A World of Terror

[Chris]

A visualization of terrorism going back to the 70s and covering a wide range of terror groups.

This is just an image, go there for interactive version: A World of Terror.

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - kill alla terrorists, let God sort `em out...

‘We Are in World War lll’
April 8, 2016 – Former Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said on Wednesday that the fight against radical Islamist terrorism worldwide represents “World War III” and that if the Obama administration and Congress don’t address it as such, “some very bad things are going to happen.” “They are coming,” Wolf said at a discussion about threats to religious liberty and the persecution of Christians at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. “They are coming to kill people, and we are in World War III, and so the administration and the Congress has to deal with it or else some very bad things are going to happen in the world,”

In response to questions about strategies to defeat the terror threats around the globe, Wolf, who is now a senior fellow at the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, said, “I agree with the pope” that this fight represents the beginning of World War III. Wolf, also referred to a quote from President Ronald Reagan that stated that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were a covenant not only made with the American people but with people around the world who seek religious liberty and other freedoms we have in the United States. “We are violating that covenant,” Wolf said and called on Congress to hold “extensive hearings” on the radical Islamist terrorism threat and to find a strategy to defeat it.

Franks said the recent terror attacks on U.S. soil, in Europe and around the globe are proof that this is a war against radical Islamist terrorism. “We are in World War III, and so the Congress should be dealing with this – forget the administration – holding extensive hearings, bringing people in; bringing the best political minds in … and dealing with this,” Wolf said. “We will pay the price,” he said. “We will pay it now or we will play it later. They are coming, and they are coming to kill people, and we are in World War III, and so the administration and the Congress has to deal with it or else some very bad things are going to happen in the world,” Wolf said.

Another panelist, Thomas Farr, director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University, said the Obama administration doesn’t acknowledge the global threat posed by ISIS and other terrorist groups and so does not have a strategy. “In order to have a global strategy, you have to agree there’s a global problem, and there is no agreement,” Farr said. “Certainly, this administration doesn’t believe there’s a global problem,” he said. “You have to call things by their names. “There is a global threat of radical Islamist extremism – violent Islamist extremism,” Farr said. “It threatens not only the United States – Christians, Muslims and atheists – but it threatens Islam.

Farr said that Muslims more than any other people of faith have suffered from this terrorist threat and that in order to defeat an enemy you have to clearly understand whom that enemy is. “You have to talk about that,” Farr said. “You can’t defeat any enemy if you aren’t willing to talk about it,” he said, adding that preserving religious liberty should be part of that strategy. ”There’s a great deal of uncertainty, but the one thing we can’t do is give up,” Farr said. “We cannot,” he said. “We have to keep fighting.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/...-are-world-war

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DoD Says Operations Against ISIL Costing Average of $11.4M Per Day
April 4, 2016 – A special report posted on the Department of Defense website about the ongoing fight against the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria says that the operations have cost an average of $11.4 million per day since they started in August 2014. “As of February 29, 2016, the total cost of operations related to ISIL since kinetic operations started on August 8, 2014, is $6.5 billion and the average daily cost is $11.4 million for 571 days of operations,” said the report.

The report, “Operation Inherent Resolve: Targeted Operations Against ISIL Terrorists,” also shows that the United States and coalition countries “as of 3:59 p.m. EST Mar. 29,” have conducted 11,230 air strikes on targets and “as of Mar. 28,” U.S and coalition countries “have flown an estimated 87,940 sorties in support of operations in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. alone has conducted 8,584 air strikes since operations began – 5,137 in Iraq and 3,447 in Syria. The remaining coalition has conducted 2,646 air strikes -- 2,419 in Iraq and 227 in Syria. The report also notes targets damaged or destroyed “as of March 17, 2016” – 139 tanks; 374 HMMWVs; 1,162 staging areas, 5,894 buildings; 7,118 fighting positions; 1,272 oil infrastructure; and 6,820 “other targets,” for a total of 22,779.

The countries taking part in the operations in Iraq, according to the report, include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, Netherlands and the U.K. In Syria, coalition members include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE. The report also has an interactive map that visitors can click on to see updated information about Operation Inherent Resolve. For example, a click on Syria shows an update for military action on April 3, 2016: “In Syria, coalition military forces conducted four strikes using attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets. Near Manbij, two strikes destroyed an ISIL rocket rail system and two ISIL fighting positions. Near Mar’a, two strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED).”

A click on Iraq shows for the same date:

“In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 22 strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq using rocket artillery and attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets. Near Fallujah, one strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit. Near Haditha, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun. Near Hit, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL used-bridge, an ISIL VBIED factory, 22 ISIL boats, and an ISIL bed down location and denied ISIL access to terrain. “Near Kirkuk, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL mortar system, an ISIL VBIED, and an ISIL vehicle. Near Mosul, six strikes struck six separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL machine gun, and two ISIL vehicles. “Near Qayyarah, six strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL weapons storage facility and destroyed four ISIL mortar firing positions, an ISIL supply cache, an ISIL VBIED production facility, and 13 ISIL staging areas. Near Rawah, one strike destroyed an ISIL tactical vehicle. Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed four ISIL assembly areas and an ISIL vehicle. Near Tal Afar, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL mortar system.”

The introduction to the report describes the U.S. role in the ongoing operation this way: “The president has authorized U.S. Central Command to work with partner nations to conduct targeted airstrikes [sic] of Iraq and Syria as part of the comprehensive strategy to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/...-billion-571-0

[donttread]

A visualization of terrorism going back to the 70s and covering a wide range of terror groups.

This is just an image, go there for interactive version: A World of Terror.

Well right there it is guys "proof" of how interventionism has worked! Worked to increase terrorism that is

[Peter1469]

The war against the Islamists is not WWIII.

Granny says, "Dat's right - kill alla terrorists, let God sort `em out...

‘We Are in World War lll’
April 8, 2016 – Former Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said on Wednesday that the fight against radical Islamist terrorism worldwide represents “World War III” and that if the Obama administration and Congress don’t address it as such, “some very bad things are going to happen.” “They are coming,” Wolf said at a discussion about threats to religious liberty and the persecution of Christians at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. “They are coming to kill people, and we are in World War III, and so the administration and the Congress has to deal with it or else some very bad things are going to happen in the world,”


See also:

DoD Says Operations Against ISIL Costing Average of $11.4M Per Day
April 4, 2016 – A special report posted on the Department of Defense website about the ongoing fight against the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria says that the operations have cost an average of $11.4 million per day since they started in August 2014. “As of February 29, 2016, the total cost of operations related to ISIL since kinetic operations started on August 8, 2014, is $6.5 billion and the average daily cost is $11.4 million for 571 days of operations,” said the report.

[waltky]

ISIS launches counter-attacks in Manbij...

Islamic State launches counter-attacks on US-backed forces, Syrian army
21 Jun 2016 - The Islamic State group launched a counter-attack against fighters trying to capture the Syrian city of Manbij on Monday, inflicting heavy casualties on the U.S.-backed forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the militants said.

The monitor said the militants won back three villages south of the besieged city in a surprise assault against fighters from the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces. At least 28 SDF fighters were killed. Two years after IS proclaimed its caliphate to rule over all Muslims from swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, its many foes are advancing on a number of fronts in both countries. Their aim is to close in on its two capitals, Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. The SDF were poised to enter Manbij nearly three weeks after the launch of a major assault to regain the city backed by U.S. air power and American Special Forces, to seal off the last stretch of the Syrian-Turkish frontier. The alliance, formed last year by recruiting Arabs to join forces with a powerful Kurdish militia, fought to nearly 2 km (1.24 miles) from the city centre from the western side on Saturday before retreating.

U.S-led coalition jets hit militants taking cover near a large wheat silo complex on the southern edge of the city that has been encircled by SDF forces. An SDF spokesman said forces succeeded in repulsing the militant attack and remained positioned on the outskirts of the city, most of whose residents remain trapped inside due to mines planted by the militants, who have dug in to defend it. "The situation is under control. They have many bodies on the ground," Sharfan Darwish, spokesman for the Syria Democratic Forces-allied Manbij Military Council, told Reuters. "We are at the four gates to the city. The whole city is booby-trapped. After 20 days of the campaign, we have yet to storm the city," he added, adding that some 2,000 people had succeeded in fleeing the city.

Islamic State militants were also able to roll back the Syrian army, which had reached as close as 10 km (6.2 miles) south of the strategic town of Tabqa, an Islamic State-held city on the Euphrates River, in Raqqa province. The town, some 50 km (30 miles) west of Raqqa city, the militant's defacto capital, appears to be the first target of a major Syrian army assault in Raqqa province backed by Russian air power that began earlier this month. Tabqa dam and a major air base have been in militant hands since 2014. The monitor said the army reverses on Sunday lost it territorial gains made in over two weeks of advances in Raqqa province which enabled it to cross its provincial boundary for the first time in over two years. Amaq news agency, which is affiliated with the militants, said suicide bombers had attacked Thawra oil field, south of Tabqa, which the Syrian army had captured earlier this week, and regained it.

Eyad al Hosain, a Syrian journalist embedded with Syrian troops, told Reuters the militants had succeeded in regaining areas they lost near the oil field. He did not give figures on army casualties. "A very intense attack has targeted army and allied positions in Thwara field that led to the withdrawal of troops from areas they liberated... and their retreat," al Hosain said. Amaq also said militants seized a Syrian army checkpoint near a strategic junction which leads to Raqqa city that the Syrian government forces and their allies had seized in the early phase of its Raqqa campaign. The monitor, which tracks violence across the country, said the militants had sent reinforcements and cited at least 300 fighters heading to Tabqa from Raqqa. State media also reported clashes with the militants around the main Jazal field near the ancient city of Palmyra in the country's central desert. The army and its allies continue to fight a costly war of attrition against Islamic State militants several months after seizing the city from them.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...o/2889830.html

[waltky]

All kinds of info in ISIS Intelligence treasure trove...

US Fighting in Syrian City Yields Trove of ISIS Intelligence
Jul 27, 2016 | WASHINGTON — The U.S. is exploiting an enormous amount of digital information about the Islamic State obtained by Syrian rebels fighting for control of the city of Manbij, a spokesman for the American-led military coalition said Wednesday.

Speaking by phone from Baghdad, Col. Christopher Garver told reporters at the Pentagon that it's unclear how this trove of intelligence might affect the direction of the war, but he suggested it has been of considerable value. "We think this is a big deal," he said. Garver also revealed that the U.S. for the first time has placed its military advisers at lower-level Iraqi army headquarters, an important decision that places the Americans closer to the front lines. The authority for that was approved by President Barack Obama in April. Prior to Obama's go-ahead, the U.S. military was not permitted to place advisers at echelons lower than division headquarters, which are farther from the front lines.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter, speaking to soldiers of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, referred to the intelligence trove while describing progress in Manbij. He said that city is one of the last junctions connecting the Islamic State's self-declared capital of Raqqa, Syria, to the outside world, and called it "a key transit point" for extremists plotting international attacks. "And there, we're already beginning to gain and exploit intelligence that's helping us map their network of foreign fighters," Carter said. Garver said the intelligence has not yielded links to any of those involved in recent violent attacks in the West. "It's a lot of material. It's going to take a lot to go through, then start connecting the dots," he said.

The intelligence is on laptop computers and portable data storage devices such as thumb drives, Garver said, adding that it amounts to more than four terabytes of digital information. He said it sheds new light on how the Islamic State has used Manbij as a "strategic hub" for welcoming, training, indoctrinating and dispatching foreign fighters. Garver said a small group of U.S. combat engineers on July 20 was attached to an Iraqi army battalion to provide advice on how to secure a temporary bridge the Iraqis had installed over the Tigris River. This is aimed at connecting a newly recaptured air base near Qayara with an Iraqi-controlled base on the east side of the river. Garver said this will "greatly improve maneuverability and shorten lines of communication for the (Iraqi security forces) as they prepare for the eventual assault to liberate Mosul."

In his remarks at Fort Bragg, Carter described in broad terms the U.S.-led coalition's strategy for recapturing Mosul in northern Iraq. He said the Iraqi security forces will push from the south, along the Tigris River, and the Iraqi Kurdish militia, known as the Peshmerga, will push from the north. He was speaking to members of the 18th Airborne Corps because they are scheduled to deploy to Baghdad shortly to serve as the higher headquarters for the coalition, under Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who will take over as the top U.S. commander there for Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...elligence.html

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US General Says Afghan ISIS Linked to Main Group
Jul 27, 2016 — The Islamic State group presence in Afghanistan is directly linked to the parent organization in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. Army general in charge of American and NATO troops in Afghanistan said on Wednesday.

Gen. John Nicholson, speaking to The Associated Press in an interview, says IS loyalists in Afghanistan have financial, communications and strategic connections with the main IS leadership based in a self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria. "This franchise of Daesh is connected to the parent organization," he said, using a common alternative acronym for the Islamic State group. "They have applied for membership, they have been accepted, they had to meet certain tests, they have been publicized in Dabiq," the IS magazine, he said. IS bases in the eastern province of Nagharhar, which borders Pakistan, are currently being targeted by an Afghan military offensive, backed by U.S. troops.

The offensive, part of the Afghan army's Operation Shafaq, began on Saturday, hours after the IS group claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in the capital Kabul that killed around 80 people. The attack targeted ethnic Hazaras, who are also Shiite Muslims — considered apostates by IS — who were demonstrating to demand that a regional electrical project to be rerouted through their province of Bamiyan to boost economic growth in the impoverished central highlands. More than 200 people were wounded in the worst attack in Kabul since the Taliban's insurgency began in 2001. It was also the first major attack in the city claimed by IS, raising concerns about their strength and capabilities in Afghanistan.

Until recently, Afghan and U.S. officials have insisted that IS loyalists were disaffected Taliban weary that their own fight had failed to make headway, after 15 years, in its goal of overthrowing the Kabul government. This week, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Army Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, said that IS operatives in Afghanistan numbered between 1,000 and 3,000 loyalists — though probably closer to 1,500. Afghan security forces, backed by U.S. air strikes, have been targeting IS in their Nangarhar holdouts for several months.

Afghan government reports on the efficacy of operations in recent months have claimed high numbers of militants killed and wounded, and put those figures in the hundreds since Saturday. The numbers cannot be independently verified. Nicholson said that the nine or 10 districts where IS had a significant presence had been reduced to three ahead of the current offensive. Now, he said, they were retreating out of the Kot valley toward the south. Once the region was cleared, he said, civilian forces such as the Afghan Local Police would move in to make sure there was no return.

MORE

[Ransom]

Well right there it is guys "proof" of how interventionism has worked! Worked to increase terrorism that is

Belgians and French sure finding that out right now.

[waltky]

Manbij falls to U.S.-backed fighters...

US-backed Syrian force captures key IS stronghold of Manbij
Aug 13,`16 -- On the streets of Manbij, men chanted slogans against the Islamic State group or clipped their beards and women walked with their faces uncovered for the first time in over two-and-a-half years, hours after the militant group was pushed out of the northern Syrian city.

U.S.-backed fighters seized the key Islamic State stronghold late Friday after two months of heavy fighting that killed more than 1000 people and displaced thousands. The fighters also freed hundreds of civilians the extremists had used as human shields, Syrian Kurdish officials and an opposition activist group said. The capture of Manbij is the biggest defeat for the extremist group in Syria since July 2015, when they lost the town of Tal Abyad on the border with Turkey. The capture of Tal Abyad deprived the militant group of a direct route to bring in new foreign militants or supplies. Manbij is important because it lies on a key supply route between the Turkish border and the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS group's self-styled caliphate. Manbij had been under IS control since January 2014, when the extremists evicted other Syrian militant groups from the town. The Islamic State group's loss of Manbij followed two months after they lost the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Nasser Haj Mansour, of the predominantly Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces, told The Associated Press that the town of Manbij "is under full control," adding that operations are ongoing to search for any IS militants who might have stayed behind. The SDF launched its offensive in late May to capture Manbij, and was supported by U.S.-led airstrikes. Amateur videos posted online showed that shortly after SDF fighters captured the town late Friday, scores of residents went down to celebrate in the streets. A man was filmed trimming his own beard with scissors, and then moving to clip the beard of another man on a motorbike. Women were able to uncover their faces. IS imposes a harsh and extreme version of Islam on the territory under its control, including a mandatory dress code. "May God destroy them. They slaughtered us," a young man shouted in a Manbij square. "May they not live for a minute." The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to Associated Press reporting of events.

In a photo posted online by Kurdish activists, a young woman defiantly uncovered her face while smoking a cigarette and flashing a victory sign. Under the extremists' rule, women had to wear long black cloaks that covered all but their eyes, while all adult men were forced to grow beards. Smoking was banned. Haj Mansour said some IS fighters were captured in the town while others fled to nearby villages. "Military operations will continue until these villages are clean," Haj Mansour said. Sherfan Darwish, another SDF official in Manbij, also confirmed that the town is under the full control of his fighters. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said the remaining IS fighters in Manbij left last Friday along with hundreds of civilians in some 500 vehicles heading in the direction of the city of Jarablus, on the border of Turkey.

Kurdish officials did not respond to requests for comment on whether the IS fighters were given a safe route to leave Manbij. During the offensive, the SDF had offered fighters a safe route to leave the town but they refused. The Observatory said that following the capture of Manbij, hundreds of civilians used by IS as human shields have been freed. SDF fighters had been slowly advancing on the town and nearby villages for weeks. According to the Observatory, the fighting and the airstrikes have killed 1,756 people, including 438 civilians, 299 SDF fighters and 1,019 militants since the Manbij offensive began in late May. Among those killed was the top Kurdish commander, known as Abu Layla, who died on June 5, days after sustaining wounds during the campaign. IS has suffered major defeats over the past months in Syria and Iraq, where the military recaptured the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah in the western Anbar province. However, IS still controls large parts of Syria as well as Iraq's second largest city, Mosul.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...08-13-13-29-17

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Islamic State losses mount with liberation of Syrian town
Aug 13,`16The Islamic State group's loss of the northern Syrian town of Manbij to U.S.-backed fighters marks the latest in a string of defeats for the extremists across their self-styled caliphate in Syria and Iraq.

The strategic town, which lies on a supply route between the Turkish border and the de facto IS capital, Raqqa, fell to the Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces on Friday after more than two months of heavy fighting and U.S.-led airstrikes. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the fighting claimed more than 1,700 lives, including more than 400 civilians. IS still controls large areas of Syria as well as Iraq's second largest city, Mosul. It has also claimed major terrorist attacks in recent months, including the Orlando shooting, the Nice truck attack, and a Baghdad bombing that killed some 300 people. But Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the top U.S. commander for the fight against IS, said this week that some 45,000 IS militants have been removed from the battlefield, reducing the group's total numbers to as few as 15,000. Here is a look at the IS group's recent territorial setbacks.

FALLUJAH

Iraqi forces captured Fallujah in late June after a five-week offensive. Fallujah is just an hour's drive west of Baghdad, and in early 2014 became the first Iraqi city to fall to IS. The Sunni city was an insurgent stronghold following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and more than 100 American soldiers were killed in house-by-house fighting there in 2004.

PALMYRA

Syrian government forces aided by Russian airstrikes drove IS out of Palmyra, an eastern oasis town known for its stunning Roman-era ruins, in March. During their 10-month reign, the extremists destroyed 2,000-year-old temples and other monuments in the town's UNESCO world heritage site, once one of Syria's main tourist attractions. The extremists view such ancient ruins as monuments to idolatry.

RAMADI

Iraq declared the capital of its western Anbar province "fully liberated" in February after months of fighting. As in Fallujah, Iraqi forces laid siege to the city and then gradually pushed in with the aid of heavy U.S. airstrikes. The battle to recapture Ramadi destroyed much of the city, and most of its residents have yet to return home.

SHADDADEH