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Kurdish forces retook the northern Iraqi town of Zumar and several nearby villages from Islamic State early on Saturday after heavy coalition air strikes against the Islamist insurgents, security sources said. A Kurdish intelligence officer in Zumar said peshmerga forces had advanced from five directions in the early morning and encountered fierce resistance, but ultimately prevailed. A spokesman for the peshmerga ministry also said Zumar was now in Kurdish hands. Zumar was one of the first Kurdish-controlled towns to be overrun in August by Islamic State militants who went on to threaten the autonomous region's capital, prompting air strikes by...

Iraqi and Peshmerga forces have reportedly wrested key areas of northern and southern Iraq from Isis (Islamic State) militants following 22 US-led air strikes. Kurdish forces said on Saturday that they recaptured several towns and villages held by Isis in the north, while Iraqi government forces said they reclaimed the town of Jurf al-Sakhr, 50km south of Baghdad. The US Central Command said the Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces were backed by several air strikes by US-led forces on Friday and Saturday. The air strikes targeted Isis forces in Mosul in the north, Fallujah in the western Anbar province, and...

At the risk of being presumed rather caustic–especially considering the heinous acts perpetrated against the Copts this past weekend–I offer this tidbit from St. Thomas Aquinas on Islam. On the other hand, those who founded sects committed to erroneous doctrines proceeded in a way that is opposite to this. The point is clear in the case of Mohammed. He seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh goads us. His teachings also contain precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as...

More on Obama’s malfeasance. #EvilClown In the wake of the Boston bombing, the Oklahoma beheading, the Times Square bombing, the Portland, Oregon Christmas tree lighting bombing, hundreds of American Muslims returning from waging jihad in Syria, the thwarted Federal Reserve building bombing, or any of these jihad attacks — “Obama’s Terrorism Alert System Has Never Issued a Public Warning — Ever,” Foreign Policy, September 2014 The National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS), a function of the massive Department of Homeland Security, didn’t issue any public advisories this summer as Western passport holders took up jihad in Syria by the thousands and...

The 31st Beirut Memorial Observance Ceremony will be held at the Beirut Memorial in the Lejeune Memorial Gardens aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. Thursday, October 23, at 10:30 a.m. The special ceremony will honor the fallen service members and survivors who served in Lebanon from 1958 to 1984 and in Grenada. Major General Richard L. Simcock, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade commanding general, is scheduled to deliver the Beirut memorial address. Scheduled from Oct 23 2014 10:30 AM EDT to Oct 23 2014 12:00 PM EDT

BasNews, Erbil The first squad of Kurdish Peshmerga forces, heading to Kobani in Syrian Kurdistan via the Turkish border, are expected to arrive on Wednesday. Turkey approved requests to let the Peshmerga enter Kobani on Monday. Kurdistan Peshmerga fighters say that it is the responsibility of the Peshmerga to help and support Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which has been fighting the Islamic State (IS) militants for more than a month. The BasNews source said that the only condition Turkish authorities made was that the Kurdish force should be under the command of the Kurdistan Regional Government...

It’s happened again. For the second time, after I exposed that UNRWA’s Gaza school curricula include many examples of promoting hateful ideas that directly contradict those of the UN and UNRWA themselves, the organization has stealthily removed the evidence without any acknowledgment or apology. My 2012 exposé of how UNRWA schools were teaching hate, martyrdom and jihad to students, with many examples of essays and poems, resulted in UNRWA removing many individual school sites and specific pages and domains from the Internet without any public notice. Now, my latest exposés showing explicit antisemitism and hateful historical lies in the UNRWA...

Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison. Several years ago, the Israeli satirical series, Latma, produced this funny sketch on the Iranian mullahs’ push for a nuclear bomb. “The bomb, the bomb, I’ll get the bomb. Listen to me, Honey, it ain’t gonna be too long” sings the frolicking mullah in the online version of this humorous look at a most serious subject. The Israelis can joke about an Iranian nuclear bomb because they are on the front line. They know what it would mean. They don’t go on and on about “stability” in the Middle East the...

American fighter jets take off from abroad this aircraft carrier everyday to bomb the positions of the Islamic State (IS) in the Kurdistan Region and Rojava. Video at source...

Kurdish forces in Kobane repulse new attempt by Daesh Five new US-led strikes around Kobane overnight By AFP Published Saturday, October 18, 2014 Kurdish forces in the Syrian town of Kobane repulsed a new attempt by ‘Daesh’ fighters to cut off the border with Turkey on Saturday as troops battled the militants in neighbouring Iraq.A Kurdish official reported five new US-led strikes around Kobane overnight as the coalition kept up its air support for the town's defenders.But the US military said that while it saw some "encouraging" signs, the strikes might not prevent Kobane's fall and its priority remained...

America and its coalition partners executing air strikes in Iraq and Syria currently enjoy total dominance in the skies over the so-called Islamic State. That may soon change. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based monitoring group which maintains contacts with an extensive network of sources on the ground in Iraq and Syria, contends that ISIS fighters recently took control of three MiG fighter jets. What’s more, ISIS plans on using them. The SOHR report also claims that the group has the support of defected former Iraqi military officers which are training ISIS fighters on how to fly...

Germany: Holy War Erupts in Hamburg by Soeren Kern October 15, 2014 at 5:00 am "We are living in Hamburgistan." — Daniel Abdin, imam of Hamburg's Al-Nour Mosque.One politician has been repeatedly threatened with beheading as the price to pay for leading a fundraising campaign to provide food and water for Kurds in northern Iraq."As a society we must ask ourselves: how can it be that people who live in Germany and... born and raised here, are supporters of a brutal, inhuman and fundamentalist group such as the IS and attack peaceful protestors with knives, sticks and machetes. Here...

Two months after American bombs and missiles began pounding fighters of the so-called Islamic State, President Barack Obama’s undeclared war in Iraq and Syria finally has a name: Operation Inherent Resolve. The Wall Street Journal had reported on Oct. 3 that the name had been considered and rejected, with one unnamed military officer saying “it is just kind of bleh.” The long search for a name had sparked a flurry of jokes on Twitter, where one leading tongue-in-cheek suggestion was that it be called “Operation Hey Wasn’t That My Humvee” – a reference to U.S. airstrikes hitting Islamic State fighters...

Obama changes date for next visit -- it's Oct. 20 By Katherine Skiba, Tribune reporter contact the reporter ElectionsBarack Obama WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will raise funds for Democrats at a $10,000-a-person dinner on Oct. 20 at the Lincoln Park home of Barbara Goodman Manilow, according to an invitation obtained by the Tribune. Obama’s appearance at the dinner had been slated for Oct. 19, but the date has been changed. Manilow is chairman of the board of the Crown Family Philanthropies in Chicago. The invitation says guests can expect a private, seated dinner, remarks, a question-and-answer period and photo.

In just six years, Barack Obama has brought our country to the edge of ruin. It’s no longer a conspiracy theory to wonder out loud if Obama wants America to fail.There’s no question that he does, and it’s apparent with his actions.The decisions that he’s made as president couldn’t have been more irresponsible.And while many rejoice in the coming end of Obama’s term as U.S. president, I actually cringe…Because I know that when his time runs out, so does ours…Call it treason, call it governmental suicide, call it whatever you want… Obama’s administration is preparing for its grand exit, and...

ISIS‬ has released a new video titled "Blood of Jihad," which is set in their training camps in ‪Nineveh‬. In it, The Islamic State is shown not only using American tents but also being supervised by American intelligence officers. Obama continues to aid and abet the jihadists in the threat of ISIS: he created the threat by leaving Iraq precipitously and giving an opportunity to this group. He has denied it has anything to do with Islam, despite its name, and that the beheadings have anything to do with the US, despite the Islamic State's explicit threats to the US....

Ft. Hood murderer Nidal Hasan recently sent a six page letter to Pope Francis about waging Jihad, further clarifying Hasan's murder of 13 people and the shooting of 30 others in 2009 was Islamic terrorism, not work place violence as the politically correct Obama administration has said and argued. Last night on The Kelly File Hassan's current attorney, John Galligan, said he doesn't understand where the classification of "workplace violence" comes from in this case. "I don't know where they come up with the term 'work place violence.' I've been in the Army 30 years, I've been in the practice...

Britain’s House of Commons votes 274-12 in favor of symbolic motion that stands as initial stage of UK recognition of a Palestinian state.

Official says military has made sure name is acceptable in languages other than EnglishWASHINGTON (CNN) —The military operation against ISIS now does have a name but the Pentagon is not expected to reveal it until later this week, a U.S. official confirms to CNN. The name will not be made public until a formal "execution order" covering the entire mission against ISIS is published by the Defense Department's Joint Staff, perhaps as soon as Wednesday.

Only a madman would gamble with our lives…our children’s lives…and the entire American economy. Why would President Obama play “Russian Roulette” with the future of our country? It’s a gamble no sane leader would take. The life and death issue is Ebola. The President is more concerned with political correctness (and golf) than taking common sense precautions to prevent a deadly pandemic. Why does this President not see his responsibility is to keep the odds as low as possible? There are three simple, common sense actions any President who cared about American citizens would take: