The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Megathread

[KRonn]

Girls being sexually tortured by ISIS, no surprise and not new. And there are actually girls and women from the civilized world who willingly travel to ISIS Barbaristan to join up. 

[jimmy olsen]

Might as well officially split Iraq into thirds if you're going to go that route.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/27/republicans-propose-funding-iraqi-militias-in-war-against-isis

Republicans propose directly funding Iraqi militias in war against Isis

According to text from next year's defence bill released Monday, at least $178m would go directly to 'Kurdish and tribal security forces or other local security forces with a national security mission'


Spencer Ackerman in New York
 
@attackerman
   
Monday 27 April 2015 22.37 BST  Last modified on Monday 27 April 2015 22.51 BST 

Republicans in the House of Representatives have proposed directly underwriting the Kurdish peshmerga and Sunni irregular forces, rather than aiding US partners in the war against the Islamic State through the Iraqi government nominally controlling them.

At least $178m, and possibly as much as $429m, would go directly to "Kurdish and tribal security forces or other local security forces with a national security mission", according to the text of next year's half-trillion dollar defense authorization bill released on Monday by the House Armed Services Committee.

The bill, a critical legislative prerequisite for funding the US military, risks placing a wedge between the US and its ally in Baghdad and encouraging the sectarianism the provision seeks to prevent.

Unless the secretaries of state and defense jointly specify that the government of Iraq under US-backed Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi is including "ethnic and sectarian minorities within the security forces of Iraq", the bill would block all of its proposed $715m in funding for the Iraqi security forces over the next year. US officials have testified that their retraining of the Iraqi military is critical to fielding a ground force capable of retaking the vast swaths of Iraqi territory Isis controls.

Should the specification of sectarian inclusion not arrive, 60% of the proposed funds, or $429m, would flow directly to the "Kurdish Peshmerga, the Sunni tribal security forces with a national security mission, and the Iraqi Sunni National Guard".

Those military forces, according to the committee's synopsis of the 500-page text, would "be deemed a country", a highly unusual step that would both open up funding channels "to directly receive assistance from the United States" but with diplomatic implications.

Among the conditions that Baghdad will have to meet to receive US military funding is "ending support to Shia militias and stopping abuses of elements of the Iraqi population by such militias".

Those Shia militias, many of which are sponsored by Iran, have played key roles in fighting Isis, to include spearheading the recent monthlong battle to retake the Sunni city of Tikrit.

Even if the two senior officials make such a determination, the bill would still reserve $128m, or 25% of the proposed funding, for direct support to Kurdish and Sunni military forces.

Kurdish peshmerga, the armed forces of the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan, have been among the most capable units combatting Isis. Yet their power is eyed warily by Iraqi Arabs, both Sunni and Shia, for signs of expanding Kurdish separatism. Similarly, the previous Shia-led government, controlled by the formerly US-backed Nouri al-Maliki, persecuted members of auxiliary Sunni security forces once paid for by the US military.

Accordingly, the Obama administration has opted to aid the peshmerga and any Sunni irregular forces primarily through a Baghdad government that is close with Washington adversary Iran, part of an awkward geopolitical alignment against Isis that is upending regional understandings of US alliances even outside of Barack Obama's desired nuclear deal with Tehran.

Another element of the national defense authorization act (NDAA) seeks to undermine the Iran deal. It would authorize a "Sense of Congress" that dangers posed by Iran, to include sponsorship of terrorism and the fomenting of regional instability, will "likely increase under a Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action".

Additionally, the bill proposes withholding a quarter of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's office budget should the administration not provide Congress with documents about the highly controversial 2014 trade of five Taliban detainees at Guantánamo Bay for US prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl. The budgets of the military services and commands would be left untouched.

[jimmy olsen]

Pretty ballsy by the rebels to do that. That's just going to ivnite further retaliation.

http://news.yahoo.com/gulf-leaders-gather-amid-growing-concern-over-yemen-100243551.html

Saudi king warns of Iran threat, rebels hit border town

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Tuesday urged his fellow Gulf leaders to stand up to Iran, as Yemeni rebels backed by Tehran bombarded a Saudi border city.

Salman's call came at a summit of Gulf monarchs in Riyadh also attended by French President Francois Hollande, who said his country was "by the side" of the Gulf's Arab nations.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit came with international concern mounting over the impact on civilians of Saudi-led air strikes targeting Yemeni rebels.

In a clear reference to Iran, Salman stressed the need to confront an external threat that "aims to expand control and impose its hegemony", risking regional stability and creating "sectarian sedition".

Soon afterwards, the Saudi-led coalition carrying out air raids in Yemen said Huthi Shiite rebels from across the border had fired on the Saudi city of Najran.

Mortar bombs and Katyusha rockets hit hospitals, schools and houses, coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri said.

He reported injuries outside the city, but without giving details.

Artillery, tanks, helicopter gunships and fighter jets "are dealing with the situation which will not go unpunished," he said.

Hollande, the first Western leader to attend a GCC summit, said France shared the dangers facing the region and he had come "to affirm the commitment of France to be by your side".

The summit brought together leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

All but Oman are in the Sunni coalition that on March 26 launched air strikes against the rebels and their allies who have seized large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled to Riyadh when the rebels advanced on his southern refuge Aden.

Concern has mounted over the air campaign, which has continued despite the coalition's announcement late last month that it was moving to a new phase.

Humanitarian crisis -

The UN says at least 1,200 people have been killed in Yemen since March 19. It has repeatedly warned the already impoverished Arabian Peninsula state faces a major humanitarian crisis.

Saudi Arabia has said it is considering temporary halts in air strikes to allow aid deliveries.

Hollande told the summit France supports coalition efforts "to ensure the stability of Yemen", and backs Saudi Arabia's position that talks between Yemen's political forces must be held in Riyadh.

The Huthis reject such a proposal and Iran, which denies accusations of arming the Huthis, has called for negotiations at a neutral location.

The leaders at the summit welcomed Hadi's decision to convene on May 17 in Riyadh a congress for "all the Yemeni parties who support the legitimacy, security and stability of Yemen".

Hollande arrived in Riyadh from Qatar where he attended the signing of a 6.3-billion-euro ($7-billion) deal between French aerospace firm Dassault and Qatari defence officials.

On Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris and Riyadh are also discussing 20 economic projects worth "tens of billions of euros".

Hollande's visit came as US President Barack Obama prepares to host GCC leaders for talks next week.

Most GCC countries are also part of a US-led coalition targeting the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq and Syria.

- Tight security -

Security was high in Riyadh after IS threats to attack the kingdom. Green-bereted Royal Guards manned checkpoints, and a sniffer dog checked vehicles entering the Diriyah Palace summit venue.

Both Paris and Washington have also sought to reassure the Gulf states about an international accord being finalised over Iran's nuclear programme.

Gulf states fear Iran could still develop an atomic bomb under the deal that would limit its nuclear capabilities in return for lifting crippling international sanctions.

Tehran denies trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

"I know that Iran is at the heart of your preoccupations," Hollande told the summit.

In its final statement, the GCC expressed hope that a final accord between Tehran and six major powers, including France and the US, would "guarantee the peaceful character of the Iranian nuclear programme".

The leaders also requested that the accord "conform to all the international standards".

The only other foreign leader to have been invited to a GCC summit was Iran's then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in 2007.

[Admiral Yi]

Apparently our BFF Muqtada al-Sadr is saying that if we arm the Kurds directly he will strike US interests in the area.

[grumbler]

Apparently our BFF Muqtada al-Sadr is saying that if we arm the Kurds directly he will strike US interests in the area.

Yeah, ISIS's BFF al-Sadr has likewise told them he will crush them if they don't withdraw from Iraq. 

[jimmy olsen]

Ramadi has fallen to ISIS.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/iraqi-city-ramadi-was-fallen-isis-iraqi-official-n360311

ISIS militants took control of the Iraqi city of Ramadi Sunday, according to a senior Iraqi security official, dealing a strategic blow to Iraqi forces trying to push ISIS fighters out of key cities.

The terrorist group had raised their black flag over the local government compound in Ramadi, which is about 60 miles west of Baghdad, on Friday. On Sunday, 90 percent of the city was under ISIS control, according to the Iraqi official said.

"Logically, the city has fallen," he said.

Police officers in the southern section of city were targeted by four nearly simultaneous bombings early Sunday, leaving 10 killed and 15 wounded, police told The Associated Press. Five soldiers were then killed when suicide bombers detonated car bombs at the gate of the Anbar Operation Command, the military headquarters for the province, according to the AP.

ISIS fighters seized territory north and east of Ramadi in April, sparking a weeks-long battle for control of the city and a refugee crisis. An estimated 114,000 Iraqis have fled Ramadi, according to the UN's refugee agency.

Earlier Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered Shiite militias to prepare to fight alongside Iraqi soldiers defending the Sunni-dominated province against ISIS. He also instructed the Iraqi armed forces not to leave areas of Ramadi after liberating them from ISIS, saying fleeing gave the militants the chance to recapture the areas.

[Admiral Yi]

In the heavy fighting the world renowned Ramadi Inn suffered heavy damage.

[jimmy olsen]

In the heavy fighting the world renowned Ramadi Inn suffered heavy damage.

It's the capital of Anbar province,  this is a significant loss.

[Caliga]

Relax Tim.  Everyone knows every Muslim country we insisted on fucking with is going to be a theocracy sooner or later.  In the case of Iraq, it's looking like sooner.

[Eddie Teach]

I miss Saddam.

[jimmy olsen]

Relax Tim.  Everyone knows every Muslim country we insisted on fucking with is going to be a theocracy sooner or later.  In the case of Iraq, it's looking like sooner.

Are you saying that if we hadn't fucked with them they wouldn't be on the way to becoming a theocracy?

[Ed Anger]

In the heavy fighting the world renowned Ramadi Inn suffered heavy damage.

I laughed

[DGuller]

In the heavy fighting the world renowned Ramadi Inn suffered heavy damage.

[Neil]

Relax Tim.  Everyone knows every Muslim country we insisted on fucking with is going to be a theocracy sooner or later.  In the case of Iraq, it's looking like sooner.

Are you saying that if we hadn't fucked with them they wouldn't be on the way to becoming a theocracy?

That statement has the advantage of being the truth.

[jimmy olsen]

Relax Tim.  Everyone knows every Muslim country we insisted on fucking with is going to be a theocracy sooner or later.  In the case of Iraq, it's looking like sooner.

Are you saying that if we hadn't fucked with them they wouldn't be on the way to becoming a theocracy?

That statement has the advantage of being the truth.

I think it merely accelerated existing trends. It would have happened eventually.