Iraqi forces opened a second front on Saturday in preparation for an assault on the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, a day after government troops declared victory over the militants in Falluja.

Elite counter-terrorism forces and two army divisions, backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes, advanced from a northern refinery town towards an airfield seen as key for a move to retake Mosul, security officials said.

Mosul is Iraq’s largest northern city and Islamic State’s de facto capital in the country.

Government troops cleared two villages and pressed around 20 kilometers (12 miles) along a desert route west of Baiji, the first advance past the town since its recapture in October, the security officials said.

Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi said the assault marked the launch of operations to push Islamic State out of Qayara, about 115 km (70 miles) north of Baiji, where an airfield could serve as the staging ground for a future offensive on Mosul, a further 60 km north.

Army troops on a separate front pushing west from Makhmour for the past three months have made only halting progress on the opposite side of the Tigris river.

“The launch of operations to liberate Qayara will not give the terrorists a chance to catch their breath,” Obaidi said on Twitter alongside a picture of Humvee military trucks snaking down a desert road.

Iraqi forces entered the center of Falluja, an hour’s drive west of Baghdad, on Friday morning after a four-week operation that sent its tens of thousands of residents fleeing to overwhelmed displacement camps nearby.

“LONG WAY FROM DONE”

Prime Minster Haider al-Abadi had declared victory in Falluja by evening, but police sources said on Saturday that government troops had not yet entered several northern districts held by Islamic State and were still clearing southern areas.

Iraqi troops engaged the insurgents on Baghdad Street, the main east-west route through Falluja, firing rockets at their positions and taking sniper fire and mortar rounds.

Counter-terrorism forces took control of Falluja hospital, a nest for the militants who set fire to large parts of it before fleeing, and were clearing the eastern al-Dhubat neighborhood, a military statement said.

“It’s a long way from done,” said Col. Chris Garver, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition. “There’s still a lot of work to be done in terms of clearing all the bad guys out of Falluja and clearing IEDs (improvised explosive devices)”.

Live footage broadcast on state television from outside the hospital showed smoke rising from the hospital and elite commandos celebrating with an Iraqi flag.

Falluja, an historic bastion of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. forces that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003, and the Shi’ite-led governments that followed, was seen as a launchpad for recent Islamic State bombings in the capital.

The International Organization for Migration said on Saturday more than 81,000 people had been displaced by the fighting in Falluja, which had a population about three times that size before the Islamic State seizure in early 2014.

“Needs: tents, water, supplies,” the agency tweeted.

After meeting U.N. officials about the humanitarian crisis, Prime Minister Abadi ordered emergency measures including setting up mobile clinics, vaccinating children, dispatching water tanks, and supplying electricity within five days.

WESTERN DESERT ROUTE

Militants tried to slow the troops’ advance north of Baiji with mortar attacks that killed two policemen and wounded three soldiers, said army Col. Mohammed Abdulla from Salahuddin operations command.

Two suicide car bombs were taken out by air strikes before reaching their targets, though dusty weather was making it difficult to target militants and slowing the advance, military sources said.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said Apache attack helicopters had conducted operations in support of Iraqi forces in the Tigris river valley, where the advance is situated.

The government forces were advancing along a desert path west of the main highway linking Baghdad to Mosul which is lined with mines and runs through villages that have a heavy Islamic State presence, said Col. Mohammed al-Assadi, an Iraqi army spokesman.

Senior officers in the counter-terrorism service have told Reuters the forces would not enter Islamic State strongholds in the area, such as Shirqat and Hawija, to avoid getting tied down in secondary battles.

The desert route also leads the troops further away from the Makhoul mountains east of Baiji, from which Islamic State has been launching mortars in and around the town for months.

Prime Minister Abadi has said Iraqi forces will retake Mosul this year but, in private, many question whether the army, which partially collapsed when Islamic State overran a third of the country in June 2014, will be ready in time.

The United States estimates that Islamic State has lost nearly half of the territory it seized in 2014.

Retaking Qayara and a nearby refinery with a production capacity of 16,000 barrels per day could also pinch Islamic State’s finances.

reuters.com

Militants of the Islamic State group (ISIS) on Friday executed six civilians from one family for trying to escape the city of Manbij in northern Syria, activists reported.

ISIS jihadis arrested members of the al-Darj family while trying to flee the war-torn city of Manbij heading to Aleppo.

“They were executed by firing squad in front of hundreds of Manbij residents. There were two children among the victims,” local media activist Nasser Taljbini told ARA News.

“By executing the family in public, the ISIS radical group was trying to deliver a message to all civilians who are still residing the city of Manbij, threatening anyone who would leave to face a similar fate,” Taljbini said.

ISIS has been using civilians as human shields in the military operations in Manbij, local sources told ARA News.

This comes amid continued clashes between the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and ISIS militants in the vicinity of Manbij city.

The SDF is trying to close the 98-km border pocket of Manbij that has been used by ISIS for years to move its jihadis in and out of Syria.

aranews.net

Terrorist group carries out wave of suicide attacks and car bombings in the southwestern suburbs of Manbij

Islamic State group jihadists have launched a wave of suicide and car bombings to defend a besieged stronghold in northern Syria against US-backed fighters, a monitor said on Saturday.

A Kurdish-Arab alliance last week encircled the city of Manbij and severed a key supply route used by IS from the Turkish border to the jihadists’ de facto Syrian capital, Raqqa.

But since then the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by US airstrikes, have been slowed by almost daily suicide bombings by IS, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

On Friday, IS carried out two suicide attacks and five car bombings in the southwestern suburbs of Manbij, according to the British-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground.

The number of casualties was unknown.

The operation has also been complicated by the presence of tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the city, although more than 1,000 have managed to escape with the help of the SDF.

“On Friday, six members of the same family were killed when they were targeted by jihadists while fleeing,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

SDF commanders have accused IS of using civilians as human shields.

Southeast of Manbij, regime forces backed by Russian air strikes have also faced IS counterattacks after advancing towards another jihadist bastion, Tabqa.

The town lies some 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of Raqqa city, and recapturing it would cut a supply route from the west. The army is now reported to be 15 kilometres away from Tabqa’s military airport.

The Syrian conflict has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it began in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government demonstrations.

It has evolved into a multi-sided civil war involving a range of combatants including Western- and Gulf-backed rebels, jihadists, Kurds and pro-regime forces supported by Russia and Iran.

toi.com

Iran and Saudi Arabia need to work together to destroy the so-called Islamic State – which is an enemy to both countries

An opinion article recently published in Middle East Eye drew an analogy between the self-proclaimed Islamic State (Daesh), and my country, Iran. The author argued that Daesh’s ideology, worldview and modus operandi closely resonate with those of Iran. The argument went that if the people who are alarmed by the atrocities of IS would like to imagine what will happen if this death squad establishes a real, fully fledged “state”, they’d better look at Iran.

I am familiar with the previous works of the author and can confidently assert that he is an accomplished and well-spoken writer and analyst. He has penned many interesting articles, including on such crucial issues such as Islamophobia, and tackled these concerns from inventive perspectives. However, I feel his approach to Iran and characterising it as a Daesh incarnate has been somewhat emotive and inaccurate. I also think, however, that those who liken Saudi Arabia to Daesh are failing to adhere to the truth.

His article generated a widespread debate on social media and in the comments section of the column. Some of the commentators were supportive of his argument. Others were naturally critical. However, there was yet another group that was abusive towards him. A lot of these abusive people would have no problem if Saudi Arabia (or other states that they don’t like) were compared to Daesh. They cheer, share and promote such false comparisons. But if the tables are turned, and the comparison involves Iran, then they – hypocritically – express outrage.

Some of the abusive commentators turned on the website for publishing his work. I can say confidently that although the outlet has published many commentaries critical of the Iranian government, it has been providing a fair and balanced coverage of Iran in a professional manner. This is at a time where thousands of mainstream newspapers, news websites, TV and radio stations across the world are adopting a purely anti-Iran stance. Middle East Eye also has contributors from inside Iran who are able to provide firsthand, independent coverage of Iranian affairs without being under any malign influence.

I should assert that there’s literally “nothing” humane, civilized or honourable in Daesh’s ideology or conduct. It’s true that Iran and Saudi Arabia do commit human rights abuses, but it doesn’t mean that they are torturous, murderous entities like Daesh, committed to killing, decapitating and raping people of different faiths, religions or genders on a daily basis. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has acknowledged this, and said his government is ready to engage in dialogue about Iran’s human rights record with the international community.

But believe me, we cannot remind people of their mistakes and compel them to correct them by pouring scorn on them or embarrassing them. Both the governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia are serving their populations to different degrees, and trying to improve their people’s living standards. They aspire to have better relations with the outside world and much of their regional rivalry is rooted in their thirst for attracting more allies and partners and their keenness to court the global powers in the West and East – no matter how they try to make new friends and crush their enemies.

But when you talk about Daesh, you’re actually talking about a death squad which has nothing positive, constructive or encouraging in its workings and plans. To put it very simply, Iran and Saudi Arabia represent governments that are doing things which at least benefit thousands of people. Does Daesh do anything that even a single citizen on the earth can reap the benefits of? They’re plainly recruiting alienated and hapless youths to fight for them and kill at will. Daesh is predicated on killing and destroying. Can we compare such important countries as Iran and Saudi Arabia, with their historical and contemporary contributions to global arts, literature, sciences, economy and scholastic endeavours, with the Daesh terrorists?

I’m the first one who believes Iran should respect and uphold the rights of the political activists, ethnic and religious minorities and women in a dignified way and revise its policies, but the way to make it happen – if we really want to realise it – doesn’t pass through bombastic attacks on the Iranian government. No government finds it agreeable to be openly and pejoratively censured for its wrongdoings. Only respectful engagement will pave the way for meaningful change. When the Western states pursued a path of coercion against Iran on its nuclear programme – especially when the hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in power, they saw that their policies boomeranged, but when they practiced respectful dialogue, their efforts paid off.

I’m a Shia Muslim, and my country is gravely at loggerheads with Sunni Saudi Arabia at a tumultuous juncture of mutual relations. However, one of the best experiences I had in my life was my trip to Saudi Arabia in 2009, when I was an undergraduate student, and undertook the minor pilgrimage (Umrah) in the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. Iranian pilgrims were not treated respectfully at that time, but personally, I didn’t face any discourtesy or disrespect. I used my mediocre Arabic knowledge to engage with the locals on the streets, in the mosques and while walking around the city, and I could clearly identify signs of a close cultural affinity between our two nations – obviously because of our shared religious values. People were interested in learning about Iran and its culture and past, and showed eagerness to come to Iran and visit its ancient cities and holy places.

I’m a Shia, but almost all my Muslim friends in other countries are Sunni, and I’m really honoured to have such impressive companions in such diverse countries as Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey. That’s why I don’t feel good when people melodramatically equate such a dangerous terrorist cult as Daesh with Saudi Arabia, and similarly, feel hurt when it’s taken for granted that Iran is an embodiment of Daesh.

Just look at the recent achievements of Iranian actor Shahab Hosseini and director Asghar Farhadi at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, who grabbed two top awards at the prestigious artistic event. I don’t want to sound jingoistic, but it’s admitted internationally that Iranian cinema is one of the greatest in the world. Daesh terrorists are just good at filming their heartrending beheading scenes. I doubt if they can produce movies that shine at Cannes or win an Academy Award. A venerable civilisation spanning some 7,000 years, Iran has been a crucible of the arts, literature, poetry, mysticism and sciences for a very long time. Iran and Daesh shouldn’t be treated with the same brush.

So, let’s embrace the truth: Daesh is Daesh. Neither Iran nor Saudi Arabia resembles this death squad. Both countries need to work together to destroy this murderous cult – which is an enemy to them both.

middleeasteye.net

Iraqi forces retake the main government compound in Fallujah, top commanders say, a breakthrough in the nearly four–week-old offensive against the Islamic State group’s bastion.

Iraqi forces have retaken the main government compound in Fallujah, top commanders said, a breakthrough in the nearly four–week-old offensive against the Islamic State (IS) group’s bastion.

The elite federal forces met limited resistance from IS fighters, who are redeploying on the western outskirts of the city, the commanders told AFP.

“The counter-terrorism service and the rapid response forces have retaken the government compound in the centre of Fallujah,” said the operation’s overall commander, Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi.

Raed Shaker Jawdat, Iraq’s federal police chief, confirmed the advance.

“The liberation of the government compound, which is the main landmark in the city, symbolises the restoration of the state’s authority” in Fallujah, he said.

The Government lost control of Fallujah in 2014, months before IS took second city Mosul and swept across large parts of the country.

Fallujah, which lies just 50 kilometres west of Baghdad, is one of IS’s most emblematic strongholds and its loss would leave Mosul as the only major Iraqi city under its control.

In the hours running up to the latest push into the heart of Fallujah, Iraqi forces retook several neighbourhoods in the south and east.

Lieutenant General Saadi said the Iraqi flag was raised above government buildings in the compound and claimed that “Iraqi forces have now liberated 70 per cent of the city”.

“This operation was done with little resistance from Daesh,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

“There is a mass flight of Daesh to the west that explains this lack of resistance. There are only pockets of them left and we are hunting them down.”

Security officials said many IS members had managed to slip out of the city by blending in with fleeing civilians in recent days, in some cases paying off security forces.

“The top leaders are mostly gone and those left behind to defend the city are not their best fighters, which explains their performance,” said a security officer speaking on condition of anonymity.

Tens of thousands of civilians have been forced from their homes since the start of the operation last month.

The first to escape IS rule were those living in rural outlying areas, in the early phase of the operation which saw myriad different Iraqi forces seal the siege of the city.

Residents of the city centre had been trapped in dire conditions for days but recent advances have allowed large numbers to escape.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs camps for the displaced near Fallujah, said the sudden influx meant relief was drying up fast.

“Thousands of civilians from Fallujah are right now heading towards displacement camps in a dramatic development that is overwhelming emergency aid provision and services,” it said.

With IS on the retreat in the city, a window has opened for civilians to leave but the journey remains dangerous, with several cases of fleeing civilians killed or wounded by the explosion of roadside bombs.

There were an estimated 50,000 people in the city when the operation was launched but it is unclear how many remain now.

Civilians have been used as human shields by IS and those who managed to flee face the risk of sectarian–motivated abuse by elements of the pro–government forces.

afp

alalam.ir

Turkish doctors confirmed reports about Daesh terrorists’ treatment in a hospital on the border with Syria: four wounded Daesh fighters had been treated at the Ersin Arslan regional hospital.

In an exclusive interview RT correspondent Lizzie Phelan spoke with doctors in Turkey who are investigating Turkey’s links with the terrorist group Daesh.

In the third part of the report, Lizzie and her colleague Gokhan met with doctors who treated Daesh militants in hospitals in the south of the country from where militants from Syria are coming.

Earlier in May, an unnamed source told Sputnik that four wounded Daesh fighters were treated at the Ersin Arslan regional hospital, located in the Turkish city of Gaziantep. They were admitted on May 5, the medical worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added.

One of them, named Bagur Ferhad, was an Afghan national born in 1993, the source said.

“I examined the Daesh fighters. They had gunshot wounds. None of them received life-threatening injuries,” the medical worker detailed.

Earlier, Turkish forces opened fire when a group of foreign fighters tried to cross into Syria near Oğuzeli, a city in the Gaziantep province. Three militants were killed, 11 were injured. Four of them were brought to the Ersin Arslan regional hospital. No record of their stay was made.

However, during Phelan’s recent visit to Gaziantep, a city in south-central Turkey some 60 kilometers from the Syrian border, eyewitnesses and doctors told the RT correspondent that most of the Daesh fighters were treated in the border city of Kilis, south of Gaziantep.

“Many wounded Daesh militants or FSA [Free Syrian Army] fighters were brought to the border in pick-up trucks, not ambulances,” Medical Association Chair in Gaziantep and Kilis Hamza Agca said. “Many were unconscious and bleeding when they were brought to us.”

Agca further said that the injured men were apparently driven right from a “war zone” and doctors on a number of occasions had to deal with things like “grenades falling out of their pockets.”

One doctor from Kilis also confirmed to RT that they received fighters from across the Turkish-Syrian border, including Daesh militants. The doctor said on condition of anonymity that he was just one of the many doctors who treated terrorists in Kilis.

He described discovering suicide vests on some of Daesh patients and felt horrified as he was forced to take them off.

When asked about how the doctors felt about treating terrorists, Agca said that as medical professionals they were under an oath to help the injured, no matter who they were. “Any doctor throughout the world would do the same,” he said.

However, after the treatment was over, the militants went back to rejoin the battlefield in Syria. “We treated these fighters and they went back to fight once they recovered, some were brought for a second or third time to our hospital,” Agca said.

Agca told RT that the Turkish government officials made sure that Daesh fighters were able to cross into Turkey with no obstacles.

“In terms of their medical treatment, the government didn’t give us any order but their policy was to provide the opportunity to fighters to use the border crossing.”

Turkish authorities deny any whatsoever connection with Daesh. For journalists working in the country, the investigation of this topic is quite risky. It is likely that after this story was aired, Phelan may not be able to go back to Turkey without having to worry for her safety.

According to the doctor, the flow of Daesh militants being admitted to Turkish hospitals has decreased, but they still see militants admitted every couple of weeks.

The first reports of Daesh militants receiving costly and complicated medical treatment appeared in May. The information was leaked via tapped phone calls and was handed to the media by opposition MP Erem Erdem.

sputniknews.com/

Extremists of the Islamic State group (ISIS) on Tuesday kidnapped dozens of civilians after breaking into a number of Kurdish villages near al-Bab city in the northern countryside of Aleppo, northern Syria, activists and eyewitnesses reported.

ISIS militants stormed the villages of Shawa, Qaarkalbin, Tel Jarja, Sosinbat, Numan and Qabasin, and abducted more than 210 Kurdish civilians.

Eyewitnesses in the targeted villages near al-Bab told ARA News that ISIS members selected the houses inhabited by Kurdish families before breaking into them.

“They drove young people out of their homes, including men and women, and they moved them away by large trucks. We don’t know where they’ve been taken,” an eyewitness in Tel Jarja told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity. “ISIS fighters left behind the elderly and children, they only took the young and healthy boys and girls.”

“Most of the kidnapped were young men and some of them were women. We are concerned about their destiny, as the group may use them as human shields in its battles with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces,” Kurdish lawyer Omran Mansour told ARA News in Aleppo.

The Islamic State militants have been involved in heavy fighting with the SDF  forces in the northern countryside of Aleppo for over a year, and most recently in Manbij, where the Kurdish-led SDF has repeatedly raised concerns about civilians used by ISIS as human shields during the battles. The SDF has recaptured over 105 villages and farms in the vicinity of Manbij in a two-week-operation, while ISIS remains stranded inside the city.

“ISIS extremists are now carrying out a revenge campaign against Kurds and other communities in northern Aleppo, accusing them of supporting the SDF,” Mansour said.

The Kurdish lawyer added that the kidnapped young men could be forced into the fighting against the SDF, while the women might be taken as sex slaves.

“We have seen this scenario before, especially with the Yezidi community at the hands of ISIS jihadis, and we would apparently see this over and over again as long as those terrorists exist in this region,” Mansour told ARA News.

ISIS Raping Women In Manbij Countryside 

This comes just days after extremists of the Islamic State (ISIS) have raped dozens of Syrian women in the countryside of Manbij in the northern Aleppo province, according to local sources.

Before their withdrawal from the countryside of Manbij under heavy bombardment by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), ISIS jihadis broke into civilians’ houses in dozens of villages around Manbij, killing the men and raping the women.

“Over more than two years of their control over Manbij, ISIS jihadis were generally careful with their behaviour towards the people in a bid to gain popular support. However, since the SDF troops started their campaign and made gains against the Islamic State, the group’s members in Manbij started punishing civilians collectively after accusing them of supporting the US-backed SDF,” media activist Nassir Taljbini told ARA News in Manbij.

“They have killed hundreds of men and raped dozens of women in the past few days, especially in the western countryside of Manbij, before withdrawing from most of the villages there,” Taljbini reported.

One of the victims who spoke to ARA News under the name Um Mohamed said that ISIS militants broke into their house, killed her husband and raped her and her two daughters. “They entered the house like barbarians. They shot my husband and raped me and my daughters. We’re still in shock after what happened. I have nothing to say to describe it… a nightmare,” she said.

Eyewitnesses told ARA News that ISIS militants also burned a number of houses in Manbij western villages before withdrawing.

“It was like an act of revenge against the people of the area,” a villager of Oum Mayyal said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Syrian Democratic Forces have liberated about 90 villages in Manbij countryside over the past weeks. The fighting has now moved to the city of Manbij, the last stronghold of ISIS in the district.

aranews.net

Sitting in their frontline positions or hunched in narrow drainage tunnels in the small Iraqi town of Bashir, the ISIL fighters had plenty of time on their hands.

They had been holed up here since ISIL stormed into northern Iraq in 2014. While the Kurds prevented ISIL from taking Kirkuk, the extremists did manage to seize Bashir – a town south of the city. Being marooned on the fringes of ISIL did not mean the fighters were out of touch with what was happening in the other territories in Iraq and Syria that were under ISIL control, nor were they out of reach from the propagandists seeking to shape their world view.

Every week the men in combat fatigues would receive the latest edition of “Al Naba”, or The News – a crisp newspaper printed on high quality paper in A3 format. It was a welcome distraction from the boredom on a quiet frontline.

Here, the troops could read about recent battles – which according to Al Naba all ended victoriously and at great cost to the enemy. The newspaper eulogised ISIL fighters killed in air strikes, and affirmed their radical beliefs with OpEds urging readers to adopt ISIL’s apocalyptic ideology. There were also full-page advertisements claiming success in imposing ISIL’s harsh Sharia law on to the populations it controlled.

The ISIL occupation of Bashir ended in early May, when a combined force of Kurdish Peshmerga and Shiite militias retook the town, killing or capturing its defenders, and forcing some to flee. Among the things left behind in tunnels, fortified positions and rows of houses connected by holes punched into the walls were copies of Al Naba, which The National obtained during a visit shortly after the fighting ended.

Most of the newspapers found strewn on the floor of a ransacked house were confiscated by an intelligence officer of the Shiite militias that now control the town. But the two editions that were salvaged – from March 23 and April 27 – give a unique insight into ISIL propaganda efforts outside the group’s vast online presence.

Unlike its web recruitment efforts, which are aimed at the outside world, Al Naba is directed at those within the self-styled caliphate: the grunts in the trenches and impressionable locals living in its confines.

“Satan is Weak”

The cover of a 16-page edition published on March 23 this year revelled in the bloody terrorist attacks in Brussels a day earlier which killed 32 people, for which ISIL claimed responsibility. “Operation Brussels – Satan is Weak” screamed one headline. Triumphantly, the article explained the wider consequences of the attack.

“If you look at this operation, the direct effect of it is far greater than the number of dead and wounded. It has disrupted life and caused huge financial losses. The most important thing is that it shows the weakness of the intelligence agencies of the western countries, who claim be the strongest in the world,” gloats the article.

It was a message intended to revive morale among ISIL members who were being pummelled daily by air strikes and suffering from salary cuts that in the past afforded them a comfortable life when not on frontline duty.

“The operation shows that security in Europe is a myth,” concluded the unnamed author.

The frequent terrorist attacks on civilians in Iraq also got a mention, alongside reports on battles and skirmishes.

A failed offensive by the Iraqi army at Makhmour is the subject of one article, titled “The fight in West Makhmour increases the failures of the Shia army”. It gave a detailed and only partly accurate account of the fighting near the town in northern Iraq where a US soldier died from ISIL rocket fire in March.

Some articles cited information from ISIL’s Press Office for the Wilayat Junub — or southern province. Others referenced the Amaq news agency, an online ISIL propaganda outlet.

All part of ISIL’s efforts to gain legitimacy by mimicking the mechanics of a state, and recreating the machinations of conventional government-run media operations.

Unconventional Advertisements

However, Al Naba is less conventional in its use of advertisements, which take the form of full page graphics detailing the supposed success of ISIL operations.

One such ad listed the effects of the Brussels bombing in rows of images with accompanying “statistics” such as: 300 dead and wounded, alleged financial losses resulting from the attack, and the decline in stock market value in airlines and travel companies.

An ad by ISIL’s morality police, the Hisbah, provides statistics for the reduction in behaviour deemed inappropriate according to its fundamentalist interpretation of Sharia. The propaganda newspaper claimed that 12,300 cases had been judged by Sharia courts throughout the radicalised group’s domain in recent months. This, the ad claimed, led to a 31 per cent reduction in businesses operating during prayer time, a 56 per cent reduction in women wearing make up or men wearing western clothing, and a 13 per cent decrease in drug consumption.

The newspaper also provided tips on public safety to its readers.

Beneath the menacing image of a US military jet was a list of preventive measures against coalition bombing. ISIL fighters were also urged to dig tunnels and fortifications, to replace glass windows with plastic, and to avoid parking their cars out in the open.

Praising the Camp Speicher Butcher

Al Naba also lavished column inches on fallen fighters. A double page spread in the March edition entitled “The Story of a Martyr” commemorated the “noble prince” Husam Abid Zaid, who went by the norm de guerre Abu Al Magheera Al Qahtaani. According to ISIL, Abu Al Magheera was a veteran “jihadi” and a former soldier in the Iraqi army, who joined Al Qaeda in the insurgency against the Americans after the Second Gulf War in 2003.

He was caught repeatedly and spent time in Iraq’s toughest prisons, including the infamous Camp Buka that served as an incubator for ISIL.

When ISIL surged across the Syrian border into Iraq, it destroyed several Iraqi army divisions and butchered more than 1,700 captured army recruits at Camp Speicher near the city of Tikrit. Abu Al Magheera, by now a high ranking ISIL commander, was behind the massacre, claimed Al Naba: “He is responsible for the killing of thousands of Shia.”

The paper writes that the murderous Abu Magheera was finally killed by a US air raid in the Libyan city of Derna, where he was sent to help ISIL to establish itself as the fortunes of war were turning against it in Syria and Iraq.

Death by In Laws

As a propaganda tool, the paper is heavy on content promoting ISIL appeal to Muslims. In a full page OpEd, the author exhorts his readers to rally behind the embattled terror group.

Asserting that the whole world is united behind the US in opposition to ISIL, Al Naba claims that all Muslims have a duty to support the group.

“In spite of all this clarity, we find that some people are still questioning with whom they should stand. Listen you poor, you don’t understand, something big is going on. [ …] Don’t ally yourself with the unbelievers.”

Sometimes, the blinkered rigidity of the paper’s ideology can lead to unintended comedy.

At the back end of the 23 March edition, a headline warns the reader of “Death by In Laws”. According to the article, ISIL’s hyper prudish moral guidelines forbid the wives of their members to spend time with a male relative of her husband without supervision. “The woman cannot stay alone with any male family members of husband – it’s worse than death,” it warned.

thenational.ae

Reactions are still pouring in over the BBC Persian Service’s June 1 story on the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, based on recently declassified CIA documents. The British broadcaster cites a 1980 CIA analysis, titled “Islam in Iran,” released in 2008 that claimed Khomeini had reached out to the administration of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The BBC article also reports that Khomeini contacted the White House just before the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979.

Al-Monitor did not have access to the declassified documents and was not able to independently verify them. The BBC has, however, made “Islam in Iran” available to the public.

CIA documents are reported to show that Khomeini sent a secret letter to President Jimmy Carter in January 1979 in which he proposed that if the US president used his influence with the Iranian military to drop its opposition to his takeover, he would calm the situation in Iran. Khomeini also reportedly promised that US interests and nationals in Iran would be protected.

Khomeini was arrested in 1963 after voicing fiery criticism of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. At a speech in the holy city of Qom on Ashoura, Khomeini slammed the shah’s land reforms and accused him of serving Israel’s interests while undermining Islam and Muslim clerics. Khomeini also warned the shah that he would come to regret his actions. According to a CIA cable cited in “Islam in Iran,” Khomeini sent a rare message of support to the Kennedy administration, explaining that he was not opposed to American interests in Iran. The cable names theologian and cleric Haj Mirza Khalil Kamarei as Khomeini’s messenger.

The original Persian-language version of the BBC’s story went online two days ahead of the 27th anniversary of Khomeini’s death, prompting a swift response from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Addressing the crowds gathered at Khomeini’s mausoleum on the outskirts of Tehran on June 3, Khamenei dismissed the BBC report as false and asserted, “Britain has always been hostile toward Iran.”

Many others have challenged the authenticity of the CIA documents or claimed that it was Carter who first wrote to Khomeini and that the latter’s response has been distorted. These figures include Kamarei’s son, Nasser al-Din Kamarei, who has issued a statement denying any contact between his late father and the US Embassy.

Al-Monitor spoke with Seyed Mahmoud Doaei, managing editor of Ettelaat. Doaei spent 11 years working in Khomeini’s office in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, during Khomeini’s 1965-1978 exile there. Doaei described both the BBC’s report and the CIA cables as “lies,” adding to Al-Monitor, “The Imam, which we knew, was not a man to make contact with any foreigner, whether British or American.”

On June 7, Iranian parliament Speaker Ali Larijani lambasted the BBC for “engaging in a childish game of manipulating the documents.” Larijani cited former US National Security Council adviser Gary Sick as saying that the BBC’s account contains “selective quotations and some factual errors.” Of note, Sick downplayed the BBC report as a “tempest in a teapot” and wrote on his blog that he “has no knowledge of the reputed message from Khomeini to Kennedy in 1963.” Larijani further charged that the reports were invented in an attempt to legitimize ties between Tehran and Washington and to create the impression among Iranians that Islamic Republic officials maintained contact with the United States “even during the most difficult of times.”

Al-Monitor discussed the BBC report with Seyed Hamid Rouhani, who for 15 years worked as an aide to Khomeini in Qom and later during the years of exile in Iraq. These days, Rouhani is known as a historian of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He told Al-Monitor, “The BBC report and the CIA paper are only claims. In addition, they are full of contradictions.” Rouhani claimed that Kamarei, who reportedly relayed a message from Khomeini to the United States in 1963, “had some contact with the shah’s court. Therefore, he was not a confidante to the late leader and basically he could not have met with Khomeini at all while he was under house arrest.” In this vein, Doaei told Al-Monitor that Khomeini and Kamarei’s relationship was “ordinary” and that he does not think Khomeini would have chosen Kamarei to “pass on any message to anyone.”

Rouhani, who has published a book series titled “Imam Khomeini’s Movement,” also told Al-Monitor, “Not a single Savak [shah-era secret police] document on Imam Khomeini ever pointed to any contacts between him and foreign governments or individuals.” He reiterated Larijani’s claims about the motivations behind the BBC report, alleging that apart from legitimizing relations with the United States, “The enemy is trying to tarnish the reputation of the Imam as an uncompromising figure. … They know other nations would not give in to arrogant powers if Khomeini’s thoughts and ideas spread throughout the world.”

Rouhani concluded, “America has felt that the Iranian nation is resentful about the recent negotiations and that it cannot tolerate relations with the United States, so America wants to make people believe that having ties with the Americans is not taboo and that even the Imam had engaged with them.”

al-monitor.com