The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Megathread

[Valmy]

I.  Did.  Not.  Have.  Sexual.  Relations.  With.  That.  Woman.

Oh, wait, indeed I did have an relationship that was not appropriate.

[The Brain]

[Brown] I did not have sexual relations with that bigoted woman. [/Brown]

[Eddie Teach]

I don't believe it. Brown gets around.

[jimmy olsen]

ISIS closes dam gates in Ramadi, lowers the level of the Euphrates down stream.

http://news.yahoo.com/closes-iraq-dam-gates-sparking-humanitarian-fears-165705023.html

IS closes Iraq dam gates, sparking humanitarian fears
     
Baghdad (AFP) - Islamic State group jihadists have closed the gates of a dam in the Iraqi city of Ramadi which they seized last month, posing a humanitarian and security threat, officials said Tuesday.





IS fighters have repeatedly attempted to control dams in Iraq, in some cases reducing the flow of water to areas under government control or flooding swathes of land to impede military operations.

Anbar provincial council chief Sabah Karhout said IS "closed all the gates" at a dam in Ramadi, capital of Iraq's largest province.

The move lowered the level of the Euphrates River and cut water supplies to the areas of Khaldiyah and Habbaniyah to the east, which are some of the last held by pro-government forces in Anbar.

The lower water level has also made it easier for IS to carry out attacks, Karhout said.

He called for the dam to either be quickly retaken or targeted in an air strike.

"Cutting the water to Khaldiyah and Habbaniyah will lead to a major humanitarian crisis not only in these areas" but also farther south, said Sheikh Rafa al-Fahdawi, a leader in the Albu Fahad tribe, which is fighting against IS.

Aoun Dhiyab, a former head of the Iraqi water resources department and an expert in water issues, said "the goal of (IS) is not to cut the water, but to reduce the level, to take advantage of it for military purposes."

"When the water level is reduced, it allows them to infiltrate from Ramadi to Khaldiyah and then easily move to other areas," he said.

Iraqi forces have launched a counteroffensive to try to recapture Ramadi but have so far either stopped on the city's outskirts or focused efforts on severing jihadist supply lines.

[jimmy olsen]

ISIS janissary corp is a go according to the Daily Miail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3107010/500-children-kidnapped-ISIS-brainwashed-suicide-bombers-child-soldiers-Iraqi-official-reveals.html

[jimmy olsen]

[Tamas]

On the whole stabilising/imperialism/let Turkey back thing, I sometimes think about the fact that we think history as a sort of sequence of big (at least regional) empires, which it certainly were. Except that there were always periods when a given region was chaotic and fragmented.

We jump through those periods often (unless you are a scholar of the given period) but in fact those lasted decades if not more.

So what if current things like the Balkans, ex-USSR, Eastern Europe, the Middle East are merely transitional periods of fragmentation that will be scimmed through when they explain the history of the 20th and 21st centuries 200-300 later?

[Syt]

I'm guessing a reason why those transitional periods are "skipped" might be because chaotic periods don't lend themselves to proper record keeping and weighted accounting of who did what when and why.

[frunk]

Even if there are records it's tough to create a clear narrative when there are bunches of small factions that come and go, fighting over things that don't seem particularly important years later. 

[Tamas]

True. But my point is that what we live through and experience as the normal way of things, may very well be just a temporary, out of ordinary period on a historical scale.

[Valmy]

I'm guessing a reason why those transitional periods are "skipped" might be because chaotic periods don't lend themselves to proper record keeping and weighted accounting of who did what when and why.

Eh depends on the transitional period. I mean the period of the Greek City States tends to get alot more press than the Hellenistic Kingdoms.

Even if there are records it's tough to create a clear narrative when there are bunches of small factions that come and go, fighting over things that don't seem particularly important years later.

What you don't want to hear a detailed year-by-year account of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms of England?

*and then there was another battle involving a few hundred guys...and then they did it again...and again*

[PJL]

Not to mention we hear more about Japan during it's Damiyo wars than the subsequent isolationist period afterwards.

[The Minsky Moment]

ISIS janissary corp is a go according to the Daily Miail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3107010/500-children-kidnapped-ISIS-brainwashed-suicide-bombers-child-soldiers-Iraqi-official-reveals.html

It's like they have a checklist of every depraved act it is possible for a human to commit, and they are checking them off one by one.

[jimmy olsen]

The Iranians are doubling down on Assad.

http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-iran-fighters-deployed-defend-damascus-security-source-143253360.html

Beirut (AFP) - Thousands of Iranian and Iraqi fighters have been deployed in Syria in past weeks to bolster the defences of Damascus and its surroundings, a Syrian security source told AFP on Wednesday.

"Around 7,000 Iranian and Iraqi fighters have arrived in Syria over the past few weeks and their first priority is the defence of the capital. The larger contingent is Iraqi," the source said on condition of anonymity.

"The goal is to reach 10,000 men to support the Syrian army and pro-government militias, firstly in Damascus, and then to retake Jisr al-Shughur because it is key to the Mediterranean coast and the Hama region" in central Syria, he added.

Syria's government lost control of Jisr al-Shughur in northwestern Idlib province on April 25, as a coalition of opposition forces including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front swept through the region.

Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted elite Revolutionary Guards General Qassem Soleimani as saying "in the coming days the world will be surprised by what we are preparing, in cooperation with Syrian military leaders."

The agency cautioned however that it "takes no responsibility for the information."

Iran is a key ally of the Syrian government, and it has provided Damascus with financial and military support throughout the conflict that began in March 2011 with anti-regime protests.

But in recent months, the Syrian government has lost territory in several parts of the country to both an alliance of rebel groups including Al-Nusra, and to the Islamic State jihadist group.

Faced with those setbacks, the government has appealed to Tehran and ally Russia to step up support, a Syrian political figure close to the regime told AFP.

A diplomatic source in Damascus said Iran had been critical of the regime's failure to achieve the last major offensive operation it undertook -- a February bid to cut rebel supply lines to the northern city of Aleppo.

Tehran had opposed the operation, citing lack of preparation, the source said, and subsequently insisted that Syria change its strategy to focus on holding less territory more securely.

Analysts and observers have said the Syrian government now appears ready to accept the de facto partition of the country, focusing on the defence of strategically important areas and leaving others to rebels or jihadists.

According to one source close to the regime, it considers the coast, the central cities of Hama and Homs, and the capital Damascus as vital.

It also regards the Damascus-Beirut and Damascus-Homs highways as "red lines", the source said.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict.

[jimmy olsen]

The Department of Defense estimates 10,000 ISIS dead

My concern is a bit different than Mr. Alkhouri's. I fear the claim is accurate, and an inidcation that ISIS recruiting is on a scale that even with such loses they are increasing in strength.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/u-s-claim-10-000-isis-dead-believable-n369181

...Defense officials told NBC News that the "estimated of the number killed is correct but was not intended for release."

NBC News has been told the number is accurate only in the context of the much broader operations carried out by other ISIS opponents. That includes the Kurds, Shiite militias being armed and advised by Iran, Iraqi forces and Syrian forces.

Laith Alkhouri, of security consulting firm and NBC News partner Flashpoint Intelligence, said he didn't believe Blinken's number. The U.S. government hasn't shared any underlying evidence, such as incremental reports of ISIS deaths, to back it up, he said.

Flashpoint's own monitoring of jihadist reports doesn't reflect such a body count, Alkhouri said, also noting that the number doesn't reflect ISIS' recent string of military victories.

"The reality on the ground is that ISIS is capturing territory, not losing ground," he said.

...