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US Central Command Releases Footage of Strikes on IS Targets

Washington (AFP) - The US military launched fresh attacks on Islamic State forces in Iraq, using fighter aircraft and drones to carry out strikes near the Mosul dam, the Pentagon said on Saturday.

"The strikes destroyed an ISIL armed vehicle, an ISIL fighting position, ISIL weapons, and significantly damaged an ISIL building," a US Defense Department statement said, referring to the IS forces also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

"All aircraft exited the strike areas safely."

The statement put out by US Central Command, based in Tampa, Florida, said the strikes were conducted to support Kurdish and Iraqi troops, "as well as to protect critical infrastructure, US personnel and facilities, and support humanitarian efforts."

The statement said that US Central Command so far has conducted a total of 115 air strikes across Iraq.

The United States earlier this week also used aircraft and drones to strike targets in northern Iraq to try to rein in Islamic State militants, who have seized a large swath of territory in the region.

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US Air Force members walk to their aircraft for an in-air refueling mission over Iraq on August 11, …

Iraq is struggling to regain significant parts of the country after a lightning militant offensive led by the IS seized second city Mosul in June and swept through the country's Sunni heartland, as security forces fled.

US air strikes on Sunday also targeted the Mosul area, as Iraqi and Kurdish forces endeavor to wrest back some of rebel held territory.

The latest US air support came as Iraq launched a major military operation Saturday to oust the rebels from the town of Amerli, after a two-month-long siege by the jihadists.

Iraqi security forces, thousands of Shiite militiamen and Kurdish peshmerga fighters are all taking part in the operation to lift the jihadist blockade of Amerli, sources said.

Amerli residents face major shortages of food and water, and are in danger both because of their Shiite faith.

The United States has yet to decide if it will expand that military action into the Amerli area, or to Syria.

Brussels (AFP) - European Union leaders on Sunday gave Russia a week to reverse course in Ukraine or face a new round of sanctions as Kiev warned it was on the brink of "full-scale war" with Moscow.

Fears are growing that the confrontation on the EU's eastern borders could engulf the whole continent after Russia sent troops to back a new offensive by pro-Kremlin rebels in southeastern Ukraine.

EU President Herman Van Rompuy said the 28 leaders meeting in Brussels agreed to take "further significant steps" if Moscow did not back down.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has been ordered to produce options for new sanctions within a week, he said.

"Everybody is fully aware that we have to act quickly given the evolution on the ground and the tragic loss of life of the last days," Van Rompuy told a news conference.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the new sanctions would build on existing measures against Russia which mainly cover financial services, armaments and energy.

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A man shops for shoes at the central market in Mariupol on August 30, 2014 (AFP Photo/Francisco Leon …

- Near point of no return -

The sanctions plan came after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko visited Brussels to urge the EU to take tougher steps against Russia which he accused of "military aggression and terror."

"We are very close to the point of no return, the point of no return is full-scale war, which is already happening in the territories controlled by the separatists," he told a news conference.

"Today we are talking about the fate of Ukraine, tomorrow it could be for all Europe."

Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite, whose Baltic nation is wary of a resurgent Russia on its own borders, gave a similar warning as she urged the EU to send military equipment to Kiev.

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Ukrainian loyalists hold their flag as they rally at the last chekpoint on the eastern side of Mariu …

"Russia is practically in a state of war against Europe," she said.

The EU delivered a further riposte to Russia on Saturday when it appointed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a vocal Kremlin critic, to replace Van Rompuy as its next president.

The EU and the United States have already slapped tough sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis, including Moscow's annexation of Crimea in March.

Moscow has denied any troop presence in its western neighbour, despite the capture of paratroopers by Kiev and reports of secret military funerals being held in Russia.

But NATO said Thursday that Russia had sent at least 1,000 troops to fight alongside the insurgents, as well as air defence systems, artillery, tanks and armoured vehicles, and had massed 20,000 troops near the border.

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko holds a press conference on the sidelines of a European Union s …

- Fresh rebel offensive, gains -

The fresh rebel offensive has raised fears the Kremlin could be seeking to create a corridor between Russia and the strategic Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

Ukraine has openly asked the EU for military help, and on Friday Kiev announced that it would also seek membership of the NATO alliance, a move sure to further enrage the Kremlin.

Poroshenko will travel to the NATO summit in Wales next week to meet US President Barack Obama and seek practical help from the Western alliance.

The sudden surge in tensions came only days after Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks which failed to achieve any breakthrough.

Poroshenko said Saturday that fresh peace talks grouping representatives of Kiev, Moscow and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would take place in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on Monday.

But on the ground there was no sign of a let up in the fighting, as the rebels vowed to launch a new military push.

Alexander Zakharchenko, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, told Russian media on Saturday that rebels were "preparing a second large-scale offensive."

Kiev said Saturday that another airforce plane has been shot down in the east, blaming it on a "Russian anti-aircraft system".

Faced with the reinvigorated insurgent push that has dramatically turned the tide of the conflict, Ukrainian forces have been trapped in a string of towns in the southeast.

Kiev's contingents began a withdrawal from besieged positions near the transport hub of Ilovaysk, which lies east of the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk, after holding ground without reinforcements for 10 days.

In the Azov Sea port city of Mariupol to the south of Donetsk, citizens dug trenches as they geared up to defend the city from a feared rebel offensive from the east.

European leaders give Russia ultimatum

The European Union tells Moscow it has one week to scale back on its Ukraine intervention or face sanctions.
'We have to act quickly'

Surprise, Surprise… “ISIL supported by shadow governments: US journalist”, from Gordon Duff VT 8-30-14

Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to a permanent truce in its 50-day Gaza war with Hamas in order to keep focused on the threat from regional militants.

"We fought for 50 days and we could have fought for 500 days, but we are in a situation where the Islamic State is at the gates of Jordan, Al-Qaeda is in the Golan and Hezbollah is at the border with Lebanon," Netanyahu said in an address on public television.

He was referring to Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq -- both neighbours of Jordan -- Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front Syria rebels on the Israeli-annexed Golan and Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah.

"We decided not to get bogged down in Gaza, and we could have, but we decided to limit our objective and restore calm to Israeli citizens," Netanyahu added.

His remarks come as the United States, Israel's chief ally, is calling for a global coalition to fight the jihadists who have set up an Islamic "caliphate" in areas they have overrun in Syria and Iraq.

US President Barack Obama has said he will send Secretary of State John Kerry to the Middle East to discuss the plan, which he said would involve military, diplomatic and regional efforts.

Calm returned to the Gaza Strip after a Tuesday ceasefire, a permanent truce ahead of further expected negotiations between Israel and the Hamas rulers of Gaza on a long-term peace deal.

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Washington (AFP) - The US military on Saturday dropped humanitarian aid to the besieged Iraqi town of Amerli, home to thousands of Shia Turkomen cut off by jihadist rebels from receiving food, water, and medical supplies.

"At the request of the government of Iraq, the United States military today airdropped humanitarian aid to the town of Amerli," said Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby.

"The United States Air Force delivered this aid alongside aircraft from Australia, France and the United Kingdom, who also dropped much needed supplies."

The humanitarian aid was delivered in conjunction with "coordinated airstrikes against nearby ISIL terrorists in order to support this humanitarian assistance operation," the US military officer said, referring to the Islamic State (IS) forces also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

"The operations will be limited in their scope and duration as necessary to address this emerging humanitarian crisis and protect the civilians trapped in Amerli," Kirby said.

"The US military will continue to assess the effectiveness of these operations and work with the Department of State, the US Agency for International Development, as well as international partners including the Government of Iraq, the United Nations, and non-government organizations to provide humanitarian assistance in Iraq as needed."

The US military also launched fresh attacks Saturday on IS forces in near Iraq's Mosul dam, deploying fighter aircraft and drones to carry out the airstrikes, the Pentagon said earlier on Saturday.