War against ISIS

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[Diane Lane]

@BLACKEAGLE Thanks for all of the informative posts. We don't see a lot of this type of information in our media here in the U.S. I agree there needs to be a coalition against ISIS. Take care of the #1 problem first, then deal with the lesser issues. Anyone or any country caught funding/supporting ISIS must be considered the enemy, and half measures aren't enough. The threat needs to be obliterated once and for all.

 

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[tasha]

I think that the world has woken up too late and that ISIS has had a head start. The things that they are talking about doing is a little crazy and if they had to succeed in getting such big warfare out there it could be devastating for so many innocent people .

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

U.S. military reportedly kills three ISIS leaders in strikes

Col. Steve Warren, the new spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, speaks to reporters during a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, October 1, 2015. (Reuters)

Reuters, Washington Friday, 11 December 2015

The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria has killed the group’s finance minister and two other senior leaders in air strikes in recent weeks, a U.S. military spokesman said on Thursday.

Army Colonel Steve Warren told a Pentagon briefing coalition strikes had killed Abu Salah, ISIS’ financial minister, in late November.

“He was one of the most senior and experienced members of ISIL’s financial network and he was a legacy Al Qaeda member,” Warren said.

Warren said Salah was the third member of the finance network who had been killed in as many months.
“Killing him and his predecessors exhausts the knowledge and talent needed to coordinate funding within the organization,” Warren added.

According to a Brooking Institute report, Abu Salah’s real name is Muafaq Mustafa Mohammed al- Karmoush.
Warren said a senior leader responsible for coordinating the group’s extortion activities and another leader who acted as an executive officer had also been killed.

ISIS, which the United States calls the wealthiest militant group of its kind in history, has a number of revenue streams.

It has built up what amounts to a “durable and resilient financial portfolio,” funded by oil sales, extortion, and sales of antiquities, said Thomas Sanderson, an expert on terrorism at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Recently, U.S. defense officials estimated that ISIS was earning about $47 million per month from oil sales prior to October.

That same month, the Pentagon started an operation known as “Tidal Wave II” targeting ISIS’ oil revenue.

Warren said it was too early to tell what the impact of the strikes had been and that it was similar to a boxing match.

“You work the body in (the) early rounds and maybe you won’t get a knockout from those early round body shots, but several rounds later you’ll see your... opponents knees begin to get weak ... and now he’s beginning to get set up for the knockout,” Warren said.

Last Update: Friday, 11 December 2015 KSA 10:25 - GMT 07:25
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/12/11/U-S-military-reportedly-kills-three-ISIS-leaders-in-strikes.html

 

[jazzyjazz]

I fail to understand something. The fact that media holds so much power over all of the masses of the world that it could convince us of anything and everything just because it says so on TV. I am not trying to convince you of any conspiracy theories but don't you think that it would not be a problem to get some of the CIA men trained in the ways of Muslims, grow a beard, learn the language and plant them in a country which US has already invaded (IRAQ). Now it would be easy for these fakes to brain wash people of a war torn country full of hatred for the west into believing in a fake version of Islam and use them for their interests worldwide. I am not saying that this is probable but possible. And this fact makes the world a very dangerous place.

 

[Redheart]

Thanks to Russia, more nations are willing to do more than they would have done previously because they too seek to be remembered as one of the nations that helped defeat the most savage terrorist network. The Canadians are now engaged in active ground combat against the terrorists in Northern Iraq. No boots on the ground? Strategies have changed obviously.

Canadian forces strike back against ISIS offensive in northern Iraq - Politics - CBC News
A contingent of Canada's elite commandos were thrown into a day-long battle alongside Kurdish Peshmerga fighters as the Islamic State launched its biggest offensive in Iraq since western troops arrived in the region 18 months ago.

A three-pronged assault, involving hundreds of extremists, took place along a wide front in the sector, northwest of the Kurdish capital of Irbil, where Canadian special forces have been training local forces.

The Canadian special forces trainers laid down supporting fire to back up the Kurds as they undertook a counter-offensive Thursday.

 

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[BLACKEAGLE]

German foreign minister says S.Arabia key to fight against Islamic State
Source: Reuters - Fri, 25 Dec 2015 09:41 GMT
Author: Reuters


Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir speaks during a joint news conference with German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier (L) in Riyadh October 19, 2015. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser


BERLIN, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has a central role in fighting Islamic State as it can help eliminate the ultra-hardline militant group's ideological breeding ground, Germany's foreign minister was quoted by newspapers in the Funke Medien Gruppe as saying.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier's comments were the latest in a series of mixed messages from the German government about Saudi Arabia and the role it plays in the Middle East and in relation to militants.

Earlier this month, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel urged Saudi Arabia to stop supporting religious radicals, reflecting concern among some Berlin lawmakers about the funding of militant mosques by the world's biggest oil exporter.

Both Gabriel and Steinmeier are members of the Social Democrats (SPD), junior partner with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in Germany's governing coalition.

Asked whether Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia were the right partners in the fight against Islamic State, Steinmeier replied: "We all agree that IS (Islamic State) poses a great threat and must be fought.

"That there are differences of opinion between the states you name is no secret," he added in an interview published on Friday. "But our goal must be for everyone to pull on the same rope to successfully combat IS.

"We have always said we need the Islamic world to remove the ideological breeding ground from IS. In this matter, leading Muslim powers like Saudi Arabia have a key role."

Russia and Iran have been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main allies against rebels in Syria's civil war while U.S. allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have provided arms to various insurgents, including some Islamist groups.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Friday that international efforts to end the conflict should focus on preventing insurgents coming in from neighbouring Turkey and Jordan.

Germany's mixed messages on Saudi Arabia this month began with the foreign intelligence agency, in an unusual public statement, voicing concern that Saudi Arabia was becoming "impulsive" in its foreign policy.

Officials in Merkel's coalition promptly slapped down the BND agency, with a spokesman saying its assessment "does not reflect the stance of the government".

Germany's parliament this month approved a plan to join the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State insurgents in Syria by sending Tornado reconnaissance jets, a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, refuelling aircraft and up to 1,200 military personnel.

Germany will not join countries like Britain, France, the United States in conducting air strikes though.

Russia has also been bombing rebels since late September but Western officials and independent monitors say it has been targeting mainly rebels fighting in Assad's western heartland rather than Islamic State, which predominates in east-central and eastern Syria.

Steinmeier ruled out sending German ground troops to fight Islamic State in Syria. "I am completely agreed with Sigmar Gabriel that no German ground troops will fight IS on Syrian territory," he said. (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
German foreign minister says S.Arabia key to fight against Islamic State

 

[Falcon29]

Iraqi forces have largely retaken pockets in Ramadi. ISIS has tried counter attack hours ago, it succeeded in mounting casualties but not much territorial significance. Iraqi army 10th division has abandoned some armored jeeps that can't give any advantage to ISIS militants. Iraqi army sent reinforcements to that base and recaptured it. Situation is stabilized now according to Iraqi army officials in Anbar.

 

[Gabriel92]

The night of the 1st,French aircrafts took off from Jordan and conducted airstrikes against ISIS-controlled oil fields near Raqqah in Syria.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Daesh territory shrinks in Iraq, Syria: Coalition

• FESTERING WOUND: Soldiers and allied fighters evacuate an injured woman after she was shot by Daesh terrorists as she tried to cross into the liberated area in Ramadi. (AP)

AGENCIES

Published — Wednesday 6 January 2016

Last update 5 January 2016 10:50 pm
BAGHDAD: Daesh’s territory shrank by 40 percent from its maximum expansion in Iraq, and by 20 percent in Syria in 2015, as international forces pushed its militants out of several cities, a spokesman of the US-led coalition said on Tuesday.

Daesh had not taken “a single inch of land” since May 2015, when it captured Ramadi, Warren said. Its forces were in a “defensive crouching position,” US Army Col. Steve Warren told a news briefing in Baghdad.

He said more than 100 Daesh terrorists were killed, without giving a figure for casualties on the Iraqi government side.
“Every one of these Daesh attacks has been broken by a combination of coalition air power and Iraqi security forces,” he said.

He said Daesh was diverting attacks to Haditha, 190 km northwest of Baghdad, after losing Ramadi, the capital of the western province of Anbar.

Warren denied claims by the group on Monday that it had captured Barwana and Sakran, two towns near Haditha.
Coalition airstrikes helped the Iraqi Army repel a first onslaught toward Haditha on Monday by about 200 militants, Warren told a news briefing in Baghdad.
Daesh territory shrinks in Iraq, Syria: Coalition | Arab News

 

[Redheart]

Denmark tells UN it has taken action against ISIS in Iraq, Syria - Breaking News - Jerusalem Post

Denmark told the United Nations' Security Council it is "taking necessary and proportionate measures" against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

"The Kingdom of Denmark ... is taking necessary and proportionate measures against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Da'esh) in Syria," Denmark's Permanent Representative to the UN Ib Petersen said in a letter to the President of the Security Council.

The letter, dated Jan. 11, was made public on Monday. It did not specify how Denmark has contributed to the mission but, although it had sent fighter jets to Iraq, it had not taken action in Syria before.

It's a step in the right direction. More air strikes will further weaken ISIS.