The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Megathread

Started by Tamas, June 10, 2014, 07:37:01 AM

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citizen k

Quote from: Tonitrus on August 30, 2014, 01:01:09 AM
Some good ol' feminist/marxist revolutionary action.  :)

An army of Sandra Flukes.  :o

Razgovory

I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Tonitrus

#1398
Quote from: Razgovory on August 30, 2014, 02:55:27 AM
Are we still considering them terrorists?

They're still on the list.

CountDeMoney


The Brain

Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Tonitrus

Quote from: CountDeMoney on August 30, 2014, 06:47:15 AM
Quote from: Tonitrus on August 30, 2014, 03:01:22 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on August 30, 2014, 02:55:27 AM
Are we still considering them terrorists?

They're still on the list.

More for Turkey's sake than ours.

Which is also interesting, as Erdogan has seemed to have gone quite a ways into drumming up support among the Kurdish population in Turkey.

grumbler

Note to the editor of the Stars and Stripes:  front-line fighters in military gear and uniforms are not "guerrillas."
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

Ed Anger

The chicks are asking for directions to the front.
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

CountDeMoney


jimmy olsen

It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

FunkMonk

Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

grumbler

Quote from: Ed Anger on August 30, 2014, 04:52:19 PM
The chicks are asking for directions to the front.

Yeah, but the guys with them refused to do so, and are now fighting in Chad.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!


citizen k

Quote
Iranians play role in breaking IS siege of Iraqi town
Reuters
By Isabel Coles

AMERLI Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Shi'ite militiamen paraded through Amerli on Monday, a day after breaking the two-month siege of the northern town by Sunni Islamist militants.

The scenes in Amerli and the surrounding area of Suleiman Beg offered a window into the teamwork among Kurdish fighters, the Iraqi army and Shi'ite militias and into Iran's role in directly assisting their campaign against Islamic State (IS) forces.

An Iranian adviser to Iraqi police was spotted on the road near Amerli and Kurdish officers spoke of Iranians advising Iraqi fighters on targeting the Islamists.

The swift end to the Islamic State's encirclement of the Shi'ite Turkmen town of 15,000 came on Sunday amid a push by Kurdish peshmerga, Shi'ite militias and Iraqi troops, after U.S. air strikes late Saturday hit IS positions.

Shi'ite militias, who battled U.S. troops during their occupation of Iraq, played a song in Amerli on Monday that taunted the extremist Islamic State with the line: "The Americans couldn't beat us and you think you can?"

The town was filled with Kurdish peshmerga and fighters from the largest Shi'ite militias - the Badr Organization, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kata'ib Hezbollah and cleric Muqtada Sadr's followers.

Militia fighters spoke of a new alliance with the Kurds, who had been shaken by the Islamic State's offensive on Kurdish-controlled territories last month. They were then helped by U.S. air strikes that forced IS to retreat.

"I'm totally confident that the failure of the peshmerga to stop the Islamic State's advance towards areas around Arbil forced the Kurds to review their wrong policy of refusing to cooperate with us," said a fighter from Asaib Ahl al-Haq.

"Without our help, it will be difficult for them to stop Islamic State fighters alone."

Militia and Kurdish fighters on Monday entered the nearby community of Suleiman Beg, an Islamic State stronghold since earlier this year.

Peshmerga planted their flag on top of a building and Asaib Ahl Haq fighters chanted "Ya Hussein", the name of a revered Shi'ite religious figure. The militia men skirted around the buildings and lobbed dynamite into houses to clear them of any explosives left by the Islamic State.

"The peshmerga just came now and raised their flag. We have been here (in the area) for eight days," said one Asaib Ahl al-Haq fighter.

IRANIAN INFLUENCE

The influence of Iran was evident in Suleiman Beg. With Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which is funded by Iran and recognizes Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as its spiritual guide, were two men who spoke Farsi and dressed in beige uniforms different from their colleagues' green camouflage.

Asked if he was Iranian, one of the Farsi speakers said: "We are liberating Suleiman Beg."

Asked if the Iraqis' could have made their recent gains without Iranian support, he answered: "No."

By a convoy of armored police vehicles, a man speaking Farsi described himself as coming from Iran and said he was there to help with training police.

A peshmerga commander in Suleiman Beg acknowledged the part played by Iranians in the assault on Islamic State positions. "The Iranians had a role in this. They supplied weapons and helped with the military planning," he said on condition of anonymity.

"They trained the Shi'ite forces. There are Iranians here in another base: three or four of them. They are guiding the peshmerga in firing heavy artillery. They don't speak Kurdish - they have a translator."

On Saturday, a senior member of the Kurdish party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, told Reuters the Iraqi military, Kurds and Iranian advisers had joint operation centers.

Speaking in Khanaqin in Diyala province, PUK member Mala Bakhtiar said the Iranians did not participate in actual fighting but provided expertise.

"There is logistical help and cooperation," Bakhtiar said. "If there is a need, we meet with them and discuss the issues."

The defeat of the IS in Amerli and Suleiman Beg was a major victory for the Iraqi government, security forces and militias after weeks of setbacks.

Shi'ite militia fighters were firing automatic weapons in the air in celebration on a road to Amerli.

Outgoing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, due to step down this month when a new government is formed, flew to Amerli and saluted the military and the militia fighters, whom he called Mujahideen (holy warriors).

"Our enemy is retreating and our security forces backed by volunteers are advancing to purge further towns," Maliki told a cheering crowd.


Ordinary people in Amerli rejoiced at their escape from IS. "We were steadfast until the end," said 66-year-old resident Amin Samin Mohammed. "We never intended to leave."


Coalition of the Strange bedfellows