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[Seductivpancakes]

Nice thread. I've just been getting my news from twitter but its easier to have a thread to keep track of news.

Is ISIS still in Syria? If they happen to be dislodge from Iraq, how difficult would it be to get them out of Syria? Would they have enough time to rebuild their forces in Syria?

 

[kmax]

Fuck Daesh

The only kind of videos I like related to them are these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IyEiH3vIVY

 

[davepoobond]

Nice thread. I've just been getting my news from twitter but its easier to have a thread to keep track of news.

Is ISIS still in Syria? If they happen to be dislodge from Iraq, how difficult would it be to get them out of Syria? Would they have enough time to rebuild their forces in Syria?

Syria is ISIS stronghold. Raqqa is their de facto capital. I think they have control of almost half of Syria or something. They are basically unchallenged there on the ground at the moment.

Air strikes are pretty much only degrading their ability to continue their campaign in Iraq

 

[Stereogatari]

Syria is ISIS stronghold. Raqqa is their de facto capital. I think they have control of almost half of Syria or something. They are basically unchallenged there on the ground at the moment.

Air strikes are pretty much only degrading their ability to continue their campaign in Iraq

What's Syrian army up to? Still struggling with Syrian rebels?

 

[davepoobond]

What's Syrian army up to? Still struggling with Syrian rebels?

Fuck if I know. I think they're too busy bombing civilians and other splinter rebel groups. They're also being careful not to step on ISIS' toes I would imagine. Last I read on the topic they had a détente of sorts. I can't imagine they are anywhere near having full scale battles

 

[Abinash117]

Keeping Iraq Unified Will Be Nearly Impossible

http://www.defenseone.com/threats/2015/03/keeping-iraq-unified-will-be-nearly-impossible/106914/


Advancing Iraq troops enter strategic town on edge of Tikrit
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/07/uk-mideast-crisis-iraq-idUKKBN0M21NI20150307

Iraqi government forces and Iran-backed militiamen entered a town on the southern outskirts of Saddam Hussein's home city Tikrit on Friday, pressing on with the biggest offensive yet against Islamic State militants that seized the north last year.

Military commanders said the army and mostly Shi'ite militia forces had retaken the town of al-Dour on Tikrit's outskirts, known outside Iraq as the area where executed former dictator Saddam was found hiding in a pit near a farm house in 2003.

It was not immediately clear if the town had entirely fallen. Some officials said the troops were still only in the south and east of the town, which had been rigged with bombs by retreating Islamic State fighters.

But Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the largest Shi'ite militia group taking part in the operation, said al-Dour had been "totally liberated" and that the advance on another key town north of Tikrit, al-Alam, would take place on Saturday.

The army, joined by thousands of Shi'ite militiamen backed and advised by Iran, is five days into an advance on Saddam's home city of Tikrit, by far the biggest target yet in a campaign to roll back last year's advance by Islamic State fighters.

Islamic State militants raze Iraq's ancient Hatra city: government

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/07/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-hatra-idUSKBN0M30GR20150307

Islamic State militants have destroyed ancient remains of the 2,000-year-old city of Hatra in northern Iraq, the tourism and antiquities ministry said on Saturday.

An official told Reuters that the ministry had received reports from its employees in the northern city of Mosul, which is under the control of the radical Islamist group, that the site at Hatra had been demolished on Saturday.

The official said it was difficult to confirm the reports and the ministry had not received any pictures showing the extent of the damage at Hatra, which was named a world heritage site in 1987.

 

[fantomena]

Boko Harams joins Daesh

1 of the worlds biggest shits joins another big shit and becomes together an even bigger shit.

Edit: Forgot source obvs: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31784538

 

[Gorger]

Boko Harams joins Daesh

1 of the worlds biggest shits joing another big shits and becomes an even bigger shit.

And this shit is now so gigantic and smelly I can even smell it from here.

But yeah, who can honestly be surprised?

 

[m_shortpants]

Bit odd huh:

For extremist muslims and all.

Ok, wtf. There is no Muslim on Earth who doesn't at least know you stand in a like facing the same direction...

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Ok, wtf. There is no Muslim on Earth who doesn't at least know you stand in a like facing the same direction...

I don't think anyone ever accused them of being sound in the execution of their purported religion.

 

[Sneaky Gato]

Ok, wtf. There is no Muslim on Earth who doesn't at least know you stand in a like facing the same direction...

I wonder... I have read that some old Sufi Pirs would have their students face them instead when they prayed. But that sort of mysticism doesn't seem in line with the anti innovation that Isis takes.

 

[goomba]

The west arm and support them in syria because they are trying to take out assad.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Boko Harams joins Daesh

1 of the worlds biggest shits joins another big shit and becomes together an even bigger shit.

Edit: Forgot source obvs: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31784538

Well... Maybe we'll start caring about the thousands slaughtered in Nigeria now? Another 58 dead today from Boko Haram.

The west arm and support them in syria because they are trying to take out assad.

What do you think about Sandy Hook.

 

[EricTheCleric]

Boko Harams joins Daesh

1 of the worlds biggest shits joins another big shit and becomes together an even bigger shit.

Edit: Forgot source obvs: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31784538

Daesh has a lot of money and a large support network so I am not surprised.

 

[iceatcs]

Boko Harams joins Daesh

1 of the worlds biggest shits joins another big shit and becomes together an even bigger shit.

Edit: Forgot source obvs: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31784538

Interesting, suspect that both could be dying hence why they are merge.

I can't imagine if Daesh ask more men from Boko Harams for Syria/Iraq. Boko Harams will be fucking piss off as they also losing lot of men, nearly 80% of them gone.

 

[Gorger]

Can we take the religious bashing elsewhere please? This is a mod sanctioned thread is to discuss ISIS news and updates. Lord knows we have plenty of OT threads to discuss Islam.

In my opinion it's a testament to how little Islamic Daesh really is.

 

[Abinash117]

Peshmerga say Canadian killed in Iraqi friendly-fire case was mistaken identity


http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...w-joseph-doiron-killed-in-iraq-isis-peshmerga

A Canadian special forces soldier has been killed in a friendly-fire incident after he and others ignored an order to stay in their car and showed up at the frontline unannounced, a spokesman for Iraq’s Kurdish forces has said.

The death on Friday of Sgt Andrew Joseph Doiron marked Canada’s first casualty as part of the US-led coalition’s war on Islamic State (Isis). Canadian officials could not be immediately reached for comment on Sunday on the peshmerga claim, though Canada’s defence minister previously acknowledged Doiron’s death came as a result of “a case of mistaken identity

Iraqi offensive sees success in fight on ISIS
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-loses-town-outside-tikrit-as-iraq-forces-put-squeeze-on-group/

REVEALED: The oil middleman between the Syrian regime and ISIS
http://www.businessinsider.com/revealed-the-oil-middleman-between-the-syrian-regime-and-isis-2015-3

A Syrian businessman described as the "middleman" for oil deals between ISIS and Bashar al-Assad's regime will be targeted for European Union sanctions on Saturday.

The listing of George Haswani, the owner of HESCO engineering company, sheds more light on financial links between Syria's regime and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS or Isil or Islamic State or Daiesh).

In public, the two belligerents claim to be sworn enemies. Isil has vowed to topple Mr Assad and transform Syria into an Islamic "Caliphate". But the rise of the jihadist movement has served Mr Assad's interests by allowing him to pose as an essential bulwark against Islamist terrorism.

Isil fighters captured the oilfields of eastern Syria in 2013. Since then, the regime is believed to have funded the jihadists by purchasing oil from Isil. But those links are understood to extend further than was previously thought. Instead of merely being a customer for Isil's oil, the regime is understood to be running some oil and gas installations jointly with the terrorist movement

ISIS and the Foreign-Fighter Phenomenon
http://www.theatlantic.com/internat.../isis-and-the-foreign-fighter-problem/387166/

Hijra is an Arabic word meaning “emigration,” evoking the Prophet Muhammad’s historic escape from Mecca, where assassins were plotting to kill him, to Medina. Abdullah Azzam, the father of the modern jihadist movement, defined hijra as departing from a land of fear to a land of safety, a definition he later amplified to include the act of leaving one’s land and family to take up jihad in the name of establishing an Islamic state. For most Islamic extremists today, the concepts of hijra and jihad are intimately linked.

A few months after the release of the Eid video, another ISIS production focused on the ISIS’s substantial foreign-fighter contingent in an entirely different way.

In a procession were a long line of at least 17 foreign fighters, many of them white-skinned Europeans, each guiding with his left hand a prisoner identified as a Syrian soldier. Only one wore a mask, the British fighter known as “Jihadi John,” who had executed James Foley and other American and European hostages.

After the jihadists had hacked through the necks of their victims, the camera played over the faces of the executioners, ensuring that they were clearly visible and sparking a rush to identify them. Media reports identified the perpetrators as French, German, British, Danish, and Australian citizens, although some of these claims were tentative.

ISIS propaganda and messaging is disproportionately slanted toward foreign fighters, both in its content and its target audience. Important ISIS messages are commonly released simultaneously in English, French, and German, then later translated into other languages, such as Russian, Indonesian, and Urdu.

One of the most important questions about the threat presented by ISIS, and the conflict in Syria and Iraq in general, is numerical: How many foreign fighters are there, where do they come from, and what will they do after fighting?

The question is nearly impossible to answer with any kind of specificity, due to the dangers that ISIS presents for journalists and intelligence operatives on the ground. In the open-source world, there are only estimates, and the situation does not appear to be much better in the world of secret intelligence. According to one 2013 tally, from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, there were between 17,000 and 19,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, though this count is likely too low.
The majority of those fighters originated in the Middle East and North Africa, especially Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. The remainder came from other places around the world, including former Soviet republics, the Americas, and Australia. But numbers were unavailable for several countries known to have provided fighters, including Azerbaijan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Somalia. In general, moreover, foreign-fighter estimates are often unclear as to whether fighters are affiliated with ISIS and whether they pertain only to Syria or to Iraq and Syria.

Government estimates on the number of Americans who have joined ISIS have been wildly inconsistent. Based on both social-network analysis and anecdotal observation of comments by foreign fighters on social media, we believe that as of this writing, a minimum of 30 to 40 Americans are currently affiliated with jihadists in Syria and Iraq, in both fighting and noncombat capacities, and we estimate that well over a dozen are currently affiliated with ISIS. This figure represents what we can confidently assess from open sources, meaning the real figure is certainly higher, possibly by a wide margin.

An ISIS Fighters Battle Story
http://blogsofjihad.blogspot.com/2015/03/an-isis-fighters-battle-story.html?m=1

 

[Rubenov]

ISIS / Daesh's crumbling is accelerating. Iraqi Army + Sunni militias (+Iranian "advisors"?) about to retake Tikrit, second largest city under their control in Iraq after Mosul.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/09/world/iraq-tikrit-battle/index.html

Also, Kurds defeating ISIS / expanding their gains both in Northern Iraq and in Syria.

Reports of defections and infightings. Airstrikes hitting not only their personnel but their money sources.

Feels good man.

 

[Dyno]

Nice OT! The Islamic State looks to be one of the most significant events in a generation. As a topic it's well worth following.

 

[?oe?oe]

The west arm and support them in syria because they are trying to take out assad.

The US doesn't equal the west.

 

[Rubenov]

The US doesn't equal the west.

Pay no mind to goomba

 

[Jintor]

Thank you for informative OP

 

[?oe?oe]

Pay no mind to goomba

His heart is in the right place.

The situation isn't a black and white affair.

 

[Sherlock]

Ok, wtf. There is no Muslim on Earth who doesn't at least know you stand in a like facing the same direction...

Well they are not performing salaah. They are in the sajdah of Shukr (giving thanks to Allah). The sajdah can be performed in any direction, at any spot, not necessarily in the direction of the Qiblah

 

[Kenshin001]

Bit odd huh:

For extremist muslims and all.

They must be CIA and Mossad according to idiots on twitter. Really amazes me how many people are in denial when it comes to ISIS.

 

[andycapps]

Seems like Daesh is about to lose Tikrit.

Iraqi government forces have retaken a large part of north-eastern Tikrit as they battle IS militants to recapture the city, security officials say.

Soldiers and Shia militiamen have reportedly raised the Iraqi flag at a hospital in the Qadisiya district, two-thirds of which is under their control.

But they have so far not made much progress in Tikrit's south and west.

The operation to retake the hometown of Saddam Hussein is the biggest offensive yet by the Iraqi government.

Iran is helping to co-ordinate the 30,000 soldiers and militiamen involved, who are not being supported by US-led coalition air strikes

IS captured Tikrit last June after the Iraqi army collapsed in the face of a lightning advance by the group across northern and western Iraq.

 

[DrFurbs]

Fuck Daesh

The only kind of videos I like related to them are these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IyEiH3vIVY

this is class LOL - made my day

 

[Klossen]

The west arm and support them in syria because they are trying to take out assad.

So the west is arming AND fighting ISIS at the same time? I'm no tactician, but that sounds incredibly redundant to me. More like ISIS is the spawn of local competing countries and extremist groups abusing Syria's state of conflict because the western powers initially remained passive. It's very convenient to point at the major powers and claim it's all on them, but I fear reality is a bit more intricate than that.

 

[thefro]

Seems like Daesh is about to lose Tikrit.

Reuters is reporting the Iraqi Army has significantly advanced on the south side of the city as well

(Reuters) - Iraqi security forces and militias fought their way into Saddam Hussein's home city of Tikrit on Wednesday, advancing from the north and south in their biggest counter-offensive so far against Islamic State militants.

The provincial governor said the army and militia fighters captured part of the northern district of Qadisiya, while in the south of the Tigris river city a security officer said another force made a rapid push toward the center.

"The forces entered Tikrit general hospital," an official at the main military operation command center said. "There is heavy fighting going on near the presidential palaces, next to the hospital complex."

Islamic State fighters who stormed into Tikrit in June during a lightning offensive through north and central Iraq have used the complex of palaces built in Tikrit under Saddam, the executed former president, as their headquarters.

More than 20,000 troops and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias known as Hashid Shaabi, supported by local Sunni Muslim tribes, launched the offensive for Tikrit 10 days ago, advancing from the east and along the Tigris river.

On Tuesday they took the town of al-Alam on the northern edge of Tikrit, paving the way for an attack on the city itself.

"The governor of Salahuddin announces the purging of half of Qadisiya district, the largest of Tikrit's neighborhoods," a statement from governor Raed al-Jubouri's office said.

The army and militia fighters raised the national flag above a military hospital in the section of Qadisiya they had retaken from the militants, security officials said.

After pausing while helicopters attacked Islamic State snipers and positions, the ground forces were progressing steadily, taking "one street every 30 minutes" the security official said. He said there was fierce fighting around Tikrit police headquarters just south of Qadisiya.

To the northwest, troops and Hashid Shaabi fighters were clashing with Islamic State militants in the city's industrial zone, he added.

 

[andycapps]

Reuters is reporting the Iraqi Army has significantly advanced on the south side of the city as well

I wonder if they'll take any Daesh prisoners. I don't think there will be many.

 

[hirokazu]

Islamic State (IS) propaganda claims Australian teenager Jake Bilardi was among the latest group of suicide bombers that struck in Iraq's Anbar province.

...

A new propaganda image is now circulating on the Internet, claiming to show a suicide bomber dubbed Abu Abdullah al-Australi — Bilardi's pseudonym — before he attacks an Iraqi army unit in Anbar province west of Baghdad.

It features a four-wheel drive with a smashed, taped-up rear window moving down a dusty backstreet.

An inset image shows a pale-skinned, long-haired young man who resembles Bilardi, sitting behind the wheel.

...

Twelve car bombs exploded almost simultaneously around the city of Ramadi, capital of Anbar, after dawn with at least seven suicide bombers targeting government security installations, police said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-...lved-in-islamic-state-suicide-bombing/6305304

What a fucking dumb cunt.

 

[goomba]

When i said the west arm and support isis in syria, i should have said "directly or indirectly arm and support isis in syria"

Its a known fact the west supported rebels in syria against assad. Its also known many said rebels then joined isis or armed isis.

There has been no other explanation of how A heavily armed and organised isis suddenly rose up from nowhere.

 

[andycapps]

When i said the west arm and support isis in syria, i should have said "directly or indirectly arm and support isis in syria"

Its a known fact the west supported rebels in syria against assad. Its also known many said rebels then joined isis or armed isis.

There has been no other explanation of how A heavily armed and organised isis suddenly rose up from nowhere.

There are other explanations. One of which is that the newly trained and very corrupt Iraqi army at the time was overwhelmed by the members of the Iraqi army (from when Saddam was in power) and other parties that had joined together to form Al Qaeda in Iraq.. Later to become Daesh. The new Iraqi army dropped all of the billions in equipment that the US had given them to get up and running and Daesh immediately had solid equipment and were experienced in fighting.

So yes, a lot of the equipment came from the US, but it wasn't like we just handed it to them, though there probably was some equipment given to Syrian rebels a few years ago during the Arab Spring, and that has come back to bite us. We may be getting into the same territory now where Iran is directing the operations around Tikrit, but Shiite militias are providing much of the muscle, with some Sunni in there for good measure. When Daesh is gone, it's going to be interesting to watch, and I wouldn't be shocked if a Shiite-Sunni civil war takes place.

 

[Abinash117]

https://mobile.twitter.com/MemlikPasha/status/575993264014172161

Reports suggest IS pulled most of its fighters out of Tikrit before the encirclement, leaving only a few sniper cells to harass 1/2

Makes sense considering how quick the attackers took it assuming if this is true. If causalities aren't reported to be high then this is probably true.

 

[RustyNails]

 

[RustyNails]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-...lved-in-islamic-state-suicide-bombing/6305304

What a fucking dumb cunt.

This fits perfectly with what others have been reporting inside ISIS network. The western foreign fighters like this kid are sent as suicide bombers, the non western fighters from elsewhere are sent to the frontlines, and the local fighters stay inside the big cities.

 

[andycapps]

Wow, what a photo.

 

[Gnome Scat]

Damn, that's powerful.

 

[?oe?oe]

ISIS’ Worst Nightmare: An Axe-Wielding Badass Known As ‘Angel Of Death’

Fighting in Iraq alongside the Iraqi army, there is Iranian-backed Shia militias, and among them sits the single most frightening nemesis ISIS has ever encountered. According to Voactive, his name is only known as Abu-Azrael (“Angel of death” in Arabic), and he is a “legendary commander from the al-Imam Ali brigades.”

He’s become a warrior legend with many, and a social media page was created in his honor. As his supporters continue to grow in numbers, he’s been depicted – and praised for – wielding large firearms, axes, swords, and even “abusing the corpses of ISIS fighters.”

There’s quite a bit of mystery surrounding Azrael, but many rumors have circulated regarding his past, including his name, which may actually be Ayoub. Some claim that he previously worked as a university professor before joining the fight against ISIS.

Others say he was Iraq’s national Taekwondo champion at one point in time. However, as the legend grows, so does Azrael’s superhuman-like attributes, leaving those interested unable to separate fact from fiction.

As Shia forces have joined hand in hand with Iraqi forces, there are many reports of the allies ripping through the ranks of ISIS with ease. The pictures and videos of Azrael seem to show a man who loves killing just as much as those he opposes. That being said, maybe this is exactly what is needed in such an instance.

Though this man may love killing his enemy and portrays a certain amount of bloodlust, it appears that without ISIS he never would have come to be. However, as the world’s leaders continue to neglect the threat of ISIS, Azrael is exactly what is needed; a certified badass willing to do whatever it takes to defeat the threat of ISIS – even if that means getting down and dirty with them.

http://madworldnews.com/isis-nightmare-axe/

The hero we deserve.

 

[RustyNails]

This is so great to see Sunnis welcoming Shias, and a great hearts and minds campaign from the Shias towards Sunnis:

"Yesterday, bodies floated down the (Tigris) River from the hospital," said Saber Kraidi, an eight-year Iraqi military veteran. "They were people from Tikrit executed by ISIS."

The Iraqi military is joined by some Sunni fighters and a predominantly Shiite militia, working together to retake the city best known to most Westerners as the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

They are working on not just winning the battle, but securing the peace. Members of the Badr organization, a powerful Shiite armed group, handed out food and supplies Friday to residents of the Sunni village of Albu Safah, whose 30 families have been holed up the last 10 months amid the fighting.

The village's leader, Haji Jamid, said the Shiite fighters' efforts were working.

"They're good," Jamid said. "If someone is sick, they'll take them to the doctor, even at 2 or 3 in the morning.

"If it weren't for them, ISIS would have slaughtered us."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/13/middleeast/iraq-isis/

 

[M.Bluth]

ISIS’ Worst Nightmare: An Axe-Wielding Badass Known As ‘Angel Of Death’

He’s become a warrior legend with many, and a social media page was created in his honor. As his supporters continue to grow in numbers, he’s been depicted – and praised for – wielding large firearms, axes, swords, and even “abusing the corpses of ISIS fighters.”

The hero we deserve.

This makes me uncomfortable. The fight against ISIS can't include brutality that is equal to theirs, especially from Shia militias, as it plays into ISIS and other sympathetic Sunni groups' hands by further enflaming the sectarian element in this war.

This is so great to see Sunnis welcoming Shias, and a great hearts and minds campaign from the Shias towards Sunnis:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/13/middleeast/iraq-isis/

I hope this is true, Iraqis, Sunnis or Shias, need to get over their differences and start working together, or they might as well just chop up the country now instead of wasting so many lives.

 

[RustyNails]

Tikrit on the cusp of recapture (within 72 hours)

Iraqi forces besieging dozens of die-hard fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Tikrit will have liberated the city within three days, a spokesman said.

Karim al-Nuri, a top leader from the Badr militia and the spokesman of the volunteer Popular Mobilisation units, said on Saturday it would take no more than "72 hours" to flush out holdout IS fighters.

The Popular Mobilisation units account for the bulk of the manpower involved in the two-week-old offensive to wrest back Tikrit, alongside army, police, militia and tribal forces.

The last IS fighters holed up in the city centre are "surrounded from all sides", Nuri said.

Speaking to the AFP news agency from the outskirts of Tikrit, near the village of Awja, he said "their number is now 60 to 70".

Nuri added that the liberation of Tikrit would only be announced once a path has been cleared through the thousands of bombs the jihadists have planted to defend the city.

Offensive halted

Nuri's comments came as the Reuters news agency reported that Iraqi forces and mainly Shia militia battling ISIL had paused their offensive for a second day on Saturday as they awaited reinforcements.

A source in the local military command centre told Reuters military commanders had "reached a decision to halt the operation until a suitable, carefully set plan is in place" to break into central Tikrit.

The source, speaking by phone from near Tikrit, said the Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shia militias known as Popular Mobilisation were waiting for reinforcements from "well-trained forces". He did not give a timeline for the arrival of the reinforcements.

"We do not need a large number, just one or two thousand. We need professional personnel and soldiers," he said, explaining they were needed to engage in street-by-street battles with ISIL fighters who have booby trapped many buildings in the city and laid improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs.

Army and militia forces pushed into Saddam Hussein's home city on Wednesday in their biggest drive yet against the fighters who seized large swathes of land in Iraq and neighbouring Syria last year in a lightning campaign halted just outside Baghdad.

More than 20,000 troops and allied militias entered the city about 160km north of the capital after retaking towns to the south and north in a campaign launched nearly two weeks ago.

 

[Abinash117]

https://news.vice.com/article/the-s...l-leading-the-fight-against-the-islamic-state

The extent of Iran's troop presence in Iraq is unclear, but the deaths of several high-level military officials have been reported in Iran. Earlier this week, it was reported that Reza Hosseini Moghadem, a commander in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, was killed on February 7 during fighting with the Islamic State in Samarra. In December, the Pentagon reported that Iran's air force had launched raids in Iraq's eastern Diyala province, but denied that the two countries were coordinating against a common enemy.

The US has reason to be wary of Suleimani. The Quds Force is the international wing of the Revolutionary Guards, responsible for clandestine foreign intelligence gathering and security actions abroad.

For decades, the general has helped foster Iraq's Shia militias, notably the Badr Brigade, which was first established in Iran. After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iran-backed militias waged deadly and long-running battles with American troops. US officials believe the Quds Force itself was directly responsible for supplying the militias with advanced explosive devices that could pierce the armor of US vehicles, claiming the lives hundreds of American soldiers during the occupation.


Suleimani is also suspected of helping to plan prominent attacks in several countries. In 2011, an Iranian agent was caught allegedly attempting to hire a Mexican cartel to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, DC. A contact at the purported cartel was in fact an American DEA agent, and the bizarre plot to blow up the ambassador at a restaurant near the White House was foiled.

This history of international subterfuge and support of anti-American militias has raised uncertainty about the strategic alignment of a post-Islamic State Iraq — one in which Iran would likely enjoy even greater influence than before.

Ariane Tabatabai, an associate at Harvard University's International Security Program, noted that Suleimani's public relations campaign, which coincided with the capture of Mosul by the Islamic State in June, has also sought to assuage the more immediate concerns of Iranians, many of whom saw the group as a mortal threat to Iran.

"Essentially, it is for a domestic audience," she told VICE News. "Over the summer, you could hear people saying ISIS is at the gates of Tehran."

https://news.vice.com/article/the-i...g-to-terrorize-iraqi-troops-with-chlorine-gas

Islamic State jihadists are now allegedly using IEDs containing noxious chlorine gas in an attempt to both poison and scare pro-government forces in Iraq.

Footage captured by an Iraqi bomb disposal squad and published by the BBC shows thick clouds of orange smoke rising from roadside bombs detonated in controlled explosions.

The squad said that they had detonated "dozens" of similar devices during the Iraqi offensive against the militants. However, the weapons only contained small amounts of the chemical and used in this way they are unlikely to prove lethal. The chlorine bombs are likely to be employed as a psychological weapon instead, designed to provoke panic and fear.

http://basnews.com/en/news/2015/03/...militias-are-committing-war-crimes-in-tikrit/

The United States government is closely monitoring reports of the torture and execution of Sunni residents of Tikrit, Salahaddin Province by both Badr and Hashdi al-Sha’bi militia groups. After a Senate hearing on Wednesday, US officials announced that if the reports prove to be true, they will suspend military aid to the Iraqi army.

On Monday, a video was published on YouTube showing a man in a car calling on people to set fire to the village of Abu Ajel, with blazes seen raging immediately afterwards.

The village is located to the east of Tikrit. Recently, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Abadi warned Shiite Militia groups and security forces not to take revenge or torture the people of Tikrit.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/isis-mosul-residents-trapped_n_6862898.html

BAGHDAD (AP) — Freedom from the Islamic State group comes at a steep price, as one newly wedded couple recently discovered. Eager to live a normal life, away from the harsh dominion of the militants' self-styled caliphate, the young pair is searching for ways to bypass the extremists' newly-implemented departure taxes and escape the IS-held city of Mosul.

"Do they really want me to give up the house my father spent years building to an Afghani or Chechen or to an Iraqi villager so that I can leave for good? They are dreaming," the 29-year old groom said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Most of his family had already fled last June when a shocking Islamic State blitz overran Mosul, but he stayed behind to protect his family home.

Fearing the city might simply empty of civilians, or that fleeing residents may join the fight against them, the Islamic State extremists are imposing tough measures to prevent people from leaving their territory.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/isis-lost-25-percent-territory-held-iraq-us/story?id=29625568

Iraqi and Kurdish forces have reclaimed more than 25 percent of ISIS-held territory inside Iraq, according to a U.S. assessment that also determined that Kurdish fighters are responsible for the majority of the territory retaken from ISIS in northern Iraq.

“We assess ISIL’s front lines have been pushed back in northern and central Iraq,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said at a Pentagon briefing today, referring to the militant group also known as ISIS. “ISIL no longer has complete freedom of movement in roughly 25 percent of populated areas of Iraqi territory where they once operated freely.”

The recaptured areas represent an area between 4,100 and 5,200 square miles or 11,000 and 13,500 square kilometers, Warren said. At its peak, ISIS was in control of 55,000 square kilometers in northern and western Iraq, Pentagon officials said.

“ISIL lost large areas where it was once dominant in the governance of Babil, Diyala, Nineveh, Salahadin and Kirkuk,” Warren said.

I wonder what would happen to Iraq after the US finish its Iraq first strategy. ISIS will probably have a small presence there, but to big of a deal for the fighters there to handle ISIS. Kurds would probably have a lot more power in Iraq I would imagine; I can see the US using them as a counter to Iranian presence in Iraq. Hopeful sectarianism won't be a big issue. Also Syria would be still a thing; I wonder how the US would handle the rebels they are training obviously those rebels will fight SAA/NDF .

 

[Abinash117]

Iraq army says coalition strikes on Tikrit needed

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Wo...-says-coalition-strikes-on-tikrit-needed.ashx

TIKRIT: Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition would help win the battle to retake the Iraqi city of Tikrit from ISIS, one of the operation's commanders said Sunday.

Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi said he had asked the defense ministry to request coalition involvement but "no air support was provided.

 

[Kenshin001]

Seems from some sources on twitter they are about to burn 17 Peshmerga tomorrow or the day after. If it's true I can't imagine how the Kurds are going to respond.

 

[andycapps]

Seems from some sources on twitter they are about to burn 17 Peshmerga tomorrow or the day after. If it's true I can't imagine how the Kurds are going to respond.

They'll keep doing what they're doing. Taking back cities and killing Daesh as they do.

 

[Abinash117]

Iraqi offensive for Tikrit stalls as casualties mount
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...8a6dec-cb58-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html

NAJAF, Iraq — Iraqi forces’ operation to retake the city of Tikrit has stalled as troops suffer heavy casualties at the hands of Islamic State militants, raising concerns about whether the pro-government fighters are ready for major offensives.

After two days of little activity on the battlefield, Iraq’s interior minister, Mohammed al-Ghabban, confirmed Monday that the offensive has “temporarily stopped.” The steady flow of coffins arriving in Iraq’s Shiite holy city of Najaf suggests a reason for the pause; cemetery workers say as many as 60 war dead have been arriving each day.

Since last week, Iraqi forces have hemmed in the Sunni militants in Tikrit, claiming control of the majority of the former Islamic State stronghold. But the operation has come at a cost, with soldiers saying the fight has been tougher than expected. As the momentum has slowed, some Iraqi officials have begun to publicly call for U.S.-led air support.

U.S. Begins Airstrikes on ISIS in Tikrit for First Time

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/w...-united-states-airstrikes.html?_r=0&referrer=

American warplanes began airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Tikrit late Wednesday, for the first time entering a struggling Iraqi offensive to retake the city after more than three weeks of remaining on the sidelines.

A coalition of Shiite militias and Iraqi security forces aided by Iranian military advisers have been trying to root out Islamic State fighters from Tikrit, an important city north of Baghdad in Iraq’s Sunni heartland. From the start, the offensive went without American air assistance — government and militia officials had boasted that airstrikes were neither needed nor wanted, and American officials privately expressed discomfort with the idea of directly aiding an operation led by militias and Iranian officials

Even as some Iraqi security officials began worrying about the absence of airstrikes, Hadi al-Ameri, the prominent leader of the group of Shiite militias known here as popular mobilization committees, criticized any outreach toward the United States.

“Some of the weaklings in the army say that we need the Americans, but we say we do not need the Americans,” Mr. Ameri said.

https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin/status/580833959346593792

#Iraq | #Hezbollah and Assab Ahel Al-Haq say they will boycott the #Tikrit offensive after US airstrikes - Local TV

 

[andycapps]

Iraqi offensive for Tikrit stalls as casualties mount
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...8a6dec-cb58-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html




U.S. Begins Airstrikes on ISIS in Tikrit for First Time

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/w...-united-states-airstrikes.html?_r=0&referrer=





https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin/status/580833959346593792

I'm assuming that it's political posturing of the militias and government to throw a fit when the US gets involved by launching some airstrikes in Tikrit. I mean, they said they've stalled temporarily, and the US is helping them some by bombing Daesh targets. It's not like the US is going to be sending in ground troops to take Tikrit (unless things really go south in the country).

What doesn't make sense to me is the US response to all this. They won't bomb because Hezbollah and militias are involved, yet then they do.

 

[Dark_castle]

ISIS’ Worst Nightmare: An Axe-Wielding Badass Known As ‘Angel Of Death’

The hero we deserve.

Wait, that's my character in Bloodborne.

 

[Mrmartel]

Tikrit is becoming a hard nut to crack. Even with 30,00 troops, the outcome is still unknown.

And the Iraqis think they can take Mosul? Maybe over a year siege they can. That being said it could take years to root ISIS out of Iraq and Nobody has even started to talk about Ground troops in Syria. These bugs are going to be around for a long time, while continually indoctrinating the people they have control over. Also their message and flag will continue to spread around the world.