German MP: West ‘Should Put End’ To Erdogan’s Secret Ties With ISIS

January 8, 2016 By administrator

Deputy Chairman of the Left Party Sahra Wagenknecht. Clemens Blian/AFP

As long as the Turkish President pursues a policy that contributes to the prosperity of terrorists in the Middle East, a resolution on addressing the situation in the region would be extremely difficult, German politician Sahra Wagenknecht said.

By Sputnik News | January 8, 2016

Western countries should exert pressure on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and put an end to the secret relations of Ankara and Daesh (also known as Islamic State terrorist group), otherwise the conflict in Syria may escalate, Deputy Chairman of the Left Party Sahra Wagenknecht said in an interview with German magazine Spiegel

“The escalation risks are extremely high,” Wagenknecht said. “There are now 15 countries fighting in Syria, sometimes together, sometimes side by side, sometimes against each other. There is no common strategy,” she added.

According to the politician, the parties involved do not have any consensus regarding their actions. They don’t even have an agreement on the fact that the fight against the Daesh should be of the highest priority. For instance, Turkey has different priorities and maintains ties with jihadists.

“Erdogan has to be put under pressure to finally stop his covert terrorist support and close the Turkish border for the Islamic State,” Wagenknecht said.

At the same time, the German politician stressed that the military intervention plays into the hands of Daesh terrorists, because the airstrikes lead to a large number of civilian casualties, causing hatred and indignation among the local population.

“Germany is involved in a war, the course of which no one can really control,” the German politician stressed.

Since 2014, Daesh militants have seized vast areas in Syria and Iraq, and have declared a caliphate under the rule of Sharia law in territories they control.

After that the US formed a coalition of some 60 nations which has been carrying out airstrikes against the terrorists since September 2014. The mission has not been authorized by the Syrian government or the UN Security Council.

France: ISIS Knife-wielding man shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ shot dead in Paris on Charlie Hebdo anniversary

January 7, 2016 By administrator

Police in Paris have shot a man dead who tried to enter a police station armed with a knife, shouting “Allahu Akbar.” The man was found to be carrying a cellphone and a paper with an Islamic State flag, the Paris prosecutor says.

The shooting took place at the Goutte d’Or police station in Paris’ 18th district. Anna Polonyi, a journalist from the New York Times, witnessed the events unfolding and published a photo of a man lying on the ground outside the building. She also tweeted a photo of what appeared to be a robot inspecting the body.

Another eyewitness said two or three shots were heard, AFP reported. Police sealed off the area.

Pentagon refuses to share intelligence on IS until Moscow’s stance on Assad changes

December 26, 2015 By administrator

Washington will not share intelligence data on Islamic State positions in Syria and will not accept Moscow’s offer to cooperate on rooting out terrorism until Moscow changes its position on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s future, Russia Today reports, citing the Pentagon.
Ever since the start of the Russian campaign in Syria in late September, Moscow has been offering to share information with the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), urging Washington to reciprocate. After months of extensive diplomatic efforts by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, and the Kremlin, the Pentagon is still refusing to enter the proposed cooperation.

“We are not going to cooperate with Russia on Syria until they change their strategy of supporting Assad and instead focus on ISIL,” US Defense Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza told Sputnik on Friday.

Moscow has persistently insisted throughout the course of the Syrian conflict that it is only up to the Syrian people to decide who governs them. Russia has repeatedly spoken out against foreign intervention in the domestic affairs of any country, including Syria.
The Kremlin has also made it clear that the government forces of Bashar Assad are the main fighting force against IS on the ground. Since September 30, Russian forces have been helping the Syrian army recapture the territories controlled by IS and other terrorist and jihadi groups.

At the same time, Russia has occasionally been helping the clandestine moderate opposition, such as the Free Syrian Army, when they come forward to request help in their battles against the jihadists, and provides coordinates for airstrikes.

Washington and their Middle Eastern allies do not consider the elected president of Syria to be a legitimate authority and want him gone, claiming only his unconditional departure can ignite a political process in the war-torn country.

However, recently Washington has softened its rhetoric, saying that Assad might play a certain role in the “transitional period” while “how and when he goes” is being decided.
The issue of Assad’s future in the political life of Syria, which has been debated for years, has become acute since the launch of a highly successful Russian air campaign against IS in Syria. The US-led coalition has been accusing Moscow of attacking the “wrong” armed groups in Syria, at the same time refusing to specify which rebel groups they consider to be moderate which should not be targeted.

Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry that Moscow’s proposal to coordinate with the United States on airstrikes against
terrorists in Syria had been on the table for two and a half months.

The Russian role in Syria became the focal point of the frequent meetings between Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama from September onwards. During that period, Obama spoke several times with Putin on the phone and met him three times on the sidelines of international events, ending the period of “Russia’s isolation” that followed the Crimea affair of 2014.

Run, Turkish terrorist Daesh, Run: Iraqi Forces Gain Upper Hand in Ramadi

December 23, 2015 By administrator

Iraqi security forces continued to gain ground in the western city of Ramadi in Anbar province and expect to dislodge Daesh militants from the strategic city within days, local television reported on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the army won back the al-Dubat neighborhood and al-Jirayshi district in the South of Ramadi city.

Iraqi forces also retook Al-Armal neighborhood and killed over a dozen terrorists.

“In the coming days will be announced the good news of the complete liberation of Ramadi,” Iraqia TV quoted the army chief of staff Lt. General Othman al-Ghanemi as saying on Wednesday.

If Ramadi is captured, it will be the second major city after Tikrit to be retaken from Islamic State in Iraq. It would provide a major psychological boost to Iraqi security forces after the militant group seized a third of Iraq last year.

Media reports also said that Iraqi security forces had restored security to the road between Albo Dhiab — Al-Jirayshi north of Ramadi.

Battlefield sources announced on Tuesday that the Iraqi Army troops had launched a joint massive operation against the jihadists’ fortified positions in the central part of the city.

“The Iraqi army stormed the first defense lines of the ISIL [Daesh] terrorists in the city center and is now engaged in a heavy street battle with the Takfiri terrorists,” the sources said.

Daesh militants are still in control in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, and Fallujah, which lies between Ramadi and Baghdad, as well as large areas of Syria — the core of what it has declared to be a caliphate.

Captured Daesh Fighter Reveals Details of Turkey’s Ties With Terror Group

December 22, 2015 By administrator

© SPUTNIK/ HIKMET DURGUN Fighter from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)

Mahmut Ghazi Tatar, a captured member of the Daesh terrorist organization, spoke to Sputnik Turkey, revealing details about being in the ranks of Daesh and Turkey’s ties with the terror group.

A Sputnik Türkiye correspondent managed to record an interview with a member of Daesh (Islamic State) who was captured by Kurdish troops in Syria. The 24-year-old Mahmut Ghazi Tatar who joined Daesh from the Turkish city of Adıyaman.

Mahmut Ghazi joined Daesh after being influenced by a friend who had joined the group earlier. He, together with 27 other Turks, was helped to cross the border into Syria where he joined the ranks of the militants.

“After crossing border we were moved to a training camp 5 km from the border. We received military training and attended religious classes. Before the start of training, each of us was asked whether we want to be martyrs. I refused. This question is asked of all new recruits. Those who agree, within 6 months receive special religious training. Since I refused, my education and training lasted 70 days. We learned by the Turkish books. During the training, a few people from Turkey came to check on us. They did not have beards and they were not members of Daesh,” Mahmut Tatar told Sputnik Turkiye during an interview.

After receiving their training the 27 members who were all Turkish were sent to the city of Tel Abaid where they lived in houses and where their training continued. Their names were kept secret and they were not allowed to contact their families for a period of six months.

Talking about how he was caught by Kurdish soldiers, Ghazi said that upon receiving warning of the presence of Kurdish soldiers from other Daesh members he and 12 other group members ran away from Tal Abaid. They were hiding in a nearby village. But the next morning when Ghazi tried to make a run for it he was caught.

“Kurds treat prisoners well, they feed them, give water and even cigarettes. I was kept in this room along with several other people. I did not think that they will treat me so well, I was afraid of torture. I thought we would be killed, but it turned out that the Kurdish troops do not kill captives. I heard that Daesh when being captured by Kurds are either killed at once or are kept alive to make prisoner exchange with the Kurds.”

Talking about what he heard from his commander the captured member revealed that during his training camp in May 2015, one Daesh commander Abu Talha told them that the group sells oil to Turkey. According to Abu Talha, the money that was raised from sale of oil in Turkey helped Daesh resolve all financial difficulties.

“The oil tankers that were sent every day to Turkey had crude oil, fuel oil and gasoline. The main source of income for Daesh is oil trade and oil inventories will last them a long time.”

“Abu Talha also said that the group earns a lot of money in trade with Turkey. He also said that the oil is sold through the mediation of a number of businessmen and merchants, but did not give names. Daesh also receives many products from Turkey and other Arab countries,” Mahmut Ghazi revealed.

He mentioned that his commanders did not attach particular importance to the US bombings. They believed that it was done as a pretense.

One of the militants asked the commander why Daesh was not fighting against Israel. Abu Talha said: “First we need to break down a small wall and then destroy the large one.”

According to the captured member most new recruits joined the group from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen, Qatar, Lebanon and Egypt. They crossed the Turkish border, which is very simple to do. The fighters from Europe and America follow the same route.

“The commanders told us that they were going to commit a terrorist act that would exceed the scale of the September 11 attacks on the US,” Mahmut Ghazi concluded.

Source:sputniknews.com

Obama Should Dismiss Ambassador Baer for Favoring ISIS Ally Turkey

December 22, 2015 By administrator

BY Harut Sassounian-1 , HARUT SASSOUNIAN

Even the most uninformed person on earth is aware by now that Turkey is a major accomplice of ISIS. There have been countless news reports in the global media documenting Turkish complicity. Amazingly, there is one American diplomat who seems to be clueless about Turkey’s destructive role in the region, not only in Syria and Iraq, but also in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh)!

How could the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) be that ignorant to give a speech praising Turkey’s “valuable” role in the effort to settle the Artsakh conflict?

In his December 17 statement to OSCE’s Permanent Council, Ambassador Daniel B. Baer had the audacity to praise Turkey’s “constructive role as a Minsk Group member” in the Artsakh conflict. He went on to state that “Turkey has been a valuable member of the Minsk Group and has worked cooperatively with the Co-Chairs on finding a way forward in peace talks” between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Ambassador Baer expressed his disagreement with Alexander Lukashevich, Russia’s Ambassador to the OSCE, who had questioned two days earlier “Turkey’s constructiveness as a Minsk Group member.” The Russian Ambassador had criticized Turkey for siding with “one of the parties of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict [Azerbaijan],” and described Ankara’s position as “unacceptable” and “absolutely destructive.”

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Ken Hachikian denounced Ambassador Baer’s statement, calling it “reckless.” Hachikian noted Turkey’s long list of staunchly pro-Azerbaijan policies: “The Erdogan government actively supports Aliyev’s virulent anti-Armenian positions, openly providing military aid and training to the Azerbaijani military, while, at the same time, blockading Armenia, contrary to international law, and seeking to isolate Yerevan in the international arena.”

The ANCA Chairman wondered why “U.S. officials allow themselves to be used as props in Erdogan’s farce, pretending that the Turkish government will — against all evidence — play the role of some sort of impartial mediator?” Hachikian concluded: “This Administration’s shameful legacy of endlessly caving in to Turkish threats — at the expense of our own values and interests as a nation — is truly a national disgrace — an embarrassment beneath the dignity of the American people.”

Several members of the U.S. Congress also condemned Ambassador Baer’s scandalous remarks. Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said he was “troubled by the recent statement praising Turkey’s role in the Minsk Group peace process made by our U.S. Representative to the OSCE. Turkey’s active and overt support of Azerbaijan with regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been apparent from the beginning. A statement like this will only serve to polarize the negotiations.”

House Select Committee on Intelligence Ranking Democrat Adam Schiff of California stated unequivocally that “given Turkey’s behavior and longstanding support for Baku, they cannot be considered — in any way — a neutral broker in what has become an increasingly intense conflict along the Line of Contact.” Cong. Schiff further suggested that “instead of stacking the table against Nagorno Karabakh, all nations should insist upon the deployment of monitoring technology along the border, a step that Armenia has readily agreed to but has been resisted by Azerbaijan, doubtless because it would demonstrate their unprovoked aggression.”

This writer has yet to see a reaction from Armenia challenging Ambassador Baer’s ill-advised and inappropriate remarks. Silence would imply agreement with the U.S. Ambassador’s unfortunate words. In fact, Ambassador Baer should be severely criticized by everyone, Armenians and non-Armenians alike, for encouraging Turkey’s detrimental meddling in the Artsakh conflict. Instead of praising Turkey’s “constructive” and “valuable” role, the U.S. Ambassador should have followed the example of his Russian counterpart and lashed out at Ankara’s sinister and destructive efforts.

Two years ago, when he was sworn in as envoy to OSCE, Ambassador Baer released a video in which he cheerfully announced: “My partner, Brian, and I, are excited to live in Vienna, along with our greyhound, Cleo. We look forward to exploring a wonderful city, and going skiing and hiking in Austria, and to traveling around the OSCE region.”

Ambassador Baer seems more interested in tourism at US taxpayers’ expense than engaging in serious diplomatic work. If that is the case, President Obama should relieve the Ambassador of his duties, so he can continue his sightseeing tour of Europe at his own expense!

#OpTurkey: Anonymous Launches Cyberwar Against Ankara for Aiding Daesh

December 22, 2015 By administrator

Anonymous has claimed responsibility for a large-scale cyberattack on Turkish servers carried out as part of a campaign against the Turkish government over its support of Daesh.

The hacktivist group temporarily brought down as many as 40,000 websites, with the majority of them now back online.

Earlier the hacktivist group released a video with a message for Turkey:

“Dear government of Turkey, if you don’t stop supporting ISIS, we will continue attacking your internet, your ROOT DNS, your banks and take your government sites down,” Anonymous said. “After the ROOT DNS we will start to hit your airports, military assets and private state connections. We will destroy your critical banking infrastructure.”

Turkey’s shady dealings with Daesh came under a spotlight in recent weeks after the Russian Defense Ministry released satellite images showing the terrorist group transporting up to 200,000 barrels of oil in at least 1,722 trucks to third-party countries, most notably Turkey.

Russia has also accused Erdogan and his family of direct involvement in the terrorist group’s oil business.

The West has also repeatedly urged Ankara to seal the porous border with Syria to prevent terrorists from entering or leaving the country.

Behind the Black Flag: American traind Syrian ruble The Recruitment of an ISIS Killer

December 20, 2015 By administrator

Hassan Aboud, left, with Abu Ayman in 2013 when Mr. Aboud was leading sieges against Syrian Army positions from which soldiers were shelling the civilian population. Credit Bryan Denton for The New York Times

(nytimes.com) Since the Syrian rebel leader Hassan Aboud joined ISIS, taking with him fighters and weapons, he has been behind a sprawling mix of battlefield action and crime.

By C. J. CHIVERS DEC. 20, 2015

Hassan Aboud’s practiced baritone belied the malevolence in his words.

That state is the self-proclaimed Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, the terrorist group that controls territory in Syria and Iraq and has recently projected violence to Beirut, Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. A soft-spoken double-amputee sometimes carried to meetings by fellow gunmen, Mr. Aboud is an Islamic State commander who also directs a network of assassins, including those who killed Darraji, a former subordinate, with bullets and flame.

The recording of his singing circulated among past associates this year. A taunting dark requiem, it serves as evidence and confession. Mr. Aboud, who defected from Syria’s rebels to the terrorist group in 2014, was admitting to previously unsolved killings of former friends.

“We plucked Adeeb Abbas’s head,” he continued, naming another of his one-time deputies, blasted from a motorcycle by a roadside bomb. “We spilled his filthy blood.”

He then vowed to kill more, as a male chorus chanted to those marked to die: “We will liquidate every traitor.”

Dark Requiem of an ISIS Commander

Hassan Aboud admitted to killing his former friends.

Since rising to prominence as an international menace, the Islamic State has tried to glorify its members, describing them as religious warriors who raised arms to protect fellow Sunni Muslims and serve their understanding of God. But the journey of Mr. Aboud, and his recruitment by ISIS, including with cash, departs from scripts emphasizing piety or civil defense.

It is the chronicle of an underground fighter maimed and darkened by his long fight, the biography — replete with rivalries and fratricide — of a proven and once popular Islamist commander whose actions turned more violent and vengeful as he moved into the Islamic State’s orbit.

Mr. Aboud, his former neighbors and associates say, abandoned the defense of his hometown for money, power and the license for viciousness that came with joining the Islamic State. His path resembled not the airbrushed arcs laid out in jihadist propaganda mills but a Middle Eastern mafia tale set against the corrupting effects of war.

The journey from jihadist rank-and-file to feared underground figure was shaped by multiple forces. These include the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the oppression of a border-straddling Sunni Muslim population by governments in Damascus and Baghdad. It was further stoked by the indiscriminate killing of civilians by Syrian security forces since 2011, then channeled by the patient plotting of a jihadist organization, once shattered, that revived itself to eclipse Al Qaeda.

Ultimately, his courtship by ISIS offers an unusually detailed look at how the group has selected commanders from a region that has produced uncountable militants since 2003. These chosen men, seduced by gifts and the Islamic State’s gloomy prestige, hold the terrain it needs to support its claim of being a caliphate.

Russian anti-drugs chief: ISIS uses Turkey for trafficking heroin to Europe

December 20, 2015 By administrator

An Afghan man works on a poppy field in Jalalabad province, May 1, 2014. REUTERS/Parwiz (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: SOCIETY DRUGS) – RTR3NCYZ

(RT) One of the biggest money-spinners for Islamic State terrorists is transporting illegal drugs from Afghanistan to Europe through Turkey and the Balkans, according to the head of Russia’s federal anti-drug agency FKSN.

“ISIS fighters are controlling certain territory,” Viktor Ivanov was quoted as saying by TASS. “Now it is targeted by the Russian Air Force, but until recently the terrorists enjoyed great freedom there. Trafficking illegal drugs was one of the major sources of their income.”

Ivanov added that so far the heroin transported to the European Union via Turkey and the Balkans yields Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) about $150 billion for distribution to members of the criminal chain. “This money is getting into the criminal turnover and destabilizes the situation in the transit countries. Turkey is exactly such a country,” Ivanov told reporters.

In July, Russia’s top drug enforcer spoke at an international anti-trafficking conference in Gambia and said that the $500 billion annual income from illegal drug trade was the financial and organizational basis for new terrorist organizations, such as Boko Haram, Islamic State and others. “Illegal drugs are a kind of gold and foreign currency reserves for quasi-state groups,” he said.

In March, Ivanov said in a press interview that IS made up to $1 billion annually from Afghan heroin trafficked through its territory. He predicted another record-high poppy harvest in the terrorist-controlled lands, and urged countries to raise the issue of fighting the IS drugs trade at the highest international level, including at the UN, saying it represents a global security threat.

Scott.net report Hackers trace ISIS Twitter accounts to the British government

December 19, 2015 By administrator

main_hacker_against_isis By Jasper Hamill

Scott.net report Hackers have claimed that a number of Islamic State supporters’ social media accounts are being run from internet addresses linked to the Department of Work and Pensions.

A group of four young computer experts who call themselves VandaSec have unearthed evidence indicating that at least three ISIS-supporting accounts can be traced back to the DWP’s London offices.

Every computer and mobile phone logs onto the internet using an IP address, which is a type of identification number.

The hacking collective showed Mirror Online details of the IP addresses used by a trio of separate digital jihadis to access Twitter accounts, which were then used to carry out online recruitment and propaganda campaigns.

At first glance, the IP addresses seem to be based in Saudi Arabia, but upon further inspection using specialist tools they appeared to link back to the DWP.

“Don’t you think that’s strange?” one of the hackers asked Mirror Online. “We traced these accounts back to London, the home of the British intelligence services.”

VandaSec’s work has sparked wild rumours suggesting someone inside the DWP is running ISIS-supporting accounts, or they were created by intelligence services as a honeypot to trap wannabe jihadis.

However, when Mirror Online traced the IP addresses obtained by VandaSec, we found they actually pointed to a series of unpublicised transactions between Britain and Saudi Arabia.

We learned that the British government sold on a large number of IP addresses to two Saudi Arabian firms.

After the sale completed in October of this year, they were used by extremists to spread their message of hate.

Comment: Always make sure to keep your terror-related doings one step removed! Saudi Arabia has always been the convenient middleman.

Although the DWP denied owning the IP addresses at first, Jamie Turner, an expert from a firm called PCA Predict, discovered a record of the sale of IP addresses, and found a large number were transferred to Saudi Arabia in October of this year.

He told us it was likely the IP addresses could still be traced back to the DWP because records of the addresses had not yet been fully updated.

The Cabinet Office has now admitted to selling the IP addresses on to Saudi Telecom and the Saudi-based Mobile Telecommunications Company earlier this year as part of a wider drive to get rid of a large number of the DWP’s IP addresses.

It said the British government can have no control over how these addresses are used after the sale.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The government owns millions of unused IP addresses which we are selling to get a good return for hardworking taxpayers.

“We have sold a number of these addresses to telecoms companies both in the UK and internationally to allow their customers to connect to the internet.

“We think carefully about which companies we sell addresses to, but how their customers use this internet connection is beyond our control.”

The government did not reveal how much money was made from selling the IP addresses to the pair of Saudi firms, because it regards this information as commercially sensitive.

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