The ISIS Thread

[drummer4now]

^Those videos are cryptic lol..

[-Vintage Canuck-]

Turkey carries out first-ever strikes against Islamic State in Syria:

Turkish warplanes attacked Islamic State targets in Syria for the first time on Friday, with President Tayyip Erdogan promising more decisive action against both the jihadists and Kurdish militants at home.

The air strikes, which followed a phone conversation between Erdogan and U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday, were accompanied by police raids across Turkey to detain hundreds of suspected militants, including from Kurdish groups.

Turkey has long been a reluctant partner in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, emphasizing instead the need to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and saying Syrian Kurdish forces also pose a grave security threat.

But Friday's attacks, which officials said were launched from Turkish air space, signaled that Ankara would crack down against Islamic State across the Syrian border, while pursuing the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) - which Ankara describes as a separatist organization - at home.

"In our phone call with Obama, we reiterated our determination in the struggle against the separatist organization and the Islamic State," Erdogan told reporters. "We took the first step last night."

Ankara acted hours after officials in Washington said it had agreed to let U.S. jets launch air strikes from a base near the Syrian border, dropping an earlier refusal to allow manned American bombing raids.

Turkey has faced increasing insecurity along its 900-km (560-mile) frontier with Syria. A cross-border firefight on Thursday between the army and Islamic State, which has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq, left five militants and one soldier dead.

Turkey has also suffered a wave of violence in its largely Kurdish southeast after a suspected Islamic State suicide bombing killed 32 people, many of them Kurds, in the town of Suruc on the Syrian border this week.

But Erdogan's critics say he is more concerned with keeping Syrian Kurdish fighters in check, afraid that gains they have made against Islamic State in the Syrian civil war will embolden Turkey's own 14 million-strong Kurdish minority.

"Even though Erdogan has so far failed to achieve his goals in Syria - the overthrow of Assad - and Islamic State has become a problem, it is nevertheless a convenient instrument for him," said Halil Karaveli, managing editor of The Turkey Analyst, a policy journal.

"Now he has all the excuses he needs to go after the Kurds and also it makes him look very good in the eyes of the U.S., which will be happy that Turkey is on board in the coalition."

Opposition lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party said Erdogan is intent on "obstructing" the advances made by the Syrian Kurds against Islamic State.

"The real aim of today's operations is not the Islamic State, but the democratic opposition," they said in an e-mailed statement.

News of the military operations further unnerved jittery investors, helping send the lira TRYTOM=D3 down nearly 4 percent on the week.

"WITHOUT DISTINCTION"

Three F-16 fighter jets took off from a base in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, early on Friday and hit two Islamic State bases and one "assembly point" before returning, the prime minister's office said.

"We can't say this is the beginning of a military campaign, but certainly the policy will be more involved, active and more engaged," a Turkish government official told Reuters. "But action won't likely be taken unprompted."

Police also rounded up nearly 300 people in Friday's raids against suspected Islamic State and Kurdish militants, Prime Minister Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after vowing to fight all "terrorist groups" equally.

Local media reported that helicopters and more than 5,000 officers, including special forces, were deployed in the operation. Anti-terror police raided more than 100 locations across Istanbul alone, broadcasters CNN Turk and NTV reported.

One senior official told Reuters: "This morning's air strike and operation against terrorist groups domestically are steps taken as preventive measures against a possible attack against Turkey from within or from outside ... There has been a move to active defense from passive defense."

Turkey has repeatedly said it will take any "necessary measures" to protect itself from attack by both Islamic State and Kurdish militants.

U.S. defense officials said on Thursday that Turkey had agreed to allow manned U.S. planes to stage air strikes against Islamic State militants from an air base at Incirlik, close to the Syrian border. U.S. drones are already launched from the base.

Obama and Erdogan agreed in their call on Wednesday to work together to stem the flow of foreign fighters and secure Turkey's border.

The ability to fly manned bombing raids out of Incirlik against targets in nearby Syria could be a big advantage. Such flights have so far had to fly mainly from the Gulf.

Turkey's stance has frustrated some of its NATO allies, including the United States, whose priority is fighting Islamic State rather than Assad. The allies have urged Turkey to do more to prevent its border being used as a conduit to Syria by foreign jihadists.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/24/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-islamicstate-idUSKCN0PY0AU20150724

[Mr. Ambien]

Is Turkey sure they wouldn't just want to raise the white flag like France?

[-Vintage Canuck-]

‘Jihadi John’ said to have fled IS, fearing usefulness over:

British Islamic State terrorist Mohammed Emwazi, dubbed “Jihadi John” due to his London accent, has gone on the run in Syria, fearing the organization no longer has any use for him, British newspapers reported Saturday.

According to the Mirror, the 26-year-old Londoner is said to have been “terrified by the publicity when he was identified as the murderer of British and American hostages and fears being hunted down.”

Emwazi has been seen in a number of IS propaganda videos beheading Western prisoners, including Israeli-American journalist Steven Sotloff, American journalist James Foley and British aid worker Alan Henning.

The newspapers quoted a source as saying that Islamic State would drop Emwazi “like a stone or worse if they feel he is no longer of any use to them.” The source added, “So it is possible he will end up suffering the same fate as his victims.”

Emwazi was concerned that “jealous” fellow members of Islamic State would conspire against him, the Express said. The newspaper speculated that the terrorist could have joined a less prominent jihadist group in Syria, in a bid to maintain a low profile.

The former London resident emigrated to the UK from his native Kuwait when he was 6, and first gained infamy after he beheaded Foley in August 2014.

The Islamic State later produced a series of videos featuring Emwazi beheading Sotloff and a number of other Westerners, while threatening world leaders from behind a black mask — in perfect English and with an unmistakable London accent.

While Emwazi has been a high-value target for Western security agencies, he has successfully evaded coalition airstrikes by constantly changing his location with his security detail, making it incredibly difficult to pinpoint.

Prior to joining the extremist group, Emwazi was considered a model student at the University of Westminster, where he studied information systems and business management from 2006 to 2009. Records indicate that he was two modules short of obtaining his degree.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/jihadi-john-said-to-have-fled-is-fearing-usefulness-over/

[Heretic]

They are lower than animals in my humble opinion....

ISIS Enshrines a

Theology of Rape

Claiming the Quran’s support, the Islamic State codifies sex slavery in

conquered regions of Iraq and Syria and uses the practice as a recruiting tool.

QADIYA, Iraq — In the moments before he raped the 12-year-old girl, the Islamic State fighter took the time to explain that what he was about to do was not a sin. Because the preteen girl practiced a religion other than Islam, the Quran not only gave him the right to rape her — it condoned and encouraged it, he insisted.

He bound her hands and gagged her. Then he knelt beside the bed and prostrated himself in prayer before getting on top of her.

When it was over, he knelt to pray again, bookending the rape with acts of religious devotion.

“I kept telling him it hurts — please stop,” said the girl, whose body is so small an adult could circle her waist with two hands. “He told me that according to Islam he is allowed to rape an unbeliever. He said that by raping me, he is drawing closer to God,” she said in an interview alongside her family in a refugee camp here, to which she escaped after 11 months of captivity.

The systematic rape of women and girls from the Yazidi religious minority has become deeply enmeshed in the organization and the radical theology of the Islamic State in the year since the group announced it was reviving slavery as an institution. Interviews with 21 women and girls who recently escaped the Islamic State, as well as an examination of the group’s official communications, illuminate how the practice has been enshrined in the group’s core tenets.

he trade in Yazidi women and girls has created a persistent infrastructure, with a network of warehouses where the victims are held, viewing rooms where they are inspected and marketed, and a dedicated fleet of buses used to transport them.

A total of 5,270 Yazidis were abducted last year, and at least 3,144 are still being held, according to community leaders. To handle them, the Islamic State has developed a detailed bureaucracy of sex slavery, including sales contracts notarized by the ISIS-run Islamic courts. And the practice has become an established recruiting tool to lure men from deeply conservative Muslim societies, where casual sex is taboo and dating is forbidden.

A growing body of internal policy memos and theological discussions has established guidelines for slavery, including a lengthy how-to manual issued by the Islamic State Research and Fatwa Department just last month. Repeatedly, the ISIS leadership has emphasized a narrow and selective reading of the Quran and other religious rulings to not only justify violence, but also to elevate and celebrate each sexual assault as spiritually beneficial, even virtuous.

“Every time that he came to rape me, he would pray,” said F, a 15-year-old girl who was captured on the shoulder of Mount Sinjar one year ago and was sold to an Iraqi fighter in his 20s. Like some others interviewed by The New York Times, she wanted to be identified only by her first initial because of the shame associated with rape.

“He kept telling me this is ibadah,” she said, using a term from Islamic scripture meaning worship.

That's not worship.....more here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/middleeast/isis-enshrines-a-theology-of-rape.html

[SaintPatrick33]

Planning Chaos in the Middle East: Destruction of Societies for Foreign Money Control

http://www.globalresearch.ca/planning-ch...ol/5445509

Excellent article +1 salmonberries. Seems like too many in this thread are blinded by the media reports and unable to dig a little deeper at why we always have "unstable" countries who are fighting a mysterious element that comes out of nowhere to reveal itself as the next great evil.

[Tortorella's Rant]

They are lower than animals in my humble opinion....

ISIS Enshrines a

Theology of Rape

Claiming the Quran’s support, the Islamic State codifies sex slavery in

conquered regions of Iraq and Syria and uses the practice as a recruiting tool.

QADIYA, Iraq — In the moments before he raped the 12-year-old girl, the Islamic State fighter took the time to explain that what he was about to do was not a sin. Because the preteen girl practiced a religion other than Islam, the Quran not only gave him the right to rape her — it condoned and encouraged it, he insisted.

He bound her hands and gagged her. Then he knelt beside the bed and prostrated himself in prayer before getting on top of her.

When it was over, he knelt to pray again, bookending the rape with acts of religious devotion.

“I kept telling him it hurts — please stop,” said the girl, whose body is so small an adult could circle her waist with two hands. “He told me that according to Islam he is allowed to rape an unbeliever. He said that by raping me, he is drawing closer to God,” she said in an interview alongside her family in a refugee camp here, to which she escaped after 11 months of captivity.

The systematic rape of women and girls from the Yazidi religious minority has become deeply enmeshed in the organization and the radical theology of the Islamic State in the year since the group announced it was reviving slavery as an institution. Interviews with 21 women and girls who recently escaped the Islamic State, as well as an examination of the group’s official communications, illuminate how the practice has been enshrined in the group’s core tenets.

he trade in Yazidi women and girls has created a persistent infrastructure, with a network of warehouses where the victims are held, viewing rooms where they are inspected and marketed, and a dedicated fleet of buses used to transport them.

A total of 5,270 Yazidis were abducted last year, and at least 3,144 are still being held, according to community leaders. To handle them, the Islamic State has developed a detailed bureaucracy of sex slavery, including sales contracts notarized by the ISIS-run Islamic courts. And the practice has become an established recruiting tool to lure men from deeply conservative Muslim societies, where casual sex is taboo and dating is forbidden.

A growing body of internal policy memos and theological discussions has established guidelines for slavery, including a lengthy how-to manual issued by the Islamic State Research and Fatwa Department just last month. Repeatedly, the ISIS leadership has emphasized a narrow and selective reading of the Quran and other religious rulings to not only justify violence, but also to elevate and celebrate each sexual assault as spiritually beneficial, even virtuous.

“Every time that he came to rape me, he would pray,” said F, a 15-year-old girl who was captured on the shoulder of Mount Sinjar one year ago and was sold to an Iraqi fighter in his 20s. Like some others interviewed by The New York Times, she wanted to be identified only by her first initial because of the shame associated with rape.

“He kept telling me this is ibadah,” she said, using a term from Islamic scripture meaning worship.

That's not worship.....more here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/middleeast/isis-enshrines-a-theology-of-rape.html

Maybe ISIS should sack Baghdad then the rest of the region will take them seriously. Right now it's almost as if they don't exist. Probably waiting, banking on the Yanks to come back and do it for them considering it's largely their mess.

[drummer4now]

Maybe ISIS should sack Baghdad then the rest of the region will take them seriously. Right now it's almost as if they don't exist. Probably waiting, banking on the Yanks to come back and do it for them considering it's largely their mess.

I am not sure about that lol..

They still control considerable amounts of land in Syria and Iraq while also influencing in many parts of the Middle East like Libya and Egypt.

The key to curbing ISIS is to not let them gain anymore momentum, letting them sack Baghdad would the complete opposite of that...

[BanTSN]

If ISIS is such a great threat to our way of life, like our own defense minister attests then why aren't we taking action?

We've taken more action against Libya when it was decided to topple that regime. But Libya wasn't this threat to Canadians.

Despite Conservative warnings about the “horrific” threat posed by the Islamic State, new figures show Canadian military aircraft have conducted less than three per cent of all coalition missions in Iraq and Syria.

The war against ISIL figured prominently on the campaign trail Monday as Prime Minister Stephen Harper used a stop in Markham, Ont. to pledge that a re-elected Conservative government would provide more assistance for religious minorities and refugees in the Middle East.

Harper went on to criticize Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Tom Mulcair for promising to end Canada’s participation in the U.S.-led bombing campaign against ISIL, saying that humanitarian aid alone won’t solve the crisis.

“What is happening in the areas controlled by (ISIL) is really something we have not seen in millennia. It’s just beyond horrific,” he said, adding, “We are a country that can contribute militarily and in the humanitarian sense, and we are doing both.”

But a Citizen analysis raised questions about whether Canada’s military contributions in the fight against ISIL match Harper’s warnings.

Defence Department figures show Canadian military aircraft have flown 1,320 sorties, or individual missions, over Iraq and Syria since last year. That accounts for 2.7 per cent of the 47,705 total sorties flown by coalition aircraft since the war against ISIL started.

Comparing Canada’s contribution to other allies is difficult because each participating country reports differently. But defence expert David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute says Canadian aircraft flew about six per cent of all coalition missions during the war in Libya, and about 10 per cent in Kosovo.

Canada has six fighter jets, two surveillance aircraft and an air-to-air refuelling plane tasked with fighting ISIL in Iraq and Syria. It deployed a similar contingent to bomb Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s troops in 2011, and started with six fighter jets bombing Serbian targets in Kosovo in 1999, before expanding to 18.

Perry said he was surprised that Canada hadn’t done more in Iraq and Syria, and wondered why Canadian military aircraft would have done more to topple Gadhafi when the Conservative government has identified ISIL as a much more dangerous threat.

“They (Canadian fighter jets) were flying at a rate of a little bit under three sorties a day in Iraq and Syria, and in Libya the figure was closer to four,” he said. “I’ve never really heard anything expressed in operational terms that would indicate they’re flying at a reduced rate for a particular reason.”

Asked to comment on Canada’s contribution and whether it matches the prime minister’s warnings about ISIL, Conservative spokesman Stephen Lecce said that under Harper’s leadership “Canada is taking action to confront those who threaten us with moral clarity, strength and resolve.

“We are proud of our men and women in uniform who undertake difficult missions to protect the security of our homeland, and the security of innocent women and children who face the daily barbarity of ISIS. Now is not the time to sit on the sidelines.”

Defence officials have previously said that a U.S.-led command centre is responsible for assigning missions to all coalition aircraft. Canada is the only Western ally besides the U.S. flying missions in Syria, and Perry said a lack of intelligence inside that country could explain why Canadian aircraft aren’t flying more.

But it could also be a question of money, Perry said. Canada is spending less on defence as a percentage of gross domestic product, the most common measure, than at any time since the Cold War. One impact is the Royal Canadian Air Force has had to dramatically scale back the flying hours for its aircraft.

The military could also be taking it easy on the aircraft. The fighter jets and surveillance aircraft were supposed to be replaced in the coming years, but the Conservative government has since pushed those plans back until at least the next decade.

Perry said coalition officials have admitted they don’t have as many aircraft as they would like.

In addition to Canada and the U.S., the countries conducting bombing operations against ISIL include Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Carleton University defence expert Stephen Saideman said there are more countries bombing ISIL in Iraq and Syria than there were attacking targets in Libya, “but yes, the reality does not match the rhetoric.”

Canada also has several dozen soldiers on the ground in northern Iraq training Kurdish forces to fight ISIL.

lberthiaume@ottawacitizen.com

Twitter.com/leeberthiaume

The air war against ISIL, by the numbers

47,705: Sorties, or individual missions, flown by U.S. and coalition military aircraft

1,320: Sorties flown by Canadian military aircraft

2.7: Percentage of total sorties flown by Canadian military aircraft

26,500: Sorties flown by coalition military aircraft in Libya

1,538: Sorties flown by Canadian military aircraft in Libya

5.8: Percentage of total sorties flown by Canadian military aircraft in Libya

– Source: Department of National Defence, U.S. Central Command, David Perry

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/canadian-air-strikes-against-isil-dont-match-tory-rhetoric

Why are we as Canadians tolerating a government that uses a half-baked war effort against a minimal threat to sway our minds about the government, an election, and what Canadian values themselves actually are?

But Harper wants to expand our efforts against ISIS. What, from virtually nothing, up to minimal? At least we're not putting more Canadian lives at risk, but this is what it is. Pure 100% fear propaganda designed to make his political opponents and those who oppose his policies in general appear soft, or unpatriotic.

And his travel ban to ISIS hotspots? Just a method to amp the false fear further.

As a Canadian living in a multicultural society, I am ashamed of the Harper government and how it's promoting a fear of muslims, a needless zionist crusade against overseas people that Canadians have had absolutely nothing to do with in the history of the world, and the propaganda of fear designed to keep us afraid of making the changes needed to restore classically Canadian order to this mockery of a country we've become.

[BanTSN]

This was an attack ad put out by Harper's government targeted against Justin Trudeau:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zzoyQh5c_o

If this isn't the single-most uncanadian political ad i've ever seen in this country, I don't know what is (but I bet it's formed by the Harper government).

The background music: Ultra-Racist Fear Mongering.

The comments made by Trudeau: Out of context.

The Canadian bombing mission currently ongoing itself: Largely ineffective anyway. Unless the objective is to make Canadians more scared and racist.

I know ISIS is a brutal organization. Sure, the Americans botched handling of Syria didn't help things at all in that region, but how is that a Canadian problem? It's clearly an American problem. It's their mess. That's why they've been cleaning it up while our effort has been relatively nothing.

The government is using ISIS as a fearmongering smokescreen to blind us all from the real issues that affect Canadians during the time of an election.

This attack ad is what the Harper government is all about, and it isn't good. Shamefully using racial divides, fear, and taxpayer dollars to maintain power while his billionaire campaign contributers all line their pockets further.

Time to cut the puppet strings I think.

[BanTSN]

Brief TED talk on why fighting terrorist groups like ISIS with violence doesn't work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1DlJpPqDFo

The problem is that Hezbollah and such groups are able to recruit because people in the region are lacking governance, safety and security.

While not planning or acting on their next terror attack, these groups provide all the ameneties that their followers need: Running water, proper sewage, picking up the garbage, etc. But yes, the people are paying a very high price for these services. People who are desperate, their homes blown away by bombs by an unjust western force, etc. are easy prey for recruiters. Hezbollah has been active since the 80's.

ISIS is a relatively new force, but with the equipment and training 'accidentally' supplied by the US, they're Hezbollah on crack, right in the middle of a mass refugee area created by the Syrian civil war, which is in fact now a Russian/US proxy war coming after 'arab spring' and the cia tinkering around with the region again.

Every bomb being dropped by the west in the region is giving rise to more terrorists, but the even bigger problem is the lack of non-military aid coming in to fill the gap created by the devastation.

The 'terror' being fought against by the west is being directly caused by the west.

If governments of the west were really interested in winning the hearts and minds of the people over there, they would send food, medicine and water, not air strikes and mortar shellings. If they truly wanted to 'democratize' the region, they would fill the gap left over from the devastation with the useful governance and amenities that the people need.

Until then, the war on terror will be ongoing, but some would think that's exactly what the west, in particular the military industrial complex, wants. Death sells.

[MoneypuckOverlord]

ISIS can be defeated. I am hoping Russia accidently gets attacked by Isis, which draws Russia to smash ISIS. The disease right now is, ISIS.

[jovocop55]

Russia did more damage to ISIS in a week than US in a year...

[taxi]

Russia did more damage to ISIS in a week than US in a year...

Russia has barely hit any ISIS targets so far. They've focussed almost all their fire on other rebel groups. It also helps when you aren't worried about collateral damage.

[AlphaHoneyBadger]

Russia has barely hit any ISIS targets so far. They've focussed almost all their fire on other rebel groups. It also helps when you aren't worried about collateral damage.

Is there collateral damage in Syria?

[Robongo]

Russia has barely hit any ISIS targets so far. They've focussed almost all their fire on other rebel groups. It also helps when you aren't worried about collateral damage.

taxi is our live correspondent in Syria confirming that the Russians are lying to us about destroying ISIS command centres and haven't been bombing them at all! Thank you taxi for exposing these evil Russians for the liars that they are. Stay vigilant

[Standing_Tall#37]

Russia has barely hit any ISIS targets so far. They've focussed almost all their fire on other rebel groups. It also helps when you aren't worried about collateral damage.

How can you be sure that the US is?

[Robongo]

US Senator John McCain has the solution to deal with those evil lying Russian bastards!

“I might do what we did in Afghanistan many years ago, to give those guys the ability to shoot down those planes, that equipment is available,” said McCain, adding that the Free Syrian Army would shoot down the planes, “just like the Afghans shot down Russian planes after Russia invaded Afghanistan.”

[taxi]

taxi is our live correspondent in Syria confirming that the Russians are lying to us about destroying ISIS command centres and haven't been bombing them at all! Thank you taxi for exposing these evil Russians for the liars that they are. Stay vigilant

Every media source and human rights group in the area is reporting this. They're also reporting heavy civilian casualties. The attitude that the Russians are heroes for doing exactly the same thing the US is doing is bizarre.

[Dittohead]

From the videos so far you cannot tell who Russia is hitting other than buildings. They could be Isis they could not.