Everything to do with ISIS

[Koala]

And ISIS just keeps on marching. All the world's armies, and all the world's men (and some of its women) just cant stop her. Hard to believe, aint it

[visionary]

http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Dec-10/326808-isis-recaptures-central-syria-towns-from-govt-activists.ashx?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=*Mideast%20Brief

ISIS recaptures central Syria towns from govt: activists

 

ISIS on Thursday recaptured two areas in central Syria from government forces, just weeks after losing them, activists said.

 

"Syrian army units withdrew from all of the Maheen and Hawareen areas after an [iSIS] attack," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

 

The two areas had previously been held by ISIS, but in late November the army and pro-government militias were able to recapture them.

 

Abdel Rahman said fierce fighting was raging between government forces and ISIS in the hills around the two areas.

 

In nearby Sadad, a local representative said the army had deployed to secure an exit route for government forces fighting the extremists, "who are trying to encircle and isolate them".

 

The Christian town of Sadad, some 18 kilometers from Homs city in central Syria, had been preparing for the possibility of an ISIS assault before regime forces recaptured Maheen and Hawareen.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-airstrikes-idUSKBN0TW0QA20151213?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

U.S., allies conduct 15 strikes in Iraq, seven in Syria: U.S. military
 

he United States and its allies conducted 15 air strikes in Iraq and seven in Syria against Islamic State on Saturday, the coalition leading the operations said.

 

Six strikes in Ramadi hit multiple Islamic State targets, the Combined Joint Task Force said on Sunday, as Iraqi forces attempt to retake the city from the militants.

Other air strikes in Iraq hit near Mosul, Fallujah, Sinjar, Tal Afar, Sultan Abdallah, Rawah and Qayyarah, the coalition said in a statement.

 

In Syria, the air strikes hit near five cities including the militant stronghold of Raqqa, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-arab-soldier-reportedly-joins-syria-184436766.html;_ylt=A0LEVjZ.v21WUcsAmKBjmolQ

Israeli Arab soldier reportedly joins IS in Syria

 

An Arab who served in the Israeli army has joined the Islamic State group in Syria, the first such soldier to do so, the Shin Bet domestic security agency said Sunday.

"It is the first time that a soldier in the Israeli army has joined the Islamic State," the agency said in a statement.

 

It said that the man is a Muslim and had slipped into Syria via Turkey a year ago to join IS.

 

Shin Bet did not identify the man, but said he was from an Arab village in the northern Galilee region.

 

According to the agency, around 35 Israeli Arabs have joined IS.

 

And a number of Israeli Arabs have died fighting with jihadist groups in Syria, which has been wracked by war for nearly five years, judicial sources say.

Last week, Israel charged five Arabs from the northern city of Nazareth with having ties with the jihadist group.

 

And last month it arrested six others on suspicion of planning to travel to Syria to join IS, after another Arab man crossed from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights into neighbouring Syria on a hang glider.

 

https://twitter.com/Raqqa_SL

Clashes between FSA and ISIS Near EynEssa town in the Northern countryside of Raqqa city Syria

4:14 PM Dec 12

 

ISIS Blew up A car bomb near EynEssa and they are attacking the city and Coalition warplanes bomb them and try to stop them Syria
4:34 PM Dec 12

 

3 Explosions Due the Airstrikes by Warplanes on Ma'dan town in the The eastern countryside of Raqqa city Syria
5:00 PM Dec 12

 

Raqqa the 3 Airstrikes on Ma'dan targeted Water Company in the Town Syria
5:27 PM Dec 12

 

Mustafa Youssef "Abu Asiad" member in ISIS security office in Raqqa was killed in drone air raids close to DeirEzzour airport
10:49 AM

[China]

ISIS 'issues fatwa ordering suffocation of babies with Down’s syndrome'

 

Islamic State is slaughtering babies with Down’s syndrome in a barbaric echo of the Nazis, according to reports.

 

The terrorists are claimed to have issued a fatwa – a religious decree – sanctioning the killing of children with Down’s syndrome and other disabilities.

 

Dozens of babies aged between one week and three months have already been killed by suffocation or lethal injection, according to Iraqi activist group Mosul Eye.

 

The fatwa was reportedly issued by one of so-called Islamic State’s sharia judges.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/mideast-crisis-iraq-militias/?utm_source=twitter/

Torture by Iraqi militias: the report Washington did not want you to see

 

Two unpublished investigations show that the United States has consistently overlooked killings and torture by Iraqi government-sponsored Shi'ite militias.

 

It was one of the most shocking events in one of the most brutal periods in Iraq’s history. In late 2005, two years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, U.S. soldiers raided a police building in Baghdad and found 168 prisoners in horrific conditions.

 

Many were malnourished. Some had been beaten.

 

The discovery of the secret prison exposed a world of kidnappings and assassinations. Behind these operations was an unofficial Interior Ministry organisation called the Special Investigations Directorate, according to U.S. and Iraqi security officials at the time.

 

The body was run by militia commanders from the Badr Organisation, a pro-Iran, Shi’ite political movement that today plays a major role in Baghdad’s war against Islamic State, the Sunni militant group.

 

Washington pressured the Iraqi government to investigate the prison. But the findings of Baghdad’s investigation – a probe derided by some of its own committee members at the time as a whitewash – were never released.

 

The U.S. military conducted its own investigation. But rather than publish its findings, it chose to lobby Iraqi officials in quiet for fear of damaging Iraq’s fragile political setup, according to several current and former U.S. military officials and diplomats.

The decade-old U.S. investigation of the secret prison implicates officials and political groups in a wave of sectarian killings that helped ignite a civil war. It also draws worrying parallels to the U.S. government’s muted response today to alleged abuses committed in the name of fighting Islamic State.

 

Those accused of running the secret prison or of helping cover up its existence include the current head of the Iraqi judiciary, Midhat Mahmoud, Transport Minister, Bayan Jabr, and a long revered Badr commander popularly referred to as Engineer Ahmed.

 

“Special Investigations Directorate personnel illegally detained, tortured and murdered Iraqi citizens,” the U.S. report states. “Iraqi government officials failed to take action to stop the crimes.”

A senior Badr official told Reuters that the prison allegations were part of a smear campaign by terrorists. He called for the international media to focus on Islamic State, which has carried out suicide bombings and executed prisoners.

 

U.S. officials acknowledge the role that Shi’ite militias such as Badr play in fighting Islamic State. As the Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces, the militias helped Baghdad defend the country against the Sunni jihadist group when Iraqi military and police divisions deserted en masse in 2014.

 

Since then, the militias have continued to attack Islamic State, which has declared a Caliphate across swathes of Iraq and Syria. Islamic State, also known as Daesh, routinely executes citizens who speak against it, kidnaps people, buys and sells women and children, and uses rape as a weapon.

 

American ambassador Stuart Jones told Iraqi state television in April this year “that the Hashid Shaabi is part of the Iraqi fighting forces which are defeating Daesh today.”

 

But Sunnis in areas freed from Islamic State control say the Shi’ite militias have been guilty of their own excesses, including looting, abductions and murder. At least 718 Sunnis in Salahuddin province have been abducted by fighters from Shi’ite militias since April 2015, according to several security officers, a provincial council member and tribal leaders. Only 289 have been freed, most after paying ransoms.

 

Some former and current U.S. officials say Washington needs to stop downplaying abuses by the Shi’ite militias.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-still-wont-isis-bombed-russian-plane-152108264.html

Egypt still won't say that ISIS bombed Russian plane

 

Egyptian investigators said Monday they have not found “any evidence” indicating that an "illegal or terrorist act" brought down a Russian passenger plane traveling from a resort in the Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31, in a statement released by Egypt's chief investigator.

 

Russia, initially hesitant to cite terrorism in the days following the crash that killed all 224 onboard the Airbus A321-200, concluded on Nov. 17 that a bomb containing up to 2.2 pounds of TNT explosive had been placed on the flight. The US and British governments have also said the crash was likely the result of a terrorist attack.

 

In early November, a source close to the investigation told France 2 that the sound of an explosion could be heard on the Metrojet black box recorder. Unnamed officials meanwhile told Le Point that “exterior action” was the only explanation for the crash. CNN quoted a US intelligence official saying it was "99.9 percent certain" a bomb brought the plane down, and another US source said it was "likely."

 

The Islamic State group (also known as ISIS) took responsibility for the crash within hours of the plane going down in the Sinai Peninsula where Islamic insurgents have been active for the last two years.

 

But Egypt isn't buying it.

 

"The technical investigative committee has so far not found any evidence indicating criminal or terrorist activity in the downing of the plane," chief investigator Ayman El-Muqqadam said, according to Ahram Online, an English-language edition of Egypt’s largest news organization. Mr. El-Muqqadam indicated the report is initial, and that the investigation is ongoing.

 

El-Muqadam said the investigation committee visited the crash site 15 times, and the Egyptian air force was working with investigators to relocate the wreckage to Cairo for continued examination. Investigators looked at the plane's 38 computers and two engine computers, and is now turning its attention to the technical aspects of the aircraft and its repair history since it began operating in May 1997, The Associated Press reports.

 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment directly on the Egyptian statement, but told reporters in a conference call, "I can remind you of the conclusion of our experts from the special services, who came to the conclusion that it was a terrorist action."

 

Experts from Egypt, Russia, France and Ireland have taken part in a technical investigation, and Egyptian security officials have said the investigation has extended into a possible security breach or militant infiltration of the Sharm el-Sheikh airport staff, according to the AP.

 

That side of the investigation has looked at airport staff: baggage handlers, their security supervisors and also personnel involved in aircraft catering, according to the officials.

But Egypt has consistently dismissed statements from Russia and Western governments that suggest terrorism, saying that only an official probe can definitively draw a conclusion. But it's not clear that denying a terrorist connection is helping it's flagging tourism industry.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-airstrikes-idUSKBN0TX1FO20151214?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

U.S., allies conduct 16 strikes against Islamic State - U.S. military

 

The United States and its allies conducted 16 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Sunday, according to the coalition leading the operations.

 

In a statement on Monday, the Combined Joint Task Force said one air strike near Deir al-Zor in Syria hit a gas and oil separation plant used by the militant group, while two others hit two tactical units and other targets near Manbij and Mar'a.

 

In Iraq, 13 strikes near six cities included one near Tikrit that destroyed two Islamic State oil tanks, the statement said. Other strikes hit one dozen tactical units and various other targets, including several improvised explosive devices, machine guns and fighting positions, it said.

 

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/12/14/obama-says-us-hitting-isil-harder-than-ever.html?utm_content=nobylines&utm_campaign=ajam&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

Obama says US hitting ISIL 'harder than ever' in bid to reassure public

 

U.S. military and allied forces are hitting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) “harder than ever,” President Barack Obama said Monday as he opened a rare meeting of his National Security Council at the Pentagon.

 

The meeting outside the White House is part of a public relations drive to ease Americans' worries about domestic terrorism and defend his strategy in countering the threat from ISIL.

 

Obama said ISIL's leaders cannot hide, and the group is losing territory. The president added that the U.S. strategy of hunting down leaders, training forces and stopping the group's financing and propaganda is progressing.

 

As Obama, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the top national security team gathered, White House officials cautioned that the session didn't signal a major change in approach.

 

"If there's an opportunity for us to intensify efforts behind one aspect of our strategy, then that is something that he wants his team to be prepared to do," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

 

The president is also slated for a briefing at the National Counterterrorism Center later in the week.

 

The high-profile visits to agencies charged with keeping the U.S. safe follow a televised address Dec. 6 that aimed to reassure the public but that critics said failed to do the job. Obama is also hoping to draw a contrast with Donald Trump and his inflammatory remarks about Muslims, which Obama's administration has said endangers U.S. national security.

 

"Terrorists like ISIL are trying to divide us along lines of religion and background," Obama said in his weekly address. "That's how they stoke fear. That's how they recruit."

 

This week, he said, "we'll move forward on all fronts."

 

After a series of setbacks, the U.S. and its coalition partners have claimed progress recently in wresting back territory from ISIL and eliminating some of its key leaders in Syria and Iraq. The military has said hundreds of U.S airstrikes in recent days dealt a major blow to ISIL ranks in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, which the group seized in May.

 

https://twitter.com/markito0171

Syria Islamic State advance in SE Homs & seized Hadath village from regime forces
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34.310689&lon=37.091045&z=13&m=b
12:41 PM

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin

More than 30 Islamic countries formed an anti-terrorism coalition hosted by Riyadh
4:58 PM

 

Islamic Coalition to Counterterrorism: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Turkey, Benin, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Mali, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Malaysia, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Yemen, Niger, Mauritania, Djibouti, Senegal, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Gabon, Guinea, Comoros, Qatar, Côte d’Ivoire.

5:18 PM

 

The Islamic military coalition to fight terrorism to coordinate with foreign parties & friendly countries - Statement
5:40 PM

 

Algeria, Oman, Iraq, Iran are not included in the list of countries released by Riyadh regarding the Islamic coalition to fight terrorism.
5:42 PM

 

https://twitter.com/fanazer

Saudi Dep Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman says Islamic military coalition against terror will not target ISIS only  but all terror grps
5:56 PM

[visionary]

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566370-isis-advances-south-of-homs-airbase

ISIS advances south of Homs airbase

 

ISIS has continued to gain ground in the southern countryside of Homs, advancing on a small village outside an airfield that Russia is reportedly preparing as its second base of operations in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Monday morning that initial information suggested the extremist group had taken control of Al-Naamah, a village 8 kilometers southeast of the Al-Shayrat airbase.

The monitoring NGO added that ISIS had also taken control of the village of Al-Hadath, which is located further to the south.

In turn, pro-rebel news outlet SMART News reported that the group had attacked regime positions around the two villages, and then proceeded to take control of them, capturing weapons and ammunition.

A statement apparently issued by ISIS on the seizure of Al-Hadath appeared Monday, saying its fighters had captured the village and killed five regime soldiers, as well as seizing a tank and ammunition.

However, no announcement has emerged on the village of Al-Naamah near the Al-Shayrat airbase.

Reports have surfaced in recent weeks that Russia is moving to expand its military intervention in Syria by starting aerial operations from the airbase.

AFP on December 3 quoted an anonymous military official as saying that “the preparation phase for the Al-Shayrat base is nearing its end.”

“It is being prepared to become a Russian military base,” the source added.

Meanwhile, SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman told the news agency that Russia is “building new runways at the Al-Shayrat airport and reinforcing its surroundings in order to use it soon for operations.”

The report came days after a US defense official confirmed to Fox News that Russia was already operating helicopters out of the base, and was preparing to land fixed-wing aircrafts at the facility.

Hard to stop ISIS from advancing when you're focused on killing civilians elsewhere in the country.

 

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/borzoudaragahi/this-is-how-isis-has-spread-beyond-syria-and-iraq#.yvX2rrmVX

This Is How ISIS Has Spread Beyond Syria and Iraq

 

After consolidating territory in Syria and Iraq, ISIS has launched a different strategy to spread its influence in places like Egypt. BuzzFeed News’ Borzou Daragahi reports on how the militant powerhouse absorbs local affiliates across the Middle East.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/world/europe/teacher-in-france-lied-about-isis-stabbing-prosecutors-say.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur&_r=0

French Teacher Lied About ISIS Stabbing, Prosecutors Say

 

The French authorities said on Monday that a teacher who claimed to have been stabbed with scissors and a box cutter at a preschool near Paris had fabricated the story.

 

A police official in Aubervilliers confirmed that the teacher, who has not been identified, admitted to having invented the assault by a supporter of the Islamic State at the Jean Perrin preschool in Aubervilliers, a northern suburb of Paris.

 

It “was a fake attempt, done so that he could have himself transferred” to another job, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to reporters about the episode.

 

A spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, said, “He wounded himself alone in his classroom, before the children arrived,” in what she called the first such instance in France. She said the preschool teacher, 45, was in the hospital for his wounds, which were not life-threatening, and was being questioned further.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-germany-idUSKBN0TY14O20151215?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Germany welcomes 34-state Islamic military alliance against terrorism

 

Germany's defense minister said on Tuesday she welcomed Saudi Arabia's announcement of the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism.

 

Ursula von der Leyen told German broadcaster ZDF the alliance would be of help if it joined other countries fighting Islamic State (IS), adding that IS had gained strength from disagreement among various opposition parties on how to fight or who to protect.

 

"I think it's right that the opposition is forming a group but it needs to be - and this is important - part of the Vienna process that includes all countries fighting against IS like the U.S., Europe, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia but also Iran and China," she said.

 

Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it had formed a coalition, headquartered in Riyadh, which included Arab countries such as Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and Islamic countries such as Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan.

 

Von der Leyen also said Germany was rejecting a request from the United States for Berlin to provide more military help in the fight against Islamic State.

 

She said several dozen countries had received the letter and she would write back saying Germany was on the same side as the U.S. and was already doing a lot.

[Riggo-toni]

Saudi Arabia, champions of wahhabism/salafism putting together a coalition to combat religious extremism is like George Soros warning the world about the evils of capitalism.

Oh, wait.....

[visionary]

https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-islamic-state-in-southern-syria

THE ISLAMIC STATE IN SOUTHERN SYRIA

 

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/markaz/posts/2015/12/15-saudi-led-islamic-coalition-against-terrorism-riedel

Are the Saudis finally getting serious about the anti-ISIS fight?

 

The announcement that Saudi Arabia is forming an Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism is consistent with the Kingdom's longstanding efforts to mobilize the Islamic states to address critical global issues. It also reflects Riyadh's own priorities and concerns.

 

Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Muhammad bin Salman announced the new alliance in a rare press conference. The new organization has 34 members, and will have a secretariat and operations center in Riyadh to coordinate counterterrorism operations. Saudi Arabia is already leading an Islamic coalition fighting to restore the elected government of Yemen to power against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

 

Saudi Arabia has sponsored the development of Islamic institutions to push Islamic causes since the 1960s. Then-King Faysal bin Abd al Aziz believed that the Islamic states should unite to oppose international communism and Soviet aggression, as well as to back Palestinian independence. Faysal created the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Muslim World League. He sponsored the first Islamic summit in Morocco to press for an end to Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem in 1969.

 

The new Saudi effort is designed to appeal to the same constituencies as Faysal's efforts both in the Islamic world and inside the Kingdom. An effective Islamic counterterrorism military entente could mobilize Islamic states against al-Qaida and the Islamic State. It could also be a platform for more effective counter measures in the ideological battle by mobilizing Islamic clerics. It will also be popular at home with Saudis who want a more energetic foreign policy.

The Saudis undoubtedly also hope the announcement will help silence criticism that the Saudis and their allies are doing too little against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq because of their commitment in Yemen. President Obama implicitly made that criticism in his speech at the Pentagon this week.

 

The new organization does not include Iran or Iraq. Riyadh sees Iran as a patron state sponsor of terrorism for backing the Houthis, Hezbollah and the Bashar Assad regime in Syria. The Saudis accuse Iran of promoting terrorism in Bahrain and other Gulf states. The Iraqi government, for its part, is regarded as a pawn of Tehran. For Riyadh, the battle against Iran is as important as the battle against al-Qaida and Islamic State, perhaps even more important.

 

Several other countries are notably absent from the Saudi-led alliance. Oman refused to join the war against the Houthis last March and it is not among the new allies. Oman is determined to try to broker sectarian reconciliation among Sunni and Shia states, and brokered the ceasefire in Yemen that started this week.

 

The largest Muslim country in Africa, Algeria, is also not a member. Algeria has been fighting al-Qaida for over a decade and has the largest and most modern army in Africa. Its absence weakens the clout of the alliance.

 

Afghanistan and the Central Asian states are also absent. Afghanistan is at the front of the war against Islamic extremists. Pakistan and Bangladesh are traditional Saudi allies and members of the new alliance, although Pakistan pointedly refused to fight in Yemen against the Houthis.

 

https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin

SaudiArabia reopens embassy in Baghdad after 25 years of diplomatic boycott in the wake of the Iraqi invasion to Kuwait in 1990.
3:35 PM

 

 

https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint

US Sec Def Carter told journos on plane to Turkey what US “want” from Turkey & what Turkey “needs” to do etc.
2:58 PM

 

US also wants Turkish forces to join “on the ground” as well. So Turkish troops asked inside Syria? Is this first?
3:02 PM

 

Q from Turkey: Would Russian missiles go astray and hit Istanbul next time? (after apparently hitting Russia NW)
3:21 PM

 

[visionary]

http://m.naharnet.com/stories/en/197133-salam-as-pm-i-am-entitled-to-take-preliminary-decision-on-joining-saudi-coalition

Salam: As PM, I am Entitled to Take Preliminary Decision on Joining Saudi Coalition

 

Prime Minister Tammam Salam defended Lebanon's joining of the Islamic alliance against terrorism without informing the majority of political powers, saying that anyone has the right to object to this choice, reported As Safir newspaper on Wednesday.

 

He told the daily: “I am entitled as premier to take a preliminary decision on Saudi Arabia's invitation to take part in this coalition, especially since cabinet is not holding sessions.”

 

“No one can prevent me from taking a decision that I deem appropriate and I will assume the responsibility of my actions,” he declared.

 

“This does not mean that I am overriding the government that ultimately has the final say and executive role in the matter,” Salam said.

 

Furthermore, he noted that there are no articles in the alliance that demand that Lebanon take part in military action.

 

“This does not mean that we cannot present security expertise to the coalition, especially since our security and military agencies are waging an open battle against terrorism,” he stated.

 

In addition, he rejected remarks that Lebanon should not take part in an Islamic alliance because it is neither an Islamic or Christian country, pointing out that Lebanon is a member of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation and that Lebanon's Christian president is the only Christian who takes part at the organization's meetings.

 

“It is unacceptable to infringe on sectarian sensitivities in such an affair,” he said.

 

Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi had on Tuesday criticized Lebanon for joining an Islamic alliance, saying that the country is neither Islamic nor Christian.

Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday the formation of the Islamic alliance aimed at combating terrorism.

 

It includes 35 countries from across the Muslim and Arab world, except Syria, Iraq, and Iran.

 

Some Lebanese officials welcomed joining the alliance, while others said that they were not consulted over it.

 

https://twitter.com/iyad_elbaghdadi/status/677085968214560769

 

http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2015/12/15/malaysia-not-involved-in-anti-terrorist-military-coalition-says-defence-minister/

Malaysia not involved in anti-terrorist military coalition, says Defence Minister

 

 

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak

Reuters: Officials say gunmen have kidnapped at least 26 Qataris in the Iraqi desert near the border with SaudiArabia
6:26 AM

 

https://twitter.com/CNNTURK_ENG

BREAKING Kurdish site Rudaw reports ISIS shells Bashiqa base,local sources tell CNNTürk 1 Turkish soldier wounded

10:35 AM

 

 

https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin

Syria foreign ministry protests targeting infrastructure by the US-led coalition "we preserve the right to demand compensation"
10:46 AM

[visionary]

http://syriadirect.org/news/in-an-unusual-step-islamic-state-mediates-deir-e-zor-tribal-feud/

In an unusual step, Islamic State mediates Deir e-Zor tribal feud

 

Two years ago, a series of armed confrontations between members of the Hammar and Saawa tribes in eastern Deir e-Zor province over the rights to an oil field left 11 dead.

 

This week, the Islamic State organized the formal reconciliation meeting, bringing in a mediator from the larger clan that both tribes are members of, and paying SP25 million (approximately $113,000) to the families of tribesmen killed in that fighting.

 

It is unusual for an outside party to pay blood money for this type of tribal settlement, says Zaid al-Thabit,an activist with the pro-opposition media campaign Sound and Picture. Blood money, or fidya, is traditionally paid by the family of the killer.

 

In this case, the Islamic State, which has fighters from both the warring tribes in its ranks, had multiple interests in resolving the feud: “IS called on both parties to pledge allegiance to it after the end of the reconciliation,” al-Thabit tells Syria Direct’s Noura al-Hourani.

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/cbsMcCormick

US military officials confirm all 12 US F15s (F15Es and F15Cs) are being withdrawn from Incirlik, Turkey as part of a "regular rotation"
1:23 PM

 

US Defense officials saying the F15s will be replaced by German aircraft and US warplanes but unclear what types or when
1:30 PM

 

https://twitter.com/DannyNis

Iraqi TV reporting that Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iranian backed Shia militia attacked base hosting Turkish troops in northern Iraq.

1:32 PM

 

This claim should be examined carefully, mainly, as an intensive ISIS attack on the base, was ongoing at the same time.
1:32 PM

 

Furthermore, for Kataeb Hezbollah to actually reach the area physically to stage the attack, they'd have to cross ISIS or KRG territory
1:33 PM

[PeterMP]

I'm starting to worry about the rationality of Putin.  I've said over the years here that people over estimate the potential issues with various "evil" dictators because there is at least some rationality to their actions (N. Korean leaders are a good example of this.).

 

But I honestly don't see what Putin's end game here is.

 

For most of the world leaders, I can at least see the end game, but also see they don't know a way to achieve it (easily/directly).

[Riggo-toni]

I thin Putin is a capable tactician who lacks any grasp of a real strategy.

Give him a few more months of trying to pay for war in Syria, and I bet we could negotiate a settlement where Assad is left with just a rump state along the coast (with Russia hanging on to their control of sea ports), while the rest of the Sunni dominated portion of the country gets regime change.

[visionary]

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/12/16/iraq-declines-us-offer-more-troops-attack-helicopters/77420634/

Iraq declines U.S. offer of more troops, attack helicopters

 

Defense Secretary Ash Carter traveled to Iraq's capital Wednesday with an offer to deploy more American troops and new attack helicopters to help the Iraqi army defeat the Islamic State group.

 

But for now, at least, the Iraqis are passing up that offer.

 

Specifically, Carter said the U.S. is willing to provide Iraqi army units with close-air support via Apache attack helicopters and also to expand the advise-and-assist mission to include combat advisers at the brigade level. The current mission limits such American advisers to division and headquarters levels.

 

But no agreement emerged from the 40-minute meeting between Carter and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad's Green Zone.

 

"The prime minister did not make any specific requests," Carter told reporters after the meeting. "However, we did discuss the possibility that circumstances in the future might cause our commanders to advise, and his commanders to advise, and him therefore to approve us doing more things like using helicopters, like using additional personnel."

 

The offer, which Carter first floated publicly in testimony to Congress on Dec. 9, likely would mean deploying hundreds of additional U.S. troops to Iraq. It reflects Washington's growing interest in ramping up the fight against the Islamic State group in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 149 people in November and the shootings that killed 14 Americans in San Bernadino, California, in early December.

 

The Iraqi prime minister's rejection of the offer reveals the growing pressure he faces from Iran and Shiite factions inside Iraq to limit the role and influence of American forces in his country.

 

"This is a very complex environment that we are operating in, and we have to be attentive to some of the political realities that surround us every single day," said Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, commander of Operation Inherent Resolve, as the mission in Iraq and Syria is known.

[TheGoodBits]

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/12/16/iraq-declines-us-offer-more-troops-attack-helicopters/77420634/

"Obama is abandoning Iraq" /narrative

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-usa-syria-exclusive-idUSKBN0U006Y20151217?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter

Exclusive: U.S. supplies Syrian fighters ahead of push for Islamic State town

 

The United States has delivered a fresh supply of ammunition to Syrian Arab fighters ahead of an expected stiff battle with Islamic State as they push toward the Syrian town of al-Shadadi, a key logistics hub for the group, U.S. officials tell Reuters.

 

The munitions were shipped into Syria over land in recent days to Syrian Arab forces fighting in the northeast part of the country, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the operation. It appeared to be the third delivery of ammunition to the Syrian Arabs since the United States started supplying them with an airdrop in October.

 

The Syrian Arabs are allied with Kurdish fighters, and the initial shipment of U.S. ammunition unnerved NATO ally Turkey, which is sensitive to any operations that could benefit Syrian Kurdish YPG militia.

 

The Syrian Arabs number around 5,000 fighters. With the Kurds and others, they form the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces seeking to claw back land from Islamic State, officials say.

 

The U.S. officials said the fighters were preparing eventually to move toward al-Shadadi, which is located on a strategic network of highways. Capturing it would help isolate Raqqa, Islamic State's defacto capital.

 

U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, said the militants used al-Shadadi to stage weapons, equipment and personnel for distribution throughout the battlefield.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/us-calls-turkey-pull-unauthorized-forces-iraq-204251995--politics.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=tw

US calls on Turkey to pull unauthorized forces from Iraq

 

The United States is accusing Turkey of sending reinforcements to a training camp in Iraq without permission from Iraq's government.

 

Vice President Joe Biden is calling on Turkey to withdraw any military forces that Iraq's government hasn't authorized. He says Turkey has started withdrawing some of those forces, but adds that it must continue.

 

Turkey has stationed trainers since last year at a training camp in Iraq for fighters battling the Islamic State group. Citing threats from IS, Turkey recently sent an unspecified number of reinforcements to the camp, sparking an uproar in Baghdad.

 

IS attacked the camp on Wednesday, killing 3 Iraqi Sunni fighters.

 

Biden's warning to Turkey came in a White House statement describing a phone call between Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (HY'-dahr ahl ah-BAH'-dee).

[visionary]

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-17/new-russian-air-defenses-in-syria-keep-u-s-grounded

New Russian Air Defenses in Syria Keep U.S. Grounded

 

There is a new crisis for the international effort to destroy the Islamic State, created by the Kremlin. The U.S. has stopped flying manned air-support missions for rebels in a key part of northern Syria due to Russia’s expansion of air defense systems there, and the Barack Obama administration is scrambling to figure out what to do about it.

 

Russia’s military operations inside Syria have been expanding in recent weeks, and the latest Russian deployments, made without any advance notice to the U.S., have disrupted the U.S.-led coalition's efforts to support Syrian rebel forces fighting against the Islamic State near the Turkey-Syria border, just west of the Euphrates River, several Obama administration and U.S. defense officials told us. This crucial part of the battlefield, known inside the military as Box 4, is where a number of groups have been fighting the Islamic State for control, until recently with overhead support from U.S. fighter jets.

 

But earlier this month, Moscow deployed an SA-17 advanced air defense system near the area and began “painting” U.S. planes, targeting them with radar in what U.S. officials said was a direct and dangerous provocation. The Pentagon halted all manned flights, although U.S. drones are still flying in the area. Russia then began bombing the rebels the U.S. had been supporting. (U.S. manned airstrikes continue elsewhere in Syria.)

 

Inside the top levels of the administration, officials are debating what to do next. The issue is serious enough that Secretary of State John Kerry raised it with Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met on Tuesday, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General John Dunford has discussed it with his Russian counterpart as well, a spokesman for U.S. Air Force Central Command told us.

 

"The increasing number of Russian-supplied advanced air defense systems in Syria, including SA-17s, is another example that Russia and the regime seek to complicate the global counter-Daesh coalition’s air campaign,” said Major Tim Smith, using another term for the Islamic State.

 

The increasing number of Russian air defense systems further complicate an already difficult situation over the skies in Syria, and do nothing to advance the fight against the Islamic State, which has no air force, Smith said. He added that Russia could instead be using its influence with the regime to press President Bashar al-Assad to cease attacking civilians. “Unhelpful actions by Russia and the Syrian regime will not stop coalition counter-Daesh operations in Syria, nor will such actions push the coalition away from specific regions in Syria where Daesh is operating,” said Smith.

 

In Washington, top officials are debating how to respond to Russia's expanded air defenses, said another administration official who was not authorized to discuss internal deliberations. The administration could decide to resume flights in support of the rebels fight Islamic State, but that could risk a deadly incident with the Russian military. For now, the U.S. seems to be acquiescing to Russia’s effort to keep American manned planes out of the sky there and "agree to their rules of the game," the administration official said.

 

With U.S. planes out of the way, Russia has stepped up its own airstrikes along the Turkey-Syria border, and the Obama administration has accused it of targeting the rebel groups the U.S. was supporting, not the Islamic State. The Russian strikes are also targeting commercial vehicles passing from Turkey into Syria, the administration official told us. The Washington Post reported that the Russian strikes have resulted in a halt of humanitarian aid from Turkey as well.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/putin-syria-russia-military-exercise-2015-12

Putin just made a major admission about one of Russia's primary goals in Syria

 

In his annual marathon news conference Thursday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war as a military "exercise" for Russia's "air forces, air defense," and "intelligence."

 

"We did not start the war" in Syria, Putin told reporters during his end-of-year news conference from Moscow, according to a translation by the state-sponsored news agency Russia Today.

 

He added: "We are just conducting separate operations, using our air forces, air defense, intelligence. This is not a serious burden for the budget ... It's hard to imagine a better exercise [for the Russian forces]. So we can train there [in Syria] for a long time without any serious harm to our budget."

 

Boris Zilberman, a Russia expert at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he thought the statement was an admission of one of Moscow's key intentions for the Russian military intervention in Syria.

 

"I think he is basically saying that the conflict in Syria is allowing Russia to showcase their air and sea capabilities in a real conflict," Zilberman told Business Insider.

 

"He doesn't say it, but I think the point he is getting at is that the conflict in Syria increases the Russians' military readiness."

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/putin-rules-reconcilation-turkey-erdogan-151217131246183.html

Putin rules out rapprochement with Turkey under Erdogan

 

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has criticised Turkey in a fresh verbal offensive, ruling out any rapprochement with its current leaders.

 

Speaking at the Kremlin's annual press conference on Thursday, he said the Turkish air force's downing of a Russian fighter plane on the Syria border last month was a "hostile act".

 

Putin said it would be "hard ... if at all possible" to reach an agreement with Turkey under its current leadership.

"What have they achieved? Maybe they thought that we would run away from there [syria]? But Russia is not such a country".

 

Putin also suggested that Turkey had acted at the behest of the Americans, with possible tacit approval from the US.

 

"I don't know if there was such a trade-off, maybe there was," Putin said.

 

"If somebody in the Turkish leadership decided to lick the Americans in one place ... I don't know, if they did the right thing."

Wait...what?

 

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566379-raqqa-tribes-challenge-syria-kurds

Raqqa tribes challenge Syria Kurds

 

A group of tribes in Syria’s Raqqa province have warned the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) against entering areas it controls, in the latest sign of simmering tensions between ethnic Arabs and Kurds in the province where ISIS maintains its de-facto capital.

“No one from the YPG may enter the Arab areas where are our fighters are present,” the Collective of Raqqa Tribes said in a statement issued Tuesday.

The group further called on the Kurdish militia to “hand over” the flashpoint Tal Abyad, a strategic Raqqa border area populated by ethnic Arabs and Turkmen that the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has joined to its Democratic Self-Rule Administration.

“We also call on the YPG in the Tel Abyad area to hand it over to the people for them to administer in all ways,” it said.

The Collective’s affiliate—the Army of Tribes—is part of Liwa Thuwar Raqqa, a close ally of the Kurdish YPG and a member of the recently created Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The United States backs the SDF, which is dominated by the 30,000-strong YPG and also includes smaller local Arab and Assyrian militias in northern Syria.

The alliance stresses that its main goal is to fight ISIS, while its second, more vague, objective is to build a “democratic Syria.” It has made no mention of fighting Bashar al-Assad’s forces at present.

While the SDF has set its sights on capturing ISIS’ de-facto capital of Raqqa, growing tension between Kurds and Arabs in areas of the province already seized by YPG-led forces threatens to de-rail the anti-ISIS campaign.

Rebel factions accuse the YPG of ethnically cleansing Arabs after wresting control of non-Kurdish populated areas of northern Syria from ISIS, while international human rights groups—including Amnesty International—have said that the Kurdish militia is forcibly displacing Arabs in the Raqqa province.

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/deadly-air-strikes-hit-residential-areas-raqqa-151217114156601.html

Deadly air strikes 'hit residential areas' in Raqqa

 

At least 21 civilians have been killed and 11 wounded in suspected Russian air strikes in the city of Raqqa in northern Syria, Al Jazeera has learnt.

 

The warplanes on Thursday targeted several buildings in the city, which has been under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group since early 2014.

 

Ghareb al-Omawi, a local activist, said two firefighters were among those killed.

 

"Three firetrucks were targeted in the air strikes killing two firefighters. Residential areas were targeted and 21 civilians were killed," he told Al Jazeera.

 

"This is the routine here in Raqqa, this is the reality we live in."

 

Al-Omawi is a member of the Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently group, launched in April 2014 with the goal of exposing the "atrocities committed" by the Syrian government and ISIL.

 

A member of the collective, Ahmad Mohamed al-Mousa, was killed by a group of masked and armed men in Idlib on Thursday, al-Omawi told Al Jazeera.

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-n-endorses-islamic-state-sanctions-1450404794

U.N. Endorses Islamic State Sanctions

 

The U.N. Security Council approved a robust set of sanctions targeting Islamic State’s finances, in an effort to contain the extremist group’s growing influence and global reach.

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/military-air-strike-killed-iraqi-soldiers-151219063358838.html

US military: Air strike may have killed Iraqi soldiers

 

An air strike by the US-led coalition countering the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group may have led to the death of Iraqi soldiers, the US military said in a statement.

 

After acting on information from Iraqi security forces on the ground near Fallujah, coalition forces conducted several air strikes against ISIL and "initial reports indicate the possibility one of the strikes resulted in the death of Iraqi soldiers," the statement said.

 

"We will conduct a thorough investigation to determine the facts," it said, adding, "To the best of our knowledge, there have been no previous incidents of friendly fire in Iraq involving the Coalition during the course of Operation Inherent Resolve."

[visionary]

http://www.newsweek.com/ramadi-mosul-iraq-isis-shia-millitas-sunni-baghdad-iran-iraqi-security-forces-407085

RAMADI’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET IN THE WAR AGAINST ISIS

 

American commanders have been hailing the advance of the retrained Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) on Ramadi, the key city where they were easily routed some 18 months ago by marauding fighters of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS). 

 

But what they aren’t saying—and are loath to concede, according to well-informed military sources in Washington—is that the security forces of the Iran-backed regime in Baghdad largely consist of Shiite fighters in league with murderous militias that have slaughtered innocent Sunnis after ousting ISIS militants from Tikrit and other battlegrounds in the past year. Ramadi is the capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, and the Shiites are ready to pounce.

 

“We are not calling a spade a spade,” says Derek Harvey, a retired U.S. Army intelligence colonel who’s been dealing with Iraq for over 25 years, including as intelligence adviser to both General David Petraeus, the U.S.-led coalition forces commander in Baghdad during 2007 and 2008, and his successor, General Charles Jacoby.

 

“My sources on the ground say they [shiite militias and sectarian fighters] are very much involved” in the offensive at Ramadi. "Some say they are not involved, because they are wearing MOI [Ministry of Interior] uniforms with MOI patches.”

 

But their vehicles, Harvey adds, fly Shiite militia banners, “and the people who are commanding them are still Shiite militia leaders.”

 

“Just because you put on a different uniform doesn’t mean you aren’t who you are, who their group identity is and who they’re committed to,” he says.

 

The Iraqi Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication, and the Obama administration denies any suggestion that Shiite militias are playing an important role in the Ramadi offensive. But the grumbling about an alleged presence of Shiite militias at Ramadi has grown louder in recent days.

 

Another retired U.S. Army intelligence officer, Michael Pregent, who became an expert on Shiite militias while imbedded as an adviser with the Iraqi army in 2005 and 2006, has been posting acidic comments and photos on Twitter of Shiite militia leaders who he says are in Ramadi. One purports to show “Iran-backed militia Saraya al-Jihad using crude artillery pieces launching unguided bombs on Ramadi” to carry out the “indiscriminate targeting of” civilians. Paired with it is a picture of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a U.S.-designated terrorist, the leader of the Shiite group Kataib Hezbollah and a close confidant of General Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s elite Quds force.

 

The U.S. defense and state departments, Pregent says, “are doing everything they can to deny they are there,” he says. “They are there. They are also in Fallujah, Taqaddum, Karmah, Baghdad, everywhere.... But they [u.S. commanders] have to say they are not in Ramadi, because it would show that the Iraqi military cannot do it by themselves.”

 

https://twitter.com/markito0171

Islamic State public executed a dozen captured SAA soldiers from  Kweiris airport in Manbej /eastern Aleppo province Syria
2:40 PM

 

https://twitter.com/BNONews

Turkey acknowledges "miscommunication" with Iraqi government over Turkey's troop deployment, says it will move troops from Nineveh province
3:11 PM

 

 

 

 

 

This (below) sounds good.  Less infighting among rebels and more focus on ISIS in Northern Aleppo.  

I wonder what that means for Russia though, since they were bombing other rebels in support of a JAT (possibly YPG backed) offensive on some towns there. Will they start bombing JAT now too?  It would make their claims of supporting the opposition even more ridiculous.

https://twitter.com/VivaRevolt

An agreement has been reached between Jaysh Al-Thuwar and Jabha Al-Shamiyah and Mare' operation, allowing JAT to fight ISIS at Mare'
8:53 AM

 

Another agreement signed between Rebels and YPG in Afrin and Sheikh Maqsoud ending the recent fighting,and opening routes

8:55 AM

 

A huge Convoy of Reinforcements are arriving to Tal Abyad for the YPG, unknown if this is for the battle of Raqqa or to fight LTR or Jarablus
1:20 PM

 

Update:Confirmed news that the convoy has exited Tal Abyad and is heading towards Kobani and Tishreen Dam
3:19 PM

[visionary]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iraqi-forces-storm-downtown-ramadi-in-bid-to-oust-islamic-state-occupiers/2015/12/22/18375ec1-930f-4dd4-bc05-c876f58407a6_story.html

Iraqi troops storm downtown Ramadi in bid to oust Islamic State occupiers

 

Iraqi forces broke into Ramadi’s city center on Tuesday, pushing closer to its main government buildings in what commanders hope will be a final thrust to recapture the key provincial capital from Islamic State militants.

 

Security forces erected a temporary bridge over a canal to gain access to downtown Ramadi, about 80 miles west of Baghdad, and launch a morning offensive, military leaders said. By nightfall, the troops were within half a mile of the government compound, they added.

 

Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, represents a key battle for Iraqi forces. It is the largest population center they have tried to retake from the Islamic State.

 

The offensive, backed by U.S. air power, also marks the first major battle for Iraq’s armed forces that has largely excluded pro-government Shiite militias, testing whether the military can go it alone.

 

“We’ve entered the center,” said Brig. Gen. Hamid al-Fatlawi, commander of the army’s 8th Division. The militants have put up only “simple” resistance, he said.

 

Intercepted Islamic State communications in recent weeks had shown that the militants were increasingly desperate, with leaders imploring their fighters to stay and resist. The U.S. military estimates that just a few hundred extremists remain in the area.

 

Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of the Anbar Operations Command, said the militants were acknowledging that they had “lost control” and were fleeing to the Islamic State-controlled town of Hit, 30 miles to the northwest. Mahlawi said he expected victory within 48 hours.

 

But despite progress Tuesday, much of Ramadi’s center remained in the hands of the extremists.

 

Iraqi commanders have said that they believe they can completely retake the city by the end of the year.

 

“We are very optimistic that we will achieve victory in the next few days, because we are already in the center,” said Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul Abdullah, a spokesman for the military. However, he said large numbers of roadside bombs and snipers have made the course of the battle unpredictable.

 

Iraqi forces reported gains on several fronts. Special forces soldiers, who have been leading the fight from the southwest, crossed the Warrar canal using the bridge assembled by military engineers. They took control of the Bakir neighborhood, according to Fatlawi.

 

[visionary]

https://conflictantiquities.wordpress.com/2015/12/23/syria-lebanon-explosives-captagon-antiquities-smuggling/

Syria-Lebanon antiquities smuggling involves transport in meat trucks as well as shipment in private planes

 

I noted before that conflict antiquities trafficking involves ‘petty theft as well as grand larceny, burglaries by fundraisers outside as well as plunder by combatants in the war zone’. Likewise, it’s important to note that it involves transport in meat trucks as well as shipment in private planes.

 

Illustrating its report with an archive image, An Nahar has reported that the Islamic State is ‘using some stores in Lebanon as a front for its smuggling of Syrian artifacts’.

 

Apparently, a Syrian Islamic State agent who was arrested in Baalbek in Lebanon on the 13th of April, Turki al-Falqoun has confessed to smuggling ‘narcotic pills [captagon(?)], rare artifacts, and large amounts of gold…. Explosives [too].’

 

Al-Falqoun imported the goods amongst meat that was shipped daily from (aiding and abetting) butchers in Homs and Hama to a butcher in Tripoli, who is a relative (identified as Gh. Gh.).

 

The simultaneous export of gold may reaffirm that antiquities trafficking is part of the Islamic State’s everyday extractive economy (though it may be simple currency instead of expropriated assets). At least Captagon is productive.

 

https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin

Clashes between Democratic Syria Forces & ISIL near Tishrin Dam. DSF is advancing in the area - SOHR
5:39 PM

 

Syria | ISIL has taken Al - Senaúh Neighborhood in Deir ez-Zur from the Syrian forces after 3 suicide attacks.
5:41 PM

[visionary]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/iraqi-leader-praises-progress-in-battle-for-city-1450869531?mod=rss_middle_east_news

Islamic State Defenses Slow Iraqi Advance

 

A new push by Iraqi forces to retake Ramadi appeared to stall Wednesday in the face of resistance from Islamic State fighters, a day after government troops made quick progress toward the center of the strategic city just 60 miles from the capital.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/12/24/world/middleeast/ap-ml-syria.html?ref=world&_r=0

US-Backed Fighters in Syria Capture Areas in North From IS

 

A U.S.-backed coalition of rebels in Syria — including Syrian Kurdish, Arab and Christian groups — captured several areas in the country's north from the Islamic State extremists as government air raids on a rebel-held Damascus suburb killed at least 20 people on Thursday.

 

Government warplanes and helicopter gunships struck the suburb of Hamouriyeh, which over the past weeks has been subjected to intense government airstrikes like other opposition-held areas near the Syrian capital.

 

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were women and children among the casualties. The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group that tracks the Syrian conflict, said 23 were killed and dozens were wounded. Different death tolls are common in the chaos of Syria's civil war.

 

Meanwhile, the advance Thursday of the coalition known as Syria Democratic Forces came as part of a recent rebel push to take control of a major dam and cut supply lines between the Islamic State group's strongholds in northern Syria.

 

The SDF offensive started Wednesday with a push south of the Turkey-Syria border town of Kobani, according to a rebel spokesman, Col. Talal Sillu. On Thursday, coalition fighters advanced eight kilometers (five miles), inching closer to their objective — the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates River that supplies much of northern Syria with electricity.

 

"The situation on the ground is excellent," said Sillu. The rebels are also trying to cut the supply lines between the Islamic State's de-facto capital of Raqqa and the group's stronghold of Manbij. Several villages, farms and weapons were taken in battles with IS, the spokesman said, adding that at least 14 IS fighters have been killed since Wednesday.

 

The Observatory reported that SDF captured several villages in the area and that the fighters were advancing under cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition. The SDF, dominated by the main Kurdish militia in Syria known as YPG, or People's Protection Units, has become a main force in fighting IS, capturing dozens of villages in northern Syria over the past weeks.

 

However, in eastern Syria, IS has seized a district previously held by Syrian government forces in the city of Deir el-Zour after heavy clashes with troops holed up inside, the extremist group and Syrian opposition activists said Thursday. The seizure expands the IS presence in the contested eastern region.

 

The IS-affiliated Aamaq news agency said the industrial district of Deir el-Zour fell to the group late Wednesday, following daylong clashes that began with three successive suicide missions by the militants targeting Syrian army outposts in the district.

 

The agency said at least 38 Syrian troops were killed in the attack during which IS seized large amounts of ammunition and an armed personnel carrier from the government troops. The Observatory also reported the IS capture of the district, saying at least 26 soldiers were killed. The discrepancy in the casualty figures could not immediately be reconciled.

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/22/two-years-an-isis-slave.html?via=desktop&source=twitter

Two Years an ISIS Slave

 

Newly arrived in Turkey, a native son of eastern Syria recounts why his town surrendered to the terror group—and why it now wishes it never had.
“It was a two-year nightmare I just woke up from.”

 

Muhammad just arrived in Turkey with his family after fleeing the ISIS-controlled Syrian town of al-Ashara, in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. He’d spent two years under the jihadist army’s rule. “I am going to tell my story once,” he told The Daily Beast after several prior attempts to get him to share his tale. “And then I want to forget it for good.”

 

Muhammad is a Syrian in his early thirties. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and worked as a teacher. He asked to keep his full name and any other details secret, because some members of his family are still back in al-Ashara and could face retribution from the so-called Islamic State widely known as ISIS. He added that even in Turkey, he doesn’t feel safe since ISIS operatives are all over the place. Two members of the activist monitor Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently were murdered in Urfa around a month ago in the living room of their house.

 

Just a few days after Muhammad fled from his town, on Nov. 20, the Russians bombed it. Many houses were destroyed, but none of them was used by ISIS. Nor were the jihadists’ facilities destroyed or any militant killed. A number of civilians were injured. The one fatality was a girl named Maha Ghazi al-Abbad. She was 15 years old.

The Daily Beast reached Muhammed by phone and Skype.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/opinion/how-saddam-hussein-gave-us-isis.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

How Saddam Hussein Gave Us ISIS

 

WHOM should we blame for the Islamic State? In the debate about its origins, many have concluded that it arose from the American-led coalition’s errors after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In fact, the groundwork for the emergence of the militant jihadist group was laid many years earlier by the government of Saddam Hussein.

 

The Arab nationalist Baath Party, which seized power in 1968 in a coup in which Mr. Hussein played a key role, had a firmly secular outlook. This held through the 1970s, even as religiosity rose among the Iraqi people. But soon after Mr. Hussein invaded Iran in 1980, it began to change.

 

In a few tactical instances during the 1980s, Mr. Hussein allied with Islamists, notably the Muslim Brotherhood, to destabilize his regional rival in Syria, but these were limited, plausibly deniable links. In 1986, however, the Pan-Arab Command, the Baath Party’s top ideological institution, formally reoriented Iraq’s foreign policy toward an alliance with Islamists. This was the first clear deviation from secular Baathism.

 

The shift was accompanied by a domestic “Islamization,” with regime media dropping references to a “secular state” and describing the war against Iran as a “jihad.” The changes accelerated after 1989 when Michel Aflaq, the Christian founder of the Baath Party, died, and Mr. Hussein claimed that Mr. Aflaq had converted to Islam. Alive, Mr. Aflaq was a bulwark against Islamization; as a dead convert, he could — and did — baptize a new direction.

 

The campaign of Islamization intensified further after Iraq’s devastating defeat in Kuwait in 1991 and the subsequent Shiite revolt, culminating in 1993 with Mr. Hussein’s abandonment of the last vestiges of Baath secularism when he initiated the Faith Campaign. In some respects, Mr. Hussein’s government was following rather than leading public opinion, as Iraqis fell back on their faith for solace under the harsh international sanctions. But what began as a cynical attempt to shore up support, as the regime retreated to its Sunni tribal base, took on a life of its own, transforming Iraq into an Islamist state and imposing lasting changes on Iraqi society.

 

The government imposed a version of Shariah law: Thieves had their hands cut off, homosexuals were thrown from rooftops and prostitutes were beheaded in public squares. Numerous mosques were built, Quran study became a national focus and midlevel clerics acquired new roles as community leaders.

 

The Faith Campaign claimed to be ecumenical, but its clear pro-Sunni tilt led to a final collapse of relations between the state and the Shiite population and heightened sectarian tensions. In the Sunni areas, however, the campaign was effective, creating a religious movement I call Baathi-Salafism, under Mr. Hussein’s leadership. It also eased strains between the regime and independent religious movements like the “pure” Salafists, whose long opposition to the regime gave way to some of its members serving in its administration, even though Mr. Hussein was warned by his intelligence chief that if the alliance continued, the Salafists would eventually supplant the regime.

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/VivaRevolt

Confirmed:YPG has taken Bir Al-Damm and Dandushan on the eastern front in the badiyah South of Kobani.
3:10 PM

 

https://twitter.com/Nrg8000

MAP. Further progress by the SDF/YPG towards Tishrin Dam. 8 Villages taken from IS since offensive began.
8:25 AM

 

MAP Update
The villages of Donishwan, Bir El-Dem & Miwaliye have all been taken too. First 2 location is best guess
9:50 AM