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Turkey airport attack in Istanbul blamed on ISIS with up to 50 dead

June 29, 2016

Terrifying moment ISIS suicide bomber blew himself up in Istanbul airport terminal in Brussels-style attack that left at least 41 dead and 239 injured

By Imogen Calderwood and Jennifer Newton and Flora Drury For Mailonline

Published: 14:27 EST, 28 June 2016 | Updated: 06:50 EST, 29 June 2016

Source: Turkey airport attack in Istanbul blamed on ISIS with up to 50 dead | Daily Mail Online

‘There was blood and body parts everywhere’:

  • WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT 
  • Three explosions rocked Istanbul’s Ataturk airport in a co-ordinated suicide attack at  8pm GMT last night
  • Eyewitness saw a police officer wrestle attacker to the ground just moments before the blast shook the terminal 
  • A total of 41 people are confirmed dead however this total is expected to rise to 50, according to Turkish officials
  • Reports claimed that ISIS is to blame for the attack, according to Turkish news agencies citing police sources
  • Turkish Airlines is the official airline partner of the Euro 2016 football tournament currently being held in France

Witnesses have described the terrifying moment three suicide bombers launched a co-ordinated attack on Istanbul airport that has left at least 41 dead saying there was blood and body parts everywhere.

Shocking footage has shown an explosion at the door to the arrivals hall by a suicide bomber before another two attackers snuck into the building and dentonated their devices.

Twenty-three of the victims were Turkish citizens and 13 foreign nationals were also among the casualties, an official has said. A total of 41 people have already been confirmed dead, but Turkish officials said that number is expected to rise to 50.

This morning the airport has re-opened while investigators piece together what happened, just hours after the attacks, which also left 239 people injured.

One of the passengers who was travelling through Ataturk airport at the time of the blasts was Laurence Cameron, a British cameraman who was travelling from Latvia to Izmir, on the Turkish coast.

Footage appears to show the moment one of the three bombs was detonated in the devastating suicide attack at Turkey’s Ataturk airport

One of the three terrorists that struck at Turkey’s Ataturk Airport wields an AK-47 as he carries out his killing spree (left), while a man carries a wounded boy away from the airport (right)

Paramedics and special forces officers at the scene help the more than 140 wounded at the airport. At least 41 others were killed

An AK-47 can be seen lying abandoned on the floor, after three suicide bombers set off blasts at the airport as police returned fire

Bodies lie on the pavement outside Istanbul’s international airport after explosions and gunfire shook the terminal

Turkish security agencies and emergency services gathered outside Ataturk airport after it was hit by a suicide bomb attack

Desperate passengers embrace as they gather in shock outside the terminal after the airport was evacuated and all flights were grounded

A wounded girl is carried on a stretcher into the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital after being injured in the blasts at Ataturk Airport

Relatives of those who were caught up in the bombings at Ataturk airport wait outside the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital for news on their loved ones

A mother who lost one of her children in the attack has to be helped from the ground outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul Airport

Another mother of one of the victims is comforted after learning the fate of one of her children after suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up

And he believes believes his plane had arrived just as the bombs began to detonate.

As he walked into the terminal, unaware of what had just happened, he was met with chaos, panic and fear.

‘It must have been just as we touched down,’ he told MailOnline. ‘I did not even hear the explosions, but as I walked out and round the corner, the whole building was running screaming towards me.

‘It was just mass panic, guards running around with guns.’

Mr Cameron, originally from Kent, was stuck for half-an-hour, waiting at customs, before he and his fellow passengers were allowed through and out the terminal.

However, the only way to leave the building was to go through the very place where the bombs had been detonated less than an hour before.

‘There was blood on the floor. It was just horrendous. Debris everywhere. A lot of the ceiling panels had fallen down, smashed all over the floor.

‘Coming out to the taxi rank, it was just full of ambulances. Blood was smeared all up to the car park.

‘People were in tears, especially people with families. They were quite clearly traumatised. There was a lot of uncertainty, no one really knew what was going on. Were we safe where we were?’

He added: ‘There is nowhere to go but out through passport control [if you are in an airport terminal]. It’s not nice – it should be safe, but at that moment it was not.’

An aerial view of the airport shows where the suicide bombers are believed to have detonated their explosives, close to the entrance to the international arrivals terminal

A LOT MORE HERE

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3664710/Two-explosions-gunfire-Istanbul-s-Ataturk-airport-cause-multiple-injuries.html

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FBI, DOJ Release Full Transcript of Orlando Shooter’s 911 Call

June 20, 2016

FBI, DOJ Release Unredacted Transcript of Orlando Shooter’s 911 Call

BY:
June 20, 2016 4:47 pm

Source: FBI, DOJ Release Full Transcript of Orlando Shooter’s 911 Call

The Justice Department on Monday afternoon released the full, unredacted transcript of a call between Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen and 911 operators on the night of the mass shooting after an earlier version of the transcript omitted the words “Islamic State” and the name of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The Justice Department made the decision to release the complete transcript after public pressure from Republican leaders and a number of media organizations.

Mateen, who killed 49 people and wounded 53 others on June 12 at a gay nightclub in Orlando, made a 50 second call to 911 at about 2:35 a.m. during the massacre. He pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during the call.

“I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of the Islamic State,” the unredacted transcript reads.

The original FBI release said, “I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted].”

The old version also described three crisis calls made the night of the shooting that showed Mateen told a negotiator to stop bombing Iraq and Syria, a reference to efforts by a U.S.-led coalition to defeat ISIS’s core in both countries.

“There is some vehicle outside that has some bombs, just to let you know. You people are going to die, and I’m gonna ignite it if they try to do anything stupid,” Mateen told authorities, according to the transcript.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) said the decision by the FBI and Justice Department to redact Mateen’s pledge to ISIS was “preposterous.”

“We know the shooter was a radical Islamist extremist inspired by ISIS,” Ryan said in a statement. “We also know he intentionally targeted the LGBT community. The administration should release the full, unredacted transcript so the public is clear-eyed about who did this, and why.”

The Justice Department called the uproar about the omissions in the original transcript “an unnecessary distraction” before reversing course and directing the FBI to release the complete version.

“Unfortunately, the unreleased portions of the transcript that named the terrorist organizations and leaders have caused an unnecessary distraction from the hard work that the FBI and our law enforcement partners have been doing to investigate this heinous crime,” both organizations said in a statement.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch had told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Sunday, “What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this man’s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups, and further his propaganda. We are not going to hear him make his assertions of allegiance [to ISIS].”

The Orlando massacre has turned into a heated debate in Washington about how to appropriately respond.

Most Republican lawmakers have argued that the terrorist attack proves greater urgency is needed to defeat ISIS and enhance counterterrorism efforts. Democrats have pressed for gun control legislation in response to the shooting and are calling it a hate crime targeting the LGBT community.

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Hillary Clinton Had Secret Memo on Obama Admin ‘Support’ for ISIS

June 15, 2016

Hillary Clinton Received Secret Memo Stating Obama Admin ‘Support’ for ISIS

by Patrick Howley

14 Jun 2016

Source: Hillary Clinton Had Secret Memo on Obama Admin ‘Support’ for ISIS

WASHINGTON, DC — Hillary Clinton received a classified intelligence report stating that the Obama administration was actively supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq, the terrorist group that became the Islamic State.

The memo made clear that Al Qaeda in Iraq was speaking through Muhammad Al Adnani, who is now the senior spokesman for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Western and Gulf states were supporting the terrorist group to try to overthrow Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, who was being propped up by the Russians, Iranians, and Chinese.

In August 2012, a “SECRET” classified memo was sent to various top Obama administration officials and agencies, including to the State Department and to Clinton’s office personally.

“The document is an IAR, an intelligence information report,” said Christopher J. Farrell, who serves on the board of directors of Judicial Watch, which obtained the document. “It is produced by somebody within the Defense intelligence agency (DIA). It is reporting from the field by an intelligence agent” who could be a U.S. government agent, a defense attaché, or a source.

“It’s a report from the field back to headquarters with some intelligence that somebody is willing to bet their career on,” Farrell said.

Farrell confirmed that the report was sent to Clinton’s office, based on the recipient marking “RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHINGTON DC.”

The report identifies Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) as being one of the principal elements of the Syrian opposition, which the West was choosing to “support.”

THE GENERAL SITUATION:

A. INTERNALLY, EVENTS ARE TAKING A CLEAR SECTARIAN DIRECTION.

B. THE SALAFIST, THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, AND AQI ARE THE MAJOR FORCES DRIVING THE INSURGENCY IN SYRIA.

C. THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY SUPPORT THE OPPOSITION; WHILE RUSSIA, CHINA, AND IRAN SUPPORT THE REGIME.

The intelligence report contains an extensive backgrounder on AQI and its methods and capabilities, noting that AQI was speaking through the spokesman of the Islamic State of Iraq Muhammad Al Adnani.

Al Adnani is now the chief spokesman for the current version of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

According to the report:

AL QAEDA – IRAQ (AQI):

A. AQI IS FAMILIAR WITH SYRIA. AQI TRAINED IN SYRIA AND THEN INFILTRATED INTO IRAQ.

B. AQI SUPPORTED THE SYRIAN OPPOSITION FROM THE BEGINNING, BOTH IDEOLOGICALLY AND THROUGH THE MEDIA. AQI DECLARED ITS OPPOSITION OF ASSAD’S GOVERNMENT BECAUSE IT CONSIDERED IT A SECTARIAN REGIME TARGETING SUNNIS.

C. AQI CONDUCTED A NUMBER OF OPERATIONS IN SEVERAL SYRIAN CITIES UNDER THE NAME OF JAISH AL NUSRA (VICTORIOUS ARMY), ONE OF ITS AFFILIATES.

D. AQI, THROUGH THE SPOKESMAN OF THE ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ (ISI) ABU MUHAMMAD AL ADNANI, DECLARED THE SYRIAN REGIME AS THE SPEARHEAD OF WHAT HE IS NAMING JIBHA AL RUWAFDH (FOREFRONT OF THE SHIITES) BECAUSE OF ITS (THE SYRIAN REGIME) DECLARATION OF WAR ON THE SUNNIS. ADDITIONALLY, HE IS CALLING ON THE SUNNIS IN IRAQ, ESPECIALLY THE TRIBES IN THE BORDER REGIONS (BETWEEN IRAQ AND SYRIA), TO WAGE WAR AGAINST THE SYRIAN REGIME, REGARDING SYRIA AS AN INFIDEL REGIME FOR ITS SUPPORT TO THE INFIDEL PARTY HEZBOLLAH, AND OTHER REGIMES HE CONSIDERS DISSENTERS LIKE IRAN AND IRAQ.

E. AQI CONSIDERS THE SUNNI ISSUE IN IRAQ TO BE FATEFULLY CONNECTED TO THE SUNNI ARABS AND MUSLIMS.

The intelligence report also predicts the rise of a broad “Islamic State” forming from segments of Al Adnani’s group:

THIS CREATES THE IDEAL ATMOSPHERE FOR AQI TO RETURN TO ITS OLD POCKETS IN MOSUL AND RAMADI, AND WILL PROVIDE A RENEWED MOMENTUM UNDER THE PRESUMPTION OF UNIFYING THE JIHAD AMONG SUNNI IRAQ AND SYRIA, AND THE REST OF THE SUNNIS IN THE ARAB WORLD AGAINST WHAT IT CONSIDERS ONE ENEMY, THE DISSENTERS. ISI COULD ALSO DECLARE AN ISLAMIC STATE THROUGH ITS UNION WITH OTHER TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA, WHICH WILL CREATE GRAVE DANGER IN REGARDS TO UNIFYING IRAQ AND THE PROTECTION OF ITS TERRITORY.

“AQI HAD MAJOR POCKETS AND BASES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER TO FACILITATE THE FLOW OF MATERIEL AND RECRUITS,” the report states.

“THERE WAS A REGRESSION OF AQI IN THE WESTERN PROVINCES OF IRAQ DURING THE YEARS OF 2009 AND 2010; HOWEVER, AFTER THE RISE OF THE INSURGENCY IN SYRIA, THE RELIGIOUS AND TRIBAL POWERS IN THE REGIONS BEGAN TO SYMPATHIZE WITH THE SECTARIAN UPRISING. THIS (SYMPATHY) APPEARED IN FRIDAY PRAYER SERMONS, WHICH CALLED FOR VOLUNTEERS TO SUPPORT THE SUNNI’S IN SYRIA,” the report continues.

“IN PREVIOUS YEARS A MAJORITY OF AQI FIGHTERS ENTERED IRAQ PRIMARILY VIA THE SYRIAN BORDER.”

Al Adnani was named by the State Department as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” in 2014.

The Clinton campaign did not immediately return a request for comment on this report.

 

 

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ISIS Claims ‘Allahu Akhbar’ Killing Of French Police Officer

June 14, 2016

Islamic State Claims Responsibility For ‘Allahu Akhbar’ Terror Killing Of Senior French Police Officer

by Oliver JJ Lane

14 Jun 2016

Source: ISIS Claims ‘Allahu Akhbar’ Killing Of French Police Officer

Larossi Abballa / Facebook

The Islamic State’s own news agency was quick to claim responsibility for a double murder last night after a young man stabbed a senior police officer and his wife to death in a Paris suburb.

French president Francois Hollande confirmed the attack was “unquestionably a terrorist act”, and French newspapers this morning are reporting that the killer, 25-year-old Larossi Abballa had already been convicted for terror offences.

The police Commissioner, identified as 42-year old Jean-Baptiste Salvaing was stabbed to death while in civilian clothes outside his home last night. The killer then barricaded himself inside the home where he cut Jessica Salvaing’s throat. The wife of the slain officer, Mrs. Salvaing worked for the French police in an administrative role and also died of her wounds.

While holed up in the house, it is reported by French news outlets that the killer ‘Facebook Live’ live-streamed a video feed of the killings to his profile — maintained under the pseudonym “Mohamed Ali” — and uploaded pictures of his victims.

During the video livecast which took place before his account was suspended by Facebook the killer mused what to do with the three year old child who sat near him after he killed it’s mother, and called on his followers to wage jihad against “police officers, prison guards, journalists, rappers”. According to Le Figaro the killer claimed “the euro will be a cemetery”, referring possibly to the Euro 2016 football tournament, or the continent itself.

After “several hours of negotiations”, a police commando unit stormed the house, shooting Mr. Abballa dead, but recovering the police officer’s three year old son who was said to be “shocked but unharmed”.

Police have made two arrests this morning following raids on the killer’s apartment. Although those held in police custody have not been identified, they are said to be “relations” of Abballa.

The ability of French counter-terror police to adequately track and monitor the thousands of potential terror suspects living and moving across France and the European Union through the Schengen borderless zone will again be called into question after it was revealed this morning the killer was already known to police, reports Le Figaro. Larossi Abballa was convicted in 2013 and jailed for three years for terror recruitment in a plot linking France and Pakistan.

The terrorist spent just six months in prison before being released to live close to Commissioner Salvaing.

The Islamic State claimed the attack last night, with the Amaq agency — the same ‘news’ arm of ISIS which claimed responsibility for Sunday’s Pulse nightclub killing in Orlando, Florida — reporting “Islamic State fighter kills deputy chief of the police station in the city of Les Mureaux and his wife with blade weapons near Paris”.

 

France is already on the highest level of terror alert in anticipation of attacks during the Euro 2016 football tournament. Following an emergency cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace this morning French President Hollande called it a “cowardly act” and said the nation faces a “terrorist threat of great importance”. He said the state had “mobilised considerable resources” to fight the threat.

A spokesman for France’s trade union of Police Commissioners told press his colleagues were in “shock, absolute horror” at the attack. Lamenting the development in Islamist terrorism that now sees off-duty officers out of uniform targeted by killers, he said: “It’s unheard of! They now attack the police and their families at home. It is very disturbing. My thoughts go primarily to the family of these two police officers, and their three year old boy who survived the madness”.

Those who see president Hollande as having failed to protect the nation from Islamic terror have been vocal in their condemnation. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who hopes to run again in 2017 said the nation’s level of vigilance “must be adapted without delay”, and the government must “strengthen the security of the French, and the protection of our security forces… the whole nation is under attack”.

Riding high in the polls is Front National candidate Marine Le Pen, who called it the “umpteenth attack” against France by Islamic radicals on Twitter. She said “the massacre of these two police officers in front of their baby is a crime” and that “the relentless fight against Islamism must finally start”.

 

In target, motivation, and method yesterday’s killing is similar to a 2014 terror attack in Tours, France. Although hardly reported in French or international media, three police officers were hospitalised after being seriously injured by Burundian-born French citizen Bertrand Nzohabonayo stormed a police station with a knife, shouting “Allahu Akbar!”. A known criminal, 20-year-old Mr. Nzohabonayo was shot dead at the scene but wasn’t considered a terror threat by the French state, despite his brother being on a terror watch-list.

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ISIS claims responsibility for Orlando mass shooting

June 13, 2016

ISIS claims responsibility for Orlando mass shooting – affiliated agency

Published time: 12 Jun, 2016 18:30 Edited time: 13 Jun, 2016 12:26

Source: ISIS claims responsibility for Orlando mass shooting – affiliated agency — RT News

Law enforcement officials gather on the street in front of the apartment building where shooting suspect Omar Mateen is believed to have lived on June 12, 2016 in Fort Pierce, Florida. © Joe Raedle / Getty Images / AFP

Amaq News, a Syrian news agency with close ties to the Islamic State, says the group is responsible for the attack on an Orlando gay club, which has killed 49 people, and left 53 injured.

LIVE UPDATES: Mass shooting at Orlando gay nightclub

The armed attack that targeted a gay night club in the city of Orlando in the American state of Florida which left over 100 people dead or injured was carried out by an Islamic State fighter,” Amaq said.

Read more

Orlando police officers seen outside of Pulse nightclub after a fatal shooting and hostage situation on June 12, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. © Gerardo Mora

Orlando gay club shooter called 911, pledging allegiance to ISIS – officials

“That has not been confirmed. We’ll have to see what those connections are once we get the details,” said Florida Senator Bill Nelson.

Initially police announced that 50 people were killed, apparently mistakenly counting Mateen as a victim.

FBI have also stated Omar Mateen, had proclaimed his loyalty to Islamic State in a 911 call, and mentioned the Tsarnaev brothers, who bombed the Boston Marathon in 2013.

The agency revealed that Mateen had been investigated in 2013, and 2014, over alleged social media threats and contacts with “a known suicide bomber”, but that no charges had been brought forward, due to lack of evidence of any wrongdoing.

Last month, the Islamic State spokesman urged Western-based jihadists to execute attacks during holy month of Ramadan, which is now ongoing, “to punish the Crusaders” in a widely-distributed audio tape.

Mateen, a 29-year-old Muslim US citizen, who was brought up by a family of first-generation Afghan immigrants.

Earlier, Mateen’s father, Mir Seddique, claimed the mass shooting, the worst in US history, had “nothing to do with religion,” and speculated that it was caused by his son’s dislike of public displays of homosexuality.

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Ramadan: Islamic State Urges Lone Wolf Attacks in U.S., Europe

June 12, 2016

Ramadan Violence: Islamic State Urges Lone Wolf Attacks in U.S., Europe

by Edwin Mora

24 May 2016

Source: Ramadan: Islamic State Urges Lone Wolf Attacks in U.S., Europe

The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), in a new propaganda message, is urging supporters to carry out violent attacks against civilian and military targets within the United States and Europe during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins in early June.

“Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad. Get prepared, be ready … to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers … especially for the fighters and supporters of the Caliphate in Europe and America,” said the audio message, urging ISIS sympathizers in the West to attack if they cannot travel to the group’s self-declared Caliphate in Syria and Iraq, Reuters reports.

“The smallest action you do in their heartland is better and more enduring to us than what you would if you were with us. If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night,” the message reportedly added.

ISIS encouraged its supporters to launch lone wolf attacks “to win the great award of martyrdom.”

The authenticity of the 31-minute message, purporting to come from Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, an ISIS spokesman, and posted on Twitter over the weekend by alleged supporters and opponents of the group alike, could not be verified, notes Reuters.

 

 

According to the International Business Times (IBTimes), the message was officially released on May 21 by al-Furqan, identified as the jihadist group’s media arm.

During the month of Ramadan, Islam adherents abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, having sex, and other physical needs each day, starting from before the break of dawn until sunset.

ISIS has imposed strict Islamic law, sharia, in the large swathes of Iraq and Syria it still controls, which includes a rigorous observance of Ramadan.

The day that marks the birth of the United States, the 4th of July, will fall on Ramadan. In addition, the holy month will take place during the summer, the season for multiple music festivals and concerts across the nation.

Various presidential campaign and election events will also take place during Ramadan 2016, as June will mark the end of the contentious primaries and caucuses held by the states and parties during which ISIS and Islam were debated.

“The period of Ramadan, which carries on into July, happens to coincide with a number of big events in Europe,” including the Euro Soccer Cup, Wimbledon, the Glastonbury Festival, and the London Gay Pride Parade, notes IBTimes.

Millions of Muslims in the United States and Europe are expected to participate in Ramadan.

In June 2015, as ISIS commemorated the first anniversary of the establishment of its Caliphate, the jihadist group made similar “Ramadan calls for violence,” also via an audio message by its spokesman al-Adnani.

ISIS was linked to various terrorist attacks after the message, encouraging followers to make Ramadan a time of “calamity for the infidels,” was released, noted Fox News.

Between then and now, the jihadist group has been associated with several deadly attacks in the United States and Europe.

FBI Director James Comey recently told reporters that the number of Americans who had attempted or successfully traveled to the Middle East to join ISIS had recently dropped dramatically from up to ten per month to an average of one.

In part, the decline has been attributed to ISIS’ recent focus on encouraging its supporters to carry out lone wolf attacks in their homeland.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten, a top deputy commander for the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, said in late April that the number of overall foreign fighters making the trip to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria had dropped by 90 percent within the past year to 200 per month.

Other analysts have estimated that ISIS’ strength in Iraq and Syria is in decline, as the group loses fighters and territory.

Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama’s envoy to the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, declared that the jihadist group’s “perverse caliphate is shrinking.”

Gen. Gersten told reporters that ISIS fighters are increasingly deserting, their morale is low, and they are facing difficulty getting paid.

“In every single way, their capability to wage war is broken,” the U.S. general declared.

Maj. Gen. Najm Abdullah al-Jubbouri, a top Iraqi commander, recently told Breitbart News that ISIS is “weaker than it was three months ago.”

Nevertheless, Comey told reporters that the FBI is dealing with “north of 1,000” terrorism-related cases, of which 80 percent are linked to ISIS.

Moreover, Gen. David Rodriguez, head of U.S. Africa Command, recently said that the number of ISIS jihadists in Libya who aspire to attack Europe or the United States has more than doubled to between 4,000 and 6,000 in the last 12 to 18 months.

Despite the reported decline, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper estimated in February that nearly 36,500 foreign fighters seeking to engage in jihad have already traveled from more than 100 countries to Iraq and Syria, including approximately 6,600 from Western nations.

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US asks Russia not to target Al-Qaeda branch in Syria

June 4, 2016

US asks Russia not to target Al-Qaeda branch in Syria – Russian FM Lavrov

Published time: 4 Jun, 2016 01:04 Edited time: 4 Jun, 2016 02:48

Source: US asks Russia not to target Al-Qaeda branch in Syria – Russian FM Lavrov — RT News

Washington has asked Moscow not to conduct airstrikes against al-Nusra Front, which is Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, for fear that members of the “moderate opposition” could also be hit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has reported.

“They [the US] are telling us not to hit it [al-Nusra Front], because there are also ‘normal’ opposition groups [on those territories],” Lavrov said in an interview with local Russian media that was published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.

The minister also stressed that “such opposition groups should leave terrorist positions,” adding that “we have long agreed on that.” Russia first set a deadline for the “moderate” opposition to leave territories occupied by al-Nusra Front extremists, but then agreed to give them more time to withdraw.

Read more

© Reuters

Over 40,000 foreign militants from 100 countries fighting in Syria – US State Department

In the interview, Lavrov said that Russia believes that taking specific and more effective measures to fight the Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) and al-Nusra Front terrorist groups should be the top priority for Russia and the US if the Syrian crisis is to be resolved.

READ MORE: Russian fighter jets destroy ISIS oil facilities close to Turkish border (VIDEO)

“It is important to provide humanitarian access to the settlements blocked by one side or another, to secure the ceasefire and to prevent its violation, as well as to launch the political process… but, as important as these goals are, terrorism is our common threat, and there should be no doubt about that,” he said, adding that, in the meantime, al-Nusra Front has been attempting to merge with other armed opposition groups.

Lavrov also said that the political process in Syria is being held back by radical opposition groups that refuse to come to the negotiating table and set preconditions for peace talks. He added that it is important to set aside these demands and focus on the fight against terrorism.

The minister also emphasized that Russia and the US are involved in a close and intensive dialog on Syria that includes regular telephone calls between Lavrov and his US counterpart, John Kerry, and a video-conference channel set up between the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria located at the Khmeimim airbase in Latakia and the US base in the Jordanian capital of Amman, as well as a joint US-Russian center in Geneva.

Lavrov had held a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry at the initiative of the US side earlier the same day, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The two ministers discussed “the fight against ISIS and the need to urgently distance the moderate opposition from the Jabhat al-Nusra group, as well as efforts to cut off the flow of weapons and militants coming from abroad to beef up terrorist organizations,” the statement said.

In the meantime, Kerry, who is in Paris, told journalists that he had discussed the upsurge in violence in Syria during the phone call with Lavrov, explaining that the two had worked specifically on “ways to try to strengthen the enforcement and accountability for this cessation,” AP reported.

In the meantime, the US State Department said that Washington has asked Russia to be “more careful” in targeting its airstrikes against al-Nusra Front, as hitting civilians or opposition groups while attacking the jihadists could eventually give more support to the terrorist groups.

“[The US State] Secretary conveyed to Russia and the Assad regime that they need to carefully distinguish between these terrorist groups operating on the ground and those parties to the cessation of hostilities,” US State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said during a briefing on Friday, adding that the US agrees that IS and al-Nusra Front “pose a real threat to the security on the ground in Syria.”

‘US trying to play both sides to continue Syrian conflict’

Geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen told RT he believes Washington is not doing enough to convince so-called “moderate” rebel groups to part ways with terrorists.

By designating militants who share the same areas and positions with terrorists as “moderate opposition,” the US is actually providing the terrorists with a safe haven, Henningsen reasoned. The terrorist groups are profiting from such neighborly relations the same way they make use of civilians.

“The classification of moderate rebels is a type of the human shield,” he said.

Hennigsen claims that the lack of a clear signal to the rebel groups coming from Washington is the result of a deliberate strategic choice made by the US government, which wants the military conflict to drag on.

“All this talk of co-mingling, this is all double-speak,” he noted, adding that Washington is “trying to play both sides this to continue this conflict” and has no intention of actually resolving the issue.

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Islam not a religion of peace even for a day, says ISIS’ Indian recruit

May 30, 2016

Islam not a religion of peace even for a day, says ISIS’ Indian recruit

By: Vicky Nanjappa

Published: Tuesday, May 24, 2016, 8:32 [IST]

Source: Islam not a religion of peace even for a day, says ISIS’ Indian recruit – Oneindia

Bengaluru, May 24: Islam was not a religion of peace even for a day was the message given out by Abu Salha al Hindi, a former Indian Mujahideen operative who features now in a video that was released allegedly by the ISIS.

A video that is over 10 months old was released by members of the ISIS from India in what is being seen as a desperate attempt to spread their propaganda in the country.

There has been an attempt by the Indian government to counter the ISIS narrative by roping in the moderate Muslims to spread the message of peace in a bid to stop recruitments into terrorist outfits. However, the ISIS video looks to counter the same.

Islam never a religion of peace:

 The video clip has several Indians speaking in it. There are brazen messages and attempts made to belt out sentiments by quoting Babri or Godhra. However the most desperate attempt is made by Abu Salha who tries to counter the narrative that Islam is a religion of peace.
In the video he is heard saying, ” stop listening to those who say Islam is a religion of peace. It was never a religion of peace. It was not a religion of peace even for one single day.
Those who say Islam is a religion of peace are cowards. Are you all cowards to listen to these persons, he also states.

Six messages:

The video has messages from the six persons who are seen in it. Abu Salman says all should spend time preparing for jihad. Abu Salha says Islam was never a religion of peace for one single day.
Aman Tandel is the one who speaks about avenging Godhra and Babri.He also says the deaths caused due to the Muzzafarnagar riots too will be avenged. Abu Ammar invites Muslims of the Indian sub-continent to join the fight for jihad.Abu Omar Farooq goes on to state that after the Batla House encounter it was difficult to live in India. Bada Sajid who died in September 2015 says that India is a place of idol worship which is forbidden in Islam. OneIndia News

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Deceiving Cairo and helping IS, Hamas sets Gaza on course for new troubles

May 28, 2016

Deceiving Cairo and helping IS, Hamas sets Gaza on course for new troubles Hamas officials promised Egypt two months ago they’d end cooperation with IS fighters in Sinai. But Gaza’s rulers have done nothing of the kind, and the repercussions could impact Israel

By Avi Issacharoff
May 28, 2016, 5:06 pm

Source: Deceiving Cairo and helping IS, Hamas sets Gaza on course for new troubles | The Times of Israel

Salafi demonstrators in Gaza waving Islamic State flags during a demonstration that took place on January 19, 2015. (Courtesy MEMRI)

A few days ago, Hamas’s security forces in Gaza arrested a group of Salafi activists — members of Salafiya Jihadiya, a movement made up of Islamist groups that identify mainly with Islamic State. The head of the group is the son of a well-known Salafi preacher from the Shahin family. Hamas officials claimed that the group was planning to cross Gaza’s border into Sinai to join members of Islamic State in their fight against Egypt.

News of the arrests created the sense that Hamas was working to stop attempts by these Gazan activists to help Islamic State in its war against the Egyptian army. The arrests were presented as part of an impressive operation by Hamas, fulfilling promises its representatives made to Egypt during a visit to Cairo two months ago. At that time, amid escalating tension between Egypt and Hamas and accusations of close collaboration between Hamas’s military wing and Walayat Sinai (Islamic State’s branch in Sinai), the high-ranking Hamas delegates assured Egyptian officials that Hamas would end its relationship with Islamic State there and then.

 Hamas has indeed since reinforced its troop deployment along the Gaza-Egypt border, and promised to stop all smuggling done via the tunnels there. The Salafi arrests thus provided further ostensible proof of the new Hamas commitment to Egypt’s well-being. (Those arrests, in turn, prompted rocket fire at Israel two days ago, for which the Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade, a Salafi group, claimed responsibility — a case of Israel being targeted by a Gaza terror group angry with Hamas.)

Yet there seems to be a wide gap between what senior Hamas officials are telling the Egyptians and what the heads of its military wing are actually doing on the ground. Despite the promises by Gaza’s rulers to stop the smuggling to and from Sinai and the recent arrests, Hamas continues to maintain a delicate and complicated web of interests and alliances with Islamic State in Sinai.

According to an abundance of Arab, Israeli and Palestinian sources, wounded members of Islamic State are still being brought into Gaza for medical treatment at almost the same rate as before the Hamas delegation’s visit to Cairo two months ago. Likewise, arms smuggling from the Gaza Strip to Sinai and vice versa continues, albeit at a reduced rate, supervised by members of Hamas’s military wing. Overall, in short, it is largely business as usual.

Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai in 2015 (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

When Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), mentioned some of these facts in interviews on the Saudi Arabian news site Elaph two weeks ago, Hamas issued vigorous denials, of course. But other sources — not Israeli ones, but sources actually living in Gaza — confirm that over the past 10 months, dozens of Islamic State fighters have received medical treatment in the hospital in Khan Yunis, for example. This is astonishing considering Hamas’s delicate relationship with Egypt.

Yahya Sinwar (screenshot)

Yahya Sinwar (screenshot)

The transfer of wounded Islamic State fighters is not the work of some low-ranking activist looking for a quick way to make money. It is a deliberate policy of Hamas that began in mid-2015. The Hamas official in charge of arranging medical treatment for Islamic State members is Mohammed Sutari, a well-known activist from the Khan Yunis refugee camp. This is the same place that produced the hard core of Hamas’s military wing, including notorious terror chief Mohammed Deif and Yahya and Muhammad Sinwar.

This week the Elaph website, quoting a Palestinian source, published the name of one Islamic State fighter who is receiving medical treatment in Gaza. Maj. Gen. Mordechai named two more: Ibrahim Matar, who helps Sutari coordinate medical treatment for Islamic State members, and Said Abdelal, a Gazan from Rafah who is responsible for coordinating Islamic State’s military activities (apparently training) in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas military wing commander Muhammad Deif

Hamas military wing commander Muhammad Deif

The most problematic factor for Cairo may be the smuggling of arms between Gaza and Sinai. There’s been a dramatic reduction in the scope, but Hamas still manages to bring quantities of arms into the Gaza Strip and to move arms and ammunition from Gaza to Sinai. Constrained by Egypt’s crackdown on the border tunnels, some of the smuggling has been done recently by sea.

In addition, despite those widely reported Salafi arrests, several former Hamas activists (whose ideology leans toward that of those same Salafist groups) have crossed the border in recent weeks to join the fighting in Sinai against the Egyptian army. The best-known case is that of Musa Abdallah el-Mor, a former member of Hamas’s military wing whose family set up a mourning tent in Rafah after he was killed in Sinai while fighting against the Egyptian army there.

All of this cross-border activity takes place under the noses of Egyptian officials, who heard the promises of the Hamas senior officials and then watched in dismay over the past two months as Hamas, and especially its military wing, did as they pleased and kept up their relationship of interests with Islamic State.

Egypt’s response to this, it must be said, shows a degree of confusion and perhaps a lack of clear strategy.

The Egyptians opened the Rafah border crossing briefly, for humanitarian reasons. At the same time, they allowed tons of concrete into the Gaza Strip when concrete and wood were in short supply there. They did this even though they knew that Hamas was using such materials to build tunnels, including tunnels that crossed into Sinai.

Palestinians inspect the damage after Egyptian forces flooded smuggling tunnels dug beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on September 18, 2015. (Abed Rahim Khatib/ Flash90)

Palestinians inspect the damage after Egyptian forces flooded smuggling tunnels dug beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on September 18, 2015. (Abed Rahim Khatib/ Flash90)

These might have been interpreted as goodwill gestures by Egypt, but Egyptian intelligence heads quickly realized that the likes of Deif and Yahya Sinwar were unmoved, and have no intention of ordering a complete halt to cooperation with Islamic State anytime soon. It is doubtful, then, that Cairo will again open the Rafah crossing for periods longer than just a day or two, even with Ramadan approaching.

In other words, almost two years after the 50-day Operation Protective Edge Israel-Hamas war, and despite several statements suggesting that relations between Cairo and Gaza might be about to improve, that’s not happening.

Instead, the Gaza Strip is spiraling back to the dangerous routine of tension with Egypt and a humanitarian situation that is slowly but consistently deteriorating. One can only hope that we are not in for a rerun of the summer of 2014.

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Greeks, Italians close off airspace to Libyans amid NATO operation rumors

May 26, 2016

Greeks, Italians close off airspace to Libyans amid NATO operation rumors

Published time: 26 May, 2016 11:27 Edited time: 26 May, 2016 13:02

Source: Greeks, Italians close off airspace to Libyans amid NATO operation rumors — RT News

© Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters

Greece has closed off its airspace for flight from Libya until September 8, local media reported. It comes amid rumors of a looming NATO operation in the country, which remains in turmoil since the alliance bombed it in 2011.

A notice to airmen (NOTAM) was issued by the Greek authorities on Wednesday, which bans Libyan flights from entering Flight Information Region Athens starting Thursday, the Greek media reported. Similar restrictions were reportedly imposed by Malta and Italy, although they will last till August.

An exception to the rule is made for military aircraft with special authorization, and emergency cases such as evacuations for medical reasons, according to the Kathimerini daily. The newspaper says the decision was made ahead of EU and NATO joint training in the Mediterranean. The Phoenix Express 2016 exercise is scheduled for the summer off the island of Crete.

The explanation, however, doesn’t convince some observers, who believe that the alliance is preparing a new full-fledged military intervention in Libya. The Greek communist party demanded that the government clearly state whether NATO is preparing such an operation and what would the country’s part in it would be.

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© Stringer

SAS destroy ISIS suicide truck in Libya in biggest UK military assault yet

The party “denounces any intervention in Libya and demands not to take part in the Euro Atlantic plans,” it said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance “stood ready” to act on a request of the country’s new reconciliation government. It was formed in a bid to bridge a gap between two rival governments, which had been ruling different parts of the disjointed country for months.

“I spoke recently with [Libyan] Prime Minister Sarraj on how NATO can assist and he will soon send a team of experts to NATO to identify how we can help the new Libyan Government of National Accord,” Stoltenberg said a joint press conference with the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

NATO played a key role in 2011 by bombing Libyan government forces and helping armed groups oust and brutally kill strongman Muammar Gaddafi. The intervention, which was based on an overstretched interpretation of a UN mandate to form a no-fly zone in Libya, was hailed as a great success by the victors.

Since then Libya has de facto disintegrated into three historic parts and degraded into a state of constant armed struggle and poverty. It also became a major hub for asylum seekers, trying to reach Italy. Lately the Iraqi-Syrian terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) gained a foothold in eastern coastal part of Libya, slowly gaining control over what is left of the country’s oil exports.

US, British and French special forces are operating in Libya trying to undermine IS’ powerbase. In February, the US conducted a major bombing operation against a suspected IS training camp in Libya, killing dozens of militants.

Some members of the alliance, particularly Germany and France, are skeptical about escalating NATO’s or EU’s mission in Libya and the Mediterranean, a development favored by the US and Italy, according to Reuters. Berlin and Paris want a support role only for themselves, ruling out deployment of ground troops.

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