In this photo released on Sunday, June 28, 2015, by a website of Islamic State militants, an Islamic State militant waves his group’s flag as he and another celebrate in Fallujah, Iraq, west of Baghdad.
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Some Islamic State targets have been active on social media, making it far easier to find them.
Mr Cameron said there had been no change in the position on the possible extension of RAF air strikes against IS positions from Iraq into Syria – despite the election of the anti-war left-winger Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.
The extremist group may control slightly less territory than a year ago, but it continues to launch attacks and maintains key strongholds in Syria and Iraq.
The French president’s office announced the strikes, without details, in a statement hours earlier.
Some say that al-Assad connived at this situation, deliberately driving Sunni rebels into the arms of extremists like al-Qaeda and leaving Daesh alone so it could opportunistically prey on the less extreme elements of the Free Syrian Army.
US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Friday: “We do not think it is credible for Assad to remain for any length of time as the leader”, but added: “We appreciate there may be a political solution here where Assad is there for some period of time in some capacity while a transition takes place”.
The Russian military buildup of aircraft, missiles, tanks and other equipment is complicating the fight against IS militants in Syria.
“Everyone has accepted that President Assad must remain so we can combat terrorists,” he said.
“But we are considering intensifying our work with both President Assad and with our partners in other countries”, he warned, adding that Assad deserves global support because he is fighting terrorist groups. “This is not yet coordinated”. “Well, at least we don’t plan on it right now”, Putin said in a Sunday interview with CBS news on the eve of a speech to the United Nations General Assembly.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama are to meet tomorrow to discuss the Syrian conflict.
Efforts to engage Tehran – a close ally of Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria – in a push to end the protracted civil war have been spurred on by a thaw in relations with the West.
Iraq’s announcement purportedly took US Secretary of State John Kerry by surprise.
“France is talking with everyone and excluding no one”, Hollande said at the United Nations While “all concerned parties” must be included, he also stressed that “the future of Syria can not [include President] Bashar Assad”. Still, the number is nowhere near the US goal to train and equip 5,400 rebels a year at a cost of $500 million.
“The whole thing is a joke”.
“It’s important they get off on the right track, eradicating extreme poverty but also fighting corruption, encouraging justice – what I call the “Golden Thread” of conditions leading to prosperity”. “Dropping a few bombs every now and then will not change anything,” he said.
Now the beleagured government of Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi in Iraq has put forward a plan to share its intelligence about Daesh movements with Russian Federation and with the al-Assad government.
Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Rouhani said that in driving out terrorists in Syria, “we have no solution other than to strengthen the central authority of that country“.
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Battered by sanctions and falling oil prices, Putin is using Syria to reassert Russia’s diplomatic sway in the world as the country’s civil war sends floods of refugees into western Europe. And he said bickering over the Russian presence in Syria would ultimately benefit the IS effort. “He can’t be a part of Syria’s long- term future”.
