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Saudi Grand Mufti: Islamic State are Really Israeli Soldiers

December 31, 2015

Saudi Grand Mufti: Islamic State are Really Israeli Soldiers, Clarion Project, December 31, 2015

Saudi-Grand-Mufti-Abdulaziz-HPSaudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh

Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority, the Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh, declared that Islamic State (ISIS) militants are in actuality Israeli soldiers.

In an interview with the Saudi Gazette, Aziz spoke of the recent audio recording released by the terror group threatening Israel and the Jews.

“This threat against Israel is simply a lie. Actually, Daesh (ISIS) is part of the Israeli soldiers,” said the 72-year-old cleric.

The mufti also dismissed the seriousness of the threat declared by self-proclaimed Islamic State caliphAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi. If the Islamic State was serious, Al-Asheikh said, they would be “killing Jews and liberating Palestine.”

He labeled the Islamic State were heretics and doing damage to Islam and Muslims.

“They cannot be considered as followers of Islam,” he pronounced. “Rather, they are an extension of Kharijites, who rose in revolt against the Islamic caliphate for the first time by labeling Muslims as infidels and permitting their bloodletting.”

Al-Asheikh is chairman of the Senior Scholars’ Commission and Ifta Council in Saudi Arabia. He descends directly from Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab, the founder of the extremist Wahhabi Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia.

“The Al Sheikh family is the theological equivalent of the Saud family,” writes Bruce Reidel, director of the Intelligence Project of the Brookings Institute. “Abdulaziz was appointed Grand Mufti in 1999 by King Fahd. He wields enormous authority.”

Reidel adds, “Both the Mufti’s remarks and al-Baghdadi’s illustrate that Israel remains the hot button issue in the Kingdom. If you want to smear your enemy, label him a stooge of Israel.”

Categories: Islamic State, Israel, Saudi Arabia
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After Paris, a Global Wave of Terror Arrests

December 31, 2015

After Paris, a Global Wave of Terror Arrests, Investigative Project on Terrorism, Abigail R. Esman, December 30, 2015

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On Nov. 27, exactly two weeks after the terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris, FBI agents swarmed into a private home in Harrisburg, Pa. Their target: 19-year-old Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz, an American citizen and Muslim whom they’d been watching for several months, largely through his postings on Twitter. Using as many as 57 separate accounts, Aziz had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, called for the killing of non-Muslims, aided others to make hijrah to Syria to join the jihad there, and expressed his own wishes to do the same.

And if that weren’t enough, he promised further to continue the attacks against America, posting, for instance, “Know, O Obama, that we are coming to America, and know that we will sever your head in the White House.”

But as the FBI soon discovered, Aziz’s jihadist lust did not end with just words. At the home he shared with his parents in the Pennsylvania capital, according to the affidavit filed in the case, they found a “go-bag,” or knapsack, containing “five M-4 style high capacity magazines loaded with 5.56 ammunition, a modified kitchen knife with the handle removed and wrapped in cloth and string, a thumb drive, a tin filled with various over-the-counter medications, and a head wrap commonly referred to as a balaclava.”

This was only the beginning. Ten days later, the FBI arrested 20-year-old Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame, a Somali-American in Eagan, Minn., on charges of “providing and conspiring to provide material support, specifically personnel, to a designated foreign terrorist organization.”

In fact, since the Paris attacks of Nov. 13 and the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, law enforcement agents worldwide have apprehended dozens of suspects on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks or helping to support the Islamic State. Activity has been especially strong in Europe, where one German jihadist, who escaped ISIS in Syria and is now doing time in a German prison, warned that he and other European fighters were asked to commit jihad “in their homeland,” theIndependent reported. He claimed he was part of a propaganda video encouraging other Muslims: “All you need is to take a big knife, and go down to the streets and slaughter every infidel you encounter.”

With terrorist arrests in the U.S. reaching record numbers this year (60), and 315 in the UK, it seems that many Muslim followers around the world are happy to oblige.

And so you can’t help but wonder: as we head into the 15th anniversary year of the 9/11 attacks, is this what our “new normal” will become?

Below, a summary of Islamic terrorism-related arrests since Nov. 13 worldwide:

France

Under the supervision of six counterterrorism judges, in the wake of the Nov. 13 killings, police perform 2,700 raids and arrest more than 370 suspected jihadists. In mid-December, a plan to attack civil servants is foiled by police in Orléans. Two men are arrested in connection with that plot; both had been in touch with a possible “ringleader” in Syria, according to France’s interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

Germany

A Nov. 17 soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands in Hannover is cancelled amid threats of explosives, and the stadium evacuated. No bombs are found, but the intelligence, coming from France, was considered reliable.

After warnings that the country will be attacked, two men ages 28 and 46 are arrested during Nov. 26 anti-terror raids in Berlin and charged with plotting a terrorist attack in the northwest city of Dortmund.

Weapons handler Sascha W is arrested Nov. 27 near Stuttgart, accused of supplying some of the weapons used in the Paris terrorist massacres.

35-year-old Muslim convert Sven Lau is arrested Dec. 15 on four counts of supporting terrorism through his connections with ISIS and another organization, JAMWA. “Mr. Lau caused an uproar last year when he arranged for a group of young men to dress in orange security vests emblazoned with ‘Shariah Police’ and sent them into the streets of an ethnically diverse neighborhood in the western German city of Wupperthal, in an effort to encourage people to lead what Mr. Lau said was a more devout life,” the New York Times reported.

Leeth Abdalhmeed, a Syrian in a Dortmund refugee camp, is arrested Dec. 17 on suspicion of links to ISIS and of smuggling medications and handling financial matters for the group. Syrian opposition members tell the Wall Street Journal that Abdalhmeed was “among the first Syrians who pledged loyalty to the Islamic State.”

Austria

Two men are arrested Dec. 13 at a Salzburg refugee center on suspicion of connections to the Paris attacks and of entering the country on fake Syrian passports with plans to carry out attacks there. Investigators also examine whether the two are French citizens.

Two other refugees also were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of having terrorist connections, according to the Press Chronicle.

Great Britain

Britain’s Home Office announced this month that a record 315 terrorists have been arrested in 2015. Of these, 16 percent were female – double the number in the previous year – and 79 percent were British nationals (compared to 56 percent in 2001). Among those arrests are four Luton men apprehended on Dec. 2, suspected of support for ISIS, and another arrested Dec. 22 “on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.”

Spain

Spain has been a quiet hotbed of jihadism in the past few years, according to recent reports – so much so that an anti-jihadist hotline generated tips for 29 credible suspects within its first 24 hours. Ninety suspected jihadists have been arrested in 2015, though the numbers since 2013 paint an even grimmer picture. An inventory by editors of the Local showed 133 total arrests, of which:

40 percent were Spanish-born

45 percent were Spanish citizens

10 percent were “lone wolves”

60 percent were married

13 percent were converts

the average age was 20-34

16 percent were women

That so many women have been involved is likely no accident: Abdelhamid Abaaoud, suspected of leading the Paris massacres, has specifically targeted Spanish women via social media, said Spanish interior minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz. Notes the Local, “Spanish people have arrested several women this year on suspicion of recruiting women and teenage girls for Islamic State jihadists.”

Two prisoners already serving time for “common crimes” are arrested Dec. 5 on suspicion of distributing Islamic State propaganda and declaring their support for ISIS’s atrocities.

Two Moroccan nationals – a 32-year-old man and 19-year-old woman – both legal Spanish residents, are arrested on charges of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, promoting jihad on social media, and helping to recruit others.

Finland

Finnish police arrest 23-year-old twin brothers from Iraq Dec. 23, charging them with shooting 11 people during ISIS’s 2014 massacre of 1,700 Iraqi soldiers in Tikrit. The twins were among 300 refugees being housed in the small town of Forssa.

Sweden

Sweden’s Security Service raises the terror alert level to its highest point ever Nov. 18, signaling an imminent threat. Even so, the country’s police force warns that it is inadequately armed to protect the public in the event of a terrorist attack.

On Dec. 14: Swedish courts convict 32-year-old Hassan Mostafa al-Mandlawi and Sultan al-Ami, 30, of participation in terrorist activities in Syria and sentence them to life in prison. “Chief Prosecutor Agnetha Hilding Qvarnstrom said the pair, who were arrested in July in Sweden, had both ‘expressed joy over the deeds,'” the New York Times reported.

Switzerland

Geneva raises its terror alert level Dec. 10 as the department of security announces they are seeking terrorist suspects. Reporters surmise that the search relates to a Belgian-registered car that may have belonged to a friend of Salah Abdeslam, the suspected leader of the Paris attacks. The US Embassy in Bern also warns Americans to be vigilant and alerts them to the raised threat level in Geneva. A day later, Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga speaks of a “potential IS cell in the Geneva area,” according to Swissinfo, a local news site. That same day, two Syrian men are arrested, also in Geneva, with traces of explosives found in their car.

A Swiss national also is arrested for possessing an “unimaginable arsenal,” according to Geneva police, that included a Kalashnikov, muskets, hatchets, and other weaponry, as well as a Third Reich flag.

Swissinfo further reports that 70 cases of jihadi radicalization are under investigation in the country, with more than 50 citizens confirmed to have traveled to join ISIS.

Netherlands

In the country’s largest terror trial since the slaughter of filmmaker and author Theo van Gogh in 2004, Dutch authorities convict nine jihadist suspects on Dec. 10, six of whom they say form a terrorist organization in their own right, and all of whom are determined to have connections to ISIS. Sentences for the group range from seven days to six years.

Belgium

Only days after the Paris attacks, Belgium raises its terror level to its highest score in Brussels, placing the city in lockdown from Nov. 21-25 as the surviving perpetrator and possible leader of the attacks, Saleh Abdeslam, remains at large. A Belgian native, Abdeslam is thought to be in hiding in the Brussels region of Molenbeek, a largely-Muslim community that has bred a disproportionately high number of Islamic terrorists. Twenty-one raids in the first night of the lockdown lead to 16 arrests; others follow.

Though the government relaxes the alert Nov. 25 and reopens schools and offices, Brussels regional president Rudi Vervoort notes in a statement that the threat continues. “It is not the end,” he says, “just the beginning.”

Time shows that he was probably right: on Tuesday, police arrested two men believed to be planning an attack on New Year’s Eve, probably at the city’s main square, the Grote Markt, where thousands are expected to converge at midnight. Officials raise the terror level again, this time from level two to three – or second-highest.

The threat continues.

Categories: Europe, Fundamentalist Islam, Islamic jihad, Islamic State, Islamic terrorism, Islamisation, Law enforcement, U.S
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Hillary Clinton Finally Decides Christians are Suffering Genocide

December 30, 2015

Hillary Clinton Finally Decides Christians are Suffering Genocide, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Greenfield, December 30, 2015

(Did Ms. Clinton refer to the non-Islamic Islamic State? If so, Muslims must not be doing it. Perhaps others might be. Mormons? Amish? Jews? Who knows?  Please see, Muslims “Have Nothing Whatsoever to do with Terrorism” — DM)

dd3cd-hilly2

How nice of Hillary.

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday called the killing of Christians and other religious groups in the Middle East a “genocide” -— a term she had previously been reluctant to use.

“Yes, I will now. I will because we now have enough evidence,” Clinton told a man during atown hall at Berlin High School, who asked whether she would join the Pope and other religious and political leaders in using the term.

What “new evidence” suddenly showed up to change her mind?

The statistics have been there for some time now. ISIS has been at it ever since it began its campaign in Syria.

Of course not. Only Muslims can really suffer. When Christians are killed, they are “these communities”. When Jews are killed, they’re “random folks in a deli”. But when a Muslim gets a dirty look, it’s an Islamophobic crisis that is immediately on the front page of every newspaper and requires immediate intervention by the Attorney General. Not to mention an Obama speech.

Tonight, Clinton said she had been asked to use the term a few months ago, but declined then.

“I said, you know that term carries with it, legal import. It’s a very important concept and label for behavior that deserves that name. And I said we are only beginning to see this and I’m not sure yet we have enough evidence,” she said, “I’m sure now we have enough evidence.”

So is ISIS is killing more Christians now than it was a few months ago? What missing evidence did Hillary suddenly come up with? Or is she just worried enough about a Webb independent run that she decided to admit what everyone knew last year?

Categories: Genocide, Hillary Clinton, Islam and Christianity, Islamic State
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Dumb Idea of the Year Award

December 29, 2015

Dumb Idea of the Year Award, Gatestone Institute, Douglas Murray, December 28, 2015

♦ Vadim Nikitim is the genius who last week proposed not only that we treat ISIS as a state, but that we grant ISIS diplomatic recognition.

♦ Rather than realizing that the Soviet Union collapsed because of its economic system, Nikitim seems to think it fell apart because countries such as the US and UK recognized it diplomatically — demonstrating that there is no better way to get the present wrong than by getting the past wrong.

♦ The case of Saudi prince Saud bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir might give the impression that you can rape and kill a manservant in a London hotel and get away with only the lightest of sentences.

♦ Ambassadors from ISIS, on the other hand, will need to prove themselves somewhat, and first funnel many lucrative contracts our way before behaviour like this becomes acceptable.

♦ Of course, there is always that pesky problem: What if militant Islam (or Iran) does not want to “forge a long (or short) peace” with us? Is there a Plan B?

It is that Dumb Idea of the Year Award time again, and among the many stellar contenders, one in particular stands out.

The diplomatic convention in Great Britain is that new ambassadors present themselves at the Court of St James. There they meet representatives of the monarch and are officially recognized as representing their state in the UK. So it would be interesting to consider even just the earliest ramifications of the British Independent newspaper contributor Vadim Nikitim getting his way. This is the genius who last week bypassed all those tedious arguments over whether or not ISIS constitutes a state, and proposed not only that we treat it as such but that it is also time to grant ISIS diplomatic recognition.

Mr. Nikitim’s argument was that pariah states can be brought in to the international system through such measures, as U.S. President Barack Obama presumably imagines he is doing with Iran. Nikitim invites us to consider the precedent of the USSR. And rather than realizing that the USSR collapsed because its economic system caused it to collapse, Nikitim seems to think that the Soviet Union fell apart because countries such as the US and UK recognized it diplomatically — demonstrating that there is no better way to get the present wrong than by getting the past wrong. He argues,

“Only by recognising and treating ISIS as a bona fide state can we hope to understand its workings and motivations… Only by accepting reality and extending diplomatic recognition to ISIS can the West hope to gain a credible means to moderate and constrain its further advance. The Soviet scenario is now the least worst option: it is time to forge a long peace with militant Islam.”

“Only”? Ah, yes, we can all can see how splendidly recognition “moderated” the Third Reich, North Korea and Sudan, just for a sampling. As the columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady wrote last week on the first anniversary of Cuba’s recognition by the United States: “Thousands of arrests, migrants flee and Russia wants in. Sound familiar?”

It must certainly be hoped that if Nikitim’s advice is followed, that there are cameras present at the Court of St. James for the arrival of the first ISIS emissary. Every last detail of the meeting would be worth capturing for posterity.

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Who might ISIS send? Middle Eastern protocol would ordinarily demand that the ambassador is a close relative of the ruler of the state in question. Does Caliph al-Baghdadi have a first cousin he might ship over? What about using the posting to address the common question of what to do with the third son — the sort who has been drifting a bit, showing too much interest in girls and not enough in the family business? A London stint could be just the answer.

The reception ceremony might be a useful moment to explain certain “rules of the road” in Britain. Though a delicate matter, years of courtly experience should help ease things along. It is perfectly possible, for instance, that the ISIS ambassador will think that you can get away with absolutely anything in the UK. For instance, anyone who remembers the case of Saudi prince Saud bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir might have got the impression that you can rape and beat a manservant, treat him like an animal, make him sleep on the floor and then even kill him in a 5-star London hotel and get away with only the lightest of sentences. It would have to be explained to ISIS’s ambassador that you can only get away with such behaviour in London if you are a grandson of the Saudi King, or from a country with an equally long and decorous diplomatic history. Ambassadors from ISIS, on the other hand, will need to prove themselves somewhat, and first funnel many lucrative contracts our way before behaviour like this becomes acceptable.

If by this point the ISIS ambassador is feeling at his ease, he might make some inquiries of his own. How many non-Muslim women will he be allowed to enslave during his stay? How large are the Kurdish and Yazidi populations of the UK? When people talk about getting “smashed” and “off their heads” in London these days, does it mean quite what he thinks it means? What about getting stoned? By this point, the slightly sly and shifty look on the new ambassador’s face may well have transformed into something altogether more trusting and a new “special relationship” have got underway.

Between a system which allows gay people to marry and one which throws them of buildings, there is bound to be some compromise. Between a group which destroys Middle Eastern culture and one which carefully preserves it in museums across its cities, there is certain to be some common ground.

Of course, the nightmare hurdle of the protocol at state dinners will still lie ahead. It is hard enough keeping the Iranian ambassador apart from the Israeli ambassador when the line-up is done alphabetically (thank God for Ireland). But it might be necessary to keep the ISIS ambassador in another room if he discovers there is an actual Jew present. The new ambassador’s incessant demands for everyone else to “convert or die” could be smoothed over by the interventions of the Queen’s footmen, who are past masters at delicately alerting visitors if they are using the wrong knife for the fish-course. The request of the ISIS ambassador to bring his own knife to state banquets will have to be handled carefully of course, as will the question of where to hide the Queen’s dogs when the ISIS ambassador is in the house.

Of course, there is always that pesky, squirrelly problem: What if militant Islam (or Iran) does not want to “forge a long (or short) peace” with us? Is there a Plan B?

But once all these negligible diplomatic hillocks are navigated, there is no reason why theIndependent’s columnist may not be proven right and the “long peace with militant Islam” can finally start.

Categories: Humor, Islamic State
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IDF Commando Brigade unveiled amid threats from Nasrallah and Al-Baghdadi

December 28, 2015

IDF Commando Brigade unveiled amid threats from Nasrallah and Al-Baghdadi, DEBKAfile, December 27, 2015, December 27, 2015

NasrallaBagdadi480

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkott explained why it was necessary to bring forward the launching of the new Commando Brigade by two months, when he addressed the formation ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 27, at the Ein Harod National Park: “The Commando Brigade is more necessary than ever in light of the threats from Hizballah and the Islamic State,” he said, in reference to the boasts heard in the last 48 hours from Hassan Nasrallah and Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.

The Chief of Staff introduced Col. David Zini as the first commander of the new Brigade.

The ceremony took place shortly after the Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah said, “Revenge for the death of Samir Quntar is on the way… The orders have been given and execution is in the hands of resistance fighters on the ground… The Israelis are worried and rightly so – those on the borders [soldiers] and those inside the country…. We shall not let the blood of our Jihadi fighters and brothers to be spilled anywhere in the world,” he said.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report: Analysis of the kinds of threats posed by Hizballah (and ISIS) at this time, which are likely to focus more on terrorism than on tank or infantry border incursions, persuaded IDF leaders of the need for a new framework for bringing under one roof some of the top-notch, highly-trained, experienced, well-armed and determined fighting men who are willing to take on new challenges.

The self-styled Islamic State’s “caliph” Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, also devoted special attention to Israel, or rather “the Jews,” in his first audio speech in seven months Saturday, Dec. 26, the day before Nasrallah sounded off. His message was similar to that of his Shiite enemy, albeit in his own inimitable style:

The Islamic State would soon be in Palestine to establish an Islamic state there, he said, “Jews, soon you shall hear from us in Palestine which will become your grave… The Jews thought we had forgotten Palestinian… Not at all, Jews…The pioneers of the jihadist fighters are getting closer every day.”

If and when the Shiite Hizballah and Sunni ISIS make good on their similar but separate threats – or sooner – they will encounter Israel’s new Commando Brigade. Its fighting men are trained for combat in miscellaneous conditions of terrain, day or night, under deep cover. They are equipped with high-tech equipment, most of it classified, for gathering visual and electronic intelligence, communications, photography and targeting. They may either kill terrorists or take them captive.

In a word, these elite troops will hit the enemy in his back yard or at home, and blow the threats heard from Hizballah and ISIS leaders’ back on their own forces.

The 89th Commando Brigade is composed of four battalions:

Duvdevan specializes in operating amidst an Arab population under deep cover for locating and arresting terror suspects.

Egoz is a special kind of infantry battalion, whose commandos operate solo or in very small teams behind enemy lines, especially across the Syrian and Lebanese borders.

Maglan is skilled in the use of weaponry designed for precision operations against high quality enemy targets. These elite fighters go deep inside enemy territory to gather intelligence and use their specialized technology, exclusive for the use of this unit, for devastating assaults.

Rimon members are desert fighters who gained their experience in the terrain of the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Their experience as back-up for operations against drug smugglers is invaluable for urban combat in civilian environments.

Excluded from the new brigade are the separate IDF commando units: Sayeret Matkal, Shayetet 13 (Navy), the Oketz unit which trains dogs for anti-terror work, and Yahalom, of the Engineering Corps.

Categories: Hezbollah, IDF, Islamic State, Israel
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Assad again controls Damascus thanks to Russian air strikes and intelligence

December 26, 2015

Assad again controls Damascus thanks to Russian air strikes and intelligence, DEBKAfile, December 26, 2015

Allous_Killed_25.12.15

Less noticed, was the UN plan to remove at the same time several thousands ISIS fighters from the Syrian capital and transport them to their Syrian headquarters. The latter project has not been trumpeted for good reason: It implies UN recognition of ISIS as a party in the Syria war.

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The Russian air strike that Friday, Dec. 25, killed Zahran Aloush, founder of the most powerful Syrian rebel group Jaysh al-Islam and his deputy, gave President Bashar Assad a big break in the Syrian war, thanks to his powerful backer, Vladimir Putin.

This grave loss will accelerate the breakup of Syrian rebel strongholds in and around Damascus. It will also hasten the evacuation under a UN-sponsored ceasefire of at least 2,000 rebels from the Damascus region. Less noticed, was the UN plan to remove at the same time several thousands ISIS fighters from the Syrian capital and transport them to their Syrian headquarters. The latter project has not been trumpeted for good reason: It implies UN recognition of ISIS as a party in the Syria war.

For nearly five years, the war seesawed back and forth, with neither the Syrian army nor the insurgents gaining the upper hand for long, even after Tehran threw its Lebanese proxy, Hizballah,  into the fray to bolster Assad’s army.

Interventions by the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan and Israel were too trifling and hesitant to tilt the balance in favor of the anti-Assad insurgent militias. Weapons supplies were inferior and tardy and kept the rebels heavily outgunned by the Syrian army’s tanks, helicopters and fighter jets, and helpless against the Iranian-made barrel bombs dropped by the Syrian air force.

The Obama administration was the architect of this uneven support strategy, going so far as to constrain the rebels’ other foreign backers against giving them the resources for carrying the day, aside from local victories.

This strategy had the effect of prolonging the vicious conflict – until it was cut short by two events:

1. In the summer of 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant arrived in full force to capture the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, scattering seven Iraqi armed divisions to the four winds, and grabbing  their sophisticated American weapons, along with their arsenals, that were crammed with good American tanks, armored personnel carriers, and an assortment of surface, antitank and antiair missiles.

Part of this booty was diverted to ISIS Syrian headquarters in Raqqa.

2.  A year later, in late September 2015, President Vladimir Putin embarked on a massive buildup of Russian military strength in Syria – notably, his air and missile forces – for direct intervention in the war.

In contrast to President Barack Obama, who sought to keep his hand on the conflict by a complicated system of dribbling arms to select Syrian rebel groups, Putin went all out with massive military and strategic backing to assure the Syrian ruler and his Iranian ally of victory.

The Russian strategy is now becoming evident:  It is to drive the rebels out of the areas they have captured around the main cities of Latakia, Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, Hama and the capital, Damascus, giving them two options: join the opposition front around the table for negotiating an end to the war, or total eradication – even though Moscow and Washington have yet to agree which of the rebel militias belong around that table.

According to Moscow’s scale of priorities, the fight against the Islamic State must wait its turn until after Bashar Assad’s authority as president is fully restored and his country returns to his army’s control.

But on the way to this objective, Putin has run up against a major impediment: the failure of Iranian, Shiite militia, Hizballah and Syrian army ground forces keep up with his pace. The plan was for Russian air strikes and missiles to clear rebels out of one area after another and for pro-Assad ground troops to storm in and take over.

But these troops are proving too slow to press the advantage given them by the Russians.

Last week, the Russians decided to use their intelligence assets to speed things up. They borrowed an Israeli counter-terror tactic to start targeting key rebel chiefs for liquidation.

The death of the Jaysh al-Islamc commander as the result of a Russian airborne rocket strike on Friday was an intelligence feat rather than a military one. Just as Israel last Sunday used its clandestine assets in Damascus to precisely target the Hizballah-Iranian arch terrorist Samir Quntar at his home in the Jaramana district, so the Russians directed their agents on the ground to mark the secret meeting of Jaysh al-Islam commanders at Marj al-Sultan at the precise moment for taking them down.

This blow to the rebel movement, plus the mass-evacuation of its fighters from the Syrian capital, are major steps towards bringing the Syrian capital back under the control of the Syrian dictator.

Categories: Assad, Foreign policy, Iranian proxies, Islamic State, Obama and Syria, Putin, Russia, Syrian rebels
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Get Ready for a “Bigger Powers That Be Attack”!

December 24, 2015

Get Ready for a “Bigger Powers That Be Attack”! Zero Point via You Tube, December 24, 2015

(??????????? — DM)

 

 

According to the blurb following the video,

The so-called Islamic State (ISIS) is armed with biological and chemical weapons but Europeans don’t take the existential threat seriously, according to a European Union parliament document..

Israeli experts last week also said ISIS is armed with weapons forbidden by the Geneva Convention and that it is a state in every sense of the word, with its own currency, a university and even license plates..

The London Express reported that the parliamentary report states that ISIS “may be planning to try to use internationally banned weapons of mass destruction in future attacks.” The document was prepared by the Parliament’s political analyst following the ISIS massacres in Paris last month..

ISIS has been trafficking in chemical weapons and also is able to manufacture them by putting together a team of experts with degrees in chemistry and physics..

The EU report, quoted by the Express, states:

Chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear substances (CBRN) have been carried undetected into the European Union. Interpol’s monthly CBRN intelligence reports show numerous examples of attempts to acquire, smuggle or use CBRN materials..

At present, European citizens are not seriously contemplating the possibility that extremist groups might use chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) materials during attacks in Europe. Under these circumstances, the impact of such an attack, should it occur, would be even more destabilizing..

Experts at an Israeli conference said that ISIS is a genuine state even if it not recognized by others, Globes reported..

It controls approximately one-third of Syria’s land, nearly 10 million people and earns approximately $300 million in day from the sale of oil it has confiscated in Iraq and Syria..

Besides its well-publicized black flag and army of barbaric terrorists, ISIS runs courts, schools, welfare agencies and even issues license plates. One of the experts said, “There is no precedent for anything like this in the past 100 years”..

Dr. Ronen Yitzchak, head of the Middle East Dept. at the Western Galilee College, said that the Western coalition has succeeded in seriously damaging the infrastructure of ISIS and in limiting its expansion.

However, he added:

Despite weaknesses in the organization, it will not disappear and will continue to be present for many years. The Islamic State is not a temporary episode. It will continue to present a danger to the West and the entire world..

Terror will worsen in Europe, whether it is because of terrorists who are there now or because of those who be recruited in the future..

ISIS has succeeded in recruiting cells in dozens of countries, “something that has never been seen in terror groups,” Yitzchak said..

ISIS has its own currency, has minted gold and silver coins and soon will introduce bronze coins..

Its radical Islamic school system forbids studies in music, arts and Western subjects such as psychology..

The expert panel also revealed that every family is required to “contribute” one male adult to fight in the ISIS army, which comprises estimated 35,000-50,000 men…

Categories: Chemical and biological weapons, Europe, Foreign policy, Islamic State, Israel, Obama and Syria, Obama's America, Syrian war, Turkey
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The Islamic State nuclear doomsday

December 22, 2015

The Islamic State nuclear doomsday, Jerusalem Post, Farhad Rezaei, December 21, 2015

ShowImage (19)ISIS sets sites on Washington in new video. (photo credit:ISLAMIC SOCIAL MEDIA)

Whatever strategy IS uses to obtain its doomsday weapon, “The Perfect Storm” article and other sources indicate that the organization has amassed a considerable fortune of approximately 2 billion dollars.

According to Cantlie, IS has more than enough resources to purchase NR materials from traffickers or corrupt officials in Pakistan or elsewhere.

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The emergence of jihadists known to be searching for nuclear and radiological (NR) material has lent a tone of urgency to the debate about ways to prevent nuclear terrorism. At the same time, the supply side of the equation has grown from inchoate attempts at smuggling to a more organized market in NR material. This combination of factors has arguably increased the probability of spectacular attack in the not so distant future. The reason for this assessment is based on a straightforward calculation: a nuclear or radiological device is the ultimate force multiplier and a NR attack is considered “spectacular” enough for jihadists to fulfill their divine mission.

Though not publicized, anxiety about the threat of individuals acquiring sufficient materials to perpetuate such an attack intensified after September 11, 2001. When immediately after the attack, a source codenamed “Dragonfly” informed American intelligence that al-Qaida had smuggled a nuclear device into the United States, National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice described it as a “problem from hell,” evoking a previous comment referring to the “sum of all our fears.”

Producing nuclear weapons, including the required materials – plutonium and uranium – is beyond the skills of terrorist groups. The level of skills needed for the fabrication of a sophisticated weapon are judged to pose a barrier for terrorists. However, terrorists may seek to weaponize radiological materials in other ways.

Though there is a large selection of radioactive isotopes, only a few are good candidates for terrorism: cobalt-60, strontium-90, yttrium-90, cesium-137, iridium-192, radium-226 and plutonium-238.

Two types of radiological attack are possible. First, the Simple Radiological Device (SRD) involves placing a radioactive material in a public place to create an aerosol or burning it to trigger vaporization. Second, a “dirty bomb” uses conventional explosives to disperse radiological material.

While the problem has been well articulated, preventing terrorists from shopping for illicit material has been difficult. In spite of decades of US effort to institute safeguards, the supply side of the terrorism equation has actually expanded. Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a haphazard business in stolen nuclear materials emerged.

The IAEA data represents only about 20 percent of all probable illicit traffic; the true number is impossible to calculate.

More worrisome, the decline in the number of cases reported may merely indicate more sophisticated operations of a maturing market. In the past two decades, criminal gangs have incorporated terrorist supplies into their traditional business such as narcotics and human trafficking.

In the realm of NR smuggling, these global networks bring together “suppliers, intermediaries and end-users.”

While the terrorism-crime nexus is global in scope, certain regional hubs hold a particular attraction for the Islamists.

The Pakistani node plays an important role for terrorists. Pakistan boasts one of the world’s fastest-growing arsenals, with weapons stored at bases spread across the country. In addition, Pakistan had embarked on the production of Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNW), highly prized by terrorists because of their compact size and sophisticated assembly. The prospect of an “inside job” within the nuclear establishment cannot be ruled out and is high on the list of dangers.

Next in line are the conflict zones of Chechnya, Abkhazia and North Ossetia where conditions for the terrorism- crime nexus are particularly fertile. Geographical proximity to the Russian Mafia turned the region into a high-profile route in NR trade.

Criminal organizations have established sophisticated mechanisms for smuggling narcotics that could be simply adapted to trafficking NR material. Experience in avoiding detection, knowledge of safe routes and protection by corrupt officials would all assist them in the smuggling of radiological material.

Finally, with its well-established drug smuggling networks, the Turkish node offers easy access to NR shoppers. In the years up to 2009, Turkish authorities recorded 75 seizures of radioactive materials, including weapon-grade uranium (HEU), cesium-137, americium, antinomy, bismuth and scandium.

Theft of radiological material provides another opportunity. According to the IAEA, as of 2013, 2,477 incidents were reported to the agency, of which 664 involved the theft of NR material. Although stockpiles of HEU are better guarded today, they are not beyond reach of terrorist organizations.

The record of the Islamist terrorist groups demonstrates their deep commitment to creating an doomsday- style event. In this sense, terrorist organizations can be conceptualized as rational players akin to state proliferators.

On the one hand, Islamists can carry out a NR attack to cause mass casualties, create widespread economic havoc and inflict profound psychological trauma on the target population. On the other hand, jihadists consider such an attack an ideal way to precipitate Armageddon.

Abu Musab al-Suri, strategist of the jihadist movement, offered a similar postulate to establish a caliphate.

Al-Suri wanted to bring about the largest number of human casualties possible for America and its allies, a plan that involved obtaining WMD.

Influenced by al-Suri, Abu al-Harith al-Sawahiri, a member of al-Qaida in Yemen, published step-by-step instructions on a do-it-yourself plan to make a dirty bomb on the group’s Internet site.

Under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State moved closer to fulfilling its plan of a spectacular NR attack. At the theological level, through Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Baghdadi was in tune with the Islamist revivalists who sought to create a caliphate and who proclaimed the coming apocalypse.

Apocalypse aside, violence against the West is considered an essential part of IS strategic thinking, an idea first articulated by Abu Bakr Naji who provided a strategy that jihadists could follow to create a new Islamic caliphate. Naji also advised al-Baghdadi to attack the West to draw it into a counteroffensive in a wide swath of Muslim land, a conflagration expected to generate masses of jihadi volunteers.

But al-Baghdadi was under no illusion that small-scale terrorism would provoke the West, since even 9/11 was not big enough to trigger war between the civilizations. In any event, al-Baghdadi became convinced that nothing short of a NR attack would befit the caliphate.

Writings in the IS magazine Dabiq reflected this thinking. The article “The Perfect Storm,” apparently written by the captive journalist John Cantlie, declared that IS had every intention of striking the United States using a nuclear device, surpassing all past attacks. Indeed, Abdullah Ahmed al-Meshedani, a member of IS’s highly secretive six-man war cabinet, issued a manifesto proclaiming WMD to be a high priority for the group. The document, seized by an Iraqi special forces unit, was apparently distributed among top commanders to familiarize them with the IS’s NR doctrine.

Compared to its “sister” organizations, IS is well positioned to implement its apocalyptic plans. After occupying Mosul, IS confiscated 40 kg. of low-enriched uranium (LEU) from Mosul University. While LEU is not suitable for an SRD per se, IS claimed that the group had used it to construct a dirty bomb.

Whatever strategy IS uses to obtain its doomsday weapon, “The Perfect Storm” article and other sources indicate that the organization has amassed a considerable fortune of approximately 2 billion dollars.

According to Cantlie, IS has more than enough resources to purchase NR materials from traffickers or corrupt officials in Pakistan or elsewhere.

Categories: Islamic State, Islamic State nuclear weapons, United States
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US-Iranian-Russian-Iraqi offensive launched to recover Ramadi from ISIS

December 22, 2015

US-Iranian-Russian-Iraqi offensive launched to recover Ramadi from ISIS, DEBKAfile, December 22, 2015

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Ramadi, the capital of the vast Anbar Province, was the second major Iraqi city to fall to the Islamic State after the devastating loss of Mosul. The importance of the offensive launched Tuesday, Dec. 22 for its recapture from ISIS lies chiefly in the makeup of the assault force, which is unique in contemporary Syrian and Iraqi conflicts.

DEBKAfile’s military sources name its partners as US and Russian army and air force elements, two varieties of Iraqi militia – Shiites under Iranian command and Sunnis, as well as the regular Iraqi army.

The Iraqi army is depicted as leading the assault. But this is only a sop to its lost honor for letting this Sunni city fall in the first place. The real command is in the hands of US Special Operations officers alongside Iraqi troops, and the Russian officers posted at the operational command center they established last month in Baghdad.

This Russian war room is in communication with US military headquarters in the Iraqi capital. It is from the Russian war room that the top commanders of the pro-Iranian militias send their orders. The most prominent is Abu Mahadi al-Muhandis, who heads the largest Iraqi Shiite militia known as the Popular Mobilization Committee.

Noting another first, our military sources disclose that Iranian officers liaise between the Americans and Russians on the front against ISIS. If this combination works for Ramadi, it will not doubt be transposed to the Syrian front and eventually, perhaps next summer, serve as the format for the general offensive the Americans are planning for wresting Mosul from the Islamic State.

When US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was in Baghdad last week to review the final preparations for the Ramadi operation, US officials were still insisting that the Iraqi army was fit for the heavy lifting after being trained by American instructors.

By Tuesday, US sources were admitting that pro-Iranian militias were also part of the operation.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report on the division of tasks as follows:

Iraqi army forces are attacking the Ramadi city center from the north; Shiite militias from the south. The US air force is pounding ISIS targets inside the town in order to cripple its ability to fight off the oncoming forces. The Russian air force is standing by, ready to destroy any ISIS reinforcements attempting to cross in from Syria to aid their comrades in beleaguered Ramadi.

Experts keeping track of the offensive have no doubt that it will end in success. The jihadists holding Ramadi are few in number – 400-500 fighters at most. However, cleansing the town after victory will presents a daunting difficulty. In Tikrit and the refinery town of Baiji, ISIS split its defense structure into two levels – one on the surface and the second hidden underground.

The top level was thinly manned by fighting strength, but crawling with mines, booby-trapped trucks and IEDs detonated by remote control.

The lower level, consisting of deeply-dug interconnected tunnel systems, was where ISIS fighters hid out and jump out at night for attacks. According to the experience gained in other Iraqi battle arenas against ISIS, neither the Iraqi army nor local Shiite militias have been able to plumb and destroy these tunnel systems. And so they could never really purge the Islamic State from “liberated” towns.

Ramadi will face the same quandary.

Categories: Iran in Iraq, Iraq war, Irqui military, Islamic State, Obama and Iraq, Ramadi, Russia in Iraq, U.S. Military
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Leftist Media Ignore Islamic Terrorists Groups

December 22, 2015

Leftist Media Ignore Islamic Terrorists Groups, Front Page Magazine, Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, December 22, 2015

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It is intriguing that mainstream media has focused on violent terrorist acts of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), a radical Sunni Islamist group, while they are deliberately avoiding raising awareness about other Islamist terrorist groups that are as brutal as ISIS, if not worse.

The other groups that I am referring to are primarily the Iranian-backed radical Islamist militias.

Brutal terrorist groups such as Kataib al-Imam Ali (KIA) are not any less violent than ISIS when it comes to the aggressive and horrific tactics they use against civilians. In fact, they are known for showing videos of cut-off heads and bodies burned over open fires. This particular group, which is backed by Iran, originated from the Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. Shebl al-Zaidi is the secretary-general of Kataib al-Imam Ali and he is known for his sectarian and vicious tactics.

Another militia group that is known locally for its violent attacks is Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq. It reportedly receives approximately $2 million a month from the Islamic Republic.

There exist more than 100 of these Islamist terrorist groups and they are increasing on a daily basis as they branch out.

One reason behind the liberal media outlets’ failure to shed light on non-ISIS terrorist groups is that they do not want to criticize Iran. These outlets are heavily influenced by the Obama administration’s leniency toward the Islamic Republic. If President Obama views Iran as a constructive state actor, then the media put aside standards of professional journalism and follow in the footsteps of the President.

One of the crucial tenets of Journalism in Western democracies is that it should not be influenced, intimidated or guided by ruling politicians. Being independent and raising public awareness by presenting different ideas and facts is what makes a media outlet an informative outlet and a platform for advancing democracy.

If a Western media outlet is following what the White House likes or despises, then what is the difference between these outlets and Iran’s state media outlets, which are the mouthpieces of the ruling clerics?

In addition, media outlets and journalists seem to prefer simplicity to complexity. It is much easier for those journalists to talk about the Islamic State and their horrific acts rather than engaging in rigorous research on other stealth terrorist and radical militia groups. Unfortunately, a lot of reporters are not knowledgeable in this field and they prefer to do the easier task. It is easier for them to write about ISIS in the length of space and time they are given than to research all other Islamist terrorist groups.

The ultimate goal of these groups is to enter the political establishment of the state and inform decision-making from the top. Hezbollah succeeded at this in Lebanon and other Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia groups did the same on Iraq.

Furthermore, leftist media outlets appear to view these radical Islamist groups as “legitimate” groups because they are funded by a nation-state (in this case, Iran). Many of these groups report directly to General Soleimani or Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As a result, if a similar violent act is committed by one of these Iranian-backed groups, the mainstream media outlets are less likely to criticize them harshly.

Finally, in order to survive as news organizations, these outlets are more driven by the need to make a profit, than the need to raise awareness, As a result, they focus on increasing their ratings and attracting high numbers of readers and advertisers, rather than providing credible information to the public.

In spite of the fact that there are many Islamist terrorist groups around the world committing atrocities against civilians, only ISIS has received the attention of the liberal media. There seems to be a symbiotic relationship between these outlets and ISIS. On the one hand, ISIS receives the publicity it needs from liberal media outlets. On the other hand, these networks increase their ratings, viewers, readers, advertisement revenues, and therefore their profit.  It is incumbent on media outlets to bring to the world the stories of non-ISIS Islamist terrorist groups as well, and put a spotlight on the sufferings of the multitudes of forgotten people, who are affected by these terrorist groups.

Categories: Iran and terror, Iranian proxies, Islamic State, Western media
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