Just by looking at the video footage.
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Question of the Day: Which is the most hair-raising South African mountain pass you've driven?
Just by looking at the video footage.
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
AUSTRALIAN PM APPALLED AT DECAPITATED HEAD PHOTO
A shocking image of what is believed to be the young son of an Australian man holding a decapitated head in Syria shows how barbaric the Islamic State "terrorist army" is, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday.
Abbott made the comment while announcing Australia will likely join airdrops of food and supplies to thousands of Iraqi civilians besieged by jihadist IS militants on a barren mountain and may even participate in airlift operations to take them to safety, possibly later this week.
The picture, taken in the northern Syrian city of Raqa, was posted on the Twitter account of Khaled Sharrouf, an Australian man who fled to Syria last year and is now an IS fighter, The Australian newspaper said.
It reportedly shows Sharrouf's seven-year-old, Sydney-raised son dressed like any other young boy in blue checked trousers, a blue shirt and baseball cap, struggling to hold up the severed head of a slain Syrian soldier by his hair.
It was captioned with the words "That's my boy".
Another photo published by the newspaper shows Sharrouf dressed in camouflage fatigues posing with three young boys it said security agencies believe are his sons.
All are holding guns in front of the flag of the Islamic State militants that have swept across Iraq and Syria, seizing swathes of territory.
Abbott, speaking to ABC radio from the Netherlands, said the pictures showed the barbaric nature of the Sunni extremists formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
"What we've got to appreciate is that Islamic State -- as they're now calling themselves -- is not just a terrorist group, it's a terrorist army and they're seeking not just a terrorist enclave but effectively a terrorist state, a terrorist nation," he said.
"And this does pose extraordinary problems... not just for the people of the Middle East but for the wider world.
"And we see more and more evidence of just how barbaric this particular entity is."
Australia has an arrest warrant out for Sharrouf, who has also been pictured posing with severed heads. Officials have said up to 150 Australians are fighting alongside militants overseas, mostly in Iraq and Syria.
Sharrouf, who served almost four years in prison after pleading guilty over a 2005 conspiracy to attack Sydney, fled the country using his brother's passport.
Defence Minister David Johnston said he was "revolted" by the image, which he called "a shocking misrepresentation of Islam".
"I'm very upset about this sort of thing completely colouring our view of Muslims," he said, while Lebanese Muslim Association president Samier Dandan distanced the Australian Muslim community from it.
"I stand very far from that concept -- this is an act of a lunatic," he told the ABC.
Abbott, meanwhile, said Australia was ready to participate in American airdrops to civilians threatened in Iraq, and could also deploy two aircraft for any airlift mission.
"Australia will gladly join the humanitarian airlift to the people stranded on Mount Sinjar. This is a potential humanitarian catastrophe -- President Obama has said it's a potential genocide," he said.
"So we do have some Hercules C1-30 aircraft in the Middle East and we have a C-17 that's bringing humanitarian supplies from Australia in the next day or so, and we'd expect to join that humanitarian airlift should it be needed sometime later in the week."
As well as dropping humanitarian supplies, American jets and drones have been carrying out strikes against IS militants in northern Iraq as Washington seeks to turn the tide on two months of jihadist expansion in the region.
Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 11 Aug 2014 05:58
A shocking image of what is believed to be the young son of an Australian man holding a decapitated head in Syria shows how barbaric the Islamic State "terrorist army" is, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday.
Abbott made the comment while announcing Australia will likely join airdrops of food and supplies to thousands of Iraqi civilians besieged by jihadist IS militants on a barren mountain and may even participate in airlift operations to take them to safety, possibly later this week.
The picture, taken in the northern Syrian city of Raqa, was posted on the Twitter account of Khaled Sharrouf, an Australian man who fled to Syria last year and is now an IS fighter, The Australian newspaper said.
It reportedly shows Sharrouf's seven-year-old, Sydney-raised son dressed like any other young boy in blue checked trousers, a blue shirt and baseball cap, struggling to hold up the severed head of a slain Syrian soldier by his hair.
It was captioned with the words "That's my boy".
Another photo published by the newspaper shows Sharrouf dressed in camouflage fatigues posing with three young boys it said security agencies believe are his sons.
All are holding guns in front of the flag of the Islamic State militants that have swept across Iraq and Syria, seizing swathes of territory.
Abbott, speaking to ABC radio from the Netherlands, said the pictures showed the barbaric nature of the Sunni extremists formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
"What we've got to appreciate is that Islamic State -- as they're now calling themselves -- is not just a terrorist group, it's a terrorist army and they're seeking not just a terrorist enclave but effectively a terrorist state, a terrorist nation," he said.
"And this does pose extraordinary problems... not just for the people of the Middle East but for the wider world.
"And we see more and more evidence of just how barbaric this particular entity is."
Australia has an arrest warrant out for Sharrouf, who has also been pictured posing with severed heads. Officials have said up to 150 Australians are fighting alongside militants overseas, mostly in Iraq and Syria.
Sharrouf, who served almost four years in prison after pleading guilty over a 2005 conspiracy to attack Sydney, fled the country using his brother's passport.
Defence Minister David Johnston said he was "revolted" by the image, which he called "a shocking misrepresentation of Islam".
"I'm very upset about this sort of thing completely colouring our view of Muslims," he said, while Lebanese Muslim Association president Samier Dandan distanced the Australian Muslim community from it.
"I stand very far from that concept -- this is an act of a lunatic," he told the ABC.
Abbott, meanwhile, said Australia was ready to participate in American airdrops to civilians threatened in Iraq, and could also deploy two aircraft for any airlift mission.
"Australia will gladly join the humanitarian airlift to the people stranded on Mount Sinjar. This is a potential humanitarian catastrophe -- President Obama has said it's a potential genocide," he said.
"So we do have some Hercules C1-30 aircraft in the Middle East and we have a C-17 that's bringing humanitarian supplies from Australia in the next day or so, and we'd expect to join that humanitarian airlift should it be needed sometime later in the week."
As well as dropping humanitarian supplies, American jets and drones have been carrying out strikes against IS militants in northern Iraq as Washington seeks to turn the tide on two months of jihadist expansion in the region.
Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 11 Aug 2014 05:58
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
US CONDUCTS FOURTH FOOD, WATER DROP FOR IRAQI CITIZENS
US military planes conducted a fourth air drop of food and water for civilians besieged by jihadists on a mountain in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said Sunday.
A C-17 and three C-130 cargo aircraft dropped 88 bundles of supplies that will provide "food and water for thousands of Iraqi citizens" trapped on Mount Sinjar, said a statement by US Central Command, which covers the Middle East.
The bundles included 4,394 gallons of drinking water and 22,488 meals ready to eat.
The Pentagon added that the US has delivered "more than 74,000 meals and more than 15,000 gallons of fresh drinking water," to the displaced civilian refugees from the Yazidi religious minority, who have been cornered on the mountain by the so-called Islamic State forces.
The United States on Friday began a campaign of air strikes aimed at halting the advance of the Sunni IS militants.
US President Barack Obama said Thursday that he was sending warplanes back over the skies of Iraq for the first time since the last US troops withdrew in 2011.
The announcement followed spectacular gains made by the jihadists, who seized the country's largest dam and advanced within striking distance of the Kurdish capital.
Obama also justified the return by the risk of an impending genocide against the Yazidi minority.
Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 11 Aug 2014 04:42
US military planes conducted a fourth air drop of food and water for civilians besieged by jihadists on a mountain in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said Sunday.
A C-17 and three C-130 cargo aircraft dropped 88 bundles of supplies that will provide "food and water for thousands of Iraqi citizens" trapped on Mount Sinjar, said a statement by US Central Command, which covers the Middle East.
The bundles included 4,394 gallons of drinking water and 22,488 meals ready to eat.
The Pentagon added that the US has delivered "more than 74,000 meals and more than 15,000 gallons of fresh drinking water," to the displaced civilian refugees from the Yazidi religious minority, who have been cornered on the mountain by the so-called Islamic State forces.
The United States on Friday began a campaign of air strikes aimed at halting the advance of the Sunni IS militants.
US President Barack Obama said Thursday that he was sending warplanes back over the skies of Iraq for the first time since the last US troops withdrew in 2011.
The announcement followed spectacular gains made by the jihadists, who seized the country's largest dam and advanced within striking distance of the Kurdish capital.
Obama also justified the return by the risk of an impending genocide against the Yazidi minority.
Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 11 Aug 2014 04:42
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
US EVACUATES SOME CONSULATE STAFF FROM IRAQI CITY OF ARBIL
The United States evacuated some staff members from the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil, the State Department said Sunday, out of "an abundance of caution" amid an offensive by Islamist militants.
The notice announcing "the departure of some staff from the consulate general in Arbil," came in the form of a State Department travel warning for Iraq, just two days after a previous one.
Meanwhile State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf confirmed in a statement that the move was made "in light of the security situation in Iraq" and that the US had "temporarily relocated a limited number of staff from Consulate Arbil to our consulate in Basra (southern Iraq) and to the Iraq support unit in Amman," Jordan.
"While security concerns remain extremely high in Iraq, this limited move today is out of an abundance of caution rather than any one specific threat," she said.
"Overall, a majority of our personnel in Arbil remain in place, and our consulate is fully equipped to carry out its national security mission."
"The US consulate in Arbil remains open and will continue to engage daily with Iraqis and their elected leaders -- supporting them as they strengthen Iraq's constitutional processes and defend themselves from imminent threats," she added.
The United States on Friday began a campaign of air strikes aimed at halting the advance of Sunni militants from the so-called Islamic State, which in recent days had come within striking distance of Arbil, the Kurdish capital.
US President Barack Obama had justified the strikes in part to protect US personnel stationed in Arbil.
Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 11 Aug 2014 02:24
The United States evacuated some staff members from the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil, the State Department said Sunday, out of "an abundance of caution" amid an offensive by Islamist militants.
The notice announcing "the departure of some staff from the consulate general in Arbil," came in the form of a State Department travel warning for Iraq, just two days after a previous one.
Meanwhile State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf confirmed in a statement that the move was made "in light of the security situation in Iraq" and that the US had "temporarily relocated a limited number of staff from Consulate Arbil to our consulate in Basra (southern Iraq) and to the Iraq support unit in Amman," Jordan.
"While security concerns remain extremely high in Iraq, this limited move today is out of an abundance of caution rather than any one specific threat," she said.
"Overall, a majority of our personnel in Arbil remain in place, and our consulate is fully equipped to carry out its national security mission."
"The US consulate in Arbil remains open and will continue to engage daily with Iraqis and their elected leaders -- supporting them as they strengthen Iraq's constitutional processes and defend themselves from imminent threats," she added.
The United States on Friday began a campaign of air strikes aimed at halting the advance of Sunni militants from the so-called Islamic State, which in recent days had come within striking distance of Arbil, the Kurdish capital.
US President Barack Obama had justified the strikes in part to protect US personnel stationed in Arbil.
Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 11 Aug 2014 02:24
ToxicBunny
Oi! Leave me out of this...
What blows my mind in terms of the whole Raqa thing with the heads, is that it looks like a very developed city, not some small backwater hell hole...
I just couldn't fathom walking around the center of a place like Durban and being confronted with severed heads on poles.
I just couldn't fathom walking around the center of a place like Durban and being confronted with severed heads on poles.
Unhappy1
Honorary Master
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Yet the video footage has females in it.
AthenianOwl
Executive Member
- Joined
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AthenianOwl
Executive Member
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ah... must have missed that. Will check again.
ToxicBunny
Oi! Leave me out of this...
Whilst I can agree with this in terms of the short term goal of ending this ISIS threat.. I am not sure the long term effects are going to be good for the region.
Grant
Honorary Master
if only there were a way to extract all the innocents & let enola fly again
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
The Kurds are actually probably the most reasonable, most stable grouping in the region. They're not a militant Islamist group.
The_Unbeliever
Honorary Master
This. Every time the West meddles, the results are more devastating.
ToxicBunny
Oi! Leave me out of this...
Yeah, I agree, but there is no telling what might happen in 10 or 15 years time once they're militarily superior to the other groupings in the region, they may end up getting expansionist... and I'm pretty sure that would just plunge the region into more chaos in the long term.
In saying all of this, I am fully aware, that no real easy solution to this problem exists and anything that gets done now may have dire consequences for the region in the future.
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
Sure, but that's true for any country/group/whatever. If you look at their history they've never shown any intention of doing this. They're one of the largest stateless peoples in the world, and have suffered persecution numerous times from numerous regimes. So far they've shown that their aim is self-determination, not domination.
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
AIR STRIKES IN IRAQ EFFECTIVE: US
Air strikes aimed at halting the advance of Sunni Islamic State militants in Iraq have been effective and the US is open to further requests for help, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Monday.
The United States has conducted three days of attacks by jets and drones on jihadists in northern Iraq whose onslaught has displaced 200,000 people since August 3, including all the residents of Iraq's largest Christian town, Qaraqosh.
Hagel said Washington was constantly assessing the situation after President Barack Obama authorised the action to help break the siege of Mount Sinjar, where thousands of civilian refugees from the Yazidi religious minority had been trapped.
"They have been very effective from all the reports we have received on the ground," he said of the air strikes when asked in Sydney, where he is attending annual Australia-US defence talks.
"We are constantly assessing where we can continue to assist Iraqi security forces and where, as we build partnerships, we will work with the Iraqi government.
"The Iraqi government requested our help and assistance and we will continue to consider further requests from the Iraqi government," he added.
US military planes have also been dropping food and water for civilians besieged by jihadists, with France and Britain on Sunday joining the desperate race to save them from starvation.
"Many of you know that President Obama spoke yesterday with French President Hollande and British Prime Minister Cameron and they too offered assistance," said Hagel.
"We are coordinating a group of partners to assist in this effort.
"This is a humanitarian issue of great consequence for all over the world and I think great powers understand they have great responsibilities in this."
Australian Defence Minister David Johnston said Australia's help was currently focused on humanitarian relief and refused to speculate on the possibility of providing combat assistance.
"At this stage, we think that that is a considerable contribution," he told a joint press conference with Hagel, with Australia likely to join airdrops of supplies later this week.
"We don't telegraph our punches in any way shape or form and there has been no request for us to participate in combat.
"The situation for us at the moment is we are committed to helping the Americans and our friends who will join the Americans in providing humanitarian and disaster relief.
"Now what the future holds in what is clearly a very troubled, confused and difficult situation in Iraq, anybody can guess."
Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 11 Aug 2014 11:19
Air strikes aimed at halting the advance of Sunni Islamic State militants in Iraq have been effective and the US is open to further requests for help, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Monday.
The United States has conducted three days of attacks by jets and drones on jihadists in northern Iraq whose onslaught has displaced 200,000 people since August 3, including all the residents of Iraq's largest Christian town, Qaraqosh.
Hagel said Washington was constantly assessing the situation after President Barack Obama authorised the action to help break the siege of Mount Sinjar, where thousands of civilian refugees from the Yazidi religious minority had been trapped.
"They have been very effective from all the reports we have received on the ground," he said of the air strikes when asked in Sydney, where he is attending annual Australia-US defence talks.
"We are constantly assessing where we can continue to assist Iraqi security forces and where, as we build partnerships, we will work with the Iraqi government.
"The Iraqi government requested our help and assistance and we will continue to consider further requests from the Iraqi government," he added.
US military planes have also been dropping food and water for civilians besieged by jihadists, with France and Britain on Sunday joining the desperate race to save them from starvation.
"Many of you know that President Obama spoke yesterday with French President Hollande and British Prime Minister Cameron and they too offered assistance," said Hagel.
"We are coordinating a group of partners to assist in this effort.
"This is a humanitarian issue of great consequence for all over the world and I think great powers understand they have great responsibilities in this."
Australian Defence Minister David Johnston said Australia's help was currently focused on humanitarian relief and refused to speculate on the possibility of providing combat assistance.
"At this stage, we think that that is a considerable contribution," he told a joint press conference with Hagel, with Australia likely to join airdrops of supplies later this week.
"We don't telegraph our punches in any way shape or form and there has been no request for us to participate in combat.
"The situation for us at the moment is we are committed to helping the Americans and our friends who will join the Americans in providing humanitarian and disaster relief.
"Now what the future holds in what is clearly a very troubled, confused and difficult situation in Iraq, anybody can guess."
Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 11 Aug 2014 11:19
ToxicBunny
Oi! Leave me out of this...
Well then, we can hope to be pleasantly surprised in the future...
But true, I doubt it would be a case of domination even though there may be a sector of their population that might want retribution for past atrocities, but hopefully not.
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
ARAB LEAGUE DENOUNCES IS "CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY" AGAINST YAZIDIS
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi denounced on Monday "crimes against humanity" committed by jihadists in Iraq against the minority Yazidi sect, demanding the perpetrators be brought to justice.
Iraqi politicians have warned of the dire plight of Yazidis stranded high up a mountain after Islamic State militants overran their lands.
The jihadists' advances in northern Iraq have also prompted an exodus of Christians.
Arabi "strongly denounced the crimes, killings, dispossession carried out by the terrorist (IS) against civilians and minorities in Iraq that have affected Christians in Mosul and Yazidis," he said in a statement.
Referring to reports of hundreds of Yazidis killed in the jihadist onslaught, Arabi said "these terrorist crimes amount to crimes against humanity that cannot be overlooked."
"The perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to international justice," the statement said.
Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 11 Aug 2014 12:04
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi denounced on Monday "crimes against humanity" committed by jihadists in Iraq against the minority Yazidi sect, demanding the perpetrators be brought to justice.
Iraqi politicians have warned of the dire plight of Yazidis stranded high up a mountain after Islamic State militants overran their lands.
The jihadists' advances in northern Iraq have also prompted an exodus of Christians.
Arabi "strongly denounced the crimes, killings, dispossession carried out by the terrorist (IS) against civilians and minorities in Iraq that have affected Christians in Mosul and Yazidis," he said in a statement.
Referring to reports of hundreds of Yazidis killed in the jihadist onslaught, Arabi said "these terrorist crimes amount to crimes against humanity that cannot be overlooked."
"The perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to international justice," the statement said.
Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 11 Aug 2014 12:04
ToxicBunny
Oi! Leave me out of this...
^^^
Honestly, why aren't the Arab League at least trying to help solve this themselves, instead it seems like they want the rest of the world to fix this issue.
Honestly, why aren't the Arab League at least trying to help solve this themselves, instead it seems like they want the rest of the world to fix this issue.