ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD

[Anthea]

Reuters

Collateral damage? U.S. destroys millions of dollars in U.S.-made arms in Iraq
By Missy Ryan

The grainy black-and-white footage shows a military vehicle, a small dark mass in the crosshairs of a U.S. war plane, seconds before it explodes in a flash of light.

That Aug. 16 strike in northern Iraq, shown in video released by the U.S. military, destroyed an unknown number of Islamic State fighters and one U.S. made armored vehicle with a price tag of up to $300,000.

Since the Obama administration began strikes there on Aug. 8, U.S. fighter jets and drones have destroyed an estimated $3 million-$4 million worth of Iraqi military vehicles that were provided by the United States and later seized by Islamists who now control a third of Iraq.

The growing tally of U.S. made, U.S. destroyed weaponry is testament to how far Iraq has veered off the course the Obama administration expected when U.S. troops withdrew in 2011.

U.S. officials had hoped their effort to train and arm the Iraq military, at a cost more of than $20 billion, would guarantee stability.

"When you see your own equipment blown up by U.S. airplanes, there's this inherent feeling of defeat, even if it doesn't have an American flag on it anymore," said Matthew Pelak, a former U.S. infantry sergeant deployed to Iraq in 2004, and now a firefighter in New York. "It's incredibly discouraging."

When Iraqi soldiers abandoned bases in large numbers ahead of Islamic State's advance across northern Iraq in June, they left behind guns and sophisticated fighting gear.

U.S. WEAPONS IN ENEMY HANDS

The administration is considering expanding its campaign against Islamic State fighters. That could mean the first U.S. military action within Syria, where a bloody civil conflict fueled the rise of the hardline group.

"There’s a lot of frustration, a lot of disgust in fact, seeing U.S. weapons now in enemy hands," said U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter, who served in Iraq. "Those resources represent American lives and American sacrifice."

More than 4,000 U.S. soldiers died in the Iraq war. (How many innocent Iraqis were killed?)

Military officials estimated that perhaps $3 million worth of American-supplied equipment was destroyed in over 90 air strikes in the last three weeks.

That included at least 20 U.S. made Humvees, and one mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle, or MRAP.

The low-slung Humvee, made famous early in the Iraq war when it failed to protect soldiers from roadside bombs, costs $200,000 to $300,000 new, if armored for military use.

The hulking MRAP, designed to counter roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, can cost half a million to $1 million, according to military sales records.

U.S. strikes have also destroyed scores of trucks and other armored vehicles officials have not identified, but some of which may have been produced in the United States.

Some of the U.S. equipment in Iraq was given as part of the effort to rebuild Iraqi forces dissolved after the U.S. invasion in 2003; some was bought by the oil-rich state and some was left by U.S. forces when they withdrew.

(Writing by Missy Ryan; editing by David Storey and Gunna Dickson)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/ ... 1B20140826

[Anthea]

Voice of America

US: 7 European States to Arm Kurds in Iraq

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says seven European governments have agreed to join the United States in supplying weaponry to Kurdish forces battling Islamic State extremists in northern Iraq.

A Pentagon statement Tuesday said Britain, Canada, Albania and Croatia will join Denmark, Italy and France in providing "urgently needed" arms and equipment to the Kurds.

Islamic State jihadists overran large areas of northern and western Iraq in June. Earlier this month, they pushed Kurdish forces back toward their regional capital, Irbil.

Also Tuesday, Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Barzani, speaking in Irbil alongside the Iranian diplomat, said Iran is the first country to provide military aid to Kurdish fighters since the Islamic State offensive was launched.

Separately, high-level diplomats from Iran and Saudi Arabia — two regional powers separated by steep sectarian divides — met for talks that officials say included the rising threat posed by the Islamic State militancy. Iran's deputy foreign minister described the talks as "positive and constructive."

The visit to Jeddah by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was the first high-level meeting between the two countries since Iran elected Hassan Rouhani president last year. Rouhani has pledged to thaw Iran's diplomatic ties with its Arab neighbors.

Earlier Tuesday in Baghdad, a car bomb explosion in a mainly Shi'ite neighborhood killed at least 10 people and wounded 31 others. The blast hit the New Baghdad area during the morning rush hour.

On Monday, a series of blasts in Iraq killed at least 20 people, including 11 at a Shi'ite mosque in the same neighborhood as Tuesday's bombing.

http://www.voanews.com/content/united-s ... 29105.html

[Anthea]

The Economist explains

How the Islamic State is faring since it declared a caliphate

IT HAS been a busy two months for the Islamic State (IS), the vicious Sunni Muslim extremist group that operates in Syria and Iraq. On June 29th, a fortnight after taking over Mosul, Iraq’s second city, it declared a caliphate, claiming to speak for the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims.

It then battled its way towards Baghdad where the Shia-dominated government sits. At the start of August, IS turned north towards Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous region and towns home to minorities on the way, attacking Christians, Yazidis and fellow Sunnis, and threatening to reach Erbil, the Kurdish capital. That led Barack Obama, America’s president, to authorise airstrikes against the group which began on August 8th. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Syria, IS has also been expanding westwards.

The Islamic State, known previously as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, ISIS or ISIL, grew out of remnants of the Islamic State in Iraq, a brutal group that led attacks against the American-led coalition forces after the 2003 invasion. By 2011, when the Americans withdrew, the group had been weakened by the Sahwa—Sunni groups paid to fight them—and targeted assassinations of their leaders. But the remaining fighters continued to extort money in Mosul and carry out attacks in Iraq.

The vacuum created by Syria’s civil war from 2011 was a big boon, allowing surviving members to regroup and recruit next door. With headquarters in Raqqa, in eastern Syria, and extortion rackets in Mosul, it grew in power. Thanks to disgruntled Sunnis in Iraq willing to ally with IS (after being excluded by the government in Baghdad) and a brittle Iraqi security force that fled in the face of the assault, IS, by now composed of thousands of men, including many foreign fighters, managed to grab swathes of territory in Iraq.

So how is IS faring today? Although IS’s brutal ideology is rejected by most Muslims who see them as criminals, fighters have flocked to the group since June—6,000 in Syria alone by some estimates. IS has grabbed oil fields, army bases and more weaponry (including American goodies in Iraq). Although American airstrikes have pushed it back in northern areas from Mount Sinjar and Mosul Dam, Iraq’s largest, Barack Obama has made clear that he is not planning to try to rout the group.

To rout IS, Iraq’s Sunnis must turn against it. In Syria, there is almost no check on IS’s actions. Although Syria’s regime of Bashar Assad has belatedly started to carry out strikes against the group, Syria rebels who have battled with IS since January find they are no match for the group. On August 24th IS took Tabaqa air base from the regime after a week of seizing a string of rebel-held villages near Aleppo.

Jihadist groups normally tend to prove bad at governance, lose civilian support and falter in their most ambitious aims, such as state building. But the rise of extreme Islamist ideology and the multiple vacuums in the Arab world allow such groups to survive at least well enough to makes a nuisance of themselves, including Yemen’s al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and jihadists in Mali.

Western officials describe IS as stronger and more sophisticated than all of these, amounting in some estimations to the biggest security threat facing the region since 9/11. Syria’s war has no end in sight; Iraq remains in a mess. So even in the best-case scenario IS is likely to be active for generations to come. And the problem is not just for Syria, Iraq and its neighbours.

With thousands of foreign fighters from across the world who may return home as radicalised rebels, many countries are at risk.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economis ... xplains-19

[Anthea]

Rudaw

Denmark Sending Arms to Kurdish Forces

Denmark is joining the international effort to arm Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) forces in their fight against Islamic extremists, though some leaders are concerned that the weapons will fall into the hands of Kurdish rebels.

Denmark has decided to send a 55-person military team in a Hercules aircraft carrying emergency aid and weapons to fight the Islamic State (IS/formerly ISIS) in northern Iraq.

Denmark, which is coordinating with the United States and the United Nations, initially indicated that it would only transport aid to help the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled IS threats but has decided to send weapons, ammunition and other equipment.

Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard received strong parliamentary support to join US-led military and humanitarian operations.

"The government has received very broad support to increase our efforts in Iraq, which is partly a humanitarian contribution to the 1.5 million people who are in need in Iraq at the moment and partly the aircraft, which will transport ammunition and light weapons to the Kurdish and Iraqi forces fighting against IS,” Lidegaard said in a press release.

Some Danish politicians, however, are skeptical that the Danish involvement could inadvertently support the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the European Union (EU) labels a terrorist organization.

Since IS captured about a third of Iraq in June, the PKK, which is based in Iraqi Kurdistan, has become part of the war. The PKK’s affiliate, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria, are fighting IS alongside the KRG’s Peshmerga troops.

The PKK’s de facto involvement has been an issue for several European nations. France, Britain and Germany are sending weapons to the Peshmerga, but there are concerns that the arms could fall into the hands of groups affiliated with the PKK.

The situation is also complicated for the United States, which designates the PKK as a terrorist organization and is carrying out airstrikes on IS positions in support of the KRG.

Soren Espersen, foreign affairs spokesman for the Danish opposition party The Danish People’s Party, said it “confuses me that we somehow now need to be allied with the PKK.”

“The PKK is on our own terror list. The United States and France now want to supply arms to the organization and that seems strange to me,” Espersen said.

Zana Kurda, an advisor for the KRG’s European Union mission, pledged that weapons from the EU would not be delivered to the PKK.

"The EU countries have no reason to worry. Everything will be transparent and in accordance with international law," Kurda said.

Nikolaj Villumsen, a Danish MP with the opposition Unity List, rejected Espersen's concern.

"The PKK militias have made ​​great efforts in Yezidi areas. Additionally, the PKK and the Turks have been negotiating peace for over a year, so we should work to remove the PKK from the terrorist list," Villumsen said.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/260820141

[Anthea]

Guardian

Call Islamic State QSIS instead, says globally influential Islamic authority

Egypt-based Dar al-Ifta urges rebrand to al-Qaida Separatists in Iraq and Syria to stop militants smearing reputation of Islam
Patrick Kingsley

Some call it Isis. Others say it's Isil. The group itself prefers Islamic State, or IS. And in the Middle East, its critics call it Da'ash.

Now Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been given a fifth name, and perhaps its oddest: QSIS. Standing for al-Qaida Separatists in Iraq and Syria. The rebrand is an influential Islamic institution's attempt to stop the militant group smearing the reputation of Islam.

"What the western world calls the 'Islamic State' is in no way related to Islam," said Egypt's Dar al-Ifta, a wing of the Egyptian justice ministry that plays a small role in both Egypt's judicial system and in global Islamic discourse. Considered a source of religious authority both inside and outside Egypt, Dar al-Ifta issues religious guidance (or fatwas) to Sunni Muslims across the world who request advice on religious ambiguities.

Its latest intervention concerns the naming of Isis: Dar al-Ifta wants western journalists to refer to the group as QSIS in order to emphasise to non-Muslims that the group's extremist ideology and depravity does not represent Islam's vast majority. Despite their name, Isis (or QSIS, to use the new coinage) militants are "far from the correct understanding of Islam", said Dar al-Ifta's head, Grand Mufti Shawki Allam.

To ram home its point, Dar al-Ifta has asked social media users to join a new Facebook group, "Call it QS not IS".

But it remains to be seen whether Dar al-Ifta can persuade a global body politic already bitterly divided on what to call the group. Before commuting its Arabic name to the simpler al-Dawla al-Islamiya (or "Islamic State"), Isis called itself al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi Iraq wa al-Sham. Everyone agreed on how to translate the first five words of the moniker, but the sixth – al-Sham – has triggered endless linguistic battles. Some feel Sham can be translated as Syria. Others say Greater Syria. Still more argue for the Levant, and a few think it should be left as it is.

For some, QSIS might be a good compromise. But then, others may prefer QSIL.

PLEASE follow link to article and READ the COMMENTS:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/a ... f-comments

Examples

Its like Christianity, they have the catholic church and the church of england etc. In Islam, you have different versions of Islam. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are very Conservative States similar to say rural America, Turkey on the other hand are probably as conservative as the Church Of England. ISIS, or QSIS or ISIL or whatever are like the KKK, racist scum who wants everyone to do what they say and feign religion as support to cover their hateful ways. Its why the first people to condemn them are always moderate muslims, like the Muslim Council of Britain.

How about we just call them SCUM? It fits them so much better than ISIS, ISIL, QSIS or what have you. We'll worry about what the individual letters of SCUM mean later.

ISIS is more suited to the Western Islamic phobia rhetoric. QSIS is the progeny of the Wahhabi convoluted interpretation of Islam that Saudis practice and has been propagating through their financially supported madrassas throughout the Muslim world. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, created by the British in 1932, carries great influence in the Muslim world because of their control of Islamic holy sites. I would go further and rebrand the IS to TS, Terrorist State.

What the western world calls the 'Islamic State' is in no way related to Islam.

[Anthea]

Rudaw

Barzani: Collaborators with Extremists Will Be Held Accountable

Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani has pledged to protect Arab civilians in areas under Kurdish control but has warned that the tribes who collaborated with extremists will be held accountable.

In a meeting with several Arab tribal chiefs at Barzani’s compound in Salahaddin on Wednesday, Barzani said Kurdish forces will respect ethnic and religious diversity in Peshmerga-controlled areas Kurds and other ethnic groups, but that those who helped the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) to threaten Iraqi Kurdistan will have to answer for their alliance.

Kurdish leaders and civilians from minority groups that have been attacked by IS extremists, such as the Yezidis, claim that Sunni Arab tribes operating on borders between Nineveh province and the Kurdistan Region sided with the IS militants in their advance on minority villages. Peshmerga forces, with the support of air strikes by the US military, have recaptured several towns and villages in Nineveh but continue to battle IS, an international terror group that is allied with Arab Sunni militias.

According to a statement from the president’s office, the Arab tribal chiefs promised to fight extremist groups in their towns and villages.

“They will take up arms to expel the terrorists and do their best to preserve religious and ethnic coexistence in their regions,” the statement said.

Barzani said the Kurds are only fighting militants threatening the Kurdistan Region and “we have never wanted to be involved in ethnic or sectarian wars.”

Barzani told the leaders of the influential Shammar and other tribes that the balance of power had tipped in favor of the Kurdish forces and that they will “rout the IS militants who have already started to get weaker.”

“It is an honor for the people of Kurdistan to fight oppression, darkness and terrorist savagery,” said Barzani.

Barzani’s Chief of Staff, Fuad Hussein also told the Arabic newspaper Asharq Alawsat last week that Peshmerga forces faced difficulties reaching the town of Shingal, which tens of thousands of Yezidis fled under threat from IS, because local Sunni tribes were siding with the militants. Sunni extremists consider Yezidis, who practice an ancient religion, devil-worshipers and have killed hundreds in Nineveh province.

“Unfortunately, these tribes turned against us; they allied with the IS and the road (to Shingal) became hostile for us,” he explained.

http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/28082014

[Anthea]

TIME

America Is Using Cannons to Kill Mosquitoes in Iraq
Mark Thompson @MarkThompson_DC

The world’s most powerful military is dispatching multi-million-dollar aircraft and their pilots into harm’s way to destroy $70,000 Humvees

The new war the U.S. is waging over Iraq is succeeding. With help on the ground from Kurdish and Iraqi troops, U.S. airstrikes have pushed fighters from the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) away from the Mosul Dam.

But the daily details of U.S. military airstrikes only serve to highlight how little American military might can do.

“The strikes destroyed an [ISIS] Humvee,” U.S. Central Command said Wednesday.

“One strike destroyed an [ISIS] Humvee near the Mosul Dam,” Sunday’s announcement said.

“The strikes destroyed or damaged three [ISIS] Humvees,” Centcom said a week ago.

The world’s most powerful military is dispatching multi-million-dollar aircraft and their pilots into harm’s way to destroy $70,000 Humvees.

Adding insult to injury, the U.S. gave those vehicles to the Iraqi military, which fumbled them into ISIS hands after the militants overran Mosul and plundered Iraqi arsenals two months ago.

This may be the challenge of 21st century war. The American military, honed by its successes in World War II, is primed to attack militaries that look like it. Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq each presented U.S. war planners with target-rich environments.

But why should anyone confronting U.S. might want to fight on America’s terms? That’s why the U.S. military has been less successful in the target-poor environments of Vietnam, Afghanistan and post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

President Barack Obama’s 100-plus airstrikes in Iraq against ISIS targets have beaten the jihadists back. Now he’s weighing an expanded campaign that would attack ISIS targets across the border, in Syria.

But any such action lacks a smart and achievable goal. Attacking ISIS in Syria would make the U.S. a de facto ally of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, whose civil war has killed nearly 200,000. It was three years ago this month that Obama said Assad must surrender power.

Most Americans don’t want more military action in the Middle East. Until they do—and their representatives in Congress are willing to back it with a declaration of war against ISIS—letting U.S. warplanes attack U.S.-built-and-paid-for Humvees inside Iraq may be the best, if unsatisfying, option.

http://time.com/3206804/iraq-syria-isis ... irstrikes/

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EKurd

Jihadists blow Kurdish Kakeyi shrine, 20 000 families displaced from Hamdania

A source revealed in Nineveh on Thursday the return of jihadi militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria IS/ISIS to blow up and destroy Kurdish religious shrines and places in the areas they control in the province, adding that the Islamic militants blow up and destroyed two religious places of the sub-Zoroastrian Kurds, Kakeyis, in Hamdania district.

The source said that “ISIS terrorists bombed “Sayed Hayas“ shrine that belongs to Kakeyi Kurds which is located in Rotek village in Hamdania district, adding that the shrine was built 700 years ago”.

The source pointed to the bombing of "Haider Pawah" shrine of the same sect in the same area.

Observers expect that ISIS militants would blew all the shrines belonging to sects and religions in areas dominated by them in Nineveh plain, especially with the progress of Kurdish Peshmerga forces backed by US-Iraqi joint air cover.

According to a local source, ISIS militants blew up a third shrine of Kakeyis in Nineveh, while pointing to the displacement of thousands of members of the community with the escalation targets of ISIS.

“ISIS terrorists blew up this afternoon “Sayed Qanbar shrine in Hamdania district“ the source added.

Kakeiye, is a Kurdish sect in which its main home is Kirkuk city on the banks of Great Zab River in the Iraqi-Iranian border. most of them live in Kurdistan, Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Mandali,www.Ekurd.net Jalawla and Nineveh areas and little in Baghdad, as well as in Eastern (Iranian) Kurdistan: in Qasr Shirin, Kermashan and Serpil Zhao. They have a marked presence also in Tal Afar.

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, shafaaq.com, Ekurd.net

http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/mi ... te8406.htm

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The Independent

Isis 'A Message in Blood' video shows beheading of Kurdish man in Iraq



Isis has released a video apparently showing the beheading of a Kurdish man in Iraq as a warning to Kurds fighting the group in the country.

The video, entitled “A Message in Blood”, was posted online hours after another video purporting to show the mass execution of up to 250 Syrian soldiers in the desert.

It shows a group of captured men, believed to be Kurdish fighters, in orange jumpsuits sat in front of an Isis flag.

Kurdish "peshmerga" fighters are trying to counter the militant’s advances in northern Iraq. They are backed by US air strikes on Isis targets in the country.

Another man is then shown kneeling on the floor in front of a mosque with three militants behind him in Mosul, Iraq’s second biggest city, which was overrun by Isis when their insurgency began.

The victim is then beheaded and the fighters warn others will face the same fate should Kurdish leaders choose to continue an alliance with the US.

It comes after the group posted a video on YouTube showing the American journalist James Foley being beheaded by a militant, who said his killing was in response to air strikes. The fighter, who is believed to be British, also threatened the life of another journalist, Steven Sotloff.

Video footage posted on Thursday appeared to show Syrian soldiers being marched through the desert in their underwear after Isis seized the Tabqa air base in Raqqa.



"The 250 shabeeha taken captive by the Islamic State [ISIS] from Tabqa in Raqqa have been executed," a caption posted with the video read.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the soldiers were captured when they attempted to flee the fallen air base in Raqqa after days of fierce fighting. They put the death toll at 120.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama admitted the US does not yet have a strategy for confronting Isis militants in Syria.

He approved air strikes against Isis in Iraq earlier this month following the beheading of Mr Foley but has not made public any plans for across the border

He told a press briefing in Washington: “I think what I’ve seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead of where we’re at than we currently are.

“Our core priority right now is just to make sure that our folks are safe and to do an effective assessment of Iraqi and Kurdish capabilities.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 98455.html

[Anthea]

The Independent

YouTube video posted by Isis militants shows 'execution of 250 Syrian soldiers'



Islamic State militants appear to have executed scores of captured Syrian soldiers, according to video footage posted on YouTube.

An Isis fighter confirmed the video’s authenticity to Reuters, saying: “Yes, we have executed them all.” It has not been independently verfied.

A statement posted online and circulated on Twitter by supporters of Isis claimed the extremists killed "about 200" government prisoners captured near the Tabqa air base.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the soldiers were captured when they attempted to flee the fallen air base in Raqqa. They put the death toll at 120.

Footage begins by showing dozens of men being marched through the desert with their hands behind their heads. A fighter repeatedly shouts out "Islamic State", to which the men reply "It shall remain".

The video later shows the bodies of dozens of men stripped to their underwear and lying face down on the floor.

"The 250 shabeeha taken captive by the Islamic State [ISIS] from Tabqa in Raqqa have been executed," a caption posted with the video read. A separate pile of bodies can also be seen close by.

The group also released photos purporting to show captured soldiers.

Isis, a radical offshoot of al Qaeda, stormed the Tabqa airbase on Sunday after days of clashes with the army and said it had captured and killed soldiers and officers in one of the bloodiest confrontations yet between the two sides.

The Syrian Observatory said 346 Isis fighters and more than 170 members of the security forces were killed during the battle. About 1,400 people are believed to have been station at the air base. Seven hundred are thought to have escaped.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 97532.html

[Anthea]

VIDEOS I DID NOT WATCH

BEWARE SICK CONTENT

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

THESE SAVAGE ACTS HAVE TO BE SHOWN SO THAT EVERYONE CAN SEE

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAZY MURDERING SAVAGES THE ISLAMIC STATE IS

[Anthea]

Previous story also covered by

Mail Online

Hours after shocking world with desert execution of 300 Syrian soldiers, ISIS parade captured Kurds then behead one on video

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
IS issues second 'warning' to the U.S in video showing another decapitation
Footage shows captured Kurdish peshmerga dressed in orange boiler suits
It then cuts to one of the captives being beheaded before a Mosul mosque
They are thought to have been captured while fighting IS in Iraq
Comes hours after startling footage of mass summary execution in Syria
Men in only their underwear form a long line stretching across the desert
Islamic State fighter said men were from Tabqa air base, captured this week
By Tom Wyke and Dan Bloom and Corey Charlton for MailOnline

Islamic State have released a new decapitation video, threatening America for the second time and urging the Kurds to break from their alliance with the West against the caliphate.

Just hours after Islamic State released shocking footage of the mass execution of 300 Syrian national army soldiers in the Syrian desert, Islamic State have issued a second warning to the United States.

The grainy video, accompanied by the hashtag '2ndAmessagetoAmerica', shows the vicious beheading of a Kurdish soldier, who was part of a group of 15 fighters likely to have been captured by Islamic State during the fighting in Iraq.

The group's first warning ten days ago was entitled 'A Message to America' and showed the decapitation of American journalist James Foley.

In the latest video, the captors first issue a warning they will continue to decapitate prisoners should America continue to support the Kurds in their fight against the Islamic State.

They then behead one of the captives on a sandy roadside in Iraq, where the Great Mosque of Mosul can be seen in the background.

Kurdish forces have been in fierce fighting with Islamic State since June and their militias have been beginning to receive considerable amounts of armaments from Western powers including the USA and UK.

It is the latest front line in a brutal power struggle taking place through Syria and Iraq as the Islamic State attempts to extend its influence and impose Sharia law across the region.

While the captives and executors are dressed in similar fashion to those seen in the James Foley execution 10 days ago, it is unclear if the two incidents were carried out by the same people.

The production of the propaganda video also differs - with the beheading shown alongside still images of American and Kurdish officials in an attempt to help convey the executioner's message.

In the six minute video, which has not been independently verified, the prisoners, who are are seen wearing orange boiler suits similar to those worn by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, confirm that they had been fighting for the Peshmerga, and had been captured by the jihadist group.

The video includes one earlier shot of the Kurdish soldiers, appearing to still be wearing their Peshmerga uniforms, shortly after they were captured. Speaking in Kurdish, one of the prisoners, Hassan Mohammed Hashin, reads out a carefully pre-prepared statement, lambasting the Kurdish leaders: 'You have made a huge mistake by joining hands with America.'

Full Article with Pic and Video

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

[Anthea]

This is the Islamic State propaganda machine trying to frighten people

At the same time the world has to see what the Islamic State are capable of doing

Are they a threat to UK and America?

NO

Because more often than not they only attack the weakest targets

There is nothing brave about slaughtering prisoners

There is nothing Islamic about slaughtering prisoners

There is no glory in what the Islamic State is doing

Only disgust that they are bringing shame to the name of Islam

Remember only bullies and cowards attack the weak

[Anthea]

Rudaw

At Least 8 Killed, 30 Wounded by Bomb, Mortars in Tuz

TUZ KHURMATU – Mortars and a truck bomb targeting Kurdish forces in Tuz Khurmatu Friday killed at least eight and wounded 30, including two Peshmerga, a security official said.

“This afternoon a truck bomb exploded near the Askari neighborhood, targeting Peshmerga forces, wounding two Peshmerga," said Faruq Ahmed, head of general security in the town. He added that the blast was followed by mortar rounds fired by Islamic State (IS/formerly ISIS) fighters.

"After people gathered at the scene of the explosion, armed IS men pounded the place with mortar rounds,” he said. Preliminary reports have eight people killed and 30 wounded, he added.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces strengthened their positions in Tuz Khurmatu, 85 Kilometers south of Kirkuk, after the withdrawal of Iraq’s armed forces from the region in June.

The multi-ethnic town of mostly Turkmen has been the scene of several explosions and attacks by the Sunni extremists in the last two months.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/290820141

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Mail Online

West will be next ISIS target unless there is ‘rapid’ action, Saudi King warns, as jihadists now behead a Lebanese soldier
By Steph Cockroft for MailOnline

King Abdullah made the comments at a reception for foreign ambassadors
Said terrorists 'know no border' and could reach Europe and U.S in months
Urged heads of state to fight terrorism with 'force, reason and speed'
Comes as ISIS posted video of beheading of Sunni Muslim Ali al-Sayyed
He was captured by forces with 18 others near a border town this month
Earlier today, suicide bomber killed 11 at army checkpoint near Baghdad
Iraqi army and Kurdish forces are also closing in on ISIS fighters in Amerli

The king of Saudi Arabia has warned that Europe and the U.S. could be ISIS's next targets unless Western government fight terrorism with 'force, reason and speed'.

King Abdullah said extremists 'know no border' and could begin sweeping through countries outside of the Middle East unless action is taken.

His comments, made at a reception for foreign ambassadors, came as ISIS posted another video on social media showing the beheading of a Lebanese soldier who was captured in Syria.

Although he did not mention any terrorist groups by name, King Abdullah's comments - published by state media today - appeared to be aimed at drawing Washington and NATO forces into a wider fight against the Islamic State and its supporters in the region.

The group has already seized wide areas of land across Syria and Iraq.

He said: 'If we ignore them, I am certain that after a month they will reach Europe and, after another month, America.

'These terrorists do not know the name of humanity and you have witnessed them severing heads and giving them to children to walk with in the street.'

British officials raised the country's terror threat level Friday to 'severe', its second-highest level, because of developments in Iraq and Syria.

The White House has said it does not expect the U.S. to bump up its terrorism threat warning level.

He continued: 'Terrorism knows no border and its danger could affect several countries outside the Middle East.

'It is no secret to you, what they have done and what they have yet to do. I ask you to transmit this message to your leaders: "Fight terrorism with force, reason and speed".'

While providing arms and support to Sunni militants in Syria, Saudi Arabia has denied directly funding or backing the Islamic State group.

Islamic State, which declared a 'caliphate' in June in parts of Iraq and Syria under its control, has been cited as a major security threat by Western governments since posting a video in August of the beheading of U.S journalist James Foley.

The group has been fighting moderate rebels, other extremists and Assad's forces in Syria for nearly three years.

But, this year, violence in Iraq has spiralled out of control, reaching levels not seen since 2007, when the country was convulsed by civil war.

Today, the jihadist group posted a shocking video which showed the beheading of soldier Ali al-Sayyed, a Sunni Muslim from north Lebanon.

He had been seized alongside 18 others near border town Arsal earlier this month.

The footage - which is too graphic to publish- shows the soldier blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back, writhing and kicking the dusty ground while a militant announces he will be killed.

Another militant then beheads him.

The Lebanese army declined to comment but security and Islamic State sources confirmed the latest beheading.

Hours later, the group posted a second video showing nine other soldiers begging for their lives, urging their families to take to the streets in the next three days to demand the release of Islamist prisoners as a condition to escape al-Sayyed's fate.

Earlier this month, several Syrian groups, including Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front battled the Lebanese army after the arrest of rebel commander Emad Gomaa in the border town of Arsal.

Gomaa is an al-Nusra commander who switched affiliation to Islamic State but remained popular among al-Nusra fighters.

The militants seized Arsal for five days before withdrawing to a mountainous border region, taking 19 captive soldiers with them.

They have demanded the release of Gomaa and several Islamists jailed since a 2007 insurrection by an al Qaeda-inspired group at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon.

Meanwhile, police in Iraq said a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden car into an army checkpoint in the town of Youssifiyah, killing 11 people, including four soldiers, and wounding at least 24 people. Youssifiyah is 12 miles south of Baghdad.

Hours later, a roadside bomb targeting an army patrol killed two soldiers and wounded five in Latifiyah, a town 20 miles south of Baghdad.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not allowed to speak to journalists.

Today, Iraqi army and Kurdish forces also closed in on Islamic State fighters today in a push to break the Sunni militants' siege of the Shi'ite town of Amerli, army sources said.

Officers said Iraqi troops, militia and Kurdish peshmerga were advancing from four directions on the northern town, which has been surrounded by Islamic State forces for more than two months.

Armed residents of Amerli have managed to fend off attacks by the Islamic State fighters, who regard its majority Shi'ite Turkman population as apostates. More than 15,000 people remain trapped inside.

A major in the Iraqi army, who was advancing north towards Amerli from Udhaim, said progress was slow because the militants had mined the roads.

He said they were around nine miles from the town, while those approaching from the north were just 3 km away.

The major said he had counted the corpses of more than 40 militants killed in Iraqi air strikes on the road between Udhaim and the village of Injana.

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