The Islamic State Thread

ISIS destroys ancient artefacts at Mosul museum

Baghdad - Archaeologists expressed fears on Friday that after ransacking the Mosul museum in Iraq, ISIS would embark on a systematic destruction of heritage in areas under their control.

Particularly at risk are the ancient cities of Hatra, a Unesco world heritage site, and Nimrud. Both are south of Mosul, which has been the jihadists' main hub in Iraq since June last year.

"This is not the end of the story and the international community must intervene," said Abdelamir Hamdani, an Iraqi archaeologist at New York's Stony Brook University.

IS released a video on Thursday showing its militants smashing ancient statues to pieces with sledgehammers at the Mosul museum.

Jihadists were also seen using a jackhammer to deface a colossal Assyrian winged bull at the Nergal gate in the large archaeological park that lies in the city.

"They told the guards they would destroy Nimrud," said Hamdani, who used to be based in Iraq with the department of antiquities.

"It is one of the very important Assyrian capitals, there are reliefs and winged bulls there... This would be a real disaster," he told AFP by telephone from the United States.

"Maybe they will also attack and destroy Hatra, it is a very isolated site in the desert," he said.

Hatra is a Unesco-listed site that lies in IS-controlled territory around 100km southwest of Mosul.

Unesco says the "remains of the city, especially the temples where Hellenistic and Roman architecture blend with Eastern decorative features, attest to the greatness of its civilisation."

"I am afraid that more destruction is in their pipeline," said Ihsan Fethi, an Iraqi architect and heritage expert based in Jordan.

"They could do anything, they could move to the temples in Hatra, and say they're heathens and blow it up pretty easily. Who will stop them?," he said.

On Thursday, ISIS blew up a 12th century mosque "because it housed a tomb", Fethi said.

In the jihadists' extreme interpretation of Islam, statues, idols and shrines are a material corruption of the purity of the early Muslim faith and amount to recognising other objects of worship than God.

Their views are marginal however and most clerics, even those who promote a rigorist Islam, argue that what were idols in the day of the Prophet are now part of cultural heritage.

Unesco chief Irina Bokova said on Thursday that she had sought an emergency meeting of the Security Council following the demolitions in Mosul, which she called "intolerable" and described as a threat to Iraq's security.

http://www.news24.com/World/News/ISIS-destroys-ancient-artefacts-at-Mosul-museum-20150227

yes, lets destroy priceless historical artifices, ....backward ****s!
 
Ambitious pie in the sky stuff

An ISIS e-book on how to accomplish their caliphate goal of sacking Rome stresses enlisting “the Islamic State’s secret weapon = secret white converts” to take on Italy.

Much of the book, “Black Flags from Rome,” is dedicated to laying out a case for why Muslims in Europe should rise up and assist ISIS from within, citing justifications for discontent from modern-day anti-immigration protests back to post-Ottoman creation of Muslim “ghettos.”


The Rome title is one of a series disseminated online that includes Khorasan, Syria, Arabia and Persia, with a forthcoming “Black Flags from Palestine” title promised.

It uses graphics from Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life to show Muslim distribution throughout Europe. “Starting in the early 90s, a new era would begin for Islam in Europe,” the book states. “A new quality 3rd generation of Muslims would be born who had given up the victim subservient slave mentality the previous generations had. This generation would be emboldened and more confident in their newly (re)discovered beliefs. They would see the world from a new perspective, and unlike the previous generations who only dedicated on earning money for supporting the family ‘back home’, this new generation would see the world through the eyes of a global Ummah (Muslim nation) which transcended all national boundaries.”

It offers the Irish Republican Army attacks of the ’80 and ’90s as an example of a “ruthless” guerrilla campaign in Europe, and the GIA (Group Islamique Army) in France as emblematic of the 1990s “Islamic jihad revival in Europe.” The GIA, notes the text, also trailblazed in Europe with its magazine propaganda and solicitation of donations to smuggle weapons to jihadists in Algeria.

“No doubt, if a war in Europe is to spark in the future, this whole process will be reversed and weapons will be smuggled in a similar way from the Islamic Maghrib into the heart of Europe.”

The book talks about efforts to spread Sharia law in Europe countered by “right-wing groups” and media outlets that “would spread news that Muslim males were making ‘grooming gangs’ which abuse ‘white girls’, which would make even more people join the right-wing groups.” It includes screenshots of tweets including one from Rupert Murdoch about Muslims needing to destroy “jihadist cancer” in their midst.

The Islamic State, it says, “re-awoke” in the midst of Syrian turmoil and “the exit of American troops from Iraq in 2010.”

“The Western powers would not get involved in physical ground combat because they had just withdrawn from a failed war in Iraq (their public wouldn’t be happy with it.) This opportunity gave the Islamic State to grow stronger, with more fighters and more territory and resources as the world watched on. Those who had left Europe to join the Islamic State would now be able to help other Europeans’ get into Syria… Here they could learn basic armed/shooting combat, assassination techniques, how to make explosives from homemade materials etc.”

The book doesn’t include a publish date, but it discusses the “shocking secret” revealed by the Kouachi brothers’ January attacks in France and subsequent busting up of a terror cell in Belgium: “There were small armies of the Islamic State within every country of Europe by late 2014, and the intelligence agencies didn’t even know about it!”

It states that European Muslims can ally with “a growing population of left-winged activists (people who are against; human/animal abuses, Zionism, and Austerity measures etc)” who “look up to the Muslims as a force who are strong enough to fight against the injustices of the world” in countering a growing divide between Muslims and “right-wing neo-Nazis.” It specifically cites people who are “sometimes” allied with Anonymous or anarchy groups — even though, angered by the assault on Charlie Hebdo, Anonymous is currently carrying out a hacking operation to take down ISIS accounts.

Screen Shot 2015-02-24 at 8.53.39 PM“If you have ever been at a pro-Palestine / anti-Israel protest, you will see many activists who are not even Muslims who are supportive of what Muslims are calling for (the fall of Zionism). It is most likely here that connections between Muslims and Left-wing activists will be made, and a portion from them will realise that protests are not effective, and that armed combat is the alternative,” the book states. “So they will start to work together in small cells of groups to fight and sabotage against the ‘financial elite’.”

The book predicts such “recruits” sympathetic to their cause “will give intelligence, share weapons and do undercover work for the Muslims to pave the way for the conquest of Rome.”

They’re also counting on ethnic minority soldiers defecting from European armies and passing their skills on to others as they raid weapons caches, while “lone wolves from within the community will rise” including “especially ex-gang members who also have access to weapons.”

The book gives tips on constructing a sturdy Molotov cocktail, using “turf wars” to begin seizing land at the neighborhood level, and consolidating land and armed groups “to finally have a big national armed force of Muslim fighters.”

“Muslim fighters from all European countries will continue the fight, breaking borders until they can reach Northern Rome.”

However, ISIS is also counting on another entity to break down European borders: “Europe’s main enemy” Russia.

“As Russia creeps more and more into Europe, it will project more power and weaken European nation states… militias will form because the government cannot protect all of its own territory.” Then, according to prophecy, states the book, Western Europe will “make a peace covenant with the Islamic State” as Russia “creeps closer” and remains a “threat” to Sunni Muslims as well as Europe.

“Russia has always been defeated when Muslims and Western Romans have allied together. Defeating Russia will allow Sunnis to defeat and take over Persia permanently, and that is when they will turn their eyes towards Rome.”

The book, though, predicts the mob bosses will put up tough resistance: “There is no doubt that if Muslims want to take over Italy, the Islamic State European fighters will have to ally with other militias to fight the Mafia before the conquest of Rome.” It recommends starting the fight in Bologna to choke off supply routes to the south.

It talks about seizing weapons stockpiles after defeating “puppet rulers in Muslim lands,” with an eye on Saudi and Iranian stockpiles, to disseminate to jihadis everywhere. “If AQIM in Tunisia fired missiles at Rome from its coast during the Roman [Armageddon] invasion of Syria, they could reach towards Italy (possibly even Rome) which is almost 160Km away from Tunisia.” Others, they argue, can invade Italy by boat. The country would then be “conquered by armed Muslims from all sides: 1 – European Armed Muslim Gangs from the North and West, 2 – Islamic Eastern European fighters from the Balkans (like Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo etc), and 3 – and Muslim Arab missiles and ships from the South.”

How will they craft their battle plans, including pinpointing targets and sharing missile strike coordinates? Google, the book says. “All the Islamic groups use Google Earth today to plan their attacks…. Usually only powerful countries had power to satellite technology, now everyone can use it for free.”

The strategy expects the defeat of a Russia-Iran alliance, the Roman attack on the Islamic State, and the conquest of Rome by 2020.

After adding that the antichrist is expected to show up seven months after the conquest of Rome, according to what Muhammad reportedly said, the ISIS book recommends an urban survival guide for further reading: the SAS Survival Handbook by John “Lofty” Wiseman.

Read more: http://pjmedia.com/blog/how-isis-plans-to-sack-rome/#ixzz3SzgIBzq4
 
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IRAQ LAUNCHES MAJOR OFFENSIVE AGAINST ISLAMIC STATE IN TIKRIT

Iraqi security forces backed up by militias and tribal fighters on Monday launched what they said was a major offensive aimed at recapturing the city of Tikrit and other areas north of Baghdad from Islamic State.

Security officials said the operation, launched at dawn, involved some 30,000 troops and allied fighters.

Heavy shelling was reported on Tikrit, which lies some 180 kilometres north of Baghdad in the heartland of the Sunni Arab minority from which Islamic State draws its support.

Tikrit has been the target of three previous offensives which failed to clear the jihadists from the city, which they captured during their lightning attack on Sunni areas in northern and western Iraq last summer.

Security forces would also move to take the cities of al-Alam and Dur in the offensive, which aims to bring the entire province of Salah al-Din back under government control, officials said.

Al-Dur is the hometown of Izzat al-Duri, a key aide to former ruler Saddam Hussein and a leader of a Baathist militia which joined in the Islamic State-led offensive last summer.

Security forces said an early advance by troops had captured the village of al-Bu Khadu, home to relatives of Islamic State leader and self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.


Source : Sapa-dpa /dm
Date : 02 Mar 2015 10:21
 
AUSTRALIA TO DEPLOY 300 MORE SOLDIERS TO TRAIN IRAQI FORCES
BY BENITA VAN EYSSEN

Australia said Tuesday it will send 300 more soldiers to Iraq to help train forces fighting against Islamic State.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed the deployment, which will bring to 500 the total number of Australian troops in Iraq. The decision was approved by the federal cabinet.

The mission was expected to commence in May. The soldiers will be based at Taji, north-west of Iraq's capital Baghdad, Abbott said.

"This decision is in Australia's national interest," he said.

The soldiers will be part of a joint training mission with New Zealand.

New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key last week said his country would send 140 soldiers to Iraq.

On Monday, Iraqi security forces backed by militias and tribal fighters launched an offensive aimed at recapturing the city of Tikrit and other areas north of Baghdad from Islamic State.

The group took up arms across Iraq and Syria in mid-2014, with the stated aim of establishing a caliphate.


Source : Sapa-dpa /dm
Date : 03 Mar 2015 09:04
 
IRAQ PRESSES OFFENSIVE AGAINST ISLAMIC STATE

Iraqi security forces are poised to make further advances Wednesday, the third day of an offensive aimed at recapturing the city of Tikrit from Islamic State extremists, who have held it since last summer, Iraqi officials said.

State television quoted unnamed officials as saying forces moving northwards towards Tikrit from the city of Samarra would seek to capture Dur.

The town is the home of Izzat al-Duri, an aide to executed former dictator Saddam Hussein and a prominent commander of Iraqi nationalist rebels.

Police officials told the broadcaster that troops moving towards Tikrit across largely desert terrain from the east were expected to capture the Ajil oil field.

About 30,000 troops, volunteers and tribal fighters are taking part in the offensive, officials said.

Tikrit lies 180 kilometres north of Baghdad in the heartland of the Sunni Arab minority, from which Islamic State militants draw their support. Saddam was a native of the nearby village of al-Awja.

Islamic State captured Tikrit a day after they took Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, in a lightning offensive in June.

The group subsequently published photographs and video footage that it said showed the execution of 1,200 Shiite army recruits who had sought to flee nearby Camp Speicher.

The families of the missing recruits have been demanding government action since then and have received vocal support from some Shiite militia leaders.

The Iranian-backed militias, which have been accused of atrocities against Sunni civilians in the past, appear to be playing a prominent role in the offensive.

Observers said they fear that their involvement might reinforce the sectarian tensions that have helped build support for the Islamic State militants.

Sunni tribal leaders have also expressed support for the government offensive, but it is not clear whether official claims that thousands of Sunni tribesmen are taking part in the operation are accurate.

Unlike previous offensives by Iraqi security forces, the Tikrit operation has not received any air support from a US-led coalition that is carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State.


Source : Sapa-dpa /dm
Date : 04 Mar 2015 11:52
 
POLICE IDENTIFY TWO MALAYSIANS IN ISLAMIC STATE BEHEADING VIDEO

Police on Wednesday identified two Malaysian jihadis in an Islamic State video showing the beheading of an Arab man accused of being a spy for the Syrian government, a counter terrorism official said.

The two men were identified as Faris Anuar and Muhamad Wanndy Muhamad Jedi, aged 20 and 25 respectively, according to police counter terrorism deputy chief Ayub Khan Mydin.

Faris, who is from the state of Kedah, went to Syria in September last year while Muhamad Wandy, who is from Malacca, went to Syria with his wife in January, Ayub Khan added.

Police released the photographs of the two suspects.

In the 30-second footage believed to be taken in Syria and uploaded on the social media networking site Facebook on February 22, one of the Malaysians was signalling his index finger to the camera while the other was believed to be the one handling the camera.

Ayub Khan added that Malaysian and Indonesian jihadists in Syria have their own group called Majmu'ah al Arkhabiliy.

A new and more stringent anti-terrorism law was expected to be presented to the Malaysian parliament next month in a bid to curb extremism in the predominantly South-East Asian country.

More than 80 people have been arrested in Malaysia since authorities began a crackdown against suspected Islamic State supporters last year. A 14-year-old girl who intended to go to Syria via Egypt was among those who were arrested.


Source : Sapa-dpa /dm
Date : 04 Mar 2015 14:53
 
LIBYAN OFFICIAL: ISLAMIC STATE MILITANTS ATTACK OIL FIELD

By ESAM MOHAMED

A Libyan official says Islamic State militants have attacked troops guarding an oil field near the central coast, prompting a counterattack by the Islamist-backed government in Tripoli that involved airstrikes.

Mashallah al-Zewi, the oil minister in the Tripoli-based government, did not have details Wednesday on the number of deaths from the overnight fighting at the al-Dhahra oil field south of Sirte.

Libya's internationally recognized government has been confined to the far east since Islamist-allied militias seized Tripoli last year and revived an earlier government.

The conflict between rival militias allied with the two has fueled the worst violence since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled and killed in a 2011 uprising. The chaos has allowed militants allied with the Islamic State group to gain a foothold in several areas.


Source : Sapa-AP /dm
Date : 04 Mar 2015 14:52
 
ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTERS START BULLDOZING ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE IN IRAQ

Islamic State militants have started to destroy the historical site of Nimrud in northern Iraq, the government said.

The militant Islamists overran the ancient city south of Mosul on Thursday, Iraq's Ministry of Antiquities said on its Facebook page.

The fighters have started to destroy the site using "heavy military vehicles," it said.

Nimrud is a significant Assyrian site whose origins go back 3,000 years.


Source : Sapa-dpa /avb
Date : 06 Mar 2015 06:17
 
ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTERS START BULLDOZING ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE IN IRAQ

Islamic State militants have started to destroy the historical site of Nimrud in northern Iraq, the government said.

The militant Islamists overran the ancient city south of Mosul on Thursday, Iraq's Ministry of Antiquities said on its Facebook page.

The fighters have started to destroy the site using "heavy military vehicles," it said.

Nimrud is a significant Assyrian site whose origins go back 3,000 years.


Source : Sapa-dpa /avb
Date : 06 Mar 2015 06:17

....backward goat ****ing ****ers!!

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/05/world/iraq-isis-destroys-ancient-city-nimrud/index.html
 
IRAQI FORCES PUSH TOWARD TIKRIT IN BATTLE AGAINST IS
Associated Press

An Iraqi provincial governor says Iraqi forces are pushing their offensive against the Islamic State group and expect to reach the outskirts of the militant-held city of Tikrit soon.

The battle to wrest Tikrit - Saddam Hussein's hometown - from IS is a major test for the Iraqi forces and allied Shiite militias.

The governor of Salahuddin, Raed al-Jabouri, says that fighters expect to reach Tikrit later Friday. He told The Associated Press the Iraqi forces still have not made it to the Tikrit airport as some reports have suggested.

Tikrit, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, has been under the control of the Islamic State group since June, when the Sunni militants made a lightning advance across northern Iraq prompting security forces to flee and abandon their weapons.


Source : Sapa-AP /mr
Date : 06 Mar 2015 11:36
 
IRAQI FORCES PUSH ON TO TIKRIT AS IS DESTROYS ANCIENT SITE
By VIVIAN SALAMA

Iraqi forces pressed their offensive against the Islamic State group Friday, expecting to reach the outskirts of the militant-held city of Tikrit, a day after the extremists reportedly "bulldozed" a famed archaeological site in the area.

In Paris, the head of the U.N.'s cultural agency said the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage - such as the latest rampage at Iraq's archaeological site of Nimrud - amounts to a "war crime."

The discovery of the treasures of Nimrud's royal tombs in the 1980s is considered one of the 20th century's most significant archaeological finds. It dates back almost 3,000 years and has been compared to King Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt.

The battle to wrest Tikrit - Saddam Hussein's hometown - from the Islamic State is a major test for the Iraqi forces and allied Shiite militias fighting on their side.

The governor of Salahuddin, Raed al-Jabouri, said that Iraqi forces expect to reach Tikrit later Friday. He told The Associated Press they still have not made it to Tikrit's east airport as some reports have suggested.

Tikrit, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, has been under the control of the Islamic State group since June, when the Sunni militants made a lightning advance across northern Iraq, prompting Iraqi troops to flee and abandon their weapons.

On Monday, Iraqi security forces launched a large-scale operation in an effort to retake the city from the militant group, but the offensive was stalled somewhat, with military officials saying the militants strategically lined roads leading to the city with explosives and land mines.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said late Thursday that the IS militants "bulldozed" the renowned archaeological site of the ancient city of Nimrud in northern Iraq.

The destruction is part of the group's campaign to enforce its violent interpretation of Islamic law, destroying ancient archaeological sites it says promoted apostasy.

The ministry's report could not be immediately independently confirmed.

In Paris, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova appealed in a statement Friday to people around the world - "especially youth" - to protect "the heritage of the whole of humanity."

Bokova denounced "this cultural chaos" and said she had alerted both U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

"The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage constitutes a war crime," she said. "I call on all political and religious leaders in the region to stand up and remind everyone that there is absolutely no political or religious justification for the destruction of humanity's cultural heritage."

Nimrud was the second capital of Assyria, an ancient kingdom that began in about 900 B.C., partially in present-day Iraq, and became a great regional power. The city, which was destroyed in 612 B.C., is located on the Tigris River just south of Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, which was captured by IS in June.

The Islamic State extremists, who control a third of Iraq and Syria, have attacked other archaeological and religious sites, claiming that they promote apostasy. Their rampage against priceless cultural artifacts has sparked global outrage.

Earlier this week, a video emerged on militant websites showing Islamic State militants with sledgehammers destroying ancient artifacts at the museum in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city that also fell into IS hands last year.

Last year, the militants destroyed the Mosque of the Prophet Younis - or Jonah - and the Mosque of the Prophet Jirjis, two revered ancient shrines in Mosul. They also threatened to destroy Mosul's 850-year old Crooked Minaret, but residents surrounded the structure, preventing the militants from approaching.

Suzanne Bott, the heritage conservation project director for Iraq and Afghanistan in the University of Arizona's College of Architecture, Planning and Archaeology, worked at Nimrud on and off for two years between 2008 and 2010. She helped stabilize structures and survey Nimrud for the U.S. State Department as part of a joint U.S. military and civilian unit.

She described Nimrud as one of four main Assyrian capital cities that practiced medicine, astrology, agriculture, trade and commerce, and had some of the earliest writings.

"It's really called the cradle of Western civilization, that's why this particular loss is so devastating," Bott said. "What was left on site was stunning in the information it was able to convey about ancient life.

"People have compared it to King Tut's tomb," she said.

Also Thursday, the IS militants set fire to some oil wells outside Tikrit, an Iraqi oil official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media. The smoky fires were apparently meant to obscure targets from government bombing runs, part of the wide-scale operation that began Monday.

The Ajeel oil field, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Tikrit, was one of at least four fields seized by the militants as a source of crude oil to sell to smugglers to finance their operations.


Source : Sapa-AP /mr
Date : 06 Mar 2015 14:47
 
(Reuters) - Iraqi government forces and Iran-backed militiamen entered a town on the southern outskirts of Saddam Hussein's home city Tikrit on Friday, pressing on with the biggest offensive yet against Islamic State militants that seized the north last year.

Military commanders said the army and mostly Shi'ite militia forces had retaken the town of al-Dour on Tikrit's outskirts, known outside Iraq as the area where executed former dictator Saddam was found hiding in a pit near a farm house in 2003.

It was not immediately clear if the town had entirely fallen. Some officials said the troops were still only in the south and east of the town, which had been rigged with bombs by retreating Islamic State fighters.

But Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the largest Shi'ite militia group taking part in the operation, said al-Dour had been "totally liberated" and that the advance on another key town north of Tikrit, al-Alam, would take place on Saturday.

The army, joined by thousands of Shi'ite militiamen backed and advised by Iran, is five days into an advance on Saddam's home city of Tikrit, by far the biggest target yet in a campaign to roll back last year's advance by Islamic State fighters.

The assault by the Shi'ite-led army and its militia allies on Tikrit in Iraq's Sunni heartland has symbolic importance for both sides. Officials said on Friday they had captured a farm to the east of Tikrit that belonged to Saddam's deputy Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, now a prominent ally of the jihadist fighters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015...ource=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=59365
 
IRAQI MINISTER CONCERNED OVER IS LOOTING 3RD ANCIENT SITE
By SAMEER N. YACOUB
Associated Press

Iraq's government is investigating reports that the ancient archaeological site of Khorsabad in northern Iraq is the latest to be attacked by the Islamic State militant group.

Adel Shirshab, the country's tourism and antiquities minister, told The Associated Press there are concerns the militants will remove artifacts and damage the site, located 15 kilometers (9 miles) northeast of Mosul. Saeed Mamuzini, a Kurdish official from Mosul, told the AP that the militants had already begun demolishing the Khorsabad site on Sunday, citing multiple witnesses.

On Friday, the group razed 3,000-year old Nimrud and on Saturday, they bulldozed 2,000-year old Hatra - both UNESCO world heritage sites. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has called the destruction a "war crime," and a statement by his spokesman on Sunday night said Ban was "outraged by the continuing destruction of cultural heritage in Iraq" by the Islamic State group.

Khorsabad was constructed as a new capital of Assyria by King Sargon II shortly after he came to power in 721 B.C. and abandoned after his death in 705 B.C. It features a 24-meter thick wall with a stone foundation and seven gates.

Since it was a single-era capital, few objects linked to Sargon II himself were found. However, the site is renowned for shedding light on Assyrian art and architecture.

The sculptured stone slabs that once lined the palace walls are now displayed in museums in Baghdad, Paris, London and Chicago.

The Islamic State group currently controls about a third of Iraq and Syria. The Sunni extremist group has been campaigning to purge ancient relics they say promote idolatry that violates their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law. A video released last week shows them smashing artifacts in the Mosul museum and in January, the group burned hundreds of books from the Mosul library and Mosul University, including many rare manuscripts.

At a press conference earlier Sunday, Shirshab said they have called for an extraordinary session of the U.N. Security Council to address the crisis in Iraq.

"The world should bear the responsibility and put an end to the atrocities of the militants, otherwise I think the terrorist groups will continue with their violent acts," he said.

---

Associated Press writer Vivian Salama contributed in Baghdad to this report.


Source : Sapa-AP /avb
Date : 09 Mar 2015 03:37
 
GERMAN WOMAN KILLED FIGHTING WITH KURDS IN SYRIA, WATCHDOG SAYS

A young German has become the first foreign woman to die fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria, a monitoring group said Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the 19-year-old, who is not being named due to privacy concerns, died early Sunday in fighting against Islamic State forces near the mainly Assyrian Christian town of Tel Tamr in north-eastern Syria.

The area has seen fierce fighting in recent weeks after an offensive during which Islamic State members abducted more than 200 residents from Assyrian villages along the Khabur river.

At least 40 fighters on both sides have been killed since Sunday morning as the extremists sought to overrun Tel Tamr, the largest town in the area, Observatory director Rami Abdel-Rahman said.

The Firat News Agency, which is close to the banned Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party, said the German fighter was a member of the Turkish Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP).

A number of the party's members are fighting alongside the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria. Turkish citizen and MLKP member Suphi Nejat Agirnasli died defending the Kurdish town of Kobane in October.

Recent weeks have also seen the deaths of an Australian and a British foreign fighter in the ranks of the YPG.

Jihadist groups in Syria, most notably Islamic State, are meanwhile thought to have recruited thousands of foreign fighters.

A spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish authorities in Kobane paid tribute to the young German.

"We believe that this great lady believed in the fight for freedom and democracy and came and joined our forces because she wanted to fight along our side, and because she believed that what we are fighting for was right a cause," Idriss Nassan told dpa.


Source : Sapa-dpa /aw
Date : 09 Mar 2015 12:40
 
HUNGARY PLANNING TO SEND TROOPS TO IRAQ TO JOIN IS FIGHT

Hungary's prime minister says his government will ask parliament to authorize sending Hungarian troops to join its western allies in the fight against the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq.

Viktor Orban told a meeting of Hungarian diplomats on Monday that taking part in military activities organized by Hungary's Western coalition partners would bring prestige and recognition to the country's foreign policy.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said earlier that, based on a request from the United States, Hungary could send 100-150 soldiers to work with German and Italian forces in northern Iraq guarding training centers for Iraqi troops.

While Orban's Fidesz party no longer has the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to authorize the military mission, some opposition lawmakers said they would be willing to back the proposal.


Source : Sapa-AP /gq
Date : 09 Mar 2015 13:55
 
It seems that ISIS are determined to open a 2nd front in Libya, with one of the reasons being ease of access to European targets

Nine foreign workers are feared to have been taken hostage by the Islamic militant group Isis after a Libyan oil field was attacked.

According to Reuters, gunmen invaded the al-Ghani oilfield, just south of the city of Sirte, on Friday, killing eleven guards, beheading a number of them, before local forces fought back to retake control.

The workers unaccounted for include one Austrian, one Czech and seven non-EU citizens.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...g-in-attack-on-libyan-oil-field-10094051.html

3/3/15
Over 5,000 foreign fighters have flocked to Libya to join the ranks of radical Islamist groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the country’s foreign minister, Mohammed al-Dairi.

Al-Dairi, in comments made to the Libyan news outlet The Libya Herald, said there were many “terrorist leaders” who had arrived in the country from foreign countries, joining terror groups such as ISIS and Ansar al-Sharia.

In a recruitment video released last week, an ISIS militant called for jihadists from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Egypt to immigrate to Libya. Last month, Libya’s army spokesperson also claimed that the biggest ISIS camp in the country was situated just 45km (27.9 miles) from the Tunisian border and a number of Tunisian foreign fighters had carried out suicide bomb attacks in the eastern city of Benghazi.
http://www.newsweek.com/5000-foreign-fighters-flock-libya-isis-call-jihadists-310948

Libya’s proximity to Europe is one of the major attractions for ISIS, though hardly the only one. The country has Africa’s biggest proven oil reserves, with an estimated 48 billion barrels, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration—something sure to entice ISIS, which has been selling oil from its conquered territory in Iraq and Syria. And Libya also has giant stockpiles of weapons left over from the rule of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was one of the world’s major arms buyers in his final years in power. Much of that weaponry—including surface-to-air missiles—has been smuggled to Mali, Chad and Niger and seized by the militias who control large areas of Libya.
http://time.com/3721927/isis-libya-establishment/
 
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