Army retakes Lebanese town
The Lebanese military enters the border town of Arsal and redeploys in security checkpoints following the withdrawal of militants affiliated with ISIS and Al Qaeda branch the Al-Nusra Front who held the town for five days. Thirty-five military vehicles, including two tanks, drive through the northeastern town in the afternoon, heading for the Aqabat al-Mebyaah Army post in Wadi al-Hosn, overtaken on the first day of fighting, as well as Sayadeye and other posts.
Suspected ISIS militant detained
A Brooklyn judge orders 44-year-old Donald Ray Morgan to be held without bail as the court hears whether he is an ISIS member or has provided material support to the organization. Part of the evidence comprises tweets that he published under the alias Abu Omar al Amreeki during an eight-month stay in Lebanon, swearing allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and referring to himself as a ‘jihadi.’ Arrested at Kennedy Airport on his return to the U.S. and indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm, he is also accused of brokering deals for military-grade weapons and ammunition in his home state of North Carolina. Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Nadia Moore:
It’s possible that he traffics in guns to people in this organization (ISIS)
Judge:
[His tweets] clearly implied to me that he is trying to go to Syria or Iraq as the next step and trying to be actively engaged.
19 Lebanese soldiers dead
The Lebanese military confirms that 19 soldiers have died in its battle against ISIS and Al Qaeda affiliate the Al-Nusra Front for the border town of Arsal. At least 60 militants are also dead. Army statement on the most recent death:
Cpl. Suheil Mohammad Dannawi, born in 1987 in Tripoli, north Lebanon, was killed in the battle waged by the Army against terrorist groups in the area of Arsal.
Unidentified group kidnaps female aid workers
The Italian foreign ministry confirms that two female aid workers have been kidnapped in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. It says contact with Greta Ramelli, 20, and Vanessa Marzullo, 21, is currently ‘impossible.’ Il Foglio newspaper journalist Daniele Raineri of is reported to have been taken hostage along with them but managed to escape, and says that they were abducted on Aug. 1 and taken to the town of El Ismo, west of Aleppo, where they were transported to the home of the head of the local ‘Revolutionary Council’. The kidnappers have yet to be identified but investigators are quoted as saying they believe it is a group that has previously taken Western journalists and activists hostage.
UN blacklist
The United Nations Security Council places six members of ISIS and the al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, on a blacklist in a move intended to weaken the groups. The council unanimously votes to adopt the resolution. (Full details here.) Mark Lyall Grant, UK ambassador to the UN:
We have watched in horror their brutal actions. They are deliberately targeting civilians.
Airstrikes kill 31 militants
Syrian fighter jets unleash more than two dozen airstrikes on the ISIS stronghold city of Raqqa, killing at least 31 militants and wounding dozens more. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 26 strikes hit ISIS-controlled buildings, including the military court and bases in the city. Sources say that at least six civilians are killed and 10 injured in the bombing campaign, which has now lasted five days. Raqqa resident:
About 30 percent of the strikes hit the Islamic State positions, the rest hit civilian areas
Captures Japanese ‘mercenary’
ISIS captures and interrogates Japanese national Haruna Yukawa, believed to be operating as a mercenary in Aleppo, Syria. Youtube video apparently shows Yukawa identifying himself under interrogation at knifepoint by ISIS militants speaking English with British accents, and stating that he is a journalist and doctor. Reports show that his name matches that of the chief executive of a self-described mercenary firm, and a Facebook posting appears to identify him as the chief executive of a Japanese security outfit named Private Military Company.
Teen girls arrested for jihad plans
France arrests two girls aged 17 and 15 in Lyon, Rhone, and Tarbes in the Hautes-Pyrenees for alleged involvement in jihad. The arrests form part of a broader enquiry into jihadism in the country. Around 900 French citizens are implicated in jihad – meaning that they have either taken part in a conflict, plan to participate in one, or are returning from one. Both girls are reported to have been planning to travel to Syria to join militant activities there. Paris-based international security consultant Samuel Laurent:
Obviously this is proof of how appealing caliphate ideology is for French and European citizens
Austria arrests nine terror suspects
Austria arrests nine people suspected of intending to join Islamic groups in Syria. The suspects are reported to be under questioning and a decision is pending on whether to place them in investigative custody. Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner:
There can only be a zero tolerance policy against jihadists. Those who themselves trample on tolerance cannot expect us to tolerate that.
Failed Special Forces rescue
A Pentagon spokesman says dozens of elite U.S. Special Forces commandos from units like Delta Force and Seal Team 6 flew into Syria aboard helicopters during the summer in a mission to rescue ISIS captives including Global Post journalist James Foley, but were unable to locate the hostages. Rear Adm. John Kirby:
Unfortunately, the mission was not successful because the hostages were not present at the targeted location
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.
Released
Curtis is handed over to UN peacekeepers in Quneitra in the Golan Heights after nearly two years in captivity by the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front. He is turned over to U.S. officials after undergoing a health check. Video footage shows Curtis looking disheveled with long hair and a beard but apparently in good health. He reads a prepared script stating that he is a journalist from Boston, Mass., and says of his current circumstances:
Everything has been perfect, food, clothing, even friends now.
War crimes
United Nations investigators say that both Damascus and ISIS have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity:
Violence has bled over the borders of the Syrian Arab republic, with extremism fuelling the conflict’s heightened brutality.
A 45-page report released in Geneva says that the government has dropped barrel bombs on civilian areas, including some believed to contain chlorine, while deaths in custody are rising and analysis of photographs taken in government detention centres reinforces ‘longstanding findings of systematic torture and deaths of detainees,’ including fighting-age men allegedly arrested during forced truces. It says ISIS has used amputations, public execution-style killings and whippings to instill terror in areas under its control, as well as ‘acts tantamount to enforced disappearance and forced displacement as part of attacks on the civilian population in Aleppo and Raqqa provinces.’
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.
15 Australian militants dead
Australia’s intelligence chief says at least 15 Australian fighters have been killed in Iraq and Syria, including two suicide bombers:
The draw of foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq is significant and includes more Australians than any other previous extremist conflicts put together
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) believes the number of citizens posing a potential security threat has increased substantially:
ASIO believes there are about 60 or so Australians fighting with the two principal extremist Al-Qaeda derivatives, Jahabat-al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq.
‘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.
Military options focus on Iraq
Obama says that while he has asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey for ‘a range of options’ for confronting ISIS, military plans are currently limited to protecting U.S. personnel in Iraq and do not extend to action in Syria. To reporters:
Our core priority right now is just to make sure our folks are safe
American ISIS fighter killed
American national Douglas McArthur McCain is killed fighting for ISIS against the al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, in the suburbs of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. He is believed to be the first U.S. citizen killed while fighting for the group, also known as Islamic State.
Second American ISIS fighter may be dead
U.S. authorities are investigating a claim by a coalition of Syrian opposition groups that they have killed an American national during fighting with kharijites, or extremists. The statement is an apparent reference to fighting several days earlier between ISIS and the coalition, which is made up of fighters from the Free Syrian Army, Syrian Al Qaeda branch al-Nusra Front, as well as smaller militant factions. If true, the unnamed militant would be the second American ISIS fighter confirmed killed in battle, after the U.S. government said that Florida native Douglas MacArthur McCain also died in the fighting over the weekend.
Texan pleads guilty to terror support
Texas native Michael Todd Wolfe, also known as Faruq, pleads guilty to ‘attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.’ Wolfe was caught in an FBI sting as he sought a contact to help him enter Syria and join ISIS. A court complaint describes how he and his wife watched a video of ISIS activities with an FBI agent posing as a contact:
While watching the video, Wolfe occasionally stopped the video to explain the current allegiances of the various groups fighting in Syria. They include ISIS, al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, the Free Syria Army, and Dawla