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US military warns of Shabaab resurgence, strikes ‘command and logistics node’

June 11, 2017

US military warns of Shabaab resurgence, strikes ‘command and logistics node’, Long War Journal, , June 11, 2017

While announcing an airstrike that targeted a Shabaab “command and logistics node” in southern Somalia, the US military warned of al Qaeda’s resurgence in the country and said it has “taken advantage of safe haven.” The strike is the first announced by the US military since the Trump administration declared that it would expand operations against al Qaeda’s branch in Somalia.

US Africa Command, or AFRICOM, announced that it targeted a “command and logistics node at a camp located approximately 185 miles southwest of Mogadishu in a stronghold for the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab organization” in an airstrike. AFRCOM assessed that eight Shabaab operatives were killed.

AFRICOM’s worrying assessment of Shabaab’s revival in Somalia is an admission that efforts by the US, African Union, and Somali government to contain and defeat the group over the past several years have failed. The US Department of Defense admitted as much in late March, when it announced that the Trump administration approved “additional precision fires” to target Shabaab throughout Somalia.

The Pentagon’s desire to actively target Shabaab reflects the growing concern that al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa is gaining strength despite the presence of both African Union and US forces, and it is plotting to attack the West. Shabaab used a sophisticated laptop bomb in an attempt to down a Somali airliner in 2016. This attack was cited by the US government as one of the reasons that electronics have been banned in the cabins of airplanes departing from 10 airports in the Middle East. [See What’s really behind Trump’s laptop ban.]

Today’s strike is part of an overarching effort to “degrade the al-Qaeda affiliate’s ability to recruit, train and plot external terror attacks throughout the region and in America.”

The AFRICOM statement also acknowledged that African Union and Somali forces have suffered significant losses at the hands of Shabaab:

In the last eight months, al-Shabaab has overrun three African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) Forward Operating Bases by amassing large numbers of fighters and attacking in overwhelming numbers. Al-Shabaab has also increased its combat capability by seizing heavy weaponry, armored vehicles, explosives, small arms, ammunition, and other miscellaneous supplies during its operations overrunning Burundian National Defense Forces FOB Leego, Ugandan People’s Defense Force FOB Janaale, and Kenyan Defense Force FOB Ceel Ad.

The terror organization has taken advantage of safe haven. The group has cemented its control [sic] southern and central Somalia, they have used this area to plot and direct terror attacks, steal humanitarian aid, and to shelter other radical terrorists.

Shabaab has successfully overrun Somali and African Union bases in the past and inflicted a large number of casualties on troops based there. In Jan. 2016, Shabaab fighters assaulted a base in Al Ade in the south and killed at least 100 Kenyan soldiers. In June 2015, Shabaab killed an estimated 60 Ethiopian soldiers in the south. That same month, Shabaab fighters killed more than 50 Burundi soldiers in Leego.

Shabaab has been resurgent in Somalia since losing ground to a combined African Union and Somali offensive in 2011. The jihadist group has slowly but methodically retaken several towns and villages that it lost, including the coastal town of Marka.

However, Shabaab’s efforts have not been confined to southern and central Somalia. Late last week, Shabaab fighters overran a base manned by Puntland forces in northern Somalia. Upwards of 60 troops were killed and Shabaab seized a large number of weapons and vehicles as well as a quantity of ammunition.

Today’s strike is the first reported by the US military against Shabaab since the Department of Defense announced that it would expand military operations. AFRICOM released a statement on April 17 to refute press reports that US forces launched airstrikes in southwestern Somalia.

Categories: Air strikes, Al Qaeda, Shabaab, Somalia, U.S. Military
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US blitzes AQAP in Yemen with an unprecedented 30 airstrikes

March 5, 2017

US blitzes AQAP in Yemen with an unprecedented 30 airstrikes, Long War Journal, , March 4, 2017

The large number of strikes over a short period of time indicates the US is changing its tactics in fighting AQAP in Yemen. The US military previously described AQAP as one of the most dangerous terrorist networks that is determined to strike US interests, yet it had been overly cautious in targeting the group. Over the previous five years, the US military averaged just two to three strikes against AQAP a month.

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The US military has launched more than 30 airstrikes against al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen in three separate provinces over the last several days. Such a large number of strikes is unprecedented in Yemen and indicates a changing US approach to attacking al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, possibly acting on new intelligence gained from a controversial raid by US special operations forces in late January.

It is unknown how many AQAP fighters were killed during the operation. AQAP has not announced the death of any senior leaders.

The Department of Defense announced the airstrikes against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in a statement attributed to Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis.

“More than 30 strikes in Yemen” hit “militants, equipment and infrastructure in the governorates of Abyan, Al Bayda and Shabwah,” according to the statement.

Davis described the Yemeni government as “a valuable counterterrorism partner” and said the blitz was coordinated with and approved by the government and its president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Davis noted that AQAP continues to use “ungoverned spaces in Yemen to plot, direct, and inspire terror attacks against the United States and our allies.”

The attacks “will degrade the AQAP’s ability to coordinate external terror attacks and limit their ability to use territory seized from the legitimate government of Yemen as a safe space for terror plotting,” according to the statement.

The latest press release also described AQAP as an “extremely dangerous al Qaeda affiliate.”

With the more than 30 strikes against AQAP over the past several days and an additional five in January, the US has already come close in the first two-plus months of 2016 to exceeding the average number of yearly strikes since the program began in 2009. Only two other years (38 in 2016 and 41 in 2012) have a higher strike total.

The large number of strikes over a short period of time indicates the US is changing its tactics in fighting AQAP in Yemen. The US military previously described AQAP as one of the most dangerous terrorist networks that is determined to strike US interests, yet it had been overly cautious in targeting the group. Over the previous five years, the US military averaged just two to three strikes against AQAP a month.

Additionally, the military may have obtained more information about AQAP’s network and exploited it with a series of quick hits over a short period of time to shock the group. The US military and the Trump administration claimed that a controversial raid by US special operations forces against AQAP in Al Baydah province in January netted significant intelligence. One US Navy Seal, two senior AQAP leaders, and at least 13 civilians, including the eight year old daughter of slain radical AQAP cleric Anwar al Awlaki, were among those killed during the raid, which quickly evolved into a heavy firefight that also resulted in the loss of an Osprey aircraft.

Despite years of targeting AQAP, the group retained significant capacity. Davis estimated that AQAP maintains a strength in the “low thousands,” and that the group “can skillfully exploit the disorder in Yemen to build its strength and reinvigorate its membership and training.”

AQAP still controls rural areas of central and southern Yemen despite both attacks from the US and a United Arab Emirates-led ground offensive, which ejected the group from major cities and towns that it held between March 2016 and the summer of 2016. AQAP claims to still operate training camps in Yemen to this day. In mid-July, AQAP touted its Hamza al Zinjibari Camp, where the group trains its “special forces.” Zinjibari was an AQAP military field commander who was killed in a US drone strike in Feb. 2016.

Categories: Air strikes, al-Qaida, U.S. Military, Yemen
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Russian air strikes slowed down over Syria by weather and maintenance

January 11, 2016

Russian air strikes slowed down over Syria by weather and maintenance, DEBKAfile, January 11, 2016

Air_Strike_Maps_1.16Russian air strike map in January 2016

Russian air raids over Syria were seen to have tapered off in the first 10 days of the New Year to their lowest level since the onset of Moscow’s major intervention in Syria in late September, intelligence sources report. The slowdown was not officially reported or explained. But our sources point to three likely causes:

1.  The Russian Air Force conducted an exceptionally intensive series of aerial strikes over northern and southern Syria in the course of December. This may have caused too many technical problems for the overtaxed ground crews to keep up with the necessary maintenance work.

2.  Winter conditions in the region are subject to extreme and rapid change, often swinging between snow storms and warm air currents in the space of a few hours. Russian air and ground crews alike are finding it hard to adjust to Middle East weather.

3.  The first days of January are Russia’s traditional holiday season. The Eastern churches celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7. Air crews may have decided to take a break from combat missions.

In case the slowdown was misinterpreted in the West, the Russian high command published a set of statistics Monday, Jan. 11 that painted a picture of intense activity.

In the first ten days of 2016, the Russian Air Force was said to have conducted 311 air strikes against 1097 targets.

The communiqué also noted that the first Syrian Air Force MidG-23 fighter plane was able to land at Hama air base. This central Syrian facility had been inactive for months because it was under rebel artillery fire and was now restored to full operation, thanks to Russian air bombardments of rebel forces.

From Hama, the Syrian army is now back in command of the Rte 5 highway linking Aleppo to Damascus, opening up for Syrian, Hizballah and pro-Iranian militia armies their only road link and supply route between central and northern Syria.

The recovery of Hama also provides a shield for defending Latakia, President Bashar Assad’s main power base.

Western intelligence experts estimate that the air strike statistics offered by Moscow are exaggerated. They tie the operation for the relief of the Hama air base with a project about to be launched by the Russian command from its base outside Latakia, namely, the transfer of Russian air force and special operations officers and forces teams to the Palmyra area, in readiness for an offensive to seize all the Syrian air facilities to the west of the town from ISIS control.

Western intelligence experts estimate that the air strike statistics offered by Moscow are exaggerated. They tie the operation for the relief of the Hama air base with a project about to be launched by the Russian command from its base outside Latakia, namely, the transfer of Russian air force and special operations officers and forces teams to the Palmyra area, in readiness for an offensive to seize all the Syrian air facilities to the west of the town from ISIS control.

Russian tacticians in Syria appear to be focusing now on pushing rebel and Islamic State forces out of all the airfields they have captured, in order to get the Syrian Air Force flying and bombing again, and so ease the burden on the Russian flight crews in Syria.

Categories: Air strikes, Russia - Syrian war
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Jeish Al-Islam Militants Use Families of Syrian Soldiers as Human Shields in Cages

November 2, 2015

Jeish Al-Islam Militants Use Families of Syrian Soldiers as Human Shields in Cages, MEMRI-TV, November 2, 2015

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJaWnJyoCFE

 

According to the blurb following the video,

In footage posted on the Internet on November 1, 2015, families of Syrian soldiers are shown in cages, being placed among the civilian population of East Ghouta, to serve as human shields against Syrian government and Russian airstrikes.

Categories: Air strikes, Human rights, Iran - Syria war, Russia - Syrian war
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ISIS Video Shows Downing of Airplane, Contradicting Russian Claims of Technical Fault

October 31, 2015

ISIS Video Shows Downing of Airplane, Contradicting Russian Claims of Technical Fault, The Jewish Press, October 31, 2015

(How persuasive, if at all, is the video? — DM)

ISIS-video-of-downed-plane

Russia’s transport minister Maksim Sokolov on Saturday denied the Islamic State’s claim, that its militants had brought down the Russian charter plane Airbus A321, en route from the south Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg on Saturday. But a videotape released by ISIS possibly refutes the claims, showing a plane as it is being hit, and following its fall from the sky trailed by a tail of smoke.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s3AkNGmmOU

 

There were 214 Russian and three Ukranian passengers on board, with a crew of seven. An ISIS affiliate in Egypt claimed that it had downed the plane, without specifying how, but an Egyptian spokesman said the crash was not the result of an attack.

The ISIS tweets describing the attack went: “Soldiers of the Caliphate were able to bring down a Russian plane above Sinai Province with at least 220 Russian crusaders aboard,” followed by: “They were all killed, praise be to God. O Russians, you and your allies take note that you are not safe in Muslims lands or their skies,” and: “The killing of dozens daily in Syria with bombs from your planes will bring woe to you. Just as you are killing others, you too will be killed, God willing.”

But Minister Sokolov tweeted: “Now in various media there is assorted information that the Russian [airplane]… was supposedly shot down by an anti-aircraft missile, fired by terrorists,” and insisted, “This information can’t be considered accurate.”

According to Sputnik, an examination of the Airbus crash site showed the airliner fell due to a technical fault. It was the deadliest air accident in Russian history, worse than the 1985 disaster in Uzbekistan, when 200 people perished. Bodies were found as far as three miles the crashed plane in the Sinai. According to Reuters, the plane fell vertically, which led to large parts of it burning.

According to the Guardian, the ISIS claim does not explain how they were able to bring down the plane, when the most sophisticated, portable surface-to-air missiles can’t reach the high altitude the plane was flying at. These missiles have been proven effective strictly during take-off or landing, but the Russian Airbus came down after having reached its target altitude.

The black box that was onboard the aircraft has been found at the crash site, according to the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry. Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kemal said it was too early to state the cause of the crash, but suggested the plane had not been shot down or blown up.

Meanwhile, European airlines Lufthansa and Air France have announced that they would stop flying over the Sinai Peninsula, until it is made clear what had caused the crash.

crash-site

Categories: Air strikes, Islamic State, Russia - Syrian war, Russian aircraft down, Siani
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Israel is braced for Russian aerial intrusions over its Golan border

October 9, 2015

Israel is braced for Russian aerial intrusions over its Golan border, DEBKAfile, October 9, 2015

Su-25_Frogfoot_ground-attack_planes_B-Syria_10.15_1Russian Su-25 Frogfoot fighter-bombers in Syria

Uncertainty still hangs over Moscow’s precise intentions regarding its air force flights over the Golan close to Israel’s border – even after two days of discussions on coordination ended in Tel Aviv Thursday, Oct. 8 between the Russian Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Nikolay Bogdanovsky and his Israeli counterpart Maj. Gen. Yair Golan. A coordination mechanism between the two air forces was left as unfinished business for further discussion, DEBKAfile’s military sources report. So it is still not clear to Israel what is supposed to happen if Russian fighters and bombers enter the Syrian-Israeli border district and slip over into Israeli air space.

The bilateral talks left Israel with the impression that this was a distinct possibility.

Israeli and Western aviation and intelligence experts don’t see how Israel can prevent Russia providing air cover for Syrian and Hizballah forces when the war moves close to the Israeli and Jordanian borders of southern Syria.

Last week, Russian SU-30 and Su-24 warplanes twice violated Turkish air space in the southern province of Hatay (called Alexandretta on Syrian maps). Although after the Russian defense ministry apologized for the first intrusion as accidental and lasting just a few seconds, our military sources are certain that the Russians were in fact deliberately testing Turkish air defenses.

This scenario may well repeat itself over the Golan in the very near future.

Gen. Bogdanovsky made no secret of Moscow’s intention to use its air power against rebel targets in battles taking place near the Israeli border. According to our exclusive military sources, Israel braced for this eventually Wednesday night, Oct. 7. Syrian, Hizballah and pro-Iranian Shiite forces then launched a ground offensive with Russian air cover against Syrian rebel forces in the Hama region. This was their first ground operation since the start of the Russian military buildup in late August. Intelligence was received that a second Syrian-Hizballah offensive, covered by Russian fighters and bombers, was scheduled to start at the same time in the Quneitra area, directly opposite the Israeli Golan.

For some reason, it was not launched when expected, but it is unlikely to be deferred for long. After firing Kalibr-NK-SS-27 Sizzler cruise missiles last week to soften rebel resistance to the Syrian government offensive in the Hama area, the Russians may well aim them at the Quneitra arena too in support of another Syrian operation.

Categories: Air strikes, Defense of Israel, Golan, Israel, Putin, Russia, Russia - Middle East, Russia - Syrian war
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Nail in the Coffin: ISIS’ Anwar al-Awlaqi BN Sends Fighters to Europe

October 3, 2015

Nail in the Coffin: ISIS’ Anwar al-Awlaqi BN Sends Fighters to Europe, ISIS Study Group, October 3, 2015

(I hope the situation isn’t as bad as portrayed, but it very likely is. — DM)

By now the international community is praising the French government for finally doing what the US government refuses to do – completely destroy an Islamic State (IS) training camp. We have to ask ourselves, “How can there be a training camp left in Syria???” The US has been conducting airstrikes in the country for several months, these camps aren’t “hidden” – so how did this particular installation last long enough for the French to take it out? The answer is obvious – The Obama administration still has absolutely no real strategy to combat IS. Well, we take that back, they do have a strategy: Run out the clock and let it be the next President’s problem.

France launches its first airstrikes against ISIS in Syria
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/27/middleeast/syria-france-isis-bombing/

Rafale-300x200Source: French Air Force

French President Hollande stated that the camp his military took out was a clear and present threat to the French people. He’s right. How so? Its one of several camps training personnel recruited by the Anwar al-Awlaqi Battalion for operations inside the European Union with a very special emphasis placed on France and the the UK. Our sources within the Parastin and YPG have informed us that 20 of these specially-trained foreign fighters were sent back to Europe within the last two weeks among refugees. This particular batch consists of mostly jihadists of Tunisian and Moroccan origin. These personnel are said to have received training in IED construction/TTP implementation and assassination operations in addition to the experience they obtained in small-unit tactics. According to our Parastin sources, these personnel are to return to their countries of origin and establish attack cells. The 20-man element is assessed to be split into two 10-man attack cells and set up in the UK and France, at which time they will lay low and begin the target development portion of their attack cycle. Many of these personnel have seen action against the Peshmerga along the Turkish border and along the Mari Line, so these aren’t just some clowns who’ve never fired a weapon in anger. If you thought this was that transition from lone wolves to sleeper cells that we warned about in “The Loss of Key ISIS External OPs Figures and the Anwar al-Awlaqi Battalion,” then you thought right.

The Loss of Key ISIS External OPs Figures and the Anwar al-Awlaqi Battalion
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=8467

junaid-hussein-217x300 (1)

Junaid Hussein may be dead, but his death came at a time when IS had already begun the shift to cell-based operations in Europe. Source: Central News

This transition is something that we’ve been noticing since DEC 14 with the attacks in France and Denmark. We will continue to see lone wolves being inspired to carry out attacks, but now the paradigm has shifted to where we’re going to begin seeing more from guys who’ve returned from Syria and formed cells consisting of individuals they met on the front-lines. It’s the Afghan scenario from the 80s and 90s all over again. The Copenhagen shooting that went down earlier this year was an indicator of cell-based operations as the attacker received considerable support from a cell operating in the area. The recent stabbing of a Danish police officer by a Palestinian with pro-IS sympathies is a good indicator of how Denmark’s “let’s try to be everyone’s friend” policy isn’t working out as well as they hoped. France and Germany are just as bad with the police of both countries refusing to patrol in some neighborhoods – which as a result have become major hotbeds for IS recruitment.

Palestinian asylum reject charged with stabbing Danish policeman
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/denmark/11900291/Palestinian-asylum-reject-charged-with-stabbing-Danish-policeman.html

Danish police officer stabbed at asylum centre
http://www.thelocal.dk/20150929/danish-police-officer-stabbed-at-asylum-centre

Denmark Update
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=4864

Jihadist Infestation: Terrorism Results in Copenhagen Chaos
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=4831

Swedish Cartoonist Targeted in Denmark Shooting – Europe is in Serious Trouble
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=4822

Attack in Paris, France Kills 12
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=4336

Possible Second Lone Wolf Attack in France Since Saturday
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=4102

Islamic State: The French Connection
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=3875

sharia-police-300x237

There’s lots of guys running around in Muslim neighborhoods acting as a “Sharia Police” in Germany – such as Wuppertal’s Sharia Police before the real law enforcement cracked-down on them – but the Polizei only did so because of the bad press the government was receiving. Source: The ISIS Study Group

We assess that IS’ External Operations Division is continuing to pursue several plots to target the US and Europe despite the loss of key figures over the last few months. The loss of personalities such as Hussein, Riyad Khan (and possibly Abu Khalid al-Amriki) is mitigated by the new emphasis being placed on Syria returnees who have begun to establish new networks inside Western countries. Not every recruit will be from the country they’ve been deployed to – but the leaders of these new networks will, and they will serve as the conduits to the IS leadership in Syria. But we shouldn’t be surprised at the fact that IS has been redeploying personnel to Europe among the refugees – after all they’ve been quite open about their intentions. And also remember that not all of these refugees are coming from Iraq and Syria either, as many are also coming from Libya. This reality has finally begun to sink-in with the French government. Unfortunately, its a case of “too little, too late.”

ISIS threatens to send 500,000 migrants to Europe as a ‘psychological weapon’ in chilling echo of Gaddafi’s prophecy that the Mediterranean ‘will become a sea of chaos’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2958517/The-Mediterranean-sea-chaos-Gaddafi-s-chilling-prophecy-interview-ISIS-threatens-send-500-000-migrants-Europe-psychological-weapon-bombed.html

ISIS smuggler: ‘We will use refugee crisis to infiltrate West’

ISIS smuggler: ‘We will use refugee crisis to infiltrate West’

Islamic State ‘planning to use Libya as gateway to Europe’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11418966/Islamic-State-planning-to-use-Libya-as-gateway-to-Europe.html

chicago-300x174

IS sympathizers close enough to reach out and touch us – Old Republic Building in Chicago (Left) The White House (Right) Source: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/08/22/ominous-tweet-connects-isis-threat-in-chicago/

President Hollande is right to be concerned, but he waited far too long to take action. Elsewhere in the EU, the surge of refugees from IS-controlled areas since 2014 is leading to confrontations between the Jihadists and Neo-Nazi types in Germany (personally we feel these two hate groups deserve each other). For their part, IS has been exploiting these attacks to attract more recruits from the immigrant population in the country. In late – AUG 15 the Polizei disrupted an operation by IS facilitators to make contacts and proselytize in a shelter for unaccompanied refugee kids in Frankfurt. Another incident in Bavaria in mid-JUL 15 involved a refugee shelter where members were trying to recruit people to Baghdadi’s cause. This is bad for Angela Merkel’s government because their CT capability simply can’t keep up with the demands of the current threat. They’re completely underwater and they know it. Germany’s rising immigrant population is a particular concern since they’ve absorbed 218,000 since JAN 15, most of which came from Syria and Iraq accounting for up to 40% of all asylum applicants in the EU as of AUG 15. The migrant flow to Germany accelerated since 21 AUG when Merkel announced that they stopped enforcing the Dublin II procedures, which call for the deportation of asylum seekers to their countries of origin. The refugee camps in Saarland-Saarbucken receive 120-150 new refugees daily – and those locations are quickly becoming major recruiting centers for radicalization like the neighborhoods the Polizei have allowed Islamists to control.

Germany in a state of SIEGE
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3249667/Germany-state-SIEGE-Merkel-cheered-opened-floodgates-migrants-gangs-men-roaming-streets-young-German-women-told-cover-mood-s-changing.html#ixzz3mwqyhhAM

migrants-300x184

One of the refugee centers set up in Hanau, Germany – its doubtful that Germany can continue absorbing all these people with its current welfare state troubles and all
Source: Reuters

Of course none of this surprises our loyal readers as they recall our 17 FEB 15 article “The Jews: Europe’s Canary in the Mine on the Growing Jihadist Threat,” where we discussed how the growing jihadist threat in the EU was leading to a migration of Jews from Europe. The Jews have seen this movie before – and have no desire to see how it ends again. That alone should be an indicator of just how dangerous its become on the continent. Unfortunately, the politically correct EU doesn’t want to “offend” the Muslim population so they continue to allow the radical elements to grow in influence, ultimately choking off the moderates. In the end, their very inaction has led to the very scenario that they wished to avoid. The reason this is so important to America is that Europe represents a peek into our own future. On 19 FEB 15 we discussed the Obama administration’s announcement to let more Syrian refugees enter our country in “Cultural Suicide: Why Allowing Syrian War Refugees to Enter Western Countries is a Pandora’s Box to More Attacks.” The administration claims that they will be “vetting” the people entering our country, but we find that less than comforting since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already lost track of 6,000 people with expired student visas (check out “DHS Loses 6,000 With Expired Student Visas” for more details).

The Jews: Europe’s Canary in the Mine on the Growing Jihadist Threat
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=4939

Cultural Suicide: Why Allowing Syrian War Refugees to Enter Western Countries is a Pandora’s Box to More Attacks
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=4987

DHS Loses 6,000 With Expired Student Visas
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=1580

ISIS: Target America
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=1196

It would be one thing if these people actually wanted to assimilate into our society – but most don’t. what’s worse is that IS has been quite open about their plans for exploiting the US and Europe’s overly generous immigration policies. That’s not a good thing. We understand that the pictures of women and children in war zones tugs at the heart strings, but ask yourselves – why is it we’re seeing so many military-aged males in these waves of refugees? That alone should be a major red flag. If there’s someone we should be letting into our country who shares our values, it’s the Kurds, Yazidis and Christians who’ve been caught in the middle of all this – they’re really the only people we should be helping. Other than that, our own country and people need to come first. Period.

Other Related Articles:

US/UK/Aussie ISIS Threat Stream Update
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=6480

ISIS Plots to Bring the “Flames of War” to US, UK and Australia
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=6431&

Dropping the Hammer: Aussie Police Thwart ANZAC Day Attack Plot
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=6339

The Increasing Role of Aussie Jihadists in ISIS Efforts to Expand into Southeast Asia and Strike the West
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=5388

al-Hayat Media Center Continues to Saturate North America With its Social Media Outreach to Jihadists
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=2523

ISIS Attack Plot Thwarted In Belgium- A Sign Of Things To Come?
http://isisstudygroup.com/?p=1890

Categories: Air strikes, Asylum seekers, Europe, European Union, Foreign policy, France, Germany, Islamic immigration, Islamic State, Islamism, Israel, Jews, Libya, Merkel, Multiculturalism, Obama's foreign failures, Obama's legacy, Sharia law
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Finally, A Plan To Defeat the Islamic State

September 28, 2015

Finally, A Plan To Defeat the Islamic State, Town Hall, Jim Hanson, September 28, 2015

(Obama would need the approvals of Putin, Xi, Rouhani, Assad, Erdogan and “our” other “peace partners” as well as his trained seals at the Department of Defense. Then, and only then, could General Bowie Bergdahl lead his march to victory. Or something. —  DM)

Black flag

What if there was an actual strategy to defeat ISIS and stop their reign of terror? The state of affairs and the very existence of IS as a governing entity is intolerable so we developed a strategy called Cut Down the Black Flag – A Plan to Defeat the Islamic State, the second book in the Secure Freedom Strategy series.

President Obama has failed to articulate or implement anything resembling a strategy during his time in office. This fact is even more painful when considering the rise of the Islamic State (IS) occurred on his watch and was largely due to his shortsighted and foolish decision to cut and run from Iraq. He lost the peace after our troops won the war.

Unlike the President, we’re not interested in token gestures doomed to failure as IS kills, rapes, and tortures on ground won for freedom just a few short years ago. We will not stand on the sidelines as an Inter-Continental Caliphate calls for “Death to all Infidels.” We have a plan to win and cut down their blood-soaked, Black Flag of Jihad.

It will not be easy but it is an essential part of the war for the free world. If we do not make a full faith effort to destroy IS, we will have done a disservice to all who gave their lives and limbs to free Iraq from tyranny. We will also be leaving millions to suffer the chaos and killing fields created when the inevitable vacuum of our withdrawal was filled by IS and Iran.

This book details a strategy focused on victory, aimed for stability in the region with the possibility of actual peace. It recognizes this action must be part of a greater “long war” against the whole of the Global Jihad Movement (GJM). They are the collection of groups who, while not officially associated, share a belief in Islamic Supremacy and are working actively to achieve it.

The Violent Jihadists like the Islamic State, Al Qaeda and others are easily identifiable as our enemies. The Civilization Jihadists of the Muslim Brotherhood and the groups it has spawned such as Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) are less overt but perhaps even more dangerous. Our overall strategy to defeat the Global Jihad Movement with a whole of government and culture approach is detailed in the Secure Freedom Strategy.

Our plan to defeat the Islamic State is a complete departure from the dismal failures of the current Commander in Chief leading from behind. The military might and will to win of the United States are vital to any chance of success. This does not mean we propose rolling tanks in a thunder run from Baghdad to Damascus. But we must take the handcuffs off the forces we already have deployed by allowing them to participate in combat missions with the forces they have trained to provide command and control and direct fire support. We must remove the cumbersome and overly risk-averse process for airstrikes that leave most of our aircraft returning to base with all munitions unused.

We must also work with the Sunni tribes who helped us defeat the precursor to IS; and, arm the Kurds who are our best friend and truest ally in the region. Both of these groups were left to the mercy of a central Iraqi government when U.S. forces withdrew and Iranian influence became dominant. We must look to a future where they govern by self-determination rather than remain forced into artificial borders established nearly 100 years ago; and, that have been largely erased over the recent war-torn years.

Our strategy is ambitious, but it does not require large deployments of U.S. troops or the expectation we will be the sole guarantor of security going forward. We aim to cut off the head of the jihadist snake by empowering the indigenous people who have suffered the most from its actions and then let them govern themselves. This strategy vigorously executed can do what the current half-hearted efforts never will: Defeat the Islamic State.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=194&v=TCO36yZ7UDc

Categories: Air strikes, Arab nations, Department of Defense, Foreign policy, Iran scam, Iranian proxies, Iraq war, Islamic nations, Kurds, Middle East, Obama - Middle East, Obama's America, Syria war
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Obama’s Politicized Intelligence

August 29, 2015

Obama’s Politicized Intelligence, Washington Free Beacon, , August 28, 2015

(Please see also, Pentagon Not Targeting Islamic State Training Camps. Is there anything that Obama has not distorted for political purposes? — DM)

“Analysts,” reports the Daily Beast, “have been pushed to portray the group as weaker than the analysts believe it actually is.” This sort of dishonesty helps no one—except a president whose primary concern is leaving office with his reputation for ending wars intact, and the military brass who wish to remain in his good graces.

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The anniversary of the U.S. war against the Islamic State passed with little notice. It was August 7 of last year that President Obama authorized the first airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, a campaign he expanded a month later to include targets in Syria. So far this month, the president has delivered remarks on the Voting Rights Act, his deal with Iran, the budget, clean energy, and Hurricane Katrina. ISIS? Not a peep.

Obama’s quiet because the war is not going well. Despite the loss of Tikrit earlier this year, the Islamic State’s western boundary is stable, and its eastern boundary now encroaches on Damascus. The president’s air campaign is one of the most limited and desultory America has fought in decades—ranking last in daily averages of strike sorties and bombs dropped. In late July, when the Turks permitted America the use of their air bases to launch attacks on ISIS, a “senior administration official” told the New York Times that the decision was “a game changer.” In the ensuing days the number of airstrikes in Syria actually fell.

The growing number of U.S. advisers—there are now more than 3,300 American military personnel in Iraq—has been unable to repair the damage wrought on the Iraqi Army by sectarian and political purges after our 2011 withdrawal. Even as the administration brags about killing more than 10,000 ISIS terrorists, a number that strains credulity, the Caliphate has become more deeply entrenched in its territory, and inspires attacks abroad.

Meanwhile the congressional authorization that the president sought is dead. One of our most gifted generals predicts the conflict will last “10 to 20 years.” And now comes news that the Pentagon is investigating whether intelligence assessments of ISIS have been manipulated for political reasons. “Analysts,” reports the Daily Beast, “have been pushed to portray the group as weaker than the analysts believe it actually is.” This sort of dishonesty helps no one—except a president whose primary concern is leaving office with his reputation for ending wars intact, and the military brass who wish to remain in his good graces.

What’s especially galling about this allegation is that Obama and the Democratic Party have spent years spuriously accusing President Bush of lying the United States into war in 2003. Spend a moment thinking of what the news cycle would be if George W. were still our president and the Pentagon inspector general opened an investigation into whether the bureaucracy was sprucing up intelligence to make it politically palatable: The chorus of “Bush lied, people died” would be deafening, Congress would demand investigations, the national security leak machine would start humming, John Conyers would reconvene his mock impeachment hearing, and the entire controversy would be set against the backdrop of antiwar marches and publicized denunciations of militaristic policy. What have we instead? ABC’s Good Morning America mentioned the Pentagon investigation. No other broadcast network did.

It’s an unanticipated consequence of Barack Obama’s presidency: his immobilization of the antiwar legions, the way his election immediately neutered the zealots who, if a Republican were in office, would be marching against drone strikes and mass surveillance and war in Afghanistan and air war in Libya, Syria, Iraq and proxy war in Yemen. What does it say about the left that the most spirited attacks on Obama national security policy have come from the right: On drones, surveillance, and congressional authorization for war, you are far more likely to hear criticism from Ted Cruz or Rand Paul than from the politicians who rode into office denouncing Bush’s misadventure in Iraq. The protestors who flooded New York in 2004 and fell to the ground at the D.C. “Die-In” in 2007—they either support the president or are too busy with Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter to care.

Obama has thus been allowed to wage a war for more than a year not only without the authorization he called for but also without the accountability that pressure from his left would bring. He’s flying solo, and below him are an endless, inconclusive war, a terrorist state built on sharia law and sex slavery, rampant chemical weapons use, civilian casualties, and a refugee crisis that is causing social, economic, and political instability in Europe. The only thing missing from this picture is outrage—elite fury over the geopolitical and humanitarian results of the president’s evasive policy, of doing only the bare minimum necessary to convince people that you aren’t ignoring the problem.

There’s no outrage because the media, our bipartisan political establishment, and indeed the American people themselves are unwilling to face the scope of the challenge the Islamic State presents. To uproot it we would have to send U.S. ground forces to Iraq in large numbers, not just special forces operating in tandem with unrestricted air support. We would have to retake and hold ground lost in the years since we departed Iraq, and we would have to commit to remaining in Iraq and Syria for a long time. To deal a blow to radical Islam that would deter recruitment, stop the bandwagon effect, and secure America from attack by militants and their fellow-travelers would require a military and economic commitment the United States, and least of all our president, is simply not prepared to make.

Easier to perform the illusion of activity, of success and advance, so that all the boxes are checked, all our consciences placated. Easier to pretend that the problem of ISIS can be “contained” and that our new ally Iran can handle the situation in its emerging capacity as regional hegemon. Easier to go about our business, to spin or outright ignore the war our country has been waging in Iraq and Syria for more than a year. So much easier not to worry about what’s happening over there—until, that is, the enemy attacks us here.

Categories: Air strikes, Denial, Foreign policy, Iranian proxies, Islamic State, Islamism, Obama, Obama's America, Obama's legacy, Terrorism, U.S. combat troops, U.S. politics
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Obama gives ISIS ally veto power over US air strikes on ISIS

August 3, 2015

Obama gives ISIS ally veto power over US air strikes on ISIS, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Greenfield, August 3, 2015

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The war against the JayVee team that has captured large chunks of Syria, Iraq and Libya is going really well. Secretary of State John Kerry and White House Minister of Information Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf assure us that the un-Islamic terrorist group whose name must not be mentioned will shortly be crushed.

Meanwhile Obama keeps trying to negotiate with the Taliban, the other group of misogynistic mass-murdering Islamists he had vowed to defeat back in his first term.

The administration is celebrating a coup in finally getting Turkey to get on board and allow the US to use an air force base for air strikes on ISIS. But as Commander Dyer points out, there’s a slight problem.

1.  The Obama administration refuses to define a territorial or operational objective.

2.  U.S. forces aren’t sure whom they’ll be allowed to shoot at.

Well it’s not like we need to know what we’re fighting for or how we’re going to fight. The important thing is that Obama got a crazy Islamist dictator who built himself a billion dollar palace while terrorizing his people to agree to let the US use an air force base.

As long as he gets to decide who we bomb.

The US Air Force could use the Incirlik air force base in Turkey but had to allow Turkish oversight of the targets it would strike in Syria and Iraq from Incirlik.

That is a slight tiny problem because the Turkish regime loves terrorists almost as much as Iran and has a history of secret ties to ISIS.

According to the Guardian on 25 July, a U.S.-led raid on an ISIS compound in May 2015 unearthed a treasure trove of documentation on this connection.  Turkish middlemen have been funding ISIS for months, to the tune of millions of dollars, by buying oil from the guerrillas – implicitly with the knowledge and support of the Turkish government.

The Jerusalem Post reported one Islamic State member said Turkey, a member of NATO, provided funds for the terrorist group.

“Turkey paved the way for us. Had Turkey not shown such understanding for us, the Islamic State would not be in its current place. It [Turkey] showed us affection. Large [numbers] of our mujahedeen received medical treatment in Turkey,” said the man, who was not identified.

The topic of Turkey’s involvement with ISIS remains controversial and has led to a conflict between Turkish law enforcement, which tried to expose government weapons shipments, and the Erdogan regime.

Even Joe Biden said it not long ago, before being forced to apologize.

So Obama has given an ally of ISIS oversight of US air strikes against ISIS. And it gets even more schizophrenic because the US is now involved with the PKK, a Kurdish Marxist liberation group, which Turkey is bombing.

So yes, the war will be won any day. Meanwhile Pakistan will be hosting peace talks with the Taliban. You know, the country which was pretending to be our ally while harboring Osama bin Laden.

Don’t worry. I’m sure the Caliph of ISIS probably isn’t living in a mansion in downtown Istanbul. Yet.

Categories: Air strikes, Department of Defense, Erdogan, Foreign policy, Iraq war, Islamic State, Obama, Syria war, U.S. Military
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