Iraq crisis: US to send ‘military advisers’
Iraq crisis: US to send ‘military advisers’
President Barack Obama says the US will send 300 military advisers to Iraq to help fight Islamist-led insurgents. Mr Obama said the US was prepared for “targeted and precise military action, if and when… the situation on the ground requires it”, but added that US troops would not fight in Iraq.
Iraq crisis: head of Saddam Hussein’s tribe denounces ex-Ba’athists
The head of Saddam Hussein’s tribe has denounced ex-Ba’athists for joining Iraq’s jihadist-led uprising, saying the country’s late dictator would not have approved. …”The people taking part in this fight are not true to the beliefs of Saddam or his Ba’ath party, which was a movement with principles and ideology,” he said. “We have nothing to do with al-Qaeda.”
Iran says Obama lacks will to combat terrorism in Iraq
US President Barack Obama lacks “serious will” to combat terrorism, a top Iranian official said Friday after an Iraqi appeal for American airstrikes went unanswered.
Iraq: al-Maliki’s rivals jockey to replace him
With the country in turmoil, rivals of Iraq’s Shiite prime minister are mounting a campaign to force him out of office, with some angling for support from Western backers and regional heavyweights.
Militants fly their black flags over Iraq refinery
Sunni militants hung their black banners on watch towers at Iraq’s largest oil refinery…suggesting the vital facility had fallen to the insurgents who have seized vast territories across the country’s north… The fighting at Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Obama to Congress: I don’t need new permission on Iraq
I’ll let you know what’s going on, but I don’t need new congressional authority to act, President Barack Obama told congressional leaders Wednesday about his upcoming decision on possible military intervention in Iraq.
While the US will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Wednesday that sanctions will lead to an agreement that will “ensure that Iran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful,” a step short of the complete dismantling Israel has urged. “We have always been clear that we will take the time to do this right, and we will not rush into a bad deal. No deal is better than a bad deal,” …
Shortly after the US revealed that, in addition to aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships it was also sending a few hundred “special forces” on the ground in Iraq, contrary to what Obama had stated previously, Washington made quite clear it wants Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to embrace Sunni politicians as a condition of U.S. support to fight a lightning advance by forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Then something unexpected happened: Iraq’s Shi’ite rulers defied Western calls on Tuesday to reach out to Sunnis to defuse the uprising in the north of the country, declaring a boycott of Iraq’s main Sunni political bloc and accusing Sunni power Saudi Arabia of promoting “genocide.”
Iranian Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi claimed Wednesday that Israel created and supports the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. “ISIS is Israel’s cover up for distancing the revolutionary forces from Israeli borders and creating a margin of security for the Zionists, and the Zionist media have also admitted this fact,” he said, Fars News Agency reported.
If you are a student of Bible prophecy, then I want you to get your Bible out and open it to Daniel chapter 8. Now, if you consult nearly any commentary on the Book of Daniel, you’ll find they nearly all interpret this prophecy as fulfilled in history. The prophecy begins with a ram butting to the west, to the north and to the south.
Islamist-led militants have invaded Iraq’s biggest oil refinery, after pounding it with mortars and machine guns from two directions. An official quoted by Reuters said the militants now controlled 75% of the Baiji refinery, 210km (130 miles) north of Baghdad.
Iran will not hesitate to defend Shi’ite Muslim holy sites in neighbouring Iraq against “killers and terrorists”, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, following rapid advances by Sunni militants there over the past week.
“As I’ve said b4 inevitable that ‘Caliphate’ returns,” Mohamed Elibiary tweeted. “Choice only whether we support [European Union] like Muslim Union vision or not.” Elibiary, a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, was apparently responding to a question about the radical terror group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria that is sweeping through Iraq, the Washington Free Beacon reports.
Iraqi government forces are engaged in heavy clashes with Sunni insurgents who have made major advances in the past week. Parts of the city of Baquba – just 60km (37 miles) from Baghdad – were briefly taken over by the rebels. Reports say 44 prisoners were killed during fighting at a police station in the city.
The United States has deployed approximately 275 troops “equipped for combat” to Iraq, US President Barack Obama informed Congress on Monday night, to counter the growing threat of ISIS, a terrorist militia threatening the sovereignty of Iraq and Syria. 170 troops were deployed to protect the expansive US embassy Baghdad, with 100 more for airfield management, security, and logistics support, the Pentagon said.
Foreign Secretary William Hague has said he intends to re-open Britain’s Embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran. Mr Hague said the “circumstances were right” following an improvement in bilateral relations in recent months. Full diplomatic relations with Iran were suspended after attacks on the British embassy in Iran in 2011.
With Islamic militants at the vanguard of what appears to be a general Sunni uprising against Baghdad’s Shiite-dominated government, the conflicts in Syria and Iraq are beginning to merge under the strains of sectarian and ethnic competition.
In fact, the former prime minister describes at length how it’s necessary to rid oneself of any feeling of responsibility that the crumbling country and region have been pushed over the edge by well-meaning Western interventionism.
Radical Sunni militants who have been capturing cities in northwest Iraq claimed on Twitter that they executed 1,700 Iraqi soldiers. The radicals posted graphic photos as evidence.