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Posts tagged ‘Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)’

Kurdish Soldiers: ISIS Close to Surrounding Baghdad


http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/06/25/Kurdish-Soldiers-ISIS-Close-to-Surrounding-Baghdad

25 Jun 2014

An extensive McClatchy report quotes several Kurdish military leaders who are significantly concerned that Baghdad could fall to ISIS. At least two critical towns that hold a supply route to Baghdad have been captured, they reported, and ISIS appeared to be traveling south to capture routes on the other side of the capital.

ConfusedJabbar Yawar, the spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga militia, told McClatchy that ISIS was reportedly six miles from Baghdad at times. “This area controls access to southern Iraq, and it appears as if they might try to push into Baghdad or even south towards the city of Hilla,” he stated.

ISIS moving south of Baghdad is significant because of strongholds they already possess in Anbar province, to the west, and their initiatives to control the north. They have also been moving ISIS jihadists east to attempt to cut off the remaining roads to the city.

The Kurdish peshmerga forces reportedly are the biggest force standing between ISIS and a complete control of Iraq, as many Iraqi soldiers have either been killed in mass executions or deserted. Kurdish areas have remained largely in peace, and ISIS has rarely clashed with peshmerga forces directly. Nonetheless, the Kurdish forces appear to have little interest in collaborating with the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, instead aiming to sever their territory from Iraqi sovereignty.

The Iraqi government has largely denied many of ISIS’s gains in the country. According to CNN, the Iraqi government claims they still control the nation’s largest oil refinery in Baiji after reports surfaced that ISIS jihadists had taken it over. Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs Hussain al-Shahristani said in a statement that the Iraqi army is not in full control of the oil refinery but continues to fight and is slowly encircling it. Iraqi state media also claims the army has killed the jihadist allegedly leading the attack on Baiji, Abu Qutada.

Obama defending muslimsKurdish leaders told McClatchy that they, too, were told Iraqi forces were still fighting in Baiji and had not fully lost control of the refinery.

While the Kurds continue to fight ISIS and remain the most organized and feared military in Iraq, the United States government is urging Kurdish leaders to abandon dreams of sovereignty. During a visit to Iraqi Kurdistan this week, Secretary of State John Kerry urged Kurdish leaders to promote national unity and participate in the Iraqi government.

Who is better off

Wake up America
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ISIS Announces Its Next Attack


http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/06/20/ISIS-Announces-its-Next-Attack

20 Jun 2014

Trigger the VoteThe Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the group that overran

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

Mosul in Iraq last week and has been pushing south towards Baghdad, announced it is also preparing an offensive in northern Syria. 

In a statement dated June 17, 2014, and published on several Arabic websites, ISIS called on its fighters to attack the city of Al-Qamishli and its rural areas.  In the last several hours a number of bombings have been reported on Twitter and some reports say the airport of Qamishli has been heavily damaged.

As Michael Rubin reported in February in The Wall Street Journal, Christians, Kurds and Arabs have been conducting a quiet experiment in self-rule in this region of northeast Syria.  The region was left largely undefended as President Assad’s forces were drawn to clashes further west, so residents came together to keep day-to-day life running smoothly. Popular Protection Units (YPG), a kind of people’s militia, have been keeping the Islamists at bay.  While predominantly Kurdish, the YPG also have been joined by Arabs and Syrian Christians.  In early May, the YPG fought alongside the Free Syrian Army in clashes with ISIS forces in Raqqa province.  And unlike the ISIS fighters, who prefer their women fully veiled, the YPG have men and women fighting alongside each other.

 

“I want to make sure you did not gloss over that. “Michael Rubin reported in February in The Wall Street Journal, Christians, Kurds and Arabs have been conducting a quiet experiment in self-rule in this region of northeast Syria.……..so residents came together to keep day-to-day life running smoothly. s militia, have been keeping the Islamists at bay.  While predominantly Kurdish, the YPG also have been joined by Arabs and Syrian Christians.

“Not even FOX is telling us that. That is good news, and something we all can do our part and help them fight this fight by doing the Spiritual Warfare necessary to get God giving them the victory. Can I count on you?” JB

angry 05The ISIS statement of June 17 says the following:

ISIS calls its units of God to lift high their banner of Islam in the Al-Hasaka governorate and “to free it from the Syrian regime, the grandchildren of the Jews, the Zionist Kurdish PYD and the grandchildren of the Crusaders, the Christian infidels.” 

The sharia court of ISIS issued a Fatwa proclaiming Al-Qamishli and its rural area as the rightful property of ISIS. The ISIS statement proclaims that after seeking God, jihadists should do the following:

1.  Burn and bring down all houses of entertainment in Al-Qamishli. 

2. Burn all stores selling alcohol and cigarettes. 

3. Take full control of the famed “Jewelry market” of Al-Qamishli, and all silver and gold in the market is to be taken by the ISIS fighters because it is rightfully theirs. 

4. Take full control of all food and clothing stores in order to give it to their brother jihadist fighters. 

5.  Empty the city of all Christians: Take their women; they are yours, and behead the Christian men. Empty the city of all Kurds, who are the grandchildren of deceivers; take out from the city the family of al Khaznawi and kill them all.  (Sheikh Khaznawi was a Kurdish cleric in Qamishli who was assassinated in June 2005.)  With the statement ISIS issued to its fighting units a map of Al-Hasaka, Al-Qamishli and other suburbs, where the above five tasks are to be carried out “according to the command of Allah.”

Some commentators have said that neither the Assad regime nor the Kurds fear an ISIS advance on Qamishli.  But after their surprise conquest of Mosul, perhaps previous assessments of ISIS’s strength and boldness should be reconsidered.

Katie Gorka is the president of the Council on Global Security.

Christian Persecution

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