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Syrian war 'forgotten' as focus shifts to Gaza

Beirut (AFP) - Islamic State jihadists captured the key Brigade 93 Syrian army base in Raqa province overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

"The IS took Brigade 93 after fierce fighting and a triple suicide bomb attack," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that government forces now hold just one position in the province at Tabqa military airport.

He said IS fighters were now preparing to attack the airport, the last bastion in the province of President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Since February, most of Raqa has been held by the Islamic State after the jihadists ousted mainstream rebel groups battling Assad's regime.

Some troops had already pulled out of Brigade 93 in July after IS captured Division 17, another base in the region where at least 85 people were killed in fighting or summarily executed shortly afterwards, the Britain-based Observatory said.

It said that in the fighting for Brigade 93, "36 soldiers were killed, some of whom were beheaded, while others died in the fighting or in the initial triple suicide bombing" that launched the attack.

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An image made available by Jihadist media outlet Welayat Raqa on June 30, 2014, allegedly shows jiha …

At least 15 jihadists were killed, including the three suicide bombers who blew themselves up at the entrance to the base at the start of the attack on Wednesday night.

"Assad had pledged to retake Raqa. Not only has he failed to do so, he has lost his bases," Abdel Rahman said.

When he was sworn in for a third term, after an election denounced by the opposition and much of the international community as a sham, Assad vowed to free Raqa of "terrorists".

His regime uses the catch-all term to refer to all of those who oppose Assad's rule, political opposition and armed rebels alike.

Since joining the conflict in Syria in spring 2013, IS has seized control of almost all of Raqa and Deir Ezzor provinces on the border with Iraq, where it has waged a devastating offensive since June.

At the end of June, IS declared a caliphate in territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.

The Observatory estimates that more than 170,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011, the start of a peaceful uprising against Assad's regime that developed into an armed revolt.

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Top U.S. commander in Iraq: "We must neutralize this enemy"

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. fighters dropped bombs on Islamic militants in Iraq Friday, the Pentagon said, carrying out President Barack Obama's promise of military force to counter the advancing militants and confront the threat they pose to Iraqi civilians and Americans still stationed there.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said that two F/A-18 jets dropped 500-pound bombs on a piece of artillery and the truck towing it. Kirby said the fighters had taken off from the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush in the Persian Gulf to conduct the mission. He said it wasn't clear how many militants might have been killed in the strike.

The Pentagon said the militants were using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Irbil.

For the United States, it was a re-engagement in the long sectarian war from which American combat forces had been withdrawn — on President Barack Obama's orders — in late 2011.

In a televised speech Thursday night, Obama threatened to renew U.S. military involvement. At the same time, he announced that U.S. military planes already had carried out airdrops of food and water, at the request of the Iraqi government, to tens of thousands of Iraqi religious minorities atop a mountain surrounded by militants and desperately in need of supplies.

"America is coming to help," Obama declared.

Speaking to reporters while traveling in India Friday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the U.S. military has sufficient intelligence resources and assets in place to launch strikes by both manned and unmanned aircraft in the region.

Obama Authorizes Airstrikes in IraqPlay Video

Asked if the Islamic State group could successfully hide among civilians to evade strikes, Hagel said if the Islamic State moves against Irbil, Baghdad or the refugees trapped on a mountain, "it's pretty clear who they are, and they would be pretty identifiable where our airstrikes could be effective."

The Yazidis, who follow an ancient religion with ties to Zoroastrianism, fled their homes after the Islamic State group issued an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay a religious fine, flee their homes or face death.

"Earlier this week, one Iraqi in the area cried to the world, 'There is no one coming to help.' Well, today, America is coming to help," Obama said. "We're also consulting with other countries — and the United Nations — who have called for action to address this humanitarian crisis."

The announcement reflected the deepest American engagement in Iraq since U.S. troops left.

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Mindful of the public's aversion to another lengthy war, Obama acknowledged that the prospect of a new round of U.S. military action would be a cause for concern among many Americans. He vowed anew not to put American combat troops back on the ground in Iraq and said there was no U.S. military solution to the crisis.

"As commander in chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq," Obama said.

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Iraqi Yazidi women who fled the violence in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar sit at a school where …

Even so, he outlined a rationale for airstrikes in the event the Islamic State militants advanced on American troops in Irbil and the U.S. consulate there in the Kurdish region of Iraq. The troops were sent to Iraq earlier this year as part of the White House response to the extremist group's swift movement across the border with Syria and into Iraq.

"When the lives of American citizens are at risk, we will take action," Obama said. "That's my responsibility as commander in chief."

He said he had also authorized the use of targeted military strikes if necessary to help the Iraqi security forces protect civilians.

The Pentagon said the airdrops were performed by one C-17 and two C-130 cargo aircraft that together delivered a total of 72 bundles of food and water. They were escorted by two F/A-18 fighters from an undisclosed air base in the region.

The planes delivered 5,300 gallons of fresh drinking water and 8,000 pre-packaged meals and were over the drop area for less than 15 minutes at a low altitude.

The president cast the mission to assist the Yazidis as part of the American mandate to assist around the world when the U.S. has the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre.

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This June 20, 2007, file photo shows a C-130-J transport aircraft over Little Rock Air Force Base in …

In those cases, Obama said, "we can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide."

Officials said the U.S. was prepared to undertake additional humanitarian airdrops if necessary, though they did not say how quickly those missions could occur.

Administration officials had said earlier they believed unilateral U.S. strikes would be consistent with international law, in part because the Iraqi government has asked for Washington to take military action. They also said Obama had the constitutional authority to act on his own in order to protect American citizens.

Obama had similarly authorized strikes in Syria last summer after chemical weapons were deployed, but those attacks were never carried out, in part because of domestic political concerns and also because an international agreement to strip Syria of its stockpiles of the deadly gases.

The president has also faced persistent calls to take military action in Syria on humanitarian grounds, given that more than 170,000 people have been killed there.

Critics, including some Republicans in Congress, have argued that Obama's cautious approach to Syria has allowed the Islamic State group to flourish there, growing strong enough to move across the border with Iraq and make swift gains.

Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina praised Obama's proposed actions Thursday night but said much more will be necessary.

"This should include the provision of military and other assistance to our Kurdish, Iraqi and Syrian partners" who are fighting the militants, airstrikes against the militants' leaders and forces and support for Sunni Iraqis who seek to resist the extremists, they said in a statement.

In light of the militants' advances, Obama dispatched about 800 U.S. forces to Iraq earlier this year, with those troops largely split between joint operation centers in Baghdad and Irbil.

More than half are providing security for the embassy and U.S. personnel. American service members also are involved in improving U.S. intelligence, providing security cooperation and conducting assessments of Iraqi capabilities.

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Associated Press writers Josh Lederman and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Robert Burns at http://twitter.com/RobertBurnsAP

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Russian Nuclear Bombers Keep Roaming Closer to U.S. Airspace

Russian nuclear bombers were spotted flying near Alaska this week. The bombers were escorted by fighter jets, floating just outside of U.S. and Canadian airspace. This is the second such sighting since June, sparking the attention of American military jets.

Major Beth Smith, of the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD),has said "Over the past week, NORAD has visually identified Russian aircraft operating in and around the U.S. air defense identification zones." There have been about 16 Russian forays in the Alaskan and north Canadian area in the last 10 days.

It is not entirely uncommon to see Russian planes in this airspace, however, the increased number of such planes seems to be triggering some concern amongst the aviation military community, particularly given the increased tension in Ukraine. Smith referred to this number of forays as "a spike in activity."

Smith noted that these were training missions, though a spy plane and anti-submarine plane were spotted among the bombers. However, another defense official told the Washington Free Beacon they believe this is more than just a training flight. The official stated "[Russian strategic nuclear forces appear to be] trying to test our air defense reactions, or our command and control systems. These are not just training missions."

RELATED: Accused Rwandan War Criminal Captured After Casually Crossing Canadian Border

The Russian military has admitted they have flown in that area. They told ITAR-TASS, "all flights were scheduled in advance and were made in strict compliance with the international rules of using airspace without trespassing the borders of other countries."

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/08/russian-nuclear-bombers-keep-roaming-closer-to-us-airspace/375791/

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BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of women from the Yazidi religious minority have been taken captive by Sunni militants with "vicious plans," an Iraqi official said Friday, further underscoring the dire plight of Iraq's minorities at the hands of the Islamic State group.

Kamil Amin, the spokesman for Iraq's Human Rights Ministry, said hundreds of Yazidi women below the age of 35 are being held in schools in Iraq's second largest city, Mosul. He said the ministry learned of the captives from their families.

"We think that the terrorists by now consider them slaves and they have vicious plans for them," Amin told The Associated Press. "We think that these women are going to be used in demeaning ways by those terrorists to satisfy their animalistic urges in a way that contradicts all the human and Islamic values."

The U.S. has confirmed that the Islamic State group has kidnapped and imprisoned Yazidi women so that they can be sold or married off to extremist fighters, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information came from classified intelligence reports. There was no solid estimate of the number of women victimized, the official said.

Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled when the Islamic State group earlier this month captured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, near the Syrian border. The Yazidis practice an ancient religion that the Sunni Muslim radicals consider heretical.

The extremist group's capture of a string of towns and villages in the north has sent minority communities fleeing for their lives. The Islamic state views Yazidis and Shiite Muslims as apostates, and has demanded Christians either convert to Islam or pay a special tax.

About 50,000 Yazidis — half of them children, according to U.N. figures — fled to the mountains outside Sinjar where many of them remain, trapped and running out of food and water. Late Thursday, the U.S. military cargo jets dropped humanitarian aid to the mountains.

Amin's comments were the first Iraqi government confirmation that some women were being held by the group. On Tuesday, Yazidi lawmaker Vian Dakheel made an emotional plea in parliament to the Iraqi government to save the Yazidi people, saying the "women have been sold in a slavery market."

President Barack Obama said the humanitarian airdrops were made at the request of the Iraqi government as the Islamic State militant group tightened its grip on northern Iraq. In his remarks late Thursday, he mentioned "chilling reports" of fighters with the group "rounding up families, conducting mass executions, and enslaving Yazidi women."

The U.N. Security Council issued a statement Friday condemning targeted attacks against Iraq's minorities, adding that any widespread attacks against civilian populations based on ethnic, religious or political background may be considered a crime against humanity for which those responsible must be held accountable.

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Associated Press reporter Vivian Salama in Baghdad contributed to this report.

U.S. officials: New round of airstrikes near Irbil

WABC – NY
U.S. launches 2nd round of strikes on targets in Iraq

American officials say the U.S. launched a second round of airstrikes against Islamic State targets near Irbil on Friday, using drones and fighter jets.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the strikes by name, say unmanned aircraft struck a mortar near Irbil and four Navy F/A-18 fighter jets struck a seven-vehicle convoy outside Irbil. The jets flew off the USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier.

The Friday afternoon strikes followed a morning strike on an Islamic State artillery gun that was firing on Kurdish troops near U.S. personnel. President Barack Obama said late Thursday that the U.S. would launch airstrikes on the militant group that was threatening American military trainers in the northeastern Iraq city.

The officials say the convoy was destroyed.

New round of U.S. military airstrikes in Iraq

An unmanned aircraft hits a mortar near Irbil and four Navy fighter jets destroy a seven-vehicle convoy, officials say.
Militants targeted