Video: ISIS v. Peshmerga, SEAL Killed Others Wounded

Posted on May 4, 2016May 4, 2016 by Denise Simon

This is what a battlefield looks like when it comes to combat against Islamic State. Note that Islamic State embeds with citizens claiming they are fleeing and need refuge. Further, ISIS buried thousands of IED’s. Additionally, while the Peshmerga does have some military gear, they have very little in rounds and mortar to be offensive. One last item, this too is what it looks like when the rules of engagement don’t measure to defeat of the enemy.

Hat tip and well done to SofRep and Jack Murphy.

Watch: SOFREP Exclusive footage shows the area in northern Iraq close to where Navy SEAL Charlie Keating IV was killed

Less than a year ago, Jack Murphy, SOFREP’s editor-in-chief, embedded with the Kurdish Peshmerga and was only about seven kilometers away from where Navy SEAL Charlie Keating IV was killed by ISIS this week. The video below will give you a good idea of the area where Navy SEAL Charlie Keating was killed, as well as how the Peshmerga in the area operate.

Additional video.

DefenseDepartment: The Navy SEAL killed in a battle yesterday with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters responded to an early attack on peshmerga units about 2 miles behind the forward line of troops, Army Col. Steven Warren, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, said today.

Defense Department officials today identified the Navy SEAL as Petty Officer 1st Class Charles H. Keating IV, 31, of San Diego.

In a teleconference briefing with Pentagon reporters from Baghdad, Warren said Keating responded to the ISIL attack on the peshmerga forces as part of a U.S. quick-reaction force in the village of Tal Asquf at about 7:30 a.m.

“ISIL forces breached the peshmerga forward lines,” he said. “At [7:50 a.m.], the Americans there became involved in the ensuing firefight and called in a quick-reaction force,” he said.

“It is a group of very well-armed, very well-equipped, very well-trained American service members whose mission is to stand by, stand at the ready, when American forces are operating,” he said.

Keating was struck by direct fire shortly after 9:30 a.m., and though he was evacuated within what Warren called the “all-important golden hour” between being wounded and receiving medical treatment, his wound was not survivable.

“Our deepest heartfelt condolences go out to that American service member and his family,” Warren said. “He is an American hero. This is a reminder of the risk our men and women face every day supporting the fight against ISIL.”

ISIL Attack Was Large-Scale

“We think there were at least 125 enemy fighters involved in this fairly complicated, complex attack. So it was a big fight — one of the largest we’ve seen recently,” the colonel said.

With several peshmerga outposts in the area, the force rapidly generated its series of counterattack forces, which numbered in the hundreds for the counterattack and regained control of Tal Asquf, Warren added.

No other coalition or American forces were injured, he said, but he added that both medical evacuation helicopters were damaged by small-arms fire. The peshmerga casualty numbers are not yet known, Warren said.

“Coalition air responded with 31 strikes taken by 11 manned aircraft and two drones,” he said. “Air power destroyed 20 enemy vehicles, two truck bombs, three mortar systems [and] one bulldozer, [and] 58 ISIL terrorists were killed.”

ISIL Enters Battle in ‘Technicals’

Operation Inherent Resolve officials believe the attack is likely linked to a string of recent ISIL defeats and ongoing pressure, Warren said, adding that such a pattern has been observed.

“When they are back on their heels, they often will try a high-profile, high-visibility attack to gain some attention,” he told reporters.

ISIL moves into battle with vehicles the coalition calls “technicals,” Warren said, an all-encompassing term for homemade gun trucks. “They throw together these … ‘Jed Clampett’ [vehicles], bolt a machine gun onto the hood of a pickup truck, Gremlin or whatever they can find with four wheels and an engine,” he said.

ISIL troop-carrying vehicles have no standardization, he said. “This is a nonstandard military force that we’re facing,” he said, “so it’s a little bit of everything, … [and] we’ve destroyed 20 of them.”

UK: PM Cameron and the Queen’s Plan on Militant Islam

Posted on May 3, 2016May 3, 2016 by Denise Simon

Well, it appears the United Kingdom is about to launch a program and the Queen is announcing the plan. But the details are troublesome, in fact watered down dramatically, but could it be a start?

New anti-extremism powers to be included in Queen’s speech

Legislation expected to include measures to ban groups, close down premises and gag individuals

Guardian: David Cameron is expected to announce plans to crack down on extremism in the Queen’s speech, including powers to ban organisations, close down premises and gag individuals.

The legislation follows publication of the government’s counter-extremism strategy which also promised a full investigation into the application of sharia law in the UK.

The review has already been announced, but the Home Office is expected to appoint a chair shortly.

A Downing Street spokesman said he would not speculate on the contents of the Queen’s speech, to be held at the state opening of parliament on 18 May, but sources said that legislation was required to introduce the measures announced in October as part of the strategy.

It promised to ban radical preachers from posting material online, and bar anyone with extremist views from working with children. It also said that deradicalisation classes should be mandatory.

There are also plans to allow Ofcom to block broadcasts of “unacceptable extremist material”.

However, there appear to be questions still remaining. A Home Office source told the Times: “Getting agreement about the thresholds for what constitutes extremism and what needs to be protected as free speech is not going to be easy or straightforward.”

****** The HM Strategy document is here.

A sampling of the strategy:

Engaging internationally

This strategy focuses on extremism at home but recognises that the flow of people, ideology and money is increasingly international. We will develop a clear plan of international work to reinforce our efforts to defeat extremism at home. We will also campaign to build a more robust international response to counter extremist ideology and propaganda and continue to focus on strengthening international bodies and our partners. This will be a key priority for our network of diplomatic missions, working through international institutions such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth and the European Union and through government and civil society partners. In particular, this will include steps to:

counter extremist ideology: we will use our international network to better understand the nature and appeal of extremist ideology, learning from and sharing international best practice to improve the effectiveness of our response;

build partnerships with all those opposed to extremism: we will expand our partnerships with governments and multilateral groups overseas to reduce the threat to the UK via concerted international action including tackling extremism online; and

disrupt extremists: we will strengthen data sharing arrangements with our overseas posts to ensure that key decision makers – including visa officials – are fully informed about individuals’ links to extremist groups. This will involve particularly close collaboration with the Extremism Analysis Unit.

We will work with our international partners to support implementation of the United Nations Secretary General’s Action Plan on Preventing Violent Extremism which is intended to frame what all UN member states and agencies are expected to do to tackle violent extremism. This effort will include building the capacity of international institutions and our partners, to reduce the extremist threats to UK interests emanating from overseas and thereby reinforce delivery of this strategy.44. We will also ensure that our aid programmes address the underlying drivers, enablers and narratives of extremism, particularly through efforts to build stability and security overseas. We will use the joint Conflict, Stability and Security Fund to enable greater work across Government to address transnational threats such as extremism.45. Finally, we will support collective efforts across government to engage and positively influence British communities, explaining the UK’s foreign, security and development work, and raising awareness of the impact it has overseas.

***** The 250,000 EU migrants ‘that weren’t counted’: Explosive report says official figures are underestimating number by 50,000 a year meaning migration from inside Europe is now higher than the rest of the world combined

Its report said: ‘Between 2010 and 2015 the population born in the EU8 and living in the UK increased by an average of 90,000 a year but during the same period estimated net migration from the EU8 averaged only 40,000.

‘This suggests that EU8 net migration has been undercounted by 50,000 a year in the last five years.’

Navy SEAL Killed by ISIS

Posted on May 3, 2016May 3, 2016 by Denise Simon

Enemy Fire Kills U.S. Service Member Helping Peshmerga Forces in Iraq

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2016 — A U.S. service member advising and assisting peshmerga forces in Iraq was killed by enemy fire north of Mosul today.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter — in Germany for this morning’s U.S. European Command change of command and to convene a meeting of his counterparts whose nations are leading the effort to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant— announced the service member’s death.

The secretary offered his condolences to the fallen service member’s family.

The service member was killed during an ISIL attack on a peshmerga position about 1 to 3 miles behind the forward line of troops, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement, adding that the service member’s name and other information will be released after next-of-kin notification is complete.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the service member’s family,” Cook said. “As Secretary Carter noted today in Germany, this sad news is a reminder of the dangers our men and women in uniform face every day in the ongoing fight to destroy ISIL and end the threat the group poses to the United States and the rest of the world. Our coalition will honor this sacrifice by dealing ISIL a lasting defeat.”

*****

ISIS used multiple vehicles, suicide car bombs and bulldozers to break through a checkpoint at the front line and drive 3 to 5 kilometers to the Peshmerga base where SEALs are temporarily visiting and were located as advisers, a U.S. defense official told CNN. The gun battle was around the town of Telskof in northern Iraq, the official added. The U.S. responded with F-15s and drones that dropped more than 20 bombs, according to a U.S. official. More from CNN.

*****

Baghdad (AFP) – The Islamic State group broke through Kurdish defences in northern Iraq on Tuesday and killed a US Navy SEAL deployed as part of the US-led coalition against the jihadists.

The attack came as the United Nations said that fighting with IS in northern Iraq could displace another 30,000 people, adding to millions who have already fled their homes.

And in Baghdad, throngs of Shiite pilgrims braved the threat of bombings by IS, which have killed dozens of people in recent days, to take part in a major annual religious commemoration.

The sailor from the special operations force was at least the third coalition member killed by enemy fire in Iraq since IS overran swathes of the country in 2014.

President Barack Obama hailed the 2011 withdrawal of American troops from Iraq as a major accomplishment of his presidency, but US forces have been drawn back into combat in the country against IS.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the death occurred during an IS attack on one of the Kurdish peshmerga forces’ positions north of Iraq’s jihadist-held second city Mosul.

A US defence official said the US SEAL’s death was the result of “an orchestrated attack”.

A coalition military official said the American was killed at 9:30 am (0630 GMT) by “direct fire” after “enemy forces penetrated” the peshmerga line.

– Firefight with IS –

The SEAL was a member of a “small team” that was present at a peshmerga encampment behind the original front line during the IS attack, which involved explosives-rigged vehicles, bulldozers and infantry, the official said.

“They fought, but they’re a small number and they’re not supposed to be in direct contact,” and they departed by American helicopter after the SEAL was shot, according to the official.

Kurdish forces are deployed in Nineveh province, whose capital Mosul is IS’s main hub in the country.

IS attacked the peshmerga in multiple areas of northern Iraq on Tuesday in an attempt to “thwart the plan to liberate Mosul”, said Jabbar Yawar, the secretary general of the autonomous Kurdish region’s peshmerga ministry.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said IS overran the Tal Asquf area and that the group employed suicide bombers.

Tal Asquf is a small Christian town whose population fled in 2014. According to the Kurdistan Region Security Council, the town was “completely cleared” of IS fighters later Tuesday.

Romeo Hekari, who heads a Christian unit fighting IS under peshmerga command, also said Tal Asquf was back under full control.

The United States announced last month that it was deploying additional forces to Iraq, bringing the official total to more than 4,000.

– Boots on the ground –

The coalition is carrying out daily air strikes against IS, and while most American forces on the ground in Iraq play advisory and support roles, Washington has also deployed special forces to carry out raids against IS, and US Marines to provide artillery support.

Two US military personnel had already been killed by the jihadists in Iraq: an American Marine by rocket fire in March and a special forces soldier who died of wounds received during a raid last October.

Obama repeatedly pledged that there would be no “boots on the ground” to combat IS, but the administration has since sought to define the term as meaning something other than American forces being on the ground and in combat.

“They are wearing boots, and they are on the ground, but that… doesn’t mean that they are in large-scale ground combat,” State Department spokesman John Kirby recently told journalists.

As Kurdish forces and the jihadists clashed on Tuesday, the United Nations expressed concern that “as many as 30,000 newly displaced individuals” could arrive in Makhmur southeast of Mosul, fleeing fighting in the area.

In Baghdad, tens of thousands of pilgrims converged on a shrine to mourn the death of Imam Musa Kadhim, the seventh of 12 imams revered in Shiite Islam, who was killed in 799 AD.

A shrine official said that “millions” had taken part in commemorations in recent days, despite IS-claimed bombings targeting the pilgrims that have killed at least 37 people in the past week.

5 Years and the CIA Tweeted, But Obama Admin Still Wrong

Posted on May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 by Denise Simon

Over the weekend, the CIA tweeted about the Usama bin Ladin raid…..emulating events of 5 years ago. Several media outlets wrote pieces saying how weird it was while others were more critical. The CIA twitter feed was full of people even more hostile.

Perhaps none of these people including media took a deeper look at the possible reason as to why the CIA hosted this session. Could it be that the CIA hosted this event to flush out who was participating globally, where they are and to investigate their affiliation or sympathy with terror groups? Of course. Sheesh….I ‘get-it’.

Does anyone realize that al Qaeda is not on the run, has not been decimated much less defeated?

Replaced as the preeminent global jihadist power by the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda nonetheless remains a potent force and dangerous threat, experts say.

With last year’s Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris and a wave of shootings in West Africa, Al-Qaeda has shown it can still carry out its trademark spectacular attacks.

And in Syria and Yemen its militants have seized on chaos to take control of significant territory, even presenting themselves as an alternative to the brutality of IS rule.

Writing for French news website Atlantico in early April, former intelligence officer Alain Rodier said that while IS may have stolen the spotlight, Al-Qaeda may be in a better long-term position.

By rushing to declare its caliphate and establish its rule, IS has made itself an easier target, with thousands of its supporters killed in air strikes launched by a US-led coalition and by Russia.

Its harsh rule has also alienated potential supporters, while groups like Al-Nusra have instead sought to work with local forces in areas under their control.

“The death of Al-Qaeda’s founding father in no way meant the end of his progeny,” Rodier wrote. “This jihad will last for decades.” More here from Dubai (AFP).

In 2011, when Barack Obama ordered all….all military out of Iraq, the country was stable and sovereign and could self govern. Yeah, right. Then Obama’s National Security Advisor, John Brennan, now the Director of the CIA stated that al Qaeda’s goal for a global caliphate was an absurd notion. Really?

Are you still unsure as to how the Obama strategy or rather lack of strategy was concocted?

“Our strategy is…shaped by a deeper understanding of al Qaeda’s goals, strategy, and tactics,” Brennan claimed. “I’m not talking about al Qaeda’s grandiose vision of global domination through a violent Islamic caliphate. That vision is absurd, and we are not going to organize our counterterrorism policies against a feckless delusion that is never going to happen. We are not going to elevate these thugs and their murderous aspirations into something larger than they are.”

Sure recently Islamic State has suffered some territorial setbacks as well as financial setbacks, that is a great thing. However, Islamic State just imposed it’s will in the highly protected and fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

The Green Zone, surrounded by thick blast walls topped with razor wire, is off-limits to most Iraqis because of security procedures that require multiple checks and specific documentation to enter. It has long been the focus of al-Sadr’s criticism that the government is detached from the people.

Supporters of al-Sadr have been holding demonstrations and sit-ins for months to demand an overhaul of the political system put in place by the U.S. following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Last summer, demonstrations demanding better government services mobilized millions across Iraq and pressured Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to submit his first package of reform proposals. However, months of stalled progress followed, and in recent months al-Sadr’s well-organized supporters took over the protest movement.

Despite the subdued end to the latest protest, Iraqi officials fear the precedent set by the Green Zone breach will continue to undermine the country’s security.

Earlier on Sunday, car bombs in the southern city of Samawah killed 31 people and wounded at least 52. A police officer said two parked cars filled with explosives were detonated within minutes of each other around midday, the first near government offices and the second at an open-air bus station less than a mile away. On Saturday, an ISIS-claimed bombing in a market filled with Shiite civilians in Baghdad killed at least 21 people and wounded at least 42 others.

Further, al Qaeda is recruiting heavily in Syria those Islamic State fighters leaving the terror battlefield. While recently, there is a major debate underway about the Obama administration releasing the 28 pages about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the 9/11 attack, John Brennan said recently that those documents are full of misinformation and assumed facts now proven to be false. Either way, they need to be declassified, but there will be consequences for going that. However Brennan could be somewhat correct given the trove of documents recovered from the bin Ladin compound. Some of those documents have been declassified and is know at the ‘bookshelf’.

Declassified Material – March 1, 2016 (113 items)

Declassified Material – May 20, 2015 (103 items)

Publicly Available U.S. Government Documents (75 items)

English Language Books (39 items)

Material Published by Violent Extremists & Terror Groups (35 items)

Materials Regarding France (19 items)

Media Articles (33 items)

Other Religious Documents (11 items)

Think Tank & Other Studies (40 items)

Software & Technical Manuals (30 items)

Other Miscellaneous Documents (14 items)

Documents Probably Used by Other Compound Residents

al Qaeda in Syria, Heavy Recruiting

Posted on April 29, 2016April 29, 2016 by Denise Simon

Al Qaeda-linked cleric leads new recruiting campaign for jihadists in Syria

By Thomas Joscelyn

LWJ: Sheikh Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini, one of the most influential jihadist ideologues in Syria, has launched a new recruiting campaign that aims to indoctrinate thousands of young men. The mobilization effort, named “Take Up Arms, Do Not Sit Still,” began online and throughout Syria on Apr. 20.

One of the first propaganda videos released for the effort shows Muhaysini speaking in front of a large crowd at a refugee camp. The Saudi cleric, who is linked to al Qaeda, is treated like a rock star at the event. The rally was supposedly led to between 200 and 300 new recruits joining the jihadists’ cause.

Muhaysini begins his speech by blasting Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, Iran and Hezbollah. A clip of Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, is played. “If the battle with those terrorists and takfiris needs me and all Hezbollah to go to Syria, we will go to Syria,” Nasrallah promises.

Muhaysini responds, “We say come, and we swear by Allah we will [introduce] you to the dogs of Sham.”

The jihadist cleric continues by saying that the refugees in the camp had their homes destroyed by Assad and suffered from his barrel bombs. Muhaysini points to an empty tent that he says will be filled with the “new mujahideen,” who “will fill the land of Sham with the blood of the Russians” and the Iranians.

The video, which is just over 10 minutes long and includes English subtitles, is well-choreographed. It appears that a commercial drone was used to shoot footage from overhead. For instance, an aerial shot of the camp (seen on the right) plays as Muhaysini criticizes the youth who live there for failing to join the jihad.

“O you here, know I love you,” Muhaysini says, before imploring the camp’s youth to join the jihadists. He preaches the virtues of martyrdom: “Allah’s religion is awaiting you. What makes you sit? O you hero, are you afraid of martyrdom? Do you know what martyrdom is? It is one bullet in the cause of Allah which makes you leave the life. Then you will become alive in Gardens of Eternity by the Lord of the Worlds.”

Muhaysini calls for all willing males over the age of 15 to make their way to the empty tent. Young men and adolescents then stream in, committing themselves to the jihad against Assad and his allies.

In a second, longer video, Muhaysini is joined by three others and together they explain the purpose of the recruiting drive. The additional men are Abu Namis (a military commander in Liwa al Haq), Sheikh Muslih al Alyani (deputy chair of the Jihad’s Callers Center, which is headed by Muhaysini), and Dr. Ayman Harush (a lecturer at the University of Aleppo).

Muhaysini says the “zeal” of sharia officials in his Jihad’s Callers Center and their comrades in the Scholars League of the Levant, which is another association of sharia officials in Syria, led to the effort. The campaign does not serve any single faction, Muhaysini says, and 200 officials from different groups have spread out across Syria to proselytize.

The Saudi cleric explains how a new recruit is assigned to an organization. Once a young man agrees to join, he is sent to the “central command of the campaign,” which coordinates across the various factions and decides where he goes. They all receive sharia instruction, but only the best are armed. Between 400 and 500 new mujahideen have been selected thus far, according to Muhaysini, who says that they hope to attract 5,000 new jihadists.

Muhaysini says Syrians, including those who fled to Turkey, are being recruited and he hopes that the ideology of jihad takes root throughout the Levant, beyond the immediate call to arms. He adds that the campaign is a response to the Iranian-backed popular mobilization forces fighting in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Shiites’ mobilization throughout the region. Muhaysini criticizes the Sunni scholars who refuse to mobilize the Sunni youth to counter their Shiite adversaries in Iran and Hezbollah.

Harush, the lecturer in Aleppo, justifies the jihad as a defensive one, saying that Iran has brought in fighters from throughout the Middle East to attack the Sunnis. And Abu Namis, the Liwa al Haq official, says that the Sunni factions do not have a surplus of fighters, as some claim. Abu Namis calls on foreign fighters to join their Syrian counterparts.

Muhaysini wears multiple hats inside Syria. In addition to being the chairman of the Jihad’s Callers Center, he is a senior judge in Jaysh al Fath, a rebel coalition that overran the Idlib province in 2015. Jaysh al Fath was co-founded by Al Nusrah Front, which is al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, and another al Qaeda-linked group, Ahrar al Sham.

Muhaysini and some of his supporters online refer to him as an “independent” jihadist. The Long War Journal assesses that this is unlikely and he is probably a senior al Qaeda sharia official. He has numerous connections to al Qaeda’s international network.

He was a student of Sulayman Al Alwan, a jihadist cleric responsible for indoctrinating some key figures within al Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission found that al Alwan even instructed one of the 9/11 hijackers. Muhaysini has defended and spoken fondly of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri. In 2014, Muhaysini even issued a proposal for jihadist reconciliation that was timed to coincide with Zawahiri’s own. The initiative was intended to reconcile the Islamic State with its jihadist rivals in the Al Nusrah Front and Ahrar al Sham. While the latter parties agreed to the plan, the Islamic State rejected it.

Muhaysini works closely with Al Nusrah Front and other al Qaeda groups in Syria, such as the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) and similar ethnic jihadist brigades. His work has been featured in Al Masra, an al Qaeda newsletter launched earlier this year, as well as in the Taliban’s literature. Muhaysini’s popular social media sites are regularly littered with references to al Qaeda, including eulogies for senior al Qaeda operatives killed in American airstrikes.

Numerous al Qaeda-affiliated social media accounts are promoting Muhaysini’s new recruiting campaign.

Images and advertisements from the “Take Up Arms, Do Not Sit Still” campaign

The youth answer Muhaysini’s call to arms:

Men and youth enter the recruiting tent set up at a refugee camp:

Another overhead shot, perhaps recorded by drone, from the event at a refugee camp:

New recruits watching an Al Nusrah Front video:

Some of the campaign’s new recruits:

A banner calling for donations:

An attendee at one of the events records Muhaysini on his phone: