Group Terrorizing It's Way Through Syria and Iraq More Batshit Crazy Than al Queda

[ScottL]

Not like there's another avenue.......

• Israeli Intelligence Cooperation with Egypt, Jordan at "Unprecedented" Level
  IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan said Wednesday that Israel has seen an "unprecedented level of cooperation" regarding intelligence with Egypt and Jordan in the fight against Islamic State. "There is a strong feeling in the region...that we have to put aside past animosities and concentrate on mutual interests and working together" to deal with the jihadist threat, he said. Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries that have signed peace treaties with Israel.
  Golan also spoke of the threat Israel says Iran poses in the region, saying it is determined to spread its influence throughout the Middle East. "Look at their involvement in Iraq, their involvement in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Sudan and other places. Just unbelievable. You can find Iran today everywhere." (AFP-Daily Mail-UK)
  

 

[ScottL]

Those yelling "Gloves Off" might be getting their wish
New Pentagon Rules Allow More Civilian Casualties in Air War Against ISIS - Tom Vanden Brook
The Pentagon has approved airstrikes that risk more civilian casualties in order to destroy Islamic State targets as part of its increasingly aggressive fight against the militant group in Iraq and Syria, according to military officials. Six Defense Department officials described how Islamic State targets are selected. A strike with the potential to wound or kill several civilians would be permitted if it prevented ISIS fighters from causing greater harm. (USA Today)

 

[ScottL]

Syria's Future: A Black Hole of Instability - Thanassis Cambanis
Syria has cracked up and no peace settlement can put it back together. Despite talk of a "regime" and "opposition," Syria today is a mosaic of tiny fiefs. The government has ceded control of stretches of land to Iran, Russia and Hizbullah. Its opponents range from Islamic State to a coterie of tiny insurgent groups led by local warlords reliant on foreign donors.
Even if some fraction of the opposition can reach an accord with the government, the area they could try to rule would amount to a rump state. The nation's industrial heartland and most populous city, Aleppo, has been almost completely destroyed. (New York Times)

 

[ScottL]

Video - Israeli Expert: Arab Regime Crackdowns Are Pushing New ISIS Recruiting (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

Assessing the strength of the Islamic State, Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, former Deputy Head for Assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence, said:

• "A huge coalition of forces, air forces, and other countries are participating in trying to quell the Islamic state. But they haven't reached the final goal because they don't have boots on the ground. Now with 30,000 fighters, it seems that the Islamic State is still there to accompany us for the next couple of years at least."
• "In Saudi Arabia, it's almost impossible to stabilize the kingdom. Every two weeks you have suicide bombers. And what is the most aggravating fact in what is happening in Saudi Arabia is that most of the suicide bombers originate from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan."
• "This is very difficult and very problematic because in this area of the world you have four to eight million Asians working in the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, meaning that the Islamic State can infiltrate these populations and try to recruit them against the local government."
• "We are confronting a situation where the Arab states have understood that they have to react. The reaction in most of the Arab states is in harsher measures against most of the population. Repressive regimes have replaced the moderate Arab regimes. If you look at what is happening today in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, compared to how they were three or four years before, there is a huge change in the way that the regime looks at its own citizens."
• Q: Doesn't this play into the hands of ISIS?
  Neriah: "Exactly so. When you push the population and try to stop them criticizing the regime by first saying that 'You cannot spread rumors.' If you spread rumors you will spend ten years in jail. You cannot have any meeting beyond ten people in the streets. If they are pupils having a meeting in the street or saying they didn't get the marks they should have in school, they're put in jail. There are thousands and thousands of anti-regime militants that are awaiting trial and they could wait for five or ten years in jail."
• "So this is what's happening and this is the fertile terrain where ISIS works. This is where ISIS can recruit very easily and try to bring those people to work against the regime."
  

 

[ScottL]

It's almost over for ISIS... but not for the war against Islamic Totalitarianism

• Major Elements of Violent Islamist Extremists Will Still Survive after the Defeat of ISIS - Anthony Cordesman
  Even the best possible defeat of ISIS in both Syria and Iraq will immediately raise critical issues for the Arab Sunnis, Arab Shi'ites, Arab Alawites, and Kurds in each country. The broad ideological struggle for the future of Islam now goes far beyond ISIS, or even Islamic extremism. Iran and the Arab Gulf states increasingly are making it a struggle between all Sunnis and Shi'ites.
  Major elements of violent Islamist extremists will still survive in both countries and the region, regardless of what happens in Mosul or Raqqa, or to the ISIS brand name. Turkey, Iran, and Russia are key players with serious influence that do not want the same "end state" as the U.S. and its European allies, or have the same goals between them. The writer, who holds the Burke Chair in Strategy at CSIS, has held senior posts in the U.S. Department of Defense. (Center for Strategic & International Studies)
  
• Beyond Mosul - Jonathan Spyer
  The reduction of the area of Islamic State control is already an advanced process. The jihadis have lost 50% of their holdings in Iraq, and around 25% in Syria. Yet the almost certain defeat of IS will ultimately constitute only an episode in the wider story of conflict in Iraq. The anti-IS forces arranged around the IS stronghold of Mosul are a deeply varied gathering. They include the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), the Kurdish Pesh Merga, the Shia militias of the PMF (Popular Mobilization Forces), the Sunni militiamen of the Hashd al-Watani (National Mobilization) and even the Kurdish PKK.
  Even now, before the victory, the various forces in the "coalition" assembled to destroy IS are already looking toward the political, and perhaps also the military struggles which will follow Mosul's conquest. The Kurdish Pesh Merga on the ridges above the city are thinking about independence; the Sunni militiamen under their tutelage also see little future for themselves in a united Iraq; the Shia militiamen are serving the cause of the larger, Iran-led regional alliance of which they are a part. The PKK are seeking to advance their own, rival Kurdish nationalist project. The writer is Director of the Rubin Center, IDC Herzliya, and a fellow at the Middle East Forum. (Rubin Center-IDC Herzliya)

 

[ScottL]

The original ISIS Thread.....

"Militants?" My Ass!

Dozens of Islamic State Militants in Suicide Vests Launch Mosul Counterattack - Loveday Morris and Mustafa Salim (Washington Post) Dozens of Islamic State militants wearing suicide vests penetrated Iraqi police lines in Mosul on Wednesday in a large-scale counterattack. The militants also launched seven car bombs at the front lines south of the Old City, their last foothold in the city.

 

[Willie99]

Obviously this JV team was contained by the Obama administration, who's biggest accomplishment may just be the peace he brought to Iraq

 

[ScottL]

ISIS Setting Up Support Networks to Move Terrorists to Europe, Asia - Bill Gertz
The Islamic State is setting up networks to support the systematic movement of terrorists from the Middle East to Europe and Asia, according to U.S. defense officials. "ISIS has several facilitators in place that assist the flow of fighters to Europe," said one official. Many of the fighters are returning nationals who joined ISIS several years ago and received training and experience. These fighters are regarded as hardened jihadists who will seek to infiltrate society and prepare for future attacks.
A June 7 report by the State Department's Overseas Security Advisory Council noted that in the past six months, Islamic terrorists have conducted seven attacks in Germany, France, Sweden, and the UK, causing more than 50 deaths. While authorities in Europe have prevented a number of attacks since the beginning of the year, "the frequency and reach of terrorist activity affirms that the threat persists throughout the region," the report states. (Washington Free Beacon)