ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD

[Londoner]

The commander of Dijla brigade, who supposed to take on Kurds in Kirkuk, has disappeared with all his soldiers.

http://peyamner.com/PNAnews.aspx?ID=340204

[Piling]

[Shirko]

The commander of Dijla brigade, who supposed to take on Kurds in Kirkuk, has disappeared with all his soldiers.

http://peyamner.com/PNAnews.aspx?ID=340204

Where they Sunnies, and did they desert or join used maybe?

[Anthea]

The Economist

The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria

Two Arab countries fall apart

WHOEVER chose the Twitter handle “Jihadi Spring” was prescient. Three years of turmoil in the region, on the back of unpopular American-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have benefited extreme Islamists, none more so than the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), a group that outdoes even al-Qaeda in brutality and fanaticism.

In the past year or so, as borders and government control have frayed across the region, ISIS has made gains across a swathe of territory encompassing much of eastern and northern Syria and western and northern Iraq. On June 10th it achieved its biggest prize to date by capturing Mosul, Iraq’s second city, and most of the surrounding province of Nineveh. The next day it advanced south towards Baghdad, the capital, taking several towns on the way. Ministers in Iraq’s government admitted that a catastrophe was in the making. A decade after the American invasion, the country looks as fragile, bloody and pitiful as ever.

After four days of fighting, Iraq’s security forces abandoned their posts in Mosul as ISIS militiamen took over army bases, banks and government offices. The jihadists seized huge stores of American-supplied arms, ammunition and vehicles, apparently including six Black Hawk helicopters and 500 billion dinars ($430m) in freshly printed cash. Some 500,000 people fled in terror to areas beyond ISIS’s sway.

The scale of the attack on Mosul was particularly audacious. But it did not come out of the blue. In the past six months ISIS has captured and held Falluja, less than an hour’s drive west of Baghdad; taken over parts of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province; and has battled for Samarra, a city north of Baghdad that boasts one of Shia Islam’s holiest shrines. Virtually every day its fighters set off bombs in Baghdad, keeping people in a state of terror.

As The Economist went to press, it was reported to have taken Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s home town, only 140km (87 miles) north-west of Baghdad. The speed of ISIS’s advance suggested that it was co-operating with a network of Sunni remnants from Saddam’s underground resistance who opposed the Americans after 2003 and have continued to fight against the Shia-dominated regime of Nuri al-Maliki since the Americans left at the end of 2011...

Two ogres versus a bunch of thugs

Mr Maliki has been less brutal but more crass than Mr Assad. By the end of 2011 American forces had almost eradicated ISI, as it still was, in Iraq. They did so by capturing or killing its leaders and, more crucially, by recruiting around 100,000 Sunni Iraqis to join the Sahwa, or Awakening, a largely tribal force to fight ISI, whose harsh rules in the areas they controlled had turned most of the people against it.

But after the Americans left, Mr Maliki disbanded the Sahwa militias, breaking a promise to integrate many of them into the regular army. He purged Sunnis from the government and cracked down on initially peaceful Sunni protests in Ramadi and Falluja at the end of last year. Anti-American rebels loyal to Saddam and even Sahwa people may have joined ISIS out of despair, feeling that Mr Maliki would never give them a fair deal. In 2012 Tariq al-Hashemi, the vice-president who was Iraq’s top Sunni, fled abroad, and was sentenced to death in absentia. Sunnis feel they have no political representation, says Mr Haniyeh. “ISIS and al-Qaeda are taking advantage and appropriating Sunni Islam.”

Some countries in the region, loathing Mr Assad’s brutality against civilians and Mr Maliki’s brand of Shia triumphalism, initially indulged ISIS. Turkey let a free flow of foreign fighters cross its borders into Syria until the end of last year. Some Gulf states, such as Kuwait and Qatar, were slow to clamp down on private citizens who have funded ISIS and at first tolerated or even applauded its sectarian ire.


Smoking will be punished: ISIS burns cigarettes in Raqqa

Full Article:

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-ea ... had-across

[Anthea]

CNN

ISIS: The first terror group to build an Islamic state?



The face of a balding, middle-aged man stares unsmilingly into the camera. He is dressed in a suit and tie and could pass for a midlevel bureaucrat.

But the photograph is that of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, who has transformed a few terror cells harried to the verge of extinction into the most dangerous militant group in the world.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has thrived and mutated during the ongoing civil war in Syria and in the security vacuum that followed the departure of the last American forces from Iraq.

The aim of ISIS is to create an Islamic state across Sunni areas of Iraq and in Syria.

With the seizure of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, and advances on others, that aim appears within reach.

ISIS controls hundreds of square miles where state authority has evaporated. It ignores international borders and has a presence all the way from Syria's Mediterranean coast to south of Baghdad.

Full In-depth Article & Videos:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/12/world ... -the-isis/

[Anthea]

Telegraph

Militants battle Iraqi security forces just 50 miles from Baghdad

11.33

A representative of Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has urged the country's citizens to take up arms and defend their country from the threat of ISIS militants.

Sheikh Abdulmehdi al-Karbalai was delivering the sermon at Friday prayers in the city of Kerbala. More detail to follow.

Live info updates:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -live.html

[Anthea]

We have more now from on the call to arms from the influential Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani during Friday prayers in the city of Karbala.

"Citizens who are able to bear arms and fight terrorists, defending their country and their people and their holy places, should volunteer and join the security forces to achieve this holy purpose," a representative announced on behalf of the elderly cleric, who rarely appears in public.

"He who sacrifices for the cause of defending his country and his family and his honour will be a martyr," he added.

[Anthea]

Iraq conflict: 'People are frightened' of civil war

36 minutes ago

The Islamist extremist group ISIS, supported by some other Sunni militant groups, are continuing their advance on the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

There are reports of uncontested gains in the eastern province of Diyala, where there is a Sunni majority.

The BBC's Feras Kilani reports from Baghdad, where he says people fear a repeat of the civil war of 2006-2008.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27831410

[Anthea]

BasNews, Mosul

ISIS close to Iraqi Capital Baghdad and expected to reach Baghdad tonight

Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) militants have directed attacks toward the city of Tikrit in the Salahaddin Province resulting in complete control over the whole province.

Their movements suggest that they are very close to reach Baghdad soon.

A security source from Baghdad told BasNews that the failure of anti-terrorist forces sent by Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki to Mosul allowed ISIS to succeed in taking over the city; their current movements suggest ISIS militant groups are likely to reach Baghdad.

“ISIS militants have completely controlled Tikrit and Salahaddin Province and now have only five kilometers left before they reach the border of Baghdad,” said the source.

“Based on expectations, it is anticipated that some Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad are likely to come under ISIS control very soon,” added the source.

http://basnews.com/en/News/Details/ISIS ... ight/23111

[Anthea]

Iraq crisis: Shia volunteers confront Sunni insurgents in Samarra


An image from the jihadist website Wilayat Salahuddin allegedly shows Isis militants on the streets of Samarra, Iraq

Thousands of Shia fighters have rushed to the central Iraqi city of Samarra to defend two shrines that were blown up by insurgents eight years ago, sparking the sectarian war that almost destroyed the country.

Convoys of fighters were seen being escorted north by Iraqi police trucks from Baghdad early on Friday and many have now reached the city where insurgents were in control after a lightning strike south.

The volunteer Shia fighters were quickly assembled after Iraqi forces abandoned their positions in most of the area, leaving only a small number of troops to guard the Imam al-Askarien shrines.

Samarra is the fourth northern city to have all but fallen out of government control. The embattled prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, appears to have drawn battle lines further south in Taiji, hoping to defend Baghdad against insurgents who have occupied the north virtually unopposed.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/j ... insurgents

[Anthea]

Voice of America

Obama: No Ground Troops in Iraq

Obama said the government of Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, must exercise diplomacy and "work to set aside sectarian differences and account for legitimate differences" among all Iraqis.

http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-ex ... 36185.html

What a clever idea - nobody would have thought of that

I get the feeling that the Sunni do not want to make friendly with the Shia

Cannot say that I blame them the way they have been treated by the Shia government

[Anthea]

Interesting if true. It is not a one nutter show according to Mosul governor. Although he is perhaps not in the best position to speak freely.

Twitter:

Mosul governor points out not all fighters are #ISIS, many anti American and anti Maliki Sunnis joining them #skybreaking #Iraq

This is not the first time such news has come out and I am not in the least surprised.

[Anthea]

[Anthea]

'This is our football, it's made of skin #World Cup': After posting sickening beheading video of Iraqi policeman, ISIS boast of slaughtering 1,700 soldiers

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Image of officer's decapitated head tweeted with sickening message: 'This is our ball. It's made of skin #WorldCup'
Battle lines drawn as Iraqi forces gather at base just 20 miles outside Baghdad after militants seize two more towns
President Obama rules out sending troops back to Iraq but promises to review military options including air strikes
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki claims security forces have now started to clear several cities of 'the terrorists'
More than 20 UK nationals thought to be trapped in territories where Islamists are carrying out summary executions
Al Qaeda-inspired militants stage jubilant parade of American Humvee patrol cars seized from collapsing Iraqi army
Masked fighters wave the black flag of the Islamic State and flash the 'V' sign while shouting 'towards Baghdad!'
Insurgents have also captured two helicopters, 15 tanks and armoured cars that used to belong to U.S. military
Iraq's refugee population has increased by almost 800,000 this year as the government struggles against rebels
President Barack Obama weighs up possible airstrikes - but rules out putting U.S. soldiers back on the ground
ISIS leader dismissed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as woefully incompetent, calling him 'underwear merchant'

Blood-thirsty jihadists are carrying out summary executions on civilians, Iraqi soldiers and police officers - including 17 in one street alone - on their warpath to Baghdad, the UN said today.

As a shocking picture of the ISIS insurgency continues to develop, the Islamist group are posting barbaric videos online with the intent of showing the world they will stop at nothing to achieve their end game.

In one, which is too graphic to publish, fighters are seen knocking on the door of a Sunni police major in the dead of night.

When he answers, they blindfold and cuff him. Then they carve off his head with a knife in his own bedroom as sweetly lilting religious hymns are played over the top.

An image of the officer's decapitated head was tweeted with the sickening message: 'This is our ball. It is made of skin #WorldCup'. ISIS also claims to have executed 1,700 Shia soldiers on their push for the capital.

Although this figure has not been verified, the UN today warned that hundreds of people are likely to have been killed by the fanatics since the uprising.

This evening, President Barack Obama ruled out sending troops back into combat in Iraq but promised to review military options - including air strikes.

President Obama said his national security team would soon provide him with a list of 'selective actions by our military' to help push back a terrorist horde marching through Iraq, but insisted the US 'will not be sending troops back into combat' there.

He also said he would be 'reviewing options in the days ahead,' in a hastily scheduled statement given on the South Lawn of the White House.

Current Secretary of State John Kerry said that 'given the gravity of the situation' he would 'anticipate timely decisions from the president regarding the challenge' in Iraq.

'We have already taken some immediate steps,' he said, 'including providing enhanced aerial surveillance support to assist the Iraqis in this fight. We have also ramped up shipments of military aid to Iraq since the beginning of the year.'

Tonight, Iraq's Prime Minister claimed his forces had started to clear cities of ‘terrorists’.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who travelled to Samarra today for a security meeting, said his forces had ‘began their work to clear all our dear cities from these terrorists,’.

However, he gave no further details of where or when the operations occurred.

The aim of ISIS is to terrorise Sunnis in Iraq's army and police forces and deepen their already low morale.

That fear is one factor behind the stunning collapse of Iraqi security forces. In most cases, police and soldiers simply ran, sometimes shedding their uniforms and abandoned arsenals of heavy weapons.

In another video, also purportedly taken by ISIS militants, gunmen are seen carrying out indiscriminate drive-by shootings on motorists and pedestrians.

Armed with a machine-gun, the gang film themselves shooting cars off the road then move in to video close-ups of the victims' blood-stained bodies slumped in the seats. In another clip, they gun down a pedestrian.

The footage, which cannot be independently verified, contains the same logo used in a video posted earlier this week showing an Iraqi businessman being shot in the back of the head.

The British Foreign Office said it was 'very concerned' with the escalating violence and was 'not going to take its eye off the ball'.

Full Article & Videos:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... orces.html

[Anthea]

The Washington Post

Iraqis answering top Shiite cleric’s call to arms

IRBIL, Iraq — Hundreds of Iraqis converged on volunteer centers across Baghdad on Saturday in response to a call by Iraq’s highest Shiite cleric to fight back against a Sunni jihadist group making rapid gains across the north.

Iraqi Shiite volunteers were responding to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who on Friday issued a rare call to arms to the nation’s Shiites, setting the stage for sectarian war.

Shiite religious volunteers would partially plug the ranks of Iraq’s decimated security forces, after jihadists from the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) rapidly seized ground from the northern city of Mosul to a town just 60 miles north of Baghdad this week in a stunning military advance that threatens to divide this fragile nation.

By Saturday, ISIS fighters had gotten to within 50 miles of Baghdad, as Iraqi government forces and volunteers sought to consolidate control of the capital ahead of an anticipated attack by the jihadists.

Iraqi government forces, aided by Shiite militias, clashed Saturday with “Iraqi revolutionaries” and “armed insurgents from ISIS,” in the city of Miqdadiyah, 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, which resulted in the withdrawal of Iraqi army and police from the city, the Saudi satellite network Al-Arabiya reported.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ira ... story.html