ISIS Archives

British army chief says Russia bigger threat to UK than Islamic State

November 25, 2018 by administrator

Russia is now a “far greater threat” to the UK’s national security than the Islamic State group, the head of the British army has said, according to the BBC.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, General Mark Carleton-Smith said Britain “cannot be complacent about the threat Russia poses”.

“The Russians seek to exploit vulnerability and weakness wherever they detect it,” he said.

The UK blames Russia for the Salisbury poisoning and several cyber-attacks.

In March, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal – who sold secrets to MI6 – and his daughter Yulia survived being poisoned with Novichok.

Dawn Sturgess, 44, was later exposed to the same nerve agent and died in hospital.

And in October, the UK government accused Russia’s GRU military intelligence service of being behind four high-profile cyber-attacks on targets including the US Democratic Party and a small TV network in Britain.

Russia denies any involvement in the Skripal poisoning and has described cyber-attack accusations as a “rich fantasy”.

BBC. British army chief: Russia ‘far bigger threat than IS’

Blundering American Ambassadors Unmask the War on Terror By David Boyajian

November 16, 2018 by administrator

US Ambassador to Armenia Richard M. Mills

We know that U.S. ambassadors tend to be bureaucratic and boring.

If you challenge them forcefully, however, the resulting outbursts can provide stunning insights into their ineptitude and State Department policies.

Consider the mind-boggling statements made by then-Ambassador to Armenia Richard M. Mills during the Q & A at Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Cambridge, MA.

I had bluntly questioned Mills about the Turkish government’s support for ISIS and similar jihadist/terrorist organizations.

Though this occurred two years ago (March 3, 2016), his answers remain relevant to America’s so-called “War on Terror” and the ongoing wars in Syria and Iraq.

When posing my question, I said that I would be handing everyone in the audience a study titled “Research Paper: ISIS-Turkey Links” by Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights.

Dr. David L. Phillips, director of its Program on Peace-building and Human Rights, oversaw the study. The widely published Phillips is a foreign affairs adviser for the State Department and the United Nations.

Using dozens of sources, the study definitively established that Turkey was providing weapons, ammunition, financing, transportation,

training, and recruits to ISIS in Syria and Iraq and to other terrorist groups such as al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda offshoot.

Incredibly, Mills angrily replied that Turkey had not helped jihadists/terrorists in any way.

The ambassador even claimed that if some jihadists had entered Syria from Turkey they did so only by sneaking past Syrian refugees who were crossing in the opposite direction. To its credit, the polite Armenian American audience refrained from laughing.

Mills’ hyperbolic defense of Turkey was particularly incongruous as American-Turkish relations were even then headed downhill toward today’s quagmire.

Moreover, the ambassador’s vindication of Turkey went even further than had the Obama administration.

Indeed, in a rare moment of frankness Vice-President Joe Biden himself told a Harvard University audience (Oct. 2, 2014) that “our allies” Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE were “our largest problem in Syria … giving hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons” to jihadist organizations.

These included, said Biden, al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, “extremist” jihadis, and ISIL [ISIS].

Though Biden never withdrew his statements, Pres. Obama soon forced him to apologize to Turkey and UAE to spare them and America further embarrassment.

Mills also vehemently denied that Turkey was buying oil from ISIS.

Yet the NY Times had reported (“Struggling to Starve ISIS of Oil Revenue, U.S. Seeks Assistance From Turkey,” Sept. 13, 2014) that “the Obama administration is struggling to cut off the millions of dollars in oil revenue that has made [ISIS] one of the wealthiest terror groups in history, but so far has been unable to persuade Turkey … where much of the oil is traded on the black market, to crack down on an extensive sales network. Western intelligence officials … track the ISIS oil shipments [from] Iraq [into] Turkey.”

Additionally, a second Columbia Univ. study, “Research Paper: Turkey-ISIS Oil Trade,” confirmed that Turkey was buying voluminous amounts of crude oil from ISIS. President Erdogan’s son Bilal Erdogan, son-in-law Berat Albayrak, and brother-in-law Ziya Ilgen were reportedly major players in that illicit trade.

As a State Dept. official, Mills blundered by exonerating Turkey. In so doing, he demonstrated that the “War on Terror” was less about stopping terrorism than about shielding an ally from terrorism charges.

Another blundering ambassador

Six months after the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, Ross L. Wilson, the American ambassador to oil and gas-rich Azerbaijan, spoke at a sparsely attended seminar at Harvard University’s oil and gas industry-funded Caspian Studies Program.

I pointedly asked him about terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky who in 1999 had documented numerous instances of jihadists, including Chechens and Afghans, using Azerbaijan as a base.

Wilson vociferously denied everything in Bodansky’s article.

Yet the FBI had found that al-Qaeda used Baku, Azerbaijan as a communication and logistical base for 1998’s fatal bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Moreover, in the early 1990s Azerbaijan imported thousands of Afghan Mujahideen, as well as Chechen and Turkish, mercenaries to fight against Armenians in the Karabagh/Artsakh war.

Amb. Wilson thus gratuitously covered for Azerbaijan’s involvement with jihadists/terrorists just as Amb. Mills would later do for Turkey.

More recently, hundreds of Azeris have joined ISIS and similar jihadist groups in Syria.

Furthermore, Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Airlines has reportedly been ferrying billions in weapons (including from the U.S.) to jihadists in Syria. Silk Way is apparently owned partly by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s family.

The inept Wilson also called lham Aliyev — who hadn’t yet inherited the throne from his father Heydar Aliyev — an idiot or similar insult.

This apparently panicked host Dr. Brenda Shaffer, the Caspian program’s research director, a prominent pro-Azeri propagandist, former adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and now a lecturer at the Azerbaijani Diplomatic Academy.

She abruptly announced that Wilson’s presentation was now “off the record.”

Armenia’s unrecognized record

Since 9/11, I’ve asked two U.S. ambassadors to Armenia this question: Given America’s so-called global “War on Terror,” why do you never mention that Armenia has an exceptionally strong anti-jihadist/terrorist record compared to other countries within a thousand mile radius or more?

Indeed, Armenia has had no jihadist citizens, hasn’t supported jihadists, and hasn’t served as a jihadist base or transit route.

Neither ambassador provided a cogent answer though one said that Armenia is mainly Christian so wouldn’t be expected to be associated with jihadists.

Yet neighboring Georgia, which jihadists have used as a base and pass-through is also mainly Christian. And witness the many jihadist cells and terror attacks in Christian Europe.

What “War on Terror”?

The four ambassadors’ reactions we described reinforce what many experts believe:

America’s “War on Terror” has largely morphed into a cover for the State Department’s and some American lobbies’ geopolitical agendas — such as deposing Syrian President al-Assad.

After all, given the chance to criticize Turkey, Azerbaijan, and others for supporting jihadists, Ambassadors Mills and Wilson refused to do so.

American officials downplay or outright deny the support that U.S. “allies” such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia provide jihadists/terrorists lest our own nation’s support of terrorism also be exposed.

Similarly, American officials never praise Armenia’s fine record on jihadism/terrorism because as we pointed out the “War on Terror” is primarily not about terror/jihadism.

Lynne M. Tracy has been nominated to replace Richard Mills as ambassador to Armenia.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee should grill her on the same terrorism subjects, and more, that I raised with other ambassadors.

If citizens do not successfully push Congress to fully expose America’s and its “allies” roles in supporting jihadists/terrorists, we have only ourselves to blame.

David Boyajian is a freelance journalist. Many of his articles are archived at www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/David_Boyajian.

Islamic State starts surprise offensive against Syrian army in Deir ez-Zor

August 19, 2018 by administrator

ISIS launches offensive against Syrian Army

The Islamic State launched a surprise offensive in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate on Friday, August 17 night, targeting several areas controlled by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Al-Masdar News says.

IS began their assault last night when they stormed the defenses of the SAA and SDF near the strategic border-city of Albkamal.

According to a field report from Deir ez-Zor, IS attacked the SDF’s positions near the Al-‘Umar Oil Fieldsin an attempt to retake the area.

Following their attack on the SDF’s positions, the Islamic State struck the Syrian Arab Army’s defenses in the Sabikhan Badiya area, which is located just west of Albukamal.

The clashes in east Deir ez-Zor stopped on Saturday morning after the Islamic State seized several points from both forces.

ISIS is now working to secure their gains, while awaiting a counter-offensive from both the SDF and SAA.

Daily mail WikiLeaks reveals 57,000 emails from Erdogan son-in-law connection to ISIS

August 19, 2018 by administrator

Erdogan son-in-law

WikiLeaks has released a tranche of personal emails from the account of Turkey‘s Minister of Oil Berat Albayrak
The emails span a six-year period from 2000 to 2016 and allegedly reveal his level of influence in the country’s political scene
The emails appear to have been obtained by Turkish hacktivist group Redhack

WikiLeaks has released a tranche of more than 57,000 personal emails from the account of Turkey’s Minister of Oil Berat Albayrak.

Albayrak is the son-in-law of the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The emails span a six-year period from 2000 to 2016 and allegedly reveal his level of influence in the country’s political scene.

The emails appear to have been obtained by Turkish hacktivist group Redhack, and which threatened to make his communications public back in September.

The emails, which allegedly contain details of exchanges between Albayrak and the Turkish ‘ruling elite’ were briefly published earlier this year, before being taken down following a crackdown by the Turkish government.

WikiLeaks alleges that the emails reveal ‘Albayrak’s involvement in organisations such as Powertrans, the company implicated in Isis oil imports’.

The company has been implicated in oil imports from ISIS-controlled oil fields.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4006568/WikiLeaks-reveals-57-000-emails-son-law-President-Erdogan-proving-connection-ISIS-operation-smuggling-oil-Turkey.html

Turkey: Exposing Crimes of ISIS is Terrorism

July 20, 2018 by administrator

Eren Erdem at a June 2016 press conference. (Image source: Eren Erdem video screenshot)

by Uzay Bulut,

In an Orwellian nightmare, Eren Erdem, a former MP, journalist and the author of 9 books, who has courageously dedicated his career to exposing and condemning terrorist organizations, is now being accused of “aiding terrorists”. The real terrorists he has condemned, however, remain free.
Erdem is paying the price for telling the truth in Turkey. He has risked his life to stop ISIS and help save lives. Now is the time for human rights activists and the media to defend him.
“Where are the police forces? I identified 10.000 addresses [of ISIS members] in these documents of investigations conducted by prosecutors and judges…. Why are these men not in jail?” — Eren Erdem.
“If the commission we proposed were established, we would crush all of the ISIS cells across in Turkey in a few months. There would be no cell left. Because we know the addresses of these cells. We learn them from the police… We also learn from the investigations by police that ISIS members get organized in Istanbul through a magazine called ‘The Islamic World’. But there has been no police operation against them. This is not neglect. This is cooperation [with ISIS].” — Eren Erdem.

How does Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan fight his political opponents, including those who have been working hard to expose the atrocities of the Islamic state terror group, ISIS? By throwing them into jail for allegedly “supporting terrorism.”

Since the 2016 botched coup attempt in Turkey, Erdogan has been waging a massive crackdown on his opponents and critics, including politicians, political activists, journalists and members of the Turkish security forces and army.

The latest victim of this crackdown is Eren Erdem, a former deputy of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who is known for his activities to expose the crimes of ISIS and other terrorist groups.

Erdem was recently detained on charges of “aiding a terrorist organization” and is also being investigated for “insulting the Turkish state.” He faces a prison sentence of 9 to 22 years on charges of “knowingly and willingly aiding an armed terrorist organization as a non-member”, “revealing the identity of an anonymous witness” and “violating the confidentiality of the investigation.”

The author of nine books, Erdem worked as a journalist before being elected as a CHP member of parliament for Istanbul in 2015. He appears to be the bravest MP who has exposed ISIS activities across Turkey during his tenure and has often urged the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to stop these activities and bring the perpetrators to account.

Erdem meticulously cited evidence from criminal cases, indictments and investigations by state authorities as well as news reports in his statements and parliamentary motions. On December 10, 2015, for example, Erdem made a speech in Turkey’s parliament about ISIS activities in Turkey. These included ISIS’s transfer of the ingredients of sarin gas through Turkey to Syria “with which thousands of children were murdered in the Middle East”. Referring to the investigation and indictment by the Adana office of a public prosecutor, he said:

“Some people in Turkey have contacted the members of the ISIS terrorist organization and transferred the raw material of sarin gas, which is a chemical weapon, to Syria. The prosecutor started an investigation on this. The suspects who carried out the transfer were arrested and jailed. Upon the order of the prosecutor, the telephones of all suspects were wiretapped, the details of which are in this indictment… But within a week, the case was closed, the suspects were released and allowed to leave Turkey to cross the border to Syria.”

Because of the statements he made in parliament, Erdem became the target of a smear campaign, particularly after he spoke to the international press. In December 2015, for example, he told RT: “Chemical weapon materials were brought to Turkey and put together in ISIS camps in Syria, which was known as the Iraqi Al-Qaeda at that time.”

Erdogan, condemning Erdem for the RT interview, said that Erdem “has sunk in the pit of treason” and called on the CHP to dismiss him: “Shame on his party, me and my nation for letting him stay in his party.” A investigation into treason was then launched against Erdem.

Erdem then stated that after the publication of the interview, he received death threats over social media, with his home address posted by pro-government Twitter users presumably to enable an attack on his house:

“I just shared the contents of the indictment with the people… I provided them with a document… [The government] is carrying out a lynching campaign against me. Because they are disturbed by me. I have exposed their filths and exploitation of religion in my books… I have received more than a thousand death threats. My email address is filed with death threats… If something happens to me, the pro-government media and AKP deputies are responsible.”

Undeterred by the pressure and threats, Erdem has continued exposing and speaking about the activities of jihadist terror groups in the region. During a speech at Turkey’s parliament in June 2016, for instance, Erdem once again criticized the government for turning a blind eye to ISIS activities: “ISIS has sleeper cells in Turkey. These cell houses are monitored [by state authorities]… The information gained from technical surveillance on these cells has confirmed that ISIS is organized in Turkey.”

The. primary suspect of ISIS’s terror attack in Ankara, Erdem said, who goes by acronym I.B. [Ibrahim Bali] “sent 1,800 terrorists to ISIS, all of whom were monitored through technical surveillance but not a single police or military operation was carried out on them… Where are the police forces? I identified 10.000 addresses [of ISIS members] in these documents of investigations conducted by prosecutors and judges…. Why are these men not in jail?”

Erdem also commented on the Turkish language online magazine published by ISIS, Konstantiniyye:

“ISIS sends these magazines to bookstores and its cell houses. The government knows this. But no police or military operation has been carried out on anywhere including the printing house of this magazine.”

Erdem then showed a photo of the “database” interface ISIS created of its injured and treated members and said that many ISIS terrorists received medical treatment in Turkey. He also called on the parliament to open a commission to investigate ISIS activities in Turkey, but the call was rejected by the votes of the ruling AKP party. A day later, at a press conference at Turkey’s parliament, Erdem said:

“If the commission we proposed were established, we would crush all of the ISIS cells across in Turkey in a few months. There would be no cell left. Because we know the addresses of these cells. We learn them from the police… We also learn from the investigation by police that ISIS members get organized in Istanbul through a magazine called ‘the Islamic World’. But there has been no police operation against them. This is not neglect. This is cooperation [with ISIS].”

Erdem also said that he received threats and curses on social media after he proposed establishing a commission for investigating ISIS. He added that he was provided with security guards by the governor as a precaution to death threats.

In May 2018, an Islamist association demanded prosecutors to issue an arrest warrant against Erdem. He responded that he was “being exposed to yet another lynching campaign”. He then received a ban on going abroad as he was about to leave Turkey for Germany with his family on May 21. He was stopped at the Istanbul airport by authorities and his passport was seized.

When Erdem’s party, the CHP, failed to nominate him as MP candidate for June 24 elections, he lost his parliamentary seat and his immunity. On June 26, he was arrested in Istanbul.

The terror organization to which Erdem’s indictment refers is the FETÖ (Fethullahist Terrorist Organization), named after Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen. It is an organization that Erdogan and other members of the Turkish government accuse of staging a 2016 attempted coup, and often use as an excuse to arrest its critics.

A lawsuit was filed against Erdem due to his works at newspaper Karşı, where Erdem was the editor-in-chief. The accusation that he is a “FETÖ supporter” is particularly baseless given that in 2016, he published a book entitled “Nurjuvazi” that criticized Gülen and his movement.

In the meantime, a former CHP deputy announced on July 3 that CHP MPs who wanted to visit Erdem in prison were not given permission by authorities. “This,” he wrote on Twitter, “is isolation against Erdem.”

Another investigation was recently opened against him that is looking into his criticism against the Free Syrian Army (FSA) for allegedly violating Article 301 of the penal code, which prescribes prison terms for “denigration of Turkey, the Turkish nation, or Turkish government institutions.”

In an Orwellian nightmare, a former deputy and a journalist who has so courageously dedicated his career to exposing and condemning terrorist organizations, is now being accused of “aiding terrorists”. The real terrorists he has condemned, however, remain free.

Erdem is paying the price for telling the truth in Turkey. He has risked his life to stop ISIS and help save lives. Now is the time for human rights activists and the media to defend him.

Uzay Bulut, a journalist from Turkey, She is currently based in Washington D.C.

Bulgaria: Afrin, refugees, rights: EU-Turkey summit set for showdown

March 26, 2018 by administrator

Erdogan fully resurrected ISIS

The relationship between the EU and Turkey has become very frosty. At their summit in Bulgaria, Turkish officials will discuss human rights and military operations with their EU counterparts.

The frosty weather is set to improve at the Bulgarian resort of Varna on the Black Sea from Monday onward. However, the forecast is less promising for the political climate at the summit taking place there between leading representatives of the European Union and Turkey.

At the start of the year, French President Emmanuel Macron described relations between Turkey and the European Union as “hypocritical.” And, in her address to the Bundestag last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was unusually outspoken in her criticism of Turkey’s military offensive against Kurds in northern Syria. Turkey reacted sharply. “Some of our allies see the situation with the eyes of terrorists” was the Foreign Ministry’s response.

The EU states have now recorded their current displeasure in an unequivocal declaration. In a statement published in advance of the EU summit in Brussels, the European Council “strongly condemns Turkey’s continued illegal actions in the eastern Mediterranean and in the Aegean Sea” and “expressed its grave concern over the continued detention of EU citizens in Turkey.”

More than misunderstandings

Dialogue is clearly needed. The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will be among those in Bulgaria to speak to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At stake are the frozen EU accession negotiations, ease of travel to the bloc for Turkish citizens and, of course, another €3 billion ($3.7 billion) for the controversial refugee agreement.

This last will be top of the list at the summit. In her recent government declaration, German chancellor Angela Merkel made it very clear that she stands by the agreement and “will always defend it.” The accord between Turkey and the EU was signed two years ago, to stop refugees from Syria and other countries from traveling onward to the bloc. It’s one of the reasons why the European Union, and Germany in particular, have been so restrained in their response to Turkey’s attacks on the Afrin region: human rights abuses and military actions that clearly contravene international law. If the European Union alienates Turkey, the country could again open its borders to permit the movement of displaced people.

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Islamic State #ISIS officially surrenders last positions in Idlib (video)

February 13, 2018 by administrator

ISIS officially surrenders

The so-called Islamic State (ISIS) has officially surrendered their last positions to the jihadist rebels in the southeastern countryside of the Idlib Governorate.

According to pro-opposition activists, over 300 members of the Islamic State surrendered themselves to the jihadist rebels at the town of Khuwayn, ending their two month long battle in southeast Idlib.

No information was released regarding the fate of the 300 Islamic State terrorists.

With ISIS no longer in Idlib, the jihadist rebels will now concentrate their forces at more pressing fronts, including the northern countryside of Hama.

Below is the video of the Islamic State terrorists being transported from the southeastern countryside of Idlib:

Report: Weapons destined for Azerbaijan were found in ISIS

December 17, 2017 by administrator

Azerbaijan got involved in supplying weapons to the Islamic State, says a report of the British organization Conflict Armament Research, which monitors the movement of conventional weapons globally.

According to the research, in May 2015, Syrian YPG forces recovered a PG7PM primary propelling charge from IS forces near Al Hasakah. A CAR field investigation team documented the item, with lot number 1-14-((11)), on 20 May 2015.

“Bulgaria confirmed that it had exported the item on 18 December 2014 to the Ministry of Defence of Azerbaijan. The application for the licence was accompanied by the original EUC. CAR has yet to receive a response to a trace request sent to Azerbaijan,” the report said.

According to the documents submitted by Bulgaria, the export was realized on 18 December 2014 from Bourgas Airport, Bulgaria, to Baku Airport, Azerbaijan.

As reported earlier, Azerbaijan has already been accused of having links to ISIS. Azerbaijan transported arms to Saudi Arabia which later was found in ISIS warehouse, Balgarian newspaper Trud reported.

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Agency: in cooperation with the ‘the Turkish National Intelligence (MIT) leaders of the ISIS with its funds are in Turkey

October 19, 2017 by administrator

A number of the ISIS Terrorist leaders managed to escape from Syria, after repeated defeats by the Syrian Democratic forces in Raqqa and Rural area of Deir al-Zour, arrived in Turkey after taking their money with them, and the suspicions about the role of Turkish intelligence “MIT” in this process.

According to informed sources, the leaders fleeing the fighting have entered the Turkish territory, through the crossings controlled by terrorists “Euphrates shield” in the countryside of Aleppo eastern and north-east, backed by the Turkish occupation state.

For his part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the health of this information and the director of the Observatory, Rami Abdulrahman said that the fugitives were able to enter Turkey by paying bribes to the leaders of the mercenaries of the so-called “Euphrates Shield”, ranging from 20-30 thousand US dollars per person , And the mercenaries entrusted coordination between them and the Turkish intelligence to cross the border.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented during the past months the escape of hundreds of “Supporters” elements of the ISIS organization, including local leaders to the province of Hasaka-Syria, and then disappeared there and some of them were seen inside Turkish territory. The Syrian Observatory also documented the escape of elements and leaders of the terrorist organization from the eastern Homs To the control areas of the mercenaries operating in the process of “shield Euphrates” forces backed by the Turkey in the countryside of Aleppo north-east, and then move to Turkish territory by coordination between the Turkish dead and smugglers.

Arabic Sources

وكالة : بالتعاون مع “الميت التركي” قيادات من داعش تصل الى تركيا مع أموالها

http://xeber24.org/archives/47332

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Breaking: Syrian Army storms ISIS strongholds in Deir Ezzor City

October 17, 2017 by administrator

By Leith Fadel,

BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:30 P.M.) – Minutes ago, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), alongside their advisers from the Russian Special Forces, launched a new attack to clear several areas occupied by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Deir Ezzor City.

Led by the 4th and 17th divisions, the Syrian Arab Army stormed the Islamic State’s positions at the Al-Rusafah and Al-‘Aqal districts in a bid to take these key areas near the western bank of the Euphrates River.

In addition to the attacks at A-Rusafah and Al-‘Aqal, the Syrian Arab Army also launched an assault along Port Sa’id Street, which has long been an Islamic State stronghold inside the provincial capital of the Deir Ezzor Governorate.