Warns against intervention
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad warns that foreign intervention in his country’s violent uprising could trigger an earthquake that would burn the whole region.
Any action against Syria will have greater consequences [on those who carry it out], greater than they can tolerate. First, because of Syria’s geopolitical location and second [because of] Syrian capabilities. They know part of it but they do not know the other parts and they will not be able to afford the results.
Assad says calls for his resignation by US and EU are not even worthy of a response, adding that he is appointed by the Syrian people, not by the West.
Jordan’s king calls for resignation
King Abdullah becomes the first Arab leader to openly say President Assad should stand down, urging Assad to begin talks on an orderly transition of power and warning there will be more of the same if whoever replaces him does not change the status quo.
If Bashar has the interest of his country [at heart] he would step down, but he would also create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life. That’s the only way I would see it work and I don’t think people are asking that question.
Assad meets Annan
U.N. envoy Annan meets with Assad in Damascus during a mission trying to bring a halt to fighting and arrange talks between the two sides to end the country’s conflict. Assad tells Annan that any political dialogue is doomed to fail
as long as there are armed terrorist groups that work to spread anarchy and destabilize the country,
The regime blames terrorists acting out a foreign conspiracy for the uprising, not protesters seeking change. The opposition rejects dialogue, saying it is impossible to talk to Assad’s regime.
‘Crush other rebels’
ISIS calls on its fighters to destroy rival opposition groups in an audio message from spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani:
Crush them totally and kill the conspiracy at birth
A warning to the rebels:
None of you will remain, and we will make of you an example to all those who think of following the same path
Kerry dismisses election
On a visit to Lebanon, Secretary of State Kerry declares the Syrian election meaningless and says it will have no impact on U.S. policy. Kerry says the United States continues to support a political solution to the Syrian crisis and announces a contribution of $290 million in humanitarian aid.
The elections are non-elections. A great big zero. Nothing has changed between the day before the election and after.
‘150 Australians in Syria’
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says that about 150 Australians are fighting in Syria:
In Syria, it seems that over a period of time they have moved from supporting more moderate opposition groups to the more extreme, and that includes this brutal extremist group ISIS
Radicalized fighters could pose a domestic threat:
We are concerned that Australians are working with them [ISIS], becoming radicalized, learning the terrorist trade, and if they come back to Australia, of course it poses a security threat. I’ve canceled a number of passports on the advice of intelligence agencies.
‘Takes gas field’
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says ISIS has seized the Sha’ar gas field east of Homs, killing at least 90 of the men guarding it and losing 21 of its fighters in a “wide assault” from several directions. It says a further 270 guards, government forces and militia members loyal to Assad are missing, taken prisoner, wounded or killed. Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman:
Since the beginning of the year there have been clashes between the Islamic State and the regime in some areas, but these are the largest.
UK not considering airstrikes
British Ambassador to the U.S. Sir Peter Westmacott tells CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley his government is not currently considering adding to U.S. air power in Syria. On cooperation with the U.S.:
…we are in this together, and we need a joint operation to really push back against this barbaric behavior. We mean what we say on that.
However when questioned by Crowley on whether this could include British airstrikes:
It is not now contemplated.
Foreign women perform ‘sexual jihad’
Malaysian, Australian and British women are traveling to the Middle East to perform jihad al-nikah to boost the morale of ISIS fighters. Unnamed Malaysian intelligence official:
These women are believed to have offered themselves in sexual comfort roles to ISIS fighters who are attempting to establish Islamic rule in the Middle East. This concept may seem controversial but it has arisen as certain Muslim women here are showing sympathy for the ISIS struggle.
The official says a Malaysian woman in her 30s went to Turkey in December and met up with middlemen to complete the journey to Syria via land routes, while a Malaysian woman in her 40s linked up with the militants in April. Intelligence exchanged with other countries revealed that Sunni Muslim women from Australia and the United Kingdom have also joined up with ISIS.
‘We don’t have a strategy yet’
Obama says that his administration hasn’t yet developed a strategy to combat ISIS, as speculation mounts that the U.S. will bomb ISIS in Syria. To reporters:
I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don’t have a strategy yet. I think what I’ve seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead of where we’re at than we currently are.
‘Oilfields earn millions a day’
Luay al-Khateeb, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center in Qatar, estimates ISIS is earning $2 million a day in oil revenues in Iraq and much more in Syria. The Iraqi fields are only producing half of the 80,000 barrels a day they are rated at, black-market crude is selling at $25-$60 a barrel:
From Syria they could be making double or even triple that.
Estimating the Syrian revenues is difficult since most of the oil is sold to the Bashar al-Assad government, which doesn’t disclose oil use figures, but the regime’s struggle means consumption is likely very high:
It’s a war of survival for the Syrian regime and they have no choice but to buy the oil — even though they know the money is going into ISIS hands.
‘ISIS wants Lebanon’
Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s executive council, says ignoring the threat of ISIS could allow the group to seize Lebanon:
The terrorist threat on Lebanon is actual, real and continuous. And whoever doubts or underestimates [this threat] is either ignorant or negligent, and he harms the high national interest of Lebanon … ISIS’s decision has been announced. Their pretended slogan is to create the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria, which includes Lebanon.
He proposes a “tripartite” force to protect the country consisting of the military, the public and the “resistance”:
Whoever denies Hezbollah’s role in protecting [Lebanon is] oblivious to the truth.
‘Threat to German security’
Merkel says in a speech to the Bundestag lower house that ISIS now controls an area in Iraq and Syria that is half the size of Germany:
The far-reaching detribalization of an entire region affects Germany and Europe … When terrorists take control of a vast territory to give themselves and other fanatics a base for their acts of terror, then the danger rises for us, then our security interests are affected
‘Cluster munitions’
Human Rights Watch cites ‘credible evidence’ that ISIS has used cluster munitions in at least one location in northern Syria in recent weeks. Local Kurdish officials and photographic evidence show the extremist group used cluster munitions on July 12 and August 14 during fighting around the town of Ayn al-Arab – known as Kobani in Kurdish – in Aleppo governorate near the northern border with Turkey. A statement:
The use of cluster munitions by non-state actors such as the Islamic State shows the urgent need for Syria and all nations that have not yet done so to join the ban on cluster munitions and destroy their stockpiles
‘Bring the battlefield home’
A Scottish-born girl is reported to have have moved to Syria and has disseminated jihadi messages via Twitter. The ‘@Umm Layth_’ Twitter account believed to be operated by is currently suspended. A tweet in June apparently supporting the Lee Rigby murder, Boston Marathon bombing and Fort Hood, Tx., shootings:
Follow the examples of your brothers from Woolwich, Texas and Boston. If you cannot make it to the battlefield, then bring the battlefield to yourself.
Police spokesman:
A 19-year-old female from Scotland was reported missing to us by her family in November 2013. Inquiries are ongoing in relation to her whereabouts and we are supporting her family.
‘Ethnic cleansing’
Amnesty International says ISIS is carrying out ‘a wave’ of ethnic cleansing in Iraq. A statement says the group have:
…launched a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in northern Iraq, carrying out war crimes, including mass summary killings and abductions, against ethnic and religious minorities.
It says several mass killings took place in Sinjar in August:
Two of the deadliest incidents took place when IS fighters raided the villages of Qiniyeh on 3 August and Kocho on 15 August. The number of those killed in these villages alone runs into the hundreds. Groups of men and boys including children as young as 12 from both villages were seized by IS militants, taken away and shot.
Senior Crisis Advisor Donatella Rovera:
Instead of aggravating the fighting by either turning a blind eye to sectarian militias or arming Shi’a militias against the Islamic State as the authorities have done so far, Iraq’s government should focus on protecting all civilians regardless of their ethnicity or religion. The people of northern Iraq deserve to live free from persecution without fearing for their lives at every turn. Those ordering, carrying out, or assisting in these war crimes must be apprehended and brought to justice.
House lawmakers urge Syria strikes
The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s senior members urge Obama to authorize strikes against ISIS in Syria. Panel chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the committee’s ranking member:
Target them and target the terrorist training camp where they’re bringing thousands of fighters from around the world, putting them through training over a period of weeks to teach them how to conduct terrorist activities. Those camps and the munitions should be targeted as well.
‘We will secure international coalition’
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes says the U.S. is sure of securing international support in the fight against ISIS from European nations concerned that radicalized jihadis who have traveled to the Middle East could return home and create a domestic terror threat. In an interview with CNN:
I absolutely do believe that there will be a coalition of countries from the international community, from here in NATO, also from the region where many of the neighbors have stepped up and said they want to be a part of that type of effort
While the U.S. has yet to commit to airstrikes in Syria there are many other ways partners could contribute:
Intelligence. Law enforcement. Lots of ways for nations to step up to the plate and be a part of this coalition
‘A dozen American fighters’
A Pentagon spokesman says that around 100 American fighters are ‘operating inside Syria,’ and the U.S. government believes that several of them have joined ISIS. Col. Steven Warren:
We believe there are maybe a dozen that are with ISIL
‘Send Syrian refugees home’
Lebanese Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi proposes dividing refugees from the Syrian conflict by political alliance and deporting them:
What is at stake now is the proposal that refugees who trust the regime return to the areas under regime control, and those who have faith in Nusra Front and ISIS go to the regions under their control.
Azzi says the option of setting up camps for the refugees similar to the ones existing in Jordan and Turkey is no longer relevant. The remarks come after protests by the families of security personnel kidnapped by ISIS and Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian arm of Al Qaeda.