Islamist Wave 2015 - News & Discussion

10 posts

Angocachi
Details of the Islamic State insurgency in the Sinai (which is about the size of West Virginia, or a little bigger than Croatia, and very mountainous)

EL-ARISH, Egypt — The terrorist attacks that took place in the Sinai Peninsula on Jan. 29 have revealed the size of the difficulties faced by the army in confronting the terrorist “ Wilayat Sinai ” organization. Despite this, the Egyptian government continues to praise the great achievements made in eradicating this organization.

These organized and qualitative attacks targeted 10 military headquarters and bases in three different cities at the same time, including the largest headquarters of the army in Sinai, known as Battalion 101, in el-Arish. The attacks left more than 35 military personnel dead and 70 others wounded. This led to a trust crisis and raised the ire of the Egyptian people; meanwhile, military commanders made speeches confirming their control of Sinai and progress toward the eradication of terrorism .

The Egyptian government met the public outrage with a series of accusations against foreign military forces that were supposed to have entered Sinai to carry out these organized and professional strikes to harm Egypt. The government demanded the support of the Egyptian people in their war against those lurking around Egypt.

During the Misr Fi Yawm TV show, broadcast on Egyptian satellite channel Dream, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Rajai Attia , founder of the Task Force 777 of the Egyptian army, said, “Those who carried out the recent fierce operations are military forces [affiliated with] Hamas and coming from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq and Syria, under the leadership and planning of the West and the CIA.” Attia ruled out that terrorists were behind the operations.

A researcher in the affairs of Sinai and the armed groups told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “These statements are a cover on the part of the authorities against the negligence and failure of the military campaigns, which broadcast false news and illusions about the progress in the war on terrorism in Sinai amid continued injustice plaguing civilians .”

Asked about the recent terrorist attacks, the researcher replied, “For jihadist organizations, these are called attacks or invasions, and they are planned a few months in advance to set plans and get trained for their implementation. Their planning follows several stages; the first stage is choosing the target location. The second phase is collecting information, observing and taking photos. The third phase is monitoring the points of weaknesses and developing the implementation tactics in terms of the quality of the weapons used and the logistics required for the implementation of the attacks.”

One of the most shocking revelations for the army forces was the attack on Battalion 101 in el-Arish, the largest military headquarters of the army in Sinai, which is an extremely secure and fortified place. However, the researcher did not see this as a surprise. “The jihadist organizations follow a rule whereby the most unlikely target is the easiest,” he said.

“As for the simultaneous attack on 10 headquarters and bases, the aim was to disperse machine guns and mortars and divert attention from the main operation, which is the attack on the battalion deemed as the mastermind of the military operations in Sinai,” the researcher added.

Asked how the terrorist organization, the former Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis — Wilyat Sinai — penetrated the headquarters of Battalion 101, a dissident from a jihadist Salafist group told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “The place is full of guards and cannot be targeted through direct clashes, hence the suicide car bombs. When the target is heavily fortified similarly to the Battalion 101 headquarters, multiple suicide cars are sent in [from] different directions.”

“The plans and targets vary depending on the field information detected during the planning stage,” the source said. “For example, Battalion 101 is heavily guarded with formidable barriers and sandbags on the surrounding roads, and the plan was to send three car bombs. The first and second were to go in different paths in front of the battalion headquarters to confuse the forces and kill the security elements to facilitate the entering of the larger goal, namely a tank car loaded with 10 tons of explosives. This car managed to penetrate one of the battalion gates. … It is difficult to respond to 10 tons of heavily explosive materials. It is impossible to confront an erupting volcano!”

But the most important question raised in this context is how the first two vehicles reached the forefront of the battalion headquarters. People circulate rumors that the military block is so fortified that even birds cannot fly near it. If a citizen mistakenly reaches that area, he is to undergo heavy fire from security guards.

The jihadist replied, “Such operations are smartly studied based on the information collected during the monitoring process. The type of the bombing car and the timing of the attack are both chosen according to the monitored algorithms.”

“The first two vehicles were microbuses. Analyzing this fact may suggest that these vehicles could have been a microbus belonging to the North Sinai Security Directorate near the battalion, or a microbus belonging to the intelligence apparatus. Also, the vehicles were expected to have had digital plates similar to those used by the security forces. The drivers of the vehicles were expected to have been trained to break through the barriers at high speed and explode at the nearest sand barricade adjacent to the area, and this is what happened,” the dissident added.

As for the timing of the attacks, he said, “There are several indications for the selection of the first few minutes of the curfew, known to start at 7 p.m. which is when security forces are relaxed. The second indication is the start of the nightfall and the easiness of movement. The third indication is targeting the emotions of the people through videos that say that they have chosen a timing during which there is no civilian movement. This would prove that they respect the sanctity of blood, contrary to the Egyptian army, which targets a lot of unarmed civilians. However, the use of 10 tons of explosives in the vicinity of a residential area infers a catastrophe for hundreds located kilometers away from the targeted area.”

The jihadist said several reasons led Wilayat Sinai to choose to target the largest army battalion in Sinai: “The first reason is exemplified by the viral media reports about the results of the large operation in Egypt, a country with significant international standing. The second reason is earning the trust of the Islamic State emir, who provided them with more rewards, money and weapons. The third reason is working in the coming days on issuing a propaganda video to claim responsibility for the attack on Battalion 101 and that this attack was to help innocent civilians get revenge for their harassment in the battalion headquarters — known among the residents as 'Sinai Guantanamo' — and subsequently attract those disgruntled at the repressive security practices.”

Sinai will remain an arena of open conflict until the state’s anti-terrorism approach changes. People say terrorism cannot be defeated unless the security measures adopted to protect unarmed civilians are comprehensively developed.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/egypt-sinai-wilaya-attacks-army.html#ixzz3QlvVPLsi
Angocachi
Jordan Fears ISIS Could Gain Foothold Inside Country's Borders, Moves To Quell Militants

In the wake of the Islamic State group's capture and gruesome murder of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh, Jordan's government is faced with an even harsher reality: The militant group may already have gained a foothold in the kingdom, by recruiting extremists who once fought alongside al Qaeda and have extensive military training.

Less than 24 hours after the release of the video showing al-Kaseasbeh being burned alive, Jordan executed in retaliation two Islamist extremists already condemned to death, Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad al-Karbouli. The executions are just one part of Jordan's fight not only to avenge the Islamic State's brutality, but combat its influence inside the country.

Over the past seven months, Jordan has carried out several measures to quell Islamic extremism in the country in fear that it would breed support for the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Authorities are renewing their efforts to track Islamists who fought with al Qaeda against the U.S. during the Iraq War, some alongside Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who was the founder of al Qaeda in Iraq, a precursor to ISIS. Previously, in the 1990s, he started the al-Tawhid paramilitary organization, which was dedicated to overthrowing the Hashemite monarchy and installing an Islamist regime in Jordan. He was killed by the Americans in 2006, but his legacy still resonates among extremists in the country.

According to a report published recently by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as a result of the emergence of ISIS, Jordan has beefed up border security, arrested potential supporters of terrorism and tightened state control over mosques.

In June the government passed a controversial counterterrorism law giving authorities new powers to imprison "citizens who lend ideological and recruitment support to terrorist organizations." In November, authorities arrested one of the leaders of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, Saki Bani Irsheid. The arrest spurred demonstrations in Amman; protesters claimed Irsheid was wrongly imprisoned.

Irsheid is just one of dozens who have been arrested in Jordan on suspicion of supporting terrorism. Jordanian courts have moved swiftly to arrest and fine those who show even the slightest sign of support for Islamic extremism.

Jordan's military has also fought off attacks by Sunni militants linked to ISIS. In December militants destroyed at least six Jordanian control posts on the border with Iraq, according to Jordanian activists and fighters associated with ISIS. The attacks marked the first time since June the Sunni militant group had tried to enter Jordan from western Iraq, much of which it controls.

Political organizations and think-tank groups in Jordan say ISIS has yet to become a public talking point among politicians. There is virtually no discussion of extremism in the public sphere, said Uli Wacker, director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation , a political think tank in Amman.

"It's not the decisive factor when it comes to political parties or to policy reform," he said. "This is not a country that is dominated by an ISIS agenda." Yet while politicians dodge discussion of extremism in the country, some say that ISIS may be ultimately defeated in Jordan by its own brutality, rather than by a crackdown.

Following al-Kaseasbeh's death, people from the south of Jordan, home to his tribe, called on the government to do more to respond to ISIS barbarity.

Matthew Levitt, an expert on Jordan at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote Wednesday that the killing of al-Kaseasbeh could hurt ISIS recruitment of Jordanians.

"More than anything we in the West can say or do, more than any counter-radicalization campaign, it is ISIS's own actions that undermine its credibility and standing among fellow Muslims and blunt its magnetism," he wrote . The al-Kaseasbeh killing "may well mark the beginning of the end for a group that will eventually rot from the inside out."

http://www.ibtimes.com/jordan-fears...ountrys-borders-moves-quell-militants-1805508
Angocachi
Perpetual ISIS ‘revolution’? Terror group ‘to expand to neighboring states’

The Islamic State is not willing to remain within its current ‘borders’ in Syria and Iraq and will inevitable spread to neighboring countries such as Turkey and Jordan, Middle East expert, Firat Demir, told RT.

READ MORE: ‘Just the beginning’: Jordan sends dozens of fighter jets to strike ISIS in Syria

RT: So Amman responded to the murder of its pilot by executing two convicted jihadists. Is the tit-for-tat killing of prisoners really going to achieve anything?

Firat Demir: Frankly, I don’t think it will achieve [much] in terms of what they [are] intending to do. This is not going to end Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). But we first have to start talking about what kind of organization ISIS is. It is a terrorist organization that uses real barbaric tactics not only to intimidate and scare people, but also as a recruitment tool.

These videos are circulating on the net, and it is increasing their recruitment, and it is not falling in terms of number of new people joining their ranks. What Jordan did... I really don’t see how else they could have responded given that it was one of their pilots who was executed in front of everybody.

But, in terms of short run versus the long run, we have to separate what creates Islamic State, what brings further support to it from all over the world – from Europe, from Asia, from the Middle East. Also, how to deal with it within the long run. We need to see that there is a power vacuum created in this region. Look at Iraq, look at Syria – these are all, right now, conflict states with no central authority.

The same [is the case] in Libya – after allied bombings – now it is split into three parts. I’m afraid we are just going to the tip of the iceberg here, that may further escalate and spread to other countries in the region. Turkey might be next ... if you look at surveys in the region there is significant support for IS and there is significant discontent regarding the policies that these countries are following, especially those that are authoritarian.

RT: Jordanian authorities have promised what they have called “an earth shattering response” to the killing of their pilot. What do you think that could be?

FD: I suspect that they will speed up the executions of existing or suspected IS militants in their jails. And they may increase their support for the allied force attacks. I doubt that they would include any ground forces to attack against Islamic State. I don’t think that they will unliterary do it without any support from Britain or the US. They may increase their support for existing grand forces such as the Kurds, that desperately need further help against IS. Otherwise, I don’t see any other serious response other than executing existing Islamic State militants.

RT: Jordan's facing a lot of protests within the country. People don’t want their government to participate in the airstrikes against Islamic State because they fear that they themselves could become targets. Is this a legitimate concern?

FD: I think it is a legitimate concern. But we have to understand that you really cannot rationalize or reason with these people. They are not going to sit down at a table and use diplomacy to negotiate and say: “Look, if you do this then they are not going to touch you.” That is not going to happen.

They [Islamic State] are not after any single nation state, they are expansionist. So in terms of their borders, there is a reason why they call themselves Islamic State – their ambitions are much bigger. The Royal Family in Jordan is already in an existing trap and vice versa. I don’t see how they can remain within the existing borders without escalating it further to the neighboring states, into Turkey, into Jordan… which they don’t see as Muslim states anyways. For them these are infidel regimes that are allied with the US. They don’t see them as any equals or as another fellow Muslim neighboring country. At this point they don’t have much choice. What else they can do?

RT: The United Arab Emirates has suspended participation in the airstrikes over a lack of contingency plans if pilots are captured. What do you make of that?

FD: That is a valid point. But with the current status quo, it is not going to stop anyways. If you look at Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who were supporting Islamic State initially. I don’t think they will continue that support because Islamic State poses a very serious existentialist threat to their own regimes. If you talk to these people and read their writings they don’t see these countries as Islamic or Muslim. For them even Saudi Arabia is not a truly Muslim country. So they are quite expansionist. They don’t want to stop their revolution within their current borders. This is a constant revolution for them.

Their members, which are coming from various countries, they will start going back at one point. And what kind of problems they will bring? Like the attacks in France and the Belgium arrests. This is not going to stop there. That is just a matter of time before these people re-enter their countries of origin and start blowing themselves up. What will happen if they start doing this in Istanbul, Ankara, or Riyadh? Who is going to stop [them]? So you need to stop this before it escalates and spreads further as a short-term measure. I’m not arguing that this is going to solve the problem. But that is the only way that they can respond to the IS expansion. It is not going to stop in Syria or Iraq. Their ambitions are much bigger than that.

An article from RT for Antonius Blockhead
http://rt.com/op-edge/229603-isis-expansion-revolution-/
Angocachi
ISIS expanding ‘international footprint’ with affiliates in more countries, officials warn

he Islamic State, despite being driven by Kurdish fighters from its one-time Syrian stronghold in Kobani last week, nevertheless is extending its reach well beyond Iraq and Syria, military officials and analysts warn -- represented, by some estimates, in nearly a dozen countries.
Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, delivered a grim assessment earlier this week in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, as he described how the group was surfacing in North Africa.

"With affiliates in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, the group is beginning to assemble a growing international footprint that includes ungoverned and under governed areas,” Stewart said.

ISIS continues to hold a wide swath of territory, bigger than the state of Pennsylvania, in its home base spanning parts of Iraq and Syria, propped up by more than 20,000 foreign fighters from at least three dozen countries. But the terror network’s tentacles, as Stewart indicated, are creeping into other nations; largely those with fragile governments.

“ISIS, like Al Qaeda, has thrived in the failed states where there is a vacuum of power,” said James Phillips, Middle East senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation.

A key worry is the group’s potential ambitions in Afghanistan, where the U.S. combat mission just ended and Afghan security forces are in control.

Defense secretary nominee Ashton Carter, who had his confirmation hearing Wednesday, told Congress he is aware of reports that ISIS may try to expand into Afghanistan, and vowed to work with coalition partners to stop the group. He said he would consider changing plans for withdrawing the remaining 10,600 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 if security conditions further deteriorate.

The Islamic State’s ambitions do not stop at Afghanistan, the so-called Graveyard of Empires. Militant groups in Pakistan, the Philippines, Israel and the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Indonesia and Jordan, among other areas, reportedly have pledged formal support for ISIS. New York Magazine, in a recent report, wrote, “Think of them as ISIS's self-appointed foreign bases.”

It’s impossible to know precisely how many members are involved in these groups, but analysts say the biggest groups generally are still affiliated with Al Qaeda, while others are starting to stand with ISIS – and execute attacks.

An ISIS-tied group in Egypt, for instance, claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks on Jan. 30 that killed at least two dozen security officers in restive Sinai.

The Caliphate Soldiers Group in Algeria, which pledged loyalty to ISIS in September, kidnapped and beheaded a French tourist the same month. Terrorists posted a video of the beheading, saying it was in response to French airstrikes in Iraq. Algerian Special Forces killed the terror leader late last year, which analysts say dealt a morale blow to the small group.

In Libya, the Islamic State’s Tripoli Province took credit for a hotel attack on Feb. 1 which killed nine people, including an American.

Published reports tie other groups to ISIS including The Jundallah militant group and the Tehreek-e-Khilafat groups in Pakistan; the Philippines' Abu Sayyaf group; Sinai Province in Egypt; Lebanon’s The Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade; Indonesia’s Jama’ah Ansharut Tauhid; and Sons of the Call for Tawhid and Jihad in Jordan.

The Heritage Foundation’s Phillips said it’s not just groups like these that have declared loyalty. “There are an unknown number of self-radicalized militants in many different countries that may self-identify with ISIS and carry out ‘lone wolf’ terrorist attacks in its name, without necessarily being members of the group,” he said. He cited the hostage crisis in Sydney, Australia, last December as an example.

ISIS continues to get pounded by coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, where Kurdish forces recently took back the vital city of Kobani. Those strikes are likely to increase following the brutal execution of a captured Jordanian pilot (though the coalition is down a member, with the United Arab Emirates having suspended airstrikes after the pilot’s capture in December.)

Phillips said the purpose of the group’s grisly propaganda videos – including of the Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage -- is to change the subject, from recent setbacks in Kobani as well as some areas in Iraq, through “jihadist pornography.” He said the point is to show the group as an “invincible army,” psychologically attractive to European teenagers who might join the fight.

Raymond Stock, a Shillman-Ginsburg writing fellow at the Middle East Forum, argued the message carries more weight with Muslims worldwide than most realize. He told Fox News the propaganda videos are “so well-produced and so well-targeted -- extremely effective. We have nothing counteracting that.”

Stock, who spent 20 years living in Egypt, sees the group’s ambitions as limitless and argues it is a mistake to believe the Islamic State is an organization seeking to control limited territory.

He also suggested Al Qaeda and ISIS are not necessarily direct competitors. He cited an Arabic proverb, which he translates as: "Me and my brother against my cousin; me and my cousin against the outsider."

In Wednesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for defense secretary, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., pressed Carter on the need to have a strategy against ISIS.

“I believe I understand our strategy at this time,” Carter explained. “I also have the intention, again if confirmed, to make it my first priority to go there, to talk to our military leaders there, to confer with you … I think a strategy connects ends and means, and our ends with respect to ISIL needs to be its lasting defeat.”

McCain retorted: "Well, it doesn't sound like a strategy to me, but maybe we can flesh out your goals."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-footprint-with-affiliates-in-more-countries/
Angocachi
Islamic State Growing in Libya

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) - The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group is gaining ground in Libya and a new international approach is needed to address the growing threat, a senior Libyan official said Thursday.

Aref Ali Nayed, Libya's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and an adviser to Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani, was in Washington and New York this week to discuss the new challenges on Libya's security front.

"ISIS is growing in Libya, exponentially. ISIS is committing atrocities every day," Nayed said in an interview with AFP.

"It's not possible to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria without also addressing the Libyan component."

The United Nations has blacklisted one of Libya's jihadist groups, Ansar al-Sharia, for its ties to ISIS, but Nayed said the militias are adept at "rebranding" to maintain and expand their links with ISIS.

Nayed estimates that ISIS is active in seven Libyan cities and has carried out attacks in a dozen areas.

An attack on the luxury Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli last week was claimed by ISIS while an assault on an oil field this week may have also been carried out by an ISIS-linked group.

Nayed raised concerns about an influx of foreign fighters into Libya - from Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria and from Chechnya - whom he said were recruited by ISIS.

He warned that Libya could be used as a base for attacks in Europe - "only an hour away" by plane.

"We see a distinct absence of strategy to address ISIS globally," said Nayed.

"It is the most existential threat to my country."

Libya has been wracked by conflict for the past four years, with rival governments and powerful militias battling for control of key cities and the country's oil riches.

Libya's internationally recognised government is based in the far east of the country, near the Egyptian border, while the Islamist-backed Fajr Libya militia alliance took control of Tripoli last summer.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/wo...libyan-official-20150206#sthash.J2PERUPo.dpuf
Angocachi

Reports are coming out of Afghanistan that the head of the Islamic State in Afghanistan has been killed in a drone strike. This comes just after reports that he was arrested by the Taliban. Unless he was released and then droned, or droned while in custody, one of these two reports are false. If he's actually alive then the piling up of conflicting narratives will do a lot to make him a legend. More attention will be paid, more articles written, more said regarding him and ISIS in Afghanistan if only to get the story straight. The increased publicity will see more recruits, more defections, and more funds thrown at Afghan ISIS.

The story of Afghan ISIS is of greater importance than Mashriqi ISIS. It's probable that Mashriqi ISIS is facing a bad time. They have enemies on all fronts. While they won't be destroyed, they're going to be on the defensive for a while... and if enemy ground forces move in and capture their strongholds they'll be back in insurgency mode.

NATO has disengaged from Afghanistan. The Taliban has been held together by the war with NATO. Now it's unraveling into different factions. ISIS has the potential to capture disaffected Taliban with everything it has to offer them. While they won't immediately displace the old Taliban order in Pashtunistan, they could begin attacking Hazara, Kabul, the Pakistani government and Shia, and India. If they got a significant campaign rolling against any one of these targets they'd quickly snowball into a force eclipsing and then ingesting the Taliban (which has no interest in much of that). Iran would be sandwiched between Iraqi ISIS (however it's held out by that time) and Afghani-Pakistani ISIS. Israel would be sandwiched between Sinai ISIS and Syrian ISIS. Egypt would be sandwiched between Sinai ISIS and Libyan ISIS. The Gulf Monarchs would be sandwiched between Yemeni ISIS and Iraqi-Syrian ISIS.
ISIS would have the total market on Jihad against all the forces most hated by Jihadi financiers and volunteers; the Shia Axis, Israel, the Egyptian Junta, and the Gulf Monarchs. They'd be absolutely rich with donations, stocked full with weapons, and with more fighters than they could handle. This is ISIS 10 year plan.

Here's an article on ISIS history. Books are already being published on the group. I don't agree with all of the below but it's a good overview and expresses Washington DC's understanding of ISIS totally.

http://leftfootforward.org/2015/02/book-review-isis-inside-the-army-of-terror/
Angocachi
Longface Fitz

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-11/jordan-divided-over-fight-against-isis
Angocachi
Obama and Iran's Supreme Leader in Dialogue - Obama's Deal: Give Up Nuclear Pursuit, Make Alliance Against ISIS

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has responded to overtures from U.S. President Barack Obama amid nuclear talks by sending him a secret letter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Citing an Iranian diplomat, the paper said the Iranian cleric had written to Obama in recent weeks in response to a presidential letter sent in October.

Obama's letter suggested the possibility of U.S.-Iranian cooperation in fighting Islamic State if a nuclear deal was secured, the paper said, quoting the diplomat.

Khamenei's letter was "respectful" but noncommittal, it quoted the diplomat as saying.

Both the White House and the Iranian mission at the United Nations declined to comment on the report.

Khamenei said this week he could accept a compromise in the nuclear talks and gave his strongest defense yet of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's decision to negotiate with the West, a policy opposed by powerful hardliners at home.

The nuclear talks with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are aimed at clinching an accord that would ease Western concerns that Tehran could pursue a covert nuclear weapons program, in return for the lifting of sanctions that have ravaged the Iranian economy.

Negotiators have set a June 30 final deadline for an accord, and Western officials have said they aim to agree on the substance of such a deal by March.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to address the U.S. Congress on Iran on March 3 - to the annoyance of the Obama administration - has vowed "to foil this bad and dangerous agreement." (Reporting by Sandra Maler; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in San Francisco and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/...tter_n_6682002.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

One would wonder why Israel is against Iran ending its nuclear program and working with the US against ISIS. It's because Israel cares little about either, and wants Iran to stop supporting anti-Israeli militias in Palestine and Lebanon. Israel intended to annex and settle Gaza and the Lebanon up to the Litani but Iranian support for Hezbollah and Hamas has kicked Israel out of both and kept it out.
If the Israeli government can't annex and settle more territory then they're limited to the West Bank... which is not enough.
Niccolo and Donkey
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Angocachi
Here's an odd piece of Irish Pride. An Irish newspaper interviewed a formed FSA rebel who claims that he was conscripted by ISIS.

He makes the mandatory references to life under ISIS being draconian, medieval and cruel, anti-woman, many of its fighters are in fact captives, it's a largely foreign phenomenon unwelcome by locals etc and everything else an FSA member would say about ISIS to impress on Western audiences the grave importance of paying and arming the FSA to fight it.

He says that ISIS has a large number of French, British, American and Irish nationals fighting in its ranks, as well as Chechens, Libyans, Moroccans, Tunisians, Egyptians, and Saudi Arabians. He says that Europeans are the most zealous, that the French are the most numerous among the Europeans, and that French fighters killed ~3,000 people in the Deir ez Zor countryside. He praises the Chechens for their military prowess and knack for winning territory. He praises the Irish for their fine snipers.

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'The Irish are the perfect snipers' says ISIS escapee
A man who claims he was captured and forced to fight by ISIS tells Shona Murray about life with the extremist terror group

"It's difficult for anyone to leave," explains Abu Omer - which is not his real name to protect his identity. "People have no money and they have families" to take with them. There are also several checkpoints.

Omer is - for now - in hiding in the city of Urfa, on the Turkish border with Syria, having escaped from Deir Ez-Zor and ISIS. He's a former Group Leader with the 'Al Qadisiya' brigade of the Free Syrian Army; his unit was defeated by ISIS in Deir Ez-Zor, during the militant group's spectacular takeover of large swathes of land in Eastern Syria and Western Iraq last June and July.

Captured Syrian fighters like Omer, who are there involuntarily, are not considered fully supportive of the Caliphate, and are therefore never far up the command structure or trusted with leading military offensives.

Omer, like other Syrians who joined to revolution against the Assad regime in late 2011, wait for their orders at the frontline - they're told when to target the enemy, be it local Jihadist groups with a similar ideology, like Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al Nusra, or the Syrian army of Assad. Nor are they often ordered to mete out the medieval punishments like beheadings or crucifixions, that have become part of daily life for Muslims living under ISIS control.

Omer reckons that up to 70pc of the ISIS fighters in Deir Ez-Zor are foreign - including about 40 Irish. His estimates reinforces information from several sources, including the US National Counter-Terrorism Centre. "All of the countries of the world have fighters inside Syrian fighting with ISIS," he says. "The most European fighters were from France, there were some from the UK, and there were Irish, but the most was French.

"There was Chechen, Libyan, Moroccan, Tunisian, Egyptian, and Saudi Arabian, some also from America.

"ISIS depends on Chechens the most," for their military prowess and dogged violent nature, "If ISIS wants to take over any area, they send the Chechens in.

"The Irish fighters are perfect snipers; they use them sometimes with the Chechens, in any place they need snipers, they move the Irish," he adds.

"They are part of the Al Khalifa army (Caliphate army), and fought in Kobane," before the Kurdish Peshmerga forces with the help of coalition forces, defeated them.

While Abu Omer says there are around 40 Irish fighters in Deir ez Zor, the Department of Justice's official figure is that 30 Irish fighters have left here to fight in Syria and Iraq. Sources in the US State Department, however, say this number is closer to 70 in total.

Of the Irish, Abu Omer came across, one was known as 'Abu Omer al-Irlandi', another, 'Abu Yazid al-Irlandi'. They work alongside British jihadists, "you see them together" says Omer.

Foreign fighters from Europe have the most virulent ideology he also claims. They are the most dogmatic when it comes to ISIS ideology.

"Sometimes the Saudi or other Arabic fighters might forgive you if you are caught smoking or caught breaking the rules," but not the Europeans.

The Europeans are "the devil" inside Syria. "They cut the heads". In one incident, a French jihadist known as 'Abu Ali-al Franci' "cut three heads inside Deir ez-Zor centre," claims Abu Omer. Although he did not provide photographic evidence of this, Abu Omer's character and identity was corroborated by sources from Deir ez-Zor, and within the FSA brigade that he once held a senior position in.

"Another example: in a village in the Deir ez-Zor countryside, the Europeans killed around 3,000 people in the village, using French fighters," he says.

When they (ISIS) decide someone is 'kuffar' - a non-believer, or someone that has rejected Islam- "they use European fighters to cut heads, to kill people".

According to Omer, and other members of the FSA, the foreign fighters operating under the IS banner, believe they "are, the Islamic State", and not fighters in a foreign land, but the beginning and creators of the new Islamic caliphate; the rising Caliphate. The fact that they are not born in, nor have any personal ties with the land that they have so savagely overrun is irrelevant, as is the fact that some are not born in to Muslim families and converted only recently.

Restrictions on women are akin to those in Taliban-controlled areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan; their faces are completely covered, they wear only black shoes and "have been punished for wearing other colours". "I didn't see any women killed by Daash (the local Arabic name for Isis). Girls are forced to get married to European and other fighters. Women aren't allowed learn or go to school; they have to stay inside the house. She can't go outside without her father, brother or husband, nor gather together with other women unless very necessary.

"I've known of British women who have joined Daash, but never heard of any Irish women," he says when asked whether he knew of Irish female jihadists.

ISIS' success in grabbing the attention of western leaders and public at large is very much due to the publicised murders of several journalists, aid workers and more recently Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh. All deaths appear to be carried out by one of ISIS' most barbaric operatives, nicknamed Jihadi John, who's rumoured in a previous life to have once been a rap singer from London.

"That's what I heard about him. His security is very high - like Abu Omar al-Baghdadi" - ISIS' founder from Baghdad, Iraq.

"They move him place to place; they're afraid he will be tracked by satellite".

"They use him because he's a British man to kill the Europeans and westerners".

Last October, in Turkey, a foiled kidnap attempt of Syrian army leader Abu Issa by ISIS illustrated both the presence and willingness to operate inside Turkey's borders, as well as the increased number of Turkish security forces.

Yet the onus is not just on Turkey to stem the tide of extremists crossing the border, but on western societies in stemming the tide of radical young men and women from leaving their respective countries, and deprogramming them of their radical intentions, lest they remain in their home country and act out ISIS-inspired attacks on home soil.

"They can attack Europe any time they want; they have members inside Europe, inside America, inside Britain, they're just awaiting a decision from al-Baghdadi.

"They focus on America, Britain, France and Denmark, because of the cartoons about Mohammad, warns Omer.

Shona Murray presents Newstalk's World in Motion show, Sundays, 8am to 9am

Sunday Independent
http://www.independent.ie/world-new...rfect-snipers-says-isis-escapee-30993107.html