Islamic State Watch

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

There was also a suicide bombing in Kobani at the same time.

Suruç was a central location for the refugees from Kobani and for foreign NGOs.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33593615

More details here.

[Borracho]

Islamic State Watch

Antepli Ejderha wrote: Coordinated bombings in Gaza this morning, six Hamas vehicles targeted by IS affiliates from Sinai. I've only seen reports for this from Israel and Iran with conflicting reasons behind this.

You can't even get a tin of olives into Gaza without the Israelis' say-so. Yet these fuckers not only slipped into the place, but got six bombs in with them as well.

It's almost as if . . . no. Sorry. I don't know what came over me there.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

GC this is what I thought too. Just too much of a coincidence with six bombs going off all at the same time.

Lots happening in Turkey after the massacre in Suruç, lots of political brownie points being scored in a pretty crude fashion.

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Islamic State Watch

A.E. My son and his girlfriend are thinking of having a holiday in Antalya - forgive the naive question but is it safe to go?

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

Tramp The Dirt Down wrote: A.E. My son and his girlfriend are thinking of having a holiday in Antalya - forgive the naive question but is it safe to go?

TTDD, I am going on holiday to Turkey this year and must admit to being a little concerned. Antalya is a popular destination for Russian tourists which may make it more of a target in the future. Presently I think that Turkey is safe for tourists but if the government clamp down on ISIS then it may no longer be.

My advice would be to check the FCO website and see what they recommend as yesterday's events are likely to be repeated. (Sorry if this appears like not a straight answer to a simple question).

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Islamic State Watch

Thanks A.E. thats useful information.

[Come along, Min]

Islamic State Watch

Just liveleaked the very close and clear footage from the Suruç. So nightmarishly unbelievable. RIP.

I find I have quite a habit for viewing stuff like that. Perhaps I'm kidding myself by thinking that not to view it is to sanitise one's view of the world. Not sure it's doing me any good tbh.

[linus]

Islamic State Watch

Luke, take that picture and multiply it by a thousand, and you get what has been going on in much larger metropoles like Homs and Aleppo over the last 4 years. Small villages like Kobani get a lot of coverage due to their strategic importance and the invariably pro-Kurdish media slant, but most of the carnage (a quarter million dead and counting) is in the large cities, which have been bombed by the Assad regime, supplied by Russia and Iran, while ISIS and other jihadis are propped by NATO, Gulf monarchies and Israel. It's a most insidious proxy war, with Syrian cities and civilians paying the price.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=homs&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAkQ_ AUoA2oVChMInuz9lr_sxgIVhh0eCh2cEgWJ&biw=1210&bih=6 06

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

Can't disagree with a word you've written linus. There also appears to be no end in sight unless some strange but strategic alliances are made, like the Israeli supported Kurds striking a deal with the Iranian supported Assad regime while the west is preoccupied with IS.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/turkish-army-hits-isil-syria-shooting-150723140621321.html

An extremely worrying development, Turkey responds to an IS attack with tanks and fighter jets. Perhaps they'll get their buffer zone after all.

[ursus arctos]

Islamic State Watch

An a very troubling review of recent ISIS books in the NYRB

I have often been tempted to argue that we simply need more and better information. But that is to underestimate the alien and bewildering nature of this phenomenon. To take only one example, five years ago not even the most austere Salafi theorists advocated the reintroduction of slavery; but ISIS has in fact imposed it. Nothing since the triumph of the Vandals in Roman North Africa has seemed so sudden, incomprehensible, and difficult to reverse as the rise of ISIS. None of our analysts, soldiers, diplomats, intelligence officers, politicians, or journalists has yet produced an explanation rich enough—even in hindsight—to have predicted the movement’s rise.

We hide this from ourselves with theories and concepts that do not bear deep examination. And we will not remedy this simply through the accumulation of more facts. It is not clear whether our culture can ever develop sufficient knowledge, rigor, imagination, and humility to grasp the phenomenon of ISIS. But for now, we should admit that we are not only horrified but baffled.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

Turkey has bombed three IS targets and more importantly given permission for the US to use Incirlik.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Islamic State Watch

Antepli Ejderha wrote: Turkey has bombed three IS targets and more importantly given permission for the US to use Incirlik.

And then bombed a load of PKK positions.

It's a week since the PKK announced their (unilateral) ceasefire with Turkey had ended.

Good shit everyone.

[anton pulisov]

Islamic State Watch

What happened to the elections there anyway? I take it Erdogan just ignored the result?

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

45 days to form a coalition or new elections. The deadline is approaching or they might just try to go alone in a minority government.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

Turkey bombs IS and PKK targets again, the PKK responds with bombs and shootings. Nothing yet from IS which is surprising. The YPG now control about half of the Syria Turkey border which is making Ankara nervous of a Kurdish state on their border, especially as the YPG is pushing on towards Aleppo.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

Turkey military has apparently shelled YPG positions near Kobani, something they deny. This is perhaps the most worrying development so far as it shows that Turkey is trying to create a buffer zone.

NATO leaders are due to meet in an emergency session.

[E10 Rifle]

Islamic State Watch

The Turkish government aren't that bothered about defeating ISIS are they?

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

They've always had two aims in Syria, firstly to get rid of Assad and secondly to prevent the formation of a Kurdish state on their border.

I'm a little concerned about my forthcoming trip to Turkey as it's not a question of if but when a major city is attacked.

[Paul S]

Islamic State Watch

Antepli Ejderha wrote:
I'm a little concerned about my forthcoming trip to Turkey as it's not a question of if but when a major city is attacked.

In all honesty you could say that about almost any major city in Europe, London particularly.

[anton pulisov]

Islamic State Watch

So the Kurds were the allies of the US in getting rid of Sadam and fighting ISIS, but now that the Turks are involved, the US is backing Turkish bombing of the Kurds.

Of course, the US could just call out Turkey, but then Erdogan would just buy MiGs off Putin.

What a complete and total shitstorm.

[anton pulisov]

Islamic State Watch

He's probably postponed Turkish EU membership by a good 20 years.

[linus]

Islamic State Watch

The EU will be forced to take Turkey eventually, due to the tremendous demographic crisis and the ongoing aging taking place in most of the continent, a process that can no longer be reversed in countries like Germany or Italy.

Contrary to what people like Princeton's Bernard Haekel or the NYRB article Ursus linked above, ISIS is far from an organic local islamic movement, it's been carefully nurtured, manned and massively financed by the US/NATO, Israel and the Gulf states. Articles like the one above and the one from Graeme Wood in the Atlantic boil down to basic disinformation pieces, in the mold of the post-911 output of people like Judith Miller.

The legitimate, organic Arab spring Syrian opposition has been deliberately disarmed and neutralized in the early and middle stages of the revolution. ISIS' military and political power is largely overstated, in Syria it is mostly made up of foreign fighters who are largely regarded as fanatical foreign degenerates and have no local popular support, they wouldn't be a viable power without ongoing massive financial and logistical foreign support.

Amid all the dissonance and confusion in the media coverage, there are some good pieces like this recent Guardian editorial:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq

"A revealing light on how we got here has now been shone by a recently declassified secret US intelligence report, written in August 2012, which uncannily predicts – and effectively welcomes – the prospect of a “Salafist principality” in eastern Syria and an al-Qaida-controlled Islamic state in Syria and Iraq. In stark contrast to western claims at the time, the Defense Intelligence Agency document identifies al-Qaida in Iraq (which became Isis) and fellow Salafists as the “major forces driving the insurgency in Syria” – and states that “western countries, the Gulf states and Turkey” were supporting the opposition’s efforts to take control of eastern Syria.

Raising the “possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality”, the Pentagon report goes on, “this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want..."

[Antepli Ejderha]

Islamic State Watch

The Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq has asked the PKK to leave saying that their presence endangers civilians, this is because of the bombing of their bases by Turkey.

Erdogan is only going to drive the PKK into Syria through this policy which is obviously what he wants to do. He can then sit and watch them and IS fight each other while Al Nusra Front battles Division 30 and Assad watches on from the sidelines.

The UN reports that 8 million people live in fear under IS rule.