ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
News from the war against the Islamic State. Item 1 IS beheaded a Pakistan soldier recently and the Afghan government admits that the IS is active in Helmand province. And are recruiting people openly.
ISIS active in south Afghanistan, officials confirm for first time
Afghan officials confirmed for the first time Monday that the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is active in the south, recruiting fighters, flying black flags and, according to some sources, even battling Taliban militants.
The sources, including an Afghan general and a provincial governor, said a man identified as Mullah Abdul Rauf was actively recruiting fighters for the group, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.
Gen. Mahmood Khan, the deputy commander of the army's 215 Corps, said that within the past week residents of a number of districts in the southern Helmand province have said Rauf's representatives are fanning out to recruit people.
"A number of tribal leaders, jihadi commanders and some ulema (religious council members) and other people have contacted me to tell me that Mullah Rauf had contacted them and invited them to join him," Khan said.
But he said the Taliban, which is active across Helmand and controls some districts, have warned people not to contact Rauf.
Rauf was a corps commander during the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule of Afghanistan, according to Amir Mohammad Akundzada, the governor of Nimroz province neighboring Helmand, who said he is related to Rauf but has not seen him for almost 20 years.
Both Khan and Akundzada said Rauf was apprehended after the fall of the Taliban in the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and was detained for years at Guantanamo Bay.
"People are saying that he has raised black flags and even has tried to bring down white Taliban flags in some areas," said Saifullah Sanginwal, a tribal leader in Sangin district. "There are reports that 19 or 20 people have been killed" in fighting between the Taliban and ISIS, he added.
Khan and Akundzada suggested Rauf may have fallen out with the leaders of the Afghan Taliban after spending time in the Pakistani city of Quetta, where Afghan officials and analysts believe senior Taliban leaders are based.
A video released online Saturday purports to show militants from both Afghanistan and Pakistan pledging support to ISIS.
But Akundzada said ISIS was not likely to gain traction with ordinary Afghans. "People who want to fight in Afghanistan just create new names - one day they are wearing white clothes (of the Taliban) and the next day they have black clothes and call themselves Daesh, but they are the same people," he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
Analysts say most claims of allegiance to ISIS in Afghanistan have been motivated by opportunism and that a new jihadist outfit would find it difficult to establish a presence where there are already long-established militant groups with tribal links. The Taliban have confined their insurgency to Afghanistan, and do not espouse the pan-Islamic model of jihad embraced by ISIS.
Parts of Helmand have seen fierce fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces since U.S. troops pulled out more than six months ago.
Meanwhile, ISIS has posted a new video on Twitter telling its followers to attack targets in the West, New York City Police Department Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
Miller, a former CBS News correspondent, said the video specifically mentions the United States, Great Britain and France and suggests civilians, police officers, intelligence officials and the military as targets. It is a renewal of a call for attacks ISIS issued in September.
"We see they are using the momentum from the Paris attacks in part of their messaging strategy to see who can we get to follow this," Miller said. He added that New York City police officers have been informed of the threat and reminded to take extra care and be extra vigilant.
Item 2. The IS in Libya has captured 21 Christians who are said to be Egyptian nationals.
Isis claims abduction of 21 Christians in Libya
Statement does not give nationalities but Egypt says 20 of its citizens have been abducted in two separate incidents in Libya
Islamic State’s branch in Libya has claimed the abduction of 21 Christians, a monitor reported on Monday, as Egypt confirmed that 20 of its citizens were being held in the country.
“Urgent. Soldiers of the Islamic State captured 21 Christian crusaders,” the jihadists said in a statement picked up by the Site Intelligence Group.
Three pictures showing several men were published alongside the terse statement, which did not specify when the men were abducted and did not reveal their nationality.
A spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry said 20 Egyptians had been abducted in two separate incidents in neighbouring Libya. He did not say when they were kidnapped.
Badr Abdel Atti did not specify their religious affiliation but said seven Egyptians and 13 others abducted separately in Libya were still being held by their captors.
There have been conflicting reports on the fates of two groups of Egyptian Coptic Christians reportedly abducted in recent weeks. A source close to the Libyan government said on 3 January that the Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sharia had kidnapped the 20 men in the city of Sirte over several days.
Two days later a tribal source said 13 of the men had been detained by people-smugglers and later released, but the information was never confirmed.
The Isis statement, which does not list any demands for the release of the men, said they had been taken “in various areas of Tripoli province” referring to a former administrative region that includes Sirte.
The coastal city of Sirte is in the hands of Islamist militias including Ansar al-Sharia, which the UN added to its terror list last month over links to al-Qaida and for running Isis training camps.
More than three years since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed in the 2011 Nato-backed uprising, Libya is awash with weapons and powerful militias and has rival governments and parliaments.
Tens of thousands of Egyptians work in Libya, mainly in the construction sector, and they have been targeted as the country has descended into chaos.
In February, the bodies of seven Egyptian Christians who had been shot were found near Libya’s second city, Benghazi, parts of which are held by Islamist militias.
So now the Islamic State is active in at least 4 countries Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. What do these countries all have in common ? Foreign interventions that has depost or severely weakened the central governments and therefor created a opening for these extremist groups. Maybe Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan will merge into one single war against the IS.
PS where is the old quote button ?
ISIS active in south Afghanistan, officials confirm for first time
Afghan officials confirmed for the first time Monday that the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is active in the south, recruiting fighters, flying black flags and, according to some sources, even battling Taliban militants.
The sources, including an Afghan general and a provincial governor, said a man identified as Mullah Abdul Rauf was actively recruiting fighters for the group, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.
Gen. Mahmood Khan, the deputy commander of the army's 215 Corps, said that within the past week residents of a number of districts in the southern Helmand province have said Rauf's representatives are fanning out to recruit people.
"A number of tribal leaders, jihadi commanders and some ulema (religious council members) and other people have contacted me to tell me that Mullah Rauf had contacted them and invited them to join him," Khan said.
But he said the Taliban, which is active across Helmand and controls some districts, have warned people not to contact Rauf.
Rauf was a corps commander during the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule of Afghanistan, according to Amir Mohammad Akundzada, the governor of Nimroz province neighboring Helmand, who said he is related to Rauf but has not seen him for almost 20 years.
Both Khan and Akundzada said Rauf was apprehended after the fall of the Taliban in the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and was detained for years at Guantanamo Bay.
"People are saying that he has raised black flags and even has tried to bring down white Taliban flags in some areas," said Saifullah Sanginwal, a tribal leader in Sangin district. "There are reports that 19 or 20 people have been killed" in fighting between the Taliban and ISIS, he added.
Khan and Akundzada suggested Rauf may have fallen out with the leaders of the Afghan Taliban after spending time in the Pakistani city of Quetta, where Afghan officials and analysts believe senior Taliban leaders are based.
A video released online Saturday purports to show militants from both Afghanistan and Pakistan pledging support to ISIS.
But Akundzada said ISIS was not likely to gain traction with ordinary Afghans. "People who want to fight in Afghanistan just create new names - one day they are wearing white clothes (of the Taliban) and the next day they have black clothes and call themselves Daesh, but they are the same people," he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
Analysts say most claims of allegiance to ISIS in Afghanistan have been motivated by opportunism and that a new jihadist outfit would find it difficult to establish a presence where there are already long-established militant groups with tribal links. The Taliban have confined their insurgency to Afghanistan, and do not espouse the pan-Islamic model of jihad embraced by ISIS.
Parts of Helmand have seen fierce fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces since U.S. troops pulled out more than six months ago.
Meanwhile, ISIS has posted a new video on Twitter telling its followers to attack targets in the West, New York City Police Department Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
Miller, a former CBS News correspondent, said the video specifically mentions the United States, Great Britain and France and suggests civilians, police officers, intelligence officials and the military as targets. It is a renewal of a call for attacks ISIS issued in September.
"We see they are using the momentum from the Paris attacks in part of their messaging strategy to see who can we get to follow this," Miller said. He added that New York City police officers have been informed of the threat and reminded to take extra care and be extra vigilant.
Item 2. The IS in Libya has captured 21 Christians who are said to be Egyptian nationals.
Isis claims abduction of 21 Christians in Libya
Statement does not give nationalities but Egypt says 20 of its citizens have been abducted in two separate incidents in Libya
Islamic State’s branch in Libya has claimed the abduction of 21 Christians, a monitor reported on Monday, as Egypt confirmed that 20 of its citizens were being held in the country.
“Urgent. Soldiers of the Islamic State captured 21 Christian crusaders,” the jihadists said in a statement picked up by the Site Intelligence Group.
Three pictures showing several men were published alongside the terse statement, which did not specify when the men were abducted and did not reveal their nationality.
A spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry said 20 Egyptians had been abducted in two separate incidents in neighbouring Libya. He did not say when they were kidnapped.
Badr Abdel Atti did not specify their religious affiliation but said seven Egyptians and 13 others abducted separately in Libya were still being held by their captors.
There have been conflicting reports on the fates of two groups of Egyptian Coptic Christians reportedly abducted in recent weeks. A source close to the Libyan government said on 3 January that the Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sharia had kidnapped the 20 men in the city of Sirte over several days.
Two days later a tribal source said 13 of the men had been detained by people-smugglers and later released, but the information was never confirmed.
The Isis statement, which does not list any demands for the release of the men, said they had been taken “in various areas of Tripoli province” referring to a former administrative region that includes Sirte.
The coastal city of Sirte is in the hands of Islamist militias including Ansar al-Sharia, which the UN added to its terror list last month over links to al-Qaida and for running Isis training camps.
More than three years since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed in the 2011 Nato-backed uprising, Libya is awash with weapons and powerful militias and has rival governments and parliaments.
Tens of thousands of Egyptians work in Libya, mainly in the construction sector, and they have been targeted as the country has descended into chaos.
In February, the bodies of seven Egyptian Christians who had been shot were found near Libya’s second city, Benghazi, parts of which are held by Islamist militias.
So now the Islamic State is active in at least 4 countries Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. What do these countries all have in common ? Foreign interventions that has depost or severely weakened the central governments and therefor created a opening for these extremist groups. Maybe Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan will merge into one single war against the IS.
PS where is the old quote button ?
From the BBC website:
The US are training even more moderate freedom fighters which will no doubt return to being terrorists if they were to succeed in destroying the Syrian state, just as happened in Libya where the ex-freedom fighters murdered US ambassador Stevens.
Broccoli
Senior Member
A bit same way when Assad refused to attack ISIS when they were only killing other rebels. Al Nusra is not directly threatening Israel right now and they are smart enough not to do it because they would get hit too, but apparently Assad doesn't have anything better to do than to pick up fight with Israelis.
Rot in hell Hezzies.
Hezbollah was defending Syria against Al Nusra and not also threatening Israel. Israel has earlier been reported to be supporting the Al Nusra terrorists in connection with the removal of the UN mission in the area.
BTW Hezbollah is called a terrorist organization because it liberated South Lebanon from Israeli occupation.
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
Why would Al Nusra threaten Israel?? In the Golan Heights Israel has a field hospital set up to treat Al Nusra fighters injured fighting Assad
Hezbollah is pro Assad, Assad is pro Iran and all 3 have a ideology similar to each other
Iran is a powerful player in the region no question about it, they have influence with through many groups
Hezbollah is a organisation who are seen as liberators of Southern Lebanon no matter how western media likes to play it
And Assad even after 5 years of war is holding on to Syria
You can't separate any of these 3 groups and you can't ignore these 3 groups and all 3 have sworn to defend one another under any circumstance
And above all things you have Russia and more importantly Putin backing all 3
Media can build them as a whatever they wish end of the day these guys are players in the region so it's better to solve the matters while engaging with them all and have Russia do the mediating
Any diplomatic solution will require agreement of these 3 party's you miss one of them out you miss all of them out
Lastly Assads family ties with Russia go back to days of the Soviet Union to a time when Hafeez Assad was a fighter pilot in USSR, and I am sure Putin being ex-KJB will never have forgotten that Assads father gave Soviet Union naval base in the Mediterranean during height of Cold War as such he will back Syria no matter what even against the Americans he even will go to war for Assad
Last year alone there was over 75 passages of Russian warships through Turkish straits to Syrian port of Latakia the resupply is relentless
ShahryarHedayat
Junior Member
Morocco says it breaks up militant cell recruiting for ISIS
Morocco said on Saturday it had dismantled an Islamist militant cell sending fighters to and Iraqto join Islamic State and mount attacks on returning home
An official in the Russian Foreign Ministry revealed that more than 800 Russians are fighting in the ranks of the "Islamic State" ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
Ilya Rogachev, who heads the Department of challenges in the ministry, said that some of the Russians are from the territory of Chechnya and other regions in the North Caucasus region.
Evil of ISIS and Boko Haram must be confronted, US administration told
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is calling for the US administration to boldly confront the evil deeds of the Islamic State (ISIS) and Boko Haram and put a stop to their killing sprees.
Isis using UK female jihadis to incite terror acts back home, say researchers
Intensive monitoring of social media accounts of female Britons based in northern Syria reveals women’s key new role
Some 3,000 in Turkey linked to ISIS: report
Around 3,000 people in Turkey are believed to be linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a Turkish intelligence report said on Saturday, warning of possible attacks by extremists.
Saudi Arabia Unveils Wall To Keep Out ISIS
The plan for the new wall was previously reported back in September of 2014 by IHS Jane’s 360. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the king of Saudi Arabia, initiated the first phase of its construction. The wall has multi-layered barriers running along 900 kilometers of Iraq’s northern border. It consists of 78 monitoring towers, eight command centers, 10 mobile surveillance vehicles, 32 rapid-response centers, and three rapid intervention squads. All are linked by a fiber-optic communications network. It is also believed 3,400 people are being trained to man the wall by 60 trainers.
Morocco said on Saturday it had dismantled an Islamist militant cell sending fighters to and Iraqto join Islamic State and mount attacks on returning home
An official in the Russian Foreign Ministry revealed that more than 800 Russians are fighting in the ranks of the "Islamic State" ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
Ilya Rogachev, who heads the Department of challenges in the ministry, said that some of the Russians are from the territory of Chechnya and other regions in the North Caucasus region.
Evil of ISIS and Boko Haram must be confronted, US administration told
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is calling for the US administration to boldly confront the evil deeds of the Islamic State (ISIS) and Boko Haram and put a stop to their killing sprees.
Isis using UK female jihadis to incite terror acts back home, say researchers
Intensive monitoring of social media accounts of female Britons based in northern Syria reveals women’s key new role
Some 3,000 in Turkey linked to ISIS: report
Around 3,000 people in Turkey are believed to be linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a Turkish intelligence report said on Saturday, warning of possible attacks by extremists.
Saudi Arabia Unveils Wall To Keep Out ISIS
The plan for the new wall was previously reported back in September of 2014 by IHS Jane’s 360. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the king of Saudi Arabia, initiated the first phase of its construction. The wall has multi-layered barriers running along 900 kilometers of Iraq’s northern border. It consists of 78 monitoring towers, eight command centers, 10 mobile surveillance vehicles, 32 rapid-response centers, and three rapid intervention squads. All are linked by a fiber-optic communications network. It is also believed 3,400 people are being trained to man the wall by 60 trainers.
ShahryarHedayat
Junior Member
Months of Airstrikes Fail to Slow Islamic State in Syria
DION NISSENBAUM
WASHINGTON—More than three months of U.S. airstrikes in Syria have failed to prevent Islamic State militants from expanding their control in that country, according to U.S. and independent assessments, raising new concerns about President Barack Obama’s military strategy in the Middle East.
Syria training program could involve 1,000-plus U.S. troops
WASHINGTON — The program to train moderate
Syrian rebels could involve as many as 1,000 U.S. trainers and support personnel, the Pentagon said Friday. If all goes well, trained rebels could be back on the battlefield in Syria by the end of the year.
Tiny Belgium is a terrorist crossroad
A deadly raid on a terror cell and several arrests in Belgium highlight a growing threat in the tiny European country better known as a center for diplomacy, banking and diamond exchange.
McCain heads to Saudi Arabia to discuss Syria progress
to Saudi Arabia, where they discussed with the Kingdom’s crown prince a Pentagon plan to arm and train the moderate militants in Syria.
The Pentagon has announced it is deploying about
Hezbollah retaliates Israeli attack on Hezbollah members
Hezbollah has retaliated attacking and destroying Zionist armoured vehicle on the Lebanese/Israeli bordered, Lebanese official announced.
Israeli media say that the settlers in the occupied territories of northern regions near the border with Lebanon, have are in fear.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said in a statement Saturday evening, a group of Freedom Fighters forces of Hezbollah when visiting the city “farm Foushat al-Amal” in “Quintira” the Zionist enemy ordered a helicopter to target with and attack Hezbollah movements.
No ‘moderate’ militants in Syria
Dr. Kevin Barrett, professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, said, “Nobody in any position of expertise here thinks that there really is any significant moderate Syrian rebel force. It does not exist.”
Israeli strike kills Hezbollah men in Syria, risking retaliation
An Israeli helicopter strike in killed a commander, who also happened to be the son of the group's late military leader Imad Moughniyah, sources close to Hezbollah said. His killing could spark retaliation against by the Lebanese Shiite army and political party.
ISIS executes men and boys for breeding pigeons, throws gay men off buildings
Abu Abdullah, a 52-year-old farmer, told NBC News about the moment earlier this week that six gunmen barged into his home and dragged away his oldest son, who is 21.
“My son was standing beside me. I asked them why, and they said, ‘He is not following the real Islam, he must be punished for being a pigeon breeder. This habit is taking him away from worshiping Allah,” Abdullah said on the telephone.
The fighters put the household’s pigeons in bags and burned them. Then they took away his son.
Syrian army evacuates scores of families from militant-besieged areas
Syria’s official news agency SANA said that the army secured a safe passage for the families out of the city of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta region on Saturday.
The news agency quoted a police source as saying that nearly 1,000 people, mostly women and children, were evacuated from Hawsh al-Fara, Hawsh Nasra, and Maida’ani in Douma.
DION NISSENBAUM
WASHINGTON—More than three months of U.S. airstrikes in Syria have failed to prevent Islamic State militants from expanding their control in that country, according to U.S. and independent assessments, raising new concerns about President Barack Obama’s military strategy in the Middle East.
Syria training program could involve 1,000-plus U.S. troops
WASHINGTON — The program to train moderate
Syrian rebels could involve as many as 1,000 U.S. trainers and support personnel, the Pentagon said Friday. If all goes well, trained rebels could be back on the battlefield in Syria by the end of the year.Tiny Belgium is a terrorist crossroad
A deadly raid on a terror cell and several arrests in Belgium highlight a growing threat in the tiny European country better known as a center for diplomacy, banking and diamond exchange.
McCain heads to Saudi Arabia to discuss Syria progress
to Saudi Arabia, where they discussed with the Kingdom’s crown prince a Pentagon plan to arm and train the moderate militants in Syria.
The Pentagon has announced it is deploying about
Hezbollah retaliates Israeli attack on Hezbollah members
Hezbollah has retaliated attacking and destroying Zionist armoured vehicle on the Lebanese/Israeli bordered, Lebanese official announced.
Israeli media say that the settlers in the occupied territories of northern regions near the border with Lebanon, have are in fear.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said in a statement Saturday evening, a group of Freedom Fighters forces of Hezbollah when visiting the city “farm Foushat al-Amal” in “Quintira” the Zionist enemy ordered a helicopter to target with and attack Hezbollah movements.
No ‘moderate’ militants in Syria
Dr. Kevin Barrett, professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, said, “Nobody in any position of expertise here thinks that there really is any significant moderate Syrian rebel force. It does not exist.”
Israeli strike kills Hezbollah men in Syria, risking retaliation
An Israeli helicopter strike in killed a commander, who also happened to be the son of the group's late military leader Imad Moughniyah, sources close to Hezbollah said. His killing could spark retaliation against by the Lebanese Shiite army and political party.
ISIS executes men and boys for breeding pigeons, throws gay men off buildings
Abu Abdullah, a 52-year-old farmer, told NBC News about the moment earlier this week that six gunmen barged into his home and dragged away his oldest son, who is 21.
“My son was standing beside me. I asked them why, and they said, ‘He is not following the real Islam, he must be punished for being a pigeon breeder. This habit is taking him away from worshiping Allah,” Abdullah said on the telephone.
The fighters put the household’s pigeons in bags and burned them. Then they took away his son.
Syrian army evacuates scores of families from militant-besieged areas
Syria’s official news agency SANA said that the army secured a safe passage for the families out of the city of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta region on Saturday.
The news agency quoted a police source as saying that nearly 1,000 people, mostly women and children, were evacuated from Hawsh al-Fara, Hawsh Nasra, and Maida’ani in Douma.