Anti-ISIS coalition bombing terrorist positions in Iraq and Syria

26 November 2014

The US led coalition carried out an airstrike in Iraq on Tuesday killing a senior IS commander along with dozens of other jihadists riding in his convoy. Senan Meteeb, was known by the Islamic State as the ‘emir’ or ‘prince’ of the group’s military in Iraq’s Western Anbar province, and was reportedly killed along with 30 of his militants when their vehicles were hit about 190 kilometers north west of Baghdad. Mateeb was personally responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of Anbu Mimr Sunni tribesmen who had fought against the Islamic State with Iraqi security forces.

The Syrian government carried out airstrikes on Tuesday on the city of Raqqa, the de-facto capital and stronghold of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) extremist group, killing between 63 and 95 people and injuring 120. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, government planes carried out at least 10 air raids, including on the market and one of the city’s mosques. IS is known to store weapons and train and accommodate fighters in Raqqa, in the north east of Syria.

24 November 2014

The US and its allies have carried out 24 air strikes on ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria over the weekend, the US Command Center has announced. The nine strikes near Kobani in Syria destroyed fortified firing positions, and hit a command headquarters. In Iraq, the bombs targeted checkpoints, fighting units, and armored vehicles.

23 November 2014

About 300 Sweden’s citizens may have been fighting alongside Islamic State militants, the country’s intelligence chief, Anders Thornberg, told Sveriges Radio.

"A hundred cases of people who have left to join the fighting have been confirmed, then there are the presumed cases..., and then there are those that have not been counted, which brings the total to between 250 and 300,” he said.

He added that there are many young Swedes who have joined the ranks of extremist group.

"A certain number of young Swedish men are leaving and training in camps, learning to become terrorists to use explosives and weapons," he said, "They're going beyond the limits of human behavior.”

22 November 2014

Islamic State militants have killed 25 members of a Sunni tribe during their assault on a village near Ramadi, capital of Iraq's Anbar province. Local officials told Reuters that corpses of the men from the Albu Fahd tribe were found after the army launched a counter-offensive on Saturday against ISIS.

Local tribal leaders fears more dead will be found as the bodies were scattered around with no signs of weapons next to them, suggesting they were not killed during fighting.

At least 550 German citizens have joined Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told German television channel Phoenix. "We estimate 550. Just a few days ago we had 450," he said, "These young people... were radicalized in Germany, within this society. That's why prevention must be accompanied by suppression.”

He added that most of them are men, but several women have also travelled to conflict zones.

21 November 2014

The US and its allies have carried out 30 airstrikes on Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria and Iraq since Wednesday, Reuters reports.

According to US Central Command, 23 strikes in Iraq, including six near Baiji, hit IS buildings, vehicles and tactical units.

In Syria, six strikes near Kobani destroyed staging areas, buildings and two tactical units, while another near Ar Raqqah damaged an IS barrack, CentCom said.

A UK citizen who claims to be an explosives expert has joined the Islamic State (IS) militants, he told the Guardian. Hamayun Tariq, 37, a car mechanic, has been fighting for the Taliban for several years. On his Twitter account he posted pictures of multiple pages of handwritten notes on electronics components which help to assemble bombs.

The new IS recruit says he’s met 30 to 40 other UK citizens since joining the extremists.

20 November 2014

An Islamic State leader has been killed in an air strike in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Local residents and medical sources say that Radwan Taleb al-Hamdouni was killed as he was travelling by car in the west of the city on Wednesday afternoon. Al-Hamdouni was described as being the militant group’s leader in Mosul, which was reported by Reuters.

He was buried later on Wednesday, with a large number of his supporters, some carrying flags attending. He was the governor of Mosul, for Islamic State, who captured the city in June.

At least two militants from an Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front were reportedly killed in a US airstrike on a Syrian border town with Turkey.

The US military said its strikes destroyed a "storage facility run by veteran Al-Qaeda operatives," while Rami Abdul Rahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory monitoring group said two Al-Nusra Front fighters were also killed in the attack, as referred to by Reuters.

According to some locals, at least six civilians including two women and a child were injured, Reuters reported.

19 November 2014

France’s defense ministry confirmed that two Rafale fighter jets had struck Islamic State (IS) targets near the city of Kirkuk in Iraq. Alongside coalition planes, the French Air Force used two Dassault-built Rafale fighters, both armed with four missiles to attack the militant group’s positions around the oil rich city.

"This action was carried out simultaneously with our allies to create a breach in the defensive positions held by the terrorists on the frontline between Iraqi forces and Islamic State," the ministry said, which was reported by Reuters.

Meanwhile, the French government announced that France will soon add another six planes to help tackle IS. Jean-Yves Le Drian announced the reinforcements in comments Wednesday to the French parliament, according to AP. There are currently 12 French planes in the Middle East.

17 November 2014

Islamic State (IS) has executed nearly 1,500 people in Syria in the five months since it declared a caliphate in June, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The majority of IS victims have been civilians.

Four Australians between the ages of 17 to 28 have joined 60 other Australians in fighting for Islamic State, according to an Australian Muslim leader. The brothers initially told their mother they were going on holiday to Thailand, but then secretly flew to Turkey from where they crossed into Syria.

ISIS has extended its ultimatum to the Lebanese government to 4pm for it to revoke the death sentence handed down to Islamists it is holding in prison. The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) is holding nine soldiers and policemen as hostages and has threatened to kill them unless Lebanon revokes the death sentence for the captured Islamists. Judicial sources said Monday that the Lebanese Judiciary Council had originally given the death sentence to five Islamist prisoners, some of whom were from Saudi Arabia, but then issued them with life sentences and hard labor.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday that an Islamic State militant who appeared in one of their beheading videos is a 22-year-old French citizen.

"This analysis [by French intelligence services] suggests with a very high probability that a French citizen could have directly participated in carrying out these abject acts," Cazeneuve told journalists.

16 November 2014

The anti-Islamic State coalition carried out several airstrikes against militants in the besieged town of Kobani in Syria, Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. According to a local resident, Mustefa Ebdi, there were at least seven strikes overnight. The observatory also reported clashes between Kobani activists and IS fighters in the Syria-Turkish border town.

Islamic State released a video Sunday showing the beheading of a fifth Western hostage. Peter Kassig was a former US Army Ranger who disappeared more than a year ago while working as an aid worker in Syria. Kassig is ISIS’ third US victim.

14 November 2014

The Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL] “is perpetrating abuses and war crimes on a massive scale in a systematic and organized manner” in areas under its control in Syria, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria says in the report. The crimes include massacres, beheadings, torture, sexual enslavement and forced pregnancy.

The Islamic State “has made calculated use of public brutality and indoctrination to ensure the submission of communities under its control. A terrorist group has become synonymous with extreme violence directed against civilians and captured fighters,” it adds.

The Iraqi army has pushed back the Islamic State fighters from the oil-rich town of Baiji, according to the BBC

13 November 2014

France is expected to decide in coming weeks whether it will be sending fighter jets to Jordan to attack Islamic State militants in Iraq, Army spokesman Gilles Jaron told reporters. France was the first state to join the US’ anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq. The possible deployment was being discussed with authorities in Amman. "Between three to six Mirage jets could be deployed to Jordan," said a military source has been cited by Reuters.

12 November 2014

German authorities have arrested two suspected Islamic State (IS) supporters. The suspects were detained on Wednesday in the Cologne area. One suspect, identified as Mirza Tamoor, a Pakistani citizen, is accused of transporting two fighters to a jihadi group in Syria in addition to providing $4,000 and a vehicle. The second, identified only as Kais B.O., was taken into custody for allegedly recruiting fighters to join militant groups since 2013. The homes of six other suspected IS associates were also raided.

Kurds and northern Iraqi fighters are making headway against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) insurgents in besieged Kobane. Kurdish forces, who have retaken several villages around the Syrian border town, have yet to win back control of the city, which has been under IS control for over a month. Overnight clashes between Kurdish fighters and Islamic State militants in Kobane’s south, resulted in gains for the Kurds though the Islamic State still has a firm grip on the city’s east, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group. Last week, Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces arrived on the scene with armored vehicles and artillery to reinforce the fight against IS.

A Canadian-born woman, Gill Rosenberg , 31, a civil aviation pilot, who served in the Israeli army, has joined Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State group, according to Israeli media.

Speaking in Hebrew to Israel Radio, she said she had travelled to Iraq, was training with Kurdish guerrillas and would go into combat in neighboring Syria, Reuters reported.

"They (the Kurds) are our brothers. They are good people. They love life, a lot like us, really," she said.

Rosenberg is active on Facebook, posting selfies from Iraq and also pictures of herself wearing military uniform.

At least 865 people have been killed since the start of the US-led coalition’s air strikes in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Wednesday. Among the casualties, there have been 50 civilians, including 8 children. At least 746 Islamic State fighters have been killed by missile strikes in oil areas. The human rights watchdog, however, believes the death toll is much higher, but it’s hard to estimate it properly due to the militants’ “extreme secrecy” and difficulty in accessing some of the bombed areas.

11 November 2014

A close aide to Islamic State (IS) leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has allegedly been killed during a US air strike near Falluja, an IS stronghold some 70 kilometers west of Baghdad, according to Iraqi state television. They identified the man as Abu Huthaifa al-Yamani, but did not provide any further details on the attack or say when it took place.

The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has announced plans to introduce its own currency in areas under the group's control. The militant Islamic insurgents plan to bring back solid gold and silver dinar coins, a currency with ties to ancient Islamic Caliphates. Currently, many countries in the Muslim world use currency with the same name, though made out of the different materials. IS supporters on social media claim that religious leaders in Mosul and the Nineveh province in Iraq announced that the new currency will soon be put into circulation, as a way to confront the West and solidify their Caliphate.

The town of Beiji, where Iraq’s largest oil refinery is situated, was recaptured during a battle between the soldiers and Islamic State militants, a military official said on state television on Tuesday, AP reported. The top army commander in Beiji, General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, said troops had recaptured the city's local government and police headquarters in the center. Intense clashes continued in other places in the town, although 75 percent of it has been liberated, a senior military official told AP by phone. Beiji, 250 kilometers north of Baghdad, could become a base from where Iraqi forces could attack neighboring Tikrit.

Three Swedish Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) fighters were killed in Syria over the weekend, the Expressen newspaper reports, as cited by the Local. The three were reportedly killed in a series of US-led airstrikes near the Kurdish town of Kobani. The dead fighters were Swedes of Somali origin from Stockholm and Gothenburg. The news has come from another Swedish IS fighter on the ground. Sweden's Foreign Ministry has not yet confirmed the report.

10 November 2014

The Pentagon said it cannot confirm reports that the commander of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed or injured in Iraq.

"We do not have any information to corroborate reports out of Iraq that Baghdadi has been either killed or wounded," Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told a news conference.

More than 1,000 people, mostly jihadists, have been killed in Kobani since mid-September, when the IS group launched an offensive on the Syrian town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"At least 1,013 people have been killed in fighting in Ain al-Arab from the beginning of the offensive till last night," the watchdog’s director, Rami Abdel Rahman said, according to AFP.

The monitoring group estimates there are 609 Islamic State militants, 380 Kurdish fighters and 24 civilians among the dead.

09 November 2014

Clashes are raging between Iraqi troops and Islamic State jihadists in the northern city of Baiji, Reuters cited a local resident as saying. An army colonel told the agency that the army has taken over the center of Baiji and its al-Tamim neighborhood in an attempt to drive the Islamists out of a nearby oil refinery.

Syrian army planes bombed a town controlled by the Islamic State in northern Syria, killing 21 people and wounding another 100 on Sunday, Reuters reports. Military helicopters dropped barrel bombs and warplanes launched air strikes on Al-Bab, a town some 40 kilometers northeast of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UK-based monitoring group reports that Assad’s regime has carried out frequent aerial attacks on rebel held areas this fall – 850 from October 20-31 alone. The US, which denies cooperating with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces, has been conducting airstrikes on IS strongholds since September.

An Australian fighting for the Islamic State in Syria has reportedly been killed. He could be the third Australian to have died in fighting for the jihadists in the past two weeks. The man’s name is unknown, but he is believed to be from a well-known family in southwest Sydney and be married with children, the Sun Herald reported.

The Australian government says it’s trying to verify the reports of Australian citizens being killed.

"Due to the extremely dangerous security situation consular assistance is no longer available within Syria or Iraq,” the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement. “The government's capacity to follow up reports of this kind is therefore extremely limited. Australians are strongly advised not to travel to Syria and Iraq."

The leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has reportedly been “critically” injured in a US-led airstrike in Iraq that targeted a convoy of military vehicles allegedly carrying a group of senior ISIS members. However his fate remains unclear as the US is still trying to determine if he was present at the time of the strike.

08 November 2014

A 10-vehicle Islamic State convoy has been destroyed by a US led airstrike near Mosul, Iraq, Reuters reports citing a US official. Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for Central Command, said the Pentagon had reason to suspect that the convoy could potentially carry Islamic State leaders.

Turkey’s role in the fight against ISIS in Syria may be even more complicated than expected: a former Islamic State member reportedly claimed the country routinely communicates with the group, letting it cross the border to fight Kurdish troops. In a report by Newsweek, the former Islamic State communications technician – dubbed “Sherko Omer” in order to protect his identity – said the extremist group considers Turkey an ally as it continues to battle Kurds in Syrian towns like Kobani.

07 November 2014

President Barack Obama has authorized the US military to send 1,500 more troops to Iraq. That would nearly double the American military presence in the country. He also requested $5.6 billion for the fight against the Islamic State.

06 November 2014

US airstrikes have hit the camp of a rebel-group in Syria which is not affiliated with the Islamic State, activists told AP, prompting accusations that the US is indirectly aiding the Assad regime. At least one strike hit a compound controlled by Ahrar al-Sham in north west Syria, activists told the agency.

05 November 2014

A US Central Command statement says that 14 airstrikes have taken place across Syria and Iraq from Monday, with the majority targeting IS strongholds in Iraq. Three strikes took place near the Syrian border town of Kobani.

Obama has said that he will seek from Congress new authority in attempts to combat the Islamic State. "The idea is to right-size and update whatever authorization Congress provides to suit the current fight rather than previous fights," Obama told a press conference.

A German rapper-jihadist has been formally identified in an alleged Islamic State beheading video. Denis Cuspert, who also performs under the name Deso Dogg and has adopted the name Abu Talha al-Amani. While the film's authenticity is yet to be verified, its existence appears to counteract reports that he was previously killed in Syria.

04 November 2014

Islamic State has set fixed prices to sell Yazidi and Christian women who have been abducted by members of the militant group, Iraqi media have reported. The barbaric tariffs range from around $40 for older women to $170 for children.

Islamic State militants beat Kurdish children as young as 14 with cables, forced them to watch videos of IS beheadings and made them intensively learn the Koran during months of captivity, Human Rights Watch reports, saying it amounts to war crime.

03 November 2014

Canada's CF-18 fighter jets have dropped their first laser guided bombs on Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS) targets since joining the US-led coalition against the extremist group, the country’s defense minister said on Sunday.

“Coordinated with our coalition partners, two CF-18s attacked ISIL targets with GBU12 500 lb laser guided bombs in the vicinity of Fallujah, Iraq,” Defense Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement. “The approximately four hour mission included air-to-air refueling from Canada's Polaris aircraft. All aircraft returned safely to their base.”

The Iraqi government said Sunday that at least 322 members of the Al-Bu Nimr tribe were murdered by Islamic State fighters over the past week, including dozens of women and children whose bodies were found dumped in a well.

02 November 2014

Thousands of protesters from across the globe – including Turkey, France, Italy, Germany, the UK, and Australia – marched on November 1 to show solidarity with Kurdish fighters battling ISIS in the strategic city of Kobani, located on Syria's border with Turkey.

01 November 2014

Heavily-armed Iraqi Kurdish troops have arrived in the besieged town of Kobani to help Syrian Kurds fight off Islamic State militants. The town welcomed the fighters known as the Peshmerga, or “those who defy death.” The Iraqi Kurds are ready to engage in action in the next few hours, according to Kurdish officials.

"What was lacking is the weapons and ammunition, so the arrival of more of it plus the fighters will help tip the balance of the battle," Idris Nassan, a top official in the Kobani district, told Reuters.

IS militants executed 85 members of the Albu Nimr tribe in Anbar Province to the west of Iraqi capital Baghdad in a terror campaign to break their resistance to the Islamic State (IS). Fifty members of the Albu Nimr tribe were killed on Friday, when tribesmen attempted to flee the site they had been defending for weeks, but had run low on ammunition, fuel and food, one of the tribe's chiefs, Sheikh Naeem al-Ga'oud, told Reuters. Later, a mass grave with 35 bodies of civilians was found in the same area, a security official revealed. Since the Islamic State terror campaign against tribes began in the middle of the last week, over 300 people have been executed. They were shot at close range and dumped in mass graves, Ga'oud and security officials said. The Albu Nimr tribe has been asking the central government for weapons and military help to fight the jihadists, but official Baghdad sent neither weapons nor troops to rescue Albu Nimr or other tribes, al-Ga'oud revealed.

31 October 2014

A total of 15,000 troops from 80 nations are fighting for the Islamic State and similar radical groups in Syria and Iraq, according to a UN Security Council report cited by The Guardian newspaper. The document calls the inflow of fighters to the Middle East “unprecedented.”

The report, produced for the UNSC by a monitoring group tasked with watching Al-Qaeda activity, deems the Islamic State a splinter group that differs from the terrorist network in its tactical goals, but with a close enough ideology to call both parts of a broader movement.

“Al-Qaeda core and Isil [The Islamic State] pursue similar strategic goals, albeit with tactical differences regarding sequencing and substantive differences about personal leadership,” the UN writes.

While Al-Qaeda remains weakened, the Islamic State has eclipsed it in capabilities, which in applies to domestic rather than international goals, the report said.

30 October 2014

The first group of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters have entered the besieged Syrian city of Kobani via a Turkish border crossing, Reuters cites the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying.

Ten fighters are believed to have entered the city, which has been under siege by so-called Islamic State (IS) militants since September 16. Other peshmerga fighters are expected to enter the town within a “matter of hours.”

Syrian Kurdish officials have said approximately 150 peshmerga are expected to take up arms in Kobani.

The president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, said more people could be deployed from the region if the situation demanded it.

29 October 2014

Islamic State militants have shot and killed 30 Sunni men in a town west of Baghdad, Iraqi official Sabah Karhout said according to AP. Karhout said the victims were tribal fighters allied with the government and members of the security forces, but were captured by jihadists when the Islamic State seized the town, which is located about 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of the Iraqi capital.

27 October 2014

Islamic State has released a video showing British hostage John Cantlie allegedly walking and speaking in the besieged Syrian town of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab in Arabic).

The video named “Inside Ayn al-Islam” denies reports that Kurdish forces have pushed IS out of the strategic town. Experts analyzing earlier IS propaganda videos featuring Cantlie have suggested that he is speaking under duress.

Nearly a dozen air strikes have been conducted in Iraq and Syria by the US-led forces on Sunday and Monday, according to the US military.

US Central Command said four strikes were conducted near the town of Kobani in Syria, targeting Islamic State militants' vehicles and a building.

Seven air strikes in Iraq hit a small unit of the jihadists fighters, the statement said.

So far 815 people have been killed in ground fighting for Kobani in 40 days, since Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) militants attacked the Kurdish town on the Syrian-Turkish border on September 16, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Sunday. Among the total of casualties, there are 481 IS militants and 21 civilians, however, the SOHR believes “that the real number of casualties for both parties is double that number.”

26 October 2014

Islamic State (IS) has released a new video of British hostage and former Photojournalist John Cantlie, entitled Lend Me Your Ears, in which he appears to reading from a script. Cantlie explains that prisoners are generally “treated well” by IS but those who try and escape are waterboarded like “Muslim prisoners are waterboarded by their American captors.”He also says that only British and American hostages remain behind as other European governments including France and Spain have negotiated with IS to secure the release of their citizens. Two British aid workers and two US hostages have already been killed by IS.

US Central Command announced the US-led coalition has carried out one airstrike against ISIS in Syria and 22 strikes against the militants in Iraq.

In Syria, the assault near Kobani destroyed an ISIS artillery piece. In Iraq, half of the bombings focused on the heavy militant positions near the strategic Mosul Dam.

“The destruction of ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project power and conduct operations. Among the coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Iraq are the U.S., France, United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands. Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Syria include the U.S., Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Bahrain,” CENTCOM statement reads.

25 October 2014

Kurdish forces have retaken the town of Zumar in northern Iraq and surrounding villages from Islamic State (IS) militants, Reuters reports citing security sources. In a well planned operation, Kurdish peshmerga troops advanced in five directions in the early morning, after coalition air strikes had bombed IS positions. The Kurdish forces did meet fierce resistance, but eventually prevailed, according to an intelligence officer in the town.

24 October 2014

The US has undertaken 18 more air strikes against militants in Syria and Iraq, according to the US military Central Command (CENTCOM). Six strikes were carried out near the northeastern Syrian border town of Kobani across Thursday and Friday, and a further 12 took place against IS targets in Iraq, reported Reuters.

No agreement on the passage of Free Syrian Army (FSA) opposition group fighters into Kobani has been reached yet, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union party (PYD) which controls the city, said.

Contradicting previous Friday statements by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who said that passage for 1,300 FSA fighters had been allowed, PYD co-chair Saleh Muslim told Reuters no such deal had been made, but connection between the two groups had been established.

The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union party (PYD) has agreed to allow the passage of 1,300 fighters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) opposition group to the town of Kobani in northern Syria, not far from the Turkish border.

The agreement was announced by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday. He added that negotiations on the route are currently being held.

Kobani, which has been besieged by Islamic State for over a month, is controlled by the PYD, with its fighters battling the jihadists with the help of US-led coalition airstrikes in the region.

French military jets have destroyed 12 buildings in Iraq with weapons under IS control, according to France’s chief of staff of the armed forces, as quoted by Reuters.

"Tonight we undertook a big operation in Iraq in which we destroyed buildings in which Daesh (Islamic State) was producing traps, bombs, arms to attack the Iraqi forces," Pierre de Villiers told Europe 1 radio.

France became the first country to have joined the US-led coalition in Iraq in September.

Iraq’s military could start a consistent ground offensive against the IS in a few months, and a similar move would take even more time in Syria, US military’s Central Command stated, as quoted by Reuters.

The start of the Iraqi ground offensive depends on many factors, including Iraqi politics and the local weather. Plus, Iraqi troops should get proper training and weapons, it added.

"It's not imminent. But we don't see that that's a years-long effort to get them to a place to where they can be able to go on a sustained counter-offensive," a military source told Reuters.

23 October 2014

A total of 15 strikes have been carried out by the US and its allies in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday and Thursday, the US Central Command said. Four strikes hit the key border city of Kobani, destroying an Islamic State control center and fighting positions in an area. Another two targeted oil tanks east of Dayr Az Zawr. A vehicle was destroyed near Bayji. Four strikes in the Fallujah area targeted a training facility, a larger Islamic State unit and a building.

22 October 2014

Syria has reported shooting down two of three Islamic state jets, according to Information Minister Omran Zoabi who spoke to the country's state run SANA news agency.

"Regarding ... that terrorists control three jets in al-Jarrah military air base in Aleppo, there are three old aircraft that the terrorists were testing so the Syrian Arab Army immediately destroyed two of them on the runway as they were landing," Zoabi said.

On Friday the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had reported that IS had been undertaking training flights in three jets it had commandeered.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said it would not be appropriate to disclose details around a recent plan to allow peshmerga fighters from Iraq safe passage through Turkey to aid embattled Kurds in the Syrian told of Kobani.

Iraqi government forces have fought off an advance by so-called Islamic State (IS) militants in the town of Amiriya Fallujah, west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, army sources told Reuters.

The Iraqi army deployed tanks and armored vehicles to repel the assault. Soldiers destroyed five of the fighters' vehicles, a security source told the agency. The town has been under siege for the past month and is the last government-controlled town before the strategically important city of Fallujah.

Another battle was reportedly ongoing in the town of Hit, which is also in western Anbar province. The nature that engagement and potential outcomes remain unclear.

#ISIS claiming they will attack #Karbala before #Baghdad , the distance is 90 KM From #AlAmriya to Karbala. pic.twitter.com/rM5FrTUj5S

— Barzan Sadiq (@SeniorB) October 22, 2014

Syrian Foreign minister Omran Zoubi said the country’s air force destroyed two of three jets allegedly test flown by so-called Islamic State (IS) fighters over Aleppo last week.

The Associated Press cites Zoubi as telling Syrian TV late Tuesday that Syrian aircraft bombed the jets as they were landing at Jarrah airbase in the eastern countryside of Aleppo province. He said the militants had managed to hide a third jet, which the Syrian air force is currently looking for. He characterized the aircraft as old, saying they were no longer useful as military equipment.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier reported that IS had flown MiG fighter jets over the base with the aid of former Iraqi air force fighters, who have thrown in their lot with the militants. The reports have not been independently confirmed.

21 October 2014

Why do we know nothing about #ISIS? (Op-Edge) http://t.co/cZCQFHkmvkpic.twitter.com/ollGZZpFkV

— RT (@RT_com) October 21, 2014

Two French Rafale fighter jets have carried their third round of airstrikes on positions of IS militants.

"During an armed reconnaissance mission in the Tikrit region 200km (124 miles) north of Baghdad, mobile targets were transmitted to flight crews," the French Defense Ministry’s website said.

"After they were identified and confirmed as hostile by the Rafale pilots, they were targeted with three laser-guided GBU 12 bombs," it added.

Danish fighter jets have dropped the country’s first bombs on the targets of Islamic State militants, said a statement from Defense Command Denmark.

“The missions that Denmark has participated in have been offensive operations and the Danish jets have used bombs in connection with some of the missions,” the statement read.

20 October 2014

US Secretary of State John Kerry the Obama administration had decided to airdrop weapons and ammunitions to "valiant" Kurds battling so-called Islamic State (IS) extremists in the Syrian border town of Kobani because it would be "irresponsible" and "morally very difficult" not to do so, AP reports.

Speaking from Jakarta, Kerry said aid supplies to the besieged town of Kobani, just miles from Syria’s border with Turkey, were viewed as absolutely necessary in a “crisis moment.”

He noted, however, US sensitivities to its regional ally Turkey, which could take issue with any move that could prove beneficial to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a nearly three-decade battle for greater autonomy in Turkey’s southeast.

"Let me say very respectfully to our allies the Turks that we understand fully the fundamentals of their opposition and ours to any kind of terrorist group and particularly obviously the challenges they face with respect the PKK," Kerry said. "But we have undertaken a coalition effort to degrade and destroy ISIL, and ISIL is presenting itself in major numbers in this place called Kobani."

Earlier on Monday, Turkey's Foreign Minister that his country is helping Iraqi Kurdish forces cross into Kobani "to give support" to fellow Kurdish fighters defending Kobani.

After last weeks dozens of strikes in #Kobane last nights US supply drop to fighters is another indicator of ppl on ground directing ops

— Mark Urban (@MarkUrban01) October 20, 2014

Some of the medical supplies airdropped for civilians in #Kobani by @CENTCOM#Kobane#SaveKobanipic.twitter.com/7nmcqJjgOT

— Mutlu Civiroglu (@mutludc) October 20, 2014

The United States reportedly launched 12 airstrikes against so-called Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq on Sunday and Monday, US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement. Six of the airstrikes were centered around the embattled Syrian city of Kobani, where Kurdish fighters have been resisting an IS siege since September 16.

In Iraq, US forces working with Iraqi ground troops also launched half-a-dozen strikes against militant positions near Fallujah and Bayji. According to Centcom, French and UK forces took part in the strikes. Three of the strikes hit south of the oil refinery in Bayji on Monday, striking a small band of militants and damaging or destroying vehicles under IS control. The strikes near Fallujah also hit a large unit of IS fighters, the statement read.

Islamic State militants are besieging about 700 Yazidi Kurdish families west of the city of Mosul, in Mount Sinjar. The information comes from a security source speaking to Al Arabiya on Monday.

The Sinjar Protection Forces currently keeping the IS from advancing say they are quickly running out of supplies and ammunition, and have appealed for military assistance from the US-led coalition fighting the terrorist group.

The source also said there are plans by the terorrists to seek reinforcements and that some have already been seen deployed a kilometer away from Mount Sinjar.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed earlier reports from Kurdish media that Ankara had agreed to give Peshmerga forces safe passage to the besieged Syrian town of Kobani. Cavusoglu did not provide details on the agreement, which will allow Peshmerga forces to cross through Turkish territory in order to relieve Peoples Protection Units (YPG) fighters battling against so-called Islamic State (IS) militants in Kobani, located just miles south of Syria’s border with Turkey.

Turkey has given Peshmerga forces in Iraqi Kurdistan safe passage to the besieged Syrian town of Kobani, the Kurdish online news portal Rudaw cites a “well-placed source” as saying. The source reportedly said Ankara had responded positively to a request from Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani to allow Peshmerga forces to pass through Turkish territory in order to relieve Peoples Protection Units (YPG) fighters in their battle against so-called Islamic State (IS) militants. Turkish authorities have not officially confirmed the claim.

Syrian Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State militants received some support from the US, as it air-dropped weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies near the town of Kobani, located near Turkish border, US Central Command said on Sunday. US Air Force C-130 aircraft carried out multiple airdrops.

It "delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies that were provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq and intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL's attempts to overtake Kobani," the military said in a statement.

The Central Command added that 135 airstrikes near Kobani in recent days have killed hundreds of fighters and delayed the Islamic State’s advances, but the security situation in the town remains “fragile.”

"The Islamic State continues to threaten the city and Kurdish forces continue to resist," the statement said.

#ISIS teaches how to avoid #NSA snooping in a tweet – report http://t.co/NUVJyYruohpic.twitter.com/FtYe3ntZSN

— RT (@RT_com) October 20, 2014

18 October 2014

The US State Department has confirmed sharing intelligence with Kurdish fighters in Syria in the joint fight against IS militants.

“We do get intelligence from, get information from a wide range of people – obviously, look for it anywhere we can get it. So yes, there is some intelligence and information-sharing going on. That’s not something you replicate everywhere, of course, but in this case that is correct,” US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said during a daily press briefing on Friday.

Kurdish forces in the Syrian town of Kobane thwarted an attempt by Islamic State fighters to cut them off at the border with Turkey on Saturday, Kurdish official Idris Nassen told AFP.

He said the jihadists hit the Syrian side of the border crossing with mortar fire, but were pushed back by the Kurds.

Still, the possibility of more attacks on the crossing by IS militants hinders authorities from evacuating civilians caught in the war zone, according to Kobane district chief, Anwar Muslim.

17 October 2014

Germany has said it will seize the ID cards of potential jihadists its suspects of planning to go to Syria or Iraq to join radical Islamists. German intelligence believes that at least 450 people have left Germany for Syria, of which about 150 have returned, many of whom are under criminal investigations.

Under existing laws, Germany can seize the passports of potential jihadists to stop them from traveling, but not their personal ID cards. These are enough for German citizens to get into any other European country, as well as Turkey, a crucial gateway to Syria, where would-be jihadists can slip across the lengthy border with Syria.

Police have arrested a man and woman on a train in Austria on charges of traveling to Syria to fight for jihadist groups. The couple also took the woman’s eight-year-old son on the trip. Police in Germany also arrested a man last Saturday for belonging to a foreign terror group during an extended stay in Syria, they announced Thursday. The 27-year-old German national is alleged to have been a member of the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front.

16 October 2014

The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has seized three trucks with school textbooks destined for Iraqi children at the country's border with Jordan, a source close to the country's Education Ministry told the RIA Novosti news agency on Thursday.

“Terrorists demand $36,000 for each truck. Now providing pupils with textbooks is questionable,” the source said, adding that, “it will hit particularly hard the primary school, as children are waiting for the opportunity to go to school and temporarily forget about everyday difficulties.”

The fighting with IS and an increasing number of refugees has caused the beginning of the academic year in the country to be put off until October 22. However, in some regions, where the situation is worse, the opening of schools may be postponed even further.

US military fighter and bomber planes carried out 14 air strikes against Islamic State targets near the Syrian border town of Kobani on Wednesday and Thursday, the US military's Central Command said.

The air strikes appear to have slowed the militant group's advances, but "the security situation on the ground in Kobani remains tenuous," it said in a statement on Thursday. (Reuters)

US-led airstrikes have successfully pushed back Islamic State militants from the eastern and southeastern parts of Kobani, a local Kurdish official told AFP by telephone on Thursday.

“Before [the IS] were in control of 30 percent of Kobani and now they control less than 20 percent thanks to the international coalition,” Nassen said. He added that “We need more airstrikes, as well as weaponry and ammunition to fight them on the ground.”

15 October 2014

The United States military has dubbed the coalition operation against so-called Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria "Inherent Resolve," a US military official has said.

Some have taken exception with Turkey's characterization of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and other Kurdish fighters in Syria.

"@mariospost: The Kurdish female fighters Erdogan calls 'terrorists', the Heroes fighting #ISIS in #Kobane ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/LMlERqmxca”"

— Christiane ICHOUNGTH (@ICHOUNGTHOE) October 15, 2014

At least 32 so-called Islamic State (IS) fighters were killed in US-led airstrikes around the Syrian city of Kobani, Reuters reports. The bombing campaign has become increasingly effective due to intelligence and on the ground coordination with Kurdish fighters, the agency cites a monitoring group as saying.

Isis in Kobani: Black flag is torn down as Kurdish fighters capture hill overlooking Kobani in symbolic victory . pic.twitter.com/4gytz3KX2R

— Mostafa Salih (@Sabah_Salh) October 15, 2014

Kurdish fighters are reportedly rallying in the Syrian city of Kobani, claiming they have taken back large swaths of territory from so-called Islamic State (IS) fighters. With the US intensifying airstrikes against IS positions - launching 21 within a 48 hour period this week - the out-armed Kurds have potentially been given enough breathing space to stage a dramatic comeback.

According to reports, IS has been forced to abandon strategic positions in the west of the city, while Kurdish forces have them pinned down in other areas.The Kurdish rebound comes after previous reports that IS already had 40 percent of Kobani under their control, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan saying last week the city would fall in days.

14 October 2014

UK troops could be deployed to a country neighboring Syria in order to train moderate Syrian rebels battling against so called-Islamic State (IS) militants, Defence Secretary Michale Fallon told the BBC. Fallon said Jordan was a likely candidate, though he stressed that UK forces would not be engaged in direct combat.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said repeatedly that Britain would not commit any boots on the ground in Iraq or Syria to battle IS. However, around 150 British military personnel are already said to be on the ground in Iraq, chiefly for advisory purposes, including members of the SAS and SBS.

On Sunday, it was announced that a "small specialist team" of British soldiers is already in northern Iraq training Kurdish fighters to use heavy machine guns supplied to them by the UK last month. The dozen-man team from the Yorkshire Regiment are expected to remain in country for around a week’s time.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has accused the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) of “torturing” Kurds who escaped to Turkey to avoid the military siege being conducted by militants from the so-called Islamic State (IS).

Davutoglu said the refugees had fled to Turkey "to escape pressure" from (PYD), which is the primary Kurdish political party in Syria and affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has fought for nearly three decades for self-rule in Turkey’s southeast.

"Our brothers came here to escape pressure from PYD. They put a great deal of pressure on those in Kobani who don't share their opinion," AFP cites Davutoglu as telling lawmakers from his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

"Just ask those in the region how PYD has been torturing people in Kobani. I'm calling on our brothers in the region to raise their voices," Davutoglu said.

"Where were you when the PYD was oppressing some of the Kurds?" he asked in a pointed question to the International community.

Turkey has so far taken in some 200,000 refugees from Kobani, which is just a few miles from its border with Syria.

Prior to the IS assault, the PYD controlled much of the area.

American-led forces have hit so-called Islamic State (IS) militants with 21 airstrikes near the besieged Syrian city of Kobani in the last two days. One strike hit a modular oil refinery near Deir al-Zor, Reuters reports, citing US Central Command. Two militant staging areas were reportedly destroyed in the bombing campaign, along with three buildings under IS control. Three other compounds used by IS were also damaged, Central Command said.

The intensified bombing campaign is meant to stave off the IS advance on Kobani, where Kurdish fighters have nearly been encircled but are thus far “continuing to hold out.” The US military says the situation on the ground remains fluid.

Syrian Kurds have received a "symbolic" amount of military aid from Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) that is meant for Kobani but is stuck in northeastern Syria because Turkey will not open an aid corridor, a Syrian Kurdish official said.

The aid designed to help in the Kurdish fight against Islamic State in Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, includes ammunition for light weapons and mortar shells, said Alan Othman, media official in the Syrian Kurdish military council in the northeastern Syria, speaking to Reuters via Skype.

"It is a symbolic shipment that has remained in the Jazeera canton," he said, using the Kurdish name for northeastern Syria.

13 October 2014

The UN says that up to 180,000 people have escaped the town of Hit in the western province of Anbar, since it was taken by Islamic State fighters at the beginning of this month. The town had already been home to as many as 100,000 refugees, and the fleeing masses will now likely seek safety further east. The capture of Hit was considered a strategic IS move, intended to isolate the defenders of the crucial Haditha Dam.

A suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with explosives has carried out an attack about 2 kilometers north of the Kurdish town of Kobani, Reuters reports, citing Kurdish sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Prominent #Muslim academic Tariq Ramadan says #ISIS acts in a way entirely contradictory to #Islam.

— PaulaSlier_RT (@PaulaSlier_RT) October 13, 2014

The Islamic State is calling on its supporters to carry out “lone wolf attacks against countries that conduct airstrike assaults on militants’ positions in Iraq and Syria,” according to an article in jihadist magazine Dabiq, which conducts PR campaigns for IS.

The magazine says that it is very important that attacks “take place in every country that has entered the alliance against Islamic State, especially the US, UK, France, Australia and Germany,” the article says. “The citizens of crusader nations should be targeted wherever they can be found.”

Turkey has allowed the US to its air bases for the campaign against Islamic State militants, a senior US defense official told AFP, claiming "details of usage are still being worked out."

US currently operates out of Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, with about 1,500 airmen there.

Earlier on Sunday Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel in a telephone call with Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz, thanked him for the "willingness to contribute to coalition efforts, to include hosting and conducting training for Syrian opposition members," his spokesman said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the main responsibility to fight ISIS lies with Iraqis despite the US-led airstrikes campaign.

"Over time we believe that the strategy will build, the capacity will build, Daesh (ISIS) will become more isolated," he said. "But ultimately it is Iraqis who will have to take back Iraq. It is Iraqis in Anbar who will have to fight for Anbar."

With regards to the Kobani siege he said that "just one community...does not define the strategy of the coalition with respect to Daesh (ISIS)".

12 October 2014

The European Commission has decided to give 3.9 million euro ($4.9 million) of humanitarian aid “to help meet the urgent needs of the thousands of people” who are seeking shelter in neighboring Turkey to escape the Islamic State advance to the Iraqi town of Kobani, the European Commission said in a statement. “Over 180,000 Syrians have been displaced to Turkey by the fierce fighting in Kobani. This further adds to the impact of what is the biggest humanitarian crisis of our times. We are directing urgently needed funds to help the humanitarian organizations on the ground deal with the massive influx of refugees,” said Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response.

Kurds fighting in the Syrian border town of Kobani are urging the US-led coalition to keep on striking ISIS positions.

"The air strikes are benefiting us, but Islamic State is bringing tanks and artillery from the east. We didn't see them with tanks, but yesterday we saw T-57 tanks," Esmat Al-Sheikh, head of the Kobani defence council told Reuters from Kobani.

But intense street fighting is making it impossible to conduct precision strikes in an urban environment. "We have a problem, which is the war between houses," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed threats posed by the Islamic State extremist group, the Kremlin press service said.

"While exchanging opinions on international issues, the emphasis was put on threats posed by the Islamic State terrorist group," the statement said.

11 October 2014

German diplomatic efforts are aimed at convincing Turkey and Iran to join the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants, its Foreign Minister told“Tagesspiegel am Sonntag” newspaper. “We are trying to convince the Arab countries, Turkey and Iran that it is necessary to work together against IS”, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. That would require “overcoming old enmities”. He added that Germany was advocating for Turkey to fight the militants with "full force".

Fighting between Islamic militants and Kurdish fighters in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani continued as the militants pushed further into the town this week. Despite airstrikes by the US-led coalition, Kurdish militiamen were struggling to repel advances by IS fighters on Saturday. A video posted online on Friday by a group affiliated with the Islamic State purports to show the militants engaged in gunfire inside the besieged town of Kobani.

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt in a market north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing 11 people and wounding 21 others, Reuters reports.

The site of the bombing has been the scene of clashes between Iraqi forces and Islamic State (IS) fighters, who have taken control of large sections of northern and western Iraq this year.

Meanwhile, in the town of Udaim, 90 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, four Iraqi soldiers wounded by IS fighters were mistaken for jihadist insurgents and died after Shiite militia volunteers attacked them.

The battle for Kabani has sparked a deadly uprising amongst Turkey's Kurdish population, angered with the governments reluctance to help the people of the town. Reports say more than 35 protesters have been killed in demonstrations, as activists clash with police. Despite the unrest, Ankara refuses to act and prevents Kurds from aiding the besieged people - RT's Irina Galushko explains.

10 October 2014

Washington says it is essential that Turkey accelerates its involvement in the fight against the Islamic State, as US top national security aide, Lisa Monaco is visiting Turkey.

Monaco “expressed appreciation for Turkey's support to ongoing US military operations in Iraq and Syria and underscored the importance of accelerating Turkish assistance as part of the comprehensive strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL (ISIS),” the White House said in a statement.

Iraqi news cameraman, his brother and two other civilians have been executed by Islamic State militants in public in a village north of Baghdad, the journalist's relatives told AFP.

37-year-old cameraman, Raad al-Azzawi, working for local news channel Sama Salaheddin was shot dead by the jihadists, east of the city of Tikrit.

Al-AzzawAn was kidnapped by IS militants on September 7 in Samarra. The jihadis threatened to behead him if he refused to work for them, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported..

"The jihadist organisation has announced that it plans to carry out its decapitation threat because the journalist refused to work for the Islamic State (IS)," RSF said at the time.

Turkey has agreed to support “train-and-equip efforts for the moderate Syrian opposition,” spokeswoman for the US State Department, Marie Harf, has announced, adding that the Defense Department team will arrive in Ankara next week to “continue planning that through military channels.”

Thousands of people "will most likely be massacred" if Kobani falls to Islamic State fighters, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Friday. The Islamic State militants controled 40 percent of Kobani by Friday evening as Turkish forces do not intervene.

The UN envoy compared possible Kobani population fate with one of Bosnian town of Srebrenica, where 8,000 Muslims were killed by Serbs in 1995, while UN peacekeepers failed to protect them.

The father of the murdered US reporter, James Foley, who was beheaded by Islamic State (IS) in August, says he believes governments will eventually have to negotiate with the militant organization.

Speaking to French radio, John Foley said, “Eventually, I think we are going to have to negotiate. This situation is not going to be solved by military intervention," which was reported by AFP.

Mr. Foley believes it would be worth a try to talk to IS, while his wife Diane stated, "These people need to be understood. I think we need to talk with them, we need to study them."

Their son James Foley was the first Western hostage to be brutally beheaded by the militant group.

The US has conducted nine airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) militant targets around the town of Kobani, on the Turkish-Syrian border. Two buildings used by the militants were destroyed, along with a tank and heavy machine gun were destroyed to the south of the city, while one large and two small IS units were also taken out.

There were three airstrikes in the north of Kobani, with two small IS units being eliminated, as well as two buildings, which were under the militants’ control, according to Reuters.

However, despite the bombing campaigns, IS stillcontrols more than a third of the city.

#UN report on #Ieaq says a total of 1.8 million people are in a 'deadly, life threatening situation' pic.twitter.com/yRpMJ1cwyB

— PaulaSlier_RT (@PaulaSlier_RT) October 9, 2014

The U.N. envoy for Syria called on Friday on Turkey to allow volunteers to cross the Syrian border to prevent Islamic State fighters carrying out a massacre in Kobani, where 500-700 mostly elderly people were sheltering.

"Everybody should do whatever they can to stop this," Staffan di Mistura told a news conference in Geneva. "I hope we will not see people beheaded." (Reuters)

09 October 2014

US Central Command has announced that the international coalition has carried out 5 strikes “using bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft” against ISIS positions near Kobani, Syria.

“In Syria, five strikes south of Kobani damaged an ISIL training camp, destroyed an ISIL support building and destroyed two ISIL vehicles. These strikes also struck one small ISIL unit and one large ISIL unit. To conduct these strikes,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

Despite Wednesday’s airstrikes, the UK Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports Islamic State militants captured a police station in the east of Kobani. The organization also reported that 11 IS fighters were killed in the fight with the Kurdish forces, which also managed to capture four jihadis. The station was later struck by coalition jets, AFP reports.

"I can confirm that they don't control a third of the city. There is only a small part of Kobani under the control of Daesh (ISIS)” local Kurdish official Idriss Nassan told AFP, as he claimed that more than 20 airstrikes have been conducted in the area since Wednesday afternoon. Overall, the Observatory claims that throughout Syria, 45 ISIS fighters were killed on Wednesday.

The Turkish government has imposed a curfew in parts of the southeast of the country after at least 21 people were killed in clashes around pro-Kurdish protests.

The most intense rioting took place in Diyarbakir on Wednesday, when troops and tanks patrolled the city. Police also resorted to using tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters in Istanbul and Ankara.

"We will never tolerate vandalism and other acts of violence aimed at disturbing the peace," Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said.

Kurds, who are Turkey’s largest minority, are express their frustration over the fact the government has not so far intervened militarily against Islamic State militants in neighboring Syria. The government in Ankara has also blocked Turkish Kurds from crossing the border to fight the Islamic jihadists.

Islamic State fighters have seized more than a third of the Syrian border town of Kobani despite U.S.-led air strikes targeting them in and around the mainly Kurdish community, a monitoring group said on Thursday.

The commander of Kobani's heavily outgunned Kurdish defenders said Islamic State controlled a slightly smaller area. However, he acknowledged that the militants had made major gains in the culmination of a three-week battle that has also led to the worst streets clashes in years between police and Kurdish protesters across the frontier in southeast Turkey.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country's civil war, said Islamic State - still widely known by its former acronym of ISIS - had pushed forward on Thursday.

"ISIS control more than a third of Kobani. All eastern areas, a small part of the northeast and an area in the southeast," the Observatory's head, Rami Abdulrahman, said.

Esmat al-Sheikh, head of the Kurdish militia forces in Kobani, said Islamic State fighters had seized about a quarter of the town in the east. "The clashes are ongoing - street battles," he told Reuters by telephone from the town.

NATO’s newly appointed secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, currently visiting Ankara, has said setting up a no-fly zone inside Syria is not being discussed by the alliance, Reuters reports.

"I believe there is no simple and straightforward way out of the problems we are seeing," Stoltenberg said in a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlu Cavusaoglu. "It has not been on the table of any NATO discussions," he said, referring to the safe zone plans.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said it is not “realistic” to expect Turkey to unilaterally conduct a ground operation against the Islamic State extremist group (also known as ISIS, or ISIL) in Kobani, Syria.

"It is not realistic to expect Turkey to conduct a ground operation on its own,” Cavusoglu said, according to Reuters. “We are holding talks.... Once there is a common decision, Turkey will not hold back from playing its part."

As many as 21 people have been killed in pro-Kurdish rallies that erupted in Turkey in support of Kobani compatriots in Syria against ISIS. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that 19 people were killed and 145 wounded while Dogan news agency reported the death toll of 21 people.

An air campaign against the Islamic State will not suffice in the Syrian town of Kobani, the Pentagon press secretary said.

“Airstrikes alone are not going to do this,” Rear Adm. John Kirby said. “They’re not going to fix this. They’re not going to save the town of Kobani.”

The potential key to success will be to invest in training and equipping local ground forces.

“And we don’t have a willing, capable, effective partner on the ground inside Syria right now. It’s just a fact. I can’t change that,” Kirby said, adding “this is going to be a long, difficult struggle.”

08 October 2014

Eight airstrikes have been carried out by the US coalition against ISIS militants near the Syrian city of Kobani, US Central Command reports, emphasizing that the town is still under Kurdish control. CENTCOM said that strikes destroyed five armored vehicles, a supply depot, a command and control compound, a logistics compound, and barracks.

"US Central Command continues to monitor the situation in Kobani closely. Indications are that Kurdish militia there continue to control most of the city and are holding out against ISIL (ISIS)," it said in a statement.

Australia has become the latest country to join the Islamic State bombing campaign in Iraq, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) reported.

“Overnight the Australian Air Task Group operating in the Middle East attacked its first target in Iraq. Two bombs were dropped from an F/A-18F Super Hornet on to an ISIL facility,” the ADF said without elaborating.

Islamic State fighters pushed into two districts of the Syrian border town of Kobani in fierce fighting with heavy weapons, including tanks, Kurdish officials said.

“Civilians may have died because of very intense clashes,” Asya Abdullah, co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main Syrian Kurdish group defending the area, told Reuters from the town.

The militants were being held in the suburbs by fierce resistance from Kurdish forces defending the town, which has been under assault for more than three weeks, the official added.

Over 400 people have been killed during the three weeks of clashes in #Kobani.

— PaulaSlier_RT (@PaulaSlier_RT) October 8, 2014

The Swiss government has banned the Islamic State group and all activities to support it, such as spreading propaganda or collecting money. People who defy the ban can be punished with sentences up to three years in prison, a governmental statement says.

More than a million Syrian refugees in Turkey may go without food, medicine and shelter, unless the international community provides more funding, the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday. The majority of the 1.5 million Syrian refugees live outside refugee camps, using mosques, schools and parks as temporary shelters.

"These are the people who need urgent help, but the longer the conflict goes on, the worse their situation will become," Carol Batchelor, the UNHCR representative in Turkey, said.

Turkey received only 37 percent of the funding it requested as part of the 2014 Syria Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP6), she said.

Extra funding is needed not only for food, medicine and shelter, but also to provide basic education to child refugees, who account for more than half the Syrian refugees in Turkey, Batchelor added.

The UNHCR protects and supports refugees at the request of a government or the United Nations and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country.

Saving the Syrian town of Kobani was not the US’ main objective, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. He also asked the government of Turkey to decide what role it may play against the Islamic State.

Kerry said the idea of a buffer zone between Turkey and Syria should be thoroughly studied and Britain’s Hammond expressed the same opinion.

In the meantime, France said on Wednesday it supported the idea of setting up a buffer zone to create a safe haven for displaced people.

U.S.-led air strikes on Wednesday pushed Islamic State fighters back to the edges of the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, which they had appeared set to seize after a three-week assault, Kurdish officials in the town said.

The town has become the focus of international attention since the Islamists' advance drove 180,000 of the area's mostly Kurdish inhabitants to flee into adjoining Turkey, which has infuriated its own restive Kurdish minority by refusing to intervene.

Islamic State hoisted its black flag on the eastern edge of the town on Monday but, since then, air strikes by a U.S.-led coalition that includes Gulf states opposed to Islamic State have redoubled.

"They are now outside the entrances of the city of Kobani. The shelling and bombardment was very effective and as a result of it, IS have been pushed from many positions," Idris Nassan, deputy foreign minister of Kobani district, told Reuters by phone.

"This is their biggest retreat since their entry into the city and we can consider this as the beginning of the countdown of their retreat from the area."

Canadian lawmakers have voted in favor of sending forces to join the international coalition launching attacks on the Islamic State jihadist militia in Iraq for a six-month mission. The vote was 157 to 134, AFP reported. Two opposition parties, the New Democrats and the Liberals, voted against. Six hundred Canadian Air Force and other military personnel, six jets and other fighter aircraft are set to go to Iraq shortly.

‘#Turkey can fight #ISIS without external assistance’ (Op-Edge) http://t.co/nURoTMOKrJpic.twitter.com/3bgDlr7I0X

— RT (@RT_com) October 8, 2014

Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey said Tuesday that he's "fearful" ISIS terrorists are about to take over Kobani.

“I am fearful that Kobani will fall,” Dempsey told ABC News, adding that Turkey is prepared to respond should the terrorists enter its territory.

“They've got forces on their side of the border that will prevent ISIL (ISIS) from making any incursions into Turkey,” said Dempsey. "But, of course, ISIL is smart enough not to do that.”

“They're becoming more savvy with the use of electronic devices,” he continued. “They don't fly flags and move around in large convoys the way they did... They don't establish headquarters that are visible or identifiable.”

Canada is to send six CF-18 fighter-bombers, two CP-140 surveillance planes, one aerial tanker aircraft and 600 personnel to join coalition airstrikes in Iraq for up to six months, after the House of Commons voted in favor of the motion with 157 in favour, while 134 voted against.

"We know that when we face this kind of a threat, a terrorist caliphate established in the open, that threatens this country and threatens it quite explicitly and directly, that is not something we can just sit back and watch," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

Bomber, fighter, and drone aircraft have been deployed to conduct nine airstrikes against ISIS in Syria over the last two days, US Central Command said.

“In Syria, two airstrikes west of Al-Hasakah successfully struck multiple ISIL buildings...another airstrike northeast of Dayr az Zawr successfully struck an ISIL staging area and an IED production facility. One airstrike south of Kobani destroyed three ISIL armed vehicles and damaged another; another strike southeast of Kobani destroyed an ISIL armed vehicle carrying anti-aircraft artillery. Two airstrikes southwest of Kobani damaged an ISIL tank; another airstrike south of Kobani destroyed an ISIL unit. One airstrike southwest of Rabiyah struck a small group of ISIL fighters,” CENTCOM said, adding that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also participated in these airstrikes.

Separately, US military forces used fighter jets and remotely piloted aircraft to conduct four airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq.

The White House is "concerned" about the situation in Kobani, as the administration sends an envoy to Ankara to meet with high-level Turkish officials.

"There will also be a discussion about what Turkey’s political leadership perceives to be their interest in this region," Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

"And it is our view that there is a clear interest that Turkey has in working with the international coalition -- or international community to deal with the threat that's posed by ISIL (ISIS), notwithstanding whatever other political interests they may have there."

07 October 2014

US-led airstrikes against Islamic State will not destroy the extremists, Pentagon spokeswoman Cmdr. Elissa Smith told RIA Novosti.

“This isn't going to be solved through airstrikes or military power alone. There has to be more to this than just airstrikes. It doesn't mean that the airstrikes aren't important, that they won't continue or that they aren't being effective. What it does mean is that airstrikes are just one piece of a much larger strategy that's going to take some time,” Cmdr. Smith said in a statement.

Lot of shouting, more firing, I'm in my sleeping bag - I'm not moving. Cameraman is trying to film from his sleeping bag not far from me

— PaulaSlier_RT (@PaulaSlier_RT) October 7, 2014

At least 9 people have reportedly been killed and scores others wounded as pro-Kurdish demonstrators clashed with police in eastern provinces as well as in Istanbul and Ankara, according to local media, as people demand action against the Islamic State.

Turkey has asked the US to step up air strikes to keep Islamic State militants from seizing a key Syrian Kurdish border town, Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said.

"Our government and our related institutions have emphasized to US officials the necessity of immediately ramping up air bombardment in a more active and efficient way," Akdogan said as quoted by TV channel AHaber. (Reuters)

ISIS in Kobani: How Kurdish protests flared up & spread across Europe (INTERACTIVE MAP)

Dutch F-16 jets have undertaken their first strikes on ISIS in Iraq, according to the country’s Ministry of Defense. “Two Dutch F-16s this morning used weapons for the first time in Iraq against the ISIS terror group. They dropped three bombs on armed ISIS vehicles that were shooting at (Kurdish) Peshmerga fighters in the north of the country,” a statement from the department said, according to AFP. “Vehicles were destroyed in the attack and ISIS fighters possibly killed,” it added.

Clashes have erupted across Turkey as Kurdish protesters have taken to the streets against the Islamic State’s advances on the town of Kobani on the Turkish-Syrian border, and what they said was Ankara’s inadequate response to the threat.

Protesters are burning statues of Atatürk, the first President of Turkey. pic.twitter.com/lfgHXYf17t

— Rekka (@Rekka_K) October 7, 2014

Pro-Kurdish demonstrations calling for support of the town of Kobani in Syria, which is besieged by Islamic State militants, swept through Europe.

In Belgium, some 50 activists made their way into the European Parliament building in Brussels.

#Kurdish protesters broke through security, stormed into EU #Parliament, made "VoxBox" area true stage of vox populi pic.twitter.com/TNW4UvGGwd

— Tomasz Rusek (@T_Rusek) October 7, 2014

In London, Kurd protesters occupied Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2.

Kurds have Occupied Heathrow airport in London #BerxwedanaKobane@BBCWorld@guardian@nytimes@cnnbrk@David_Cameronpic.twitter.com/lJdUU7eQJH

— neşe kayacan (@tigramed) October 7, 2014

Demonstrations also took place in Berlin and Rome.

At least 412 people have been killed during three weeks of fighting between Islamic State and Kurdish fighters in and outside the Syrian border town of Kobani, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The estimate, coming from sources on the ground, includes fighters from both sides and civilians, but real figures may be bigger than that.

Tokyo police are investigating reports that a Japanese student tried to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State militants, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told the media.

Local Asahi Shimbun daily reported that a 26-year-old man, a student at Hokkaido University, was questioned by police after taking a leave of absence. His passport was confiscated, the newspaper said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged "all those with the means to do so" to protect the residents of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) in Syria amid the assault from the Islamic State.

"In light of the gross and extensive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law the terrorist group has committed in areas that have fallen under its control in Syria and Iraq during its barbarous campaign, he [Ban] urgently calls on all those with the means to do so to take immediate action to protect the beleaguered civilian population of Ayn al-Arab," UN said in a press release.

Ban is "following with grave concern the ongoing offensive by ISIL [IS] on the northern Syrian town of Ayn al-Arab, which has already resulted in massive displacement of civilians, including into Turkey, and numerous death and injuries," the statement continues.

The US has been carrying out the majority of bombings against Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq since the initial air campaign against the extremists began on August 8, US defense officials told AFP.

US warplanes have conducted 1,768 airstrikes, while Arab and other allied countries have launched 195 strikes against IS jihadists.

06 October 2014

Apache helicopters have been deployed for the first time by the US Central Command against Islamic State militants in Iraq. The choppers were sent out on Sunday and Monday on missions near Fallujah.

"This was the first time rotary wing aircraft were used in coordination with and in support of ISF (Iraqi Security Force) operations," Central Command spokesman Army Major Curtis Kellogg told Reuters in an email. "The Iraqi government asked for support with this capability near Fallujah to push back (Islamic State)."

Another US official told the agency that the deployed aircraft were Apache helicopters. Pentagon spokesman Army Colonel Steve Warren added that aircraft were chosen because of the nature of the targets.

Warren also said that the Pentagon considered the risk of flying the helicopters before deploying them. The military conducts "risk assessments with every single operation we execute and in this case the decision was made that that platform was the appropriate platform for the target set," Warren said.

On Sunday, the Central Command said it carried out four strikes northeast of Fallujah, hitting two mortar teams and three Islamic State units. On Monday, the US said that two strikes northeast of Fallujah destroyed Islamic State positions.

The US-led coalition has carried out airstrikes against Islamic State militants using “fighter and remotely piloted aircraft,” the US Central Command announced.

U.S. and partner nations continue to attack #ISIL in #Iraq and #Syria. Read more: http://t.co/NCuB7cAmcc

— U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) October 6, 2014

Two strikes annihilated ISIS tanks near Taqba Airfield on the outskirts of Raqqah, and another near Dayr az Zawr. A third strike destroyed two Islamic State fighting positions next to Kobani.

The black Islamic State flag has been raised over a building on the outskirts of a strategic town of Kobani on the Syrian-Kurdish border, according to various sources. However, Kurds defending the border town say that the city has not yet fallen.

Some 2,000 people are being evacuated to Turkey from the violence-ravaged city.

05 October 2014

The situation in Kobani has deteriorated rapidly.

In a desperate battle for the Islamic State-besieged Syrian border town of Kobane, a Kurdish woman has reportedly used tactics usually employed by radical Islamist militants, blowing herself up to kill several jihadists.

The woman, identified as a commander in the female unit of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), targeted a position of Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL) fighters by detonating a grenade, AFP reported, citing the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Following a string of hostages being beheaded by the Islamic State, a British teacher who was being held by militants in Libya has been released.

David Bolam, who was taken hostage earlier this year from the Libyan town of Benghazi, has been reunited with his family, the British Foreign Office announced on Sunday.

Two weeks earlier a video was released on Youtube of Bolam pleading for help.

04 October 2014

Turkey’s security forces have fired tear gas at dozens of Turkish and Kurdish activists trying to cross into Syria. On the other side of the border, a major city in Syrian Kurdistan, Kobani, is under increased assault from Islamic State militants.

Today on #Turkey#Kobane border.#Turkish Army and Police (#ISIS) attack against #Kurds#STOPturkey! @UN#TwitterKurdspic.twitter.com/yrsOOAc4fh

— Reş (@yekeres) October 4, 2014

Hundreds of people have rallied in London against British air strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq. Protesters marched through central London holding banners and chanting anti-war slogans.

“I think the solution to all these problems is for Britain and the US to get their nose out of the Middle East, to stop interfering and let that part of the world sort out their own problems. I think our interference has created these problems. Everything we touch in the Middle East turns to crap,” one of the demonstrators told RT. “Let’s get out as soon as possible.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron has condemned the beheading of Henning, calling the terrorists 'barbaric', and swearing that justice will be served.

I'm meeting security chiefs this morning to discuss the barbaric murder of Alan Henning. His killers will be hunted down and face justice.

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) October 4, 2014

03 October 2014

IS have beheaded British hostage, the UK aid worker Alan Henning, and have released a video similar to those of British aid worker David Haines and two Americans: journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

BREAKING NEWS: New video released by Islamic State appears to show beheading of UK aid worker Alan Henning pic.twitter.com/iWfhTGJGgq

— Lisa Daftari (@LisaDaftari) October 3, 2014

Canada will join airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq following a US request, said Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a speech in Parliament. He added that Canada will also send air-to-air refueling aircraft and two surveillance planes to the Middle East.

"We intend to significantly degrade the capabilities of ISIL (IS), specifically its ability either to engage in military movements of scale or to operate bases in the open," he said.

According to Reuters, the term of the military contribution is up to six months, but the nation will not participate in ground combat operations.

02 October 2014

A 'terrifying' UN report has detailed the “staggering array” of systematic human rights abuses – including mass executions, abducting women, and using girls as sex slaves – committed by IS.

The report was produced jointly by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and is based on 500 interviews with witnesses.

01 October 2014

US-led forces carried out airstrikes on Islamic State fighters besieging the Syrian town of Kobani (also known as Ain al-Arab), home to one of the largest Kurdish communities in the country, according to sources on the ground.

The strikes on the town near the border with Turkey were conducted in daylight, which is rare. A Reuters correspondent reported from the Turkish side of the border that he heard jets overhead and saw a column of black smoke rising from the southeast of the town.

"Today, American jets hit a village that is 4-5km (2-3 miles) southeast of Kobani and we heard they destroyed one [Islamic State] tank," Parwer Mohammed Ali, a translator with the PYD Kurdish group, told Reuters by telephone from Kobani.

U.S. and allied warplanes hit IS gatherings in Ayn al- Arab. | Syrian Observatory For Human Rights http://t.co/ydLA4NlfyI

— Syrian Observatory (@syriahr) October 1, 2014

Head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Rami Abdulrahman said Kurdish sources on the battlefront reported seeing dead Islamic State fighters at the strike sites.

29 September 2014

The US military said there is no evidence an overnight airstrike targeting the vehicles of so-called Islamic State (IS) militants in a staging area near a grain storage facility in Syria has resulted in civilian casualties.

"We are aware of media reports alleging civilian casualties, but have no evidence to corroborate these claims," Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman at the U.S. military's Central Command said.

He added, however, that the military took such reports seriously and would investigate the matter. A monitoring group said the strike hit a grain storage facility in the northern Syrian town of Manbij and inadvertently killed civilians, not militant fighters.

At least 15 Turkish tanks have been deployed to a hill overlooking the besieged Syrian border town of Kobani after it was shelled by Islamic State militants, Reuters reports. Some of the tanks are pointed toward Syrian territory.

Thirty two Kurdish fighters from northern Iraq are now being trained by the German military in Bavaria, as part of Germany's effort to support their battle against Islamic State, a Defense Ministry spokesman told AFP.

The selected fighters will receive training on using Bundeswehr anti-tank missiles at an infantry training center near Hammelburg through Friday.

28 September 2014

US-led coalition planes including those of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have carried out air strikes against oil sites in Syria, US Central Command announced.

"Initial indications are that they (the strikes) were successful," it said. Four modular refineries and an Islamic State command post, north of Raqa were destroyed.

The strikes also destroyed a tank and damaged another near Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, US Central Command said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one civilian was killed in the strikes.

In Iraq, the assault against IS positions destroyed two militant checkpoints and a transport vehicle.

Publicly announcing that US intelligence agencies “underestimated” the presence and activity of Islamic State militants in Syria, US President Barack Obama in an interview with CBS called the country a “ground zero” for international jihadists.

“Over the past couple of years, during the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you have huge swaths of the country that are completely ungoverned, they were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos,” Obama said.

President Obama wSteveKroft @60minutes#ISIS 7pm http://t.co/R2dgh8A4gX & @PamelaFalk on the int @CBS UptotheMinute pic.twitter.com/DiFDk5yb8M

— Pamela Falk (@PamelaFalk) September 28, 2014

The head of Syria's Al Nusra Front, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani has warned the group will "transfer the battle" to Western countries unless US-led stikes stop in Syria

In an audio message released Sunday, Jolani calls on the Americans and the Europeans to fight against their governments.

"Your leaders will not pay the price for the war alone, you will pay the higher price," Jolani warned, AFP reports. Failure to stop these strikes "will transfer the battle to your very homes," Jolani said.

Earlier on Saturday the group issued a warning that a retaliation would follow for the West's air campaign in Syria.

Islamic State militants have used chlorine in road side bombs several times, Iraq's Ministry of Defense stated.

"A number of terrorist groups of "Daesh" [the Arabic for "the Islamic State"] have used chlorine in a number of areas near water treatment plants. They used it [the chlorine] in hand-made road side bombs not having significant destructive effects; they used them to mine the roads,” a video posted on the website of the ministry said.

According to the Ministry, Islamic State militants do not currently possess enough chlorine to pose an immediate danger.

27 September 2014

The US-led coalition launched a fresh round of air strikes in the central governorate of Homs and the northern region of Raqqa in Syria, the Pentagon said in a statement. The strikes hit seven targets in Syria, including an IS building and two armed vehicles at the border crossing in Kobane, reported the US Central Command.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and United Arab Emirates participated in these strikes, US military officials added. “The US-Arab coalition has for the first time struck ISIL bases in the eastern desert of Homs province,” said the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Abdel Rahman, adding that the positions were in the area of Al-Hammad, east of the ancient city of Palmyra.

The observatory added that at least 31 explosions were heard in the province of Raqqa, adding casualties were reported. “An ISIL-held airfield, an ISIL garrison and an ISIL training camp near Raqa were damaged,” the US officials said.

The US Central Command reports carrying out 3 strikes in Syria using a mix of drones and fighter jets south and southeast of Dayr Az Zawr. Four tanks belonging to the Islamic State have reportedly been destroyed and another one damaged.

Overall CENTCOM reports that US-led forces carried out 10 airstrikes on Thursday and Friday in Syria and Iraq.

“In Iraq, five airstrikes south and southwest of Kirkuk destroyed three ISIL Humvees and one ISIL vehicle, disabled two ISIL armed vehicles and damaged one ISIL mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle. One airstrike west of Baghdad destroyed an ISIL guard shack, an armed vehicle and a bunker. One airstrike near Al Qaim destroyed four ISIL armed vehicles, a command and control node and a checkpoint,” CENTCOM statement reads.

26 September 2014

The US-led international coalition against Islamic State (IS) militants has to involve Syrian authorities as well as all of its neighbors, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters at a press-conference on the sidelines of the UNGA.

“Force to suppress terrorist threats can only be used with the consent of the country where such an operation is carried out,” Lavrov said. He stressed that there should be at least be a backdating agreement with Syria.

The dialogue on peaceful settlement in Syria would not be all-inclusive without Iran’s participation, he added.

"We cannot make the same mistakes that we made when we called a peace conference on the Syrian problem and refused to invite Iran due to ideological reasons. Has it helped to build a serious dialogue? I don't think so," Lavrov said.

At the same time, he warned “not to be tempted to see the easy solutions - [Such as] If Bashar Assad disappears, everything is going to be good.”

“It is necessary to carry out professional work, not thinking about timing, or personal sympathies or antipathies. Someone does not want to start negotiations with the other... it's just the whims. The whims are inappropriate in international politics," Lavrov said.

A Western-backed opposition force of around 12,000-15,000 would be enough to retake areas of eastern Syria from the Islamic State, said General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Five thousand has never been the end state ... 12,000 to 15,000 is what we believe they would need to recapture lost territory in eastern Syria," Reuters reported Dempsey as saying.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appealed to all parties involved in the widening military conflicts in Syria and Iraq to protect civilians and let in aid.

Our call to all parties fighting in #Syria and #Iraq: http://t.co/L7tlmvxLGo Please RT.

— ICRC (@ICRC) September 26, 2014

“Under international humanitarian law, every party to these conflicts must refrain from harming civilians, must protect medical personnel and facilities, and must allow humanitarian workers to bring help," said Dominik Stillhart, ICRC director of operations in a statement published on the website.

The al-Tanak in eastern Syria was struck as part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

Deir al-Zor, the northern province, borders Iraq. It was a major oil producer before the conflict escalated more than three years ago.

It is now almost entirely controlled by the terrorist group.

25 September 2014

Iraqi forces have retaken two areas in the restive western Anbar province where Islamic State insurgents had surrounded two army bases over the past week, Anbar's police chief said on Thursday.

"Our security forces, with the support of tribes and Iraqi planes and helicopters, were able to liberate al-Sijir and Albu Etha," Major-General Ahamed Saddag told a news conference in Anbar.

RT’s Ruptly team located near Turkey’s border with Syria reported explosions and smoke outside Syria’s Kobane.

Smoke rising over #Kobanepic.twitter.com/flxf8JKU1f

— Lizzie Phelan (@LizziePhelan) September 25, 2014

French fighter jets struck targets in Iraq on Thursday, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said.

“There were strikes in Iraq this morning,” Le Foll said without giving any further details.

The strikes were the first by French jets since Sept. 19 when Paris joined the United States military action against Islamic State insurgents in Iraq who have taken over parts of the country. (Reuters)

People going back through to #Kobane again pic.twitter.com/FgAFiJst2i

— Lizzie Phelan (@LizziePhelan) September 25, 2014

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has lobbied for Britain to join the US-led airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq as he addressed the United Nations.

"It is right that Britain should now move to a new phase of action," Cameron told the General Assembly.

"I am therefore recalling the British Parliament on Friday to secure approval for the United Kingdom to take part in international air strikes against ISIL (Islamic State) in Iraq," he said.

The British Parliament will be recalled on Friday to endorse RAF strikes in Iraq after the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband, assured the prime minister that his party will support UK military involvement in the country.

“The Speaker has agreed to the prime minister’s request to recall parliament this Friday to debate the UK’s response to the request from the Iraqi government for air strikes to support operations against Islamic State [Isis] in Iraq,” Downing Street said in a statement.

24 September 2014

Border closed. Some families turned back from entering #kobanepic.twitter.com/lctbmKftp7

— Lizzie Phelan (@LizziePhelan) September 25, 2014

The Netherlands will deploy six F-16 fighter jets to support the US-led fight against the Islamic State militia in Iraq, the Dutch government said Wednesday.

The country will conduct flights over Iraq and provide training and advice to Iraqi and Kurdish military forces for a period of up to a year, the government said.

Mohsin al-Fadhli, the leader of a group of al-Qaeda militants known as Khorasan, is believed to have been killed in airstrikes on Syria, led by the United States.

"We believe he is dead," a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The terrorist group, linked to al-Qaeda, is an immediate threat to the US and Europe, according to US officials.

Belgium is set to offer six F-16 fighter jets to combat Islamic State militants in Iraq, contributing to the coalition led by the US, the country’s Defense Minister Pieter De Crem said Wednesday, Reuters reported. The country would also send 120 pilots and support staff, as well as C-130 cargo planes – but only after parliamentary approval. The vote on the issue is to take place Thursday or Friday this week.

Belgium’s offer of support comes after a formal request from the US, which followed its refusal of a previous Belgian suggestion to send around 35 special forces advisers for local troops.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the legitimacy of some US air strikes against Islamic State are in doubt because of the lack of approval from Syria, where some of the strikes are being carried out, and the United Nations.

"There is doubt over the legitimacy of the strikes as such actions can only be carried out with the approval of the United Nations and the unequivocal permission of the authorities of the country where they are taking place, which in this case is the government in Damascus," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Moscow added that the effectiveness of the airstrikes is not clear:

The West "may have think they have done a good job, but the Islamic State terrorists are continuing to blockade the Kurdish town of Kobane in the north east of Syria. If the town is captured, the residents face the serious possibility of facing repression, that is if they are not executed.”

US military has confirmed that the US-led coalition have launched five airstrikes on the Islamic State militants – two of them hit the Syrian territory, while three others hit Iraq.

The Al-Nusra Front – Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria – has evacuated its bases in populated parts of the Idlib countryside in northwest Syria after the US-led coalition conducted an airstrike assault on its positions, according to local media and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Another Syrian militant group, Ahrar al-Sham, joined the evacuation.

US forces have carried out three strikes against Islamic State militants using a mix of bombers and drones, the US Central Command announced.

“Two of the airstrikes were conducted last night as part of the operation over Syria and resulted in one damaged ISIL armed vehicle and one destroyed ISIL armed vehicle southwest of Dayr Az Zawr. In addition, a third airstrike in Iraq today destroyed one ISIL armed vehicle northwest of Baghdad. All aircraft exited the strike areas safely,” CENTCOM said.

Overall, the US-led campaign has so far conducted 16 airstrikes across Syria against ISIS.

U.S. military continued to attack #ISIL in Iraq & Syria, conducting 3 airstrikes last night and today: http://t.co/ULKMlnT8fv

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 24, 2014

"Do it right this time," was the main comment of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi about US engagement in Syria.

At the same time, Abadi told CNN that he is happy to see the United States and its Arab allies striking ISIS targets in Syria.

"I personally am happy that everybody is seeing this danger, so that they are going to do something about it. And I hope they ... do it right, and they don't do it their own way," he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

23 September 2014

The FBI and the Homeland Security Department have issued a security bulletin regarding threats from Syria-based Al-Qaeda operatives, saying that airstrikes in Syria may have temporarily disrupted attack planning against US or Western targets.

“Recent intelligence indicated that senior Syria-based AQ operatives were nearing the execution phase for an attack in Europe or the homeland," said DHS spokeswoman Marsha Catron, cited by Reuters.

An alleged “imminent attack” planned by an Al-Qaeda-linked Khorasan group was cited as one of the reasons the US launched airstrikes in Syria on Tuesday.

A letter from the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon uses Article 51 of the UN charter to justify air strikes against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria.

Letter from White House to UN justifying action against #ISIS in #Iraq and #Syria under Article 51: pic.twitter.com/BsQSMLi55y

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) September 23, 2014

Protecting the Syrian people requires immediate action, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said following the US-led strikes in Syria.

“I regret the loss of any civilian lives as a result of strikes against targets in Syria,” Ban said at climate summit press conference in New York. “The parties involved in this campaign must abide by international humanitarian law and take all necessary precautions to avoid and minimize civilian casualties.”

The Secretary General said he is aware that the US-led intrusion was not carried out “at the direct request of the Syrian Government, but I note that the Government was informed beforehand.”

“I also note that the strikes took place in areas no longer under the effective control of that Government. I think it is undeniable – and the subject of broad international consensus – that these extremist groups pose an immediate threat to international peace and security,” Ban said.

The US Central Command has declassified and released a series of videos showing some of the targets hit in the first round of US-led airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria.

The leader of al-Nusra Front Abu Yousef al-Turki, also known as "the Turk," was killed early Tuesday following US-led airstrikes in Syria, according to a statement released by the militant group. Confirmation of his death first appeared on a jihadist Twitter account, and the tweet was accompanied by a picture of his alleged dead body.

Abu Yousef al-Turki 1 of JAN leaders killed in this mornings strikes. Unclear if the #Idlib or #Aleppo strike #Syriapic.twitter.com/8jiui8vqcg

— SyriaConflictMonitor (@SCM_Syria) September 23, 2014

#Saudi Arabia showing the pilots who participated in the airstrikes in #Syriapic.twitter.com/usthRj7HPJ

— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) September 23, 2014

The Hazm Movement, a Syrian rebel group that has reportedly received weapons from the United States, has criticized air strikes by a US-led coalition in a statement posted on their Twitter account, AFP reports.

They described the strikes as "an attack on national sovereignty that undermines the Syrian revolution."

"The sole beneficiary of this foreign interference in Syria is the Assad regime, especially in the absence of any real strategy to topple him," the group said.

Tehran was informed about US plans to strike Islamic State targets in Syria, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

“This issue was first discussed in Geneva and then was discussed thoroughly in New York where Iran was assured that Assad and his government will not be targeted in case of any military action against Daesh (Islamic State) in Syria,” the source said.

A senior US State Department official, in the meantime, said that the US “communicated our intentions, but not specific timing or targets, to the Iranians.”

“As we've said, we won't be coordinating military action with Iran. And of course we won't be sharing intelligence with Iran either,” the US official added.

The number of foreign nationals traveling to Syria and Iraq to fight for the Islamic State jihadist movement has surged by 1,000 in just a matter of months, the EU’s counterterrorism chief, Gilles de Kerchove, said Tuesday. There are now around 3,000 foreigners in the two countries, AFP reported him as saying. He believes that the boost in numbers could be attributed to the militant group’s declaration in June of a caliphate straddling the two Middle East nations.

Turkey could give military or logistical support to US-led air strikes against Islamic State insurgents in Syria, President Tayyip Erdogan told reporters in New York.

"We will give the necessary support to the operation. The support could be military or logistics," Turkish broadcaster NTV quotes Ergodan as saying.

US President Barack Obama says joint airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria "make it clear to the world that this is not America's fight alone."

Praising "the strength of the coalition," which now includes five Arab states, Obama has said the military campaign is vital to the world's security.

The first US-led airstrikes targeted the militant group in eastern Syria on Monday night.

Some of the US strikes carried out in Syria were aimed at thwarting al Qaeda fighters in the final stages of preparations for an attack against the United States or Europe, two US officials said on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

One of the officials told Reuters the United States believed they were "nearing the execution phase" for an attack on Europe or the United States.

Earlier, the U.S. military said it carried out eight strikes against the militants, who are sometimes referred to as the Khorasan Group. It cited "imminent attack plotting against the United States and Western interests." (Reuters)

Nusra official tells me US strikes hit Ahrar al-Sham too: "They're attacking the strongest groups that are really fighting the regime."

— Mike Giglio (@mike_giglio) September 23, 2014

Over 160 munitions, nearly all of them precision-guided, were fired during strikes in Syria by the US and Arab allies, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

Washington had no indication so far that any civilians were killed in the operations, Kirby said, adding that assessments were under way.

Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari told Reuters on Tuesday that he was personally informed by US Ambassador Samantha Power of imminent US and Arab airstrikes against Islamic State targets on Syrian territory hours ahead of time.

Jaafari said Power told him on Monday morning that the military action would be carried out. He added that "we're in close coordination with Iraq." (Reuters)

Syria’s President Bashar Assad says he supports “any international effort” to fight terrorism, the country’s state TV reports.

#BREAKING: At least 120 jihadists dead in US-led Syria strikes: monitor

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) September 23, 2014

An arms factory run by the Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate, has been destroyed by the US-led coalition's airstrikes, Lebanon's Al Mayadeen TV reported Tuesday. The target was located in the Idlib province in northern Syria.

According to Al Mayadeen, at the same time the Syrian Air Force launched airstrikes at Islamic State militants' positions in the Al-Hasakah Governorate in northeast Syria.

US Central Command has previously said the strikes have been conducted from warships in international waters in Red Sea and North Arabian Gulf, with the participation of Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Residents are escaping the Syrian city of Raqqa following US military planes’ strikes on IS positions, Reuters reported, citing eyewitnesses.

"There is an exodus out of Raqqa as we speak. It started in the early hours of the day after the strikes. People are fleeing toward the countryside," a city resident said.

#UN officials say they're bracing for possible exodus of 400,000 from #Syria into #Turkey

— Lucy Kafanov (@LucyKafanov) September 23, 2014

The death toll from US-led airstrikes on Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra front positions has risen to 50, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters.

Syria will not stop fighting against Islamic State militants, the country’s Foreign Ministry said, adding that cooperation between Syria and Iraq in combating terrorists remains “at the highest possible level.”

If not agreed with the Syrian government in Damascus, any airstrikes against Islamic State militants in the country will only fuel tensions in the region, the Foreign Ministry said in its statement.

"Any such action can be carried out only in accordance with international law. That implies not a formal, one-sided ‘notification’ of airstrikes but the presence of explicit consent from the government of Syria or the approval of a corresponding UN Security Council decision," the statement said, adding that attempts to violate the sovereignty of countries in the Middle East to achieve Washington’s own geopolitical goals “only exacerbates tensions and further destabilizes the situation."

The Syrian government has issued a statement, expressing its readiness to cooperate with any international effort fighting terrorism.

NATO is not involved in any airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, the alliance said from its headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. "There is no NATO involvement," an alliance official said.

The organizers of the unilateral approaches that rely on force would bear international statutory responsibility for the consequences, commented Russia’s Foreign Ministry on the airstrikes launched by the US-led coalition against the militants of the Islamic State in Syria.

#ISIS official Bayan Radio tweets what it claims is first photo of damage in Raqqa, #Syria, in US airstrikes pic.twitter.com/kJifeee0lf

— Durruti Column (@zbahs) September 23, 2014

IS militants claim that a US drone has crashed into a communications tower near the Syrian city of Raqqa.

The US Central Command has said in an official statement that it conducted strikes from warships in international waters in Red Sea and North Arabian Gulf.

An Islamic State fighter in Syria told Reuters that the radical group will respond to the US-led attacks and blamed Saudi Arabia for letting them take place.

US Central Command has issued a statement saying that the US and its “partner nations,” including Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates "undertook military action" against IS in Syria, using "a mix of fighter, bomber, remotely-piloted aircraft and Tomahawk land attack missiles" to carry out 14 airstrikes.

The Israeli military have confirmed they shot down a Syrian military aircraft flying in the IDF-controlled airspace above the Golan Heights.

Several groups of militants of the Islamic State have left the Syrian city of Raqqa following a series of airstrikes launched by the US-led anti-ISIS coalition. It has also been reported that the extremists managed to evacuate their headquarters in the city before the airstrikes began as they noticed drone flybys above the Raqqa neighborhoods.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, monitoring the situation in the country, reports that according to activists on the ground, at least 30 airstrikes have hit Islamic State targets in the province of Deir al-Zor.

The city of Raqqa was cut from electric power for about two hours as a result of the airstrikes.

The US official informed AP on condition of anonymity that the airstrikes against the Islamic State began at about 00:30 GMT on Tuesday. Though the first wave of strikes was over in about 1.5 hours, the operation continued for several more hours. The US military officials have said primary targets for the Air Force would be militants' command and control centers, training camps, supply and logistical facilities and other key sites.

Dozens of Islamic State militants have been killed and wounded in the anti-ISIS coalition’s airstrikes on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, Reuters reports.

"There are tens of wounded and dead," Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters by phone. The Observatory obtains information from a network of activists on the ground.

The airstrikes against the Islamic State forces are being conducted by a range of military aircrafts: F-16 and F-18 fighter jets, Rockwell B-1 strategic bombers, MQ-1 Predator drones and Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles.

U.S. and partner nations using mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles against ISIL terrorists in #Syria.

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 23, 2014

The decision to conduct these strikes was made earlier today by CENTCOM commander under authorization granted him by the president.

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 23, 2014

Given that these operations are ongoing, we are not in a position to provide additional details at this time.

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 23, 2014

Washington informed Syria’s envoy to the UN on Monday about the airstrikes against the Islamic State on Syrian territory, state television reported Tuesday. Syria's Foreign Ministry was cited as the source.

U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against ISIL terrorists in Syria.

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 23, 2014

US military & partner nation forces have begun striking ISIL targets in Syria using mix of fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles.

— Rear Adm. John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) September 23, 2014

The US military and partner nations from the anti-ISIS coalition have launched the first attacks on Islamic State targets in Syria in the early morning of Tuesday, September 23.

A US official told ABC News that up to 20 locations have been targeted in the airstrikes in and around Raqqa. Tomahawk missiles have been fired from at least one ship in the Red Sea. The source also said that Arab nations will be actively participating in the airstrikes.

Five Arab nations are taking part in the first round of airstrikes in Syria: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.