War against ISIS

[Scorpion]

I think only some in the hashd alsha3bi is calling it that, Iraqi forces are calling it "labayk ya rasoullalah" as I understand it.

 

[Ahmed JO]

 

[Gabriel92]

Sad to see how the Iraqi Army (even well equiped) is incompetent,shows no will to fight,has to rely on some weird militias,why are we helping them striking the dogs of ISIS if they do nothing on the ground ?..

 

[Ahmed JO]

Assad supporters right now (from Twitter)

 

[Ahmed JO]

Syrian Ismaili town rejects regime militia

 

[Scorpion]

Sad to see how the Iraqi Army (even well equiped) is incompetent,shows no will to fight,has to rely on some weird militias,why are helping them striking to dogs of ISIS if they do nothing in the ground ?..

What do you expect from people that are fighting for the sake of the Mullah rather than their home country and glory. The sold their dignity to the Mullah long ago mate.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Chained to one another and marched through the desert: Shocking video shows hundreds of civilians fleeing ISIS rounded up and arrested in Iraq

Civilians fleeing ISIS in Ramadi rounded up and arrested in Iraq | Daily Mail Online

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Commander of elite Tajik police force defects to ISIS

He reappeared Wednesday, vowing to bring jihad to Russia and the Unites States. (Photo courtesy: YouTube)

By Dmitry Solovyov | Almaty, Reuters
Thursday, 28 May 2015

The U.S.-trained commander of Tajikistan’s elite police force has defected to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), he said in a YouTube video, and his former unit will issue a statement condemning him, media said on Thursday.

Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov commanded the Central Asian nation’s special-purpose police known as OMON, used against criminals and militants. He disappeared in late April, prompting a search by Tajik police.

He reappeared Wednesday, vowing to bring jihad to Russia and the Unites States as he brandished a cartridge belt and sniper rifle, in a professionally made, 10-minute video clip posted in social networks.

“Listen, you dogs, the president and ministers, if only you knew how many boys, our brothers are here, waiting and yearning to return to Tajikistan to re-establish sharia law there,” he said, addressing Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon.

Rakhmon has run Tajikistan, the poorest post-Soviet nation that neighbors Afghanistan, since 1992. He used Russian support to crush Islamist guerrillas in a 1992-1997 civil war and tolerates little dissent in his country of 8 million.

“We are coming to you, God willing, we are coming to you with slaughter,” said Khalimov, a 40-year-old native of the Tajik capital Dushanbe. He spoke in Russian, sitting in front of a palm tree, and sported a new beard. It was not clear which country he was in.

Tajik police could not be reached for comment. OMON police plan to issue a statement condemning Khalimov, several officers who had served with him told the Tajik service of U.S.-funded Radio Liberty.

Khalimov said he had been trained by elite Russian “spetsnaz” forces in Moscow and U.S. special forces in America.

“Listen, you American pigs, I’ve been three times to America, and I saw how you train fighters to kill Muslims,” he said, patting his rifle. “God willing, I will come with this weapon to your cities, your homes, and we will kill you.”

He lambasted Tajiks working in Russia. “You have become the slaves of infidels,” he said.

Both Russia and NATO, alarmed by the threat of radical Islam to predominantly Muslim Central Asia, have stepped up military drills with the region’s post-Soviet nations.

The International Crisis Group think-tank estimates around 4,000 Central Asians fight for ISIS.

But Khalimov’s defection shows that some local security units cannot be trusted if threats can come from insiders, not just insurgents, said Kazakhstan-based Central Asia analyst Alexander Knyazev.

“I think Islamist propaganda will now exploit Khalimov’s example in full,” he said, warning that volatile neighboring Kyrgyzstan faced similar problems.

Last Update: Thursday, 28 May 2015 KSA 15:02 - GMT 12:02
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2015/05/28/Commander-of-elite-Tajik-police-force-defects-to-ISIS.html

 

[Corzhens]

Let me just put in my 2 cents worth. At the outset, ISIS has been showing strength but if left like that, they are gaining momentum and we might be surprised whent the day comes that ISIS has half of the world supporting them. Some idealistic youths are now being converted to the cause of ISIS so that's a food for thought.

 

[Scorpion]

 

[Redheart]

More good news:


Iraqi army says it killed ISIS military leader in targeted stri


The Iraqi military said it killed an ISIS military leader in a targeted strike in Fallujah, also killing several other militants.

“Relying on intelligence information, the Baghdad Operations Command successfully carried out a military operation to kill Abu Karar, the military leader of the group in the area of Rashad in eastern Fallujah,” the BOC said.

Several other militants also were killed in the strike, it said in a statement. “Security forces launched an assault on the ISIS bases in Fallujah’s eastern areas of Garma and Rashad, destroying bases. The death toll among the militants in the bases has remained unclear,” it added.

Last week, Shiite militias fighting near the Fallujah district of Garma in Anbar province claimed they killed an ISIS leader and five of his deputies.

“In the fight against ISIS in the sub-district of Garma east of Fallujah, Hatam Shahada, known as Abu Mosab Muhajir, was killed along with 20 other militants and two of the killed militants hold foreign IDs,” Brigadier General Mahmoud Marzi, a Hashd al-Shaabi commander, told news agencies on Tuesday.

Also called Popular Mobilization Units or PMUs, the Hashd al-Shaabi are volunteer Shiite militias who have sworn to fight the Sunni ISIS.

Marzi added that Iraqi joint forces consisting of the Hashd al-Shaabi, the Badr Organization and Sunni tribal regiments were locked in an intense battle with ISIS in Garma.

 

[tasha]

That id hectic! Using the heads as soccer balls, it is sad to think that war can change a person and make them crazy and inhumane. I guess it has happened since the beginning of time but why don't we finally put a foot down and change the course of events by ridding our world of ammunition to fight for greed and power.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

US expands Iraqi re-train/equip programme into 'lily pad' strategy

Jeremy Binnie, London and David Ing, Madrid and Dan Wasserbly, Washington, DC - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
12 June 2015

US personnel training Iraqi troops near Baghdad in May. With the new tranche of 'advisors', the US DoD will have around 3,550 personnel operating in Iraq. Source: AP/PA

Key Points

• The US is sending 450 additional advisors to Iraq who will be located between Islamic State-controlled Fallujah and Ramadi
• Gen Martin Dempsey said the campaign is built on establishing 'lily pads' that allow "us to encourage the Iraqi security forces forward"

The United States is sending another 450 'advisors' to Iraq to establish what chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Demspey described as another 'lily pad': a hub that can be used to empower local Iraqi forces in their fight against the Islamic State militant group.

The increase in US personnel was announced on 10 June, with the new advisors being deployed to a fifth training site at Al-Taqqadum Air Base, which is near Al-Fallujah and Al-Ramadi: two of the key cities currently held by the Islamic State in Al-Anbar province.

The US Department of Defence said the advisors will "assist with planning, integration, and support of Iraqi security forces and tribal forces as they fight to retake the Ramadi and Fallujah corridor".

"Our campaign is built on establishing these 'lily pads' that allow us to encourage the Iraqi security forces forward," Gen Dempsey told journalists on the following day. "As they go forward, they may exceed the reach of the particular lily pad. We're looking all the time to see if additional sites might be necessary."

He added that he did not anticipate the need for another such hub in Al-Anbar, where US trainers are already operating at Ain al-Asad Air Base, 120 km to the northwest of Al-Taqqadum, but he could "foresee one in the corridor that runs from Baghdad to Tikrit, to Kirkuk over into Mosul".

The other three current sites are at Taji just north of Baghdad, Bismayah south of Baghdad, and Arbil in the Kurdish region.

The original plan was to re-train and re-equip three brigades at each of the four locations as well a tribal force. US budget documentation listing the weapons that would be supplied to these units suggested each brigade would have about 5,000 soldiers and a total of 65,000 Iraqi Army, Kurdish and tribal troops would be equipped.

Jeff Prescott of the US National Security Council told reporters on 10 June that around 9,000 Iraqi troops had been retrained and another 3,100 Iraqis are currently being trained.

The US military has revealed the units that have been trained include three brigades of the new 15th Division at Taji and one brigade of the new 16th Division at Bismayah. Meanwhile, the advisors at Ain al-Asad have been working with the 7th Division and local tribal forces. The advisors at Al-Taqqadum will work with the 8th Division, as well as special and tribal forces.

The latest increase brings the US military's total authorised deployment to 3,550 personnel, the majority of them working in force protection and support roles. Soldiers from other countries are also involved in the programme, including 300 from Spain.

Spanish defence minister Pedro Morenés raised questions about the effectiveness of the training programme on 10 June, when he said that too few Iraqi troops were being put forward for officer training, even though poor leadership has been identified as one of the main reasons for the Iraqi Army's recent failures.

"The problem we have is that we do not have sufficient officers to train," he said when an Iraqi diplomat asked about the programme during a conference. He added that many Iraqi officers "don't see the sense of what we are doing" and asked the diplomat to "pass this message" back to Baghdad.
US expands Iraqi re-train/equip programme into 'lily pad' strategy - IHS Jane's 360

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

A Victory Over the Islamic State in Libya

The international community is rightly worried about the spread of the Islamic State and its ideology. The fact that IS forces have even managed to take hold in Libya, so far afield from the group’s original strongholds in Syria and Iraq, has been a source of considerable anxiety.

Yet over the past two weeks

IS forces in Libya have suffered a shattering defeat — and the outside world has barely paid attention.IS forces in Libya have suffered a shattering defeat — and the outside world has barely paid attention. The lack of coverage undoubtedly reflects the lack of reliable news media on the ground. But it could also have something to do with the fact that the news isn’t entirely good. As it turns out, an IS defeat doesn’t necessarily mean that the good guys are winning.
On June 9, fighting broke out in the eastern city of Derna between IS fighters and the forces of the Mujahideen Shura Council (DMSC), a militia linked to Al Qaeda. The clashes broke out after IS militants killed one of DMSC’s leaders. In one day, the DMSC fighters rose up and expelled IS from the city, forcing them to retreat to their hideouts in the remote Green Mountains.

These developments are important for several reasons. First, the city witnessed something of a popular uprising against the Islamic State. Unarmed people, angered by the alien and repressive practices IS has implemented in the city since it seized power last year, took to the streets in protest. As was perhaps to be expected, given the group’s zero tolerance for peaceful opposition, IS fighters opened fire on the crowd, killing at least seven and wounding more than 30. According to my own conversations with sources in Derna, the ensuing confrontations lasted for several days. In the end the DMSC effectively joined forces with the Libyan National Army, which is loyal to the internationally recognized Libyan government. The Army targeted Islamic State positions with air strikes. The tacit alliance between these two sides, otherwise mutually hostile, would have been unthinkable if it wasn’t for IS.


For now, the clear winners in this tragic episode are the people of Derna.For now, the clear winners in this tragic episode are the people of Derna. Some of the policies imposed by IS throughout the last year have been revoked and a sense of normalcy is returning to the city. Banks are reopening, local radio stations are back on air, cigarettes shops are opening doors again, and young people are blasting loud music as they drive around the city. Over the last few days in Tobruk, I spoke with a number of displaced families from Derna, and they all told me that they’re eagerly planning to go home. All these are positive and welcome developments.
Even so, the picture is not quite as rosy as it might seem. Derna still faces serious obstacles on the way to a sustainable peace. The first problem is that it remains under the control of yet another Islamist militia. Despite enjoying support from the local population in its fight against the Islamic State, the DMSC also has an extremist agenda that includes gender segregation in schools and public places and the establishment of sharia courts. The people of Derna have regained some of their old freedoms as a result of the Islamic State’s expulsion, but even those who supported the DMSC in its fight against IS worry that the city’s new rulers might implement restrictive policies of their own.

It’s worth noting that the DMSC allowed IS to flourish in the city under their watch, and only decided to confront them when the other militants attacked their leaders. Nor did the DMSC do anything to stop the Islamic State’s terror tactics, which included public executions, the beheading of activists, and even the crucifixion of a local family. The DMSC have already started taking steps to consolidate their rule by announcing their intention to form a local authority that will run the city’s affairs.

The people of Derna seem to have chosen to back the lesser of two evils for the time being. The big question now is whether local people are prepared to defy the DMSC the same way they did the Islamic State — particularly if the forces of the Libyan Army, which sides with the internationally recognized government based in Tobruk, make a move to capture the city. Ben Hmaida, a 30-year-old activist in Derna, told me over the phone that “people will side with the army if the DMSC seeks to impose its own agenda and ideology on the people of Derna like ISIS did.” The city is currently surrounded by National Army troops, who have taken advantage of the clashes between the two Islamist groups to advance on the city.

Despite the recent cooperation between the National Army and the DMSC, as well as local peace initiatives currently being pushed led by tribal leaders, the possibility of a fresh armed confrontation is highly likely. Yet another wave of fighting would be devastating for the people of the city. The DMSC have said publicly that they do not oppose the creation of an army or police force inside Derna, but they do insist on the application of strict sharia rules, including gender segregation, extremely restrictive policies on women’s rights and family law, and a ban on interest-based bank loans.

And then there’s the looming possibility of IS retaliation. In February, Islamic State forces carried out suicide bombings in the town of Qubba, not far from Derna, that killed more than 45 people in response to joint Egyptian-Libyan airstrikes against IS positions in Derna. It’s above all the fear of a new wave of IS reprisals that is leading people in the city to tolerate the presence of DMSC. Yet during our conversation, Ben Hmaida noted that Derna citizens don’t want to repeat their past mistakes: “If we allow the extremists to remain in control, we could see a repeat of the vicious circle of violence and instability that has engulfed the city for the last four years.”

Truly sustainable peace and stability require the creation of a state-sanctioned force to protect the city from any threats from groups such as IS. After that, the internationally recognized government in Tobruk or a future Government of National Accord (as recently proposed by United Nations mediators) would help to set up a local administration to run the affairs of the city and bring it back under state control. Most importantly, the Libyan authorities and international organizations should work to create an environment in which civil society organizations can flourish, a key precondition for countering extremist ideology. Defeating the extremists and establishing conditions conducive to stability in Derna would send a welcome signal for positive change to the rest of Libya.

In the photo, pro-government forces are deployed near Derna on June 16, 2015.
Photo credit: REUTERS/Stringer
A Victory Over the Islamic State in Libya | Foreign Policy

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

‘More than 100’ Tajiks killed fighting for ISIS

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2015/06/26/-More-than-100-Tajiks-killed-fighting-for-ISIS-.html