-returnees/index.html

Scotland Yard sees terror threat as hundreds of Britons return from Syria

 

As if it were not bad enough that hundreds of radicalized Britons have traveled to Syria to join ISIS, the even worse news for the UK is that hundreds of them have come back.

 

Such was the information released Thursday by Scotland Yard, London's Metropolitan Police Service. A senior police official said the trend raises the specter of more ISIS-like crimes being committed on home soil.

 

"There is no doubt of the horrific nature of the offenses being committed overseas," Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said. "The influence of those who wish to bring similar violence to the streets of the UK has been an increasing threat here."

 

According to Scotland Yard, about 700 extremists are believed to be among the many Britons who have traveled to Syria, a significant proportion of whom went there to join the terrorist group ISIS, which has become known for beheading captives in Iraq and Syria in its effort to found a Middle East caliphate.

 

In the last year, terrorism-related arrests inside the UK have risen -- up to 338 between April 2014 and March 2015, an increase of 33% over the year before, according to Scotland Yard.

 

"The type and level of the threat is complex and ranges from lone actors intent on carrying out crude and violent attacks to sophisticated networks set on completing ambitious and coordinated plots," Rowley said.

[ixcuincle]

RT @SamFeistCNN BREAKING NEWS: CNN/CNNI in live coverage of major U.S. anti-ISIS operation involving U.S. special forces on the ground in Syria.

[ixcuincle]

CNN all over this, saying a major ISIS player was killed. Abu Sayyef. 

[TheGoodBits]

CNN all over this, saying a major ISIS player was killed. Abu Sayyef.

One down...

[ixcuincle]

http://news.yahoo.com/what-we-know-about-abu-sayyaf--the-islamic-state-leader-killed-by-u-s--forces-205225010.html

 

CNN’s national security analyst Peter Bergen was similarly skeptical. Pointing out that raids like the one on Sayyaf likely put the Islamic State’s leadership on high alert to operate more carefully, he questioned the real value of the mission. 

 

“Taking out the guy who runs effectively the most important financing stream is obviously significant,” he said. “But what’s really significant is the computer records and all the materials that he would have with him as the head of this financing arm, if indeed that is the case that he is really that important.”

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2015/05/story-isil-fights-ramadi-150517022314189.html

Inside Story: ISIL fights back

 

The battle for Iraq has taken another twist after ISIL fighters took control of large parts of the city of Ramadi.

 

It comes just weeks after Iraqi forces triumphantly took the city of Tikrit and looked set to march on other ISIL strongholds in Anbar province. Ramadi is the regional capital and is just 100km from Baghdad.

 

On Friday ISIL fighters used multiple suicide attacks to break through defences and capture key government buildings in the city.

 

The city's authorities say their appeals for help were largely ignored by the government in Baghdad.

 

People are continuing to flee Ramadi. More than 100,000 have fled in the last month alone.

 

ISIL has been in control of most of Anbar province since last year. After suffering some recently military setbacks, including reports that some of its leaders have been killed or injured, ISIL can now claim a major victory.

[Destino]

So who long has this gone on now, with several ME nations fighting and allied powers lending support? ISIS captured a new city, according to the news reports. All the while slavery, mass murder, and all the horrors they've engaged in happily go on and recruits flood in from all over.

Like I said a while back, these guys aren't a simple terrorist group and least not as the ones we've come to know in the past. Al Qaeda never had the ability to fight seemingly everyone off and actually move to conquer territory all the while.

I'm starting to wonder if the western world isn't content to allow ISIS to exist to keep the fighting and the terrorists focused on the Middle East and not on them. It's incredible to me that they just keep on rolling. Who the hell is arming these guys anyway? With this much fighting they've got to be getting a lot of supplies from somewhere. I'm not implying that the west is arming them, just to be clear. Someone is though.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/18/us-syria-usa-raid-idUSKBN0O31XX20150518?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

U.S. to question Islamic State leader's wife on hostages, officials say

 

The captured wife of a senior Islamic State leader who was killed in a weekend raid will face questions over what she and her husband knew about the group's treatment of hostages, including Americans, U.S. officials said.

 

The U.S. government believes the leader, Abu Sayyaf, was involved in handling foreign hostages, including Kayla Mueller, an American aid worker who was killed in February, U.S. security and law enforcement officials said.

 

The White House said on Saturday that U.S. military personnel based in Iraq had carried out a raid in eastern Syria aimed at capturing Abu Sayyaf and his wife, known as Umm Sayyaf.

 

Umm Sayyaf was captured by U.S. forces, but Abu Sayyaf was killed after "he engaged U.S. forces," the White House said.

 

U.S. commandos freed a Yazidi woman who appeared to have been "held as a slave" by Abu Sayyaf and his wife.

 

U.S. law enforcement and security officials said that Umm Sayyaf would likely be questioned by members of the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG), an interagency unit created after President Barack Obama closed down a CIA counter-terrorism program widely criticized for its use of torture.

 

The U.S. officials said they believed Abu Sayyaf had some direct interaction with Mueller and other hostages although they said his wife's role would likely have been limited.

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/world/middleeast/isis-fighters-seized-advantage-in-iraq-attack-by-striking-during-sandstorm.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1

ISIS Fighters Seized Advantage in Iraq Attack by Striking During Sandstorm

 

Islamic State fighters used a sandstorm to help seize a critical military advantage in the early hours of the terrorist group’s attack on the provincial Iraqi capital of Ramadi last week, helping to set in motion an assault that forced Iraqi security forces to flee, current and former American officials said Monday.

 

The sandstorm delayed American warplanes and kept them from launching airstrikes to help the Iraqi forces, as the Islamic State fighters evidently anticipated. The fighters used the time to carry out a series of car bombings followed by a wave of ground attacks in and around the city that eventually overwhelmed the American-backed Iraqi forces.

 

Once the storm subsided, Islamic State and Iraqi forces were intermingled in heavy combat in many areas, making it difficult for allied pilots to distinguish friend or foe, the officials said. By that point, the militants had gained an operational momentum that could not be reversed.

 

“The dust storm at the very least neutralized capabilities that could have been decisive,” said one former senior military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential battle assessments.

 

The episode reveals the limitations in America’s formidable aerial arsenal and also the weaknesses in the Iraqi military’s ability to reinforce and resupply troops facing heavy attack, particularly in Ramadi and elsewhere in Anbar Province, where the government has struggled to recruit capable Sunni troops.

 

Although American military officials challenged the notion last week that bad weather hindered the effectiveness of the airstrikes, other officials in the United States and Iraq said Monday that the sandstorms played a more important role than previously acknowledged. Islamic State fighters have used this tactic before — in January they launched a surprise attack against Kurdish forces in Kirkuk during a sandstorm — but not with such formidable results.

 

Pentagon officials vowed that the Iraqis would retake Ramadi and pointed to 19 airstrikes since the sandstorm subsided.

[visionary]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/19/pentagon-iraqis-didn-t-want-to-fight-isis-for-ramadi.html?via=mobile&source=twitter

Pentagon: Iraqis ‘Didn’t Want to Fight’ ISIS for Ramadi

 

In the face of a vicious ISIS assault, the Iraqi army ran away, leaving the American plan to beat the terror group in tatters.
They saw the ISIS attack coming—and they ran.

 

U.S. military officials believe that the city of Ramadi fell to the self-proclaimed Islamic State over the weekend in large part because the Iraqi security forces there fled in the face of an ISIS assault.

 

The American strategy to fight ISIS in Iraq depends on local troops standing up to the terror army. That Iraqi forces chose not to fight—much as they did last year when ISIS sacked the city of Mosul—reinforced how little the U.S. effort has bolstered Iraq’s security. The Pentagon has said it trained 7,000 Iraqi forces since Mosul’s collapse and launched more than 3,700 airstrikes, hitting 6,300 targets. In the month leading to Ramadi’s collapse, the U.S.-led coalition conducted 165 airstrikes in Ramadi alone, according to military statistics. And yet, once again, the Iraqis could not mount a defense against a charging ISIS.

 

The 6,000 Iraqi forces—plagued with poor equipment, bad resupply chains, and low morale—saw a series of ISIS attacks and 8 to 12 car bombs hit in Ramadi sometime Friday. In response, those troops decided to retreat to a position a few miles east and north, U.S. defense officials believe. That is, once confronted, the troops fled the fight.

 

The ISIS attacks were “enough to make the Iraqis believe they didn’t want to fight,” a defense official told The Daily Beast. “We’re still trying to figure out what flipped the switch.”

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/20/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-idUSKBN0O50LP20150520?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Iraqi forces thwart Islamic State attack east of Ramadi overnight

 

Iraqi forces said they fought off an overnight attack by Islamic State militants east of the city of Ramadi, which the insurgents overran at the weekend in the most significant setback for the government in a year.

 

The insurgents attacked government lines in Husaiba al-Sharqiya, about halfway between Ramadi and the Habbaniya military base, said police and pro-government forces.

 

“Daesh (Islamic State) attacked us around midnight after a wave of mortar shelling on our positions," Amir al-Fahdawi a leader of the pro-government Sunni tribal force in the area, told Reuters.

 

"This time they came from another direction in an attempt to launch a surprise attack, but we were vigilant and, after around four hours of fighting, we aborted their offensive,” he added.

 

Islamic State militants are seeking to consolidate their gains in the vast desert province of Anbar, where only small pockets of territory remain under government control, strung out along the Euphrates river valley and the border with Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

 

The Habbaniya base is roughly midway between Ramadi and the town of Fallujah, which has been under Islamic State control for more than a year and is just 50 km (32 miles) from the Iraqi capital.

[RichmondRedskin88]

Bombing a Russian embassy. They must be nuts.....

[Zguy28]

Warning: this blog includes some graphic depictions of real life events. And it was written to the church in North America, but still, its an extremely moving account of what's happening in Iraq to women and children.

 

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2015/05/into-iraq-2-what-the-news-isnt-telling-you-why-we-cant-afford-to-pretend-its-not-happening-sozans-impossible-choice-and-our-very-possible-one/

 

I'm hugging my 9 year old daughter a little tighter today.

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/world/middleeast/syria-isis-fighters-enter-ancient-city-of-palmyra.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

ISIS Fighters Seize Control of Syrian City of Palmyra, and Ancient Ruins

 

Islamic State militants swept into the historic desert city of Palmyra in central Syria on Wednesday, and by evening were in control of it, residents and the Syrian state news media said, a victory that gives them another strategically important prize five days after the group seized the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

 

Palmyra has extra resonance as home to some of the world’s most magnificent remnants of antiquity, as well as the grimmer modern landmark of Tadmur Prison, where Syrian dissidents have languished over the decades.

 

But for the fighters on the ground, the city of 50,000 people is significant because it sits among gas fields and astride a network of roads across the country’s central desert.

 

As they have swept across Syria and Iraq, Islamic State fighters have destroyed or damaged numerous ancient sites and sculptures, condemning them as idolatry in slickly produced recruitment films, even as they pillage and sell off more portable items to finance their activities. That has raised fears both locally and internationally that Palmyra, a United Nations world heritage site, could also be irrevocably damaged.

But no intervention appears likely. People in Palmyra, a relatively remote city, its population swollen with tens of thousands of displaced Syrians, were left on their own, squeezed between government forces and the Islamic State.

 

Residents said that by nightfall, the Islamic State had seized most of the city and was even distributing bread to some residents. Soldiers and the police could be seen fleeing, they said, prompting one cafe owner to exclaim over the phone: “Treason! It’s treason.”

 

Soon after government forces left the city, airstrikes began, residents said.

 

Workers could be seen earlier Wednesday packing up four truckloads of small boxes from the museum on the edge of the ruins, apparently carting away more antiquities in addition to items already removed for safekeeping, said Khaled al-Homsi, a Palmyra resident and anti-government activist who documents damage to the site by combatants.

 

The Islamic State was coming closer, he said, as a squad of 12 soldiers who had manned a nearby checkpoint appeared to withdraw. As he spoke over Internet chat, a boom could be heard; he said government airstrikes were coming dangerously close to the archaeological site’s medieval citadel.

 

“It’s bad today,” Khalil al-Hariri, the museum’s director, said in a brief telephone conversation, while Syria’s top antiquities director told Reuters that hundreds of objects were being moved to safety. Another museum employee, who had earlier vowed not to leave, said by phone, “Pray for us.”

 

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f995a85fbf3246a18480776d69238e00/embittered-moroccan-leaves-family-islamic-state

Embittered, Moroccan leaves family for Islamic State

 

Journalists and activists in Morocco during the heady days of the Arab Spring knew Anas Haloui, a slight, serious, wispy-bearded man in his 30s who would bombard them with emails about the plight of jailed Islamists.

 

Unlike many Salafis, as followers of his ultraconservative strand of Islam are known, he was eager to engage with people who didn't share his beliefs.

 

"He was a very nice guy, someone who was really open and trying to reach out to other people," recalled Brahim Ansari, Human Rights Watch's Morocco representative.

 

But one day in December 2013, Haloui left behind his wife and children and quit Morocco to join a group linked to the Islamic State.

 

"I love my country with my last breath, but I was a victim of injustice, they put me in their cells and I don't need to remind you about the torture I went through," he said in a letter of farewell in which he condemned his treatment by the Moroccan government.

 

His older brother, Yusuf, remembers a different Anas — one who enjoyed singing. He recalls a cheerful boy in a family of eight kids growing up in the town of Tissa, just north of Fez in the foothills of the Rif mountains.

 

Anas majored in Islamic studies at Fez University in 1999, at a time of great intellectual ferment when Moroccan student life was dominated by Islamist groups. His brother says he never joined but took part in their activities, writing poetry for one group.

 

Everything changed after the 2003 Casablanca suicide bombings by young Islamic radicals that claimed 45 lives. Some 2,300 people were arrested, and Haloui was repeatedly questioned. He dropped out of school and returned home.

 

His efforts to distance himself from his student activism were in vain. He was arrested and convicted of forming an extremist group and spent three years in prison, during which he told his brother he was tortured by police and interrogated by American investigators.

 

In prison, he grew out his hair and beard and began wearing the traditional clothes associated with the Salafis, his brother said. When he got out in 2007, he was a changed man.

 

"He stopped singing after prison," said Yusuf. "It was like he was imprisoned by this Salafi idea."

 

But the 2011 Arab Spring demonstrations in the region inspired him. In Morocco, the February 20 Movement took to the streets to demand an end to corruption and abuse of power. Haloui joined the protests with secular activists. With other Salafis, who normally avoid all forms of activism or politics, he started an organization dedicated to freeing Islamist prisoners who he believed were being held unfairly.

 

Morocco got a new constitution promising greater freedoms. But the police soon returned to their old habits. One day men in plainclothes picked up Haloui's fiancee, slapped her around and warned her against marrying him.

 

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f4d2582dca1643ebb33d1cb210199062/facing-child-support-minneapolis-man-joins-jihad

Facing child support, Minneapolis man joins the jihad

 

Abdifatah Ahmed struggled for years to make ends meet.

 

After losing his $15-an-hour job fueling airliners in Minneapolis, the Somali-American father of nine survived on low-wage jobs and public assistance. He complained about working hard, but never having enough money. His circumstances worsened when he was ordered to pay more than $700 a month to support three of his children — including one less than a year old.

 

Months later, he surfaced in Syria, where he went to fight for the Islamic State.

 

"I think since he lost his job, he was maybe never normal after that," sister Muna Ahmed told the AP last fall.

 

"It's unbelievable," his friend, Farhan Hussein, said recently. "Where did this disease come from?"

 

Hussein said his friend seemed confused about life, and sometimes felt stressed out by the women with whom he had children: Minnesota court papers show at times he was paying child support to two ex-wives for five of his kids, as well as support for a sixth whose mother is not identified. He wasn't the type to go to mosque or pray every day — instead, he went clubbing and even drank alcohol, Hussein said.

 

When he felt troubled, Ahmed might turn to his religion for a week or so at a time. But once the blues passed, he would be back to his old self — flirting with women, dressing sharply, listening to rap music, shooting hoops and lifting weights at a local gym, Hussein said.

 

He dipped sporadically into political discussions, speaking about the Palestinians, the civil war in Libya and conditions in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia where many Somalis live. But the continued atrocities against Syrian civilians committed by the Assad regime apparently made a deeper impression.

 

On Dec. 3, 2013, a post on his Facebook account showed pictures of mutilated kids: "Look what is happening in syria. Where is the UN when u need them. This is worse than libya you get it?"

 

A month later, it appears, Ahmed was in Syria himself.

 

"A muslim has to stand up for was right. ... I give up this worldly life for allah and to save the ummah (community of believers) if that makes terrorist am happy with it," he wrote in a Jan. 3, 2014 post.

 

Another post that same day contains a photo of him holding a rifle in one hand, and a book that may be the Quran in the other.

 

Alarmed, Hussein messaged Ahmed, urging him to come home. After ignoring his friend for months, Ahmed replied that "we've got to fight" for the caliphate.

[visionary]

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/world/middleeast/suicide-bombing-saudi-arabia-shiites-sunnis-yemen-mosque.html?referrer=&_r=0

ISIS Claims Responsibility for Bombing at Saudi Mosque

 

The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility Friday for a suicide bombing during midday prayer at a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Health Ministry said at least 21 people had been killed and more than 120 others injured.

 

It appeared to be the first official claim of an attack inside the kingdom by the Islamic State, which has seized control of much of Syria and Iraq.

 

The group attributed the attack to a new unit, the Najd Province, named for the central region of Saudi Arabia around Riyadh. But it was unclear whether the attack was planned by Islamic State leaders, initiated independently by a Saudi sympathizer, or merely claimed opportunistically after the fact.