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ISIS BATTLE PLAN FOR BAGHDAD Jun 27, 2014 - Jessica Lewis Download the PDF by Jessica Lewis There are indications that ISIS is about to launch into a new offensive in Iraq. ISIS published photos of a military parade through the streets of Mosul on June 24, 2014 showcasing US military equipment, including armored vehicles and towed artillery systems. ISIS reportedly executed another parade in Hawijah on June 26, 2014. These parades may be a demonstration force to reinforce their control of these urban centers. They may also be a prelude to ISIS troop movements, and it is important to...

In a revelation that is sure to raise worries in India's security establishment, the first-ever audio message of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the ISIS, has confirmed suspicions that Indians could well be part of his organisation's ranks. While enumerating the nationalities of fighters who constitute ISIS, Al-Baghdadi's 20-second-long audio titled 'A message to the Mujahideen and the Muslim Ummah in the month of Ramadan' that was released on Tuesday mentions that Indians, among a host of other nationalities including Chinese, American, French, German, Australian, etc. figure in the ISIS squad. According to intelligence sources, on January 22, a...

The Islamic terrorist army often referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has made a faster womb-to-superstardom ascension than Justin Bieber. Largely unheard of just a few weeks ago, the group is now the self-proclaimed new ruler of an Islamic caliphate, or republic, extending across Iraq and Syria. These countries currently have internationally recognized heads of state -- but, you know, whatever, man. It's not like U.S. President Barack Obama is going to stop ISIL. In fact, he's asking Congress to give it $500 million, under the guise of funding the "Syrian opposition." Recipients...

BYLINE: Regarding Al-Baghdadi, who claimed the Islamic Caliphate in Iraq, who is he and is he the Antichrist? Does he fit the bill of the awaited Mahdi and the last Caliph of Islam? I have had inquiries. Ok, here is what we think. Al-Baghdadi was born in Samarra, a largely Sunni city north of Baghdad, in 1971 and is well educated. His nom de guerre is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. His real name is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri, but now has been changed to “Caliph Abdullah Ibrahim Ibn Awaad Ibn Ibrahim...

Barack Obama has asked Congress for $500 million to train and arm rebels of the Free Syrian Army who seek to overthrow the government. Before Congress takes up his proposal, both houses should demand that Obama explain exactly where he gets the constitutional authority to plunge us into what the president himself calls "somebody else's civil war." Syria has not attacked us. Syria does not threaten us. Why are we joining a jihad to overthrow the Syrian government? President Bashar Assad is fighting against the al Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and the even more extreme and vicious Islamic State of Iraq...

Representatives of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) stated that they will ruin the Kaaba after capturing Saudi Arabia. APA reports quoting Turkish media that ISIS wants to take control of Arar city of Saudi Arabia and start operations here. ISIS member Abu Turab Al Mugaddasi said that they would destroy the Kaaba in Mecca: “If Allah wills, we will kill those who worship stones in Mecca and destroy the Kaaba. People go to Mecca to touch the stones, not for Allah.”

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), the jihadist group which has seized territory in Iraq and Syria, on Sunday declared itself an Islamic "caliphate" and called on factions worldwide to pledge their allegiance, Reuters reported, citing a statement posted on Islamist websites and Twitter. According to the report, the group has shortened its name to "Islamic State" and proclaimed its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as "Caliph" - the head of the state. "He is the imam and khalifah (Caliph) for the Muslims everywhere," the group's spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in the statement, which was translated into...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced support for Kurdish statehood on Sunday, taking a position that appeared to clash with the U.S. preference to keep sectarian war-torn Iraq united. SNIP----- "We should ... support the Kurdish aspiration for independence," Netanyahu told Tel Aviv University's INSS think-tank, after outlining what he described as the collapse of Iraq and other Middle East regions under strife between Arab Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims. Kurds, Netanyahu said, "are a fighting people that has proved its political commitment, political moderation, and deserves political independence".

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in Damascus on Saturday that his country “will not remain passive” as jihadists push an offensive in Syria’s neighbor Iraq. “Russia will not remain passive to the attempts by some groups to spread terrorism in the region,” Ryabkov told journalists after meeting with President Bashar al-Assad. Sunni militants, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) which is active in both Syria and Iraq, have seized vast territory north and west of Baghdad since launching their offensive two weeks ago.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) publishes a weekly webzine, The Islamic State Report. The latest issue is headlined “Smashing the Borders of the Tawaghit.” (“Tawaghit” are non-Muslim creations.) ISIS, citing the Sykes-Picot Treaty of 1916 between the British and French, boasts that it is destroying the “partitioning of Muslim lands by crusader powers.” That may seem like a quixotic task for a relatively small band of irregulars, but in trying to redraw the map of Iraq and Syria, ISIS has hit upon a weak link in the chain holding the nations of the Middle East together. It...

Jordan may ask Israel and the United States to help it fight the al-Qaeda-linked jihadi group that threatens Syria and Iraq if it threatens Amman as well, senior Obama administration officials

The disheartening, though not entirely surprising, breakdown of talks between Israel and the Palestinians marked yet another failure by the two sides to come closer to an agreement that would usher the way for a Palestinian state. Yet, no sooner had the talks collapsed than blame was being assigned by both Secretary of State John Kerry and chief U.S. negotiator Martin Indyk—and naturally it was Israel that bore the brunt of their criticism. Echoing the sentiments of Palestinian leadership itself, Kerry and Indyk pointed to the dreaded settlements as the principal sticking point of the talks, with Indyk suggesting that...

In a step that cements the impression of a de facto independent Kurdistan, a million barrels of Kurdish oil were delivered to a client in Israel today, despite threats by Baghdad to sue anyone buying it. The US government, fearing another blow to embattled Baghdad, had also worked to prevent anyone from buying the oil. 1 Reuters broke the story in a scoop, followed a few hours later by a statement on the Kurdish government website. “We are proud of this milestone achievement, which was accomplished despite almost three weeks of intimidation and baseless interferences from Baghdad against the tanker-ship...

Syrian-Kurdish group sends congratulatory letter to Israeli president-elect, says ‘We do not have any problem’ with Israel. Pro-Western Syrian opposition figures told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that they seek friendly relations with Israel and aim to secure US support so that rebel extremists do not take over. The Kurdish Left Party in Syria, headed by Mahsum Faisal Baker Simo, sent a letter to President-elect Reuven Rivlin, stating that Israel “isn’t our enemy,” but that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his aides were. “We in the Kurdish Left Party ask the government and people of Israel to stand by the...

BERLIN -- After being injured fighting the Syrian government, 31-year-old Mohannad reached his home in Frankfurt, Germany, with a simple plan: rest, recuperate, then rejoin the fight with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. As related in German newspaper accounts, which by law couldn’t identify him by his full name, Mohannad even transferred the equivalent of $6,800 to a Syrian bank for use by the terror organization. With that as evidence that he was supporting a terrorist organization, German authorities seized his passport and prevented him from returning to Turkey _ the jumping-off point for radicals seeking to join...

Syrian rebels and Al-Qaida launched a counter-offensive Saturday to expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from Albu Kamal town on the Iraq border, a monitor said. The operation came just days after some fighters from Al-Qaida's Syria franchise, Al-Nusra Front, pledged loyalty to ISIL in Albu Kamal, after it led an offensive in Iraq and seized chunks of territory But not all Al-Nusra fighters defected and those who refused to submit to the jihadist group joined forces with other Syrian rebel groups to launch the counter-offensive. "Fighting has raged since late last night in Albu Kamal...

Almost the entire Syrian side of the Golan Heights is now under the control of rebel forces, including radical Islamist groups, a senior Israeli military commander in the area said Friday. Only the Quneitra border area is still in the hands of forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, Lt.-Col. Anan Abbas, deputy commander of the Golan Brigade, told Israel’s Channel 10. About 95 percent of the Syrian side of the Golan is in the hands of anti-Assad rebels, including radical Islamic groups such as the Al-Nusra Front, affiliated with al-Qaeda, a rival of the burgeoning Islamic State of Iraq and...

Here is the most popular argument for why the U.S. should stay out of Iraq, once and for all: What in the world are we doing over there in the first place? ISIS's advance is the fault of a weak Prime Minister, and the war they're fighting is really a war about religion, resource control, and respect, the same wars that festered for centuries, with little bearing on the safety of Americans in the region and posing no threat to the homeland. The most vital American interest: Iraq's oil supply. The second most vital: assuaging guilt, because we're kind of...

THE UNITED NATIONS, June 27. /ITAR-TASS/. The US plans to spend $500 million for training and outfitting Syrian rebels is a step in the wrong direction, Russian Permanent Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said on Thursday. In his words, 500 million dollars is “a very big sum of money.” “I am sure that it is possible to spend it for something more useful,” he told a news conference at the Russian Permanent Mission at the UN. “They (the United States) put the situation on the wrong track,” the diplomat said. He said with regret that the US “adds fuel...

The Consequences of Syria 23 June 2014 The Syrian civil war is no longer the Syrian civil war. It's a regional war that started in Syria, has expanded into Lebanon and Iraq, and has drawn in the Iranians and to a lesser extent the Kurds and the Israelis. Wars in North Africa tend to stay local, but wars in the Levant spill over and suck in the neighbors. There's no reason to believe this war has finished expanding or that an end is in sight. Lee Smith's new short book, The Consequences of Syria, is about how we got here....