ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)

What's behind the recent retreat of ISIS in Northern Iraq?

Dec 20, 2014

Over the past few days, pro-Western Kurdish fighters, with the aid of American air power, have forced ISIS fighters in Northern Iraq to retreat from territory they seized last summer. Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies joins Hari Sreenivasan from Washington, D.C. with more on the largest offensive operation carried out against ISIS so far.

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Syrian state media unveils IDF drone allegedly 'shot down'


The photos of the unmanned aerial vehicle which were unveiled show Hebrew writing and stickers indicating that the “Skylark” drone was property of the IDF.

Syrian state media on Monday released images of an Israeli drone that landed in Quneitra, not far from the border separating Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

The photos of the unmanned aerial vehicle which were unveiled show Hebrew writing and stickers indicating that the “Skylark” drone was property of the IDF.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), quoting a military source, reported that the Skylark 1 drone was flying above the village of Hadar when it was shot down.

An IDF spokesperson denied the report on Monday morning, saying that it had no information about a UAV being present in the area at the time of the reported incident.

SANA posted photos of a UAV featuring labels in Hebrew.

Kuneitra has seen heavy fighting between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebels including al-Qaida-linked fighters.

Israel has struck Syria several times since the start of the latter's nearly four-year civil war, mostly destroying weaponry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for their long-time foe Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.

The drone is operated by Sky Rider, a special forces unit operating from within the Artillery Corps which has been at the forefront of IDF operations in the West Bank. The outfit's "Skylark" drones can be carried into the field then subsequently set up and launched by its operators.

Those same operators then control the drone and provide real-time support to troops conducting operations on the ground, without delays incurred from coordination with drones operated by the air force from remote bases.

The Skylark was a key component in the army’s search for the three Jewish teenagers who were kidnapped and murdered by Palestinians near Hebron this past summer.......

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BAGHDAD (AP) — Women and girls from Iraq's Yazidi minority endured horrors at the hands of Islamic State group extremists after they were taken as slaves last summer, leaving them deeply traumatized, an international watchdog group said in a report issued on Tuesday.

The Amnesty International report based on interviews with over 40 former captives who were among hundreds of women and girls from the Yazidi religious minority captured by IS fighters in early August when the militants overran their hometown of Sinjar. Hundreds were killed in the attack, and tens of thousands were either stranded in nearby Mount Sinjar or fled mostly to the Kurdish-held parts of northern Iraq.

The London-based group said the captives, including girls aged 10-12, faced torture, rape, forced marriage and were "sold" or given as "gifts" to IS fighters or their supporters in militant-held areas in Iraq and Syria. Often, captives were forced to convert to Islam.

"Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls have had their lives shattered by the horrors of sexual violence and sexual slavery in IS captivity," Amnesty's Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera said in a statement.

"Many of those held as sexual slaves are children — girls aged 14, 15 or even younger," Rovera added.
Fearful of rape, some captives committed suicide — like the 19-year old Jilan, according to her brother and one of the 20 girls who were with her.

In this file photo taken Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014, a 15-year-old Yazidi girl captured by the Islamic …

"One day we were given clothes that looked like dance costumes and were told to bathe and wear those clothes," said the girl quoted in the report. "Jilan killed herself in the bathroom. She cut her wrists and hanged herself. She was very beautiful; I think she knew she was going to be taken away by a man and that is why she killed herself," added the girl, who was among those who later escaped.

It was unclear how many Yazidi women were abducted, but Iraq's Human Rights Ministry put the number in the "hundreds." Amnesty reports said the number is "possibly thousands."

The Yazidis are a centuries-old religious minority viewed as apostates by extremists in Iraq. They have suffered religious persecution for generations because of their beliefs, which include some elements similar to Christianity, Judaism and other ancient religions. Many Muslims consider them devil worshippers, an accusation that Yazidis strongly dispute.
The June onslaught by IS stunned Iraqi security forces and the military, which melted away and withdrew as the extremists advanced, capturing key cities and towns in the country's north. The militants also targeted Iraq's indigenous religious minorities, including Christians and Yazidis, forcing tens of thousands from their homes.

Since then, the Islamic State has carved out a self-styled caliphate in the large area straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border that it now controls.

Alarmed with their advance, the United States launched airstrikes in early August on the militant-held areas in Iraq, in an effort to help the Iraqi forces repel the growing militant threat. Since then, some progress has been made on the ground by government forces, Kurdish fighters and Shiite militias

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delft said:

My favorite radio station just said that IS has shot down an aircraft near Raqah. It is not yet know to which country the aircraft did belong.

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Jordanian F-16 allegedly downed by ISIS in Syria. Pilot captured.

A Rojal Jordanian Air Force F-16 was allegedly downed by ISIS in Syria. Pilot has been captured by IS militants.

Although it has not been officially confirmed yet, pictures posted on Social Media seems to prove a Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 has crashed in Syria. Pilot, whose military ID card was recovered and posted on Twitter, was captured by Islamic State militants.

According to several sources, the aircraft was downed by ISIS militants, 11 km to the east of Al-Raqqa, in the northern part of central Syria.

Although the reasons of the crash are still unknown, if it was not flying at high altitude, the aircraft may have been hit by ground fire.

ISIS forces are known to operate MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) along with anti-aircraft artillery pieces: the effectiveness of such weapons systems against low/medium flying jets and helicopters has been proved by the number of Syrian Arab Air Force aircraft shot down by local insurgents.

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Islamic State claimed to have shot down a coalition warplane over Syria and captured a Jordanian pilot, AFP reported on Wednesday.

A monitoring group confirmed that a warplane crashed in Syria's Raqqa province in territory controlled by Islamic State militants.


However, they could not confirm the cause of the crash or the identity of the aircraft.

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