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jreyesc

Nimmi Gowrinathan | Understanding and Combating Female Extremism | Foreign Affairs - 1 views

  • Those who ask it assume, first, that women are more peaceful than men by nature; and second, that women who participate in armed rebellion are little more than cannon fodder in a man’s game, fighting foolishly for a movement that will not benefit them.
  • rooted in identity
  • between Sunni and Shiite Muslims
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  • with several smaller minorities caught in between
  • To be sure, for women, gender and politics can overlap in ways that they do not for men.
  • female Tigers cited rape, or the fear of rape, by government forces as a central reason for joining the movement.
  • Women fight for personal as well as political power, often sacrificing one for the other.
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    This article talks about the women of ISIS and what are some factors that lead to them joining ISIS or other rebellion armies around the world. The article also speaks about how for women, gender and politics overlap in a way that is doesn't for men. Sometimes in times of conflict women have to join these group in order to survive. 
csosa14

Inside The Chilling Online World Of The Women Of ISIS | Diigo - 0 views

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    Women involved in Isis. Women leaving their families in order to join ISIS.
fcastro2

Putin brings China into Middle East strategy - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East - 0 views

    • fcastro2
       
      Russia & China's negotiations involving Syria
  • one of China’s main strategic regional projects was the economic region (or belt) of the 21st century Great Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road, which intends to create a wide area of Chinese economic presence from China’s western borders to Europe
  • clearly comprises the countries of Western Asia (i.e., the Middle East)
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  • Chinese leader opened the Sixth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum on June 5 in Beijing
  • energy cooperation; infrastructure construction and creation of favorable conditions for trade and investment; and high-tech domains of nuclear energy, the space rocket sector and new energy sources
    • fcastro2
       
      China & Arabian cooperation
  • suggested that the creation of a free trade zone between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) be accelerated
  • China supports the peace process and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, "enjoying full sovereignty."
  • , why shouldn’t Russia and China in the current situation — given the proximity of their interests and positions — undertake joint initiatives to unblock the peace process, while initiating steps to "introduce this activity within an institutional framework?
  • , the unilateral efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to promote the Israeli-Palestinian peace process are not bearing fruit
  • Russia is interested in using this unprecedented convergence with China in its operations on the Middle East arena, where Moscow has in many ways already been acting in unison with Beijing
  • , the Middle East Quartet is one of few international platforms where Russia can constructively engage with the United States and the EU
  • China's growing economic cooperation with Arab countries not a cause for concern in Moscow, but it is also viewed in a very favorable light
  • will not one day replace the United States as the security guarantor for the transportation routes of these resources
  • Moscow’s and Beijing’s interests converge in the joint countering of terrorism, extremism and separatism
  • . Among the militants from radical groups fighting against government troops in Syria, there are people hailing not only from Russia and Central Asia (fewer in numbers to those coming from Arab and Islamic as well as Western countries), but also from the Uighur minority in China.
  • recently, Beijing came under harsh criticism from Ankara for its actions in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region against the Uighur population, which the Turks believe to be their next of kin
  • . Disappointed by the failure of EU accession, the Turkish leadership has even started talking about the desire to join the SCO as an observer
  • Ankara expresses its willingness to cooperate with China in the fight against terrorists and condemns the separatism coming from some groups in Xinjiang
  • There is no doubt that a comprehensive strategic partnership, in which Russia and China would act in concert along the political consensus reached by their two leaders, would in the short term
  • According to both, this convergence is neither a union nor a tournament of predators, but a very pragmatic integrationist instrument of protection and projection of interests by the two powers, including in the Middle East.
  • the Middle East was not the focus of the talks between the two leaders
  • roughly 50 agreements ushering in a period of unprecedented convergence between the two countries
  • seems to allow the two parties to seek further coordination in their actions
  • Such consensus includes Syria, despite Beijing’s lesser involvement on this issue, relative to Moscow; Iran, within the P5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program; the fight against terrorism and extremism; the creation of a weapons of mass destruction-free Middle East; the condemnation of external intervention and the strategy of "regime change" as well as the push for "color revolutions;" the policy to reach a settlement in the Middle East; and relations with the new Egyptian regime and with respect to the Sudanese issues.
cramos8

ISIS militant \'Jihadi John\' identified, U.S. officials say - CNN.com - 0 views

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    But the identity of "Jihadi John" remained a mystery -- until Thursday, when two U.S. officials and two U.S. congressional sources confirmed it. The man, the officials said, is Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Londoner. The officials, who've been briefed on the matter, spoke to CNN after a Washington Post report first revealed Emwazi's identity.
fcastro2

Russia's Putin, Egypt's Sisi say committed to fighting terrorism | Reuters - 0 views

  • United by a deep hostility toward Islamists, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Russia's Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday they were both committed to fighting the threat of terrorism.
  • Sisi, who is fighting a raging Islamist insurgency in the Sinai region, said Putin had agreed with him that "the challenge of terrorism that faces Egypt, and which Russia also faces, does not stop at any borders
  • utin, making his first state visit to Egypt in a decade, said they agreed on "reinforcing our efforts in combating terrorism
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  • The Kremlin chief was the first leader of a major power to visit Egypt since former army chief Sisi became president in 2014
  • Sisi has repeatedly called for concerted counter-terrorism efforts in the Middle East and the West. Egypt has fought Islamist militancy for decades, mostly through security crackdowns that have weakened, but failed to eliminate, radical group
  • Putin has also resorted to force against Islamists, sending troops to quell a separatist rebellion in Chechnya, but still confronts insurgents in parts of the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus region
  • Egypt and the Soviet Union were close allies until the 1970s when Cairo moved closer to the United States, which brokered its 1979 peace deal with Israel.
  • Sisi has since opened up to Moscow, describing Russia on Tuesday as a "strategic friend"
  • Putin, facing Western isolation and sanctions over his support for pro-Russian separatists in neighboring Ukraine, received a grand welcome in Cair
  • Putin said he expected a new round of talks on the Syrian conflict, following on from a meeting of some opposition figures and the Damascus government in Moscow last month
  • The Moscow talks, which ended on Jan. 29, were not seen as yielding a breakthrough as they were shunned by the key political opposition in Syria and did not involve the main insurgent groups fighting on the ground
  • Moscow has been a long-standing ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
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    Not only is Russia aligning with Syria, but it is also getting closer to Egypt and its government. Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi believes that its relationship with Russia is a "strategic alliance" which is what other middle eastern countries, such as Syria, believe. 
fcastro2

Turkey says training of Syrian rebels to begin on March 1 - 0 views

  • A program to train and equip moderate syrian rebels will get under way on March 1, the Turkish Foreign Ministry
  • Tanju Bilgiç, came after Turkey and the us recently announced the signing of a long-anticipated deal to train and equip the rebels.
  • some 2,000 Syrian rebels will be trained and equipped in Turkey within a year as part of the program
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  • The agreement comes at a time when fighting has escalated between rebels and the Syrian regime in and around Aleppo and talks of a cease-fire in the northern province are taking place.
  • Turkey was one of the three countries that publicly said it was ready to open its territory for the training of the Syrian rebels.
  • US had earlier said it was considering initially dispatching at least 400 troops to train the rebels outside of Syria
  • We have been saying for a long time that the international community has the responsibility to support the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, which is recognized by 114 countries and the groups related to the coalition,” said Çavuşoğlu, adding that the training agreement is an important step taken within this framework.
  • “England is also carrying out similar training [programs] in Libya. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have also announced that they will be hosting a train-and-equip program,”
  • The deal between Ankara and Washington is a positive development between the two long-standing allies, despite strains over Middle Eastern policy. Turkey wants President Bashar al-Assad's departure to be the focus in Syria, while Washington's priority remains battling ISIL insurgents.
  • The NATO ally has also has been facing backlash for its reluctance to join the US-led coalition efforts to eliminate ISIL, feeding speculation that this reluctance stems from some Turkish officials being ideologically close to the terrorist group.
  • Turkish authorities have strongly condemned the terrorist acts of ISIL militants and say these actions have nothing to do with Islam.
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    Turkey has announced that, along with the US, they will be training some 2,000 Syrian rebels. Tensions have been rising between Syria and Turkey ever since Turkey went into Syria to retrieve a historical figure and relocate him but they are hoping this move will calm the tensions between the two states. 
tdford333

Everything you need to know about the drone debate, in one FAQ - The Washington Post - 0 views

  • "drone" has come to refer to unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), which are UAVs equipped with combat capabilities, most commonly the ability to launch missiles.
  • Predators were deployed to Afghanistan almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and on Oct. 7, 2001 they conducted their first armed mission there.
  • The current program is jointly administered by the CIA and the Joint Special Operation Command (JSOC).
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  • Predator drones can carry up to two Hellfire missiles. Those have warheads of about 20 pounds, which are designed to pierce tank armor;
  • Reapers are another story. They feature a maximum payload of 3,000 pounds, or 1.5 tons. That means they can carry a combination of Hellfires and larger 500 pound bombs like the GBU-12 Paveway II and GBD-38 JDAM. Those have an "effective casualty radius" of about 200 feet.
  • From 2008 through October 2012, there were 1,015 strikes in Afghanistan, 48 in Iraq, and at least 105 in Libya
  • Primarily al-Qaeda and its affiliates. That includes al-Shaabab in Somalia, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (which works in Yemen), and the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  • Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born al-Qaeda operative in Yemen, was killed in a drone strike in 2011, as was his American-born 17-year-old son
  • Ahmed Hijazi, also an American citizen based in Yemen, was killed in 2002. 
  • The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) will prepare lists of potential targets, which will be reviewed every three months by a panel of intelligence analysts and military officials. They are then passed along to a panel at the National Security Council, currently helmed by CIA director nominee Brennan, and then to Obama for final approval.
  • There is, however, substantial evidence that the percentage of casualties borne by civilians is much lower with drone strikes than with just about any other kind of military intervention
  • It derives the authority for the strikes from the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed in the wake of 9/11, which grants the government broad powers against al-Qaeda.
  • allows states to make war in the interest of self-defense
  • Critics, like UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns, say that this defense is a stretch, and the killings plainly run afoul of the laws of war and international human rights treaties.
  • Only the United States and the United Kingdom (which assists in the Pakistan drone effort) currently use drones in combat
  • All told, the GAO estimates that 76 countries, at least, have drone technology.
  • The Yemeni government quietly agreed to the strikes
  • Citizens in both countries deplore the campaigns.
  • there are deeper doubts as to whether the strategy is recruiting more militants than it kills, by turning local populations against the United States.
nfyffe

Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) - 2 views

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    Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) is a militant Kurdish nationalist group with bases in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq that has perpetrated numerous attacks in western Iran, southern Turkey and the northeastern parts of Syria where the Kurdish populations live.
sheldonmer

Egyptians visit Washington to defend their 'revolution' - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the ... - 0 views

  • during an anti-Morsi and anti-Muslim Brotherhood protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo, June 28, 2013. (photo by REUTERSAsmaa Waguih)
  • group of influential Egyptians sought to convince a dozen Americans that the removal of elected president Mohammed Morsi in 2013 and his replacement by Field Marshal Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was a plus for Egypt’s political evolution and US interests.
  • Morsi had violated the constitution by claiming dictatorial powers in November 2012 and acquiesced in the brutal beating of demonstrators in front of the presidential palace. Crime rose during Morsi’s tenure and Egyptians were afraid to walk the streets or send their kids to school, she told Al-Monitor.
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  • The Americans, in turn, criticized Egypt for criminalizing the Muslim Brotherhood, killing more than a thousand people and detaining thousands more, including journalists and secular liberals, in the aftermath of Morsi’s ouster.
  • Coptic and other Christian leaders and a representative of the Ministry of Endowments. T
  • told Al-Monitor that the Egyptians conveyed their support for Sisi, who, after ruling as head of a military council that replaced Morsi, was elected president in May with a large percentage of votes, although a smaller turnout than in the previous presidential election.
  • Zaki said the delegation also expressed their view that while “we know we are moving toward a strong state, a strong state needs civil society and political opposition.” The third message, he said, was that Egypt wants US support in the fight against terrorism.
  • Washington has praised Cairo for mediating last summer’s Gaza war between Israel and Hamas and expressed sympathy for those fighting Islamic extremists, such as the Egyptian soldiers killed in the Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 24.
  • l some restrictions on US aid to Egypt and many analysts in Washington assert that Egypt cannot return to stability while repressing major components of its society. They also criticize an impending edict for civil society groups to register with the government, which has led many respected foreign-funded nonprofit organizations
  • encouraged the Egyptians to embrace political and religious pluralism. “The Egyptians should understand that no government can deliver peace, prosperity and law and order that does not involve all sections of society,” he said.
  • “Don’t deal with us like a teacher with a pupil,” said Nashwa el-Houfi, a columnist for the daily newspaper Al Watan. “No one has the whole truth. You have part and I have part.”
  • Another plea was for Americans to stop acting as though they knew better what was in the interests of a country with a recorded history going back 7,000 years.
    • sheldonmer
       
      This article talks about how some Americans feel like Egypt did itself a disservice by getting rid of Morsi's rule. This article describes the conversation had by some members of the Egyptian delegation that were invited to Washington by Hands Along the Nile Development Services. This articles goes on to talk about different issues regarding U.S., Egyptian relations and basically was the U.S. condones and what it doesn't, as if it mattered.
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    The article mentions the views of Americans and the views of Egyptians regarding the state of Egypt with concerns surrounding the Muslim Brotherhood. Egyptians were able to carry a message to Americans. Egyptians voiced their want for U.S assistance with terrorism. 
jreyesc

New Tape Of ISIS Leader Appears To Prove He Was Not Killed In U.S. Airstrike - 0 views

  • released an audio recording on Thursday in what could be the first sign of life since rumors spread that a U.S. airstrike hit Baghdadi and a convoy of ISIS leaders in Iraq.
  • Baghdadi references several events that happened in the last week, including the recent move by militant groups in Yemen and Sinai to swear allegiance to ISIS.
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    Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is suspected to be alive, after reports that he had been injured or dead after an air strike hit the area he was in at the time. The is an audio recording that fit into the accounts that he might be alive.
jreyesc

This Is How ISIS Smuggles Oil - 0 views

  • Turkish-Syrian border
  • The militants can make more than $1 million a day selling oil from fields captured in eastern Syria.
  • In recent months, the government has vowed to crack down on illicit oil, and police have targeted smuggling routes, seizing oil drums and digging up pipelines.
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  • helped make ISIS the world’s richest extremists.
  • Rebel groups targeted oil resources from the regime in battles often overshadowed by higher-profile fronts in the war — namely in the provinces of Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, where there were refineries and oil fields.
  • Strapped for cash, the rebels smuggled some of the oil to buyers in Turkey, whose government was one of the Syrian opposition’s main backers, having already opened its borders to activists, fighters, and refugees.
  • Omar would receive a call from a commander in the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the U.S.-backed rebel coalition, telling him to head to the Syrian side of the border.
  • If he took in $1,500 in a night, he would give $500 to the FSA commander and another $500 to the Turkish border guards. “You can’t really say that we are smuggling oil, because we take permission from the Turkish side and the Syrian side,” Omar said. “But since it’s under the table, we call it smuggling.”
  • it controlled Raqqa, and soon after it was battling for control of the rebel-held parts of Deir Ezzor.
  • As ISIS gained new oil fields, Omar kept smuggling. He may have worked along an FSA-run border, but he knew he was buying the oil from middlemen who had taken it from ISIS’s hands.
  • For ISIS, the profits were startup funds as it built up its self-styled caliphate, buying weapons and paying salaries.
  • U.S. airstrikes now targeting its oil infrastructure, ISIS can make over $1 million a day from the trade
  • ISIS controls 60% of the oil-producing resources in eastern Syria, he said, plus a handful of marginal oil fields in Iraq.
  • The group sells most of it within its own territory in Iraq and in Syria — which covers more than 12,000 miles, a size comparable to Belgium, and includes some 8 million people, a population approaching Switzerland’s. Desperate residents need the fuel to run their cars, generators, and bakeries.
  • It was the worst example of a wartime pillage that has stripped Syria of everything of value, from scrap metal to precious artifacts. “I just want to show the world what they are doing to my country,” he said.
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    ISIS has become very rich extremist group because of the oil smuggling business they are involved in.
allieggg

US weighs sanctions on Libyan factions to try to halt proxy war - 1 views

  • US sanctions would be separate from potential United Nations sanctions that aim to pressure Libyan factions and militias to take part in UN-backed political negotiations to be led by UN envoy Bernardino Leon.
  • The possibility of using UN sanctions to help bring about political talks has been aired publicly.
  • US officials declined to say who they might target with sanctions or why they felt it necessary to look at US. penalties separate from the United Nations. Nor would they detail what sanctions they would propose.
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  • If applied, the United Nations sanctions would target individuals or groups involved in the fighting, rather than their foreign backers, and would freeze their assets as well as impose travel bans.
  • struggling for power and control of its oil wealth.
  • two potential reasons for unilateral US action.
  • United Nations moves slowly or not at all, US penalties could be imposed whenever Washington wished.
  • US sanctions could be especially worrisome to Khalifa Haftar, a former Libyan army general who fled to the United States after breaking ranks with Gaddafi and returned to launch a campaign against the Islamists in Benghazi.
  • Western officials believe the involvement of outside powers such as Egypt and the UAE is exacerbating the conflict and that the two countries are arming and funding the more secular forces.
  • Haftar, according to Western officials, has become the major proxy in Libya for Egypt,
  • UAE sees Egypt's leadership as a firewall against militants and has given Cairo financial and military support
  • Saudi Arabia, a supporter of Sisi, is sympathetic to the Egyptian and Emirati involvement in Libya but is not believed to have played any direct role,
  • Qatar and Turkey. Qatar, officials said, has given arms and money to Islamist militias while Turkey has offered moral support.
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    The UN is pushing for sanctions to put pressure on Libyan factions and militias to take part in political negotiations. These sanctions would target individual groups rather than the foreign backers involved in the proxy war and would freeze their assets and impose travel bans. US officials have introduced the possibility of using their own sanctions separate from the UN for a few reasons: UN sanctions move slowly if not at all, Washington could impose them whenever they wish. The US places more emphasis on the importance on external actors in the conflict than domestic groups, explaining that these countries are actually intensifying the conflict. 
jreyesc

Kurds fear Isis use of chemical weapon in Kobani | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

  • Islamic State (Isis) is thought to have obtained stocks of ageing but still potent chemical weapons when it seized Iraqi army bases where they were stored,
  • There may also have been chemical weapons buried or abandoned elsewhere, that were not destroyed by US forces or the Iraqi military.
  • Iraqi officials said 11 police officers were poisoned by chlorine gas last month, when Isis fighters used it to attack the Iraqi town of Duluiya.
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  • Intense fighting has made it impossible to get doctors the equipment they need to do definitive tests for the use of chemical weapons,
  • Some of the doctors say that it might be phosphorus or poison gas of some kind
  • It is possible that Isis fighters could mistake some chemical munitions for ordinary weapons and use them without being aware of what they are handling.
  • Islamic State (Isis) is thought to have obtained stocks of ageing but still potent chemical weapons when it seized Iraqi army bases where they were stored
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    The Kurds in Syria are now fearing the use of chemical weapons by the extremist group, ISIS. The chemical weapons were used near the town of Kobani.
nicolet1189

Ignorant jihadis 'have bought into fantasy fuelled by social media' | World news | The ... - 0 views

  • boys aged between 10 and 20 who had been radicalised by the Taliban.
  • They all told the same story, sa
  • “They all had impoverished backgrounds, they were illiterate, their families had been approached by the Taliban and were coerced into abandoning their children, they were lambs to the slaughter,” she said.
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  • Those from the west are naive and lack imagination, they are chasing a fictional dream, and they often have barely any knowledge of what Islam is.”
  • The book aspiring Isis militants most commonly ordered online before taking off to Syria was Islam for Dummies, she said.
  • “What Isis has done, and they have exceed al-Qaida in this, is take really spectacular control of the narrative of their organisation while sharing that story through masterful use of all mechanisms of the media,” she said
  • propaganda and recruitment videos spreading the jihadi message w
  • Ten years ago, it was difficult to access and acquire videos like the beheadings we have seen unless you were part of an inner circle, but now this material is mainstream, you can access it just by opening Twitter,”
  • “If you are a young person with limited imagination, a limited sense of self, and you are uninclined to engage with your neighbours, friends and a pluralistic society, you are very easily seduced. You’re like a blank canvas.”
  • Differentiating between Islam and Islamism
  • Islamism promotes explicit totalitarianism and the belief that Islam historically had incredible global and geopolitical glory that should be restored through violence, jihadism and barbarity
mpatel5

UK launches first drone strike in Iraq against Isis militants - 0 views

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    Britain has launched its first drone strike against Islamic State (Isis) fighters in Iraq. An RAF Reaper drone fired a Hellfire missile at Isis forces laying improvised explosive devices near Bayji, the site of Iraq's biggest oil refinery, north of Baghdad, over the weekend, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday.
mpatel5

Jihadists edging out US allies in Syria - 0 views

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    Six weeks have passed since the US-led coalition began its strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants and other jihadist groups in Syria, but recent developments in the stricken country confirm that the mission is facing huge challenges, as BBC Arabic's Feras Kilani reports "We are vanishing before the eyes of the whole world, including our friends in the US," a disappointed moderate commander told the BBC over the phone, after his group's defeat by the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.
mpatel5

Iran's President calls airstrikes on ISIS 'theater,' says broader campaign needed - 1 views

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    (CNN) -- Airstrikes against ISIS militants are a "psychological operation," not a military one, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Friday. "It is a common threat for all of us," he said. "And this requires a unison effort from all of us."
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