Mosul Christians Out of the City for Good

June 20, 2014 By administrator

By Judit Neurink 19/6/2014

Patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church, Ignatius Aphrem II, visiting the displaced Christians at the Mar Mattai monastery. Photo: Judit Neurink

BARDARASH, Kurdistan Region – There is no place for them in an Islamic state, say Christians who fled Iraq’s second city of Mosul for safer areas controlled by the autonomous Kurdistan Region.

Eman and Sabah, two nurses who left the city for the Syrian Orthodox monastery of Mar Mattai, some 40 kilometers from Mosul, said they did so because they could no longer live there. “Their rules are different from ours and anyone who disobeys them will be killed,” one of them said.

Fear of the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which captured Mosul last week together with bands of other rebels, has seen about a half-million people flee the city.

Amongst them were thousands of Christians, who sought refuge in areas under control of the Kurds. Many of them have fled violence in the city multiple times before.

“This time is decisive,” stresses Zaid, whose family shares a room in the monastery with another. “Any time there were elections, we left to return a couple of weeks later. This time is different. Now we really have to forget the option of returning back to our homes.”

Many of the Christians occupying the monastery’s 35 guest rooms think this way: More than 50 families have found refuge in the safety of the monastery.

Of the estimated 5,000 Christians who were remaining in Mosul, only hundreds have stayed behind. Most left for the villages of the Nineveh Valley, which is under Kurdish control, or to the Christian neighborhoods of the Kurdistan capital, Erbil.

Last week their patriarch came from Syria to wish them strength, visiting the Mar Mattai monastery as well, signaling the safety of the area where his flock has sought refuge.

The way the radical Muslims were welcomed by some in Mosul — while thousands of other Muslims fled because of their presence – raised Christian fears of what might happen.

The nurses, Eman and Sabah, were ordered to report back to work, because the present authorities want to normalize the situation and get the hospitals up and running. But the pair is too afraid to obey the order.

Although they left with only the clothes they were wearing, leaving their homes unguarded, the fear of the radical Muslims in their city keeps them from returning. This fear is clear when they echo the words of other women in the monastery: “How can we keep our daughters safe there?”

In the room where the two families are gathered, the noisy air conditioning adds to the clamor; mattresses for the night are piled high; a little boy begs his father for change to buy ice cream.

Stories about the changes in Mosul volley across the room, about the Sharia laws that have been imposed and the new rules that have been published, including a punishment of 20 lashes for any man not at mosques at prayer times, and an order for women to cover up.

One of the families that returned was told that Christians have to adapt: They have to get rid of all Christian symbols, and women must wear the face cover, or niqaab. The family left the city again.

Zaid recounts finding a flyer in the street before he left that was delivered to some homes of Christians, too, calling on residents to adapt, or leave.

Christians in Iraq normally proudly display their faith, wearing crosses as jewelry and adorning their homes with Christian portraits. The women generally dress in a more Western manner than other Iraqi women, not wearing a headscarf and never a niqaab. To change this would mean to change their way of life.

The Christians wonder what will happen to their city. Most expect fighting between the different groups, with Saddam Hussein’s former military and different Islamic groups struggling for power.

“Those armed groups know no mercy,” someone says. “I am afraid of my own neighbors. Will they not sell me to some kidnapper?”

And they are worried about the future: What will happen to their properties? Will they be confiscated, in a repeat of what happened in parts of Baghdad some years ago after many Christians fled their homes?

One worry is about how they will live. Iraqi Kurdistan is expensive, and their jobs from Mosul cannot be transferred elsewhere. Some have families abroad that pressure them to emigrate.

“We are so few now, we have become very vulnerable,” someone says. The number of Christians in Iraq went from 1.5 million in 2003 to around 35,000 at present, mainly because of massive emigration after Saddam’s fall.

Hezbollah militia chief says stopped ISIL spreading to Lebanon: report

June 18, 2014 By administrator

June 18, 2014 – 16:00 AMT

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia chief said his fighters’ intervention in Syria had kept an al Qaeda splinter group that has seized territory in Iraq from spreading west into Lebanon, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, June 17, according to Reuters.

Hezbollah, a Shi’ite Muslim group, has provided significant help to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in retaking some territory from Sunni rebels bent on ousting him. In the process, Hezbollah men have often clashed with Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) rebels, who formally broke with al Qaeda in February and have since made rapid gains in Syria and Iraq.

ISIL, which aims to establish a caliphate based on medieval Islamic principles and spanning the two countries, stunned Iraqi leaders when it overran Iraq’s second-largest city Mosul last week, then thrust south to the fringes of Baghdad.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was quoted by Lebanese newspaper Al-Safir as telling a meeting of party backers that ISIL could have spread to Lebanon if Hezbollah had not stepped in.

“If we had not intervened in Syria at the appropriate time and in the appropriate way … ISIL would now be in Beirut.”

Nasrallah praised calls by Shi’ite clerics in Iraq for volunteers to take up arms against ISIL, whose swift advance through majority Sunni areas of northern Iraq threatens civil war and a possible break-up of the country.

“The aim of this (call) was not to protect a specific sect, but to protect all of Iraq,” Nasrallah said.

Opponents of Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria say it has dragged Lebanon further into its civil war, worsened sectarian tensions in Lebanon and marked a departure from Hezbollah’s founding mission of confronting Israel.

But members of Lebanon’s Shi’ite community have also been alarmed by the rise of radical Sunni jihadists in Syria.

Sunni militants have hit Shi’ite targets in Lebanon with car bomb attacks, although those have stopped since Hezbollah and Syrian government forces ousted rebels from a series of towns and villages near the Lebanese border in March and April.

Hezbollah and Assad are both backed by Iran, the biggest Shi’ite power, while Sunni Gulf Arab monarchies have backed Sunni insurgents in Syria.

Photo: Bilal Hussein/AP Photo

Another Turkish government leak control, gag order on reporting of Mosul hostage crisis

June 17, 2014 By administrator

ISTANBUL

Hurriyet daily Report Demonstrators chant pro-al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as they wave al-Qaeda flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, June 16. AP Photo

Turkey’s Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) has delivered a court ruling to newspapers, television and websites on June 17, announcing a broadcast and publication ban on reports relating to the kidnappings of Turkish citizens in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Some 49 members of Turkey’s Mosul Consulate and 31 truck drivers were kidnapped by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), after they seized Mosul late June 9. One of the Turkish drivers managed to escape over the weekend.

According to the June 16 ruling of the 9th Heavy Penal Court in Ankara, the ban will continue until the investigation to “secure the Turkish citizens who were in Turkey’s Mosul Consulate and were taken by the terrorist organization ISIL to an unknown location [is completed].”

June/17/2014

Istanbul-based Islamic charity organization ‘uses ISIL-adopted insignia’ on logo

June 17, 2014 By administrator

ISTANBUL

The Haznedar Islamic Research, Sustenance and Helping Association (HİSADER), is located in Güngören, one of Istanbul’s popular districts.

An Islamic charity organization based in an Istanbul suburb is using an insignia adopted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), daily HaberTürk has reported.

The report comes amid claims that some Turkish associations were recruiting militants for the jihadist group who have recently launched a wide-scale offensive in Iraq.

The Haznedar Islamic Research, Sustenance and Helping Association (HİSADER), located in Istanbul’s popular district Güngören, have for a long time been campaigning to raise funds for charity work to be undertaken in Syria.

The association notably uses “the stamp of the Prophet Muhammad,” nowadays associated with the ISIL, but previously used by several other Islamic organizations. The insignia includes the Shahadah (the Islamic declaration of faith) and the Quranic phrase: “There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.”

According to its website, the association is also involved in combatting drug addiction and prostitution.
The same insignia can also be found in neighborhood shops, where many parents claim their children have been sent to Syria or Iraq to fight alongside the militant group. HaberTürk’s reports claim a woman threw stones at the shop, shouting, “Give back my child.”

Another man told the newspaper that his 21-year-old son joined ISIL after choosing the path of religion as a means of fighting his drug addictions.

“[First] he was gathering with a group of young people. He [then] dedicated himself to prayers. Then he started to accuse us of being infidels. One weekend, he left and he never came back. His friends told me he went to Syria with 15 other people. I begged him to come back, but he said he couldn’t and he was [in Syria] for jihad,” the boy’s father explained.

‘Ignorance’

HİSADER President Volkan Sağlam rejected the report on June 17. Sağlam said in a written statement that his association had no relationship with ISIL or any other organizations. “Not knowing the meaning of the writing on the logo shows the ignorance of those who prepared and published this report,” Sağlam said.

HİSADER also stressed that it focused on “anti-narcotics efforts and humanitarian relief,” albeit with a political twist.

“Drugs are a chemical weapon. And our lands are occupied by the Zionist-Crusader,” said the HİSADER board in a recent statement.

Reports claiming that around 3,000 Turkish citizens have joined ISIL militias, who are mainly from Istanbul’s suburbs, have been rejected by the Turkish government.

June/17/2014

ISIL seizes mainly ethnic Turkmen city of Telafer after heavy fighting

June 16, 2014 By administrator

Insurgents seized a mainly ethnic Turkmen city in northwestern Iraq on June 15 after heavy fighting, solidifying their grip on the north after a lightning offensive that threatens to dismember Iraq.

Residents reached by telephone in the city of Telafer said it had fallen to the militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after a battle that saw heavy casualties on both sides. “The city was overrun by militants. Severe fighting took place, and many people were killed. Shiite families have fled to the west and Sunni families have fled to the east,” said a city official who asked not to be identified.

Tal Afar is a short drive west from Mosul, the north’s main city, which the ISIL militants seized last week. The city had been defended by an unit of Iraq’s security forces commanded by a Shiite major general, Abu Walid, whose men were among the few holdouts from the government’s forces in the province around Mosul not to flee the rapid ISIL advance.

After sweeping through towns in the Tigris valley north of Baghdad, ISIL militants appear to have halted their advance outside the capital, instead moving to tighten their grip on the north. Most of the inhabitants of Telafer are members of the Turkmen ethnic group. Turkey has expressed concern about their security.

June/16/2014

Iraqis turning tide against al-Qaeda – analyst

June 16, 2014 By administrator

Press TV has conducted an interview with Sa’ad al-Muttalibi, from the State of Law Coalition, to discuss Iraqi military’s counteroffensive operations against ISIL militants linked to al-Qaeda in the city of Mosul.

Press TV: We were speaking earlier with our guest in Beirut and he was saying that Mr. Maliki himself is also to blame. A lot of people have been saying that. What do you think about the way Mr. Maliki has dealt with the problem and how responsible he could be in the current crisis?

Muttalibi: I think with the matter of blaming or diverting the blame from… ISIL or ISIS and diverting the blame to the Iraqi Prime Minister I think this is … a plot or a conspiracy against Iraq.

There are political entities and media entities from the West in particular and the United States trying to show that it was the Iraqi constitution and the Iraqi elected government behind the failure; where all evidence indicate that the Baath party with al-Qaeda and Daesh and with the collaboration of certain offices from Mosul area, they were part and the tool for allowing Daash to enter.

The people of Daash who entered Mosul did not exceed a few hundred fighters and the problem was with the fifty thousand Iraqi local police who constituted the local police of Mosul, they took off their military or the police uniform and put on the Daesh or the ISIL uniform.

So, the matter of diverting this blame from the original conspirators into the elected government, I think this part of the world conspiracy against Iraq.

Press TV: We are also hearing, at least some of the media saying that the ISIL or these groups have support, for instance, among parts of the Sunni population. Is that something that you can confirm?

Muttalibi: Definitely. ISIL has, there is an incubation environment, an environment in north Iraq where the local people feel some type of belonging to that terrorist group because it is, historically, we have to go back. The Sunnis after long losing power in 2003, they didn’t believe… historical right into governing Iraq. It is the formation of former Iraq in 1921 by the British government installing a Sunni…

So, the Sunnis believe that they have the right to govern Iraq regardless of the result of the election. Therefore, we see this kind of collaboration or assistance provided to the ISIL, of course, we cannot forget the Baath party and their full support to Daesh.

Now, what is turning the tide, the millions of Iraqis that have volunteered, youth Iraqis volunteered to fight, and when I say millions I am not exaggerating. We have the whole of the south, the middle of the Iraq and the south, the whole of that is rising to fight al-Qaeda.

The information that I’ve received from the battle, a tremendous amount of progress has been made. Daesh is on the retreat, ISIL is on the retreat alongside with other terrorist organizations that are working there. They will be driven back to Mosul.

Mr. Maliki, the Prime Minister, is in Samarra now, leading the operations himself from Salahuddin and form Salahuddin which is the city of Tikrit was there, leading the battle from Salahuddin and heading towards the liberation of Mosul.

Naturally, there were some problems on the beginning but now the Iraqi forces are moving at a steady pace and al-Qaeda is being destroyed base after base.

NINOVA fell in front of our eyes by isil invasion

June 15, 2014 By administrator

By ZEYNEP TOZDUMAN,
Izmir, Turkey

Again, the Middle East still blood, tears again … until this day from 9 June 2014 to the Middle East into a lake of blood, the radical Islamic terrorist organizations in Syria, in Mosul, Homs, in Nineveh, Baghdad blood continues to cast.

From Monday until Friday, four days destiny changing Iraq’s oppressed and ancient peoples before our eyes relentlessly a slaughtered and temples bombed Iraq … Damascus Islamic State (ISID) organization in the world, the sight of Mosul and two city over but a great silence and negligence within humanity. Iraq because of the changing balances in the three states is established within four days … what’s going on in Iraq?

Map of Mosul, Iraq has also changed with the fall anymore.
Easier said than done! Flyway fell to 500 thousand people in four days. hear the most affected by the massacre of ethnic and religious backgrounds; Assyrians, Armenians, Shiites, Shebeks, Ezier they are Kurds and Tükmenler. In short, Arab and non-Sunni slaughter of every segment of the job has taken its share.

Especially in terms of Mosul and Nineveh Assyrian history is very important. Once upon a time in the land of Babylon and the Assyrian empire castle, the city, in the historical process caused many massacres and fire is about to be destroyed in almost homeland.
The countries with the pain and the tears of Nineveh, about 2500 years because of the absence and presence of pain is struggling. Chaldean / Assyrians of Nineveh densely inhabited; From ancient times until today was mixed with Assyrian history and culture. In 2003, Saddam era in recent history Assyrians living in Iraq, because of the war in their homeland, had been forced to migrate again. In 2003 to 1 million in Syria, in Iraq, with a population of 1.5 million inhabitants, of Assyrian people these days, due to the wars and massacres in both countries has fallen to four hundred thousand. Think you have kept alive the suffering of the Syrian people in the demographic structure of the radical Islamic terrorist organization because of what has become …

Near Mosul to Bartell, in Bağde, Karemleş and Bartell and Nineveh plains constitute the majority of the Syrians. Hear Mosul, starting from Baghdad to move towards life trouble falling into the Assyrian people and other Christian peoples, primarily in the area of monasteries, churches and schools sought refuge, some Duhok area to take refuge in the barefoot, theirs nothing taken from before migration routes has fallen. Syriac, Armenian, Shiites, Turkmen, and Kurds Ezier ‘s almost 90% of the people especially the migration toward an unknown journey has emerged.
Historical and cultural significance in the region as well as the monastery Mor Mor Behnam Matay, Purple and Raban Hurmuz Elias monastery is now under Isidor tedhit by militants. The monastery of Mor Behnam heard of the news that’s passed into the hands of monasteries and churches were destroyed and the other is the information on the way. Broken line in the 1915 genocide of the Syrian people, such as Armenians and Greeks can not be a state in the middle east and the geography of Mesopotamia, to hit every shot in the massacre are disappearing almost entirely in the motherland. O great humanity! These days, son of Mosul and Nineveh is crying going to do you see?

When it comes to the Armenians; Isidor of Armenian churches in Mosul’re Ejmiat Aizen to be the target of militants and bombing in Mosul on 65 Armenian families living in the refuge to other cities of the country, who constitute half of the population of Christians in Baghdad as of this moment in danger. Iraq, Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk and Mosul, about 16 thousand Armenians lived in the city. Isidor everyone, especially for the non-Sunni Arabs and Christians is obligatory murder. In this land of never-ending hatred against Armenians a day might come from a sociological study of these peoples must be carried down to the roots. At one time the main residence of Western Armenia, including in the Middle East shot to shot uncompleted ancient Armenian people suffered in Iraq with a journey that has taken place between people.

As for the Shiites; Non-Shiite Sunni ethnic groups in Iraq and the massacre of its share in the lives of course. Iraq’s most influential Shiite leader Ayatollah Sistani of the ring,” Take your gun and defend your country against hearing the call made”. Mesopotamia and ancient Christians in the Middle East at least as much as the people living in the massacre of Alevis (the Shiites in Iraq), the migration paths now.

As for the Kurds; Hear the only people that can resist these attacks and invasions, are Kurds. YPG Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq and Syria with the support of the Kirkuk region from the hands of the job is really in the hands of Peshmerga. Peshmerga in Kirkuk field from the hand of hearing, hearing is the only force that can stop in the area at the same time. Also, ypg’n in the area heard that opposed him injured ethnic groups and faiths (Assyrians, Shi’a, Turkmen and Armenians, Ezier) and also against the peoples” Come Together direnel I ‘, its call for the chaos and war in a climate very was significant. Kurds in the region as well as demographic forces, as well as a military power to combat işid’l as the only actor to play the role difficult at this stage is the best. Who took refuge in the Kurdish region management, and a combination of these ancient peoples who want to live in brotherhood and beliefs unless given complete assurance of the endless suffering will continue.

Christians of the Middle East and the most ancient peoples of Mesopotamia, the Shiites and they Ezier born and develop their faith in the homeland, in 1400 and lived in constant pain for years and continue to live. Yet Christians, praying hands girded the sword not to use them. Athannasius of Alexandria (AD 293-373).
This four-day record in the process, although not exact figures Shiite soldiers were executed in 1700, while 2,500 Sunni soldiers were pardoned. Hear four thousand five hundred soldiers taken prisoner in Iraq, where the images fell into social media as of yesterday. Remained in the hands of the Iraqi government to stay in one country can be considered the heart of Baghdad had. Isidor, as of the day and the Saadian Celavl seizing the city is moving toward Baghdad. Baghdad to fall at any moment. Kurds in Kirkuk, especially the ‘controversial’ situation they have conquered all the regions. As the largest land mass in the last case i started Isidor.

Hear seize Mosul resistance against the Iraqi government about the following questions come to mind. Iraqi president Nouri al-Maliki why the soldiers had to evacuate the city without resistance? Be connected to the Iraqi government as police and soldiers in the street in the areas occupied by militants Isidor instantly leaps and bounds, the new administration (Sharia) How are the rules comes to life? .
Three years ago, came to Turkey, USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza RC in 2011, with the BOP projects in 22 countries in the Middle East, including Turkey, immediately after the word limit will be changed in Syria trigger is pressed. These days, perhaps resist the work of the Maliki government is actually behind.

Redraws the boundaries in the Middle East … Yes, limits on human blood is drawn. U.S. patented in Turkey, Suite Arabia and Qatar, which plays a major role these limits, petroleum deposits and underground wealth, want to have the imperialists because the Christian, Ezier and Shiites destruction upon are being drawn.
BOP project the essence of ancient Christians, Alevis, is Ezidi purification project of the Middle East”. In Syria and in Iraq three monkeys playing against hypocritical Europe, so much blood being poured audience insists on staying. Europe and oppressed humanity these days because of Mosul and Nineveh shut falls. The following fatwa BOP confirms my thoughts about the project because it is in I want to share with you.

Isidor organization’s members sent to the Report on: Sharia courts the interests of the scope of the decision in the Hesek and around the Kurds and Christians from the region removal and property confiscation, men beheading and women of confiscated as a concubine, taking direction fatwas serve”

If that failed in Syria, Turkey to play a better role in Iraq in advance on behalf of the Syrian Church of Religious collect money with the help of hearing, so maybe that was fed. Hear seized the Turkish consulate in Mosul, employees hostage-taking incident, Turkey’s radical Islamist al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization in the direction of the explanation may be an ultimatum. ISID within the close to 3000 the Turks and that Turkey all types of financial support that the social media through we all know … ISID within the hundreds of Turkish commanders was present in Mosul Turkish Consulate seize, Turkey some kind of warning can. In a kind of game can be played in the game.
The so-called green belt in 70 to 90 BOP projects in the Middle East continued with the name change of boundaries, always imperial blood spilled is because of the insatiable greed.

Screenplay by the United States in the Middle East, already written, in the last three years trying to be implemented. Which is always going to the oppressed people.

With underground oil wealth these lands for thousands of years is being washed with human blood. Remove the spilled blood of the peace, yet none of us do not know how, to live together and we’ll see. Known that, at the moment a blood-based in Syria and Iraq is history. Go to Nineveh, the deadline is, perhaps, who knows? And the history of mankind will come a day when these ancient peoples all over, from abroad will judge the cruel and barbaric to do the job and will disappear forever in the dustbin of history.

ZEYNEP TOZDUMAN

Opinion: Thirty Year’s War in the Middle East?

June 15, 2014 By administrator

DW’s editor-in-chief, Alexander Kudascheff.

The leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is in the process of starting a religious war in the Middle East, one that could go on for a very long time,

The situation is downright alarming: an army of crusaders has brought the Middle East to its knees. 10,000 fighters who belong to the Islamist, fundamentalist and murderous group ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) are headed for Baghdad with aims of seizing Iraq’s capital city and deposing its president – all in a bid to bring down Iraq’s Shiite rule.

Their objective includes bringing about a reversal of postwar order in the Middle East: an end to nation states, the founding of a new Muslim community, or Ummah, and a caliphate, within which the Sharia is the foundation of the law. ISIS members have already displayed political and religious readiness for a violent conflict, evocative of Jihad, one of the early tenets of Islam that calls believers to martyrdom.

These Sunni Jihadists led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – whose name calls to mind the first of all caliphates, the “descendents” of the Prophet Muhammad – are looking to oust not only President Maliki and the Shiites from Baghdad, however. They have ignited the entire region. Iran has pledged support to stand by Iraqi Shiites and is even considering, as contradictory to traditional political alliances as this may seem, to join sides with Washington. US President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has yet to announce plans for how he intends to support Maliki.

Shiite axis

For Tehran, the pledging of support to Iraq’s Shiites is a matter of course, just as it supported President Assad – an Alawite – with the help of Shiite Hezbollah militias in the Syrian civil war.

Iran has a strategic regional interest in upholding the Shiite axis in the Middle East, which comprises Hezbollah, Syria, Iraq and itself: It is a way of securing its influence. But it is also more. It would be unthinkable for Iran’s Ayatollahs and Mullahs, who see themselves in the tradition of Ayatollah Khomeini, to ignore any neighboring Shiites in a time of need. This is grounds for Jihad – a holy war.

There has been civil war in Syria for a long time now, between Assad and the opposition, but also within the opposition itself – between ISIS and the proponents of the secular democracy movement. Almost 200,000 people have died and millions have been displaced, and yet, Assad remains in power: a never-ending blood bath.

And surrounding it stand the other Middle East actors. The Kurds have established themselves in North Iraq and have no fear of ISIS. Their military strength and newly acquired political identity pose a challenge to Turkey, which has had its share of troubles with the chaotic situation on both sides of the border to Syria. Jordan – for years, a state burdened by Palestinian refugees – has had to deal with the second highest influx of Syrian refugees, behind Lebanon. And nobody knows how secure the Jordanian kingdom really is.

Visions of power

And then there’s Saudi Arabia: Iran’s great adversary on the Persian Gulf, its great rival in the struggle for intellectual and spiritual dominance in the Middle East – the keeper of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia follows the ultraconservative teachings of Wahhabism, and is thus a religious state – with a lot of money. It has often been a key supporter of Islamic pursuits abroad, and also played a role in setting up Islamist groups. A kingdom with a double standard: it fears Jihadism and fosters it at the same time, in the hope that it’s never directed towards the Saudi dynasty.

However, the insane vision of an ISIS caliphate would not only incorporate Syria and Iraq; it would also involve Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of the Prophet. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s name alone seems to indicate the power the terrorist is after.

Even if al-Baghdadi were stopped in his attempted conquest, Jihadism wouldn’t be stopped. It would be merely put on hold. This war in Iraq, the battle of Baghdad, is the beginning of an all-out religious war between Shiites and Sunnis. And with it, the Middle East now faces a conflict akin to the Thirty Years War. Israel’s existence has never been this uncertain. And the West won’t be able to watch for long.

Blair washes his hands of responsibility for Iraq crisis

June 15, 2014 By administrator

A mask of Britain’s former prime minister Tony Blair during a protest in London, England (file photo)

Presstv: Britain’s former prime minister Tony Blair has rejected the idea that his decision to support the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 caused the recent surge of violence in the country.

“We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that we caused this”, Blair wrote in an essay published on his website on Saturday, adding that the belief that the US-led invasion of Iraq had led to the current situation was “bizarre.”

The former premier insisted that the invasion of Iraq, which led to the toppling of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, was right and that things would have been worse if he had not been ousted from power more than a decade ago.

The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants gained control of parts of Iraq’s northern areas on June 10. The militants first took control of Nineveh Province, including its provincial capital, Mosul. Rights groups say around half a million people have been displaced in and around Mosul.

The terrorists have also vowed to continue their raid toward the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Critics, however, dismissed Blair’s claims, saying that the US-UK invasion of Iraq was the main reason for the current situation in the Arab country.

Michael Stephens, from the Royal United Services Institute, said he thought Blair was “washing his hands of responsibility” and that the Iraq War played a major role in destabilizing the country.

UK forces participated in the US-led invasion of Iraq in a blatant violation of international law in 2003 under the pretext that the regime of Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were ever discovered in Iraq.

MILITANTS POST IMAGES OF MASS EXECUTION IN IRAQ

June 15, 2014 By administrator

BAGHDAD – The militant group that swept across northern Iraq and captured two major cities last week has posted graphic photos that appear to show its fighters massacring dozens of captured Iraqi soldiers.

Masked fighters of the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, posted on Twitter that they had executed 1,700 Iraqi soldiers, posting photos to support their claim. The images show the bodies of the captives soaked in blood after being shot.

The grisly images could further sharpen sectarian tensions as hundreds of Shiites heed a call from their most revered spiritual leader to take up arms against the ISIS militants that have swept across the north. ISIS has vowed to take the battle to Baghdad and cities further south housing revered Shiite shrines.

A car bomb meanwhile exploded in central Baghdad, killing 10 and wounding 21, according to police and hospital officials. Baghdad has seen an escalation in suicide and car bombings in recent months, mostly targeting Shiite neighbourhoods or security forces.

Government officials said ISIS fighters were trying to capture Tal Afar in northern Iraq on Sunday and raining down rockets seized last week from military arms depots. The officials said the local garrison suffered heavy casualties and the town’s main hospital was unable to cope with the number of wounded, without providing exact numbers.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. Tal Afar is mainly inhabited by Turkmen, an ethnic minority.

The government meanwhile bolstered its defences around Baghdad a day after hundreds of Shiite men paraded through the streets with arms in response to a call by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for Iraqis to defend their country. ISIS has vowed to attack Baghdad but its advance to the south seems to have stalled in recent days.

ISIS and allied militants captured a vast swath of northern Iraq last week, including second city Mosul and Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, as Iraqi troops, many of them armed and trained by the U.S., fled in disarray, surrendering vehicles, weapons and ammunition to the powerful extremist group, which also fights in Syria.

The captions of the photos say the killings were to avenge the killing of an ISIS commander, Abdul-Rahman al-Beilawy, whose death was reported by both the government and ISIS shortly before the al-Qaeda splinter group’s lightning offensive, which has plunged Iraq into its bloodiest crisis since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011.

Iraq’s top military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, confirmed the photos’ authenticity and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers in areas held by ISIS.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay warned on Friday of “murder of all kinds” and other war crimes in Iraq, and said the number killed in recent days may run into the hundreds, while the wounded could approach 1,000.

Speaking in Geneva, she said her office has received reports that militants rounded up and killed Iraqi soldiers as well as 17 civilians in a single street in Mosul.

Her office also heard of “summary executions and extrajudicial killings” after ISIS militants overran Iraqi cities and towns, the statement said.

Most of the soldiers who appear in the pictures are in civilian clothes. Some are shown wearing military uniforms underneath, indicating they may have hastily disguised themselves as civilians to try to escape.

Many soldiers and policemen left their uniforms and equipment behind as the militants swept into Mosul, Tikrit and surrounding areas.

The captions did not provide a date or location, but al-Moussawi said the killings took place in Salahuddin province, the capital of which is Tikrit.