Fijian peacekeepers captured
Syrian rebels including fighters from the al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s local affiliate, capture 43 Fijian peacekeeping troops from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights. A UN statement demands the ‘unconditional and immediate release of all the detained peacekeepers.’
‘Syria plans under development’
The White House clarifies a remark by Obama that ‘we don’t have a strategy yet’ on combating ISIS – also known as ISIL and Islamic State – in Syria, saying that he was referring to plans still under development by the Pentagon. Press Secretary Josh Earnest:
The president was asked a specific question about possible military action in Syria against ISIL, and he was explicit that he is still waiting for plans that are being developed by the Pentagon for military options against ISIL in Syria. But when it comes to confronting ISIL in Iraq, the president has been very clear for months about what our comprehensive strategy is.
Second slain American fighter identified
Minneapolis native and father of nine Abdirahmaan Muhumed, 29, a Somali-American, has been confirmed as the second American citizen to die while fighting for ISIS. Two sources say the group has sent a picture of Muhumed’s body to his family. The State Department has yet to confirm his death. He is believed to have died a week earlier in the same battle as Douglas McArthur McCain, the first American citizen confirmed killed fighting for ISIS, who is reported to have also grown up near Minneapolis. Facebook messages with a journalist before leaving for Syria earlier in the year:
Family is not gonna save me frm [sic] hell fire because muslims are getting kill[ed] and if I just sit here i will be ask in the [hereafter].
A Jan. 2 Facebook posting:
I give up this worldy life for Allah.
‘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.
Filippino peacekeepers surrounded
Syrian rebels surround 75 peacekeepers from the Philippines at two UN posts in the Golan Heights. Their commander in Manila, Col. Robert Ancan:
We can use deadly force in defence of the UN facilities. I [would] just like to emphasise our troops are well-armed, they are well-trained … they are well-disciplined warrior peacekeepers.
The rebels include fighters from Syrian Al Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front. Ancan says they have used an English-speaking Fijian, one of a group of peacekeepers from Fiji captured earlier in the week, to relay demands to the Filippinos to lay down their weapons.
Fijian peacekeepers talks underway
Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe (Frank) Bainarama says talks are underway to free the 43 Fijian UN Disengagement Observer Force peacekeeping troops captured by rebels in the Golan Heights:
I want to assure the families of the soldiers we are doing everything possible to secure their safe return. The latest information we have is that they are safe and I can say now that the negotiations for their release have already begun.
Bainimarama says Fiji is ‘united as a nation in praying for their safe return.’
Rebels take border crossing
A Youtube video shows a group of rebels including fighters from Al Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front taking over the Quneitra border crossing on the Syrian side of the border with Israel after a battle with Assad regime forces. A fighter:
We are Al-Nusra fighters. We’ve just liberated the Syrian-Zionist crossing of Quneitra
In the footage, a black al-Nusra banner is seen flying in place of a Syrian flag in the border town, which is visibly damaged by the battle.
Raises terror threat level
The UK raises its terror threat level to Severe from Substantial, meaning that an attack is ‘highly likely’ although may not be imminent. Home secretary Theresa May:
[The decision is] related to developments in Syria and Iraq, where terrorist groups are planning attacks against the west
Severe is the fourth level in a five-tier system, one below Critical, which would indicate that an attack is imminent. This is the first time the level has been raised to Severe since July 11, 2011.
Acquires anti-aircraft weapons
ISIS has acquired an arsenal that includes state-of-the-art anti-aircraft guns that can shoot down modern warplanes and poses a significant threat to civilian flights. Prior to the group’s weekend capture of the Taqba airport, it had already seized a large amount of weapons from the Assad regime and fleeing Iraqi forces that includes top-shelf mortars, APCs and even several M1A1 Abrams main battlefield tanks, but its surface-to-air capability was limited to ageing, subpar equipment. However, more recent propaganda photos show militants holding standard-issue carbines and Russian-made Kalashnikov AK-47 replicas, a staple of Middle Eastern armed groups for decades, alongside Russian SA-24 Grinch manpads (man-portable air defence system) captured from the airfield. An American diplomat involved in monitoring Islamist groups:
There is a need to assess the air-defence capabilities of ISIS and also the capabilities of President Assad’s forces. But, I would like to stress that no decision has yet been made on whether to extend the operations in Iraq to Syria
The group is known to have Soviet, Polish and Bulgarian ZU23-2 and ZU23-4 anti-aircraft guns and American low altitude FIM92 Stinger manpads, and has used GSHK heavy-machine guns against the Assad regime’s attack helicopters to great effect, although they are not much use against high-flying fast jets. These are now thought to be augmented by Chinese FN-6 manpads that can hit targets at 11,000 feet and SA-16 Gimlet manpads, with effective range of 16,000 feet which were supplied in large quantities to the regime.
IS fighters have captured SA-16 MANPADS, AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles & MiG-21B jets in #Tabaqa Airbase, #Raqqa. #Syria pic.twitter.com/c33TB56XdL
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) August 24, 2014
More than 3 million refugees
The UNHCR reports that more than three million Syrians are now registered as refugees. It says that with almost half of all Syrians displaced from their homes, the war is…
… the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era.
One in every eight Syrians has fled across the border into Lebanon, and a further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria. More than half of those displaced are children. The number of registered Syrian refugees has increased from two million just under a year ago.
14-year-old ‘jihadi’ girl arrested
French authorities arrest a 14-year-old girl in the western city of Quimper on suspicion that she is planning to conduct jihad in Syria. She is moved to Paris to be questioned by an anti-terror judge on possible connections to the disappearance of another 14-year-old girl from the Paris area in June, as part of an enquiry that has also led to the arrests of a 15-year-old and 17-year old girl a week earlier.
The Independent commentary
Miliband writes in The Independent that a multilateral approach is needed to tackle ISIS, including convening an international summit under the auspices of the United Nations, with the UK taking a leading role in engaging international partners on the issue, including more stable regimes such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran, which he says are under threat from ISIS’s plans to expand its self-declared caliphate:
This multilateral strategy should have a number of objectives: to tackle the root causes of support for ISIS from within Iraq; to starve them of backing from outside; to bring regional powers together for a lasting political settlement and greater stability; and to provide humanitarian help to those facing the horrific consequences of this conflict.
He says that Britain faces risks at home including the threat of returning radicalized militants and should reform a Home Office program aimed at dealing with such threats, including potentially strengthening policy on control orders – now known as Terrorism Protection and Investigation Measures, or TPIMs – that allow the government to act against suspects who cannot be charged or deported. While there is some role for the U.S. military, neither it or the UK should put boots on the ground – and the UK should avoid unilateralism at all costs:
The events of this summer have underlined how turning our back on the complexities and instability of the Middle East is not an option. But we must also show Britain has learnt the lessons of our recent history with an approach based on a genuine multilateralism, working with others to build alliances across continents against Isis and their ideology.
Philippine troops attacked
Philippine peacekeeping troops trapped in the Golan Heights are attacked by rebels. Philippine Defence Minister Voltaire Gazmin says the attacks started early Saturday on 40 peacekeepers at a UN post in the area. He doesn’t give details of casualties. The attackers are thought to include fighters from the al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria.
UN: Fijian peacekeepers ‘safe’
The UN says the 44 Fijian peacekeepers captured by Syrian rebels are safe and that it has been informed they were abducted by the rebels including fighters from Al Qaeda affiliate the al-Nusra Front for security reasons. A statement:
The United Nations has received assurances from credible sources that the 44 peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) who were taken from their position on the morning of Thursday, 28 August, are safe and in good health
It says it has not had direct contact with the troops.
UNDOF has been informed that the intention behind those holding the peacekeepers was to remove them from an active battlefield to a safe area for their own protection
Beheads Lebanese soldier
ISIS beheads a Lebanese soldier, one of 19 captured in an assault on the border town of Arsal aimed at freeing captured Syrian rebel commander Imad Ahmad Jomaa. The soldier, recognizable as Ali al-Sayyed, a Sunni Muslim from north Lebanon, is shown blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back, writhing and kicking the dusty ground while a militant announces he will be killed. Another militant then beheads him.
Whereabouts of Fijians unknown
A senior Fiji military official confirms that the whereabouts of 44 kidnapped Fijian UN Disengagement Observation Force peacekeepers remains unknown, although the UN has received assurances they are in good health. Brigadier Mosese Tikoitoga to reporters in Suva after speaking to the UN team negotiating for their release:
Their whereabouts at this stage, unfortunately, I cannot confirm. They confirmed that our men are safe and they are all well. (But) they have been moved to a location out of the bombardment range of any security forces or the Syrian security forces. It is out of the UN territory. But again it’s the word of the group. We’ve got no verification whatsoever, no communication but we’re only relaying the message that was delivered to us by the negotiators.
‘Dead letter box’ system
British nationals use a sophisticated ‘dead letter’ email system to smuggle their way into Iraq and Syria to join ISIS, with terrorist handlers employing ‘silent’ email addresses that do not actually send messages, but contain instructions in the Draft folder. Militants are then moved secretly across Europe and smuggled across the Turkish border to training camps in Syria. As many as 20 British nationals are believed to be waiting in safe houses or hotels for the all-clear to cross the border.
’42 children killed’
0 CommentsAt least 42 children have been killed in government air strikes and shelling across Syria over the last 36 hours as the government seeks to restore its control of the country. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says regime forces deployed weapons including barrel bombs, killing 17 children between Friday and Saturday night and a further 25 children between midnight on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
‘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.
Irish troops free Filipino peacekeepers
Irish UN Disengagement Observer Forces troops free a group of Filipino peacekeepers trapped by Syrian rebels including the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra front at two security posts in the Golan Heights. The Irish troops and Filipino troops both return fire when shot at by rebels during the rescue mission, in which most of the trapped Filipinos are extracted.
#Golan: There are no reported casualties amongst #UN personnel http://t.co/IvUQe2FGZC #UNDOF
— UN Peacekeeping (@UNPeacekeeping) August 30, 2014