Backs anti-ISIS measures
House Speaker Boehner, R-Ohio, tells Obama he will back aggressive measures against ISIS including improving the Iraqi army and training and arming moderate Syrian opposition groups. The expression of support comes during a briefing by Obama of Boehner and the other three congressional leaders — House Minority Leader Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Reid, D-Nev. and Senate Minority Leader McConnell, R-Ky. A Boehner aide:
[Boehner] would support the president if he chose to deploy the military to help train and play an advisory role for the Iraqi Security Forces and assist with lethal targeting of [ISIS leaders]
Sources: Prepared for Syria strikes
Obama is prepared to expand airstrikes to Syria in order to combat ISIS and does not believe that he needs approval from Congress, people who participated in talks on the issue say. They say Obama discussed his plans at a White House dinner with a bipartisan group of foreign policy experts and said he has authorization that striking the group on both sides of the Iraqi border to protect U.S. national security. Center for a New American Security CEO and former undersecretary of defense Michèle Flournoy:
This is not an organization that respects international boundaries. You cannot leave them with a safe haven. . . . I expect him to be very candid.
…essentially operating in a virtual safe haven in Syria. That’s a dangerous situation.
Arrests foreign ISIS suspects
Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli says authorities have arrested three foreign nationals traveling through Iran who are suspected of seeking to join ISIS in Iraq. He says the suspected militants are of Afghan and Pakistani origin. He doesn’t specify when the arrests occurred.
There is no space in Iran for terrorist groups. Iranian security forces and the people living near the border are aware of the dangers.
Australia: 62% support Iraq involvement
A poll of 1207 Australians for The Australian newspaper finds that 62% of voters support the action taken so far in Iraq by the Abbott government, consisting of humanitarian aid drops of food, water and hygiene packs by the Royal Australian Air Force, as well as shipments of weapons and ammunition to anti-ISIS groups. It finds that 25% of voters are opposed and 13% are uncommitted. The Newspoll survey finds that 70% of men support the action and 18% oppose it, while among women the split is 54% in favour and 31% against. It finds that 75% of supporters of Abbott’s Liberal-National coalition favour the government’s action while 19% oppose it. It says that 53% of Labour opposition voters support the action and 31% oppose it.
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.
‘Uses U.S. weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia’
A report by the London-based Conflict Armament Research small-arms research organization says ISIS is using U.S. weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to moderate Syrian groups. The study documented weapons seized by Kurdish forces from ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria over a 10-day period in July. The organization says ISIS disposed of ‘significant quantities’ of U.S.-made small arms including M16 assault rifles. It includes photos of ‘Property of U.S. Govt’ markings on the weapons. It also finds that anti-tank rockets used by ISIS in Syria are ‘identical to M79 rockets transferred by Saudi Arabia to forces operating under the Free Syrian Army umbrella in 2013.’ The rockets were made in Yugoslavia in the 1980s.
Executioner ‘known to MI5’
The British militant believed to be responsible for the beheadings of Foley and Sotloff is reported to have been known to MI5 before he left the country. He was considered a low-risk target as he worked as a street collector raising funds for legitimate Arab charities. Doubt remains as to whether the British voice on the execution videos – belonging to the ISIS militant called ‘John’ by former captives, as part of a group of four British militants nicknamed ‘The Beatles’ – is that of the person who carried out the killings. It is also suspected that some parts of the videos, including Sotloff’s apparent message to America before he is killed, were faked, however ‘John’ is one of the most wanted among hundreds of UK fighters believed to be operating in Syria and Iraq. A source:
MI5 has identified this man and they have known exactly who he is for some time. He was even being looked at before he travelled abroad. At the time he was considered a very low-level risk because he was merely believed to be making street collections. Like so many jihadists before him, he then seems to have become radicalised almost overnight and disappeared to travel to the Middle East.
The man is thought to have traveled to the Middle East around a year ago, and became battlehardened within months.
Protect vulnerable from ISIS
The UN’s new High Commissioner for Human Rights says in his first speech in the role that ISIS is seeking to build a bloody legacy, and protecting women and children from the group must be a priority. Prince Zeid of Jordan:
Do they believe they are acting courageously? Barbarically slaughtering captives? … They reveal only what a Takfiri state would look like, should this movement actually try to govern in the future. It would be a harsh, mean-spirited, house of blood, where no shade would be offered, nor shelter given, to any non-Takfiri in their midst.
He calls on Iraq’s new government and prime minister to consider joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure accountability for crimes committed in the country:
In particular, dedicated efforts are urgently needed to protect religious and ethnic groups, children – who are at risk of forcible recruitment and sexual violence – and women, who have been the targets of severe restrictions.
Denies ‘mission creep’
The White House denies that the expansion of airstrikes in Iraq means it is engaging in ‘mission creep,’ saying that the mission parameters remain to provide humanitarian aid and protect U.S. personnel and facilities. Press Secretary Josh Earnest responds to questions about weekend strikes around the Haditha dam to support anti-ISIS fighters:
The way that it’s been described to me is that there is a threat that if ISIL decided to destroy the Haditha Dam that it could threaten or would threaten the airport downstream from the dam.
To expand airstrikes
The U.S. government is considering a major expansion of airstrikes in Iraq to target ISIS’s logistics hubs and supply lines in operations intended to help the new government retake lost territory. The air campaign has so far been confined to categories such as protecting U.S. personnel in the northern city of Erbil, humanitarian relief operations and defending key infrastructure from ISIS. Obama plans to greenlight ‘sovereignty strikes’ intended to support operations by Iraqi security forces, Kurdish defense fighters and other groups fighting against ISIS. A defense official:
The strikes would support Iraqi forces on the ground and help them take back territory. It opens the aperture.
Officials say the recent strikes aimed at supporting pro-government forces around the Haditha dam – which bring the total number of airstrikes conducted to 143 – are part of the expanded remit for U.S. air power, which is being conducted in line with a growing list of requests from Baghdad as the U.S. seeks to support the new government in diminishing sectarian tensions.
Airstrikes push militants back from dam
A total of five airstrikes by U.S. forces succeed in pushing ISIS militants back from an assault on the Haditha dam in Anbar province. The militants had sought to seize the water supply in order to expand their control in the province and gain a strategic staging point for assaults elsewhere in the country. Pro-government paramilitary leader Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha:
They were very accurate. There was no collateral damage … If Islamic State had gained control of the dam, many areas of Iraq would have been seriously threatened, even Baghdad
The Pentagon says the strikes destroyed four ISIS Humvees, four armed vehicles – two of which were carrying antiaircraft artillery – a fighting position, one command post and a defensive fighting position. All aircraft left the strike areas safely.
Suicide bombs kill nine Sunnis
Two suicide bombings kill at least nine people and leave 70 wounded in the northern Iraqi Sunni town of Dhuluiya, which has been under siege by ISIS for more than two months. A suicide bomber in a seized military Humvee strikes a dirt berm built to reinforce the southern part of the town around 9 a.m. local time (0200 EDT), clearing the way for a second suicide bomber in another Humvee to drive into the center of the town and strike the market area. Dhuluiya journalist Shaalan al-Jibouri:
In the name of humanity we call on President Obama, who says they are the protectors of humanity — where are your planes, your missiles? Why this terrorism, why are our children being killed, our homes destroyed? We call on the American people to pressure their government to help us.
Source: Journalists’ killer identified
U.S. and UK authorities have identified the ISIS militant believed to have carried out the executions of Sotloff and Foley, and are expected to announce the identity of the man referred to as ‘John’ within days. Investigators have also identified two of the other men that make up the group of four Syria-based British ISIS militants referred to by former captives as ‘The Beatles,’ and an FBI team working with Scotland Yard is closing in on 12 people suspected of forming John’s support network, including assisting him to travel to Syria. A source:
It has been a coordinated effort to track down the support network around the British Islamic State executioner. Our inquiries have given us leads across the country. We are 99.9% certain now as to who ‘John’ is but investigators have had to tread softly in charting and approaching his wider network in the UK.
The source says an announcement is imminent:
This approach has been successful in helping to collate evidence and possibly pinpoint the target’s location in Syria. Familiar names of what can only be described as hardened extremists with a jihadi background have cropped up in this investigation. I expect an official announcement disclosing the executioner’s identity will be made in the coming days and it is only a matter of time before we bring him in.
Airstrikes kill 53
Airstrikes by the Syrian military targeting ISIS in its stronghold city of Raqa kill at least 53 people. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman:
We have documented the deaths of 31 civilians, among them five women and three children, in Raqa and its surroundings.
Another 15 militants are confirmed dead in a string of eight air strikes, as well as seven other unidentified people. Eight of the civilian victims are from one family.
Will announce ISIS strategy
Obama says he will announce details in a speech on the U.S. strategy for tackling the threat of ISIS:
What I’m going to be asking the American people to understand is, number one, this is a serious threat. Number two, we have the capacity to deal with it.
The strategy won’t include boots on the ground in Syria but will focus on cooperation with ‘regional partners’ like Iraqi and Kurdish forces and Syrian rebel troops to degrade ISIS’s capacities.
This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war …Over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum of ISIS. We are going to systematically degrade their capabilities. We’re going to shrink the territory that they control. And that’s how we’re going to defeat them.
He says there is no immediate intelligence indicating the group – also known as Islamic State – is planning attacks on U.S. soil, but that if it continues to recruit foreign fighters, it could pose a domestic threat. The U.S. also needs to be aware of ISIS’s social media capacity and its ability to recruit via the internet. Ultimately, the strategy will include going after ISIS targets:
The strategy both for Iraq and for Syria is that we will hunt down ISIS members and assets wherever they are. I will reserve the right to always protect the American people and go after folks who are trying to hurt us wherever they are.
‘Shariah police force’
British female recruits are believed to be running a Shariah police force in the ISIS stronghold city of Raqaa. The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), based in King’s College in London, says Glasgow native Aqsa Mahmood, 20, is believed to be a key figure in the all-female al-Khanssaa brigade. She is linked via internet postings under her username Umm Layth to several other British women, whose identities are unknown but who go by the social media usernames Umm Haritha, Umm Ubaydiah and Umm Waqqas. All are believed to be associated with the about al-Khanssaa brigade, which pays its members about 25,000 Syrian pounds a month, or around $162, to enforce Shariah dress codes and examine people wearing burkhas to make sure that they are women and not enemy fighters in disguise. Another four British women are said to have expressed interest in joining the brigade. ICSR researcher:
Al-Khanssaa is a sharia law police brigade. This is Isil’s female law enforcement. We think it’s a mixture of British and French women but its social media accounts are run by the British and they are written in English … The British women are some of the most zealous in imposing the IS laws in the region. I believe that’s why at least four of them have been chosen to join the women police force.
Arab League statement
The 22-member Arab League says that it will join the fight against ISIS, taking all necessary security measures and cooperating with international and regional efforts to combat the group. Secretary-general Nabil el-Araby:
What is needed is a clear decision for a comprehensive confrontation, militarily and politically.
He says the plan includes accepting international intervention:
While some Arab states object to allowing the Arab League to intervene in their internal crises, the floodgates are opened to foreign intervention, including militarily.
He also calls for the activation of an Arab defence treaty to allow for military action when needed, suggesting that military action could take place under the umbrella of an Arab League joint defense pact.
Recruits in South Asia
Islamist leaders and security officials say ISIS is recruiting in Pakistan, India and Kashmir including in territories considered Taliban and Al Qaeda strongholds. Ehsanullah Ehsan, the leader of Pakistani group Jamat-ul Ahrar and a prominent Taliban figure:
IS (Islamic State) is an Islamic Jihadi organisation working for the implementation of the Islamic system and creation of the Caliphate. We respect them. If they ask us for help, we will look into it and decide.
ISIS is considered more attractive to younger radicals in South Asia, who see the Taliban as ineffective. A Pakistani security official says ISIS have apparently conducted recruiting activities in a Peshawar neighbourhood, including distributing jihadist materials brought in from Afghanistan:
Pakistani security agencies are working on the Pakistan-Afghan border and have arrested a number of Taliban fighters and recovered CDs, maps, literature in Persian, Pashto and Dari. We will not permit them to work in our country and anyone who is involved in this will be crushed by the government.
An official in Kashmir says the group are taking advantage of anti-India sentiment to recruit local youth:
The majority of them have no religious bent of mind. Some of them, less than 1 percent, of course are religious and radicalised and end up joining militant ranks. They are influenced by al Qaeda, Taliban, Islamic State.
Member has ties to Cambridge, MA, mosque
0 CommentsOne of the top propaganda people for ISIS, Ahmad Abousamra, was a regular attendee of the Islamic Society of Boston, which runs the mosque the Boston Marathon bombers attended. His father is a doctor who sat on the board of the Muslim organization that runs the mosque. He stepped down from the position when the FBI began to question him about his son. The FBI believes Abousamra now operates ISIS’s media and promotes the group’s beheadings and other atrocities by posting the videos on the internet. The English-language propaganda campaigns are said to have helped attract thousands of Western jihadists, including at least 300 Americans. While attending colleges in Boston, Abousamra attended training in Yemin and Pakistan to learn how to kill Americans. According to an affidavit from a Boston FBI agent, Abousamra felt justified killing civilians because “they paid taxes to support the government and were kufar [nonbelievers]”