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Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 19-142-Caliphate-ISIS-12

If not us, who? If not here, where? If not now, when?

ISIS barbarians at the gates, while NATO busy hyping ‘Russia threat’ Is Turkey poised to invade Syria? Turkish military edges closer to Syria intervention? IS threat could push Jordan beyond its borders? Egypt vows to continue Sinai offensive 'until IS removed' Wednesday's deadly attacks in Sinai raise difficult questions about the Egyptian army's operational and intel capabilities. Israeli border troops, US Mid East forces on alert amid reports of ISIS’s capture of Sheikh Zuwaid, Sinai . The Penultimate Call from Hizb ut Tahrir to the Muslim Ummah in general and its People of Power in particular.. C: Is something coming soon: Is Turkey poised to invade Syria?Author: Semih IdizPosted July 1, 2015 In his first public statement following the June 7 general elections that dashed his hopes of becoming Turkey’s sole leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted the Syrian Kurds, and their nominal allies the United States, after they defeated the Islamic State (IS) in the northern Syrian town of Tell Abyad.       Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/turkey-syria-military-intervention-no-international-support.html#ixzz3el2peYQU Turkish military edges closer to Syria interventionAuthor: Metin GurcanPosted July 1, 2015 Speculation is at an all-time high in Turkey over potential militarily intervention in Syria to set up a security zone in the Jarablus area linking the Kurdish cantons of Kobani and Afrin. An anonymous source informed Al-Monitor that the Turkish General Staff has informed the government that the military units intended to take part in a military operation will be done with their preparations and ready to go by the second week in July. Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/06/turkey-syria-military-intervention-countdown-army-objective.html#ixzz3el3AAA3fIS threat could push Jordan beyond its bordersAuthor: Osama Al SharifPosted July 1, 2015 The controversy over Jordan’s future role and actions in southern Syria and western Iraq is yet to subside following renewed pledges on June 14 by King Abdullah that the kingdom will go ahead with plans to arm tribes in these regions in a bid to stop the expansion of Islamic State (IS) extremists and secure the country’s borders. Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/jordan-expansion-intervention-iraq-syria-isis.html#ixzz3el2ytCXXWednesday's deadly attacks in Sinai raise difficult questions about the Egyptian army's operational and intel capabilities, but Sisi's resolve is unlikely to weaken. Wednesday's events proved that, despite the regime of Egyptian President Abdul Fatteh al-Sisi's steadfastness in directing the Egyptian army and security forces to use unyielding power against the terror organization, the task has proven difficult and is exacting a heavy price. The honest truth, as of now, is that Egypt is not succeeding in its war on terror. This raises difficult questions about the Egyptian army's operational capabilities, its lack of sufficient intel-gathering abilities, and perhaps even worse - its helplessness and negligence.http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Analysis-Egypt-is-losing-its-war-against-ISIS-in-Sinai-407822

ISIS barbarians at the gates, while NATO busy hyping ‘Russia threat’RT Published time: June 29, 2015 As ISIS and ISIS-style terror erupts across the globe, Western governments are busy making plans to establish a rapid reaction force in Eastern Europe to ‘contain Russia’, thus qualifying them for an annual ‘you couldn’t make it up’ award. It calls to mind one of Britain’s worst military defeats, suffered at the hands of the

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Japanese, when 100,000 troops and sailors were marched into captivity after the fall of Singapore on February 15, 1942. Winston Churchill called it “the largest capitulation in British history.” Many of the British troops never even fired a shot before surrendering, thus adding to the humiliation and ignominy of their defeat at the hands of a much smaller force. The British commander responsible for the surrender, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, earned himself a cold place in history as a consequence. A major reason for the defeat and surrender of an island that was considered a key and strategically vital part of the British Empire was that the guns of the British defenders were pointed in the wrong direction; they’d been expecting the Japanese attack to come from the sea rather than through the jungle and swamps of the Malay Peninsula behind them. Today, in 2015, British guns are not only pointed in the wrong direction they are pointed at the wrong enemy. The most recent terrorist atrocity, carried out last week against tourists in Tunisia, has resulted in the most British victims since the 7/7 attacks in London which ended in the deaths of 52 innocent civilians. On the same day as the Tunisian attack, a terrorist atrocity was carried out in France, while in Kuwait a suicide bomber attacked a Shia mosque. Meanwhile, in Iraq and Syria, the so-called Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) and other Salafist terror groups continue to kill, slaughter, and butcher men, women, and children. All this is happening while the West continues to make a virtue of impotence, more concerned with directing its ire against a country, Russia that has been at the forefront of resisting terrorism at home and abroad. Yes, without doubt, you couldn’t make it up. Every day that IS exists it grows stronger; its vile ideology becomes more entrenched and grows more attractive to ever more young disaffected Muslim men across the world. They are not attracted to the group’s religious doctrine so much as the opportunity to join a cause that allows them to feel powerful as opposed to the powerlessness of their current predicament in a world underpinned by the anarchy of a free market that breeds poverty, despair, and injustice. As such, the West is both the handmaiden and victim of radicalization. Every terrorist attack confirms the collapse of Western foreign policy and its alignment with some of the most reactionary states on the planet – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, etc. – not to mention ultra nationalists in Kiev and across Eastern Europe. It constitutes unimpeachable evidence of the sham that is Western democracy, and how it rests upon foundations of hypocrisy and mendacity. The crisis and chaos that has engulfed the Middle East as a direct result of the West’s role in the region increasingly threatens civilians everywhere, including Russia, which is why it remains unconscionable that the West remains intent on treating Moscow as an enemy rather than a partner in a struggle against one of the gravest threats to modernity and civilization the world has faced. Furthermore, this cognitive dissonance, this departure from reality, informs an air campaign that has failed utterly in its stated objective of degrading the power of IS and stemming its advance. When it suffers a reverse in one part of Syria or Iraq, it advances in another, butchering civilians wherever it appears. NATO plans 40,000-strong rapid response force in E. EuropeThe question needs to be asked: Where is the 30-40,000 strong rapid reaction force to counter the barbarism of ISIS? Where is the determination to contain a state – the so-called Islamic State – that violates every moral and ethical principle of humanity in its treatment of minorities, women, children, and natural justice? There is no more grievous indictment of the policy being undertaken by the West than the fact that a large swathe of the world is now a no-go area for tourists and visitors. The impact of the

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attack in Tunisia, for example, will be measured in a loss of a tourism industry that is vital to that country’s ability to maintain a nascent democracy that is balanced precariously on the edge of sustainability, thus making the growth of extremism and terrorism there more rather than less likely. This lamentable state of affairs is even more grotesque when we consider that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. This was a war that saw the West and the Soviet Union unite against a common enemy, fascism, in the interests of humanity. Those who fought and sacrificed and suffered immeasurably in that war would be well within their rights to judge the current generation of leaders harshly over their lack of statesmanship and foresight in understanding who and what the real enemy is, and where the real threat to global peace and stability resides. The barbarians are at the gates and it’s time to wake up, else we’re going to have a bloody disaster on our hands. The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

July 2, 2015 Special Dispatch No.6091 Hamas, Islamic Jihad Websites: Attacks During Ramadan Have Special Flavor Of Sacrifice, Jihad And VictoryThe terrorist attacks that took place during the past two weeks since the start of Ramadan in Jerusalem and the West Bank were described by Hamas and Islamic Jihad websites as acts of courage and heroism. The websites stressed the connection between Ramadan and the increase in attacks in the West Bank and especially in Jerusalem, explaining that during Ramadan there is greater willingness to sacrifice and risk one's life, and also to call for actions of resistance and jihad. The websites quoted experts and clerics as saying that Ramadan is the month of victories and jihad in Islam, a month of resisting temptations and urges which prepares fighters to deal with the enemy. Some of the articles also noted that last summer's war in Gaza took place during Ramadan, and therefore witnessed some of the "most notable acts of heroism in the history of Palestine." One article reviewed the deployment of  Islamic Jihad fighters on the Gaza front during this month. The following are excerpts from several of the articles:Hamas-Affiliated Website: Attacks On Ramadan Have A Unique Flavor And CharacterThe website Palinfo.com, which is associated with Hamas, published an article titled "Resistance During Ramadan – A New Beginning And A Different Flavor", which stated: "During Ramadan, the Palestinians welcome resistance to the occupation and carry it out with a different flavor that reflects courage, investment [of efforts], and a natural willingness for sacrifice during this most important month for all Muslims. Ever since the first intifada, martyrdom operations, stabbing and shooting attacks have had a special character during the month of Ramadan... "During the recent Gaza war, the resistance wrote an important chapter in the history of the conflict by showing courage and creativity, so that Ramadan remained the month of encouraging the Palestinians to pry their rights from the occupation. At the start of the current Ramadan there was the Dolev settlement operation, in which one settler was killed and another injured. Two days later, a youth stabbed a border patrol soldier in occupied Jerusalem, which harkened back to the resistance's sacrifice operations during Ramadan, which have a unique character."The article quoted released prisoner Muhammad Al-Qaram, who was involved in a 2001 bus bombing in Haifa in which 15 people were killed and dozens wounded. Al-Qaram said: "When I offered delicious food to the martyr Maher Habesha, who carried out the attack on the Haifa bus in 2001, in which dozens were killed and wounded, he refused, and said that he would only break his fast in paradise. My task was to plan the operation, prepare [Habesha], and drive him [to the site of the attack] on the 17th day of Ramadan." Al-Qaram mentioned

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the Ramadan atmosphere, which was reflected in the courage of the resistance commanders he accompanied, especially before carrying out suicide operations and bombings. "During Ramadan," he added, "there is a special air of willingness to invest effort and sacrifice in every way, based on religious and emotional influences [that affect] the Muslims and the possessors of just rights and prompt them to risk their lives."Experts, Clerics: Ramadan – The Month Of Jihad, Victories And ResistanceThe article also quoted experts and clerics on the connection between Ramadan and increased actions of resistance and jihad. Dr. Dardah Al-Sha'er, a social science professor at Gaza's Islamic University, said: "Ramadan influences a person's will both psychologically and emotionally, and drives him to stand fast, because he is in a state of confronting the transient temptations of life. This is automatically expressed in resistance. If [people] manage to resist themselves and their desires, they can resist their enemies. The scope of resistance increases substantially during Ramadan. Additionally, Ramadan has [always] been a month of victories for Muslims and continues to be one. During this month people are close to their maker. When they feel this closeness, they become more obedient."Al-Sha'er added: "In the recent Gaza war, it was during Ramadan that [we] witnessed the most notable acts of heroism in the history of Palestine and of the conflict with the occupation. The resistance fighters were under complex emotional strain, fasting underground, living off scraps and water, [yet] keeping calm and showing high [levels of] endurance."Maher Al-Houli, a professor of Islamic law, said: "In Islam, Ramadan is the month of jihad, resistance and victories. During this month, people stand ready to sacrifice, and when Muslims are zealous for their homeland, their strength and energies awaken. Faith increases, [and people] prepare themselves for resistance actions metriculously and loyally out of the love of jihad. The Battle of Badr[1] is the best example of this. The members of  the Islamic movements in Palestine welcome resistance during Ramadan. During this month, their

resistance and faith are stronger. In the history of Palestine, many campaigns were won and many acts of sacrifice were carried out during Ramadan."Dr. Khaled Safi, an expert on Islamic movements, said that "the resistance of Islamic movements stems from a religious impulse. Their history has seen intense resistance during Ramadan, especially in Jerusalem. Even during the first intifada,

our resistance had a special flavor during Ramadan, [which is when it] published leaflets and recruited the public. Last year's [Gaza] war saw the strongest resistance during Ramadan."[2] "Ramadan – Month of Victories" (image: paldf.net, June 24, 2015) "Ramadan – Month of Jihad" (image: Saraya.ps, June 17, 2015)Websites Affiliated With Hamas, Islamic Jihad: "Ramadan Is The Month Of Resistance In The West Bank"; Jerusalem Has A History Of Jihad And Victories During RamadanThe Hamas-affiliated website Omamh.com published an article titled "Ramadan – The Month Of Resistance In The West Bank," which praised the recent Ramadan attacks, calling them "quality operations carried out by

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fasting fighters" who drew inspiration from the last Gaza war. The article stated that, last Ramadan, during the Gaza war, the resistance fighters confronted the Israeli soldiers "at point blank range" and also fought inside Israel, "behind enemy lines," and this Ramadan, they are doing the same "in occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank." [3] The article on Omamh.com The website for the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, posted an article titled "Sacrifice Operations – A Spark Ignited by Ramadan."[4] The Saraya.ps article In the Palinfo.com article, Dr. Jamal 'Amr, an expert on Jerusalem, said: "The resistance has a very unique perception of Jerusalem.

The month of Ramadan in the history of this holy city is a month of jihad and victories, and those who love Jerusalem are in a state of purity and cleanliness during it. The visitors who came to Jerusalem in the recent weeks have made it feel that it is not alone again. The spirit of resistance came back to life there, and several days ago, an attack took

place there that renewed the  residents' faith in themselves after their state of frustration with the political process... This frustration was recently expressed by acts of resistance."[5]

Article On Al-Quds Brigade Website: In Ramadan, Our Fighters Fast While Putting Their Lives On The Line At The Front Another article on the Al-Quds Brigades website described the brigades' activity during Ramadan and their deployment on the Gaza front. The article stated that "Ramadan is not just the month of worship and obedience, but also the month of victories..." Abu Hamza, an Al-Quds Brigades commander in Rafah, said in the article: "Strong faith and deep conviction are the reasons for success, as Allah willed it, and the key to power, liberty and return. Allah alone grants victory and power. The blood spilled in Gaza on the altar of Islam is the fuel for the liberation of Jerusalem. Those who combine fasting with sacrifice of life will not lose the Palestinian cause after the vast number of sacrifices that our heroic people has [already] made... During Ramadan we make sure to spend our nights on the front. The fighters take turns carrying out this religious practice, and read Koranic verses, which does not detract from their vigilance and readiness to confront any infiltration by the Zionist special forces and to monitor the movement of enemy vehicles. We draw strength from the Koran and feel safer the stronger our connection with it. Our life is in its hands, and our success depends on it alone. Being on the front during Ramadan is different than in other months. There is a deep sense of [earning] prestige and a great reward from Allah."[6]

 Endnotes: 

 [1] A battle that took place on 17 Ramadan, 624 between the Muslims, led by Muhammad, and the Quraysh tribe and its allies. The battle, which is considered the first battle of Islam, took place in the Badr area between Mecca and Medina, and ended with a Muslim victory.[2] Palinfo.com, June 24, 2015.

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[3] Omamh.com, June 23, 2015.[4] Saraya.ps, June 23, 2015.[5] Palinfo.com, June 24, 2015.[6] Saraya.ps, June 23, 2015.

Egypt vows to continue Sinai offensive 'until IS removed'2 July  (C: as they walk in the trap set.....) Egypt says its army will continue an offensive in the Sinai Peninsula, after clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants left more than 100 dead. Operations will not stop until the area is cleared of all "terrorist concentrations", the army said. Air strikes continued into the early hours of Thursday. The army says 17 soldiers were among those killed after militants launched near-simultaneous raids on military checkpoints in Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah. Local reports put army casualties higher.The attack was one of the largest co-ordinated assaults in the area yet by IS's local affiliate, Sinai Province. The peninsula has been under a state of emergency and a curfew since October, when dozens of soldiers were killed in a militant attack. Separately on Wednesday, security officials said nine members of the now banned Muslim Brotherhood, including former MP Nasr al-Hafi, had been killed in a police raid on a flat in western Cairo.The security situation in Egypt has worsened since the assassination of the public prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, three days ago in the capital. Analysts said the car bomb attack that killed Mr Barakat also bore the hallmarks of Sinai Province, which was known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis until it pledged allegiance to Islamic State in November and changed its name.'100% under control' In a statement, the army said it had killed "100 members of the terrorist elements" and injured them in "large numbers" in fighting in North Sinai. It said the operation left 17 soldiers, including four officers, dead. By late on Wednesday, an army spokesman said the situation was "100% under control" and militants had withdrawn from Sheikh Zuweid. Brig Mohamed Samir said: "The forces on the ground are completely under control. The group who were captured are being interrogated by the investigation team." Eyewitness earlier reported seeing militants roaming the streets of the northern town of Sheikh Zuweid, clashing with armed forces. Five army checkpoints were also targeted by car bomb attacks. The town's main police station came under mortar and RPG fire, and militants reportedly planted bombs along a road leading to a nearby army camp. Egypt sent F-16s jets to bombard the militants in several locations.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said his country sent its "condolences to the government and people of Egypt for the fallen Egyptians slain by IS terror". He added: "We see IS at the gates, across the border in the Golan, across the border in Egypt... We must stand up to all the forces of militant Islam, those led by Iran, those led by IS."Since October, police and army patrols have been stepped up to deal with militancy in Sinai - which has been on the rise since the military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. At least 600 police and armed forces personnel have since been killed. A buffer zone along the border with Gaza was also created and underground tunnels - which the military says were used to smuggle weapons from the Palestinian enclave - have been destroyed. Following the deaths in Cairo, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement saying that several of its leaders had been "murdered... in cold blood" and urged Egyptians to "rise in revolt" against the actions of the government of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.The interior ministry said the men had been fugitive Brotherhood leaders who were meeting to plan "acts of terrorism and sabotage". The Muslim Brotherhood, however, said they were part of its committee supporting the families of detainees and members who had been killed.

Israeli border troops, US Mid East forces on alert amid reports of ISIS’s capture of Sheikh Zuwaid, Sinai DEBKAfile Special Report July 1, 2015, The Islamic State of Iraq and the

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Levant moved ominously close to Israel’s borders Wednesday, July 1 – not as predicted in the north, but in the south, from the Sinai Peninsula. There, ISIS followed up on its Ramadan terror outrages in France, Tunisia, Kuwait and Kobani, with a massive assault on Egyptian forces and reportedly capturing the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuwaid close to the Israeli and Gaza Strip borders. Confirmation of this would mean that the MFO facility at Gora is under ISIS siege. It would also mean that the Islamists had captured their first Egyptian town, a victory comparable to seizure of the Iraqi city of Ramadi. At least 64 Egyptian soldiers were killed in the fierce fighting for the town. Not just a terrorist attack, ISIS launched a full-scale military offensive, starting with mortar fire and suicide bombings against five Egyptian military checkpoints. Using a tactic similar to that employed in the capture of the Iraqi town of Ramadi last month, ISIS gunmen followed this initial assault by riding in on minivans, backed by heavy mortar fire, to storm the positions held by stunned Egyptian troops. Altogether some 20 Egyptian army positions were attacked in and around Sheikh Zuwaid. Egyptian troop reinforcements setting out from El Arish to the northeast to aid the beleaguered force, went up on mine and bomb traps secretly planted around their camps and police stations. Egyptian Apache assault helicopters striking the ISIS force themselves faced ground fire from shoulder-borne anti-air missiles. The Islamists are additionally said to have taken Egyptian prisoners as hostages. As the fighting grew fierce during Wednesday, Israel shut its border crossings with Egypt and the Gaza Strip, and sent reinforcements south in case the jihadis launched an attack on Israel from northern Sinai. Our military sources also report that US Middle East forces located in Jordan and at Sharm el-Sheikh are on the ready in case the Islamic State decides to attack the US officers and men at the Multinational Force (MFO) facility in Sinai, which is located near the Sheikh Zuwaid battlefield.

The ISIS Sinai offensive is part and parcel of the reign of terror launched last Friday by Yassin Sahli when he beheaded his French boss, and Seifeddine Rezgui, who murdered 39 holidaymakers on a Tunisian beach. Standing ready for the Islamist offensive in Sinai were the jihadis of the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which recently declared Sinai a province of the Islamic State and took an oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. ISIS draws on two additional major sources for its fighting manpower: the infrastructure it established in turbulent Libya for training and arming jihadis to cross the Egyptian border into Sinai; and the fatal attraction its radicalizing ideology holds for young Muslims who are taught that the brutal murder of Islam’s foes is a cleansing and purifying act.

ISIL ideology: In the name of Islam? Attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait further complicate the complex combination of religion, conflict and extremism? 29 Jun 2015 The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Kuwait and Tunisia, Kuwait which killed at least 65 people. Tourists were gunned down as they relaxed on a beach, while worshipers were killed in a suicide attack on a Shia mosque. The attacks have prompted more promises from the international community to fight what's referred to as the "scourge of terrorism". ISIL had earlier called on followers to turn the month of Ramadan - considered holy by Muslims – into "calamities for non-believers". But is religion at the heart of the armed group's violent ideology? Is the end game more about politics and power? And how will this shape the fight against ISIL's message, its violence and its broader ambitions?

July 2, The United Nations cultural organisation July 1 called for a campaign against the "cultural cleansing" being carried out by the Islamic State. IS has destroyed archaeological treasures in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen, including two mausoleums in the recently captured ancient city of Palmyra. IS' destruction of the 2,000-year-old fortress city of Hatra in

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Iraq with sledgehammers, seen in a video this spring, prompted UNESCO this week to put Hatra on a list of 'Heritage in Danger' sites, joining the Old City of Jerusalem and other threatened archeological wonders. "Extremists don't destroy heritage as a collateral damage, they target it systematically to strike societies at their core," said UNESCO's Director-General Irina Bokova. UNESCO has launched a campaign called "United Heritage" to defend historical sites under threat from miltiants.

From Syria to Bosnia: Isis and its affiliates around the world Islamic State’s rampage through Iraq was soon followed by jihadi groups aligning themselves with and pledging allegiance to the militant groupIsis fighters on the border between Syrian and Iraq in June 2014. Photograph: Medyan Dairieh/ZUMA Press/Corbis

Kareem Shaheen and Chris Stephen Friday 3 July 2015 13.28 BST Last modified on Friday 3 July 2015Islamic State’s incursions in Iraq and Syria have left large areas of both countries under the militant group’s control. The extremists’ beheadings of western hostages have sparked outrage across the world. Since its military successes, other jihadi groups have flocked to affiliate themselves with the radical movement.IraqBorn out of al-Qaida in Iraq – which emerged during the US occupation – Isis now controls vast swaths of the country’s Sunni heartland. The militants launched a lightning offensive last summer in which they conquered the province of Nineveh and its capital, Mosul, Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, and large parts of Anbar province, from which it had once been evicted by the US-backed Sunni “Awakening” movement. Isis lost Tikrit in an operation this year led by a volunteer army dominated by Shia militias with close ties to Iran, but the militants demonstrated their resilience by conquering Ramadi, 80 miles west of Baghdad, in May. The US has sent hundreds of military advisers and led a coalition conducting regular air strikes against the group, but has so far failed to stem the militants’ advance.

Screengrab from a video released by Isis allegedly showing a member destroying parts of a frieze at the ancient Iraqi town of Nimrud. Photograph: Handout/EPA Isis has all but ended centuries of coexistence in Iraq with its hounding of minorities, emptying the plains of Nineveh of its Christian population and attempting to enslave and starve thousands of Yazidis. It has destroyed artefacts and historic sites that are part of the ancient heritage of the Assyrian empire.Syria Isis now controls roughly half of Syria’s landmass and the city of Raqqa is the capital of its self-proclaimed caliphate. Territories held include most of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor provinces in the north-east and east of the country, areas around the cities of Aleppo and Homs (including the historic city of Palmyra), as well as parts of southern Damascus, where it

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recently seized the besieged Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp. The group has fought against all sides in the civil war: Syrian rebels, troops loyal to the Assad regime, Kurdish militias and even the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra. It split from al-Nusra in 2013 after the group’s leader refused to pledge allegiance to the Isis chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Syria is where Isis suffered its most devastating defeat, when an ill-fated advance on the border town of Kobani was met by fierce Kurdish resistance and intense aerial bombardment by the US-led coalition. Isis lost nearly 2,000 fighters. An alliance of Kurdish miltia and opposition fighters has recently dealt Isis a series of defeats in northern Syria, conquering territory including the key border town of Tal Abyad, a source of foreign fighters and supplies.

Egypt A group called the Province of Sinai (once known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis) emerged in the aftermath of the uprising that ousted Egypt’s autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Its attacks have become more ferocious since the removal of Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood-backed president, in 2013, and it pledged allegiance to Baghdadi late in 2014. The Sinai-based group has attacked the Egyptian army as well as targets in Cairo. This week it launched a series of coordinated assaults on army positions near the towns of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah. In the most significant escalation in the peninsula in years, F-16s and Apache helicopters were deployed by the government of Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, which the insurgency seeks to topple.

Yemen Isis has had a limited presence in Yemen compared to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the jihadi network’s most powerful franchise, but it has claimed a number of devastating attacks in recent months, primarily targeting Yemeni Houthis – who belong to the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam – including a double suicide bombing of two mosques in March that killed more than 100 worshippers. Isis considers Shias heretics. Isis stands to benefit from the chaos in Yemen, which is engulfed in a debilitating civil conflict and blockade. A Saudi-led coalition launched an air campaign in March against the Iranian-backed Houthis, who took control of the capital, Sana’a, last year and advanced on the country’s south, exiling the Saudi-backed president.

Gulf states An Isis affiliate called the Najd Province, named after the central region of Saudi Arabia, has claimed responsibility for recent bombings in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that have primarily targeted Shia communities in an attempt to sow greater sectarian tension.Last week a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest in a Shia mosque at the centre of Kuwait City, killing more than two dozen worshippers, in the country’s worst terrorist attack in years. One-third of Kuwait’s population is Shia. Isis has also claimed responsibility for attacks on Shia mosques in May in Dammam and Qatif, Saudi Arabia. Isis despises the Gulf monarchies.

Afghanistan and Pakistan Isis declared the creation of the “Khorasan province” earlier this year, referring to a region spanning parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan and making inroads into Taliban territory, with foreign fighters loyal to it recruiting local fighters. The group has attacked Taliban positions in recent weeks and months, including beheading 10 Taliban fighters in June and seizing territory from their militant rivals. Isis claimed its first major attack in Afghanistan in April with a suicide bombing in Jalalabad that killed dozens of people. The Taliban published a letter last month urging Isis to stay out of Afghanistan.

Dagestan Insurgents based in the northern Caucasus region in Russia have pledged allegiance to Isis and declared the so-called Vilayat Dagestan. The militants once belonged to the Caucasus Emirate, a jihadi group that has claimed bombings in Moscow.

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Libya Ansar al-Sharia, one of the largest militant groups in the country, which was blamed in 2012 for the killing of the US ambassador to Libya, has rebranded itself as Isis in Benghazi, Sabratha and Sirte. The group’s key territory in the country, which has descended into chaos following a power struggle between Islamists and their elected successors, is the city of Sirte and the surrounding villages and oil fields. The militants were pushed out of the city of Derna last month in battles with rival Islamist groups.Small units have battled the Libyan army in Benghazi and have carried out attacks in the capital, Tripoli, including one in January targeting the Corinthia hotel. The affiliate has released videos depicting the beheadings and shootings of Coptic Christians from Egypt and Ethiopia kidnapped by the militant group in Libya in recent months.

Tunisia British and Irish tourists pray together in front of a memorial to the Sousse victims. Photograph: Chris Stephen for the Guardian Fighters from Tunisia account for one of the largest per capita contributions to Isis’s foreign contingent in Syria and Iraq, with the government estimating their number at 3,000. Inside Tunisia, groups operate as cells in towns and cities, mostly south and south-west of Tunis,

with the army fighting intermittent battles with jihadi groups criss-crossing borders with Libya and Algeria. Kairouan, the home of the gunman who massacred tourists in the beachside city of Sousse last week, is an important jihadi recruitment centre. Isis has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Sousse and the Bardo museum in Tunis this year in statements on social media, though their authenticity has not been verified.

West Africa The insurgent group Boko Haram pledged allegiance to Isis in March, a declaration that has been accepted by Isis in an effort to spread the influence of its self-proclaimed caliphate in west Africa. The group, which was formed in the early 2000s in to impose sharia rule in northern Nigeria, has slaughtered thousands and carried out hundreds of kidnappings in attacks that have spread to neighbouring Chad and Niger.Boko Haram suicide bombers killed dozens of people in attacks in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, in June, and the militant group is believed to have committed another massacre in Borno this week, killing 150.

Bosnia Isis has recently begun attempting to recruit fighters from among poor and unemployed youth in the Balkans, with Bosnia and Herzegovina a particular focus. A recent video featured Bosnian fighters urging their countrymen to join the group.

The Penultimate Call from Hizb ut Tahrir to the Muslim Ummah in general and its People of Power in particular

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By Capt (Ret) C de Waart, feel free to share: in Confidence

20TH JUNE 2015 Hizb ut Tahrir 1 . Dear Noble Brothers and Sisters: You are no doubt witnessing what has befallen us and what continues to befall. The Kaffir colonialist states have gathered against us. Our lands have become coveted by every greedy soul, a target of exploitation for every person of evil intent. They are divided with nothing to unite them. Our blood has been shed with impunity, our resources exploited and our lands attacked from all sides, nay from its heart as well! The Jews have occupied the blessed land of Palestine, the land of al-Isra’ wa al-Mi’raj, the land of the first qibla. They have established a state for themselves in it, spreading corruption and more corruption therein. America spilled the blood and destroyed the lands of Iraq and Afghanistan. It conspired against us in every land: Dividing Sudan, separating East Timor from Indonesia, facilitating Greek rule over most of Cyprus, and so on. Britain partook with America in all this corruption. If it was able by itself to kill and shed blood, it would have proceeded to do so. If it found itself unable, it partakes in the crime with America, by its side or behind it. It partook with it in the massacres of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. France too followed them in their massacres of Muslims, joining them in some and independently committing others, such as in Central Africa. Then there is Russia and its massacres in Crimea, the Caucasus, Chechnya and Tatarstan; as well as China and its hostility of Islam in Turkistan; India in Kashmir where Muslims are ruled by Hindus through massacres and unspeakable crimes. Even the smallest of states are now partaking in the killing of Muslims! Burma, for instance, has subjected Muslims there to open slaughter and the denigration of their sanctities and the domination of the Buddhists over the Muslims… and much more. This blood is not shed at the hands of the Kaffir colonialists alone. Nay, their agents and tools from among our own people fight amongst themselves shedding each other’s blood. Some of the naive Muslims join them in this, thinking they are partaking in good. Thus they fight in Syria amongst themselves as one fights the worst of enemies. Likewise they fight in Iraq as if they are in the first Jahiliyya. So they fight fiercely in Libya and fight violently in Yemen and, to a lesser extent, in Egypt and Tunisia. This violence across these lands has witnessed immense crimes the like of which is unprecedented in Muslims fighting amongst themselves… and much more. //

O Muslims in general …O People of Power in particular!

We directed a call to you twice in the past:The first time on 20 Rabi’ al-Thani 1385 AH / 17 August 1969 CE, almost fifty years ago. That call was sounding the alarm about the danger from the thwarting of the Islamic ideas and rules among the Muslims because this rattling had a reality affecting the Muslims in a palpably perceivable manner. And because the Hizb is the guide who does not mislead its own people, it struggled against this as much as possible to revive the confidence and trust of the Muslims in the ideas and rules of Islam and it succeeded in this noticeably, and praise is for Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

We called upon you the second time on 28 Rajab 1426 AH / 2 September 2005 CE, about ten years ago. This call was in a fiery political environment. The West, led by America, saw that the Hizb and other sincere Muslims had thwarted its attempts of many years to shake the confidence of the Muslims in Islam and that the Muslims were moving in the direction of working of Khilafah. When the West saw this, its attacks against the Hizb increased, directly at times and through its agents at times. It had also by now waged wars, declared as “crusades”, in Iraq and Afghanistan out of plain hostility against Islam and Muslims. Thus our

1 http://www.khilafah.com/the-penultimate-call-from-hizb-ut-tahrir-to-the-muslim-ummah-in-general-and-its-people-of-power-in-particular/

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By Capt (Ret) C de Waart, feel free to share: in Confidence

second call clarified this hostility of the West, led by America, against the Khilafah, its advocates in particular and the Muslims in general. It showed that the enemies of Islam wished to hinder the Muslims from working for the Khilafah. We also elucidated that the Muslims were capable of defeating the West if they adhered to the judgments of Islam and were sincere with Allah with regards their Deen and returned to Him, the Powerful, the Mighty.

Now, we direct this penultimate call to you at a time in which the Khilafah has become the public opinion of the vast majority of Muslims…Nothing remains now except the command of Allah for an Ansar to come forth like the Ansar and a Saa’d like Saa’d… men who would support their Deen by supporting those working for the Khilafah, by supporting Hizb ut Tahrir, establishing thereby the second Khilafah Rashidah, a Khilafah on the way of Prophethood after the present tyrannical rule we are in, as per the promise of Allah Almighty, Hizb ut Tahrir The first Friday of Ramadan 1436 AH June 19, 2015 CE

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