French President Francois Hollande called for international action against an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, warning that the recent losses sustained by the ISIS group could embolden other militant groups.

“Daesh is in retreat, that is beyond dispute,” Hollande said after a meeting with the leaders of the US, Germany, Britain, Italy and Ukraine on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Warsaw.

But Hollande added: “We must also avoid a situation whereby as Daesh becomes weaker other groups become stronger.”

Hollande singled out al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front as particularly standing to benefit from the US-led military campaign against its arch-rival IS.

Faced with a barrage of air strikes and ground offensives by local forces, IS has lost territory in both Syria and Iraq in recent months.

“We must coordinate among ourselves to continue actions against Daesh but also … take effective action against al-Nusra,” Hollande said, directing his appeal at Russia and the US.

On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, agreed in a telephone call to “intensify” military coordination between their two countries in Syria.

Russia had in May proposed joint air strikes with the US against militant targets in Syria, a suggestion that was rebuffed by Washington.

The White House reported that the two leaders in their call this week “confirmed their commitment to defeating ISIL [IS] and the al-Nusra Front”.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources.

abna24.com

iran-daily.com

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ATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday that Turkey has been affected the most by the crisis in neighboring Syria and Iraq and that NATO has increased measures for the country’s security.

During a press conference at the NATO summit in Warsaw, Stoltenberg said: “We have augmented the defenses of Turkey, the ally most affected by the turmoil in the south, with Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance planes and defensive missile systems.”

Stoltenberg added that an increased multifaceted cooperation has been declared in fight against Daesh terrorist group.

“Today we have decided to declare Initial Operational Capability of the NATO ballistic missile defense system. This means that the US ships based in Spain, the radar in Turkey, and the interceptor site in Romania are now able to work together under NATO command and NATO control.”

Amid recent tensions between NATO and Russia over the NATO base in Romania, Stoltenberg also said: “Importantly, the system we are building is entirely defensive. It is designed to shield against attacks from outside the Euro-Atlantic area and represents no threat to Russia’s strategic nuclear deterrent.”

dailysabah.com

More than 14,000 Syrian citizens have been able to escape the city of Manbij which is still held by the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group. The civilians headed to nearby areas recently liberated by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

This comes after the SDF opened humanitarian corridors between the war-torn city and its liberated countryside.

Most of the families that escaped Manbij city have been received by their sons who are fighting in the ranks of the SDF-led Manbij Military Council, who had earlier fled Manbij and formed the council to fight against ISIS.

According to the leadership of the SDF-led Manbij Military Council, the delay of liberating the city came due to the fear for the stranded civilians inside the city.

Majid al-Manbeji, a member of the Manbij Military Council, told ARA News: “Our mission is to maintain civil peace and protect our people from ISIS atrocities. Here are the civilians as you can see, and our young fighters have moved forward to fight ISIS inside the city of Manbij.”

“The operation is in progress and our forces are making further advance against ISIS. Now we’re sheltering our mothers and sisters who fled the city,” he said.

The SDF and the US-led coalition have avoided the use of heavy weapons and airstrikes recently to decrease possibility of killing innocent civilians during the anti-ISIS campaign.

“Our operation was interrupted due to the presence of civilians in the battlefield,” the SDF official said. “That’s why we’ve been avoiding use of heavy weapons.”

Over 1,000 civilians are being evacuated from Manbij on a daily basis since the start of the operations five weeks ago, most of them are women and children.

Speaking to ARA News, Camilla Muhammad, a citizen released from ISIS siege, said: “When we left Manbij city, ISIS militants opened fire on us, and tried to interrupt our attempt to escape. Afterwards, the road has been opened [by the SDF] and we have been able to come to our brave SDF men.”

“However, there are still many civilians stranded inside the city,” she added.

Amshah, a mother who has met her son after three years, expressed her joy for being liberated from ISIS and finally meeting her son. “We have escaped death. We have fled a graveyard and arrived here to safety, to our courageous men.”

aranews.net

ISIS banned organised sports like football when they took over Raqqa in Syria more than two years ago

ISIS militants have beheaded four members of a football team after declaring the sport anti-Islamic.

The extremists banned organised sports like football when they took over Raqqa in Syria more than two years ago.

Fans in the city used to flock to watch Al-Shabab play matches in the city’s large stadium.

But earlier this week crowds watched as the four young men – accused of spying for the Kurdish YPG – were dispatched by ISIS executioners.

A fifth unknown man was also killed.

Photographs of the the aftermath of the gruesome execution, together with snaps of three of stars lining up for their side in the days before ISIS invaded, were released in a series of tweets by protest group, Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.

The men were named as Osama Abu Kuwait, Ihsan Al Shuwaikh, Nehad Al Hussein and Ahmed Ahawakh.

One said: “Osama Abu Ku wait a player in Al Shbab team in Raqqa for football Behead by ISIS.”

Another tweet read: “Photo for Ihsan Al Shuwaikh, a Player in AL Shbab team for football in #Raqqa Behead by #ISIS #Syria.”

The group shared a picture of a player standing in the team’s red kit with a lion on the shirt stood in front fans in a stadium with the words: “They Accused them for being spies for the Kurds , Photo for Nehad Al Hussein number 12 , #Raqqa #Syria #ISIS.”

Nehad was also circled in a team line-up wearing the number 12 shirt with coaching staff on the pitch at a ground.

The group initially said three players had been killed by the terror group but later added a fourth name to the list.

It is not the first time ISIS has targeted the sport of football.

Last year militants executed 13 teenage boys for watching the Asian Cup football match between Iraq and Jordan.

The young football fans had been caught watching the game on television in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which is controlled by the Islamic State.

mirror.co.uk

In the fight against Islamic State, drones equipped with improvised explosive devices, are posing a direct threat to US and coalition forces

Islamic State fighters are posing a growing threat to US and Iraqi forces by deploying small commercial drones armed with improvised explosives devices or spy cameras that can evade detection, according to the Pentagon.

The threat led the defence department office charged with monitoring and countering improvised explosive devices to ask that Congress approve shifting $20 million to provide seed money for a counter-drone effort.

The funds would bankroll moves to “identify, acquire, integrate and conduct testing” of technologies that would “counter the effects of unmanned aerial systems and the threats they pose to US forces,” according to a budget document sent to Congress last week. It was part of a request for approval to shift $2.5 billion in defence funds approved for this year from other purposes to reflect changing needs.

The request underscores that commercially available drone technology has proliferated beyond hobbyists to adversaries. In its latest annual report on Iran’s military capabilities, the defence department said the Islamic Republic is fielding armed drones among other “increasingly lethal weapon systems.” At the Pentagon, the police force has posted “no drone” signs around the sprawling complex along with the usual “no photos” reminders.

Direct threat

In the fight against Islamic State, “small and tactical unmanned aerial systems” equipped with improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, “pose a direct threat to US and coalition forces,” according to the budget document.

“Just days after the Iraqi forces began occupying Makhmour in Ninevah Province, a video surfaced” on an Islamic State web site “showing forces on the ground there, demonstrating they were using the footage in both reconnaissance and propaganda roles,” Army colonel Chris Garver, the defence department’s top spokesman in Iraq, said in an e-mail.

The joint improvised-threat defeat agency, the Pentagon office that has worked to combat improvised explosive devices since the 2003 Iraq war, has seen Islamic State fly “quadcopters and fixed-wing type drones you can buy commercially” as “both an IED delivery system and for reconnaissance,” its spokesman, David Small, said in an e-mail.

The commercial drones used by Islamic State have weighed about 50 pounds or less, he said. He didn’t provide details on the number of attacks or resulting casualties.

In addition to using drones with full-motion video to look for attack opportunities and to monitor Iraqi security forces, Small said the pilotless aircraft are being used to provide target information for vehicles carrying suicide bombs.

Small said “there is a wide array of technology angles we are looking into” to defeat the drones that would be deployed within two years, if not sooner.

livemint.com

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency warns Iran is still making extensive attempts to acquire materials to further its nuclear program

Iran is still making extensive attempts to acquire materials to further its nuclear program, even after signing a deal promising its curtailment, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has warned, according to i24news.

The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said in an annual report it has detected extensive Iranian attempts to acquire illicit materials in Germany, “especially goods that can be used in the field of nuclear technology.”

“Also in international comparison, the level of attempts remains high,” it added, according to i24news.

The German intelligence body in the regional state of North Rhine-Westphalia registered 141 such attempts last year, as opposed to 83 similar tries in 2014. 90 of those attempts were described as illegal activities to procure technology that could be used for the development of nuclear weapons and launchers.

The smuggling of the proliferation-sensitive goods is conducted usually by Iranian strawmen and shell companies through China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, the report estimated.

But 90 percent of those attempts have been thwarted thanks to the cooperation between companies and the BfV, stressed the agency. Nevertheless, Iran’s covert and intensive procurement activities on German soil are expected to continue, it warned.

The findings mark the second time in the last few weeks that evidence has surfaced of Iran’s nuclear work.

Late in June, it was reported that the Obama administration had concluded that uranium particles discovered last year at the secretive Iranian military base in Parchin likely were tiedto the country’s past, covert nuclear weapons program.

The findings contradict Tehran’s longstanding denials that it was pursuing a nuclear bomb.

Israel’s Ambassador in Germany Yakov Hadas-Handelsman responded to the German intelligence reported, as quoted by i24news.

“Once again we are seeing the confirmation of our concerns, that are shared also by the German side: It’s not enough to simply trust Tehran,” he told the daily Tagesspiegel. He expressed confidence that the German authorities will continue to foil such illegal activities using all the necessary measures.

Several German politicians expressed concerns in response to the report. If Iran doesn’t comply with the nuclear agreement, there will be a need to revisit the topic of sanctions, noted Armin Schuster, the ruling party’s faction chief in the Bundestag’s Internal Affairs Committee.

A SPD party spokeswoman quoted by i24news told Tagesspiegel, “The compromise with Iran presupposes that the Iranians cooperate fully and accumulate no nuclear material to develop nuclear weapons. We are not naive and will closely monitor the compliance with the reached agreements. Germany stands with no ifs and buts and at all times at Israel’s side and therefore we will not allow any sort of threat from Iran.”

The Iranian nuclear deal was implemented at the beginning of the year, despite a December 2 report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which concluded that Iran made a “coordinated” effort to develop nuclear weapons in the past.

The UN watchdog also released a report around the same time which determined that Iran had violated the terms of its nuclear deal with the West by increasing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 460.2 kilograms.

inn.com

The government made gains on the north of Aleppo in the Mallh Farms area, coming within firing range of the Castello road, the only way out and to the city for the rebels, Rudaw Kurdish online outlet reported Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, at least 25 people were injured during a terrorists’ shelling of northern districts of the city.

In recent weeks, the situation in Aleppo and surrounding areas has deteriorated, as various militant groups, including the al-Nusra Front, which is outlawed in Russia and many other countries, have been shelling the city.

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups.

sputniknews.com/

With its refineries mostly destroyed and its tanker fleet under constant attack, the Islamic State is increasingly turning to low-tech alternatives for processing oil, a vital source of revenue for the terrorist group, new satellite images reveal.

Aerial photos taken near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul show scores of tiny, makeshift refineries popping up in oil fields controlled by the Islamic State, evidence that the jihadists are finding work-arounds after losing much of their oil infrastructure to air strikes.

The micro-refineries—sometimes called “teapots”—consist of little more than a ditch or pit for storing crude and a portable metal furnace used to distill raw petroleum into fuel. Thousands of such systems have long been in operation in the Islamic State’s Syrian strongholds, but now they’re sprouting up around the more established, though heavily damaged, Iraqi oil fields, said Omar Lamrani, a senior analyst for Stratfor, a private, Texas-based intelligence company.

“In a single oil field there can be hundreds of these makeshift operations,” said Lamrani, citing aerial imagery showing a constellation of tiny furnaces around a Mosul field that was mostly just sand a year ago. “It’s not the ideal way to do it, so their revenue is going down. But it still works.” The images were provided to The Washington Post by Stratfor and AllSource Analysis, a Colorado firm that specializes in geospatial research.

The tiny refineries are partly offsetting huge losses in income resulting from the disruption of traditional oil production in northern Iraqi fields controlled by the Islamic State since mid-2014. After capturing the facilities, the group’s leaders initially attempted to run them as businesses, retaining enough workers to keep the refineries operating and hauling the finished products by tanker truck to independent dealers in Turkey, Syria and Iraq’s Kurdish provinces, U.S. officials say.

At its peak, the Islamic State’s oil operations were netting an estimated $50 million a month. But the group’s oil income has plummeted in recent months, through a combination of poor management and a steady drumbeat of air strikes that have targeted refineries and storage depots as well as tanker convoys.

The proliferation of micro-refineries is the latest sign of strain in the group’s self-declared caliphate, which has lost half its territorial holdings in Iraq since late 2014. At the same time, the use of low-tech alternatives also reflects a certain resilience by an organization that also depends on self-generated oil to run its military operations and electric generators, Lamrani said. Stratfor estimates that oil contributed about $20 million a month to the Islamic State’s coffers as recently as March, with much of the petroleum coming from makeshift facilities.

There are many drawbacks to the system. The small furnaces, which heat raw petroleum to a high temperature and then capture and cool the vapors to create gasoline, produce thick clouds of black smoke and leave pools of toxic byproducts on the surface. But because they are small and scattered, the “teapot” refineries are harder to destroy from the air. And any that are destroyed can be easily and cheaply replaced, oil industry experts say.

“This is very inefficient, dirty and creates lots of waste,” said Paul Bommer, a professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. And yet, he said, “it is a way to make small amounts of product at isolated locations, which I suppose could make the sites harder to find.”

washingtonpost.com

The meeting of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir has tackled the importance of fighting and defeating ISIS, in addition to the latest terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, according to U.S. Department of State spokesperson John Kirby.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Kirby said that the Saudi foreign minister had suggested providing military forces to the campaign against ISIS.

Al-Jubeir had also discussed with his U.S. counterpart means to reach a political transition in Syria, Kirby said, adding that the talks also tackled the situation in Libya and Yemen and the latest developments between Israel and Palestine.

Kerry held an impromptu meeting with al-Jubeir on Tuesday evening, during which the U.S. Secretary of State expressed his condolences to the victims of the terror attacks in Saudi Arabia.

Following journalists’ insistence, Kirby said during a press briefing that discussions concerning the Saudi assistance to fight ISIS were not new.

He said that both countries had previously discussed the matter, and would continue to do so. “It is not a secret that we are tackling efforts to fight ISIS, and Saudi Arabia plays a leading role in the alliance against ISIS. The Saudi authorities previously discussed such idea, and it would not be the last time they do so. These talks are serious,” Kirby said.

Kirby said the U.S. looks at the Saudi suggestion very seriously, but added that both countries have not yet reached a final decision concerning the issue. “I will not speak about the military strategies,” he said.

A month ago, Saudi Arabia announced its readiness to participate in a ground operation in Syria. Gen. Ahmad Al-Assiri, consultant in the office of the Defense Ministry, said last February that the Kingdom was ready for a ground war in Syria, a few days after Riyadh’s announcement that it was ready to send troops to fight ISIS in the framework of an international alliance to defeat the terrorist organization.

Assiri had said that Saudi Arabia had never announced its willingness to participate in an operation sponsored by the international alliance against ISIS in Syria unless it had the serious desire to defeat this terrorist organization. “Saudi Arabia is now fully ready,” he said.

aawsat.com