Da'esh / ISIS

[The Armchair Soldier]

A topic to discuss Da'esh/Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

[RetroSicotte]

I'm willing to allow this to be a thing on the forum. News and descriptives of factually confirmed equipment to better inform people of the exact nature of a major foe is absolutely within the remit of the forum. If we begin removing based on "We don't like them" then where would the line stop? Remove the Russian one? An Iranian one?

For that reason, I'm content to have such a thread, so long as it only brings in the things you describe, Arfah. Factual reports, from non-ISIS sources about their kit, resources and suchlike would be a useful thing to have to understand and educate on who and what they are militarily, which is partly what this forum is for.

[arfah]

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[The Armchair Soldier]

Islamic State Plans ‘Slaughter’ at Covent Garden, Buckingham Palace and Other UK Landmarks

Islamic State has threatened to outdo the Paris massacre by launching a “doomsday” attack on Britain - an atrocity so horrific that it will “turn children’s hair white”.

The terrorist group has warned that Britain will receive the “lion’s share” of its wrath after MPs voted in favour of airstrikes in Syria.

The new threat comes as the security services face a race against time to identify a possible Isis cell in Britain.

Analysis of a video released by the terrorists last week indicates that Buckingham Palace and the National Gallery in central London could be among its targets.

Read More: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/wo ... 76dc2161aa

[arfah]

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[JayDee]

To be fair im suprised it has not happened yet anyway...and unfortunatly im sure it will happen sometime in 2016

[~UNiOnJaCk~]

As we keep hearing from parliament that 'X' amount of terror attacks failed due to the activities of our intelligence services, I can only assume from the gravity of their statement, that they are really getting quite frustrated.

Let's bear in mind that they only have to be lucky once and we should all remain vigilant, especially when travelling in London.

Precisely, couldn't have said it better. Our intelligence services are no doubt doing an incredible job in frustrating the plans of these Neanderthals and our proven track record speaks for itself but, as you say, these savages only have to get lucky once so we cannot rest on our laurels.

[ArmChairCivvy]

Surgical strike against the spreading cancer (funnily enough NO libyans at all amongst the killed):

"this has much more to do with Tunisia than it does with Libya.”

The “isolated compound” that was destroyed by F-15 jets and unmanned aircraft, he said, is “nothing like going after the thousands of [IS] fighters” present in their Libyan stronghold of Sirte, hundreds of miles to the east.

“Obviously the United States is concerned about the stability of Tunisia and the impact that the terrorist attacks that took place last year can have on the Tunisia political system, which still remains the one shining light from the 2011 Arab uprisings,” Chivvis told Al-Monitor. “There are certainly a lot of countries that are interested in doing what we can to strengthen security in Tunisia, and this was an obvious attempt to step in that direction.”

One such country is Great Britain, which lost 30 of its citizens in the Sousse beach hotel attack in June 2015. British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said he authorized US jets to use a British base to launch the attack.

"I welcome this strike [on 19 Feb] that has taken out a Daesh training camp being used to train terrorists to carry out attacks,” Fallon told reporters. “I was satisfied that its destruction makes us all safer, and I personally authorized the US use of our bases.”

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origina ... z40mWrzo00

[arfah]

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[GastonGlocker]

Outstanding. Repeat please!

[arfah]

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[arfah]

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[arfah]

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[arfah]

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[arfah]

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[ArmChairCivvy]

This story may have "expired" already
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/jordan ... 1770862569
but it is in line with Egypt buying from France and Russia while the US can't decide who they want to be friends with

[arfah]

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[arfah]

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[ArmChairCivvy]

The sword of islam is going to cut through the fundamentalists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07 ... -in-libya/
... or may be not (as his liberators are not exactly in line with the unity Gvmnt, backed by the "West").

[arfah]

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[arfah]

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[ArmChairCivvy]

The noose around Raqqa was being tightened nicely until the Turkish invasion knocked the steam out of the Kurdish efforts (cum US Special Forces) in the North of the country. The quote below is supposedly from a private posting on the internet, but from the definition of the Rebels it is clear which way the poster is leaning.

What makes it interesting, though, is that with all eyes on Aleppo (as a prelude to carving out a shi'ite rump-Syria) the quote lists other focal points that need to be grabbed for that rump to be a feasible entity in the long run (even supporting Cuba drained the supporter's resources to the extent that support had to be withdrawn, and Russia is only half - in population terms - of what the USSR used to be):

"In the Northern part of the country, in areas such as Raqqah, Tel Abyad, and Shadadeh, the Rebels(whom the U.S. supports) are the primary opponent of Spetsnaz and the coalition they are directing comprised of (for the moment) Iranian Republican Guardsmen, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Syrian regulars serving the Assad government. The Syrian Army (after many decades of partnership with the former Soviet Union, now Russia) has many Russian-speaking operatives to assist in the operations of their ally.

The main Rebel points spread out in an upside-down crescent at the Northern border of Syria running the full length of the country and halting at Derek and Darbasiyeh, where the Kurdish forces in the Northeast hold sway. The Spetsnaz units have been conducting ground strikes on the Rebel command and control centers, as well as assassinations of key Rebel military personnel. Key areas that will come into play later as action intensifies are the Shadadi Oil Fields of Northeastern Syria, as well as the Omar Oil Field in the Southeast. In the center of Syria lies the Shaer Gas Field"

[ArmChairCivvy]

The Turks are on their way to Dabiq. I won't waste time on Daesh propaganda about the place, but within Turkey it will be, no doubt, posted as a rematch (with the same result):
" a decisive military engagement in Middle Eastern history, fought on 24 August 1516, near the town of Dabiq, 44 km north of Aleppo, Syria.[1] The battle was part of the 1516–17 war between the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate, which ended in an Ottoman victory and conquest of much of the Middle East, bringing about the destruction of the Mamluk Sultanate."

As for the Turks taking part in the reconquest of Mosul, the Shi'ite Iraqi administration has been, shall I say, less than keen on that (again, Mosul having been the most important town in Iraq when the country was part of the Ottoman Empire).
- Erdogan, no doubt, will insist so that he can add to his story about rebuilding Great Turkey

[ArmChairCivvy]

Daesh has been lucky:
Israel shot the OpFor reactor to pieces (so they have not been nuked)
Sarin was actually taken out of the country (only the milder concoctions have been spread around)

But while this has been going on for so long, the Syrians have turned their hand to copying advanced Russian systems:
http://defense-update.com/20170301_sarab-aps.html

As much (if not more) of a problem for FSA as for Daesh.

[ArmChairCivvy]

Busy day (or two) in Moscow, arranging for the post_Daesh order in that part of the world:

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he intends to use his visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to "express Israel's strong opposition to the presence of Iranian forces, and those of its proxies" on Israel's northern border with Lebanon and Syria.

"This is a very important meeting for the security of Israel," it said. Victory over the terrorism of Daesh cannot lead to an upsurge in terrorism by Iran and its proxies," it said, using another name for the extremist group Islamic State (IS). "We will not exchange terrorism for terrorism."

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to meet with his German counterpart, Sigmar Gabriel, to discuss issues including the conflict in Ukraine. Gabriel and Putin might also meet later in the day.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also expected to arrive in Moscow on March 9 but will not meet with Putin until March 10, the Kremlin said.

They are expected to discuss the conflict in Syria, as well as the construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline and the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, it said."

So, Germany basically bribing off both Turkey (refugees and coordination on that matter) and Russia (as if two pipelines under the Baltic Sea were not enough, one more in the South, to help circumvent Ukraine - may be even leave them alone once Russia gets enough transit routes to keep the money flowing into the mafia... sorry, state coffers).

What has Israel to offer, that Kremlin wants as a price for helping to contain Iran/ Hezbollah (the latter not going to be cut off now if the Assad regime stays in place), that is anybody's question.