“Anything that will restrict the movement of cultural property from Syria and Iraq is most welcome”, said France Desmarais, the director of programs and partnerships at the worldwide Council of Museums, noting that the bill would help bring the USA into compliance with a February United Nations Security Council resolution requiring member states to take steps to prevent terrorist groups from profiting from the trade of oil, antiquities and hostages.
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Its tactics are often creative, whether it’s using a sandstorm as cover for an assault or a lone sniper tying himself to the top of a palm tree to pick off troops below.
Also on Monday, Iraqi forces endeavored to fight their way to the gates of Fallujah, a major city under the control of ISIS. “Moves that had a disproportionate impact on the Sunni Arab population, sending many of them essentially into the arms of the nascent insurgency, telling them that they really didn’t have a future in the grand experiment that was going to be the new Iraq”. Andreas Krieg, a professor at King’s College London who embedd… The group “is very much success oriented, results oriented”. Roughly 145 individuals took part in the iftar meal, which marked the end of the Ramadan fast, at a gathering in Mosul, Iraq.
IS stands out in its ability to conduct multiple battles simultaneously, Iraqi army Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said. Allied groups beyond the ISIS core of Syria, Iraq, and now Libya are beginning to demonstrate similar tactics, as seen in the recent attacks in Sinai.
I believe that in the long run, the action unleashed last night will go strongly against our interests in the Middle East. Clearly the United States and allies will win this war, but the death and destruction caused, will, in my opinion, not be forgotten by the poor people of the Third World and the people of the Middle East in particular.
“It is possible that [Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi] is concerned about undermining his own leadership by giving an order that may not be obeyed by emirs and fighters in Syria”, the CTC newsletter added. Within days ISIS had consolidated its control of Ramadi, captured the city of Palmyra in Syria, and seized a critical border crossing.
The jihadist group is now on the defensive, but it’s still deadly on the battlefield and its fighters are willing to die in brief counter-attacks. The current USA strategy of minimal ground involvement “doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of working”, Graham said.
This Islamic State’s propaganda output, particularly their mass murder videos, are also having a pronounced effect on the morale of forces opposed to ISIS, the AP notes.
So far, the most effective fighters against IS have been Iraqi Shiite militias and Iraqi and Syrian Kurds. The group’s leaders know they’ll lose in a stand-up fight, so they don’t bother. More recently, IS lost Tal Abyad, another Syrian border town.
One Kurdish commander described the shock troops who raided Kobani as suicidal.
Meanwhile, a YouTube video from the same time period, identified by archaeologist Sam Hardy, shows Syrian regime loyalists digging up ancient statues affixed to graves and loading the heads of the statues into the back of a pickup truck. Last week, they carried out a bloody incursion into Tal Abyad, again fighting until they were all killed but demonstrating their relentlessness. Its efforts to train rebels to fight for USA interests in Syria are also sputtering (fewer than 100 are currently being trained by the U.S.). The Iraqi military, with US support, defeated jihadis in Beiji in June. He said, he did not think the US had a plan to degrade and ultimately destroy the group.
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Mroue reported from Beirut, Lebanon. Larry is our main news editor.
