The Islamic State Thread

IS EXECUTES SYRIAN YOUTH AFTER ANTI-JIHADIST PROTEST: NGO

Islamic State fighters executed a youth in a Syrian town Friday, after hundreds of residents demanded they leave following regime air strikes that targeted the jihadists but killed eight civilians, a monitor said.

Residents of Ashara, in the mostly IS-controlled eastern province of Deir Ezzor, protested in front of an IS headquarters Thursday evening, hours after regime air strikes killed the two children, five women and a man, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

In response, IS gunmen opened fire and seized several young men, the Observatory and an activist said.

The air strikes were part of a stepped-up campaign launched in recent weeks by President Bashar al-Assad's regime against IS-held towns and villages in eastern and northern Syria.

But activists have frequently condemned the attacks for killing not only jihadists, but also many civilians.

"Thursday evening's protest began as a funeral for the victims, attended by nearly 300 people," said Rayan al-Furati, an activist from Deir Ezzor.

"Then the mourners began to protest, demanding that the IS leave the town of Ashara," Furati told AFP via the Internet.

The Observatory said that, on Friday, the IS publicly executed and crucified a young man identified as Ali Khalaf, accusing him of "heresy and apostasy."

"Though he had nothing to do with yesterday's protests, they executed him publicly in Ashara in order to terrorise people into not taking any kind of action against the IS," Abdel Rahman said.

Furati said the jihadists, whose abuses and radical interpretation of Sunni Islam have been widely documented, are vastly unpopular. But, he added, people living under their control are deeply fearful of taking action against them.

"It's like living in a prison," Furati said, using a pseudonym to protect his family from retaliation.

"Not a single day passes without an execution somewhere in Deir Ezzor province."

The Syrian conflict began as a peaceful movement demanding Assad's ouster, but then morphed into a brutal civil war after a massive regime crackdown against dissent.

In June, IS declared an Islamic "caliphate" straddling the territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 05 Sep 2014 15:55
 
US GATHERS ALLIES TO 'DESTROY' ISLAMIC STATE

The United States urged Western allies at a NATO summit Friday to unite in a coalition that could "destroy" Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

"There is no issue in our minds about our determination to build this coalition, go after this," US Secretary of State John Kerry told a meeting of defence and foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Turkey, and non-NATO member Australia.

He added: "We're convinced that in the days ahead we have the ability to destroy IS."

The US has conducted air strikes in northern Iraq in recent weeks, allowing Kurdish and Iraqi forces to make advances against the jihadists, but Washington is seeking wider support at the summit of the Western military alliance in Wales.

Kerry reassured those present at the meeting that there would be "no boots on the ground", saying that was a "red line for everybody here".

But Kerry said "there are many ways in which we can train, advise, assist, and equip", and urged those present to consider what they would be willing to contribute ahead of a UN General Assembly meeting later this month.

US President Barack Obama "is totally committed. There is a strategy that is clear, becoming more clear by the day", he said.

This "holistic approach" means "we need to attack them in ways that prevent them from taking over territory, that bolster the Iraqi security forces (and) others in the region who are prepared to take them on, without committing troops of our own."

Britain has not ruled out joining US military action, although the first step would likely be to arm Kurdish fighters who are already confronting IS, something that London is "actively" considering.

France has not ruled out military action, while Germany announced last week it would send military equipment including anti-tank rocket launchers, rifles and hand grenades, to Iraqi Kurds.

Pressure to tackle IS rose this week after the release of a video showing the execution of a second US journalist, with a British hostage also being threatened.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday that NATO leaders were "united in condemnation of these barbaric and despicable acts".

"They should be very clear, these terrorists. Their threats will only harden our resolve to stand up for our values and to defeat them," he told the summit at a luxury golf resort in south Wales.

Cameron used the leaders' dinner on Thursday night at Cardiff Castle to urge allies not to pay ransoms, amid reports that hostages from France and Italy have been released following the payment of large sums.

He said such payments were "deeply regrettable" and "utterly self-defeating", warning that the money was used by IS to pay for weapons, training and more threats.

Kerry described the group of 10 countries discussing IS as "the coalition of clearly the willing and the capable."

NATO has also said it is ready to help with training if Iraqi forces ask for this.

The alliance could also help coordinate efforts by individual member states, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters.

Earlier, a Western diplomatic source said that there could be a military coalition against IS, but that "we are not envisaging acting without a legal framework" in the UN.

Rasmussen said he "warmly welcomed" the efforts by the US and its allies, saying: "I think the international community has an obligation to do all it can to stop this dangerous terrorist organisation."

He said NATO nations had also agreed to exchange more information on foreign fighters returning from Iraq and Syria to Europe and the United States, amid fears they will carry out attacks on home soil.

Russia's actions in Ukraine dominated the first day of the NATO summit, which has been labelled the most critical since the end of the Cold War.

The United States and the European Union were expected to announce a raft of fresh sanctions against Russia on Friday in response to a major escalation of Russian military support to the rebels in eastern Ukraine in recent days.

And NATO leaders on Friday approved plans for a reformed rapid response force, which will help NATO maintain a "continuous presence" in eastern Europe to reassure ex-Soviet bloc member states unnerved by Russia's actions.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 05 Sep 2014 15:55
 
US CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL COALITION TO 'DESTROY' IS

The United States on Friday called for the creation of a broad international coalition against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria by the time of the UN General Assembly this month.

"There is no time to waste in building a broad international coalition to degrade and, ultimately, to destroy the threat posed by ISIL," Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a joint statement.

Britain and the United States chaired talks with defence and foreign ministers from eight other allies: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Turkey.

The statement said the formation of a new Iraqi government would be critical and added the US was hopeful this could happen "over the coming days".

"We discussed in detail how NATO allies can extend immediate support to a new government," it said.

It listed some of the measures as offering military support to the Iraqi government; stopping the flow of foreign jihadist fighters; taking action against IS funding; addressing the humanitarian crisis; and "de-legitimising" IS ideology.

"We will form a multinational task force to share more information about the flow of foreign fighters," it said, after an extremist speaking with a British accent was shown beheading two US kidnapped journalists and threatening a British hostage.

In a transcript released by US officials of Kerry's comments at the meeting, the diplomat said: "We must be able to have a plan together by the time we come to UNGA (UN General Assembly)" later this month."

"They're not as organised as everybody thinks," he said, referring to IS. "And we have the technology, we have the know-how. What we need is obviously the willpower to make certain that we are steady and stay at this."

"We need to attack them in ways that prevent them from taking over territory, that bolster the Iraqi security forces, others in the region who are prepared to take them on, without committing troops of our own," he said.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 05 Sep 2014 15:57
 
I honestly would not object to intervening against these barbarians if it can leave to the independence of Kurdistan.
 
OBAMA TO OUTLINE STRATEGY AGAINST ISLAMIC STATE ON WEDNESDAY

US President Barack Obama will on Wednesday spell out his strategy to destroy the Islamic State, the Sunni extremist group that controls large parts of Iraq and Syria.

"What I'm going to be asking the American people to understand is, number one, this is a serious threat," Obama told broadcaster NBC in an interview recorded on Saturday and aired on Sunday. "Number two, we have the capacity to deal with it.

US military officials have said that Islamic State cannot be defeated without hitting its bases in Syria, something Obama has been reluctant to do.

But the US president said in the interview the goal of the strategy he will announce on Wednesday would be to "hunt down [Islamic State] members and assets wherever they are" and "systematically degrade" and ultimately defeat them.

Obama added that he also wanted the American people to understand what the US won't do.

"Our goal should not be to think that we can occupy every country where there's a terrorist organization," he added.

Despite the timing of the speech - one day before the 13th anniversary of the September 11, terrorist attacks on the United States - Obama said there was no immediate indication of a threat to attack the US homeland.

Obama has been stepping up US military activity in Iraq in the past month in reaction to the spread of Islamic State and displays of their brutality, including the videotaped beheading of two US journalists within the past three weeks.

On September 3 he ordered 350 additional US troops to Iraq, which will bring to 1,170 troops securing US diplomats and their facilities in Baghdad and Erbil. In addition, the US has sent hundreds of troops as advisors and intelligence experts to help Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and Erbil.

The number of airstrikes against Islamic State targets reached 143 on Sunday, the US military said. Several of the most recent strikes took place near the Haditha dam in western Iraq.

The Haditha dam provides fresh water for millions of Iraqis, as well as their crops. It is the second largest hydroelectric contributor in the power system in Iraq.

The airstrikes are believed to be the first in the Anbar province since the US launched an aerial campaign against the jihadists in northern Iraq on August 8.

"We conducted these strikes on Saturday to prevent terrorists from further threatening the security of the dam, which remains under control of Iraqi security forces, with support from Sunni tribes," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in statement.

The US military said a mix of fighter and bomber aircraft conducted the four airstrikes on Saturday and five on Sunday, destroying numerous Islamic State positions and Humvees and other equipment.

Additionally, an attack aircraft conducted one airstrike against Islamic State near Mosul dam on Saturday.

On the ground the Iraqi has government launched a major offensive to recapture areas run by Islamic State.

Iraqi troops, backed by the US jets, Sunday retook control of the Hadith districts of Khfajiya and Barwana from jihadists, Governor of Anbar Ahmed al-Delmi said.

"At least 60 elements from the Islamic State including Afghans and Arab nationals were killed by the security forces in the cleansing operation of the two areas," he added.

Islamic State seized large parts of mostly Sunni Muslim Anbar earlier this year. The Sunni extremist group grabbed further territory in northern Iraq in June.

Last month, Kurdish forces, operating under a US air cover, recaptured the northern Mosul dam, Iraq's largest, from the jihadists.

Ten NATO allies and partners, led by the United States and Britain, announced earlier this week the formation of a coalition to halt the Islamic State's territorial expansion in Iraq and Syria.

In Cairo on Sunday, the Arab League condemned the Islamic State's atrocities in Iraq, saying they "amount to war crimes."

The pan-Arab bloc's foreign ministers were set to declare late Sunday their countries' backing for Iraq's military campaign against hardline jihadists.

Addressing the meeting, Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi called on Arab governments to "take a clear and firm decision for an all-out political and military confrontation against terrorism."


Source : Sapa-dpa /kn
Date : 07 Sep 2014 22:15
 
JIHADISTS WANT TO CREATE 'HOUSE OF BLOOD': NEW UN RIGHTS CHIEF

The jihadist militants who have seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria are intent upon creating "a house of blood", the UN's new human rights chief said Monday.

In his maiden address to the UN Human Rights Council, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein lashed out at the militant group calling itself the Islamic State, which has carved out a stronghold and declared a "caliphate" in an area straddling the border of the two conflict-torn nations.

"The Takfiris (extremists) who recently murdered (US journalist) James Foley and hundreds of other defenceless victims in Iraq and Syria, do they believe they are acting courageously, barbarically slaughtering captives?" the Jordanian prince told the opening of the council's 27th session in Geneva.

The massacres, beheadings, rape and torture attributed to IS militants "reveal only what a Takfiri state would look like, should this movement actually try to govern in the future," said Zaid, the first Muslim and Arab to serve as UN High Commissioner of Human Rights.

"It would be a harsh, mean-spirited house of blood, where no shade would be offered, nor shelter given to any non-Takfiri in their midst," warned the career diplomat.

He urged the world to make halting the "increasingly conjoined conflicts in Iraq and Syria" an "immediate and urgent priority."

IS "has demonstrated absolute and deliberate disregard for human rights," Zaid said, stressing that "the scale of its use of brute violence against ethnic and religious groups is unprecedented in recent times."

He warned that attacks by the group motivated by ethnic background or religious beliefs may constitute "a crime against humanity, for which those responsible must be held accountable."

Zaid's speech to the UN's 47-member council came a week after it held an emergency session on the jihadists, deciding to send a fact-finding mission to Iraq to document the extent of their abuses.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ar
Date : 08 Sep 2014 11:27
 
Last edited:
US military officials have said that Islamic State cannot be defeated without hitting its bases in Syria, something Obama has been reluctant to do.
Click to expand...

Looks like US military leaders think the same as I do.Obama needs to listen or they will never get rid of IS.
 
ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTERS USING US ARMS: STUDY

Islamic State fighters appear to be using captured US military issue arms and weapons supplied to moderate rebels in Syria by Saudi Arabia, according to a report published on Monday.

The study by the London-based small-arms research organisation Conflict Armament Research documented weapons seized by Kurdish forces from militants in Iraq and Syria over a 10-day period in July.

The report said the jihadists disposed of "significant quantities" of US-made small arms including M16 assault rifles and included photos showing the markings "Property of US Govt".

It also found that anti-tank rockets used by IS in Syria were "identical to M79 rockets transferred by Saudi Arabia to forces operating under the Free Syrian Army umbrella in 2013".

The rockets were made in the then Yugoslavia in the 1980s.

Islamic State is believed to have seized large quantities of weapons from Syrian military installations it has captured, as well as arms supplied by the United States to the Iraqi army after it swept through northern Iraq in recent weeks.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ar
Date : 08 Sep 2014 10:38
 
SUICIDE BOMBERS KILL 10 IN IRAQ TOWN

Two suicide bombers detonated explosives-rigged vehicles on Monday in a town north of the Iraqi capital that has battled jihadist militants, killing 10 people, police and a doctor said.

The blasts in Dhuluiyah -- which was overrun by militants but drove them out and then put up fierce resistance when they sought to take it a second time -- also wounded more than 30 people, the sources said.

The first blast breached a barrier surrounding the Jubur area -- which held out against the renewed militant push for the town -- while the second bombing struck inside.

There was no immediate claim for the attack, but suicide bombings are almost exclusively carried out by Sunni extremists, including those from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which spearheaded a major offensive that has overrun swathes of territory since it was launched in June.

The initial militant onslaught swept security forces aside, but Baghdad won its first major offensive victory of the conflict late last month, when federal troops, Shiite militiamen and Kurdish fighters broke the 11-week jihadist siege of the town of Amerli.

But major areas remain outside of government control and there is no end to the conflict in sight.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ar
Date : 08 Sep 2014 10:58
 
AIR RAIDS POUND NORTH IRAQ AS PARLIAMENT DUE TO VOTE ON NEW CABINET

Sixteen militants were killed in an air raid on a northern Iraqi town, security forces said Monday, as parliament prepared to vote on the cabinet of prime minister-designate Haider al-Abadi.

The air raid on Tel Afar, west of Mosul, killed 16 members of the Islamic State jihadist organization, the National Iraqi News Agency reported, quoting military intelligence officials.

The report came a day after officials claimed advances against the extremists around the Haditha Dam in the western province of al-Anbar after repeated US airstrikes.

Provincial Governor Ahmed al-Delmi said troops regained control of the Khfajiya and Barwana dictricts south of the strategic dam on the Euphrates River.

The Haditha Dam provides freshwater for millions of Iraqis and for their crops. It is the second-largest hydroelectric contributor to Iraq's power system.

The military developments came as al-Abadi was due to present his government to the country's parliament.

Speaker Salim al-Jabouri scheduled a session for 8 pm Monday (1700 GMT) to vote on al-Abadi's cabinet.

But the formation of the government appeared to have hit a hitch with reports that Kurdish parties had withdrawn from talks on the line-up.

Pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat quoted a spokesman for Kurdish negotiators as saying al-Abadi had refused to restore central government funding to the Kurdistan region.

The funding was cut this year in a dispute over control of oil resources in the autonomous region, which is now facing a fiscal crisis.

The Kurdish news site Rudaw, however, reported that the stumbling block in the talks on the new government related to ethnically mixed territories claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurds.

Al-Abadi was tipped to form a government a month ago to succeed Nuri al-Maliki, who was widely blamed for alienating the country's Sunni Arab minority, from which Islamic State draws its support.

The premier-designate is a member of al-Maliki's Shiite Islamist State of Law coalition, which came first in April's general election with 95 of the parliament's 328 seats.


Source : Sapa-dpa /ar
Date : 08 Sep 2014 11:35
 
ARAB LEAGUE AGREES TO COMBAT ISLAMIC STATE GROUP

The Arab League says its member states have agreed to combat, either individually or collectively, the Islamic State group and other militants in the region.

The resolution, issued Monday after late-night meetings a day earlier, doesn't explicitly back American military action against the group.

U.S. President Barack Obama is seeking an international coalition to challenge the Islamic State group and is expected to outline his plan Wednesday.

But the resolution, issued as a separate statement from a comprehensive one dealing with Arab affairs, said immediate measures to combat the group are to be implemented on the political, defense, security and legal levels. It didn't elaborate.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told reporters late Sunday that members decided to consider any armed attack on one country an attack on all.


Source : Sapa-AP /ar
Date : 08 Sep 2014 14:01
 
NEW UN RIGHTS CHIEF: SYRIA, IRAQ IS FIRST PRIORITY

In his first speech as U.N. human rights chief, Zeid al-Hussein has called Syria a "slaughterhouse" and the Islamic State group sprung from the civil war's chaos an unprecedented force of violence against ethnic and religious groups.

The veteran diplomat and campaigner for international justice says the world's first urgent priority should be to halt the increasingly conjoined conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

Zeid, who is the first U.N. human rights chief from the Muslim and Arab worlds, also told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday that at least 3,000 people were killed since mid-April in Ukraine.

His four-year post began Sept. 1. He previously served as Jordan's U.N. ambassador and ran for secretary-general before Ban Ki-moon was chosen for the job.


Source : Sapa-AP /ar
Date : 08 Sep 2014 12:17
 
KERRY TO HOLD ARAB ANTI-IS TALKS WEDNESDAY: EGYPT OFFICIAL

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Arab foreign ministers in Saudi Arabia Wednesday as he bids for a broad coalition against the Islamic State, a senior Egyptian foreign ministry official said.

The talks in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, which will continue into Thursday, will be attended by ministers from Egypt, Jordan and the six Gulf Arab states as well as Iraq, the official told AFP.

The ministers "are going to meet Kerry on Wednesday and Thursday in Jeddah as part of efforts to tackle terrorism," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil will also take part in the talks, a government official in Beirut told AFP.

Kerry was headed to the region on Tuesday in a bid to build an enduring coalition against the jihadists, who have seized swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

The US top diplomat pledged to build "the broadest possible coalition of partners around the globe to confront, degrade and ultimately defeat (IS)."

"Almost every single country has a role to play in eliminating the (IS) threat and the evil that it represents," Kerry said.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 09 Sep 2014 09:18
 
US TO EXPAND STRIKES ON ISLAMIC STATE

US President Barack Obama will not hesitate to conduct airstrikes in Syria as he expands the US fight to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State.

"We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are," Obama said in a rare evening address to the American people from the White House.

"That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven."

ISIL is one of the variants used to refer to Islamic State.

The US will step up strikes in Iraq beyond the existing mission that is focused on protecting US interests in the region and providing humanitarian aid.

Obama also aims to increase aid to the moderate Syrian opposition in their fight against the Islamic State and will ask Congress to authorize funding to equip and train the rebels.

US President Barack Obama stressed the Islamic State poses a growing threat, not just to Iraq and Syria, but also to the rest of the world.

"While we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland, ISIL leaders have threatened America and our allies," he said.

He pointed to intelligence that thousands of foreign fighters, including Europeans and Americans, have joined the group in Iraq and Syria and could carry out attacks in the West.

He plans to chair a meeting of the UN Security Council on the threat of foreign fighters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month.

Obama stressed that no US ground combat troops will be sent back into Iraq or into neighbouring Syria, instead relying on US airstrikes and regional forces.

The US will however send an additional 475 troops to Iraq to provide assistance to Iraqi and Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State.

The forces will join more than 1,000 troops already in Iraq to assess Iraqi needs and advise, equip and train them, but will not engage in ground combat operations, he said.

Last month, Obama ordered airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq who he said threatened US interests in the region and were poised to commit genocide against a religious minority.

But until Wednesday, he has voided saying that the US would take the fight into Syria, although top Obama officials have hinted at the likelihood.

The expansion of US military involvement comes on the heels of the formation of a more inclusive Iraqi government that Obama has for months insisted on before US would broaden its support of the government.

The effort will rely on a broad international coalition and US Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel are meeting with countries in the region to garner support.

Earlier Wednesday, Kerry flew from Iraq to Jordan, where he met with King Abdullah and the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mashal Zaben, to discuss a wider military coalition to combat the militant group.

Kerry and Abdullah discussed using Jordan as a base for the proposed coalition strikes against Islamic State fighters in neighbouring Iraq and Syria, according to sources close to the talks.

Saudi Arabia has agreed to assist the US in equipping and training the moderate Syrian opposition by hosting a training facility, a senior US official said.


Source : Sapa-dpa /kn
Date : 11 Sep 2014 03:48
 
US TO SEND 475 MORE TROOPS TO IRAQ

The US will send an additional 475 troops to Iraq to provide assistance to Iraqi and Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State, US President Barack Obama says.

The forces will join more than 1,000 troops already in Iraq to assess Iraqi needs and advise, equip and train them, but will not engage in ground combat operations, Obama says.


Source : Sapa-dpa /kn
Date : 11 Sep 2014 03:12
 
SYRIA, IRAN SLAM US STRATEGY IN FIGHTING MILITANTS
Associated Press

Syrian and Iranian officials criticized the Obama administration on Thursday for excluding them from an international coalition coming together in the battle against the Islamic State group while a state-run Syrian daily warned that unauthorized U.S. airstrikes on Syrian territory may trigger the "first sparks of fire" in the region.

Syria's main Western-backed opposition group, meanwhile, welcomed President Barack Obama's authorization of U.S. airstrikes targeting - for the first time - the extremists inside Syria, saying it stands "ready and willing" to partner with the international community to defeat the militants.

But the Syrian National Coalition said that airstrikes need to be coupled with a strategy for ultimately toppling Assad.

Kurdish politicians in Iraq similarly praised Obama's announcement of wider airstrikes and assistance to Iraqi forces.

"We welcome this new strategy," said Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurdish politician and one of Iraq's newly-appointed deputy prime ministers. "We think it will work with the cooperation of the indigenous local forces like Iraqi Security Forces, the Kurdish peshmerga and other forces."

"There is an urgent need for action. People cannot sit on the fence. This is a mortal threat to everybody," he told The Associated Press.

The U.S. began launching limited airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq earlier this summer at the request of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri el-Maliki, in a significant boost to the Iraqi forces fighting on the ground to win back land lost to the militant group.

The Sunni extremists have seized roughly a third of Iraq and Syria in their rampage this summer, declaring a self-styled caliphate in areas under their control where they apply their strict interpretation of Islamic law, Shariah.

In a prime-time address to the nation from the White House late Wednesday, Obama announced he was authorizing U.S. airstrikes inside Syria for the first time, along with expanded strikes in Iraq as part of "a steady, relentless effort" to root out Islamic State extremists and their spreading reign of terror.

He also again urged Congress to authorize a program to train and arm Syrian rebels who are fighting both the Islamic State militants and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Obama did not say when U.S. forces would begin striking at targets inside Syria.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem had last month warned the U.S. against carrying out airstrikes on its territory without Damascus' consent, saying any such attack would be considered an aggression.

Obama, in his speech, ruled out any partnership with Assad in the fight against the Islamic State militants, saying he will "never regain the legitimacy" he has lost.

"I wonder how an international coalition can be formed and Syria, which is targeted by terrorism in depth, is shunned aside?" Sharif Shehadeh, a Syrian lawmaker, told the AP in Damascus. He said violating Syrian sovereignty will have "negative repercussions on regional and international security." He did not elaborate.

The state-run al-Thawra newspaper warned in a front-page editorial that Obama's authorization of airstrikes in Syria might be "the first sparks of fire in the region."

Syrian officials have always insisted that the uprising in Syria which erupted in March 2011 and evolved into civil war was carried out by armed "terrorists" - using the term as shorthand for all rebels and anti-Assad forces.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, whose country is a staunch ally of Assad, also said Thursday that regional and international cooperation will be vital - even though Tehran has not been invited to join an international coalition against the Islamic State group. Rouhani spoke on an official visit to Tajikistan.

In Tehran, foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said the coalition against the Islamic State group has "serious ambiguities," the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday. She added Iran has doubts about the seriousness of the coalition, because some members of the coalition have been supporters of terrorists in Iraq and Syria.

A year ago, Obama gave a speech to the nation in which he was widely expected to announce the U.S. would be launching punishing airstrikes against Assad's forces, after blaming them for a deadly chemical weapons attack near Damascus. Obama backed down at the last minute.

Ironically, the U.S. president is now authorizing airstrikes not against Assad, but against a group committed to his removal from power. In doing that, the U.S. runs the risk of unintentionally strengthening Assad's hand, potentially opening the way for the Syrian army to fill the vacuum left by the extremists.

Hadi Bahra, chief of the Syrian National Coalition opposition group, said mainstream Syrian rebels desperately need the kind of support that would enable it to form a reliable and well-equipped force to fight the extremists.

"Today, we are one step closer to achieving that goal," he said.

He said the Syrian Coalition "stands ready and willing to partner with the international community" not only to defeat the extremists but also "to rid the Syrian people of the tyranny of the Assad regime."

---

Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Vivian Salama in Baghdad contributed to this report.


Source : Sapa-AP /avb
Date : 11 Sep 2014 13:05
 
IS HAS 20,000-31,500 FIGHTERS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA: CIA

Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria now have about 20,000 to 31,500 fighters on the ground, the Central Intelligence Agency said Thursday, much higher than the previous 10,000 estimate.

"CIA assesses the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria, based on a new review of all-source intelligence reports from May to August," CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said in a statement.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kn
Date : 12 Sep 2014 01:03
 
Curious to know why they can't narrow down that estimate. That's 11500 they can't account for?
 
I read somewhere the Islamic State are selling 30 000 barrels of seized oil per day on the black market for like half the market price.....earning them about £ 1 million /day

Sorry can't find the article now
 
Replay said:
I read somewhere the Islamic State are selling 30 000 barrels of seized oil per day on the black market for like half the market price.....earning them about £ 1 million /day

Sorry can't find the article now
Click to expand...

It's right here on this forum, check the first or the second page.
 
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