Paris attack: Isis has created a new kind of warfare

For the first time urban terrorism, guerrilla tactics and conventional fighting have been combined in a lethal blend

The Islamic State (Isis) has always massacred civilians in large numbers to show its strength and instil fear in its opponents. In the West, people notice these atrocities only when they take place on their own streets, though Isis suicide bombers killed 43 people in Beirut on 12 November and 26 more in Baghdad on 13 November. These attacks are almost impossible to stop because they are directed against civilians, who cannot all be defended, and the bombers are willing to die in order to destroy their targets.

Isis has claimed the Paris attacks, saying that France was targeted because of its air strikes in Syria. The use of eight suicide bombers and gunmen in a national capital, guaranteeing maximum coverage by the media, has all the hallmarks of an Isis operation. One ominous difference from the killings earlier in the year atCharlie Hebdo magazine and in a Jewish supermarket, is that attacks, presumably because of Isis involvement, are getting more sophisticated and better planned. Recruiting, arming, coordinating and keeping hidden the Paris killers until the last moment implies good organisation. The same was true of the smuggling of a bomb on to the Russian plane before it left the ground at Sharm al-Sheikh on 30 October. 

History is replete with governments and want to be leaders using various forms of armed conflict against civilian populations.  The German Buzz bombs, the firebombing of  Dresden and Tokyo and use of napalm, agent orange in Vietnam and the firing of Scud missiles at Israel during the first Gulf War were all used as blunt instruments of war to either inflict mass casualties or used as  psychology warfare instil  fear, intimidate and frighten non combatants.  Another form of terrorism is the use of security services to disappear or put on trial those who would stand against those in power.  

The difference is that it's a terrorist group using these tactics rather than a recognized nation state.  

  

U.S. Launches Airstrike in Syria Targeting ISIS' Notorious 'Jihadi John'

U.S. forces launched an airstrike Thursday night in Raqqa, Syria, targeting Mohamed Emwazi, the ISIS terrorist known as "Jihadi John" seen in propaganda videos executing American hostages, the Defense Department said.

The masked Emwazi, a Kuwait-born British citizen, has participated in numerous videos showing the killings of Westerners, including American journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, officials said.

A senior U.S. official told NBC News that Emwazi was directly "targeted."

"There is no vengeance, but there is accountability," said the official, who stressed that "we are still assessing and not confirming" whether Emwazi had been killed.

Sotloff's mother, Shirley Sotloff, told NBC News she hadn't been informed about the airstrike.

ISIL hostages: Japan's life or death dilemma

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will never yield to "terrorists" as ransom is demanded for Japanese captives.


Japan has denied being involved in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after the group kidnapped two of its nationals in Syria.

ISIL threatened to kill the men within 72 hours unless Japan paid a ransom of $200m. That's the exact amount Japan offered on Saturday in non-military aid to countries fighting the armed group.

It left Prime Minister Shinzo Abe trying to strike a balance between pressures at home, and abroad.

Speaking in Tokyo on Wednesday, Abe said: "I ordered the cabinet to save the lives of the hostages using whatever available measures, and by fully utilising all existing diplomatic channels and routes."

But he added: "We will never yield to the terrorists. We will do our best to fight against this evil terrorism by holding hands together with the international community."

What's Driving ISIL's Recuritment

Is disillusionment over the Arab Spring helping to swell the armed group's ranks?



The so-called Arab Spring raised hopes of regime change and a path towards democracy across the Middle East and North Africa.

Tunisia has emerged with credit, and a new constitution.

But for many those dreams remain elusive. In Libya and Egypt, Yemen and Syria, and spilling over into Iraq.

So has that disillusionment found a new focus?

The armed group ISIL has seen its ranks swell over the past year.

This month, recruits from Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Saudi Arabia swore allegiance to the self-appointed Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

But how much does ISIL owe its existence to the failings of the Arab Spring?

And is it seeking the support of those who have been left politically and ideologically disillusioned?

Islamic State Killed 500 Yazidis, Buried Some Victims Alive

BAGHDAD, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Islamic State militants have killed at least 500 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority, burying some alive and taking hundreds of women as slaves, an Iraqi government minister told Reuters on Sunday.

Human rights minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani accused the Sunni Muslim insurgents - who have ordered the community they regard as "devil worshippers" to convert to Islam or die - of celebrating a "a vicious atrocity" with cheers and weapons waved in the air. No independent confirmation was available.

Islamic State's advance through northern Iraq has forced tens of thousands to flee, threatened the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region and provoked the first U.S. air strikes in the area since Washington withdrew troops from Iraq in late 2011.

Sudani said in a telephone interview that news of the killings had come from people who had escaped town of Sinjar, an ancient home of the Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking community whose religion has set them apart from Muslims and other faiths.

"We have striking evidence obtained from Yazidis fleeing Sinjar and some who escaped death, and also crime scene images that show indisputably that the gangs of the Islamic State have executed at least 500 Yazidis after seizing Sinjar," he said

"Some of the victims, including women and children were buried alive in scattered mass graves in and around Sinjar."

Grooming Children for Jihad: The Islamic State (Part 2)

In Part 2 of VICE News’ exclusive look at the emergence of the Islamic State, filmmaker Medyan Dairieh meets an Islamic State member from Belgium who works to indoctrinate some of the youngest members of the group. He also gains further insight into the minds of Islamic State fighters as they host celebrations and military parades featuring American tanks and APCs seized from the Iraqi army.

The Spread of the Caliphate: The Islamic State (Part 1)

The Islamic State, a hardline Sunni jihadist group that formerly had ties to al Qaeda, has conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the group has announced their intention to reestablish the caliphate and declared their leader, the shadowy Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the caliph.

Flush with cash and US weapons seized during recent advances in Iraq, the Islamic State’s expansion shows no sign of slowing down. In the first week of August alone, Islamic State fighters have taken over new areas in northern Iraq, encroaching on Kurdish territory and sending Christians and other minorities fleeing as reports of massacres emerged.

Elsewhere in territory it has held for some time, the Islamic State has gone about consolidating power and setting up a government dictated by Sharia law. While the world may not recognize the Islamic State, in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the group is already in the process of building a functioning regime.

Iraq: US air strike on Islamic State militants in Iraq

The US says it has launched an air strike against militants from the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq.

The Pentagon said American aircraft attacked artillery that was being used against Kurdish forces defending the northern city of Irbil.

President Barack Obama authorised air strikes on Thursday, but said he would not send US troops back to Iraq.

The Sunni Muslim group IS, formerly known as Isis, now has control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

In June, IS took control of the city of Mosul. Earlier this week, its fighters seized Qaraqosh, Iraq's biggest Christian town, and other towns nearby.

'Carefully and responsibly'

According to the Pentagon statement, two F/A-18 aircraft dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on mobile artillery near Irbil.