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.
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.
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.’
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Offer prisoner swap
ISIS fighters offer a prisoner swap of 19 Lebanese soldiers captured in their assault on the border town of Arsal in exchange for Islamist detainees, including Imad Ahmad Joma, previously affiliated with Al Qaeda branch Al-Nusra Front but now aligned with ISIS. A militant:
It is simple: their soldiers for the Islamic hostages.
42 Lebanese civilians dead
A medical official says 42 civilians have died while over 400 are wounded in clashes between the military and fighters from ISIS and Al Qaeda branch the Al-Nusra Front for control of the border town of Arsal. Lebanese Red Cross official Abdullah Zogheib says medics have evacuated 42 wounded people after the rebels retreat, mostly women and children:
Most of them had very serious wounds. They had been shot by bullets, some in the head, and there were amputees from shell fire
Withdraws from Lebanese town
Syrian fighters affiliated with ISIS and Al Qaeda branch the Al-Nusra Front withdraw from the Lebanese border town of Arsal at dawn. The militants take with them 10 soldiers and 17 policemen captured and held as hostages. A fighter:
They could be released later in stages
Releases soldiers
Syrian fighters release three soldiers captured during the assault on the Lebanese border town of Arsal, bringing the total number of soldiers released to five. The group says it is still holding 10 soldiers and 17 policemen. The rebels are reported to pledge allegiance to both ISIS and the Al Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
Ceasefire in Lebanese town
ISIS and the Lebanese military agree a 24-hour ceasefire in the border town of Arsal from 1600 GMT to allow a mediator to investigate the fate of 22 soldiers believed to be abducted by ISIS and help evacuate civilians. A security source says the army position came under fire shortly after the truce started but that it is still intact.
It is like a humanitarian ceasefire … Clashes erupted but now they have ended. The ceasefire is still on, it did not collapse. What happened was to be expected due to differences between the fighters