Tag: ISIS

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2000 Arabs Join the Kurdish Peshmerga, Setting Back Turkish Plans for Control Over Region

In a sign of long term Kurdish leadership in Northern Iraq, 2000 Nineveh Arabs have joined the Kurdish fighting force, the Peshmerga.  Kurdish news site, Rudaw reports that it was the Arab communities themselves who asked Kurdish President Masoud Barzani to allow them to form a brigade within the Peshmerga.

“The name of this brigade will be the ‘Brigade of West Dijla Peshmerga,’ comprising of Arabs from Zemar, Rabia, Ayazya and a number of villages in Sinjar. Their duty will be to protect their areas under the command of the Ministry of Peshmerga,” Sheikh Muzaam Ahmed Al-Uwet, a spokesperson for tribal forces of Nineveh Province, told Rudaw.

Partnership is Setback for Turkish Plans Post ISIS

Turkey’s strategy behind supporting ISIS (in the beginning) was to create chaos in their immediate surroundings.  As a NATO member and strongest military in the region they would be the only ones strong enough to restore order.  Order for Turkey is putting down the growing strength of Iraqi Kurdistan at the same as claiming more lands connected to the former Ottoman Empire.

That was in the beginning.  With ISIS being now surrounded by a combined Kurdish and Iraqi army in Mosul and more and more Sunni Arabs in the area recognizing that Kurdistan is a fact, Turkey’s ability to use chaos to rule may have seen its final door shut.  With the Arabs in Northern Iraq accepting Kurdish rule instead of Turkish, Iraqi, or Iranian, the relevance of a Kurdistan that is capable of restoring order is real making Turkey’s great gambit in Northern Iraq a losing proposition.

 

 

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Erdogan Wants Jerusalem…and Syria Too

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey has decided he wants Jerusalem and while he’s at it Syria belongs to him also.  Erdogan seemed to throw rapprochement with Israel out the window today when he stated “it is the common duty of all Muslims to embrace the Palestinian cause and protect Jerusalem.” He made the comments at the first Inter-Parliamentary Jerusalem Platform Symposium in Istanbul.

In the same speech Erdogan spoke about Syria:

“In my estimation, nearly 1 million people have died in Syria. These deaths are still continuing without exception for children, women and men. Where is the United Nations? What is it doing? Is it in Iraq? No. We preached patience but could not endure in the end and had to enter Syria together with the Free Syrian Army [FSA].”

“Why did we enter? We do not have an eye on Syrian soil. The issue is to provide lands to their real owners. That is to say we are there for the establishment of justice. We entered there to end the rule of the tyrant al-Assad who terrorizes with state terror. [We didn’t enter] for any other reason,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan like any other supporter of radical Islam believes in divine mandate on each muslim to conquer lands previously held by the caliphate.  For Erdogan it isn’t the caliphate, but rather the sultanate that has the divine power to institute rulership.

What is Erdogan Doing?

Erdogan is laying the groundwork for the passage of a constitutional amendment that gives him power until 2029. In order to pass the amendment  he needs the street behind him.  By showing off his radical Islamic bonafides he makes sure the street stays with him.  Furthermore he is giving context to his brutal attacks on the Kurds, both in Syria and Iraq.

For Erdogan, his broad use of terrorism is often times used to attack Kurds. For example, RT reports: “in October Turkey’s air forces killed between 160 and 200 fighters of the Kurdish YPG militia group in 26 airstrikes conducted in just one night.”

Essentially, the chaos in Syria has come to help Turkey regain a regional role in the Middle East in a way that is far more direct than it used to have. It has gained leverage against the EU and earned the respect of major powers like China.

In just a few months after Russia had Erdogan cornered and a failed coup attempt, Turkey is stronger than every and aiming to control both Northern Iraq and the Levant.

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ISIS in Ohio State…Beginning of a Terror Wave?

With today’s terror attack in Ohio St. we can cleary state that the refugee rettlement program has turned deadly. As the main stream media and police vacilate over whether or not to call the actions of 18-year-old Abdul Artan a terrorist attack, it is clear to anyone with even semi clear vision that plowing one’s car into pedestrians and then jumping out to stab whoever did not get knocked down is without a doubt a terror attack.

Attacker Dead on Street Source: Gateway Pundit/OSU Student
Attacker Dead on Street Source: Gateway Pundit/OSU Student

Abdul Artan was a Somali refugee who left his East Africa with his family in 2007.  He lived in Pakistan and then in 2014 came to the United States as a legal permanent resident.

“This car just swerved and ran into a whole group of people,” said Nicole Kreinbrink, who was walking nearby. “All these people were running and screaming and yelling,” Kreinbrink added.

“I heard someone yell, ‘He’s got a knife.’ And I saw a guy with a big-ass knife just chasing people around. When I saw that, I grabbed all my stuff and started running,” said Jacob Bowers an OSU sophmore.

So far there has been 9 wounded from the attack with police shooting Artan dead.

Are There More Attacks to Come?

The answer is yes. Now that Trump has won, the massive migrant infiltrations into the USA will reveal the thousands upon thousands of Jihadsts that were embedded among them. The purpose of continued attacks is to force a Trump administration to overreact thus encouraging more Jihad. This is the cycle that fits perfectly into the ISIS playbook.

Similar to Israel’s Knife Intifada of Last Year

The attack mimics the car ramming and knifing attacks that were prevelant in Israel last year.  Whether this sort of tactic is being carried over to Americais not clear.  Americans are primarily not prepared for this sort of combat.  Time to consider building the sort of barriers Israel has in public places.

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Who is Shuhada al-Yarmouk and Why Did They Start Attacking Israel?

With yesterday’s attack being the first direct confrontation between an ISIS related group and Israel, the question stands who is Shuhada al-Yarmouk and why did they decide to attack the IDF?

Jihad Intel a Middle East Forum Database for tracking Jihad groups says the following:

Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk (Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade) was founded in 2012 in southwestern Deraa province (the Yarmouk Valley), bordering the Golan Heights. Once a part of the Western and Gulf-backed ‘Southern Front’ rebel coalition, the group came to blows with Jabhat al-Nusra in December 2014 as the latter accused Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk of secret ties with the Islamic State. Though other Southern Front members denied the claims at the time, the group has since the clashes openly embarked on a program of ‘reform’ in the Yarmouk Valley area it controls, advertising greater affinity with the Islamic State. Besides adopting the Islamic State flag in its emblem, members openly show support for the Islamic State and echo its talking points. The administration of the Yarmouk Valley likewise mimics the Islamic State with an Islamic court , Islamic police and Diwan al-Hisba, though no official pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State has been announced.

Links between Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk and the Islamic State can be traced to the summer of 2014, as certain members visited the Islamic State’s de facto Syrian capital in Raqqa. In March 2016, Islamic State dispatched a Saudi- Abu Abdullah al-Madani- to take over the group as a new offensive was launched against rebel forces, cooperating with the Islamic Muthanna Movement that controlled some towns to the east. Islamic Muthanna Movement was subsequently forced to retreat into Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk. At the end of May 2016, a new amir was dispatched by the Islamic State and a merger of Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk and Islamic Muthanna Movement was announced under Jaysh Khalid ibn al-Waleed, referring to an early figure in Islamic history who was key in the defeat of the Byzantines in the Levant in the Battle of Yarmouk.

So Shuhada al-Yarmouk was an American invention that decided to change sides in order relive the good old days of Islamic history.  So why attack Israel now?

Let’s face it, ISIS and its many affiliates are in a bit of a bind.  The Shuhada al-Yarmouk organization is in worst shape than others.  It has always been cut off from the rest of the “caliphate” and with Russian backed air strikes in the region, an Iranian military presence, and Hezbollah, its future is now compromised.  It has really only two options to stay relevant with the local populace. Either attack Jordan to its South or give it a go against the “Zionist Entity.” It chose the latter.  Does its failure in its first strike mean it won’t be dangerous down the road?  Not at all.  In fact, to its supporters it is victorious in being true to the Koran, because of its attack on the infidels. Recruitment will rise from this one attack, which means there will be more.

As the border area along the Golan increasingly becomes crowded look for more skirmishes between Syrian troops and ISIS as well as attempts to penetrate the Golan border.  The key anchor in stability in the region are the Druze.  With the animosity between ISIS and the Druze very high, Shuhada al-Yarmouk may decide to strategically alter its plans altogether.

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BREAKING NEWS: First Direct Battle Between Israel and ISIS on the Golan

In what is being billed as the first direct clash between Israel and ISIS, the Shuhada al-Yarmouk organization, which has pledged allegiance to ISIS, lost a number of fighters after exchanging fire with the IDF. The terror organization fired on IDF soldiers and after an exchange of gunfire, Israel’s airforce destroyed the gunman’s vehicle, killing all of the assailants.

The escalation, although minor in scope presents the first time affiliates of ISIS entered into a direct confrontation with Israel.  Either this was a trial balloon or the collapsing caliphate has decided to open a front against Israel. Given the fact that it is strethced thin due to increasing Russian bombardments and Srian government forces pushing back its fighters, it would be strange that it would want to waste fighters on a much more formidable Israeli arm.

Then again, Israel is a perfect target to distract from ISIS’s weakening position. By attacking Israel it may be able to rally the Sunni street to its side.

One senior officer stated: “We don’t know all the outcomes of the event. There is great probability there are four dead and the heavy machine gun was destroyed. The terrorists are from Shuhada al-Yarmouk, with all the significance that organization’s name carries. The Israeli forces didn’t lie in ambush by chance.”

The Israeli government wasted no time showcasing the incident and the army’s response.

Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said, “I want to commend our soldiers who pushed back against the attack carried out against us. We are prepared against any enemy that threatens us on our northern border, and do not give ISIS a foothold for their war in Syria.”

Will Shuhada al-Yarmouk attack again? Was this is a test ballon? It is too early to give a clear answer to these questions. However, one thing is for sure, ISIS is not going to sit back and be destroyed nor will it be wished away as if it is the bogey man. Sooner or later as Syria continues to sprial out of control, Israel will have to root out and defeat ISIS with or without intenational help.