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ISIS Tag

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 14, 2015 36 Comments
As France and the world begins to get a clearer picture of yesterday's coordinated set of terrorist attacks in Paris, ISIS has claimed responsibility, and French president Francois Hollande has iterated his statement that ISIS is indeed responsible and has made clear that he wants to lead a swift and "merciless" response. USA Today reports on President Hollande's statement:
Speaking after the security meeting, Hollande said Friday's attacks were "committed by a terrorist army, the Islamic State group, a jihadist army, against France, against the values that we defend everywhere in the world, against what we are: A free country that means something to the whole planet.”
CNN reports on the ISIS statement issued today:

ISIS claimed responsibility for gunfire and blasts that targeted six sites Friday night in Paris, killing 128 people in one of Europe's deadliest massacres in recent years.

In an online statement distributed by supporters Saturday, the terror group said eight militants wearing explosive belts and armed with machine guns attacked precisely selected areas in the French capital.

In addition to the people killed, 180 others were injured, according to the Paris Police Prefecture. More than half of them are in critical condition.

Among those wounded are an as yet unconfirmed number of Americans.  Also from CNN:

Posted by Amy Miller on November 13, 2015 3 Comments
Late yesterday the Pentagon announced that it launched a drone strike against Islamic State terrorist Mohammed Emwazi, the man who served as the "face" of the group's gruesome and infamous beheading videos. Emwazi, also known as "Jihadi John," was wounded a year ago during airstrikes in Anbar Province that killed 10 terrorists and wounded at least 40 others. Emwazi had joined tribal leaders from around the region in a bunker near the Iraqi-Syrian border to pledge their allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Intelligence following the strikes was muddied, but officials believed that Emwazi was taken to a local hospital before being returned to ISIS headquarters. Over the past year, western officials have conducted extensive surveillance in an effort to determine Emwazi's whereabouts---and if reports are correct, they finally found him. Yesterday's strike hit outside of the de facto ISIS capital of Raqqa in northern Syria. Officials have yet to confirm whether or not Emwazi died in the attack; Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said, "We are assessing the results of tonight’s operation and will provide additional information as and where appropriate.” A U.S. senior official told CNN that authorities are confident that the strike was successful; a second source said that authorities positively identified Emwazi before they launched the drone at the vehicle Emwazi was riding in.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 12, 2015 11 Comments
Investigators sifting through the remains of a Russian jet that crashed in the Sinai last week have uncovered intelligence about a "two hour timer," and are connecting it with their working theory that an ISIS affiliate in the region planted a bomb on the plane's fuel lines before it left the popular Sharm el-Sheikh resort area for St. Petersburg. A source told Fox News about the discovery of the timer, but wasn't clear whether or not investigators found physical evidence, or were able to decipher communications between terrorist operatives. This new information supports the involvement of an "airport insider," and investigators are now interviewing ground crews and baggage handlers who had access to the plane before it left Egypt. More from Fox News:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on November 09, 2015 9 Comments
While European leaders and the mainstream media continue to defend open border policies, millions of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa have embarked on an unstoppable march towards Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been the leading proponent of Europe’s policy of unrestricted migrant intake, and she is firmly backed by the EU’s powerful bureaucracy. Before the year ends, Germany alone is expected to take in as many as 1.5 million migrants. Despite repeated calls by the Islamic State to target European countries on their own home soil, EU leaders continue to brush aside the growing fear of terrorism and Islamic radicalisation in Europe. Faced with opposition from a few Eastern European member states, the EU has decided to double down on its open border policy. Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has joined the chorus, assuring Italians that there is no need to worry about Islamic terrorists posing as migrants; but the latest high-profile arrest in Italy of a known ISIS operative once again shows how out of touch European politicians really are with the grim realities of mass migration from predominantly Muslim countries.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 04, 2015 12 Comments
Last Saturday, a Russian jet carrying 217 passengers crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. The Metrojet flight was making its way to St. Petersburg from a popular Red Sea resort when it went down in a remote, mountainous region of the Sinai. Almost immediately, two European airlines suspended all travel over the region where the jet crashed---and for good reason. According to the Associated Press, the Hassana area where the wreckage was found has played host to clashes between Egyptian forces and a group of Islamic militants who recently pledged their loyalty to the Islamic State. A local ISIS affiliate declared responsibility for the crash (now, attack), but the claim was quickly scuttled by both Egyptian and Russian officials. Now, however, US intelligence reports have revealed that it is likely ISIS or one of its affiliates planted a bomb on the plane. Via CNN:
"There is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in luggage or somewhere on the plane," the official said, stressing that no formal conclusion had been reached by the U.S. intelligence community.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 01, 2015 7 Comments
A Russian airliner "broke up in mid-air," according to the head of Russia's Air Transport Agency, Aleksandr Neradko, who stated that "all signs attest to the fact that the aircraft disintegrated in the air at a high altitude."  All 224 people on board were killed. CNN reports:
A Russian passenger plane crashed early Saturday in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people aboard, officials said. Russian state media reported that many of the 217 passengers on Kogalymavia Flight 9268 were Russians returning from vacation. The passenger manifest included 17 children but Russian officials said there were 25 aboard. There were seven crew members. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin tweeted that four victims were Ukrainian nationals. The cause of the crash still is unknown, but it is most likely due to a technical failure, and there is no evidence of any terrorist action, Egyptian Airports Co. chief Adel Al-Mahjoob told CNN Arabic.
Early reports indicated that an ISIS-affiliated terrorist group claimed responsibility for the crash on Twitter, but Russian and Egyptian officials dismissed these claims, stating there is no evidence of terrorism, but there are questions about whether or not the pilot indicated any problems prior to the plane breaking apart.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 27, 2015 9 Comments
Defense Secretary Ash Carter has laid out a new plan for U.S. forces sent overseas to "degrade and defeat" ISIS. The Obama Administration has fielded several month's worth of criticism over the ineffectiveness of current strategy; Carter's changes reflect a growing need to take a more active role. From ABC News:
The changes are intended to build on the Obama administration’s strategy to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria where the tactical fight against the terror group has stalemated. “The changes we’re pursuing can be described by what I call the 'three R’s': Raqqa, Ramadi, and Raids,” Carter said in testimony today before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The idea of more raids builds on Carter’s previous comments a Pentagon news conference Friday that there would be more raids similar to the one where American special operations forces assisted Kurdish troops in the rescue of 70 hostages held by ISIS.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 26, 2015 6 Comments
Last week, U.S. Forces teamed up with Kurdish Peshmergas to rescue captives held at an Islamic State compound in northern Iraq. The mission freed around 70 hostages, but led to the death of Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler---the first U.S. service member to die in combat in Iraq since 2011. After the mission was complete, the Kurdistan Regional Government---the same body who requested the raid and the help of U.S. forces---released footage from a helmet cam worn by one of the Kurdish soldiers. Watch (the footage is intense, but not NSFW): According to CNN, a U.S. military official has confirmed the authenticity of the video.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 23, 2015 12 Comments
The Pentagon has identified 39-year-old Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler of Roland, Oklahoma as the first US service member to die in the ground fight against ISIS. Wheeler was part of a mission aimed at rescuing captives held at an Islamic state compound in northern Iraq. Officials received intelligence that led them to believe that the captives faced imminent mass execution, prompting the Kurdish Regional Government to request the raid. US special forces teamed up with the peshmerga (the Kurdish regional militia) and freed 69 hostages during the approximately 2 hour-long mission. According to Reuters, US officials have said that special forces' involvement in the mission was not tied to suspicion that there were any Americans amongst the captives; instead, US forces acting as advisors were "sucked in" to the battle when the Kurds came under heavy fire. More from Fox News:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on October 20, 2015 10 Comments
British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced new measures to tackle the rise of Islamic extremism in the UK. With this new set of measures, the government wants to counter the influence of Islamic thinking on government-funded institutions, private charities and businesses. Britain is home to about 3 million Muslims, and many Brits have become concerned about the radicalisation of young Muslims taking place in schools and mosques. Today, some 500 to 1000 British Muslims are fighting in the ranks of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria. Additionally, Britain faces the threat of home-grown Islamic terrorism, as highlighted by the London bombings of 2005 that killed more than 50 people in the London public transport system during the rush hour. According to the domestic security service MI5, the home-grown terror plots are now at an all-time high. British broadcaster Channel 4 News quoted Prime Minister Cameron as describing Islamic extremism as "one of the great struggles of our generation."

Posted by Amy Miller on October 17, 2015 9 Comments
Dear Future Husband: If you ever abscond to Syria to join a motley band of terrorists, I will not come looking for you. The rise of ISIS has inspired some truly ridiculous tales of total and complete insanity taking hold of people not currently living in the sandy hellscape of the Middle East. National Guardsmen, young men, newlyweds, and even schoolgirls have all attempted (some successfully) to break free the chains of democracy and join the cause in places like Syria and Iraq. Most, if all of them, have done so knowing how terribly dangerous it is to even attempt to make friendly contact with ISIS. They also knew (and were enthusiastic about) the terror group's rise in prominence and brutality, and that their tickets were one-way. Of course, if a recent story out of the UK-by-way-of-Syria is correct, some of them are just there to pick up their husbands.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 07, 2015 2 Comments
Today, the House Homeland Security Committee released a "Terror Threat Snapchat" detailing the growing threat of Islamic terrorism against targets both in the United States and abroad. So far this year, officials have identified 61 total ISIS attack plots against western targets. This represents a 2x increase in attack plots since 2014. 17 of those plots focused on the United States, and authorities have arrested 55 people this year in ISIS-specific attack cases alone. “Islamist extremist groups are consolidating their control over crucial terrain and seizing the initiative to expand their global footprint," said committee Chairman Michael McCaul in a statement accompanying the report. "Destabilizing aggressors, from the Putin regime in Russia to the world’s leading state sponsor of terror in Iran, are filling the void of American withdrawal to disastrous effect. This global surge in radicalism and instability has directly contributed to the elevated threat level here at home. We need decisive American leadership that starts with shoring up our defenses and advancing a credible strategy to stop the threats at the source.” Key takeaways (as per the Committee's report) include:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on October 01, 2015 29 Comments
As President Obama told the UN General Assembly that the principle of "might is right" was not the answer to the world's problems and then went on raising a toast to President Putin at a luncheon on Wednesday, September 28, Russian Armed forces where busy installing long-range air-defenses, claiming air superiority over area well beyond Syrian air space, denying access to US and NATO already conducting airstrikes against ISIS positions. Jerusalem Post quoted NATO's top commander, General Philip Breedlove saying Russia’s move to deny access to US and NATO forces in the Eastern Mediterranean was a "a growing problem." Russia’s first airstrike targeted non-ISIS Syria rebels rather than the dreaded Islamic State. BBC reports:
[Russia] launched air strikes in Syria for a second day. [Russian air-]strikes reportedly targeted positions in the north-west held by the Army of Conquest rebel alliance. Russia said it had struck four Islamic State (IS) facilities overnight, and destroyed a "terrorist HQ" outside Idlib and a command post near Hama. (…) Russia carried out about 20 missions on Wednesday. The US fears they targeted non-IS opponents of Russia's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Obama administration's response was prompt and swift, issuing a 'strong statement' reminding Russia that by resorting to violence, it was 'throwing gasoline on fire.' Only thing those generals on Kremlin fear more, is a sternly worded letter from John Kerry.

Posted by Amy Miller on September 16, 2015 0 Comments
Russia has been an important ally of Syria's during the Assad regime's four year struggle to maintain its hold on power. Moscow recently strengthened its support for the flailing Syrian military, and on Wednesday, Russian media broadcast a roundtable-style interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in which Assad placed the blame for the current European migrant crisis on Western intervention in Syria. Via WaPo:
“If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists,” said Assad, referring to Europe-bound Syrians. “This is the core of the whole issue of refugees.” He described U.S. and European criticism of his policies as “propaganda” that will create “more refugees.” ... Assad said that a solution to the conflict could not be found until “terrorism” is defeated. He called on Syrians to “unite” against terror, portraying his government as bulwark against groups like the Islamic State, which a U.S.-led coalition is attacking at its strongholds in Syria and Iraq. The coalition does not attack Syrian government assets. U.S. officials do not coordinate those attacks with Assad’s forces.
You can watch the full interview with Russian media here:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on August 27, 2015 9 Comments
Spiritual leaders of Islam have now come together and spoken in unison against the greatest evil of our times. If you are waiting for these 'holy men' to condemn radical Islam or atrocities committed by Islamic State (ISIS) please don’t hold your breath just yet. UK-based Guardian newspaper reports that Islamic scholars have “called on the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims to take action on climate change [sic]”. This came just days after Guardian ran another story with the headline, “Islamic leaders issue bold call for rapid phase out of fossil fuels”. It is heartwarming to see Muslim leaders who can’t ever seem to get their act together in taking a stand against the radicalism in their faith are tripping over each other to get on Al Gore’s 'emission-free' bandwagon. According the report published in The Guardian on August 21, 2015 :
Muslims have a religious duty to take action against climate change, according to a declaration released by a major group of Islamic scholars, faith leaders and politicians from 20 countries. The Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, launched in Istanbul, is aimed at the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims and suggests mosques and Islamic schools should immediately take action.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on August 13, 2015 7 Comments
A high-profile trial is currently underway in Germany. 26 year-old Ebrahim H.B. and 27 year-old Ayoub B. are facing terrorism charges after returning back from Syria, having served as ISIS combatants. Just like in U.S., the German mainstream media too is clueless about the motivations of these two jihadists. Media can’t credibly talk about “resentment” and “alienation” in case of this relatively prosperous duo, it has to contend with "personal distress" and trauma as main reasons to explain the pathological behaviour of the alleged terrorists. Ebrahim H.B., a German citizen of Tunisian-origin is charged with planning a suicide bombing in Baghdad. The media repeatedly emphasized the "quiet" and "shy" nature of the alleged ISIS-mastermind, who joined the Terrorist group just because his “planned wedding was called off”. The leading German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported [Author’s Translation]:
On Monday, Ebrahim H.B. told the Regional High Court in Celle that he had been very upset at that time. In spring of 2014 his fiancée called off their planned wedding. “I felt extremely humiliated by that.”

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 11, 2015 14 Comments
A Mississippi couple has been arrested for planning to join ISIS during their honeymoon in Syria. They were taken into custody as they were preparing to board a flight for Istanbul. CNN reports:
Feds: Mississippi couple planned to join ISIS in Syria Two Mississippi residents were arrested last weekend and charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, according to a law enforcement official. Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla and Jaelyn Delshaun Young were arrested at a Mississippi airport on Saturday. Authorities say they were planning to travel overseas to join the terror group. An initial court appearance from Monday was continued to today, when a criminal complaint will be announced. CNN obtained a copy of the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Law enforcement sources confirmed it is genuine but said the final version of the complaint could change. According to the criminal complaint, Young and her soon-to-be husband were planning to fly from Mississippi to Europe, then travel to Syria and join ISIS.
Here's a video report from CBS:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 23, 2015 7 Comments
The Wall Street Journal is reporting via defense officials that Ankara has agreed to allow the United States to launch air strikes against ISIS from the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey. This is a departure from previous Turkish policy, which until now only allowed drone launches from the base. No Turkish aircraft will be used in any strikes launched by the US. Reuters reports that a deal between President Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan may have been reached as early as Wednesday; White House press secretary Josh Earnest told the media today that the two leaders have reached an agreement to "deepen" cooperation in the fight against ISIS, but didn't go into details. Turkey's concerns about the violence in Syria go beyond the threat ISIS poses to the rest of the world. Until now, Turkish officials have refused to lead on the Islamic State pushback, citing concerns that merely taking out ISIS will not quash the violence caused by intra-Syrian conflict. Ankara has advocated for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in exchange for a larger role.
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