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| Iraq |
| Iraqis launch airstrikes against ISIL |
| 2014-06-14 |
| [Iraq Sun] Iraqi government forces carried out ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... . The myrmidon group seized several cities from the Iraqi army this week in a move that has caused alarm across the world. Analysts say the myrmidons' advance has called into question the future of the Iraqi state. Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are within 100 kilometers of Storied Baghdad, having taken control of several towns and cities in northern Iraq in recent days. Iraqi army units have abandoned their posts and fled ahead of the myrmidons' advance. But speaking Thursday, Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, insisted that ISIL forces had been halted north of the capital. "The situation started to be reversed and the Iraqi security forces have managed to re-organize and to push them back," said Zebari. ISIL grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Their stated aim is to create a single Sunni Islamic state across the region. In an audio recording Thursday, ISIL front man Abu Mohammed al-Adnani called for fighters to continue the march to Storied Baghdad. They are a battle-hardened force, says Shiraz Maher of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at Kings College London. "It's really their experience in Syria that has allowed them to generate this head of steam. Foreign fighters came from all over the world to join that conflict. Overwhelmingly they joined ISIL. Now that group has enjoyed a revival in terms of men, money and munitions," said Maher. Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops abandoned their posts and fled. Loyalty to Storied Baghdad and to the Iraqi state is weak, says Shiraz Maher. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Given that Saudi is the one financing ISIL I doubt that our using air-bases in SA would work out well...same with Qatar...Turkey don't want no part of this. To do something we'd have to have a leader instead of a traitor calling the shots. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2014-06-14 12:08 |
| #2 In all of the US dithering, no one has mentioned the existence of US airpower based in the Middle East. Billions were spent on the base at Qatar. What is the situation of the US Al Jaber airbase in Kuwait? Is there anything left? Have we closed it down? What about the NATO base at Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, or the drone operation at Incirlik, Turkey. Is the air power we have situated in the Arab world just for show? |
| Posted by: Omolump Thud8081 2014-06-14 10:48 |
| #1 Pix of little girls & their bombed flat kittens at 11? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-06-14 04:28 |