Second ISIS video
ISIS releases a second video of Cantlie:
I’m John Cantlie, the British citizen abandoned by my government
He criticizes the U.S.’s involvement in the fight against ISIS, including a quote from Obama’s time as a senator in which he says he opposes a ‘rash war.’
[Obama] has been inexorably drawn back in, but he’s at pains to point out that this is not the equivalent of the Iraq War. Indeed, it’s far more complicated and prone to failure.
He says the ‘pre-9/11 Afghans’ are once again in control of a large part of Afghanistan and that the estimated 15,000 troops needed to fight ISIS are ‘laughably low,’ and the ‘full might of the American war machine’ can’t stop the group.
Confirms French national executed
Hollande confirms that French national Herve Gourdel has been killed by Algeria-based ISIS-linked group Jund al-Khilafah (Soldiers of the Caliphate) in a videotaped beheading. He says at the UN headquarters in New York that the killing won’t prompt France to abandon military action against ISIS, and that it will continue to fight terrorism:
The perpetrators of this odious crime must be punished
Turkish hostages free
Dozens of Turkish hostages are free after three months in captivity. They were captured in June by ISIS militants. Hostages included Consul general Ozturk Yilmaz and his family. It is unclear how they have been freed, but Erdogan thanks Turkish intelligence officials in a statement on his website.
I thank … every single member of the National Intelligence Agency from the director to the field operatives. I congratulate them for their big success from the bottom of my heart.
Hostage video released
ISIS releases a video showing Cantlie, a British photojournalist kidnapped in Syria in 2012, speaking on behalf of the group. Cantlie acknowledges that he is a captive:
Now, I know what you are thinking. ‘He is only doing this because he is a prisoner, he’s got a gun at his head
He says that this video and future productions will give more information about ISIS:
There are two sides to every story. Think you’re getting the whole picture?
He questions the motivations for the west becoming involved:
After two disastrous and hugely unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, why is it that our governments appear so keen to get involved in yet another unwinnable conflict?
Top ISIS member connected to plot
Court documents connect the man believed to be Australia’s most senior ISIS member to the alleged plot to kidnap and execute members of the public in Sydney and Brisbane. Court documents show that 22-year-old Omarjan Azari of Guildford, Sydney, the first person to be charged in connection with the plot, is alleged to have conspired with Mohammad Ali Baryalei, who has been identified in an arrest warrant as the top recruiter for ISIS of Australians fighting for the group in Iraq and Syria.
Sydney man charged with terror conspiracy
22-year-old Omarjan Azari is accused in Sydney’s Central Local Court of conspiring to act in preparation or plan a terrorist act or acts. He is one of 15 mostly Afghan Australians arrested earlier Thursday in an alleged plot to carry out executions in Sydney and Brisbane. The court is told the charges against Azari stem from a single phone call intercepted earlier in the week. Commonwealth prosecutor Michael Allnutt:
It’s been an immediate reaction to a clear, imperative danger
He does not apply for bail, and the case is adjourned until November 13.
15 arrests in beheading plot
Australian counterterror officials arrest 15 people alleged to be involved in a plot to carry out beheadings of random people kidnapped off the streets in Sydney and Brisbane. The raids of more than a dozen properties across 12 Sydney suburbs by around 800 federal and state police officers are Australia’s biggest ever operation.
Terror plot: police sweep Sydney
After receiving intelligence of an Islamic State supporter plot, Australian police perform a sweeping raid to stop potential public executions. The operation thus far is the largest anti-terrorism in history, making use of 800 police and with the aid of intelligence officers from the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. Charges set against two suspects and 15 people are under arrest. The investigation continues even with nine detainees let go. Two suspect woman must appear before the court system. Citizens complain about the raids. Informing reporters, the Prime Minister justifies the raids. Abbot:
The exhortations, quite direct exhortations, were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country. So this is not just suspicion, this is intent and that’s why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have.
Turkey provides ISIS recruits
At least 1,000 Turks join the Islamic State over a period of time. The extremist group especially attracts disgruntled, disadvantaged youths with the enticement of money. Turkish fighters also identify more favorably with ISIS governance versus Turkish governance. A rickety district known as Hacibayram that is a tourist attraction serves as a recruitment center for potential fighters to Syria. Stein:
There are clearly recruitment centers being set up in Ankara and elsewhere in Turkey, but the government doesn’t seem to care. It seems their hatred for Bashar al-Assad and their overly nuanced view of what radical Islam is has led to a very short and narrow-sighted policy that has serious implications.
The United States places considerable pressure on President Recept Tayyip Erdogan to better police the Turkey border connecting with Syria. Turkey refuses to take measures countering ISIS, upsetting American officials.
Executes eight Sunnis
ISIS executes eight people in a Sunni village over the course of two days. An eyewitness says that on Friday night a pair of masked ISIS gunmen openly murdered a police officer in al-Jumasah village, 75 miles north of Tikrit, after accusing him of spying for the Kurdish and Iraqi military forces. They gather residents in the village square to watch the execution:
Islamic State members said that this is the fate of anyone who opposes them. They presented as evidence CDs and copies of the man’s correspondences with the security forces.
A small group of villagers opens fire on the house of an ISIS officer after the policeman’s killing. On Saturday morning, 10 Islamic State cars drive around al-Jumasah with two masked informants who help identify 10 people suspected of attacking the ISIS member’s house. On Saturday evening, three are released and seven others – all but one relatives of the slain policeman – are executed.
Haines executed, Henning threatened
ISIS releases a video showing the execution of British aid worker David Cawthorne Haines. In the video, titled ‘A Message To The Allies of America’, Haines is shown kneeling on a bare hillside under the open sky in a landscape that appears identical to those where journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley were executed. He reads from a script:
I would like to declare that I hold you, David Cameron, entirely responsible for my execution. You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State. Unfortunately, it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament’s selfish decisions.
A black-clad executioner then issues a threat against another British hostage, a man identified as Alan Henning. The man’s voice and his distinctive London accent are similar to those of the same person who appeared in the videotaped executions of Sotloff and Foley. He threatens Prime Minister David Cameron:
If you, Cameron, persist in fighting the Islamic State, then you, like your master Obama, will have the blood of your people on your hands.
He says that the Western allies have no chance of winning:
Your evil alliance with America which continues to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently bombed the Haditha Dam will only accelerate your destruction and playing the role of the obedient lapdog Cameron, will only drag you and your people into another bloody and unwinnable war.
Raises terror threat to ‘High’
Australia raises its terror threat level to High from Medium at the advice of the Australian Secret Intelligence Organization (ASIO), indicating that an attack is considered ‘likely’ but not imminent.
Abbott:
We have no specific intelligence of a particular plot. What we do have is that there are people with the intent and capability to mount attacks.
Jeddah Communique
The leaders of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and the Gulf Cooperation Council – the alliance of Sunni Arab Gulf nations that includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE – sign a document called the stating that they have formally Obama’s coalition against ISIS (full text here). The Jeddah Communique:
The ministers representing states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and the United States declared their shared commitment to stand united against the threat posed by all terrorism, including the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), to the region and the world … The participants resolved to strengthen their support for the new Iraqi Government in its efforts to unite all Iraqis in combatting ISIL and discussed a strategy to destroy ISIL wherever it is, including in both Iraq and Syria.
Severed head photo
Sharrouf tweets a photo apparently showing his seven-year-old son holding the decapitated head of a Syrian soldier. Caption:
That’s my boy
In the photographs featuring Sharrouf and his son the heads are blackened and bloated, having been dead for a week.
Mass grave found
A mass grave is found in Nineveh province northwest of Mosul, and is assumed to contain the bodies of prisoners executed by ISIS. Security official:
The residents in the city of Ahmidat, 34 km northwest of al-Mosul, have found a mass grave containing the remains of 400 unidentified bodies, presumably belong to those of whom were executed by firing squads at the prison of Badush [in] June.
CIA: ISIS has 20,000 – 31,500 fighters
The CIA estimates that ISIS has between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria. It was initially estimated there were as many as 10,000 fighters, including those who were freed from prisons by ISIS, and Sunni loyalists who have joined the fight as the group advanced across Iraq.
This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate, greater battlefield activity, and additional intelligence.
Austrian girls detained
Austrian authorities detain two girls attempting to leave the country to join extremist groups in the Middle East. The girls are aged 16 and 14, and their parents are apparently of Iraqi origin. They are caught when the mother of a third friend who was supposed to be traveling with them becomes suspicious about the amount of luggage her daughter is packing. Police are now hoping to find out how they became radicalised, and whether anybody helped them plan their trip to Syria via Turkey.
Identified as top ISIS member
An investigation by ABC’s 7:30 program identifies 33-year-old Mohammad Ali Baryalei from Sydney as Australia’s most senior ISIS member. Baryalei is from an aristocratic Afghan family that came to Australia as refugees as a child, and has worked as a security guard in King’s Cross and made a brief appearance as an extra on the true crime show Underbelly. Police say that in 2013 he traveled to Syria to fight with extremist groups and has since become the top recruiter of Australians to ISIS, involved in its operational command in Syria and Iraq as a facilitator for Australians traveling to join jihad. Baryalei in an intercepted phone call with his handler in Sydney:
Four brothers coming this week. They are leaving Australia. Going to try to get them by the weekend. Abu Qaqa is the tall one that was doing Dawah with you. … The brothers yesterday, they were crying, affected, none of them wanted to stay in this country one second.
Twitter employees threatened
A Twitter account believed to represent the Jerusalem-based radical group Al Nusra Al Maqdisia (The Supporters of Jerusalem), which has pledged allegiance to ISIS and claims to have represented the group in the 2014 Gaza conflict, threatens Twitter employees with assassination. Twitter user @dawlamoon uses a hashtag that translates to #The_Concept_of_Lone_Wolf_Attacks to make the threats on the platform’s Arabic service:
The time has arrived to respond to Twitter’s management by directly attacking their employees and physically assassinating them!! Those who will carry this out are the sleepers cells of death.
Twitter has suspended @dawlamoon and says it is investigating the threats.
Kills 17 Sunnis
ISIS kills at least 17 Sunni tribesmen in an apparent revenge attack. The group deploys an explosives-laden Humvee – apparently captured from the Iraqi military – at an entrance to the town of Dhuluiya, about 50 miles north of Baghdad. Some of the district’s most prominent Sunni tribes, including the Al-Jabour, have been openly fighting the Sunni extremists of ISIS for the last two months.