Foreign fighters From fighting ‘Islamic State’ to rotting in Iraqi Kurdish prisons

December 29, 2017 By administrator

Foreign fighters against “Islamic State” have been subjected to heavy mistreatment in Iraqi Kurdish prisons. Karlos Zurutuza and Ferran Barber spoke with western volunteers, and recounted months spent in jail.

On a blank sheet of paper, Marcos sketches the plan of the Kurdish prison where he spent 95 days in captivity.

“Just picture more than a hundred people inside a 65-square-meter [700 square foot] cell! We had to lie on our sides against each other to sleep, or even remain seated,” the 47-year-old Spaniard told DW from his home in Rabanales, a village in northwestern Spain.

Marcos, whose codename was “Dr. Delil,” was one of three Spaniards imprisoned last August in the Irbil General Security Directorate, a huge compound in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan (KRG). He had served as a paramedic in the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a Yazidi armed group set up to protect this minority against radical Islamists, namely the “Islamic State” (IS) group.

When IS began its massacre of the Yazidi population in 2014, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) intervened in order to save the locals from the “Islamic State” militants.

But in the midst of the fight against IS last March, clashes broke out between the YBS and KRG peshmerga forces. YBS often coordinates with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a multi-ethnic coalition backed by Washington, but which Ankara accuses of having links to the PKK. The PKK is banned in Turkey and considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.

Close ties between Ankara and the ruling party in Iraqi Kurdistan, the PDK, have apparently resulted in closer scrutiny of YBS and SDF fighters.

Enemy fighters share cell

“Whether you’re Daesh or PKK doesn’t make any difference to us.” Marcos said his Kurdish captors in Irbil would frequently tell him, using the Arabic name for IS. Actually, the YBS volunteer claims, they shared their single-toilet cell with IS fighters during most of their stay. And it was a noisy one.

“The TV was on full time and at a brutal volume: verses of the Quran in the morning and Turkish music in the afternoon. I guess their main goal was to prevent us from sleeping,” he recalled.

The three Spaniards were not told how long they would be held, nor were they put on trial. They spent most of their time inside the cell, except for 20 minutes each day when they would walk in circles in a courtyard that was covered with wire mesh. The routine sometimes changed, but only for the worse.

“They put me in an isolation cell after a visit from a delegation from the Spanish embassy. After two days in complete darkness, a group of five men came inside and gave me my first beating,” recalled Marcos, adding that he and his cellmates could hear the cries of pain from those who were tortured, “even with the TV at full volume.”

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/from-fighting-islamic-state-to-rotting-in-iraqi-jail/a-41958743

‘Islamic State’ claims deadly Pakistan church bombing

December 17, 2017 By administrator

Suicide bombers have attacked a Methodist church in Quetta, Pakistan, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 30 others. The “Islamic State” jihadi group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

“Islamic State” (IS) militants stormed a Methodist church filled with Christian worshipers in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Sunday morning, killing and wounding several others.

Pakistani authorities said that among the eight dead, two were women. Several of the wounded were also reported to be in serious condition.

Police said the attack could have been much worse had they not successfully shot and killed one of the attackers before they could detonate the bomb. However, the second assailant managed to reach the entrance to the church where he blew himself up.

Middle East Iraq declares ‘end of war’ against ‘Islamic State’

December 9, 2017 By administrator

The Iraqi premier has announced the defeat of “Islamic State” after months of fighting to uproot the militant group. But European authorities have warned that its ideology still remains a threat to global security.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday announced the “end of the war” against the “Islamic State” (IS) militant group, saying Iraqi security forces regained control of the border with Syria.

“Our forces are in complete control of the Iraqi-Syrian border and I therefore announce the end of the war against Daesh,” Abadi said during a press conference in Baghdad, referring to the militant group by its Arabic acronym.

“Our enemy wanted to kill our civilization, but we have won through our unity and our determination. We have triumphed in little time.”

Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah, a senior Iraqi military commander, issued a similar statement, saying the country’s military had liberated “all Iraqi lands.”

Rise of the caliphate

IS rose to notoriety in 2014, when it captured large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, culminating in the sacking and occupation of Mosul.

In June that year, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the militant group’s leader, announced the creation of a so-called caliphate from a historic mosque in Mosul.

Shortly afterward, the militant group launched terrorist attacks across the globe, striking European capitals such as Berlin, Paris and Brussels while recruiting sympathizers to join their cause in the region and abroad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the armed forces “have now secured the entire length of the Iraq-Syria border”

Long road to end terror

Over the past year, a US-led coalition against IS dubbed Operation Inherent Resolve has partners in Iraq and Syria, including the Iraqi military and Kurdish-led forces, to uproot the militant group from its stronghold.

Earlier this year, Iraqi-led forces backed by Shiite militias and Kurdish forces, ousted the group from Mosul, while in Syria, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias drove IS from its de facto capital Raqqa.

“In conjunction with partner forces, [the coalition] defeats ISIS in designated areas of Iraq and Syria and set conditions for follow-on operations to increase regional stability,” the coalition said in a tweet on Saturday, referring to the group by an alternative acronym.

Iran’s Rouhani declares end of Islamic State

November 21, 2017 By administrator

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared the end of Islamic State on Tuesday in an address broadcast live on state TV, Hindustantimes.com reports.

A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Major General Qassem Soleimani, also declared the end of Islamic State in a message sent to the country’s supreme leader on Tuesday which was published on Sepah News, the news site of the Guards.

Videos and pictures of Soleimani, who commands the Quds Force, the branch of the Guards responsible for operations outside of Iran’s borders, at frontline positions in battles against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have been posted frequently by Iranian media in recent years.

Last week, Iranian media published pictures of Soleimani at Albu Kamal in eastern Syria, a town which Soleimani said on Tuesday was the last territory retaken from Islamic State control in the region.

The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s most powerful military force which also oversees an economic empire worth billions of dollars, has been fighting in support of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the central government in Baghdad for several years.

More than a thousand members of the Guards, including senior commanders, have been killed in Syria and Iraq.

Islamic State “Daesh” shave their faces en masse to flee Mosul’s Old City

July 5, 2017 By administrator

Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) forces stand guard next to Mosul’s destroyed ancient leaning minaret, known as the “Hadba” (Hunchback), in the Old City of Mosul on July 4, 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the city from Takfiri Daesh terrorists. (Photo by AFP)

A high-ranking Iraqi military commander says members of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group are shaving their beards to blend in with civilians as they flee government forces’ advance on Mosul’s Old City.

“They just shave their beards and walk out. Just yesterday we captured two among a group of women and children,” Lieutenant General Sami al-Aridi of Special Forces told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

He added that hundreds of militants have managed to escape from the Old City, noting that some 300 Daesh extremists remain in the small patch of territory still controlled by them.

The remarks came on the same day that Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, a top commander in Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told Arabic-language al-Forat news agency that Daesh terrorists’ hold on Mosul has shrunk to a 150-square meter area.

He went on to say that there are 100 bombers among the militants remaining in Mosul’s Old City, stressing that 90 percent of the remaining terrorists are foreigners.

Major Ali Mohsen, a member of the CTS, also told Basnews news agency that government forces have taken over 90 percent of al-Midan neighborhood, where Daesh terrorists were running underground detention facilities and stockpiling munitions.

He added that security forces have uncovered an incarceration center, where 40 people were being held in poor and unhealthy conditions.

On Tuesday, security forces liberated the main square and a multi-storey car park in the Bab al-Toub neighborhood of western Mosul and Khuzam Grand Mosque.

They also took control of the Khalid ibn al-Walid street in the Old City of Mosul.

Late on Tuesday, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated the armed forces on a “big victory” in Mosul, declaring an end to Daesh terror group’s self-styled caliphate.

Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by their Arabic name, Hashd al-Sha’abi, have made sweeping gains against Daesh since launching the Mosul operation on October 17, 2016.

The Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19.

An estimated 862,000 people have been displaced from Mosul ever since the battle to retake the city began nine months ago. A total of 195,000 civilians have also returned, mainly to the liberated areas of eastern Mosul.

Azerbaijan under cover of 350 “diplomatic flights” would have delivered weapons to Islamic State reveals a Bulgarian newspaper supporting evidence

July 5, 2017 By administrator

Azerbaijan islamic state main arm supplier Azerbaijan has played an important role in the supply of weapons to Daech (the Islamic State) with 350 “diplomatic flights” from Azerbaijan on planes loaded with weapons and ammunition to power Daech. Thus Baku would have supported the Islamist state. It is the Bulgarian newspaper with a large circulation, “Troud”, which reveals the information by claiming to have evidence of this supply of arms to Daech by Azerbaijan. It was by Azerbaijan airline Silk Way Airlines that secret flights under diplomatic cover were being sent to Islamic terrorist groups in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Congo.

Thus the Azerbaijani diplomatic network would have served as a cover for these missions of illegal arms delivery by Azerbaijan to Islamic groups. The investigative journalists of the Bulgarian newspaper “Troud” with the hackers managed to “break” the Internet network of the Azerbaijan Embassy in Sofia (Bulgaria) in order to seize the secret documents confirming these deliveries of weapons. Baku to Daech. Documents made available to the public. These documents testify that these practices of deliveries of arms to Daech had also been put in place through other Azeri embassies.

David Babayan, spokesman for the Government of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) told Radiolour that Azerbaijan’s ties with Daech were known. As it was also known that the wounded fighters of Daech received regular care in Baku. Sergei Minassian, an Armenian political scientist, calls on the international community “to learn more about the actions of Azerbaijan”. Wednesday 5 July 2017,

Krikor Amirzayan © armenews.com

Russia fires cruise missiles at Islamic State in Syria, doesn’t inform US

June 23, 2017 By administrator

This picture, taken on October 18, 2016, shows the Russian warship BSF Nikolay Flichenkov 152 on its way to the eastern Mediterranean port of Tartus in Syria. (Via AFP)

Russian vessels deployed to the Mediterranean have fired cruise missiles at Daesh targets inside Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry says.

The missiles were fired from two Russian warships and a submarine at targets inside the western Syrian province of Hama on Friday, it said.

“As a result of the surprise mass missile strike, command points were destroyed and also large stores of weapons and ammunition of the IS (Daesh) terrorists in the area of Aqirbat in the Hama Province,” the ministry said.

It added that Russian planes then carried out aerial strikes that “destroyed the remainder of the IS fighters and their facilities.”

Russia has also been conducting an aerial bombardment campaign against terrorist positions in Syria on a request by Damascus.

Russia has been conducting cruise missile strikes and aerial attacks against terrorist positions in Syria on a request from the Syrian government.

Russia ‘nearly 100 percent certain Baghdadi has been killed’

Meanwhile on Friday, Viktor Ozerov, the head of the defense committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, said Russia was almost 100 percent sure that the leader of Daesh, Ibrahim al-Samarrai aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been killed in an airstrike carried out by the Russian Air Force in Syria last month.

“I think this information is close to 100 percent [in certainty],” Interfax quoted Ozerov as saying. “The fact that Islamic State [Daesh] has still not shown him anywhere also adds to our confidence that al-Baghdadi has been killed.”

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry had said it was “highly likely” that Baghdadi, had been killed. Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov told Sputnik news agency that the information about Baghdadi’s likely death was now being verified through “various channels.”

The Friday statement by the Russian Defense Ministry said that Turkish and Israeli militaries “were informed in a timely manner of the missile launches through communication channels” but made no mention of the United States.

Russia has suspended communications with the US, which used to be carried out via a hotline set up to prevent accidental military confrontations over Syrian airspace. The US is present in Syria as part of a coalition that purports to be fighting Daesh but that has not received permission from Damascus.

The suspension of the military contact came after a US warplane hit a Syrian Su-22 aircraft with a missile last Sunday. The US claimed that it had targeted the plane “in collective self-defense of coalition-partnered forces” in the city of Taqba in northern Syria.

Moscow says Washington had failed to inform it about the hit. A day later, the Russian Ministry threatened to treat aircraft with the coalition “as air targets” if they flew in areas west of the Euphrates River.

The Pentagon responded by saying it would “defend” itself and “our partners if threatened.”

Russian Warplanes Foil Islamic State Attack in Deir ez-Zor, Eliminate 180 Terrorists

June 17, 2017 By administrator

The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that the Russian warplanes have foiled a massive State Attack attack on the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor earlier in June.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian reconnaissance means recorded Daesh units preparation to break through the defenses of the Syrian government troops deployed in Deir ez-Zor.

“In the beginning of June, the Russian Armed Forces’ group in the Syrian Arab Republic recorded via UAVs the preparation of Daesh terrorist group’s units to break through the defensive lines of a garrison of the government troops blocked in the city of Deir ez-Zor.”

Russian warplanes have eliminated two top Daesh field commanders and some 180 terrorists in Syria during aerial operations on June 6 and 8.

Moreover, the Russian Aerospace Forces also destroyed 16 units of terrorists’ automotive and armored vehicles and an ammunition depot during the air raids.

“As a result of preemptive airstrikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces on June 6 and 8, [two] Daesh field commanders… were eliminated. Moreover, about 180 militants, 16 automotive vehicles and armored vehicles, one artillery gun, four command points,and an arms and ammunition depot were destroyed.”

Syrian government forces control over a half of Deir ez-Zor, which has been besieged by Daesh militants over three years. The Syrian forces continue an offensive aimed at lifting the siege and creating supply lines for the city’s residents. Presently, the only means of delivering supplies to the city is by air.

Source: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201706171054724395-russia-daesh-commanders/

Iraq seizes key crossing near Syria from Islamic State

June 17, 2017 By administrator

Iraqi forces have seized from Islamic State one of the official border crossings between the country and Syria, thus choking a key supply line feeding the Islamic State terrorist group.

Al-Waleed, which together with two other passageways links Iraq and Syria, came under government control on Saturday, Reuters reported.

The advance took place as the Syrian government and its allies are hemming the terrorists in on the other side of the border.

Al-Waleed is close to the al-Tanf crossing on the common border, which is the key to the Baghdad-Damascus Highway and also links up to the main Baghdad-Amman route.

Daesh seized al-Waleed in May 2015, almost a year into its deadly terror campaign in Syria and Iraq. It used the bridgehead to expand its grip there to the entirety of the common border.

Syrian forces are, meanwhile, advancing toward al-Tanf, where the US forces have been based since last year on a mission to train anti-Damascus militants.

Back in May, a US-led coalition, which has been purportedly fighting Daesh in Syria since 2014, struck a convoy of Damascus-allied forces that was moving towards al-Tanf. The forces, however, regrouped afterward and continued their advance.

On Wednesday, the US Army relocated a new truck-mounted, long-range missile launcher from Jordan to al-Tanf.

Azerbaijani expert: Baku has not recognized Islamic State as a terrorist organization until now

June 13, 2017 By administrator

Azerbaijani expert: Baku has not recognized Islamic State as a terrorist organization Azerbaijan,“Until now Baku has not recognized Islamic State as a terrorist group,” Azerbaijani expert Ilham Ismail announced, according to a report by Ghafghaz.ir Iranian news agency.

Reflecting on the recent Tehran terror attacks, the Azerbaijani expert in particular said: “Daish (the Islamic State) has been designated as a terrorist organization by Russia and the United States. Until now, it has not been officially recognized as a terrorist group in Azerbaijan. The issue is not related to recognizing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or Daish as terror group, but most importantly, fighting such groups.”

To remind, in an interview with Azerbaijani news agency APA (July 2015), Iran’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen spoke about the possibility of Islamic State finding its way into the Caucasus region, noting the following: “The Islamic State has two targets in the Caucasus. Their first goal is causing threat and creating illiteracy in North Caucasus. Thus, putting pressure on Russia, they want to change this country’s position on Syria and Iraq. Their second target is Azerbaijan, a Shia country, they repeatedly stated it.”

In this respect, Ayatollah Seyed Hassan Ameli, representative of the Iranian Supreme Leader in Ardabil Province, expressed concerns in his report over the Islamic extremist groups operating in Azerbaijan, noting that the presence of the Islamic State terror group in Azerbaijan poses a serious threat to its neighboring Ardabil Province.