Journalist Jürgen Todenhöfer’s interview with the German “Islamic State” fighter Christian Emde was released on Wednesday and aired on private TV network RTL. Filmed in Mosul with masked men carrying guns in the background, Todenhöfer also published the interview on his Facebook page. In an accompanying comment., the journalist said […]
by VAGER SAADULLAH When Islamic State swept into Mosul in June 2014, Iraq’s army crumbled and fled. Baghdad’s troops also abandoned surrounding territories, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. But before Islamic State could move in, Kurdish Peshmerga forces swiftly secured Kirkuk. The ethnically diverse city is home to Kurds, […]
Published: 09 Jan 2015 11:44 GMT+01:00 The politician behind the successful campaign to ban the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is now calling for a ban on certain […]
interview Conducted by Markus Dettmer and Jörg Schindler REUTERS Where does Islamic State get its money? In an interview, terrorism expert Louise Shelley says it operates like a run-of-the-mill crime syndicate in which ideology takes a back seat to money making SPIEGEL: Professor Shelley, leaving aside the victims for a […]
Summary SUMMARY by David Ignatius Pleas to U.S. Central Command, or Centcom, and the Iraqi military on the night of Oct. 23 brought no aid, and the tribal fighters surrendered; over the next few weeks, several hundred tribesmen were killed. Many of the tribe’s leaders were based in Amman, […]
“In the Grip of the Law,” brings convicted terrorists face-to-face with victims in surreal encounters and celebrates the country’s beleaguered security forces. The show, produced by state-run Iraqiyya TV, […]
The first Western journalist in the world to be allowed extensive access to Isis territories in Syria and Iraq has returned from the region with a warning: the group is “much stronger and much more dangerous” than anyone in the West realises. Jürgen Todenhöfer, 74, is a renowned German journalist […]
NAHYAT AL-AYADHIYA, Iraq: Kurdish forces pressed their biggest offensive against the Islamic State group so far on Friday, buoyed by US reports that IS supremo, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi’s top aide in Iraq has been killed. Kurdish peshmerga forces were securing the surroundings of Mount Sinjar after breaking a months-old siege […]
Summary by David Ignatius, Daily Star, Lebanon Gen. John Allen must sometimes feel that he’s navigating a maze as he organizes the coalition to defeat ISIS: Iran is a silent partner in Iraq but a potential adversary in Syria and elsewhere; Turkey and Saudi Arabia are crucial allies, but skittish […]
ISIS: Enslaving, having sex with ‘unbelieving’ women, girls is OK By Greg Botelho, CNN.com updated 11:20 AM EST, Sat December 13, 2014 source: CNN STORY HIGHLIGHTS ISIS produces a document, “Question and Answers on Female Slaves and their Freedom” It has been posted online, and armed men distributed it to […]
Summary Iraq’s central government in Baghdad must give up much of its authority to local power centers — and potentially permit the creation of an autonomous Sunni Muslim region — […]
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who is in Washington to meet with President Barack Obama, described the battle against the Islamic State, or ISIS, terror group in Iraq and Syria as “a third world war” and “a Muslim problem,” they need to take ownership of. “This is a Muslim problem,” Abdullah […]
A Sunni governor offers advice to defeat ISIS David Ignatius| The Daily Star The Obama administration’s slow campaign against ISIS takes a small step forward this week as a leading Sunni politician visits Washington to urge support for a 10,000-member national guard force that could gradually help regain control of […]
BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities are holding a daughter and an ex-wife of the head of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the interior minister said. It was initially reported that a wife and son of the self-proclaimed “caliph” had been arrested last month. The woman, who has been named as […]
We love the wives of our favourite monsters. And the rumours which surround them. Fresh from spitting out our hatred of Madame Asma al-Assad and making fun of the late […]
BEIRUT — The Islamic State (IS) group is employing multiple tactics to subdue the Sunni Muslim tribes in Syria and Iraq under its rule, wooing some with gifts — everything from cars to feed for their animals — while brutally suppressing those that resist with mass killings. AP JORDAN TIMES […]
LONDON: Islamic State (IS) militants may ultimately lose the war in Iraq and Syria because they do not have enough money to run the territory under their control, despite holding assets worth more than $2 trillion, international terrorism experts said. The cost of running an entire administration – paying civil […]
Messynessychic.com It was Iraq’s ‘Garden of Eden’; unique wetlands in southern Iraq where a people known as the Ma’dan, or ‘Arabs of the marsh’, lived in a Mesopotamian Venice, characterised by beautifully elaborate floating houses made entirely of reeds harvested from the open water. These little-known architectural wonders are known as a […]
BBC News: US President Barack Obama has condemned the killing of US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig as “an act of pure evil”. The Islamic State (IS) militant group released a video showing a masked man standing over a severed head, which the White House confirmed was Mr Kassig. His parents […]
By Erik Holm and Siobhan Gorman The Islamic State is getting into the gold-coin business. The “Treasury Department” of the jihadist group that is now occupying large portions of Syria […]