The Hindu | Why is Iran growing its presence in Iraq? The Hindu After the U.S. withdrew its troops from Iraq in 2011, Baghdad became increasingly dependent on Tehran on various avenues, from trade to security, which raised Iran's global profile. Iran established a Shia corridor stretching from Tehran through ... Iran vows full support for Iraq |
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Why is Iran growing its presence in Iraq? - The Hindu
TheSpec.com | No peace yet in Iraq or Syria TheSpec.com People walk through a damaged neighbourhood as the sun sets on the west side of Mosul, Iraq. U.S -backed forces succeeded in wresting Mosul from the Islamic State group but at the cost of enormous destruction. The nine-month fight culminated in a ... |
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No peace yet in Iraq or Syria - TheSpec.com
QARAQOSH, Iraq In a town ravaged by the war against Islamic State, amid ransacked homes and shuttered shops, a flashing sign above the entrance to one business beckons visitors: Welcome, it reads.
Inside, the floors are carpeted, the lights are low and the gurgling sound of water pipes accompanies hushed conversations between men drinking beer in small groups.
It is the first bar to reopen since Islamic State militants were routed from the northern Iraqi town of Qaraqosh nine months ago in the early stages of a campaign to retake Mosul, around 10 miles west.
The customers are mainly local Christians tentatively returning home three years after fleeing en masse when the jihadists overran their town and issued an ultimatum: pay a tax, convert to Islam, or die.
Some of the bars patrons, however, are Muslims, savoring the freedom to drink and smoke, which they were denied under Islamic State.
They come here for respite from the grim realities of the conflict, but for Muslim and Christian customers alike, the conversation soon turns to the war and its aftermath.
Its hard to forget that until now there are people under the rubble, said 45-year-old Abu Khalid, a Muslim from Mosul, sharing a bottle of lemon flavored vodka with two friends in the mid-afternoon.
Why do we drink? So we can release our problems, he said, wearing traditional Arab dress. Alcohol loosens the tongue.
Iraq declared victory in Mosul last week, but it will take longer for people to recover from Islamic States occupation.
Many lost relatives, homes and livelihoods and reconciliation between different communities is a major challenge.
An Indian man has been filmed casually strumming his guitar...
For Christians, who trace their history in Iraq back two millennia, Islamic State has called into question the very future of their community in the predominantly Muslim Middle East.
The owner of the bar, Abu Firas, hopes that re-opening it will breathe life back into his town and help reverse the exodus of its Christian population.
He has covered up bullet marks in the wall with posters advertising beer and filled in a large hole the militants made behind the kitchen sink, which enabled them to move undetected into the shop next door.
Day by day it (business) is getting better, he said optimistically. Although Islamic State is expected to revert to insurgent tactics like bombings as its caliphate falls apart, Abu Firas is undaunted: We are not afraid, he said.
Around 400 families have now returned to Qaraqosh also known as Hamdaniya which was the largest Christian settlement in Iraq until Islamic State took over, with a population of more than 50,000.
I love my town. I want it to go back to the way it was, said a Christian customer who sat with three friends taking a break from repairing homes torched by the militants.
The 49-year-old returned to Iraq 15 days ago from Europe, where he fled after Islamic States invasion. I havent decided whether to go back to France or stay here, said the man, who asked to remain unnamed.
His main concern is security, but it is not Islamic State that worries him. The danger, he says, is of violence between rival paramilitary groups that now patrol the streets of Qaraqosh and the surrounding area. Last week, two Christian militias clashed in the town.
On a more positive note, the customer said the presence of Muslims in the bar showed that peaceful co-existence with Christians was still possible.
He later admitted, however, that trust between the two communities was broken because many Sunni Muslims from the surrounding villages had supported Islamic State.
The bar is open to outsiders only until 8 p.m. After that, just Christians are welcome.
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Bar re-opens in Iraq town previously overrun by ISIS - New York Post
ASPEN, Colo. (Reuters) - In a new assessment, the U.S. intelligence community judges that large numbers of foreigners fighting for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria likely will stay to defend what is left of their self-declared caliphate rather than return to their homelands, a top U.S. counter-terrorism official said on Friday.
Many if not most of the foreign fighters who made their way to the conflict zone will end up staying, fighting and potentially dying in order to maintain the caliphate, Nicholas Rasmussen, the director of the U.S. National Counter Terrorism Center, told the annual Aspen Security Forum.
That contrasts with the previous assessment that many foreign fighters would return home, posing major security threats.
Rasmussen also said that he has seen no information confirming recent reports that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi has been killed. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday he assumes that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is still alive.
Ive seen nothing that would lead me to believe that the leader of ISIS (Islamic State) has been removed from the battlefield, Rasmussen said. We know a good bit. We just dont have information that would confirm his death and demise.
The new foreign fighter assessment will be welcome news to the countries of origin of the tens of thousands of Islamist extremists. They flocked to fight for the caliphate that Islamic State declared in 2014 after storming out of Syria, seizing the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and charging to Baghdads outskirts.
Extremists who have returned home have staged attacks that claimed scores of lives, and governments have been bracing for new strikes as the group loses ground in Syria and Iraq.
U.S.-backed Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul this month and U.S.-backed Kurdish and Syrian Arab fighters are moving to retake Raqqa, the groups main stronghold in northeastern Syria.
Rasmussen noted that the U.S. intelligence community, which estimated that some 40,000 foreigners joined Islamic State in Syria and Iraq after the conflict began, until recently assessed that many would return home.
At one point, we were worried about this out-rush, outflows, massive outflows of foreign fighters once the battlefield situation changed in Iraq and Syria and that Western countries, countries in the region, would be flooded with returnees, he said. I think now speaking kind of broadly, thats less likely than we first assessed.
A U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that fewer than 15,000 Islamic State extremists still are fighting in Iraq and Syria.
It has become harder for foreign fighters to return home because of the ongoing combat operations and because Turkey and other countries have significantly tightened their borders, the intelligence official said.
While there may be no major outflow of foreign fighters, Rasmussen said he is concerned by the threat posed by Islamic State's affiliates from Asia to Africa.
He said he also remains worried by those who manage to escape home, bringing with them specialized skills like bomb-making, that they acquired in Syria and Iraq.
Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by David Alexander and Cynthia Osterman
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Many foreign fighters likely to stay in Syria, Iraq: US official - Reuters
The threat of Isis-linked terror attacks in the UK continues to rise despite heavy military losses for the group in Iraq and Syria, the UKs most senior police officer has warned.
Cressida Dick, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said six plots have been thwarted in the last four months alone and she expects the figure to rise.
Since March this year, the tempo has changed, she told delegates at the annual Lord Mayor's defence and security lecture, listing the ghastly attacks that left 36 people dead and 200 injured in Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park.
Progress on the ground in Syria and Iraq does not necessarily translate into a reduction in threat here.
Her caution came after triumphant statements from Government ministers following Iraqi forces victory over Isis in Mosul.
Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, welcomed the jihadis defeat in a city that was ground zero for their so-called caliphate, while Theresa May commended the bravery and sacrifice of Iraqi forces but conceded Isis ideology defeated through military intervention alone.
Mosul after the war: 'Utter and total devastation'
Ms Dick said 13 lethal terror plots were foiled from June 2013 to March this year, amid increasing numbers of arrests seeing 340 suspects detained in the past two years.
We must not deny the scale of this challenge, she added, saying MI5 is monitoring3,000 individuals across the UK who are assessed as posing the biggest threat.
There are 20,000 other former subjects whose risk remains subject to review and the number is expected to rise, as the national terror alert level remains at "severe".
Khalid Masood, who launched the Westminster attack, and London Bridge ringleader Khuram Butt are among the terrorists who were known to authorities but not judged to be an imminent risk.
Ms Dick did not discuss ongoing investigations but said part of the growing challenge was the use of low tech and relatively unsophisticated methods being promoted by Isis, such as car and lorry rammings and stabbings.
These less sophisticated attacks can mature faster making detection harder, the Commissioner warned.
A man walks past messages and tributes left near to where a van was driven into a group of Muslim worshippers in North London (Reuters)
Following the terror attacks in Finsbury Park and murder of Labour MP Jo Cox, she also highlighted the threat emanating from the far-right, saying 14 domestic extremists with lethal capability and intent were in custody.
She said most recent atrocities in the UK were mounted by homegrownextremists acting in small groups or apparently alone, adding: The bulk of this domestic threat seems to be from those who are inspired by overseas networks, though there have undoubtedly been some who have been more directly enabled by them and we should not assume that attempts by senior leaderships of overseas groups to direct UK attacks have gone away.
Europol and other international security agencies have sounded repeated warnings over the danger stemming from foreign Isis fighters seeking to return to their home countries as the group loses territory in Syria and Iraq.
According to Home Office figures, at least 850 suspected jihadis have travelled to Syria, with 15 per cent known to have been killed and just under half returning to the UK.
Many of the most dangerous individuals remain overseas, said Amber Rudd in a recent Home Office report.
London Bridge attacker Khuram Butt is among the terrorists previously known to authorities but not judged to be an imminent risk(Channel 4)
UK-linked individuals who travel to fight in Syria and Iraq pose a clear threat to our countrys security, and we continue to work at a national and international level to mitigate the risk they pose.
Authorities have hailed success at preventing Isis supporters from travelling to join the group abroad, but tightening restrictions across Europe and the Middle East have driven a change in tactics by the group as it shifts back into insurgency mode.
Its propaganda, once focused on attracting men and women to build the so-called Islamic State, is now calling on followers to remain in their home countries and launch terror attacks whenever and however they can.
Ms Dick said both Isis and al-Qaeda were exploiting technology to project their threat around the world, sparking efforts to contest the narrative of jihad, prevent radicalisation and take down online propaganda.
The modern threat, more than ever, includes the encouraging of others to commit atrocious acts, she added.
That virus can infect communities and is spreading faster and more easily due to the internet.
We have large numbers of apparently volatile individuals in the UK, some of whom become determined to die, who may have been inspired largely through the web and decided on methodology learned from there too.
Despite efforts to take down Isis and al-Qaeda material, jihadi magazines and terror manuals including bomb-making instructions and advice on lorry attacks remains available online.
There is also a far wider pool of extremist material includinghate preaching and fundamental texts being propagated by Islamist groups likethe network surrounding Anjem Choudary, whose members have been linked to a number of UK terror attacks.
The Home Secretary has taken aim at technology firms over the spread of propaganda, as well as arguing end-to-end encryption technology including popular mobile apps were making terrorist communications more difficult to detect and counter.
But she has fended off criticism of the Governments own programmes including Prevent, claiming 1,000 people at risk of being drawn into terrorism have been supported since 2012.
The Commissioner praised the work undertaken as part of the UKs Contest counter-terror strategy but said it is manifestly not enough, adding: Clearly in the light of this latest shift in threat, in view of the terrible attacks, there is a need to review the strategy again and as a country we will need to step change in many areas.
This is what those who work in countering terrorism have always done - the threat changes, it morphs, we must adapt with it.
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Isis losses in Syria and Iraq not reducing terror threat in UK, police chief warns - The Independent