Ayoob Kara, a deputy Israeli cabinet minister, used to double as an unofficial intermediary with the few of his fellow Arab citizens who have left to join Islamic State insurgents in Syria or Iraq.

Negotiating discreetly through relatives and go-betweens, he would offer them reduced jail terms if they returned to Israel, cooperated with security services and helped deter other would-be Islamic State recruits by publicly disavowing the group.

A half-dozen volunteers took the deal, Kara says.

But with the number of Islamic State sympathisers in Israel growing from its initial trickle, and some accused of trying to set up armed cells within the country’s 18-percent Muslim minority, the deputy minister no longer sounds so accommodating.

“I used to work hard to dissuade people from joining ISIS, but now I say that there’s no point,” he told Reuters in an interview, using an acronym for the insurgents.

“If, by this point, when the dangers are abundantly clear to everyone, they still want to go, then they are beyond saving and it’s a one-way ticket for them. It’s literally a dead end.”

Kara, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was expressing a hardening of government policy against Islamic State, which, though preoccupied with battling Syrian and Iraqi regime forces, has recently inveighed against Israel.

“Jews, soon you shall hear from us in Palestine, which will become your grave,” promised a Dec. 26 voice recording on social media attributed to Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

In October, two video clips surfaced in which Islamic State gunmen threatened to strike Israel. They spoke in near-fluent, Arabic-accented Hebrew, suggesting they were among the several dozen Israeli Arabs who the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service estimates have joined the group abroad.

Israel sees a major cross-border attack on it by Islamic State as unlikely. But it is less sanguine about support for the group inside Israel, which is already beset by Palestinian street violence that has surged in the last three months, stoked in part by strife over a contested Jerusalem mosque complex.

“It (Islamic State influence) is beginning to spread here as well,” Intelligence Ministry director-general Ram Ben-Barak told Israel’s Army Radio on Sunday. “The ISIS scenario we worry about is ISIS cells arising in Israel to carry out terrorist attacks.”

Among Israel’s Muslim minority, pro-Palestinian sympathies are common but political violence rare.

PARAGLIDER, EX-ARMY DEFECTOR AMONG RECRUITS

Still, a series of spectacular incidents involving Israelis and Islamic State has unsettled the Shin Bet.

One Arab citizen who had volunteered to serve in Israel’s army later defected to the insurgents’ ranks in Syria, it emerged this month – a blow for a military that regards itself as a sectarian melting pot in the Jewish-majority country.

Separately, an Israeli Arab used a paraglider to fly into Syria in what the Shin Bet said was a bid to join Islamic State, and three others were arrested on suspicion of trying to set up an armed cell to carry out attacks in Israel on orders from two Israeli Arabs who are already with Islamic State in Iraq.

The paraglider incident prompted Netanyahu to order the revocation of Islamic State volunteers’ Israeli citizenship. Such a move, if it passes higher court review, would effectively shut the door on their return, a step that also has been a controversial topic of debate in European nations whose citizens have been fighting for Islamic State.

It marks a policy shift for Israel, which last year repatriated Marhan Khaldi, an Arab citizen wounded while fighting for Islamic State in Iraq and who made his way back to Turkey, where Israeli diplomats replaced the passport he had discarded en route to the war zone.

Israel jailed Khaldi for 42 months, a sentence comparable to previous cases of citizens who joined Islamic State abroad.

Prosecutors had sought an 8- to 12-year prison term for Khaldi and appealed to the Supreme Court to harshen his punishment, saying in a statement that due the risk posed by Islamic State “the time is ripe to get tough on such offences”. The Supreme Court’s ruling on the appeal could take months.

Khaldi’s lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, said Israeli judges lacked court precedents on which to base sweeping new sentences due to the fact that the country outlawed Islamic State only in September 2014 – a delay he attributed to the Netanyahu government’s reluctance to take sides in Syria’s civil war.

Israeli legislation introduced in December 2014 that would raise the maximum jail sentence for joining foreign groups like Islamic State to five years is still under parliamentary review.

“It has taken time for the monstrousness of ISIS to dawn, so while Israel is seeking greater penalties for joining it, this had been taking time too,” said Abu Hussein, who also heads the Israeli Arab civil rights group Adalah.

Abu Hussein said the Shin Bet appeared to be refocusing its anti-Islamic State efforts on social media activity by Arab citizens that might flag up nascent sympathisers for arrest.

According to Kara, the value to Israeli intelligence of Arab citizens who came back from Islamic State’s fiefdoms had waned – meaning any returnees had less to bargain with for clemency.

“There was a time when someone would come back and provide useful information on their camps and recruitment, et cetera,” Kara said. “But that’s in the past now. The whole world is fighting Islamic State and everything is pretty much known.”

trust.org

An expert on armed groups , Abdel Qader Atta said that it is likely that the air campaign against ISIS strongholds in Mosul to enter a new phase.

Atta told Shafaq News, that the international coalition will be implemented against ISIS goals in Mosul in the coming days as the air strikes will be characterized by quality and seriousness within a plan intending to weaken its military capabilities and reduce its combat potentials and eliminate once and for all the offensive initiative, which ISIS has to facilitate the task of the security forces of progress towards the city and work on liberating it with the least human and material losses.

Atta added that the aerial bombardment of the international coalition’s aircrafts destroyed about 60% of the capacity of the strategic and tactical of ISIS organization in Mosul and make it unable to do anything but hiding and take the civilians as human shields, stressing the need to use sources from inside Mosul in determining the goals of the organization to prevent losses among unarmed civilians.

ISIS organization in Mosul city has suffered heavy losses in lives and equipment over the past two weeks, as a result of the intensification of the international coalition for air raids on its fixed and mobile strongholds as the latest was this morning when the coalition shelled Share’a Court of ISIS and turned it into a pile of rubble , killing senior row leaders of ISIS in quality raids.

shafaaq.com

Iranian naval vessels conducted rocket tests last week near U.S. warships and commercial traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the American military said Wednesday, causing new tension between the two nations after a landmark nuclear deal.

The vital strait, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is the route for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea, is crucial for ships taking part in the war against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. In the past, Iran has threatened to block the strait, which lies at the entrance of the Persian Gulf.

While the United States has complained previously about other Iranian war games and maneuvers there, Saturday’s incident comes after a series of weapons tests and other moves by the Islamic Republic following the nuclear deal.

Iranian media and officials did not immediately discuss the tests Wednesday.

Cmdr. Kyle Raines, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said in a statement that Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval vessels fired “several unguided rockets” about 1,370 meters (1,500 yards) from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, the USS Bulkeley destroyer and a French frigate, the FS Provence. Raines said commercial sea traffic also was nearby, though the missiles weren’t fired in the direction of any ships.

Raines said the Iranian vessels announced over maritime radio that they’d carry out a live fire exercise only 23 minutes beforehand.

Iran’s “actions were highly provocative,” Raines said. “Firing weapons so close to passing coalition ships and commercial traffic within an internationally recognized maritime traffic lane is unsafe, unprofessional and inconsistent with international maritime law.”

A French military official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to publicly named, confirmed the rocket fire took place Saturday. However, the official said the French military did not consider it to be a threatening event as the rocket fire clearly wasn’t directed toward the Western fleet.

The French frigate is now escorting the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which is launching airstrikes against the Islamic State group.

NBC News first reported news of the Iranian rocket fire.

The Strait of Hormuz is only about 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point between Iran and Oman. Ships traversing the chokepoint have even less room to maneuver. The shipping lane in either direction is only 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) wide, with a 2-mile (3.22-kilometer) buffer zone between them.

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain, on the southern coast of the Gulf. It conducts anti-piracy patrols in the greater Gulf and serves as a regional counterbalance to Iran.

While the U.S. didn’t retaliate to Saturday’s rocket test, the Strait of Hormuz has been the scene of a battle between the two countries’ navies. On April 18, 1988, the U.S. attacked two Iranian oil rigs and sunk or damaged six of its vessels, including two naval frigates, in Operation Praying Mantis. That came after the near-sinking of the missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts by an Iranian mine.

A few months later, in July 1988, the USS Vincennes in the strait mistook an Iran Air flight heading to Dubai for an attacking fighter jet, shooting down the plane and killing all 290 passengers and crew onboard. The shoot-down of the jet came shortly after the U.S. vessel reported coming under fire from Iranian speedboats.

Saturday’s rocket fire comes after Iran and world powers led by the U.S. agreed to a landmark nuclear deal to limit the Islamic Republic’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. While heralded by moderates in Iran, hard-liners have criticized the deal.

In the time since, Iran has conducted missile tests criticized by the U.S., as well as aired footage on state television of an underground missile base. Iran also sank a replica of a U.S. aircraft carrier in February near the strait. It seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship and later released it in May after earlier surrounding U.S.-flagged cargo ship transiting the strait.

dailycamera.com

itv.com

The Iraqi government and the Arab League called the Turkish government to withdraw its soldiers from Northern Iraq quickly and unconditionally.

Turkish government insists that Turkish troops must remain in Northern Iraq until Mosul, the Iraqi major city, is liberated.  The second largest city in Iraq, is under Daesh control since June 2014.

Turkish daily, Hurriyet, reported that Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu criticised the Iraqi government and the Iraqi forces of failing to take effective measures against Daesh in Mosul. Therefore, he said that the Turkish forces must remain in foreign soil to help Iraqi forces liberate Mosul.

According to Hurriyet, Davutoglu said in a televised address to the nation late on December 27: “In line with appeals from the Iraqi authorities, we are providing training and equipment support to both the Peshmerga and local volunteers from Mosul…Our support will continue until Mosul is liberated.”

“The basic goal of the troops that we additionally sent to the region is to better protect our trainees on duty against Daesh and Mosul’s people,” the Turkish PM said and added. “As long as the threat of terror remains, we will continue to be on full alert in a way that will not endanger our presence there in any way.”

Even though Davutoglu claims that the Iraqi government asked for the Turkish military support, the government of the war-torn country repeatedly called Turkey to withdraw its forces from its ground.

The first request for the removal of the Turkish forces from Northern Iraq came on December 4, when Turkey deployed additional military to the Bashiqa camp, which lies near Mosul. The move angered the Iraqi government, which says that Turkey violates Iraqi sovereignty. The government requested from the United Nations Security Council, to use its veto power to force Turkey to pull its troops from Iraq. Turkey partly withdrew its forces from Northern Iraq, but Baghdad wants a full withdrawal.

Arab League

The Iraqi government persuaded the Arab League and on 25 December the League called on Turkey to immediately withdraw its soldiers from northern Iraq.

Qatar based Al Jazeera reported that the Arab League’s statement was unexpected, as Iraq and the Arab Gulf states are on opposite sides of the wars in Syria and Yemen.

Marwan Kabalan, researcher at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that the Arab League’s statement indicates that the Arab states worry about Turkey’s growing influence in the region.

“They believe Turkey has been supporting Islamist groups to increase its regional power. But there is also no love lost between Iraq and the Arab Gulf states; they still have concerns that Iraq is moving into the Iranian orbit,” Kabalan said.

neurope.eu

Kuwait has decided to send troops to its neighbour Saudi Arabia to resist cross-border attacks by the Yemeni Houthi movement, the Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas reported on Tuesday citing an informed source.

Though a nominal member of a Saudi-led coalition that has bombed the Iran-allied Houthis for nine months, Kuwait has held off sending ground troops to the conflict in which scores of soldiers from neighbours the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been killed.

“Kuwait decided on the participation of its ground forces, represented by an artillery battalion, in operations to strike at positions of Houthi aggression against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the paper said.

The Kuwaiti foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mostly Gulf Arab forces intervened in a civil war in Yemen on March 26 after the Houthis forced its government into exile and appeared poised to seize the whole country.

The conflict that followed saw Gulf and pro-government ground forces claw back some strategic territory, but has left almost 6,000 people dead and plunged the already impoverished country into a humanitarian crisis.

Saudi Arabia and its allies view the Houthis as a proxy for Iranian power in the Arab world – something the Islamic Republic and the Houthis deny.

trust.org

The popular hacktivist collective Anonymous has not only declared war against ISIS but now against Turkey over the country’s alleged support for the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

The collective claimed responsibility for the massive cyberattacks on Turkey’s Internet from Dec. 14 through Dec. 21, taking down roughly about 400,000 websites, the Turkish media say.

The group purportedly employed Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, resulting in the disruption of online services and transactions.

“As many of you have heard, Turkey is supporting Daesh [ISIS] by buying oil from them and hospitalizing their fighters,” said a video allegedly produced by the collective. “We won’t accept that [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, the leader of Turkey, will help Isis any longer. The news media has already stated that Turkey’s internet has been the victim of massive DDoS attacks.”

The group warned that if the Turkish government is not going to stop supporting ISIS, it will continue to attack the country’s Internet, root DNS, banks, and even government sites.

The group added that it will start destroying the country’s airports, military assets, private state connections and banking infrastructures.

During the attacks, a rumor surfaced suggesting that the hackers behind the cyberattacks could have been working with the Russian government. The speculation is linked to the Russian fighter jet downed by Turkish missiles over the Syrian border back in November.

These cyberattacks are deemed the biggest and most intense so far in Turkey’s history.

Previously, the hacktivist group carried out quite a few operations. Some of which include the taking down of websites and Twitter accounts reportedly linked to the terrorist group. It was also responsible for releasing the names and other personal information of about 1,000 purported members of the Ku Klux Klan members.

In the meantime, the Russian government earlier tagged Turkey as among the supporters of ISIS. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin even called the Turkish government as being the “accomplices of terrorists,” particularly after its fighter jet was downed.

Earlier this month, Anonymous declared total war on Donald Trump after announcing his anti-Muslim policy.

The group posted a video over YouTube warning Trump after his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S.

The statement of Trump came hot on the heels of a shooting incident in San Bernardino, in which 14 individuals were killed.

“Trump Towers taken down as statement against racism and hatred,” Anonymous said over Twitter.

techtimes.com

forces backed by coalition strikes recaptured Sinjar, 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of Baghdad, from IS on November 13. That cut a key supply line to areas held by the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. IS captured Sinjar in August 2014 and carried out a brutal campaign against the Yazidi minority that included massacres, enslavement and rape.

BAIJI: This Sunni Arab town around 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Baghdad and a nearby refinery, Iraq’s largest, were recaptured by Iraqi forces in mid-October.

Baiji was the scene of some of the longest-running battles with IS in Iraq. It lies at a major crossroads and its recapture was seen as key to preparing the ground for offensives in Anbar and later Mosul.

MOSUL: Iraq’s second-biggest city and capital of Nineveh province, it is 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of Baghdad. IS captured it on June 10, 2014 and proclaimed it part of an Islamic “caliphate” that stretches into Syria. Two million people lived there before IS arrived, but hundreds of thousands have since left. IS still holds the city.

SYRIA

RAQQA: A northeastern city with 300,000 inhabitants, Raqqa has been IS’ de-facto Syrian capital since January 2014. It is a major target of US-led coalition forces, and to a lesser extent, of strikes by Syrian and Russian forces.

PALMYRA: This ancient Syrian city is 205 kilometers (130 miles) east of Damascus, and was taken by IS on May 21. The group has destroyed major archeological features there that were on UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites.

KOBANE: A Kurdish city in northern Syria on the Turkish border. It became a symbol of the fight against IS and marked the group’s first serious setback since it began to advance in the country in 2013. IS fighters were driven out of Kobane on January 26 after more than four months of fierce fighting with Kurdish forces backed by US-led airstrikes.

The city, known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab, is the capital of one of three semi-autonomous “cantons” that were established by Kurds after the Syrian crisis began.

TAL ABYAD: Another city on the Turkish border, it was captured by Kurds on June 16, dealing IS one of its most serious defeats to date. Tal Abyad had 130,000 inhabitants when the Syrian conflict began in 2011, and controls a key supply route between Turkey and Raqqa. IS fighters and arms regularly passed through the city before its recapture.

globalpost.com

todayszaman.com

Iraqi Migration and Displacement Minister Darbaz Mohamed has called for the protection of Christians in Iraq and improvements in their living conditions.

On Monday Mohammed said that it is time to address the tragedies in Sinjar and Mosul in northern Iraq, communities so terribly affected since the emergence of Islamic State (IS) in Iraq in June 2014.

“The migration of Christians [from Iraq] abroad is a dangerous indicator for Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” he said.

Mohamed stated that the living conditions for minorities in the country should be improved and the threat of terrorist organisations against ethnic and religious groups mitigated.

He promised basic services for minority groups and promised that the ministry will continue to provide them their basic needs.

Mohamed also said that the ministry will put more effort into returning displaced people to their homes after their areas are declared by bomb disposal engineering teams.

basnews.com