The Islamic State Thread

Former French soldiers desert to fight for ISIS

Not that many. Around 10 former paratroopers, legionnaires and one former member of the French Special Forces. All radicalized or converts. :wtf:

French soldiers including paratroopers, foreign legionnaires desert to fight for Islamic State

January 22, 2015 - 11:27AM
Henry Samuel

Paris: Several former French soldiers have joined the ranks of jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq, the country's government confirmed on Wednesday, as it outlined a series of new anti-terrorism measures following the Islamist attacks in Paris.

Most of the ex-soldiers, reportedly numbering around 10 and including former paratroopers and French foreign legionnaires, are said to be fighting on behalf of the Islamic State.

Most worrying is the reported presence of an ex-member of France's elite First Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, considered one of Europe's most experienced special forces units and which shares the "Who Dares Wins" motto of the SAS.

The unnamed individual, of North African origin, had received commando training in combat, shooting and survival techniques. He served for five years before joining a private security company for which he worked in the Arabian peninsula, where he was radicalised before heading for Syria, according to L'Opinion, a news website.

One of the defectors had become the leader of a group of a dozen or so French-born Islamists operating in the Syrian region of Deir Ezzor who had all received combat training, reported Radio France International, or RFI.

Others, apparently in their 20s, were explosive experts. Some were Muslim converts while others were radicalised French from an "Arab-Muslim" background, said RFI.

Jean-Yves Drian, the French defence minister, confirmed the existence of a handful of ex-French military personnel among jihadist fighters in the Middle East, but tried to play down their presence, saying the phenomenon was "extremely rare".

However, they will raise fears over the risk of a French version of the 2009 gun rampage at Fort Hood, the US military base in Texas, where Nadal Hasan, a US army major who turned to radical Islam, killed 13 servicemen scheduled to leave for Afghanistan.

Mr Drian said that the French armed forces' internal security and protection unit, DPSD, would "reinforce its vigilance and see its means increased".

News of the defections came as Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, unveiled anti-terrorism measures worth 425 million euro ($600 million) after France's worst Islamist attack in which 17 people were killed earlier this month.

It coincided with a government pledge to cut 7500 fewer defence jobs in the next five years than previously planned.

Mr Valls said 2680 new jobs would be created to fight terrorism by 2018 - around half in intelligence.

France now had to monitor almost 3000 people involved in "terrorist networks" following a 130 per cent jump in those linked to jihadists in Iraq and Syria in the past year, he said.

An extra 60 Muslim clerics would be recruited to work with potential militants in France's overcrowded prisons, while five units would be created to isolate radicalised inmates.

Mr Valls said the idea of stripping offenders of certain civic rights - a measure mirroring a post-war law barring Nazi collaborators from voting, holding office or working for the state - would be debated.

Telegraph, London
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APAN SAYS LOOKING AT ALL POSSIBLE WAYS TO FREE HOSTAGES

Japan said Thursday it was considering all possible ways to gain the release of two hostages held by the Islamic State group, as two people with contacts there offered to try to negotiate.

The Islamic State group, in a video message seen Tuesday, said it would kill the hostages within 72 hours unless it receives $200 million. Based on the video's release time, that deadline would come sometime Friday.

Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Thursday that Japan was trying to reach those holding the hostages, 47-year-old freelance journalist Kenji Goto and 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, the founder of a private security company.

Suga said Japan had not received any message from IS since the release of the video.

Ko Nakata, an expert on Islamic law and former professor at Kyoto's Doshisha University, told reporters he was able to reach the Islamic State.

He and Kosuke Tsuneoka, a Japanese journalist who was held hostage in Afghanistan in 2010, have both offered to reach out to the Islamic State to try to save the hostages.

"Seventy-two hours is too short a time, and I myself am prepared to go to negotiate," Nakata said, speaking in both Japanese and in Arabic.

He urged the Islamic State group not to harm the hostages, saying releasing them would be a good deed that would improve its image.

Asked if Japan would consider the offer by Tsuneoka and Nakata to intercede, Suga said Tokyo was "prepared to consider all possible ways to save the two hostages."

It is unclear whether the two private citizens would be able to contact and negotiate with the Islamic State group even if they were to travel to Syria. Japan lacks any diplomatic presence in Syria.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who returned from a six-day Middle East tour on Wednesday, vowed not to give in to terrorism, and to continue to cooperate on providing humanitarian aid to those affected by conflict in the region.

Abe and other Japanese officials have not said directly whether Japan will pay ransom for the captives - a decision fraught with implications both for Japan and other countries.

The issue was raised by British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon on Wednesday in talks in London among the British and Japanese foreign and defense ministers.

He "advised that we should always keep in mind what happens next as a result of our acts. He advised there will be consequences if we do not act strongly now," Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters in London.

Japan has received offers for cooperation in the crisis from a number of countries, including Jordan, where Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama met with King Abdullah II.

Abe dispatched Nakayama to Jordan to coordinate handling of the hostage crisis, but it was unclear if any progress was being made.

"Time is very short and we are very worried," Nakayama told reporters after his meeting with the king.

Abe has limited choices, among them to openly pay the extremists or ask an ally like the United States to attempt a risky rescue inside Syria. Japan's military operates only in a self-defense capacity at home.

But officials are adamant that Japan will continue to provide non-military aid to the region.

"We will never give in to terrorism," Abe said.

In past hostage situations involving Japanese captives, at least one has been killed while most have been released. It is unclear how many times Japan paid ransom. The only confirmed case was in Kyrgyzstan in 1999.

Japanese media reported Wednesday, citing unnamed officials, that Goto's wife received an email in December demanding a ransom of more than 2 billion yen ($17 million).

She exchanged several emails with the unknown person, whose email address was similar to one used by the Islamic State group, the Kyodo News service and other media reported. The messages did not include a threat to kill Goto, the reports said.

Securing the hostages' release will be hard, "because all Japanese diplomats left Syria as the civil war escalated," Tsutomu Ishiai, foreign news editor for the major newspaper Asahi Shimbun, said in a commentary.

"Japan is in an extremely difficult situation. It needs to find a way to save the hostages by getting in touch with religious leaders and local heavyweights who are in a position to make contact with the extremists," he added.


Source : Sapa-AP /nsm
Date : 22 Jan 2015 06:51
 
JAPAN FACES DEADLINE TO FREE ISLAMIC STATE HOSTAGES

The deadline to pay ransom for two Japanese hostages of the Islamic State group was fast approaching Friday, as the mother of one of the captives appealed for her son's rescue.

With time running short, the mother of one of the hostages, 47-year-old journalist Kenji Goto, appealed for understanding and urged the government to help him.

"Time is running out. Please, Japanese government, save my son's life," said Junko Ishido, who described herself as an educator.

"My son is not an enemy of the Islamic State," she said in a tearful appearance in Tokyo.

Ishido said she was astonished and angered to learn from her daughter-in-law that Goto had left less than two weeks after his child was born, in October, to go to Syria to try to rescue the other hostage, 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa.

"My son felt he had to do everything in his power to try to rescue a friend and acquaintance," she said.

In very Japanese fashion, Ishido apologized repeatedly for "all the trouble my son has caused."

The status of efforts to free the two men was unclear, with hours to go before the presumed deadline.

The national broadcaster NHK reported that it had received a message from Islamic State "public relations" saying that a statement would be released soon.

Lacking clout and diplomatic reach in the Middle East, Japan has been scrambling for a way to secure the release of the two men, one a journalist, the other an adventurer fascinated by war. Two Japanese who said they have contacts with a leader in the Islamic State group offered Thursday to try to negotiate, but it was unclear if the Japanese government was receptive to the idea.

Ishido said she had not had any contact with the government.

The militants threatened in a video message to kill the hostages within 72 hours unless they receive $200 million. Based on the video's release time, that deadline would expire sometime Friday.

Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga reiterated Friday that Japan was trying all possible channels to reach those holding the hostages, and that its policy of providing humanitarian aid for those displaced by conflict in the Middle East was unchanged.

"We are doing our very best to coordinate with related parties, including through tribal chiefs," Suga said.

Suga confirmed Thursday that the government had confirmed the identity of the two hostages, despite obvious discrepancies in shadows and other details in the ransom video that suggest it may have been altered.

Japanese officials have not directly said whether they are considering paying any ransom, though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said their lives were the top priority.

Tokyo lacks strong diplomatic connections in the Middle East, and Japanese diplomats left Syria as the civil war there escalated, adding to the difficulty of contacting the group holding the hostages.

There was no sign the government had taken action on an offer to try to negotiate with the Islamic State group by Ko Nakata, an expert on Islamic law and former professor at Kyoto's Doshisha University, along with freelance journalist Kousuke Tsuneoka.

Nakata and Tsuneoka, who both are converts to Islam, said Thursday that they have a contact in the Islamic State group and were prepared to go.

Nakata and Tsuneoka, who was released after being held hostage in Afghanistan in 2010, visited Syria in September in an unsuccessful attempt to gain Yukawa's release. Goto was seized sometime after late October when he entered the area.

It is unclear if the two would be allowed to go to Syria, since they have been questioned by Japan's security police on suspicion of trying to help a Japanese college student visit Syria to fight with the Islamic State group.

Since Japan's military operates only in a self-defense capacity a home any rescue attempt would require help from an ally like the United States.


Source : Sapa-AP /nsm
Date : 23 Jan 2015 04:59
 
HOSTAGE VIDEO: WAS IT REALLY DONE OUTSIDE?
By DAVID BAUDER

The video of two Japanese hostages being held by the Islamic State group seems, like past IS videos, taken in an arid, desert setting. But suspicions are emerging that the message was not prepared outdoors at all.

An expert in these videos said it was more likely completed in an indoor studio with a false backdrop made to appear that it was done outdoors.

Kenji Goto, a journalist, and Haruna Yukawa, who runs a security company, are seen kneeling in orange jumpsuits with a masked man holding a knife between them. The hostage-holders are threatening to kill the men if the Japanese government does not pay a $200 million ransom.

The video, posted on militant websites Tuesday and identified as being made by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm, appears to be filmed in the same location as those showing American hostages James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig, and British captives David Haines and Alan Henning.

Veryan Khan, editorial director for the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, said that the light source on the men in the latest videos appears to be coming from two different directions - as opposed to one bright sun. If the video was made outdoors in natural light, the shadows behind them should be going in one direction. Instead, they converge.

"The hostages are visibly bothered by" the bright light, she said.

One of the hostage's jumpsuits flutters in a breeze, yet Khan said she believes it's from a fan. Wind in the desert would be noisy and affect the sound quality of the statements being made by the knife-wielding man, she said. It would also kick up dust, and none seems apparent, she said.

If it was actually done inside, it could indicate the hostage-holders are less free to move about than the Islamic state group would have its enemies believe. It could also be a way for the hostage-takers to further cover their tracks and not give experts any reliable signals to indicate where they are.

Experts poring over the slickly-produced videos believe they were made in an area south of Raqqa in northern Syria, the self-declared capital of the Islamic state. The killings of the five other hostages took place between August and November. The U.S.-led coalition began targeting IS militants in Syria in mid-September,and has gradually intensified its aerial bombardment of suspected IS infrastructure in both Syria and Iraq.

U.S. officials say thousands of Islamic State militants have been killed in both countries since then. Intelligence gathering efforts have also improved. In response, the group has largely melted into urban areas to elude the threat.

Ben Venzke, CEO of IntelCenter, a company that provides counter-terrorism intelligence, said he's reluctant to speculate on where or how the videos were filmed. The militants tend to change their tactics in response to media reports on their methods or possible locations, and that makes it more difficult to find them, he said.

"It makes for a really interesting story, but it does absolutely nothing to help the cause of stopping two people from being beheaded, and may actually harm it," Venzke said.


Source : Sapa-AP /nsm
Date : 23 Jan 2015 02:56
 
Isis: the inside story

One of the Islamic State’s senior commanders reveals exclusive details of the terror group’s origins inside an Iraqi prison – right under the noses of their American jailers. Report by Martin Chulov

In the summer of 2004, a young jihadist in shackles and chains was walked by his captors slowly into the Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq. He was nervous as two American soldiers led him through three brightly-lit buildings and then a maze of wire corridors, into an open yard, where men with middle-distance stares, wearing brightly-coloured prison uniforms, stood back warily, watching him.

“I knew some of them straight away,” he told me last month. “I had feared Bucca all the way down on the plane. But when I got there, it was much better than I thought. In every way.”

The jihadist, who uses the nom de guerre Abu Ahmed, entered Camp Bucca as a young man a decade ago, and is now a senior official within Islamic State (Isis) – having risen through its ranks with many of the men who served time alongside him in prison. Like him, the other detainees had been snatched by US soldiers from Iraq’s towns and cities and flown to a place that had already become infamous: a foreboding desert fortress that would shape the legacy of the US presence in Iraq.

The other prisoners did not take long to warm to him, Abu Ahmed recalled. They had also been terrified of Bucca, but quickly realised that far from their worst fears, the US-run prison provided an extraordinary opportunity. “We could never have all got together like this in Baghdad, or anywhere else,” he told me. “It would have been impossibly dangerous. Here, we were not only safe, but we were only a few hundred metres away from the entire al-Qaida leadership.”

It was at Camp Bucca that Abu Ahmed first met Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the emir of Isis who is now frequently described as the world’s most dangerous terrorist leader. From the beginning, Abu Ahmed said, others in the camp seemed to defer to him. “Even then, he was Abu Bakr. But none of us knew he would ever end up as leader.”

Abu Ahmed was an essential member of the earliest incarnation of the group. He had been galvanised into militancy as a young man by an American occupation that he and many like him believed was trying to impose a power shift in Iraq, favouring the country’s larger Shia population at the expense of the dominant Sunnis. His early role in what would become Isis led naturally to the senior position he now occupies within a revitalised insurgency that has spilled across the border into Syria. Most of his colleagues regard the crumbling order in the region as a fulfilment of their ambitions in Iraq – which had remained unfinished business, until the war in Syria gave them a new arena...Link
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Not sure if this guardian article has been posted already.
 
JAPAN CONDEMNS NEW VIDEO, NOT YET VERIFYING IT'S OF HOSTAGES

By Mari Yamaguchi and Elaine Kurtenbach

Japan's government is investigating a new message purported to be from the Islamic State group holding two Japanese hostages

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said late Saturday that Cabinet ministers were holding an emergency meeting about the new message, the release of which he condemned as unforgivable.

The Associated Press could not verify the contents of the message, which varied greatly from previous videos released by the Islamic State group, which now holds a third of both Syria and Iraq.

The Islamic State group had threatened on Tuesday to behead the hostages within 72 hours unless it received a $200 million ransom.


Source : Sapa-AP /gf
Date : 24 Jan 2015 18:18
 
Isn't america glad they invaded iraq?

Look how well off everyone is.

How does this affect the oil price?
 
Online post claims 1 Japanese ISIS hostage killed; new demand made...

CNN)A picture and audio posted online Saturday purport to show that one of ISIS's two Japanese hostages has been killed after a deadline for ransom passed, and appears to relay ISIS's new demand for the other's freedom -- a prisoner exchange

The static image, shown in a video file posted a known ISIS supporter, apparently shows surviving Japanese hostage Kenji Goto, alone, in handcuffs and dressed in orange, holding a photo of what appears to be beheaded compatriot Haruna Yukawa.

Saturday's posting, which CNN couldn't immediately verify independently, came four days after an ISIS video demanded that the Japanese government pay $200 million within 72 hours for the hostages' release.

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Saturday that the government is checking the authenticity of the claim. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged the post.

"This act of terrorism is outrageous and unforgivable violence. I feel strong anger and firmly condemn it," Abe said told reporters Saturday, adding that he demands Goto be released immediately.

Played over Saturday's picture, the voice of a person claiming to be Goto says in English that Abe is to blame for Yukawa's death.

"You were given a deadline, and so my captives acted upon their words," he says.

The voice then relays ISIS's alleged new demand -- the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, a woman arrested in Jordan in 2005 on suspicion of trying to take part in an attack in which others killed dozens at Jordanian hotels.

"They no longer want money, so you don't need to worry about funding terrorists," the voice says. "They are just demanding the release of their imprisoned sister Sajida al-Rishawi."...
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http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/24/world/isis-japan-hostages/?utm_source=digg&utm_medium=facebook
 
ISIS' Japanese hostages receive mixed sympathy at home

Tokyo (CNN)Fighting back tears, Junko Ishido stood before dozens of television cameras, just hours before an apparent ISIS deadline to execute her son, Kenji Goto -- one of two Japanese hostages who appeared in a shocking propaganda video days before.

One of the first statements she made, before making a direct plea to ISIS to spare her son's life, was an apology to the Japanese people.

"Thank you for your great kindness and I apologize for the tremendous inconvenience and trouble that my son has caused," she said.

The plea came just before a 72-hour deadline for a $200 million ransom set in the video was due to expire. The Japanese government appears not to have given into the demand, and a day later, her son appeared again, this time holding a photo that purported to show the decapitated body of his compatriot, Haruna Yukawa.

...

"In Japan when you inconvenience people, it's important to respect them and ask for forgiveness," Kingston says.

Ishido conveyed several times how badly she feels about her son's capture causing trouble for the Japanese government and alarm for its people.

To her, it doesn't matter that her son was likely trying to rescue his friend and fellow hostage Haruna Yukawa. It doesn't matter than he has been praised by friends, colleagues, and strangers for reporting sensitively from war zones like Syria with strong, respectful determination.

If she were to say such things publicly in Japan, she could be perceived as a selfish individual who touts the righteousness of her son.
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Link:
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/24/world/japan-hostage-reaction-ripley/

Although, I got to say that in dealing with Japanese run businesses the culture of respect and asking for forgiveness is pretty lacking among many.

If she were to say such things publicly in Japan, she could be perceived as a selfish individual who touts the righteousness of her son.
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And in many ways I think post modern Westerners with our ego-centric outlook could learn from this. A bit more humility.
 
Why did Gary move this? This post is more than just about ISIS.

Oh well your site, do what you want with it.
 
IRAQ 'SLEEPER CELLS' FIGHT ISLAMIC STATE GROUP
By SAMEER N. YACOUB

"Sleeper cells" made up of former Iraqi police officers and soldiers are tipping off authorities to Islamic State group positions in the northern city of Mosul, a prominent lawmaker has told The Associated Press.

The comments by Hakim al-Zamili, the head of parliament's security and defense committee, are the first high-level confirmation of the groups' existence after weeks of rumors.

Their work remains incredibly dangerous as the Islamic State group has shut down mobile phone networks and regularly kills suspected government collaborators. However, their intelligence could prove invaluable as the U.S.-led coalition steps up airstrikes around Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, to disrupt Islamic State group supply lines ahead of an expected operation later this year to take back the city from militants

"Those patriotic groups, some operate from inside the city of Mosul and others from the areas surrounding it, are now giving us information about the military preparations being made by Islamic State group in order to face any attack by government forces to retake the city," al-Zamili told the AP.

The Islamic State group captured Mosul in August during its blitz across northern Iraq. The militants now hold about a third of both Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate.

Many soldiers and police officers dropped their weapons and fled during the extremists' initial offensive. Now, however, some have begun spying on behalf of the Iraqi government, al-Zamili said. Resentment among Mosul residents over all has grown as prices of most food staples have more than doubled, kerosene is in short supply and militants have banned alcohol and cigarettes.

In late November, the Islamic State group blocked all mobile phone networks in Mosul, accusing informants in the city of tipping off coalition and Iraqi forces to their whereabouts. The move caused chaos across Mosul.

Typically, informants leave Mosul and head to higher altitudes to get a network signal so they can make calls, al-Zamili said. Their information then gets passed to Iraqi security commanders in charge of airstrikes and military operation in Nineveh province, the lawmaker said. So far, the information has not been shared with U.S.-led forces, he said.

"We receive a lot of useful information from Mosulis who are becoming fed-up with the militants and this is the reason why the IS group blocked all mobile phone networks in the city," he said.

In recent days, coalition airstrikes pounded at least two dozen locations around Mosul, destroying dozens of vehicles, buildings, fighting positions and insurgent units. The airstrikes, said one senior military official, are the start of a new phase, and military leaders are watching to see how the militants respond. The official was not authorized to discuss the operations publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

Any offensive to retake Mosul likely remains months away. However, al-Zamili said the intelligence helps. To encourage others, he said Iraq's parliament is considering laws to reinstate soldiers and police officers who served under former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein but have taken the "honorable stance" in cooperating with Iraqi authorities battling the Islamic State group.

---

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.


Source : Sapa-AP /ma
Date : 26 Jan 2015 09:08
 
JAPAN STUNNED BY VIDEO CLAIMING DEATH OF 1 OF 2 IS HOSTAGES

From the prime minister to ordinary people, Japanese were shocked Sunday at a video purportedly showing one of two Japanese hostages of the extremist Islamic State group had been killed.

With attention focused on efforts to save the other hostage, some also criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive for a more assertive Japan as responsible for the hostage crisis.

A somber Abe appeared on public broadcaster NHK early Sunday demanding the militants release 47-year-old journalist Kenji Goto unharmed. He said the video was likely authentic, although he added that the government was still reviewing it. He offered condolences to the family and friends of Haruna Yukawa, a 42-year-old adventurer taken hostage in Syria last year.

Abe declined to comment on the message in the video, which demanded a prisoner exchange for Goto. He said only that the government was still working on the situation and reiterated that Japan condemns terrorism.

"I am left speechless," he said. "We strongly and totally criticize such acts."

Yukawa's father, Shoichi, told reporters he hoped "deep in his heart" that the news of his son's killing was not true.

"If I am ever reunited with him, I just want to give him a big hug," he said.

President Barack Obama condemned what he called "the brutal murder" of Yukawa and offered condolences to Abe. Obama's statement didn't say how the U.S. knew Yukawa was dead.

"The U.S. intelligence community has no reason to doubt the authenticity of the video," said Brian Hale, spokesman for the U.S. director of national intelligence.

On a visit to India, Obama said the United States will stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Japan and called for the immediate release of Goto.

French President Francois Hollande also said condemned the killing and praised Japan's "determined engagement in the fight against international terrorism."

The United Nations Security Council issued a statement that "deplored the apparent murder" of Yukawa, declaring that the Islamic State group "must be defeated and that the intolerance, violence and hatred it espouses must be stamped out."

The Associated Press could not verify the contents of the video message, which was removed from websites soon after it appeared and varied greatly from previous videos released by the Islamic State group, which now holds a third of both Syria and Iraq.

Criticism of Abe has touched on his push for an expanded role for Japan's troops - one that has remained strictly confined to self-defense under the pacifist constitution written after the nation's defeat in World War II.

About 100 protesters, some of them holding placards that read, "I'm Kenji" and "Free Goto," demonstrated late Sunday in front of the prime minister's residence, demanding Abe save Goto.

Demonstrator Kenji Kunitomi, 66, blamed Abe as bringing the hostage crisis on himself.

"This happened when Prime Minister Abe was visiting Israel," he said. "I think there's a side to this, where they may have taken it as a form of provocation, possibly a big one."

While in the Middle East, Abe announced $200 million in humanitarian aid to the nations fighting the militants. The Islamic State group addressed Abe and demanded the same amount of money as ransom for the two hostages.

Jun Hori, an independent journalist, bemoaned Abe's directly mentioning the Islamic State in announcing the aid.

Reflecting widely held sentiments here, Hori believes Japan, restricted by its constitution, has held a slightly different position from the U.S. and Europe on the Middle East, and had up to now fared better at avoiding Western-style terrorist attacks.

"Japan has its own path of peaceful diplomacy that it should take," Hori said.

Goto's mother, Junko Ishido, was skeptical about the voice on the video claiming to be her son's.

"I'm petrified," Ishido told NHK. "He has children. I'm praying he will return soon, and that's all I want."

Yukawa was captured last summer, and Goto is thought to have been seized in late October after going to Syria to try to rescue Yukawa.

Kent Calder, director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at SAIS/Johns Hopkins University in Washington, said the "communalistic" and conformist aspects of Japanese society makes events like the hostage crisis particularly emotionally disturbing for its people.

"That trauma is compounded by the fact that I don't think most Japanese saw this coming," he said in an email. "Many will realize out of this that they too are a part of global society, rather than an isolated island nation."

Toshiko Okada, 68, who used to run an English school in a Tokyo suburb, has been stunned by the news and praying for the hostages' lives.

"I feel Abe's misguided shallow acts have triggered this ransom demand," she said. "Maybe he should be attending to problems at home."


Source : Sapa-AP /nsm
Date : 26 Jan 2015 02:40
 
ISLAMIC STATE CONFIRMS BEHEADING OF JAPANESE HOSTAGE

The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility Sunday in an internet radio broadcast for the beheading of a Japanese hostage.

"The Japanese hostage was executed after the expiration of a deadline that had been reported to Japan," an Islamic State spokesman said on the militant jihadist group's al-Bayan internet radio service.

An internet video released Saturday contained an image of what appeared to be the lifeless remains of Haruna Yakawa, 42. Sunday's internet message was the first confirmation by an Islamic State source.

The group continues to hold a second Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto. In Saturday's video, he was shown holding the photo of Yakawa's body, along with an audio message in which he said Islamic State was demanding the release of a prisoner in exchange for his freedom.

The Japanese government had earlier said the Saturday image seemed authentic.

The message, posted Saturday on jihadist websites, "is highly credible," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Japanese public broadcasting channel NHK.

Abe called Yakawa's apparent killing outrageous and demanded that freelance journalist Goto, 47, be immediately released. Both men were abducted in Syria.

In an earlier video, the Islamic State group demanded a 200-million-dollar ransom for Yakawa and Goto's release. Its deadline for the payment expired Friday.

In Saturday's message, Goto said his captors now wanted Sajida al-Rishawa, a jihadist jailed in Jordan for a failed 2005 suicide bombing, to be released in return for the journalist's freedom.

The Japanese government said there has been no contact with the hostage takers, but Abe said Sunday that Japan is working with Jordan and other countries on winning Goto's release.

US President Barack Obama offered condolences to Abe and the Japanese people over Yakawa's killing. Obama telephoned Abe while visiting New Delhi, the White House said.

Obama condemned the beheading and declared solidarity with Japan.

"We stand shoulder to shoulder with our ally Japan and applaud its commitment to peace and development in a region far from its shores," he said.

"We will work together to bring the perpetrators of these murders to justice and will continue to take decisive action to degrade and ultimately defeat [Islamic State]," Obama said.


Source : Sapa-dpa /kd
Date : 25 Jan 2015 22:42
 
KURDS PUSH ISLAMIC STATE OUT OF KOBANE
BY POL O GRADAIGH AND WEEDAH HAMZAH, DPA

Syrian Kurdish fighters Monday claimed a major symbolic victory as they pushed Islamic jihadists out of the embattled Syrian town of Kobane.

As of Tuesday, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) would take the fight to the jihadist-held countryside around the town, which lies on Syria's border with Turkey, Kobane defence chief Ismet Hassan told dpa.

The YPG captured the eastern Kani Araban district from the extremists in the morning and later retook the last remaining areas of the town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The US military later confirmed that forces battling the Islamic State were in control of 90 per cent of the town, after saying earlier in the day that the fighting was ongoing.

US Central Command, which has been assisting Kurdish fighters with airstrikes in the region, applauded "these courageous fighters and thanks them for their efforts."

"Anti-ISIL forces have fought aggressively with resilience and fortitude. While the fight against ISIL is far from over, ISIL's failure in Kobani has denied them one of their strategic objectives."

The Kurdish victory comes after more than four months of fighting around Kobane, the centre of the smallest of three Kurdish enclaves in northern Syria.

Islamic State jihadists, fresh from victories in Iraq that saw them capture the country's second city Mosul and huge quantities of military equipment, turned their guns on the enclave in mid-September after two previous failed offensives.

The militants were hoping for a propaganda victory against Kurdish forces they revile as communists and atheists.

Capturing Kobane would also have eliminated the last hostile salient inside a swathe of Islamic State territory across northern and north-eastern Syria where Islamic State has imposed its control.

But the YPG fought back fiercely: according to the Britain-based Observatory, the campaign has cost the jihadists almost 1,000 fighters while the Kurds have lost some 324.

Kobane became the main focus of US-led airstrikes in Syria, and was also reinforced by 150 Peshmerga troops armed with artillery and heavy weapons from neighbouring Iraq.

Hassan Monday warned that the fighting was not over yet, with Kurdish villages in a radius of 40 kilometres around the town remain occupied by the jihadists.

The enclave "has been surrounded for two years and is still surrounded," he added: "We call on the world to open a humanitarian corridor to support Kobane."

In Moscow, meanwhile, members of the Syrian opposition met for a fresh attempt at defusing the country's bloody civil war.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that "27 to 28" opposition members had come to Moscow for the talks.

According to Arab media reports, the opposition members, led by former UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, will negotiate among themselves for two days before Syrian government representatives join the talks Wednesday.

Among them are two members of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change. Its leader, Mounzer Khaddam, said that expectations are not high.

"We do not expect much from this meeting and we hope that the regime will deal seriously with this meeting," he told dpa by phone from Syria.

Not invited to the Moscow talks are radical Islamists, including the al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State. Also not present is the Istanbul-based National Coalition, the main Western-backed external opposition group.

Coalition spokeswoman Sarah Karkour said that nine of its members had declined an invitation to participate as individuals.

In other developments Monday, Turkey opened its largest refugee camp to date, in the southern city of Suruc. Located near the border with Syria, it is able to accommodate 35,000 refugees, a spokesman for AFAD, the Turkish catastrophe relief agency, told dpa.

About 140,000 Syrians are spread out across 25 camps along Turkey's border region with Syria. Overall, about 1.6 million Syrians have fled their country, which has been engulfed in civil war for four years.

AFAD said at least one more refugee camp is being planned, in south-eastern Turkey.

The conflict, which started with peaceful demonstrations in March 2011, has claimed more than 200,000 lives, according to activists, and driven almost half of Syria's population from their homes.


Source : Sapa-dpa /mr
Date : 27 Jan 2015 01:26
 
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