The King of The "North" Is Coming!

In this forum we can see news and current events of our day that actually fulfill bible prophecy!

Moderator: SNS Administration

User avatar
Esoteric
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Posts: 177
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:29 pm
Location: 2008 YORWW Bible Academy Graduate resides YORWW Headquarters

Re: The King of The "North" Is Coming!

Post by Esoteric »

Iraqi Forces, Peshmerga Claim Gains Against ISIS; Battle For Kobani Continues
By Laura Smith-Spark and Kareem Khadder, CNN
October 25, 2014 -- Updated 1917 GMT (0317 HKT)

Source of Article & Slide Photos

Image
Smoke rises during fighting in the Syrian city of Kobani, seen from the outskirts of Suruc, Turkey, on Saturday, October 25. The United States and several Arab nations have been bombing ISIS targets in Syria to take out the militant group's ability to command, train and resupply its fighters.

Baghdad (CNN) -- Iraqi security forces have regained control of the area of Jurf al-Sakhar, a town south of Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Saturday, as they battle to keep ISIS militants in check.

In a post on Facebook, al-Abadi saluted the efforts made by Iraqi forces to liberate the area and said they "have inflicted a strong blow to the terrorist organization ISIS."

Jurf al-Sakhar is on the outskirts of Hilla and is a mixed Sunni-Shiite area.

The town was also the site of intense fighting in June between Iraqi forces and ISIS over the control of a military facility, where an infantry brigade is based, Iraqi security officials said.

Farther north, Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces have liberated the northern Iraqi town of Zumar, west of the Mosul Dam, and its surroundings, according to the ruling party of the Kurdish Regional Government and Iraqi state TV.

"Zumar is controlled by the Peshmerga forces. ISIS completely evacuated it," Sheikh Ahmad Mohammad, a Peshmerga commander, told Kurdish news agency Rudaw.

Specialized teams subsequently moved into the town to defuse all rigged homes and booby traps that ISIS left behind, Peshmerga operations commander in Mosul Sa'eed Mamzayn told CNN.

Peshmerga forces also regained control of 10 villages around Zumar and killed 81 ISIS fighters, Heman Hawrami, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Foreign Relations Office, said via Twitter.

Airstrikes pummel ISIS

The U.S. military said 10 coalition airstrikes had been carried out against ISIS forces Friday and Saturday west of the Mosul Dam, destroying five ISIS units, a building used by the group and several fighting positions.

Another coalition airstrike struck a large ISIS unit southeast of the Mosul Dam, according to the U.S. Central Command.
Altogether, 22 airstrikes have targeted the Sunni extremist group in Iraq since Friday.

ISIS took control of Zumar back in August when Peshmerga troops were forced to pull out after being surrounded by ISIS militants and being isolated from any support, Kurdistan Democratic Party regional official Ismat Rajab told CNN.

Kobani awaits Peshmerga reinforcements

News of the reported gains against ISIS in Iraq comes as Kurdish forces in Syria continue to battle ISIS for control of the Kurdish town of Kobani, known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab.

Clashes could be heard in the border town Saturday, but the Kurdish defenders appear to be holding their ground against ISIS as the militants seek to regain territory.

There's been heavy fighting this week around Tal Shair, a strategic hill to the west of Kobani, as well as to the south and east of the city.

Turkey has said it will allow Kurdish Peshmerga forces from Iraq to pass through its territory into Syria to join the fight for Kobani, which lies on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Saleh Muslim, chair of the PYD, a Kurdish poitical party in northern Syria, told CNN that the Peshmerga and his party finalized their pact Friday night and fighters could enter Kobani Saturday evening or Sunday.

The precise timing is unclear and dependent on part on Turkish permission, he said, adding that the armed wing of the PYD may also influence the timing in Kobani, the site of fierce fighting.

As many as 150 fighters could be allowed in, but it's not yet clear exactly how many or when the reinforcements will arrive.
One fighter in Kobani told CNN they could come as soon as Saturday night.

There was one U.S. airstrike in Syria from Friday to Saturday, against an ISIS artillery piece near Kobani, U.S. Central Command said.


CNN's Kareem Khadder reported from Baghdad and Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, Pierre Meilhan and Adam Levine also contributed to this report.

***
Jeremiah 33:16 {NWT} ...And this is what she will be called, Jehovah Is Our Righteousness.
User avatar
Esoteric
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Posts: 177
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:29 pm
Location: 2008 YORWW Bible Academy Graduate resides YORWW Headquarters

Re: The King of The "North" Is Coming!

Post by Esoteric »

The Merger of ISIS And Al-Qaeda Could Cripple The Civilized World
  • Take a barbaric army, add strategic jihadists—and a new evil is born.
  • Organized and disciplined, ISIS is grabbing territory to build a state.
  • On their hit list—the state of Israel.


Source of Article & Video

BY RIYADH MOHAMMED,
The Fiscal Times

October 10, 2014

As ISIS continues to advance on the Syrian town of Kobani and close in on Turkey’s border, experts in Islamic radical movements think the terror group may merge with its al-Qaeda mother organization soon. Together, the group would represent the greatest terror threat to the civilized world.

“I think Britain, Germany and France will witness significant attacks in their territories by the Islamic State. Al-Baghdadi [the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, otherwise known as ISIS] may reconcile with al-Zawhiri [the leader of the al-Qaeda central organization] to fight the crusader enemy. The attacks by the United States and her allies will unite the two groups,” said Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi researcher who just finished writing a book about ISIS based on his unique access to the organization’s documents and years of research and advising Iraqi security forces.

Image

The break between the Islamic State and al-Qaeda

ISIS and al-Qaeda have a long, tangled history with one another. ISIS was the al-Qaeda official branch in Iraq until last February. However, they finally split after disagreements over operations in Syria.

The recent US intervention in the region along with the new US-led airstrike campaign against ISIS has actually forced the two groups to renew negotiations. For example, recent reports suggested that ISIS and al-Nusra Front are together planning the war against the US-led alliance. The al-Qaeda affiliated Khorasan group in Syria that was also targeted in the recent air attacks declared a few days ago in an audio message that it had joined ISIS. Add to that the Taliban in Pakistan who are hopping on board the ISIS train and you have a potential jihadi World War III.

Related: 20 Facts About Baghdadi, the Elusive ISIS Leader

Image

Other experts think that ISIS could be dissolved and swallowed by al-Qaeda, leading to the same result. “The Islamic State has killed many of al-Qaeda’s operatives in Syria and Iraq.... I think that al-Baghdadi will be killed, either by an attack by the U.S.-led alliance or by al-Qaeda.... The Islamic State doesn’t have the elements of survival like the al-Qaeda mother organization. It is most likely that it will be dissolved within al-Qaeda,” said Ibrahim al-Somaidaei, an Iraqi security analyst and former intelligence officer based in Amman, Jordan.

The Structure and the Strategy

Understanding who is responsible for big decisions within ISIS is critical to making sense of the group’s activity. According to al-Hashimi, ISIS has a written doctrine similar to a constitution. This document was authored by a man called Abdallah Abdul Samed al-Ani, who is considered the main theorist of the ISIS. The group’s decisions are divided into three categories. The first contains decisions made at the highest level by the emirate council headed by Baghdadi, the council of the resolution and decision also headed by Baghdadi, and the Shura council headed by Abu Ala al-Afri. “These decisions are very rare…like the decision of declaring the Caliphate and the decisions of rebellion on al-Zawahiri and Mulla Omar…they represent great hardship.” added al-Hashimi.

The second category specifies decisions made by the emirate council only. “These decisions are made to declare war or open new fronts or execute foreign hostages,” said al-Hashimi. The third category represents all other decisions made at the regional leadership level by the 24 governors or the numerous field commanders and religious leaders, each responsible for their jurisdiction.

Related: As Caliphate Is Declared, Iraqi Troops Battle for Tikrit

When analyzing ISIS’s main decisions since the take over of Mosul in June, it's clear that second and third category decisions are common. For example, the decision to advance to Tikrit in June was taken by the field commander of the region after the collapse of the Iraqi government forces and to control the Beiji oil refinery, the largest refinery in Iraq.

Image

Source: The Wall Street Journal

“They have declared their target: the formation of a Caliphate state and they declared Iraq and Syria as a destination for Jihadis to immigrate from all over the world…. Controlling the Beiji refinery is one of the means to enable the so-called state,” said Luay Jawad al-Khatteb, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution Doha Center. The same economic drive was behind controlling the Iraqi border towns with Syria and Jordan in June and the Syrian border towns with Turkey in August. These decisions were made by the emirate council and several local governors. Economic grounds were behind last July's attacks on Syria’s largest oil field, al-Omar as well as the al-Shaer gas field in Homs Governorate, Syria and the dams in Mosul and Haditha in Iraq in August.


***
Jeremiah 33:16 {NWT} ...And this is what she will be called, Jehovah Is Our Righteousness.
Post Reply