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A Syrian refugee carries a mattress as he re-enters Syria from Turkey
Picture: AFP
Back to bottling my Grenache
ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
A Syrian refugee carries a mattress as he re-enters Syria from Turkey
Picture: AFP
Back to bottling my Grenache
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
IS kills 146 civilians in assault on Syria's Kobane
Islamic State commits its second-biggest civilian massacre in Syria during '24-hour rampage' on Kobane
Turkish soldiers standing guard as Syrian Kurds wait behind the barbed wired on the Syrian side after they fled the Syrian town of Kobane, June 26 2015
Friday 26 June 2015 16:05 UTC
Last update:
Friday 26 June 2015 17:09 UTC
Topics:
The Islamic State group killed 146 civilians in its offensive on the Kurdish town of Kobane, in what a monitor said on Friday was one of the militant group's "worst massacres" in Syria.
The killing spree, which took place mostly inside Kobane itself, was widely seen as vengeance for a series of defeats inflicted on the militants by Kurdish militia in recent weeks.
At least 120 civilians were killed in a 24-hour rampage on Kobane, and another 26 were executed in a nearby village, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The assault began on Thursday when three IS suicide bombers blew up vehicles at the entrances to the town, which has become a symbol of Kurdish resistance.
Women and children were among civilians whose bodies were found in their homes and in the streets, the Observatory said.
"According to medical sources and Kobane residents, 120 civilians were executed by IS in their homes or killed by the group's rockets or snipers," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"When they entered the town, the jihadists took up positions in buildings at the southeast and southwest entrances, firing at everything that moved."
Local journalist Mostafa Ali said there was no military dimension to the assault.
"IS doesn't want to take over the town. They just came to kill the highest number of civilians in the ugliest ways possible," he told AFP.
"Every family in Kobane lost a family member on Thursday," Kurdish activist Arin Shekhmos said.
'Human shields' in Kobane
The IS militants entered Kobane at dawn on Thursday disguised as Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters, said Ali.
They took up positions in buildings in the south of the town, using civilians as "human shields".
"There are at least 70 civilians in these various neighbourhoods that have been taken hostage by IS," Ali added.
"The YPG has sent reinforcements and have encircled the buildings, but the situation is difficult. The YPG doesn't want to hurt the women and children there."
More than 1,000 fleeing civilians waited on the Syrian side of the frontier with Turkey on Friday, carefully watched by Turkish troops and police on the other side.
Relatives who had made it to the Turkish side cried in despair, an AFP photographer reported.
Kobane was the scene of one of IS's most dramatic defeats in January when it was ousted by Kurdish militia backed by US-led air strikes after four months of heavy fighting.
Kurdish fighters have gone on to seize Tal Abyad, another border town farther east, in a heavy blow to the militants' supply lines.
On Friday, the Turkish military ordered the dishonourable discharge of a soldier IS briefly abducted in January, Hurriyet newspaper reported.
Ozgur Ors was dismissed for "failure to resist ISIS, being an instrument for the organisation's propaganda in the media and harming the reputation of the Turkish Armed Forces," it reported.
Full details of his case have been kept under wraps.
Civilians flee Hasakeh
IS has hit back against Kurdish victories with an offensive against Hasakeh in the northeast, capital of the mainly Kurdish province of the same name.
Abdel Rahman said IS had seized two neighbourhoods in the city's south as government forces, who jointly controlled the city with Kurdish militia, carried out airstrikes.
At least 20 militants and 30 pro-government fighters were killed when IS captured southern parts of Hasakeh.
On Thursday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the clashes had displaced an estimated 60,000 people.
Roughly 50,000 were displaced within Hasakeh, while another 10,000 had fled north towards Amuda.
Shekhmos, the activist, said civilians from southern neighbourhoods had fled to Kurdish-controlled parts of the city, but that the YPG was not yet involved in the fighting.
The militants previously advanced to the southern edge of Hasakeh in May but were pushed back by government forces.
In southern Syria, a rebel alliance pressed an assault on the city and provincial capital of Daraa which it began on Thursday, with some 40 people reported killed.
President Bashar al-Assad's government has already lost two provincial capitals in the four-year-old civil war: IS-held Raqqa in the Euphrates valley and Idlib in the northwest, which is held by a rebel alliance including Al-Qaeda.
At least 230,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011.
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Islamic State commits its second-biggest civilian massacre in Syria during '24-hour rampage' on Kobane
Turkish soldiers standing guard as Syrian Kurds wait behind the barbed wired on the Syrian side after they fled the Syrian town of Kobane, June 26 2015
Friday 26 June 2015 16:05 UTC
Last update:
Friday 26 June 2015 17:09 UTC
Topics:
The Islamic State group killed 146 civilians in its offensive on the Kurdish town of Kobane, in what a monitor said on Friday was one of the militant group's "worst massacres" in Syria.
The killing spree, which took place mostly inside Kobane itself, was widely seen as vengeance for a series of defeats inflicted on the militants by Kurdish militia in recent weeks.
At least 120 civilians were killed in a 24-hour rampage on Kobane, and another 26 were executed in a nearby village, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The assault began on Thursday when three IS suicide bombers blew up vehicles at the entrances to the town, which has become a symbol of Kurdish resistance.
Women and children were among civilians whose bodies were found in their homes and in the streets, the Observatory said.
"According to medical sources and Kobane residents, 120 civilians were executed by IS in their homes or killed by the group's rockets or snipers," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"When they entered the town, the jihadists took up positions in buildings at the southeast and southwest entrances, firing at everything that moved."
Local journalist Mostafa Ali said there was no military dimension to the assault.
"IS doesn't want to take over the town. They just came to kill the highest number of civilians in the ugliest ways possible," he told AFP.
"Every family in Kobane lost a family member on Thursday," Kurdish activist Arin Shekhmos said.
'Human shields' in Kobane
The IS militants entered Kobane at dawn on Thursday disguised as Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters, said Ali.
They took up positions in buildings in the south of the town, using civilians as "human shields".
"There are at least 70 civilians in these various neighbourhoods that have been taken hostage by IS," Ali added.
"The YPG has sent reinforcements and have encircled the buildings, but the situation is difficult. The YPG doesn't want to hurt the women and children there."
More than 1,000 fleeing civilians waited on the Syrian side of the frontier with Turkey on Friday, carefully watched by Turkish troops and police on the other side.
Relatives who had made it to the Turkish side cried in despair, an AFP photographer reported.
Kobane was the scene of one of IS's most dramatic defeats in January when it was ousted by Kurdish militia backed by US-led air strikes after four months of heavy fighting.
Kurdish fighters have gone on to seize Tal Abyad, another border town farther east, in a heavy blow to the militants' supply lines.
On Friday, the Turkish military ordered the dishonourable discharge of a soldier IS briefly abducted in January, Hurriyet newspaper reported.
Ozgur Ors was dismissed for "failure to resist ISIS, being an instrument for the organisation's propaganda in the media and harming the reputation of the Turkish Armed Forces," it reported.
Full details of his case have been kept under wraps.
Civilians flee Hasakeh
IS has hit back against Kurdish victories with an offensive against Hasakeh in the northeast, capital of the mainly Kurdish province of the same name.
Abdel Rahman said IS had seized two neighbourhoods in the city's south as government forces, who jointly controlled the city with Kurdish militia, carried out airstrikes.
At least 20 militants and 30 pro-government fighters were killed when IS captured southern parts of Hasakeh.
On Thursday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the clashes had displaced an estimated 60,000 people.
Roughly 50,000 were displaced within Hasakeh, while another 10,000 had fled north towards Amuda.
Shekhmos, the activist, said civilians from southern neighbourhoods had fled to Kurdish-controlled parts of the city, but that the YPG was not yet involved in the fighting.
The militants previously advanced to the southern edge of Hasakeh in May but were pushed back by government forces.
In southern Syria, a rebel alliance pressed an assault on the city and provincial capital of Daraa which it began on Thursday, with some 40 people reported killed.
President Bashar al-Assad's government has already lost two provincial capitals in the four-year-old civil war: IS-held Raqqa in the Euphrates valley and Idlib in the northwest, which is held by a rebel alliance including Al-Qaeda.
At least 230,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011.
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TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Erdogan denies IS launched Kobane attack from Turkey
Turkey's president accused the Kurdish PKK of running a 'smear campaign' against his country after IS attacked Kobane
Turkish soldiers stand guard by the border with Syria, on the way to Mursitpinar crossing in Suruc (AFP)
Friday 26 June 2015 08:42 UTC
Last update:
Friday 26 June 2015 11:52 UTC
Topics:
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday denied Islamic State militants had entered the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane from Turkey to launch a series of deadly attacks on civilians and Kurdish fighters.
IS militants attacked Kobane during a surprise offensive on Thursday, which left nearly two dozen people dead and injured over 130 others. The Syrian-Kurdish town was the scene of a prolonged battle earlier this year, where US-led coalition airstrikes pummelled IS, aiding what was seen as a key Kurdish victory.
Speaking at an iftar (fast breaking) meal late on Thursday, Erdogan said claims that IS entered Kobane from Turkish territory were false and he accused the outlawed Kurdish PKK group of running a “smear campaign” against his country.
“I want to clearly and transparently express it again: no one has the right to align Turkey with extremism,” he said. “Those who became an instrument for international lobbies that are Turkey’s enemies and for Bashar al-Assad’s manipulations should firstly question themselves.”
The Turkish president condemned what he described as a “heinous” attack on Kobane and reiterated that his country’s hospitals will absorb the weight of dealing with those injured and displaced by Syria’s brutal civil war.
“All Syrian citizens who were wounded [in the Kobane attack] were brought to our country and around 130 injured are under treatment in our hospitals,” he said.
Turkey has been repeatedly accused of not doing enough to stop IS militants from entering Syria through its territory – claims Ankara has always denied.
However, a Kurdish activist, who lives less than one mile from the scene of Thursday’s attack, told British newspaper that he believed IS had entered from Turkey.
“If they entered from the Syrian side, they would have first come up [against] many more important targets related to the YPG (the Kurdish militia), such as the main headquarters building where there are tens of fighters and leaders, or the local administration HQ,” Mustafa Bali said.
Bali added that it was “unlikely” that IS would have got round these obstacles and then got to Kobane, which is very close to the Turkish border, in order to kill civilians.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu denied that Turkey has ever aided any terrorist groups, including IS.
“We have never supported a terrorist organisation, helped a tyrant oppress a victim; we have no share in any bloodshed,” he said, according to the Anadolu Agency (AA). “We always mediate and try to build peace.”
YPG spokesperson Redur Halil was quoted by AA as backing Turkey’s position and stating that IS had entered Kobane from the south and the east, rather than from Turkish territory to the north.
The Americans have also dismissed claims Turkey allowed IS to enter Kobane from its territory, at a State Department press conference on Thursday.
"I would just point you to what the Turkish foreign ministry said about infiltration," said State Department spokesman John Kirby, when asked by a reported about the claims. "They've denied that there was any complicity in that. I mean, we have no reason not to believe them in that regard."
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Turkey's president accused the Kurdish PKK of running a 'smear campaign' against his country after IS attacked Kobane
Turkish soldiers stand guard by the border with Syria, on the way to Mursitpinar crossing in Suruc (AFP)
Friday 26 June 2015 08:42 UTC
Last update:
Friday 26 June 2015 11:52 UTC
Topics:
Tags:
, ,
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday denied Islamic State militants had entered the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane from Turkey to launch a series of deadly attacks on civilians and Kurdish fighters.
IS militants attacked Kobane during a surprise offensive on Thursday, which left nearly two dozen people dead and injured over 130 others. The Syrian-Kurdish town was the scene of a prolonged battle earlier this year, where US-led coalition airstrikes pummelled IS, aiding what was seen as a key Kurdish victory.
Speaking at an iftar (fast breaking) meal late on Thursday, Erdogan said claims that IS entered Kobane from Turkish territory were false and he accused the outlawed Kurdish PKK group of running a “smear campaign” against his country.
“I want to clearly and transparently express it again: no one has the right to align Turkey with extremism,” he said. “Those who became an instrument for international lobbies that are Turkey’s enemies and for Bashar al-Assad’s manipulations should firstly question themselves.”
The Turkish president condemned what he described as a “heinous” attack on Kobane and reiterated that his country’s hospitals will absorb the weight of dealing with those injured and displaced by Syria’s brutal civil war.
“All Syrian citizens who were wounded [in the Kobane attack] were brought to our country and around 130 injured are under treatment in our hospitals,” he said.
Turkey has been repeatedly accused of not doing enough to stop IS militants from entering Syria through its territory – claims Ankara has always denied.
However, a Kurdish activist, who lives less than one mile from the scene of Thursday’s attack, told British newspaper that he believed IS had entered from Turkey.
“If they entered from the Syrian side, they would have first come up [against] many more important targets related to the YPG (the Kurdish militia), such as the main headquarters building where there are tens of fighters and leaders, or the local administration HQ,” Mustafa Bali said.
Bali added that it was “unlikely” that IS would have got round these obstacles and then got to Kobane, which is very close to the Turkish border, in order to kill civilians.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu denied that Turkey has ever aided any terrorist groups, including IS.
“We have never supported a terrorist organisation, helped a tyrant oppress a victim; we have no share in any bloodshed,” he said, according to the Anadolu Agency (AA). “We always mediate and try to build peace.”
YPG spokesperson Redur Halil was quoted by AA as backing Turkey’s position and stating that IS had entered Kobane from the south and the east, rather than from Turkish territory to the north.
The Americans have also dismissed claims Turkey allowed IS to enter Kobane from its territory, at a State Department press conference on Thursday.
"I would just point you to what the Turkish foreign ministry said about infiltration," said State Department spokesman John Kirby, when asked by a reported about the claims. "They've denied that there was any complicity in that. I mean, we have no reason not to believe them in that regard."
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TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
ShahryarHedayat
Junior Member
The pot calling the kettle black...
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
I posted it as it was related and a reaction from a major figure in the region. Really has little barring on the events.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Islamic State is claiming responsibility for the Attacks yesterday in Tunisia and Kuwait this means that despite those who tried to claim that IS foreign born recruits were not a risk, they very much are. It also expands IS range of Operations into southern Spain and Europe.
In other news.
BY | June 25th, 2015 | [email protected] |
Hezbollah Brigades operating a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier
A video released on a YouTube account linked to the Popular Mobilization Committee or the “People’s Mobilization Units” (PMU), a coalition of largely Shiite militia forces, shows a montage of Hezbollah Brigades footage from its operations in Iraq’s Anbar province. In the video, the US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization is seen operating an array of US military hardware, including M113 armored personnel carriers, HUMVEEs, and artillery.
It is unclear how old some of the footage is, but some of the scenes are taken from more recent official releases from the Shiite militia.
The video, entitled “A song of the free men in the land of Anbar,” shows the Hezbollah Brigades (or Kata’ib Hezbollah, its Arabic name) in operations against the Islamic State. Several scenes show the use of US-made M113 armored personnel carriers, Humvees, and M1 Abrams tanks. However, it is unclear who is operating the Abrams, as the militia operates closely alongside the Iraqi Security Forces. Hezbollah Brigades has of at least one of the US-supplied main battle tanks in January. One scene, which is from an older video, shows a US MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle being hit with a roadside bomb. It is unclear if the footage is from an attack on an Islamic State-operated MRAP, or if the video is from the US war in Iraq.
Other scenes show the use of rockets, mortars, anti-aircraft guns, technicals, and small arms to combat the Islamic State. Some scenes are from a recent official Hezbollah Brigades release on operations in Anbar. That video, which is more than 10 minutes long, also shows the use of US weaponry. In addition to similar scenes from the montage, the group is shown disabling improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and conducting other ground operations while supported by Iraqi helicopters overhead.
In addition to the videos, Hezbollah Brigades for anyone who captures non-Iraqi Islamic State fighters. According to the group, Western European or American fighters are worth $12,000. Fighters from the Arabian Peninsula, Lebanon, or Algeria are worth $10,000, while fighters from the Caucasus, Turkey, or those of ethnic Uighur descent (native to the western Chinese province of Xinjiang) are worth $7,000. The group excludes fighters from Syria, Afghanistan, or Pakistan from the rewards.
The Hezbollah Brigades has deployed thousands of fighters to help Iraqi forces combat the Islamic State in Anbar province. In April, the militia it was deploying close to the provincial capital of Anbar to help assist against a then-ongoing Islamic State offensive. One video, from April 12, showed Hezbollah Brigade artillery units launching rockets against Islamic State forces in the Sijariyah district in eastern Ramadi. The on May 17.
Hezbollah Brigades has also been involved in operations near the town of Karmah, just east of Baghdad. As the Islamic State was preparing to take control of the provincial capital of Ramadi, on the town of Karmah and surrounding areas. Fighting is still ongoing in the area, and Anbar Daily that the Iraqi forces have made advances in the town in recent days.
Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, a former commander in the Badr Organization who was listed by the US government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in July 2009, directs the Popular Mobilization Committee. The US government described Muhandis, whose real name is Jamal Jaafar Mohammed, as “an advisor to Qassem Soleimani,” the commander of the Qods Force, the external operations wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
In addition to directing the Popular Mobilization Committee, Muhandis is also said to direct the operations of Kata’ib Imam Ali (Imam Ali Brigade) as well as command the Hezbollah Brigades. The Iraqi government has largely depended on these Shiite militias in its major offensives, including in Tikrit and Baiji in Salahadin province.
Screenshots from the videos showing Hezbollah Brigades operations in Anbar:
Scenes showing US equipment:
There is more then just these
see site for more,
In other news.
BY | June 25th, 2015 | [email protected] |
Hezbollah Brigades operating a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier
A video released on a YouTube account linked to the Popular Mobilization Committee or the “People’s Mobilization Units” (PMU), a coalition of largely Shiite militia forces, shows a montage of Hezbollah Brigades footage from its operations in Iraq’s Anbar province. In the video, the US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization is seen operating an array of US military hardware, including M113 armored personnel carriers, HUMVEEs, and artillery.
It is unclear how old some of the footage is, but some of the scenes are taken from more recent official releases from the Shiite militia.
The video, entitled “A song of the free men in the land of Anbar,” shows the Hezbollah Brigades (or Kata’ib Hezbollah, its Arabic name) in operations against the Islamic State. Several scenes show the use of US-made M113 armored personnel carriers, Humvees, and M1 Abrams tanks. However, it is unclear who is operating the Abrams, as the militia operates closely alongside the Iraqi Security Forces. Hezbollah Brigades has of at least one of the US-supplied main battle tanks in January. One scene, which is from an older video, shows a US MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle being hit with a roadside bomb. It is unclear if the footage is from an attack on an Islamic State-operated MRAP, or if the video is from the US war in Iraq.
Other scenes show the use of rockets, mortars, anti-aircraft guns, technicals, and small arms to combat the Islamic State. Some scenes are from a recent official Hezbollah Brigades release on operations in Anbar. That video, which is more than 10 minutes long, also shows the use of US weaponry. In addition to similar scenes from the montage, the group is shown disabling improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and conducting other ground operations while supported by Iraqi helicopters overhead.
In addition to the videos, Hezbollah Brigades for anyone who captures non-Iraqi Islamic State fighters. According to the group, Western European or American fighters are worth $12,000. Fighters from the Arabian Peninsula, Lebanon, or Algeria are worth $10,000, while fighters from the Caucasus, Turkey, or those of ethnic Uighur descent (native to the western Chinese province of Xinjiang) are worth $7,000. The group excludes fighters from Syria, Afghanistan, or Pakistan from the rewards.
The Hezbollah Brigades has deployed thousands of fighters to help Iraqi forces combat the Islamic State in Anbar province. In April, the militia it was deploying close to the provincial capital of Anbar to help assist against a then-ongoing Islamic State offensive. One video, from April 12, showed Hezbollah Brigade artillery units launching rockets against Islamic State forces in the Sijariyah district in eastern Ramadi. The on May 17.
Hezbollah Brigades has also been involved in operations near the town of Karmah, just east of Baghdad. As the Islamic State was preparing to take control of the provincial capital of Ramadi, on the town of Karmah and surrounding areas. Fighting is still ongoing in the area, and Anbar Daily that the Iraqi forces have made advances in the town in recent days.
Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, a former commander in the Badr Organization who was listed by the US government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in July 2009, directs the Popular Mobilization Committee. The US government described Muhandis, whose real name is Jamal Jaafar Mohammed, as “an advisor to Qassem Soleimani,” the commander of the Qods Force, the external operations wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
In addition to directing the Popular Mobilization Committee, Muhandis is also said to direct the operations of Kata’ib Imam Ali (Imam Ali Brigade) as well as command the Hezbollah Brigades. The Iraqi government has largely depended on these Shiite militias in its major offensives, including in Tikrit and Baiji in Salahadin province.
Screenshots from the videos showing Hezbollah Brigades operations in Anbar:
Scenes showing US equipment:
There is more then just these
see site for more,
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
World | Sat Jun 27, 2015 1:11pm EDT Related: WORLD, UNITED NATIONS, SYRIA
Kurds secure Syria's Kobani as Islamic State targets northeast
BEIRUT | BY SYLVIA WESTALL
Syrian Kurdish fighters said they had fully secured the town of Kobani near the Turkish border on Saturday and killed more than 60 Islamic State militants, two days after the hardline group launched an incursion with suicide bombers.
Further east, Islamic State pressed another assault on government-held areas of Hasaka city, clashing with the Syrian army after blowing up a security building late on Friday and triggering a government appeal for residents to take up arms.
"The people of the governorate and its surroundings continue to sign up with the Syrian Arab Army in its fight against terror," state television said in a news flash on Saturday and played archive footage of soldiers set to rousing music.
Hasaka's governor described the situation as "fine" but also called on residents to defend it in a phone call with state TV.
The twin assaults on Kobani and Hasaka came after Islamic State suffered two weeks of defeats at the hands of Kurdish-led forces, supported by U.S.-led air strikes.
Redur Xelil, spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia, said Kobani was quiet and the YPG was combing the town for any hidden Islamic State fighters.
The YPG blew up a school building used by Islamic State in the town earlier on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said, and plumes of smoke could be seen from the Turkish side of the border rising into the air.
RELATED COVERAGE
› Turkey's Erdogan says will 'never allow' Kurdish state: media
The Observatory said a U.S-led airstrike killed at least 18 Islamic State fighters near Kobani. Islamic State killed around 200 civilians since the assault which started on Thursday, the Observatory said, describing it as one of the worst massacres committed by the group in Syria.
BATTLE FOR HASAKA CITY
In Syria's northeast, Kurdish forces and the army fought separate battles with the group around the city overnight. The YPG's Xelil said the Kurds were not fighting with Islamic State on Saturday.
The Observatory said fierce battles continued in the southwest, south and southeast on Saturday.
Islamic State launched its offensive on government-held areas of Hasaka on Thursday and the United Nations says the violence is estimated to have displaced up to 120,000 people.
"We want to reassure people in the governorate...Hasaka is fine," Governor Mohammad Zaal al-Ali told state TV but also echoed a government call for people to come back and defend their homes alongside the army.
"All of the people of the governorate who want to, pick up arms to defend it," he added. He said the air force had been carrying out frequent bombardments against Islamic State.
Hasaka province is important because it sits between Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq and reaches north to the Turkish border. The city is divided into areas run separately by President Bashar al-Assad's government and Kurdish authorities.
The assault will test the army's capacity to hold on to areas far from the major government-held cities in the west. The YPG, which controls northern parts of the city, says it does not cooperate with government forces.
Islamic State said in statements posted online on Saturday it had attacked areas east of the city and in a video posted on YouTube said it had entered western areas.
Late on Friday Damascus called on Hasaka residents to take up arms in defense.
"I call on every man, every young woman and every young man able to carry weapons to move immediately and join the frontline positions to defend the city," Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said on state television.
(Additional reporting by Murad Sezer in SURUC, Turkey and David Dolan in ANKARA; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
Kurds secure Syria's Kobani as Islamic State targets northeast
BEIRUT | BY SYLVIA WESTALL
Syrian Kurdish fighters said they had fully secured the town of Kobani near the Turkish border on Saturday and killed more than 60 Islamic State militants, two days after the hardline group launched an incursion with suicide bombers.
Further east, Islamic State pressed another assault on government-held areas of Hasaka city, clashing with the Syrian army after blowing up a security building late on Friday and triggering a government appeal for residents to take up arms.
"The people of the governorate and its surroundings continue to sign up with the Syrian Arab Army in its fight against terror," state television said in a news flash on Saturday and played archive footage of soldiers set to rousing music.
Hasaka's governor described the situation as "fine" but also called on residents to defend it in a phone call with state TV.
The twin assaults on Kobani and Hasaka came after Islamic State suffered two weeks of defeats at the hands of Kurdish-led forces, supported by U.S.-led air strikes.
Redur Xelil, spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia, said Kobani was quiet and the YPG was combing the town for any hidden Islamic State fighters.
The YPG blew up a school building used by Islamic State in the town earlier on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said, and plumes of smoke could be seen from the Turkish side of the border rising into the air.
RELATED COVERAGE
› Turkey's Erdogan says will 'never allow' Kurdish state: media
The Observatory said a U.S-led airstrike killed at least 18 Islamic State fighters near Kobani. Islamic State killed around 200 civilians since the assault which started on Thursday, the Observatory said, describing it as one of the worst massacres committed by the group in Syria.
BATTLE FOR HASAKA CITY
In Syria's northeast, Kurdish forces and the army fought separate battles with the group around the city overnight. The YPG's Xelil said the Kurds were not fighting with Islamic State on Saturday.
The Observatory said fierce battles continued in the southwest, south and southeast on Saturday.
Islamic State launched its offensive on government-held areas of Hasaka on Thursday and the United Nations says the violence is estimated to have displaced up to 120,000 people.
"We want to reassure people in the governorate...Hasaka is fine," Governor Mohammad Zaal al-Ali told state TV but also echoed a government call for people to come back and defend their homes alongside the army.
"All of the people of the governorate who want to, pick up arms to defend it," he added. He said the air force had been carrying out frequent bombardments against Islamic State.
Hasaka province is important because it sits between Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq and reaches north to the Turkish border. The city is divided into areas run separately by President Bashar al-Assad's government and Kurdish authorities.
The assault will test the army's capacity to hold on to areas far from the major government-held cities in the west. The YPG, which controls northern parts of the city, says it does not cooperate with government forces.
Islamic State said in statements posted online on Saturday it had attacked areas east of the city and in a video posted on YouTube said it had entered western areas.
Late on Friday Damascus called on Hasaka residents to take up arms in defense.
"I call on every man, every young woman and every young man able to carry weapons to move immediately and join the frontline positions to defend the city," Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said on state television.
(Additional reporting by Murad Sezer in SURUC, Turkey and David Dolan in ANKARA; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
Miragedriver
Brigadier
American Al Qaeda to ISIS: No Paradise for You
The atrocities committed by the terror group are so horrific that a high-profile member, an American citizen, purportedly addressed the group directly in a new al Qaeda publication and lectured them that if they keep it up, Allah will not grant them paradise in the afterlife.
“My dear brothers: While no one can deny the considerable strength and prowess of the Islamic State group [ISIS] in military terms, at the same time, the crimes it has committed against Muslims cannot simply be overlooked or forgotten with time, because in there is no statute of limitations,” the late Adam Gadahn said, according to an al Qaeda magazine published recently online. “And if these wrongs are not brought to an end and rectified here in this world, then a severe punishment has been promised both for those who committed them as well as those who encouraged, condoned or justified them, even if from behind a computer or mobile phone thousands of miles away.”
“Oppression of any kind is wrong, and [there] will be darkness for its perpetrator on the Day of Judgment. The Ummah’s [Muslim community’s] Jihad is not a video game; it is real life, with real consequences, in this world and the next,” he said.
Gadahn, born Adam Pearlman, was killed accidentally in an American counter-terrorism operation in January, according to the White House. Apparently the U.S. forces who conducted the mission . Another al Qaeda member said in the magazine that it was an airstrike that killed Gadahn.
The interview with Gadahn, in which he discusses his background as a California boy in an unorthodox home and his bizarre journey into the ranks of al Qaeda, appears to have been conducted last fall. A majority of the 80-plus page interview is dedicated to sharp criticism of ISIS, the terror group that split from al Qaeda in recent years and one that Gadahn says “is already known to be responsible for the murder and killing of a large number of Muslims on the flimsiest of pretexts.”
“Does anyone think [ and other al Qaeda figures] were calling on them to bring the wrath of the entire world down on and Syria by attacking and displacing largely powerless and defenseless minorities and slaughtering their men and enslaving their women and children?... Of course not!” he said. “Frankly, all of us used to be sympathetic to varying degrees towards the Islamic State of Iraq [ISIS] -- despite its mistakes –- when it was seen as a weak and oppressed force valiantly fighting brutal tyrannies. But now that it has become clear that it has – unfortunately – adopted some of the traits, methods and tactics of those same tyrannies, it no longer holds the same place in our hearts that it did once upon a time.”
Early last week ISIS released its most gruesome video yet -– one showing the execution of a dozen fighters, some purportedly members of al Qaeda’s Syria faction. Different groups of the men are drowned, blown up by a rocket-propelled grenade or decapitated with explosives. Friday an ISIS affiliate claimed responsibility for the bombing of a mosque in , which killed 27 Muslim worshippers.
In addition to the mass killing of Muslims, Gadahn also took issue with ISIS’s on-camera murder of , a British humanitarian. Henning was one of a string of Western hostages, including three Americans, to be executed by ISIS. Gadahn claimed that al Qaeda went as far as demanding ISIS release Henning because he was an aid worker.
“…[T]he brothers in An-Nusra [al Qaeda’s faction in Syria] sought the release of Henning soon after his kidnapping, but regrettably, their appeals – like the rest – fell on deaf ears,” Gadahn said. “Alan Henning didn’t go to Syria as a soldier or a spy. He went to Syria as a member of a Muslim aid convoy to distribute relief supplies to displaced and needy Syrians. But rather than thank him, some interlopers rewarded him first by kidnapping him and then by slaughtering him on camera.”
But Gadahn's sympathetic words are out of place compared to other parts of the interview, where the American celebrated the attacks on Canadian soldiers and the Canadian Parliament, and later described his jubilant reaction to the 9/11 attacks in which his organization killed 3,000 innocent Americans.
“It was a mix of surprise, amazement and exhilaration as well as some apprehension, at least in the beginning,” he said. Gadahn said he was in Kandahar, Afghanistan when it happened and that night “there was a celebratory atmosphere… People were congratulating each other on this incredible and historic victory with which Allah had favored us.”
And like ISIS, Gadahn also called for attacks in Western countries.
“We in al Qaeda have been consistent in calling for attacks on America and its Crusader allies,” he said.
Link:
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The atrocities committed by the terror group are so horrific that a high-profile member, an American citizen, purportedly addressed the group directly in a new al Qaeda publication and lectured them that if they keep it up, Allah will not grant them paradise in the afterlife.
“My dear brothers: While no one can deny the considerable strength and prowess of the Islamic State group [ISIS] in military terms, at the same time, the crimes it has committed against Muslims cannot simply be overlooked or forgotten with time, because in there is no statute of limitations,” the late Adam Gadahn said, according to an al Qaeda magazine published recently online. “And if these wrongs are not brought to an end and rectified here in this world, then a severe punishment has been promised both for those who committed them as well as those who encouraged, condoned or justified them, even if from behind a computer or mobile phone thousands of miles away.”
“Oppression of any kind is wrong, and [there] will be darkness for its perpetrator on the Day of Judgment. The Ummah’s [Muslim community’s] Jihad is not a video game; it is real life, with real consequences, in this world and the next,” he said.
Gadahn, born Adam Pearlman, was killed accidentally in an American counter-terrorism operation in January, according to the White House. Apparently the U.S. forces who conducted the mission . Another al Qaeda member said in the magazine that it was an airstrike that killed Gadahn.
The interview with Gadahn, in which he discusses his background as a California boy in an unorthodox home and his bizarre journey into the ranks of al Qaeda, appears to have been conducted last fall. A majority of the 80-plus page interview is dedicated to sharp criticism of ISIS, the terror group that split from al Qaeda in recent years and one that Gadahn says “is already known to be responsible for the murder and killing of a large number of Muslims on the flimsiest of pretexts.”
“Does anyone think [ and other al Qaeda figures] were calling on them to bring the wrath of the entire world down on and Syria by attacking and displacing largely powerless and defenseless minorities and slaughtering their men and enslaving their women and children?... Of course not!” he said. “Frankly, all of us used to be sympathetic to varying degrees towards the Islamic State of Iraq [ISIS] -- despite its mistakes –- when it was seen as a weak and oppressed force valiantly fighting brutal tyrannies. But now that it has become clear that it has – unfortunately – adopted some of the traits, methods and tactics of those same tyrannies, it no longer holds the same place in our hearts that it did once upon a time.”
Early last week ISIS released its most gruesome video yet -– one showing the execution of a dozen fighters, some purportedly members of al Qaeda’s Syria faction. Different groups of the men are drowned, blown up by a rocket-propelled grenade or decapitated with explosives. Friday an ISIS affiliate claimed responsibility for the bombing of a mosque in , which killed 27 Muslim worshippers.
In addition to the mass killing of Muslims, Gadahn also took issue with ISIS’s on-camera murder of , a British humanitarian. Henning was one of a string of Western hostages, including three Americans, to be executed by ISIS. Gadahn claimed that al Qaeda went as far as demanding ISIS release Henning because he was an aid worker.
“…[T]he brothers in An-Nusra [al Qaeda’s faction in Syria] sought the release of Henning soon after his kidnapping, but regrettably, their appeals – like the rest – fell on deaf ears,” Gadahn said. “Alan Henning didn’t go to Syria as a soldier or a spy. He went to Syria as a member of a Muslim aid convoy to distribute relief supplies to displaced and needy Syrians. But rather than thank him, some interlopers rewarded him first by kidnapping him and then by slaughtering him on camera.”
But Gadahn's sympathetic words are out of place compared to other parts of the interview, where the American celebrated the attacks on Canadian soldiers and the Canadian Parliament, and later described his jubilant reaction to the 9/11 attacks in which his organization killed 3,000 innocent Americans.
“It was a mix of surprise, amazement and exhilaration as well as some apprehension, at least in the beginning,” he said. Gadahn said he was in Kandahar, Afghanistan when it happened and that night “there was a celebratory atmosphere… People were congratulating each other on this incredible and historic victory with which Allah had favored us.”
And like ISIS, Gadahn also called for attacks in Western countries.
“We in al Qaeda have been consistent in calling for attacks on America and its Crusader allies,” he said.
Link:
Back to bottling my Grenache
thunderchief
Senior Member
Al Qaeda is yesterday's news for most of Islamists in the world . They never managed to accomplish anything more then terror attacks and few , mostly unsuccessful, guerrilla campaigns . On the other hand, ISIS has some semblance of the state and managed to defeat regular armies in more or less conventional battles . Like it or not, ISIS does not need to take advice from far less successful groups like Al Qaeda . On the contrary, ISIS treats all other Islamist outfits with "submit or die" order , and they are quite successful with it .