Islamic State makes more gains in northern Iraq, as Christians flee

[Super Mentalita]

http://rt.com/news/178764-islamic-state-iraq-christians/

Iraq’s largest Christian town, Qaraqosh, was seized over night by Islamic State militants, as Kurdish forces were forced to withdraw. IS fighters have also taken Iraq’s largest dam, the Mosul dam complex, which supplies much of Iraq’s water.


In the face of the IS advance, at least a quarter of Qaraqosh’s residents are reported to have left the town, fearing that they would be subjected to the same demands the Sunni jihadists have made in other captured areas, either leave, convert to Islam or face death.

The militants captured Iraq’s largest dam in just one hour on Thursday. The Mosul dam complex, north of Iraq’s second largest city, sits on the Tigris River and controls much of Iraq’s water supplies. The Islamic State had been fighting Kurdish Peshmerga forces for control of the dam for about a week.

Islamic State militants defeated Kurdish Peshmerga forces during their latest offensive, which started last weekend. Now their reputation as fearsome independent warriors has been called into doubt, although the Kurds haven’t crumbled like the Iraqi army and are, in fact, only lightly armed.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday said he was “deeply appalled” by the recent IS attacks in Kirkuk and Qaraqosh and urged the international community to help the country’s government.

Ban called “on the international community, especially those with the influence and resources to positively impact the situation, to support the Government and people of Iraq and to do all it can to help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current conflict in Iraq.”

The Islamic State, which is more extreme than Al-Qaeda, sees Iraq’s majority Shiites as well as minorities like the Christians and the Yazidis as infidels.

As Christians in the region flee for their lives, Baghdad, the Kurds and regional powers have been powerless in the face of IS advances.

The Kurdish withdrawal from Sinjar prompted tens of thousands of people from the ancient Yazidi community to flee to the nearby mountains where up to 50,000 are now surrounded by IS militants. Up to 200,000 people have fled the fighting in the Sinjar area in recent days, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, adding that some people had been rescued from Sinjar Mountain over the past 24 hours.

[Ukrainian Jew]

ISIS had better prepare an escape route, for when Kurdistan finally becomes free.

[syyuge]

Second Strike: U.S. Warplanes Drop More Bombs on ISIS Forces:

The United States launched another round of airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq Friday, using drones and a fighter jets to attack a mortar position and vehicle convoy near Erbil, the Pentagon said. The strikes came a day after they were threatened by President Barack Obama.

A drone struck a mortar position twice at around 10 a.m. ET, killing ISIS fighters who returned to the site after the first attack, Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement. About an hour later, four F-18 fighter jets dropped a total of eight laser-guided bombs on a convoy of seven vehicles and a mortar position, destroying both.

Earlier Friday, two 500-pound bombs were dropped by two Navy F-18 fighter jets at a target also near Erbil, the strategically important city that serves as the Kurdish capital, and where the United States has a consulate. ISIS was using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Erbil, the Pentagon said.

The fighter jets took off from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, in the Persian Gulf. After the first strike, the warplanes returned a short time later to hit the target a second time. The mission marked a return to U.S. military engagement in Iraq, three years after Obama removed U.S. forces.

Obama, in a speech Thursday night from the White House, said that he was authorizing airstrikes to protect American interests in Iraq and drops of food and water for tens of thousands of refugees trapped by ISIS on a mountain in Iraq.

Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said Friday: “As the president made clear, the United States military will continue to take direct action against ISIL when they threaten our personnel and facilities.” ISIS and ISIL are acronyms to describe the same Islamic militant group.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/second-strike-u-s-warplanes-drop-more-bombs-isis-forces-n175941

[Ephraim Ben Noach]

Obama is not really doing shiite! Oh blowing up some of our own equipment he left behide for his dear bothers. It's just a show for the American people, he'll do whatever he not to hurt his sunni lovers. He don't give a damn about the Christians, Kurds, or Yezidi.

[Manch]

I'd say he actively pursues Islamic Chalifat. Why not arm Kurds?! He has armed ISIS against Assad who wasn't a threat. Why Kaddafi was dislodged?

The greatest benefactor of this mess is Israel as Chalifat bordering Israel is the only way to bring Kahanists to power.

[Ukrainian Jew]

I still say as I always have that America should not send its army into yet another foreign conflict, because as the sense I get here, liberal interventionism is not really a good thing. I'm 100% in favor of sending arms or aid to the Christians, on the other hand. They probably need it more than anyone and as Jews it is our duty to give tzedakah to those in need- except Muslims, since it's no use as the terrorists will confiscate it and use it for themselves or for more terrorism.

[JudasMaccabeus]

I'd say he actively pursues Islamic Chalifat. Why not arm Kurds?! He has armed ISIS against Assad who wasn't a threat. Why Kaddafi was dislodged?

The greatest benefactor of this mess is Israel as Chalifat bordering Israel is the only way to bring Kahanists to power.

I'm afraid that that is what it's going to take, and unfortunately many good people are dying before these demoniacs are stopped dead.

Islam-the religion of Satan.

[NoMosqueHere]

Islam is a religion of hate and barbaric war.  The only good muslim is a ____ muslim.

[Ukrainian Jew]

Islam is a religion of hate and barbaric war.  The only good muslim is a ____ muslim.

Or a converted Muslim?

[White Israelite]

Most of the Christians are Assyrians who had to flee Nineveh province.

[JudasMaccabeus]

Islam is a religion of hate and barbaric war.  The only good muslim is a ____ muslim.

Indeed. Islam has been a threat to civilization, to all men of good will, from it's fiendish inception. For a Moslem to be 'good', means to run counter to all the base instincts stoked by Islam's religious tenets, to be 'good' not because of their Islam but rather in spite of It.

The only good these Salafist Jihadis of the Islamic State might accomplish is if they destroy the very Islam from which they spring.