ISIS hackers post names, addresses of 100 U.S. servicemen, urge sympathizers to kill them

The names, addresses and other personal details of about a hundred American military personnel were posted online by a previously unknown arm of ISIS identifying itself as the “Islamic State Hacking Division” along with a chilling message urging “lone wolf’ sympathizers in America to take violent actions against the military personnel in the hit list.

A previously unknown ISIS arm identified itself as “Islamic State Hacking Division.”
Photo Credit: IJ Review

“We have decided to leak 100 addresses so that our brothers residing in America can deal with you,” the group warned.

Addressing ISIS sympathizers residing in the United States, the group urged them to take action.

“And now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you waiting for? Kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe.”
The “cyber militants” claimed they hacked U.S. military servers, databases and email accounts to get the information. The ISIS hackers said the military personnel in the list participated in the US-led coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

An official from the U.S. Defense Department, however, said that it did not look like that the information were hacked from U.S. government servers saying most of the information could be found in public records, social media and residential address search sites.

A Defense Department spokesperson said he can’t confirm the authenticity of the militants’ online threat, but they are looking into it saying, “the safety of our service members is always a concern.”

The U.S. government is taking appropriate steps to make sure the miitary personnel included in the “kill list” and their families are notified of the threat.

Source: Kicker Daily

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ISIS is reportedly recruiting Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong

Photo: Oriental Daily

Recruiters for ISIS, an Islamic extremist rebel group, have reportedly being targeting Hong Kong’s Indonesian helpers.

A maid agency told Oriental Daily that many Indonesian domestic workers received what appeared to be recruitment leaflets for ISIS on Sunday.

The pamphlet encouraged domestic workers to join ISIS, which said it would send them to “do things” in Xinjiang province, but did not specify what they would be doing exactly.

Perhaps in a bid to appear relatable to domestic workers, the leaflet features a black and white photo of a dozen women wearing niqabs and holding a large ISIS flag.
“Their way dressing [in the photo] is not the most virtuous, but it is definitely the most covered,” says text in Bahasa Indonesia.

“On March 2, ISIS will be in Hong Kong to distribute pamphlets and recruit members.”

The text in Chinese says "There is no god but Allah” and “Allah is the true lord’s messenger”.

A staff member of an Indonesian domestic worker group believes ISIS began sporadic canvassing activities in Hong Kong two years ago with the help of one or two recruiters, according to Oriental Daily.

But they said that recently, however, a lot more recruiters have been showing up at popular hangout spots for Indonesian domestic workers, causing many to worry.

A lawyer told Oriental Daily that handing out religious pamphlets is not illegal, but if there is evidence that the related organisations are involved in terrorist activities, or intend to plan terrorist activities in Hong Kong, then it is an offence.

A police spokesperson said they have no reason to believe Hong Kong will become the target of a terrorist attack.

Source: Coconuts Hong Kong

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ISIS militants trick mother into ‘eating her kidnapped son’

Islamic State brutes fed a distraught woman searching for her kidnapped son some meat and rice – and then told her she had just eaten her son, according to a British man who joined the fight against ISIS.

Yasir Abdulla, 36, of Yorkshire left his wife and four kids to battle the maniacal extremists in his Kurdish homeland, The Sun reported.

“I hate IS because of what happened to an old Kurdish woman from a nearby tribe,” he said. “Her son was captured by IS fighters and taken as a prisoner to Mosul. She was determined to find her son and went to IS headquarters and asked to see him.” He said the thugs told her to rest after her long journey and offered her the food before taking her to her son.

“They brought her cups of tea and fed her a meal of cooked meat, rice and soup. She thought they were kind,” he said.“But they had killed him and chopped him up and after she finished the meal and asked to see her son they laughed and said, ‘You’ve just eaten him,’” Abdulla told The Sun.

Abdulla decided to take on the murderous group after they came within six miles of his home in Kurdistan.

He said he bought combat fatigues online and an assault rifle in his Kurdish hometown – then joined other volunteers on the front lines.

“We want to attack IS and drive them out forever but we can’t unless the Peshmerga and the Americans say we can,” he said, referring to the military forces of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Abdulla described the jihadists’ terror tactics, including slaughtering prisoners in bonfires.

“They dig a trench, put dry tree branches and leaves in there, set it alight and then throw prisoners on so they burn alive,” he said. “IS are very good at making people scared. If they make one person scared then that person will make another person scared and soon everyone is scared of IS.”

“But the Kurds are not scared of them. Someone has to stand and fight. We have got thousands of people in many villages and towns behind us. If we fall then all of those places fall, and that can’t happen.”

Yasir, who returned to the UK last week, remains confident and vows to return to Iraq to help the rebels defeat the fanatics.

Source: NY Post

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WATCH: SIS fighters destroy ancient artifacts at Mosul museum

Islamic State militants ransacked Mosul’s central museum, destroying priceless artefacts that are thousands of years old, in the group’s latest rampage which threatens to upend millennia of coexistence in the Middle East.

The destruction of statues and artefacts that date from the Assyrian and Akkadian empires, revealed in a video published by Isis on Thursday, drew ire from the international community and condemnation by activists and minorities that have been attacked by the group.

“The birthplace of human civilisation … is being destroyed”, said Kino Gabriel, one of the leaders of the Syriac Military Council – a Christian militia – in a telephone interview with the Guardian from Hassakeh in north-eastern Syria. The destruction took place in Mosul, the Iraqi city that has been under the control of Isis since June when jihadi fighters advanced rapidly across the country’s north.
“In front of something like this, we are speechless,” said Gabriel. “Murder of people and destruction is not enough, so even our civilisation and the culture of our people is being destroyed.”
Isis destroys thousands of books and manuscripts in Mosul libraries
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The five-minute video, which was released by the “press office of the province of Nineveh [the region around Mosul]”, begins with a Qur’anic verse on idol worship. An Isis representative then speaks to the camera, condemning Assyrians and Akkadians as polytheists, justifying the destruction of the artefacts and statues.

The man describes the prophet Muhammad’s destruction of idols in Mecca as an example.

“These statues and idols, these artifacts, if God has ordered its removal, they became worthless to us even if they are worth billions of dollars,” the man said.
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Isis militants then smash the statues in the Mosul museum with hammers and push them to the ground, watching them break into tiny fragments. The footage also shows a man dressed in black at a nearby archaeological site, inside Mosul, drilling through and destroying a winged bull, an Assyrian protective deity, that dates back to the 7th century BC

“When you watch the footage, you feel visceral pain and outrage, like you do when you see human beings hurt,” said Mardean Isaac, an Assyrian writer and member of A Demand for Action, an organisation dedicated to protecting the rights of the Assyrians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq.

A caption says the artefacts did not exist in the time of the prophet, and were put on display by “devil worshippers”, a term the militant group has used in the past to describe members of the Yazidi minority.

A professor at the Archaeology College in Mosul confirmed to the Associated Press that the two sites depicted in the video are the city museum and Nirgal Gate, one of several gates to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire.

“I’m totally shocked,” Amir al-Jumaili told the AP “It’s a catastrophe. With the destruction of these artefacts, we can no longer be proud of Mosul’s civilisation.”

Isis took control of Mosul last summer in a lightning advance that led to the eviction of thousands of Christians and other minorities from their ancestral homelands in the Nineveh plains, amid reports of forced conversions.

“We cannot expect anything else from Daesh,” said Gabriel, using the Arabic acronym for Isis.

He said the international community must act to prevent the destruction and looting of the artifacts.

“The loss is the loss of the entire world,” he said.

Isaac said: “While the Islamic State is ethnically cleansing the contemporary Assyrian populations of Iraq and Syria, they are also conducting a simultaneous war on their ancient history and the right of future generations of all ethnicities and religions to the material memory of their ancestors.”

The destruction of the priceless treasures comes days after Isis kidnapped 220 Assyrian Christian villagers in north-eastern Syria.

It is the latest assault in a campaign against coexistence in the region, especially in Iraq, which has seen the displacement of many of its Chaldean Christians, who have lived there with many ethnic minorities since the religion’s dawn.

Isis has also attempted to starve and enslave members of the Yazidi minority in Iraq.

Irina Bokova, the director general of Unesco, the UN cultural agency, said she was deeply shocked at the footage showing the destruction and has asked the president of the UN security council to convene an emergency meeting “on the protection of Iraq’s cultural heritage as an integral element for the country’s security”.

Source: The Guardian

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ISIS Executioner 'Jihadi John' Is Named as Mohammed Emwazi

LONDON — The identity of the masked executioner clutching a knife in ISIS beheading propaganda videos was revealed on Thursday.

A U.S. intelligence official confirmed to NBC News that a Londoner named Mohammed Emwazi is the person known as "Jihadi John" in the ISIS videos depicting the murders of American and British citizens. The militant's identity was first reported by The Washington Post, which cited "friends and others with familiar with his case." The BBC also named the individual without citing sources.

Emwazi is a Briton born in Kuwait who is known to intelligence services, according to the BBC and the Washington Post.

The Washington Post reported that Emwazi grew up in West London and graduated from college with a degree in computer programming before traveling to Syria in 2012 and joining ISIS.
The White House would not confirm or deny the identity, saying in a statement that the government continues to investigate the murder of American citizens by ISIS and that it does not comment on ongoing investigations. The Metropolitan Police said it would not confirm the reports and British government officials also declined to comment.

"Jihadi John" appeared in the videos showing the execution of American hostages James Foley and Steven Sotloff and Britons Alan Henning and David Haines.

He was given his nickname by the U.K. press because he was one of four Britons, dubbed the "Beatles" by their prisoners. He is also thought to have used the nom de guerre "Abu Saleh."

Previously, British and American officials have said they believed they had ascertained his identity but not named any individual.

Emwazi, who had strong links to Somalia according to U.K. security sources, appears to have become radicalized after he left university.

The International Centre for the Study of Radicalization, based at London's King's College, said it believed Emwazi's identity "to be accurate and correct."

A University of Westminster spokeswoman confirmed to NBC News that a student named Mohammed Emwazi left the college in 2009.

"If these allegations are true, we are shocked and sickened by the news," she said in a statement. "With other universities in London, we are working to implement the government's 'Prevent' strategy to tackle extremism."

U.K.-based human rights group CAGE said it had worked with Emwazi in 2010 after he complained of being arrested and questioned by agents from Britain's intelligence agency MI5 who accused him of links to Islamic extremism. Emwazi told CAGE he had been detained in Tanzania in 2009 while attempting a post-college safari vacation with friends, and that he felt he had been harassed unfairly by intelligence agencies upon his return to Britain, the human-rights group said in a statement Thursday.

CAGE also released an email Thursday allegedly from Emwazi in which he complained that British authorities were unfairly preventing him from traveling to Kuwait.

"I have been trying to find out the reason for my refused Visa issue from my home country Kuwait, and a way to solve the issue," the email from 2010 read. "So through my friends in Kuwait, it has been said to me that Kuwait has no problem with me entering, and the reason for my refusal is simply because the U.K. agents have told them to not let me in!"

He added: "Now I feel like a prisoner, only not in a cage, in London. A person imprisoned and controlled by security service men, stopping me from living my new life in my birthplace and my country, Kuwait."

CAGE research director Asim Qureshi said in the statement that Emwazi bore a "some striking similarities" to Jihadi John in the beheading videos but that there was "no way" he could conclusively identify him as the man behind the mask.

There was no answer at an address in west London where Emwazi was listed as living.

A British government spokeswoman told reporters: "We don't confirm or deny matters relating to intelligence. I am not going to get into the details of an ongoing police and security investigation."

Source: NBC News

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ISIS abducts at least 150 Christians in Syria

(Reuters) - Islamic State militants have abducted at least 150 people from Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria they had raided, Christian Syrian activists said on Tuesday.

A Syrian Christian group representing several NGO's inside and outside the country said it had verified at least 150 people missing, including women and elderly, who had been kidnapped by the militants.

"We have verified at least 150 people who have been adducted from sources on the ground," Bassam Ishak, President of the Syriac National Council of Syria, whose family itself is from Hasaka, told Reuters from Amman.

Earlier the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 90 were abducted when the militants carried out dawn raids on rural villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority west of Hasaka, a city mainly held by the Kurds.

Syrian Kurdish militia launched two offensives against the militants in northeast Syria on Sunday, helped by U.S.-led air strikes and Iraqi peshmerga.
This part of Syria borders territory controlled by Islamic State in Iraq, where it committed atrocities last year against the Yazidi religious minority.

Islamic State did not confirm the kidnappings. Supporters posted photos online of the group's fighters in camouflage attire looking at maps and firing machine guns. The website said the photos were from Tel Tamr, a town near where the Observatory said the abductions occurred.

Many Assyrian Christians have emigrated in the nearly four-year-long conflict in which more than 200,000 have people have been killed. Before the arrival of Kurds and Arab nomadic tribes at the end of the 19th century, Christians formed the majority in Syria's Jazeera area, which includes Hasaka.

Sunday's offensive by Kurdish YPG militia reached within five km (3 miles) of Tel Hamis, an Islamic State-controlled town southeast of Qamishli, the Observatory said.

At least 14 IS fighters died in the offensive, in which Assyrians fought alongside Kurds, it added. Eight civilians were also killed in heavy shelling by the Kurdish side, which seized several Arab villages from Islamic State control.

Last year, Islamic State fighters abducted several Assyrians in retaliation for some of them fighting alongside the YPG. Most were released after long negotiations.

RELIEVING PRESSURE

Military experts said militants were trying to open a new front to relieve pressure on Islamic State after several losses since being driven from the Syrian town of Kobani near the border with Turkey.

"Islamic State are losing in several areas so they want to wage an attack on a new area," said retired Jordanian general Fayez Dwiri.

Since driving IS from Kobani, Kurdish forces, backed by other Syrian armed groups, have pursued the group's fighters as far as their provincial stronghold of Raqqa.

A resident of Hasaka, jointly held by the Syrian government and the Kurds, said hundreds of families had arrived in recent days from surrounding Christian villages and Arab Bedouins were arriving from areas along the border.

"Families are coming to Hasaka seeking safety," said Abdul Rahman al-Numai, a textile trader said by telephone.

Source: Reuters

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ISIS overtakes Iraq's largest Christian city

Many of the Iraqi Christians who fled the violence have arrived in the Kurdish city of Erbil

Iraq's largest Christian town has been overrun by the same militant Islamists who have gained a foothold in parts of eastern Syria and western and northern Iraq.

The latest advance by ISIS (or the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) has caused thousands of Christians in the city to flee, just as other minority groups targeted by ISIS have done, as well as Shiite Muslims.

The French government confirmed that the Iraqi city of Qaraqosh has fallen into the hands of the militant al Qaeda offshoot.

"France is highly concerned about the latest progress of ISIS in the North of Iraq and by the taking of Qaraqosh, the largest Christian city of Iraq, and the horrible acts of violence that are committed," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement.

France called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the threat in Iraq.

The exodus from Qaraqosh was already under way, as the city and its surroundings have been the target of ISIS attacks for weeks.

When ISIS took over Mosul, many residents from there had fled to Qaraqosh. In Mosul, ISIS issued an ultimatum to Christians living there: Convert to Islam, pay a fine or face "death by the sword."

Three other nearby villages were also attacked overnight and Thursday, local police officials told CNN. Two of the villages -- Bartella and Tall Kayf -- are predominately Christian. Hundreds of Christian families fled to the north, police said.

The third village is Hamadaniya.

Kurdish forces were involved in heavy clashes protecting the area from ISIS.

ISIS seeks to create an Islamic caliphate that stretches from Syria to Iraq. The group has aggressively targeted Iraqi minority religious groups.

Nickolay Mladenov, the special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for Iraq, last month condemned the persecution of Christians, Shia Muslims and Yazidis, as well as the Shabak and Turkmen ethnic minorities.

The Pentagon is considering conducting emergency air drops to the thousands of stranded Yazidis in northern Iraq, a U.S. Defense official told CNN Thursday.

A spokesman for Pope Francis, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said on Thursday that the pontiff is deeply concerned about the reports coming from northern Iraq.

"Christian communities are particularly affected: a people fleeing from their villages because of the violence that rages in these days, wreaking havoc on the entire region," Lombardi said in a statement.

Lombardi quoted a prayer the Pope offered last month, expressing to the persecuted that "I know how much you suffer, I know that you are deprived of everything."

Most Iraqi Christians are Chaldeans, who are Roman Catholic communicants.

Source: CNN

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WATCH: New ISIS video shows Kurdish soldiers paraded in cages

Watch video at the bottom of the article.

Islamic State (ISIS) militants released new footage Saturday that allegedly shows 21 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters being paraded through crowded streets in the embattled Iraqi province of Kirkuk.

The beginning of the footage shows several men in cages being interviewed by an Islamic State militant holding a microphone with the group's insignia, before cutting to clips of several trucks with cages in the back being driven through cheering crowds. It is unclear where in the Kirkuk province this footage may have been taken or when it was recorded.

ISIS and the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have been locked in a series of tense battles for control of the province since January.
  The scene shown in the video echoes of an earlier execution the group carried out on Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh who was burned alive by ISIS militants while locked in a cage.

Images showing ISIS fighters parading Peshmerga fighters around a crowded street had also circulated earlier in February, so it is unclear when this newly released video was taken. Other video taken from the crowd shows similar scenes.

The footage may have been taken in the town of Hawija, located southwest of the city of Kirkuk, based on information from local Kurdish media and distinctive landmarks seen in the new video.

On Feb. 19, another ISIS-affiliated account posted a video claiming to show a raid against Peshmerga positions in Kirkuk.

Kirkuk, located along the border of Kurdish northern Iraq and the rest of the country, is home to Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, and all have competing claims to the area.

Kurdish forces claimed control of the city just days after the Islamic State group seized northern Iraqi cities including Mosul and Tikrit.

Holding onto Kirkuk has not been easy. Last month, ISIS fighters — aided by what the Kurds say was a Sunni sleeper cell in the city — stormed an abandoned Kirkuk hotel, and then staged a surprise attack on a Peshmerga outpost, killing a top commander and several of his troops.





   

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ISIS burned up to 45 people to death in Iraq

The militants seized the western Iraqi town by Isis over the weekend

ISIS militants have burned at least 45 people to death in the Iraqi town of Al-Baghdadi, according to local police.

Colonel Qasim al-Obeidi told BBC News that he believed some of those killed were members of the security forces, as details on the victims and why they were targeted remains unclear.

The reports come after Isis, which calls itself the Islamic State, captured much of the western Iraqi town in Anbar province over the weekend. Al-Baghdadi is positioned near the heavily-guarded Ain al-Asad air base, where over 300 US Marines are training Iraqi troops.
Mr Al-Obeidi added that a compound where the families of security personnel and local officials live was now under attack, and called on the Iraqi government and the international community to send help.

The broadcaster said the fighting and poor communications in the area make it difficult to confirm the claims.

The report comes after Isis released a video purporting to show militants burning Jordanian pilot Lt Muath al-Kasaesbeh to death in a cage, a brutal incident which was internationally condemned.

The group seized al-Kasaesbeh after his plane crashed in Syria last December during a US-led airstrike.

Over the weekend, Isis seized parts of Al-Baghdadi following months of attacks by the insurgents as part of its advance through Iraq and Syria.

A local official told Reuters that ninety per cent of the district has been captured by the extremist group.

Source: The Independent

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WARNING: GRAPHIC - ISIS terrorists release shocking video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO. WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The video shows ISIS fighters dressed head to toe in black, marching the captives, all wearing orange jumpsuits, to a beach.

The 21 men can be seen being forced onto their knees before they are beheaded by the militants standing behind them.

A caption on the five-minute video read: 'The people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church.
 

WATCH:





Source: Asian Town
   

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ISIS video shows beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians

In a new propaganda video released Sunday by ISIS, the militant group claims to have beheaded over a dozen members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority on a Libyan beach.

The highly produced video shows an apparent mass execution with jihadists in black standing behind each of the victims, who are all are dressed in orange jumpsuits with their hands cuffed behind them.



The five-minute video, released by the terror group's propaganda wing al-Hayat Media, includes a masked English-speaking jihadi who says, "The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden's body in, we swear to Allah, we will mix it with your blood."

Then on cue, all the victims are pushed to the ground and beheaded.







ISIS has imposed its brutal rule on the large areas of Iraq and Syria that it controls, but the beheadings of the Egyptians appears to have been carried out by an affiliate of the militant group in Libya.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi confirmed in a statement that Egyptian "martyrs" had fallen victim to terrorism and expressed his condolences to the Egyptian people.

El-Sisi called for an urgent meeting of the Council of National Defense and declared seven days of official mourning.

   



Twenty-one Egyptian Christians were kidnapped in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte in two separate incidents in December and January. Officials said all of them had been killed.

El-Sisi said Egypt reserves the right to retaliate for the killings, according to the state-run website Ahram Online.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Sunday after the grisly video emerged.

"The secretary offered his condolences on behalf of the American people and strongly condemned the despicable act of terror," the State Department said. "Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Shoukry agreed to keep in close touch as Egyptians deliberated on a response."

The White House also condemned the attack, saying ISIS' "barbarity knows no bounds."

"This wanton killing of innocents is just the most recent of the many vicious acts perpetrated by ISIL-affiliated terrorists against the people of the region," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement, using an alternative acronym for ISIS.

Members of the U.N. Security Council strongly condemned what they called "the heinous and cowardly apparent murder" of the 21 Egyptians.

"This crime once again demonstrates the brutality of ISIL, which is responsible for thousands of crimes and abuses against people from all faiths, ethnicities and nationalities, and without regard to any basic value of humanity," the U.N. statement said.

Coptic Christians are part of the Orthodox Christian tradition, one of three main traditions under the Christian umbrella, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Copts split from other Christians in the fifth century over the definition of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Copts trace their history to the Apostle Mark, the New Testament figure who they say introduced Christianity to Egypt in A.D. 43. Egypt holds a special place for Coptic Christians because, according to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus' family fled there shortly after his birth to escape King Herod, who was calling for the execution of all Jewish boys younger than 2.

The largest group of Copts in the world is still in Egypt, where they make up between 8% and 11% of the nation's 80 million citizens, most of whom are Sunni Muslims.

In the United States, there are approximately 90,000 Copts organized under 170 parishes, according to the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the United States.

Source: CNN News

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WATCH: ISIS video shows 17 captured Kurds paraded in cages

ISIS has paraded captured Kurdish soldiers in cages through screaming crowds in what some fear is a prequel to them being burned alive.
 

A total of 17 Peshmerga were led through the streets of what is apparently Kirkuk in northwestern Iraq

A video of the procession has appeared on Isis-affiliated social media accounts, showing the prisoners in orange jumpsuits and flanked by black-clad militants brandishing Kalashnikovs and the group’s black flag.

People lining the streets could be heard jeering and shouting “Allahu Akbar” as they passed one by one on the back of flat bed vans.
The captured soldiers were each forced to stand alone in a cage similar to that used in the murder of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh as the convoy crawled through the town. The footage was believed to have been filmed in Hawija, in Iraq’s Kirkuk province, although the date could not be confirmed.

Ari Mamshae, an Erbil-based senior civil servant in the Kurdish President’s office, said Isis had vowed to murder the 17 abducted Peshmerga fighters.

“They say they will burn them,” he wrote on Twitter.

Although the threats could not be verified, the plan would echo the death of Lieutenant al-Kasaesbeh.

The captured pilot had been shot down over Syria in December and intelligence sources believe he was killed in January.

Isis did not publish the gory propaganda video featuring his death – being doused in petrol and burned alive in a cage – until weeks later after claiming to be open to negotiating a prisoner exchange.

Jordan immediately executed two Isis-affiliated prisoners in retaliation and increased its air strikes against the group, which militants claimed killed American hostage Kayla Jean Mueller.

The Independent’s Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk, said Isis burned captive Syrian soldiers to death months before Lieutenant al-Kasaesbeh's murder.

“Isis put captive Syrian soldiers to the torch – and then barbecued their heads on video,” he reported.

Most of Isis’ foreign hostages have been beheaded, including British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and most recently Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

The group has also filmed Peshmerga commanders being decapitated - most recently murdering Hujam Surchi earlier this month.

The Kurdish fighting force has been the group’s main opposition in Kirkuk and around Hawija, which was abandoned by the Iraqi army last year.

Isis fighters and the Peshmerga have been battling for control of the city of Kirkuk as well as waging a propaganda war on social media.

Kurds have posted graphic pictures of killed Isis militants, while the jihadists appear to be taunting them with the latest video of their comrades.

Source: The Independent

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Jordan bombs ISIS targets, vows to "eliminate" militants

Karak, Jordan (CNN)Two days after news emerged that ISIS had burned a captive Jordanian pilot to death, the Middle Eastern nation hit back, and is promising more.

Fighter jets carried out airstrikes Thursday, then returned to fly over the home of the slain 27-year-old pilot, Lt. Moath al-Kasasbeh, in the village of Ay in Karak governorate.

"This is just the beginning and you shall know who the Jordanians are," the armed forces said in a statement on state TV.

They claimed hits on ISIS training centers, arms and ammunition depots: "All targets were completely destroyed and all the planes returned to their bases safely."

The air mission was named "Moath the Martyr." State TV aired exclusive video footage of warplanes striking unspecified ISIS positions in Syria.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh later stressed to CNN that the airstrikes marked the beginning of his nation's retaliation over the pilot's death, but not the start of its fight against terrorism. He vowed to destroy ISIS.

"We are upping the ante. We're going after them wherever they are, with everything that we have. But it's not the beginning, and it's certainly not the end," Judeh said.

The pilot's father, Safi al-Kasasbeh, told CNN that King Abdullah II had promised him that Jordan would avenge his son's death and bombard ISIS' de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. On Thursday, he said that the King told him 30 Jordanian fighter jets participated in the strikes.

"The homeland is entrusted to you all," he said alongside Abdullah, in remarks shown on state television, referencing Jordan's military and calling for national unity. "... For you (troops), to honor Moath is to uphold your oath and to follow in his footsteps as soldiers for God, his prophet (and) Islam ... in defending this dear homeland."

Spokesman: 'These people will be punished'

Thursday's strikes were the latest that Jordan's military has carried out against ISIS, which captured Moath al-Kasasbeh after his F-16 fighter jet crashed near Raqqa on December 24.

Jordan is one of a handful of Middle Eastern nations taking part in the U.S.-led military coalition against ISIS. The air campaign continued with strikes elsewhere in Syria, including near Hasaka, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Raqqa.

ISIS posted photos of the destruction, and Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdurrahman reported that 10 militants were killed.

The video of Moath al-Kasasbeh's execution came out Tuesday, though Jordanian authorities say they think he was killed a month earlier.

Whatever the timing, the proof and savagery of al-Kasasbeh's death have moved many in Amman and elsewhere not just to condemn ISIS but to vow strong actions against it.

Government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani told CNN that Jordan's response to the killing "will be strong and will be decisive."

"We will not let this crime of killing our pilots with the horrific way it was done pass without punishment," al-Momani said. "These people will be punished."

Analyst: Military response must be sustained to work

In addition to meeting with al-Kasasbeh's family, King Abdullah visited his armed forces headquarters, according to the state-run Petra News Agency. He voiced confidence in Jordanian troops' readiness and got a briefing on the latest airstrikes.

It's hard to tell right away how effective Jordanian military's mission was Thursday, or what the military will do next.

Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James "Spider" Marks, a CNN military analyst, said the most important thing will be not just to have one strike but a persistent effort that's well-coordinated with the coalition military effort.

"It can't be a revenge attack, it can't be vitriolic," Marks said. "... If emotions brought them in, that's fine. But at this point, it needs to be a relentless, aggressive attack ... objectively controlled so that you can achieve results on the ground. And it needs to be sustained."

On Wednesday, Jordan executed two prisoners -- Sajida al-Rishawi, a would-be suicide bomber whose release ISIS had previously demanded as part of a prisoner exchange, and Ziad Karbouli, a former top aide to the deceased leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Al-Kasasbeh's father had demanded more be done.

"These were criminals and there is no comparison between them and Moath. His blood is more valued than Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad Karbouli," Safi al-Kasasbeh said. "... I demand that this criminal organization (ISIS) ... be annihilated."

Killing on big screens?

ISIS apparently made a big show of the pilot's brutal execution in Raqqa, with an activist network -- Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently -- reporting that the killing was being shown, repeatedly, on large screens across the city.

One of ISIS' propaganda production outlets posted a video online that appears to show a crowd cheering as flames around the pilot grow.

The video features a tight shot of a boy, looking up as if in awe and saying that he would "burn the pilot" himself if he had a chance and that "all Arab tyrants should also be burned." The boy can also be heard saying, "Obama the dog."

Because the video is carefully orchestrated propaganda, CNN has no way to know whether people in Raqqa really feel this way, if other children were present or whether the video participants' responses were authentic or a result of intimidation.

Sheikh Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam, the grand mufti of Egypt, is among those influential Muslims -- both clerics and political leaders -- who have condemned the burning of al-Kasasbeh as "barbaric," telling CNN that it's "far away from humanity, much less religion."

It's also contrary to the goal of the group calling itself the Islamic State, which seeks to form a vast caliphate governed by its strict, perverse version of Sharia law. The pilot's killing will only hurt that cause, said Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, who was a prominent Sunni Muslim cleric in Syria before heading into exile as the civil war there raged.

"ISIS wanted to instill terror and fear in the heart of its enemies," al-Yaqoubi told CNN's Christiane Amanpour from Morocco. "... What's happening is the opposite.

"The martyrdom of Moath has united Muslims ... against ISIS, leaving no slight room of doubt that these people do not represent Islam. They represent savagery, terrorism and extremism."

Source: CNN

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11 photos showing King Abdullah II of Jordan being a total badass

Jordanian F-16s launched 20 airstrikes on Islamic State targets on Thursday following King Abdullah II's declaration to wage a "harsh" war against militants from the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, after the brutal execution of captured Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbe.

The Royal Hashemite Court/Instagram

Abdullah participating in a military special operations training exercises as Jump-Master.

The Royal Hashemite Court/Youtube

King Abdullah II, a former commander of Jordan's special forces, pledged to hit the militants "hard in the very center of their strongholds," AP reports.

The Royal Hashemite Court/Instagram

Abdullah with military officials during an exercise.





The Jordanian government has denied the king's physical involvement in any aerial attacks.

The Royal Hashemite Court/Instagram

Abdullah observing a military exercise in November 2013.


Dubbed the "warrior king," Jordan's 53-year-old leader has clocked in 35 years of military service.

The Royal Hashemite Court/Instagram

Abdullah at a military ceremony in Jordan.


According to the king's bio, he enrolled in the UK's Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in 1980 and went on to become an elite Cobra attack helicopter pilot.

The Royal Hashemite Court/Instagram

King Abdullah II pilots his helicopter while visiting different areas in his kingdom.


In November 1993, then-Prince Abdullah became commander of Jordan's special forces.

The Royal Hashemite Court/Instagram

Abdullah laughing with troops after a meal in the field.


Three years later he turned Jordan's small special forces unit into today's elite Special Operations Command (SOCOM), arguably the best operatives in the Middle East.

The Royal Hashemite Court/Instagram

Abdullah speaking with soldiers after sharing a meal.


Frequently training alongside US special forces, Jordan's units are approximately 14,000 strong and may further contribute to the fight against ISIS beyond Jordan's airstrikes. 

The Royal Hashemite Court/Instagram

Abdullah observing a military exercise.


As the head of a constitutional monarchy, the career soldier holds substantial power.

The Royal Hashemite Court/Instagram

Abdullah, the Supreme Commander of the Jordan Armed Forces, at a military exercise.


Members of Congress have asked for an increase in military assistance to the kingdom, AP reports. The US is providing Jordan with $1 billion annually in military assistance.

The Royal Hashemite Court/Instagram

King Abdullah II starts his day participating in a military special operations training exercises as Jump Master. The fight against ISIS lost a crucial partner, the United Arab Emirates, in December after the Jordanian pilot was captured, The New York Times reported.

The UAE demands that the Pentagon improve its search-and-rescue efforts in northern Iraq before it rejoins the coalition, The Times said, quoting unidentified US officials.


Source: Business Insider

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Bad-ass Jordanian king personally leads ISIS bombing missions in revenge of slain pilot

After the shocking news that the Jordanian pilot who was held hostage by ISIS terrorist was burned alive, King Abdullah II of Jordan took the matters in his own hand to serve personal vengeance and justice. Shafaqna news and Iraqinews.com confirmed that the bad ass king took the fight against the Islamic State on a personal level.




King Abdullah II, was a Major General in charge of Jordanian Special Forces, before he was crowned as the monarch. In 1980, he joined the UK’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the British Army. The king of Jordan is reportedly hell bent on taking revenge for the brutal killing of pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh. The king himself, a highly trained Cobra Attack Helicopter Pilot, will be co-piloting a warplane to conduct anti-ISIS air-strikes, reported the Daily Mail and some Arabic news sites.



Angered by the gruesome killing of the Jordanian pilot who was torched alive in a cage, the Jordan King has declared a “relentless” war against the Islamic State, vowing an intense retaliation, adding that the pilot’s blood won’t go in vain. The government of Jordan said that the entire nation is very determined more than ever to fight back and eliminate ISIS.



In a press release, the fearless king pledged that Jordan will strike the militants hard in their own den, saying that the nation will hit the ISIS “hard in the very center of their strongholds”. Labelling it a ‘war of principles’ against the militants.



King Abdullah II stated:

    “we are fighting this war to protect our faith and our values and our humanitarian principles, and the fight for it will be relentless, we will be on the lookout for the clique of criminals and hit them in their own homes.”

This guy is seriously pissed, people around the world admired his determination to avenge his pilot’s savage death. ISIS is reportedly on the run right now anticipating the King’s attack, ordering prisoners moved to different locations and clearing their headquarters in Syria.

Source: Elite Readers

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Jordan executes prisoners after ISIS murder of pilot

Iraqi Sajida al-Rishawi, 35, stands inside a military court at Juwaida prison in Amman on April 24, 2006. REUTERS © Majed Jaber / Reuters

Jordan has executed two death-row prisoners after vowing an "earth-shattering" response to avenge the burning alive of one of its fighter pilots by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group.

Would-be Iraqi female suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi and Iraqi al-Qaeda member Ziad al-Karboli were hanged at dawn on Wednesday, government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said.

A security source said the executions were carried out at Swaqa prison south of the capital Amman in the presence of an Islamic legal official.

Jordan had promised to begin executing the prisoners on death row at daybreak in response to the murder of Moaz al-Kassasbeh, who was captured by ISIL when his plane went down in Syria in December.

Rishawi, 44, was condemned to death for her participation in deadly attacks in Amman in 2005 and ISIL had offered to spare Kassasbeh's life and free a Japanese hostage - who was later beheaded - if she were released.

Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh, reporting from Amman, said that the executions took place at 5am local time (3:00 GMT).

"Usually, it is a long and highly bureaucratic process to carry out executions in Jordan. Several ministries and the king should approve them," she said.

"However, a security source told Al Jazeera last week that Jordan would speed up the process if the pilot was harmed."

Karboli was sentenced to death in 2007 on terrorism charges, including the killing of a Jordanian in Iraq.

Jordan had on Tuesday vowed to avenge the killing of Kassasbeh, hours after a harrowing video emerged online purporting to show the caged 26-year-old F-16 fighter pilot engulfed in flames.

The video - the most brutal yet in a series of gruesome recorded killings of hostages by ISIL - prompted global revulsion and vows of continued international efforts to combat the Sunni group.

Jordan, a crucial ally of Washington in the Middle East, is one of five Arab countries that has joined a US-led coalition of countries carrying out air strikes against ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

'Vile murder'

Jordan's King Abdullah II, who was visiting Washington as the video came to light, recorded a televised address to his shocked and outraged nation.

The king, once in the military himself, described Kassasbeh as a hero and vowed to take the battle to ISIL.

The army and government vowed to avenge the pilot's murder, with Momani saying: "Jordan's response will be earth-shattering.

The [US] president and King Abdullah reaffirmed that the vile murder of this brave Jordanian will only serve to steel the international community's resolve to destroy ISIL.

National Security Council spokesman

"Whoever doubted the unity of the Jordanian people, we will prove them wrong," he said.

US President Barack Obama, who hosted Abdullah in a hastily organised Oval Office meeting, led international condemnation of the murder, decrying the "cowardice and depravity" of ISIL.

"The president and King Abdullah reaffirmed that the vile murder of this brave Jordanian will only serve to steel the international community's resolve to destroy ISIL," a National Security Council spokesman said after the pair met.

The Obama administration had earlier reaffirmed its intention to give Jordan $3bn in security aid over the next three years.

Kassasbeh was captured in December when his jet crashed over northern Syria on a mission that was part of the coalition air campaign against the group.

Jordanian state television suggested he was killed on January 3, before ISIL offered to spare his life and free Japanese journalist Kenji Goto in return for Rishawi's release.

Highly choreographed

British Prime Minister David Cameron called the murder "sickening" while UN chief Ban Ki-moon labelled it an "appalling act".

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned it as "unforgivable".

The highly choreographed 22-minute video shows Kassasbeh at a table recounting coalition operations against ISIL, with flags from the various Western and Arab countries in the alliance projected in the background.

It then shows Kassasbeh dressed in an orange jumpsuit and surrounded by armed and masked IS fighters in camouflage.

It cuts to him standing inside a cage and apparently soaked in petrol before a masked man uses a torch to light a trail of flame that runs to the cage and burns him alive.

The video also offered rewards for the killing of other "crusader" pilots.

ISIL had previously beheaded two US journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers in similar highly choreographed videos.

Source: Aljazeera

 

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ISIS video purports to show beheading of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto

Islamic State (Isis) has released a video purportedly showing the beheading of the Japanese journalist Kenji Goto and containing a warning that Japan is now a target for the militants.

The video, called A Message to the Government of Japan, showed a militant who looked and sounded like a man with a British accent who has taken part in other Isis beheadings.

The man, armed with a knife and dressed head-to-toe in black with his face covered, stands behind Goto before beheading him.

Goto, kneeling in an orange prison jumpsuit, said nothing in the video, which lasts about a minute. No mention was made of Muath al-Kasasbeh, a Jordanian pilot who was seized by Isis after his jet crashed in north-east Syria in December during a bombing mission against the Islamist insurgents.

Japan immediately condemned the apparent execution of Goto after days of attempts to secure his release.

Speaking soon after the video went online early on Sunday morning, the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said Japan would not give in to terrorism but would work with the international community to bring Goto’s killers to justice.

The chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, described Goto’s apparent murder as “despicable”.

“I cannot help feeling strong indignation that an inhuman and despicable act of terrorism like this has been committed again,” Suga said. “We resolutely condemn this.”

Suga said officials were trying to verify the video’s authenticity, adding that cabinet ministers would meet to discuss the government’s response.

The US also condemned Goto’s apparent beheading. Barack Obama said: “Standing together with a broad coalition of allies and partners, the United States will continue taking decisive action to degrade and ultimately destroy Isil [Isis].”

The British prime minister, David Cameron, described the killing as “despicable and appalling” and added: “Britain stands united with Japan at this tragic time and we will do all we can to hunt down these murderers and bring them to justice, however long it takes.

“I welcome Prime Minister Abe’s steadfast commitment to continue Japan’s active role, working with international partners, to secure peace, stability and prosperity in the Middle East. The humanitarian aid they are providing in the region is a vital part of helping the local communities that are being persecuted by the same Isil terrorists who murdered our innocent men.”

Isis had offered to release Goto in exchange for Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi terrorist who faces execution for her part in suicide bombings in Jordan in 2005.

An audio message purportedly from Goto earlier this week said Kasasbeh would be killed if Jordan did not free Rishawi, whose device failed to detonate during a string of suicide bombings that killed 60 people.

Negotiations conducted with the help of local tribal leaders became deadlocked, however, after Jordan insisted on seeing proof that Kasasbeh was still alive before releasing Rishawi, and that the pilot also be part of any prisoner swap.

In the latest Isis video, a Jihadi with a British accent issues a chilling warning to Abe, who has publicly backed coalition strikes against Isis and recently pledged $200m (£130m) in non-military aid to the campaign.

Addressing Abe, the militant says: “Because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this knife will not only slaughter Kenji but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found. So let the nightmare for Japan begin.”

The video, released on militant websites on Saturday night, bore the symbol of the Islamic State group’s al-Furqan media arm.

Though it could not be immediately verified, it conformed to other beheading videos released by Isis, which controls a third of both Syria and neighbouring Iraq in its self-declared caliphate.

Goto, 47, a veteran war correspondent, was captured in October after he travelled to Syria to try to win the release of Haruna Yukawa, a self-styled security consultant whom Goto had met in Syria last April. Yukawa, 42, was reportedly beheaded last weekend.

Japan’s hostage crisis began almost two weeks ago after militants threatened to kill Goto and Yukawa in 72 hours unless Japan paid $200m – the same sum Abe had pledged to countries affected by the war against Isis.

Japan does not have any military involvement in the campaign against Isis and has stressed in recent days that the assistance was purely humanitarian.

Source: The Guardian

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