Residents Flee West Mosul As Fighting Nears Old City, Key Mosque

Thousands of Iraqis were fleeing west Mosul during lulls in heavy fighting as government troops closed in on the Old City and a strategic mosque in their campaign to drive Islamic State (IS) militants out of Iraq's second-largest city.

Officials on March 18 said Iraqi forces were facing strong resistance as they attempted to retake the crowded, narrow streets of west Mosul in a drive launched with U.S. air support on February 19.

Government troops captured the eastern half of the militants’ so-called capital in Iraq in January after 100 days of fighting.

Iraqi troops are focused on encircling the Old City and the important Al-Nuri Mosque in west Mosul, Lieutenant General Raed Chaker of the Federal Police said.

Another Federal Police official on March 18 said troops had recaptured two heavily populated neighborhoods, Al-Kur and Al-Tawafa, in the Old City.

Food and water remained scarce and security was precarious in newly liberated areas. Many residents were seen fleeing to safer areas during lulls in fighting.

"We have been trapped for 25 days. No water, no food, everyone will die, and they will have to pull us from the rubble," a resident of Bab Jdid district said.

"It is terrible. Islamic State has destroyed us. There is no food, no bread. There is absolutely nothing," another resident said.

U.S. officials estimated as many as 750,000 civilians may have been in west Mosul at the start of the offensive, along with some 2,000 IS fighters.

Elements of the Federal Police and Rapid Response forces are leading the campaign around the Old City and the mosque.

Rain and heavy clouds were hanging over the area, limiting air cover.

"The weather is cloudy and rainy, but our forces are advancing toward their targets," Federal Police Major General Haider Dhirgham said.

IS militants were fighting back with sniper fire, mortars, and armored suicide car bombs, officials said.

Mosul and the Al-Nuri Mosque are of major symbolic importance to IS because it was where leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his so-called caliphate in 2014.

IS’s stronghold in Syria, Raqqa, is also under pressure from U.S.-backed forces.

IS militants seized large portions of northern Iraq and Syria in an offensive in 2014.

The group has been accused of numerous atrocities and has claimed responsibility for major terrorist attacks in Europe and elsewhere.

Geneva 3 in the eyes of the people of Raqqa

Exclusive – RBSS

The world’s eyes to the Geneva Conference 3 being holds the first signs of a political solution and combines the opposition with the regime, after the regime was marginalizing the opposition and does not confess with their existence, saying that all his opponents are terrorist groups and armed, while he is sitting today forced in front of a delegation from the political opposition and forced to confess its existence.

The split among the Syrians was between supporters for the negotiations and any political solution that may result and between the likely military solution, but the largest percentage supported the negotiating team of opposition after seeing his firm and embraced the vision of millions of Syrians who want to end the suffering and the removal of the Assad regime, in the city of Raqqa summed up the real suffering as people are watching the negotiations closely While the world discusses the solution to negotiate with Assad, stationed in Raqqa another partner of him share his criminality and completes on the ground what Assad’s aviation could not do .

In turn, the team of “Raqqa is being slaughtered silence” conducted an opinion poll on opinions of civilians in the city of Raqqa of the Geneva conference, which included different age groups, but most of the opinions were looking for a solution to end the suffering in any way, said Rami 29 years old, a former teacher in the city , “the Geneva negotiations 3 are the first steps in the way of the solution in Syria and the disposal of the criminal Assad regime and the end of the Assad regime mean the end of ISIS also because the regime is the main nutrient for them,” while Sana college student said: that “Geneva 3 is a waste of time and will not differ much from Geneva 2 similar to the Geneva 1, and maybe it will be a prelude to the Geneva 4 who will decide to take place after a year which means the continuation of killings in the country. “

Saad 45 years old, talked about the possibility that Geneva is to be shifted in favor of the Syrian Revolution “Geneva 3, even if it will fail but it will be the first political victory that we might get, now is the regime is forced to negotiate who was considering them in yesterday’s germs and infiltrators, this shift is important for us we want to get rid of Assad so the terrorist groups will leave with him.”

In turn, Laila 38 years old, “she said I do not care to attend the Geneva I care what will result, all my care is to stop the killings and withdraw the terrorist militias supporting Assad and that Russia stop bombing civilians, I much whish that the world takes into account the suffering of millions of Syrians,” as Noor 32 years old said:, that “Geneva will succeed if he can enter food aid to Madaya and refugee camp of Yarmouk and Dir Elzor and Ghouta and give the freedom back to tens of thousands of detainees and stop the bombing, and if he could not achieve all of these rights that will push the world to the armed option which means more killing and destruction and perhaps the extremism of other groups.”

In spite of the poor performance of international envoy de Mistura and feeling the world with his bias to Assad regime and Russia, but the supreme body of the negotiations still can control the reins of things and stick to the demands of the people, despite of the international pressures that are exposed, today the body of the negotiations was able to get a lot of support and the support of activists who fired the Hachtag ‪#‎Committee‬of Supreme negotiations represent me.

Russia has gained upper hand in Syria, Merkel ally says MUNICH

Russia had gained the upper hand in Syria and the surrounding region through armed force, a senior conservative ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday, and he voiced doubts that Moscow would respect a truce plan for the war-torn country.

"I think Russia has gained the upper hand in the region and this is by historical measures a novelty. And they have done so by the use of armed force," said Norbert Roettgen, head of the foreign affairs committee in the German parliament and a member of Merkel's conservative party.

Speaking at a security conference in Munich, he said he was sceptical about how Russia would behave in the days and weeks ahead, despite agreeing to a "cessation of hostilities" which is due to begin in a week's time.

The deal agreed by major powers falls short of a formal ceasefire because it was not signed by the warring parties, the Syrian government and the rebels seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

A day after the agreement was clinched, Syrian troops, backed by Russian air strikes, made gains against rebels near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

"Russia is determined to create the facts on the ground, and when they have accomplished this, then they will invite the West to fight a common enemy, this is ISIS," Roettgen said. In his view, he said, the approach had disqualified Moscow as a credible partner in fighting Islamic State militants.

Participating in the same panel, U.S. Senator John McCain said he did not view the deal, sealed in Munich early Friday morning after nine hours of talks, as a breakthrough.

"Let's be clear about what this agreement does. It allows Russia's assault on Aleppo to continue for another week," he said.

"It is no accident that Mr. Putin has agreed on a cessation of hostilities. We have seen this movie before in Ukraine: Russia presses its advantage militarily, it creates new facts on the ground, it uses the denial and delivery of humanitarian aid as a bargaining chip, it negotiates an agreement to lock in the spoils of war," McCain said.

DEATH BY PUTIN - Putin’s goal is destroying the city of Raqqa Not fighting ISIS

Once the Russian Kremlin announced its intention to intervene in the conflict in Syria to save the Assad regime under the pretext of fighting terrorism, until the Russian aircraft begun implementation of air sorties in the skies of Raqqa city and its countryside.

However, the repeated Russian’ statements of targeting ISIS were not consistent with the conduct of the raids carried out by the Russian aviation on the ground, as documented by local and international news agencies that most of the strikes were aimed mainly at the civilians, and through the shelling of residential neighbourhoods, popular markets and public facilities and infrastructure that serve the civilians directly.

This means that these raids were not aimed at the headquarters or any security military check points of ISIS known by everyone inside the city, but rarely, on the other hand they did not target the heavily armed ranks of ISIS which have long been scouring the public roads within and outside the city in the daylight, while the raids were aimed at the headquarters of ISIS ,they did not significantly affect the human structure of the military, where the losses of ISIS were virtually non-existent because most of the raids were aimed at former headquarters and absolutely empty of the ISIS members and its mechanisms as a result of the repeated targeting by the international airline alliance. 

What makes the Russian raids more advanced than the raids of the Syrian regime?

-The big destruction as a result of the enormous destructive power of its missiles, which caused dozen of massacres 

– Over flights and bombing day and night, which was something that the Aviation of the Syrian regime incapable of.

– Targeting all districts of the city, where neighbourhoods have been bombed that have never been exposed to any raids, not to mention, being purely civilian neighbourhoods.

– The systematic destruction of the infrastructure, and targeting sites that the Syrian regime did not dare to bomb such as bridges, water plants and silos and granaries.

What distinguishes the raids done by the Russian aircraft is another matter, which is targeting oil refineries which are called locally (oil Burners), which is a very small projects of refining crude oil in primitive ways, and they are owned mostly by the local population and have no direct link with ISIS

Also the raids targeted on the other hand, oil trucks that move between the towns of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa and owned by civilians also.

. 
And it seems like the Russian are trying so hard to convince the world that they are aiming at destroying all kinds of sources of ISIS through these raids that are targeting the Limited and primitive oil circulation which owned by the civilians, and that affects only the civilians.

However, the Russians know best about the economical and oil close relations between the regime and ISIS.

Not to mention targeting many of the Facilities and installations, which have been long ignored by the aviation of the regime previously, such as :

1. the trucks that move oil from where they find it inside areas controlled by ISIS to cities controlled by the regime

2. the wells that produce oil which by the way are still working until now under the supervision of ISIS 

3. the gas wells and the pipes that move it from ISIS areas to the regime’s, which the regime is depending on that for power generation

4. the trucks that move wheat and other sold grains by ISIS to middlemen working for the regime and deliver them to the its areas

On another hand, the Russian tried in Raqqa different kinds of weapons , such as, strategic missiles that were lunched from submarines stationed in the Caspian Sea, which landed in barren and free zones of population in the countryside of Raqqa, as they tried new types of Steric missiles, the residential neighborhoods were taking these kinds of experiments, and one of these experiments for instant , targeting the neighborhood of 23rd of Feb and the neighborhood of Saif Al Daola, where building were completely destroyed , and in some cases , streets were also completely destroyed , which is something happening for the first time in the city.

The civilians inside the city of Raqqa realize that the first goal of these raids is evacuating the city completely from the locals, and that through targeting residential neighborhoods to force the families to be displaced to other safer areas.

as everyone knows that the Russian air force and its aviation are more advanced and developed significantly than the Syrian counterpart, and the mistakes are rarely done by the Russians , when they target a residential neighborhood where there is no sign of ISIS on the range of 4oo meters is a clear clue that the target is the civilians and no one else, as we mentioned before that the main goal is evacuating the city of the locals so the city of Raqqa will be an empty and free stage for all types of aviation, beginning with the aviation of the international coalition who is an assumed friends and ending with the most Aggressive enemy , the Russians and the Assad regime.

In this context we can understand that the US Department of Defense remarks that the upcoming military operation on the city of Raqqa will be extremely difficult and complicated, pointing that what it seems that the city is still filled with lots of people , which is a reason that’s preventing its military operations, and since ISIS has emptied its spots and re-spread in the residential neighborhoods inside the city to make it worse and more complicated, it is okay for the Russian to handle “ The Dirty Job” which is killing the families of the city and bombing it without any mercy or evacuation

.

The international coalition and the United States are aware of the Reconnaissance planes that are flying 24/7 in the skies of the city, However the Russian raids are focusing on the neighborhoods directly and ISIS to be affected is almost non-existent, Therefore they don’t care as long as they are achieving their main target which is evacuating the city of Raqqa from the civilians as many as possible , so their aviation can fly later on to destroy the city completely just like what they did before in the city of Ein Al Arab in north of Syria.

It’s ‘hell’ : How ISIS prevents people from fleeing its ‘caliphate’

ISIS has been tightening security along the borders of its “caliphate” to prevent people from fleeing, according to locals familiar with the terrorist group’s territory.

And ISIS — aka the Islamic State — seems to be keeping a closer watch over its populace.

People who live in Raqqa, Syria, the de-facto capital of the group’s territory, which it calls its “caliphate,” are now reportedly forced to register with the militant government.

There are restrictions on what people can take in and out of ISIS-held cities. And women aren’t allowed to go anywhere without a male relative escort.

“Leaving the city is now really hard,” Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi, an activist with the group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, told Business Insider recently. “The problem is not going to Raqqa, it’s how to get out.”

Raqqa is the center of ISIS’s operations in the Middle East. Raqqawi — who uses a pseudonym — still travels back and forth from the city with the help of smugglers, he said. His family remains there.

Raqqawi said ISIS confiscates passports to make it more difficult to travel and forces people in the city to register so the militants can keep tabs on everyone.

“They are not allowing women to leave the city if they are not over 45 years old, and they are not allowing boys to leave the city if they are not over 19,” Raqqawi said. “After the statement that, ‘We want to register every boy in the city over 14,’ people are very afraid of the recruiting and want to leave.”

A Syrian man from Deir Ezzor, who goes by the name Fikram, told Business Insider that even some government areas “are surrounded by ISIS so civilians can’t get out except under certain conditions.”

“The area that is controlled by the terrorist organization has one road that civilians can go out from, and they open it in specific dates and times,” Fikram said. “Also, the civilians cannot move their personal items like home furnishings from the city.”

ISIS has also been enforcing rules around who can leave its territory. Ali Leili, a who runs the Syrian activist group D’Arezzo, described to Business Insider rules in place in Deir Ezzor, Syria.

“Sometimes people are allowed to leave to [go to] Damascus in order to [get] medical treatment, but not before they write a written undertaking that they will return to Deir Ezzor in the completion of treatment,” Leili told Business Insider.

Residents of other cities have talked of similar rules.

In Mosul, ISIS requires anyone leaving the city to provide the militants with the names of relatives who can vouch for their return, The New York Times reported in June. If the person does not return, their relatives may be arrested.

These restrictions have led to people relying on unconventional means to leave their homes.

“Hundreds of residents of Deir Ezzor and especially young people have left the province in secret smuggling routes to Turkey and then to Europe, [although] some of them are still in Turkey,” Leili said. “Everyone fled because of the hell experienced in the province because of the violations of [ISIS] and tightening the grip on the people there.”

The New York Times reported in a November story that a “cottage industry” of smugglers have cropped up to extricate people from ISIS territory. The newspaper reported that “until relatively recently, the routes into and out of Raqqa were mostly open.”

But now people have been relying on smugglers to supply them with false identification and accompany them across the Turkish border.

Others rely on ISIS militants themselves to help them escape ISIS territory. One woman who grew up in Raqqa and was roped into joining ISIS after the group took over the city asked a friend within the group to get her and her cousin out. The militant was able to get them through ISIS checkpoints without raising any suspicion.

Recently released ISIS propaganda suggests that the group is especially concerned about people fleeing and the damage that could do to the group’s brand.

In September, ISIS released a barrage of propaganda videos targeting refugees and telling them to come join the “caliphate” instead of fleeing to “xenophobic” Europe. The videos seek to reinforce the image of the caliphate as an Islamic utopia and capitalize on the dangers refugees face as they flee to European countries.

“They claim to create this Islamic utopia, and Muslims are fleeing in droves,” Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterrorism analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider in September. “A legitimate caliphate … is supposed to be able to provide services to its citizens.”

“ISIS” military lull before the storm

Exclusive – RBSS

ISIS didn’t used to have a military recession like the one they’re having now in the light of the stopping of most of fighting fronts with the various armed factions and armed militias, when the front of Ein Essa is safe for the militia of popular protection units after it was one of the most ferocity fronts as in Dir Elzor in the east, where fighting stopped in almost completely since the last major operation launched by ISIS against the regime and its militias, leaving the north of Aleppo raged against the backdrop of clashes between factions of ISIS and the FSA in conjunction with the Russian aerial bombardment and the military progress of the regime forces towards the Nobil and Zahra.

Rally in Raqqa and fear of a repeat of Tel Abyad scenario

Raqqa city is witnessing a rise recently in the number of members of ISIS and his cars and pervasive barriers at the entrances and exits of the city as well as intensive patrols, which suggests that something is being planned.

According to our reporter in turn, that ISIS brought in reinforcements, including mortars and long-range missiles were also able to get information from different sources confirm the ISIS transferred a large number of confiscated cars to bombed cars is likely the possibility of processing an attack widely unknown destination until the moment.

For his part, Munther a young man from the city said: “We can say for sure that what is happening is the lull before the storm, I do not know if ISIS will attack somebody or that the city will be attacked by the regime or militia of protection units, do not want to get rid of the criminals to another criminal like it comes as happened in Tel Abyad, I know that the Russian bombing will stop in case of regime control or protection units control of the city but all residents will be displaced and northern countryside is living example of that. “

Destination is Aleppo

Aleppo Lives today the most difficult days in the Syrian revolution as it is now in danger of collapse at any moment with the documenting of nearly 150 strike within one day added to the regime progress backed by Hezbollah militia and Iraqi militia and Russian mercenaries from the point of Nobil and Zahra, at a time ISIS are trying to pressure from the opposite side to put it in the jaws of the pliers.

ISIS, as usual, trying to exploit the Russian military pressure on the city to subjugate and the opening of new crossings over control of parts of the border with Turkey and in particular with the strangle of it since losing Tel Abyad crossing and stop the flow of fighters, says Abu Mohammed, a bus driver, “I passed in front of several cars of ISIS loaded with fighters and dragging behind mortars I asked them to win their favor in order to avoid harassment where are going guys , to Dir Elzor ? One of them answered me, to Aleppo to fight the FSA there. “

The elimination scenario of ISIS

ISIS could have what we might call the “blind eyes” from near and far countries, after announcing the “state” and the start of its expansion to large areas in Iraq and Syria and seeking actively to consolidate its control over these areas of all methods, which allowed him the possibility of threatening the interests of many countries directly or indirectly and they were forced to form a so-called international coalition to face this organization.

During the course of military operations against ISIS, the main goal of the coalition was weakened ISIS but maintaining it and keeping the ingredients that led to its evolution of sectarianism in Iraq and the dictatorship in Syria, while who resides on the ground realize that the time factor is in favor of ISIS.

And if we’ll look for the possible scenario to get rid once and for all of ISIS in Syria, particularly in the area of Aljazeera province we will find that the equation is simple and summed up several items from which to ensure the elimination of ISIS and the seed planted in the community.

The first of these items is the leaving of Assad regime, which has contributed to the emergence of ISIS to prove his theory that the revolution is a fundamentalist extremist groups carry the thought of terrorism for fusing even the moderate opposition in this crucible and who went to it when they did not find salvation from the regime, but through it, we find that the largest proportion of members in ISIS of the Syrians are the ones from the areas which witnessed massacres, bombing and killing.

In addition, support for a Sunni Arab force to be the spearhead to fight ISIS and owns a popular incubator being of the people of the region, with the need to seek to regulate them well and protect them of the features of fragmentation and mistakes that made by their predecessors during the revolution and be a real nucleus of a future military institution of the country as a whole, and not to rely directly on specific racial or ethnic groups to fight ISIS, especially outside of their presence areas, and pressure to define its role in the areas in which they operate and force it to stop the excesses that created the incubator for ISIS and shown it in real protector of Sunni Arabs, as well as managing areas that come out of the hands of ISIS so that they become areas a good example of pushing the people of the areas that are still under the control of the latter to look for salvation from it.

Also, must not marginalize the Islamic parties in the next phase and to rely on the more moderate parties to assist in the eradication of the remnants of the thought of extremist ISIS through dialogue and correct the resulted intellectual warp, in addition to support the organizations and associations that are fighting ISIS intellectually the fact that his only goal was the dissemination of extremist ideology among the people and children more specifically, because he knows that he will be demised , those minds will carry this thought and will be the nucleus of the creation of ISIS again, more brutality, so fighting ISIS intellectually will reduce the number of entrants to him and will lie its allegations that trying to implanted in people’s minds.

Parallels the treatment of the etiology and fight ISIS intellectually in all areas where the from Iraq Libya, Egypt and others with military action against him, but the a great disaster in the presence of many parties believe that the regime’s army will remove ISIS and trying to support the idea of survival of the regime to fight ISIS, which is what drives civilians in the control of ISIS regions to rally around him and create a very popular incubator because they prefer to remain under his control that rather remain under the control of the regime than, which revolted ante before, as well as being aware that retaliation of the regime would be collectively and very expensive, and by this the international parties have served ISIS and proven presence in the region for years.

Russia’s Worsening Economy Means Less Aggression Abroad, More Repression At Home In 2016

For Russia in the new year, trends shaped by earlier developments in 2015 will continue to intensify.

Russia’s domestic economic situation will steadily worsen, although according to many analysts, at least in 2016, the Kremlin will have enough resources to sustain the status quo. The number of local protests (such as the recent protests by Russian truck drivers against new highway tolls) will steadily increase across the country. But in 2016, they are not yet likely to reach the level that would create real problems for the system.

Nonetheless, the regime’s paranoia about its survival will keep intensifying in light of the worsening economic situation. Hence a new set of more repressive laws is likely to follow, and the overall intensity of the repressions will increase. Expect more opposition activists jailed, more limitations on civil and political freedoms, and more prohibitive laws. Some remaining quasi-independent media may become victims of a new wave of repressions.

In the economic domain, currency control laws (which have already started to emerge) might multiply due to the scarcity of dollars. This would include new bans on imported products (Russia’s so-called “anti-sanctions”) and bans on holding foreign accounts. The same lack of rubles might induce higher taxes, fines and fees, as well as delays in salary and pension payments.

In the foreign policy dimension, the important development is that the Kremlin is running out of resources in light of collapsing oil prices and a deepening recession. This could lead to less aggressive Kremlin adventures on the international stage. Experts already predict that Russia’s military budget will soon be downsized. As I have shown elsewhere, Russia is a typical petrostate: it tends to get more aggressive when oil prices peak, and tends to avoid military escalation when oil prices are low. Therefore the scarcity of oil revenue in 2016 might push Russia towards a more compromising stance on its Ukraine and Syria policy. The recent appointment of Boris Gryzlov into Ukraine’s contact group may indicate a step in that direction. It is unlikely that the Kremlin has resources for a substantive military escalation in Ukraine as of now.

The Kremlin desperately needs higher oil prices to refill its budget. In an attempt  to inflate oil prices, the Kremlin may attempt to rekindle conflicts in the Middle East, for example between Saudi Arabia and Iran. But despite recent tensions between the two countries, experts suggest that military escalation between them is unlikely, as neither Iran nor Saudi Arabia wants to engage in a military confrontation with each other.

To ensure that Russia stays in line, however, it is necessary for Western sanctions to remain in place. The Kremlin’s engagement in Syria doesn’t seem to have influenced Washington’s position on sanctions, but in the EU the situation is more complicated, as the Kremlin has been courting some of the EU members and lobbying for their abolishment. Moscow had some success with Italy when Rome unexpectedly blocked the automatic extension of EU sanctions in December 2015 (although Italy’s foreign minister later denied this). For now, the sanctions will remain in place for at least another six months. But we can expect to see greater resistance to emerge from countries whose leadership is closer to Putin (such as Hungary) or whose trade is more closely intertwined with Russia the next time that sanctions come under reconsideration.

Finally, the development of shale oil might have fundamentally altered geopolitical realities. As hydrocarbon markets become increasingly competitive, the petrostate politics that had a dramatic influence on international trend in the past few decades might fundamentally change. The very concept of a “petrostate,” of which Russia is a prime example, might eventually fade out. We may be at the beginning of this process in 2016.

Britain expands role in Iraq as warplanes monitor Isis positions

Britain is stepping up its military involvement in the fight against jihadi forces from the Islamic State in Iraq after the defence secretary Michael Fallon confirmed that British warplanes are flying deeper into Iraq in a mission that could last "months".

 

As David Cameron declared that Britain should be prepared to deploy its "military prowess" to help defeat the jihadis, Fallon said that Britain's involvement in Iraq is fast expanding beyond the initial humanitarian mission to relieve Yazidi refugees besieged on Mount Sinjar.

 

"This is not simply a humanitarian mission," the defence secretary said as it was confirmed that RAF Tornado jets, which were deployed to the region last week to identify the location of Yazidi refugees, are now monitoring Islamic State (Isis) positions deep into Iraq.

 

The UK move came as the US announced its most concerted bombing campaign yet over northern Iraq to drive Isis forces back, helping Kurdish forces to reclaim Mosul dam.

 

American warplanes and drones carried out more than 20 strikes at the weekend near the crucial dam that Isis forces took earlier this month. More than a dozen Isis vehicles were destroyed, the Pentagon said. The bombing is designed to help Kurdish forces regain the initiative in fighting for territory in northern Iraq that Isis has seized over the past three months.

 

"Mosul Dam was liberated completely," Ali Awni, an official from Iraq's main Kurdish party, told Agence France-Presse, a statement also confirmed by another party official and a Kurdish security forces officer.

 

Britain was encouraged by the progress over the weekend though Downing Street believes that the US, the Kurds and forces of the Iraqi state face a lengthy battle to defeat the Isis jihadis.

Fallon's declaration that British involvement was expanding beyond a humanitarian mission contrasted with the cautious language of Downing Street last week when officials said that the British mission was limited to providing humanitarian relief for Yazidi refugees besieged on Mount Sinjar.

Britain announced towards the end of last week that it would be prepared to arm Kurdish forces fighting the extremists.

 

Fallon said: "We and other countries in Europe are determined to do what we can to help the government of Iraq combat this new and very extreme form of terrorism that Isil [the Islamic State] is promoting."

 

The defence secretary was speaking at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus as six Tornado fast jets and a spy plane push beyond the Kurdish region in the very north of Iraq – the focus of the humanitarian crisis – into parts of mainland northern Iraq that were taken over by Islamist militants in the past two months.

 

The aircraft are providing footage and other intelligence on displaced families to assist with the humanitarian effort and also on the movement of jihadis on the ground. It is studied by British analysts before being used to help Kurdish and Iraqi security forces.

 

British intelligence is shared directly with the US military, which has been conducting air strikes against Islamic State positions for the past 10 days.

 

"We are helping the Iraqi authorities and the Kurdish forces build up a better picture of where Isis is, where it is likely to strike next," Fallon said in an interview conducted by the defence editor of the Times and pooled on behalf of the major newspapers including the Guardian.

 

This means that British information could be used by the Iraqi military in planning attacks against jihadis – a development that brings Britain closer to a direct combat role, which could cause alarm among some MPs who are concerned about mission creep.

 

The Rivet Joint spy plane, a sophisticated, electronic surveillance aircraft, has been conducting missions since last week. Its information is combined with intelligence from daily patrols conducted by pairs of Tornado fighter jets, kitted with surveillance pods.

 

The RAF is also flying planeloads of ammunition, rifles and machine guns from former Soviet bloc countries in eastern Europe into Irbil in order to strengthen the fighting power of the Iraqi Kurdish security forces who are combatting the jihadis.

 

In addition, the government is looking at what British gear, such as night-vision goggles and body armour, it could send directly to the country to boost the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

 

The defence secretary praised a group of about three dozen airmen and soldiers from the various different units at the RAF base for their work in distributing aid. Fallon then signalled an expansion of the mission which could last months when he said: "This mission isn't over. The humanitarian needs are there…There may well now be in the next few weeks and months other ways that we may need to help save life, protect people. We are going to need all of you again and the surveillance you are able to give us."

 

The signals from Fallon of a greater British military involvement, which will stop short of deploying combat troops, came as the prime minister laid the ground for greater British military involvement in confronting Isis.

 

In a Sunday Telegraph article Cameron warned that Isis has declared an "extremist caliphate" that could soon lead to a "terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a Nato member [Turkey]".

 

The prime minister, who warned of a "generational struggle" against a "poisonous and extremist ideology" that will last for the rest of his political lifetime, wrote: "I agree that we should avoid sending armies to fight or occupy. But we need to recognise that the brighter future we long for requires a long-term plan for our security as well as for our economy.

 

"True security will only be achieved if we use all our resources – aid, diplomacy, our military prowess – to help bring about a more stable world. Today, when every nation is so immediately interconnected, we cannot turn a blind eye and assume that there will not be a cost for us if we do."

The prime minister, who was furious when Ed Miliband blocked his plans to launch military strikes against the regime of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last year amid fears of a repeat of the mistakes of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, said that people should make judgments on the world of today.

 

He wrote: "The creation of an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and extending into Syria is not a problem miles away from home. Nor is it a problem that should be defined by a war ten years ago. It is our concern here and now. Because if we do not act to stem the onslaught of this exceptionally dangerous terrorist movement, it will only grow stronger until it can target us on the streets of Britain."

 

Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Liberal Democrat leader, said: "The prime minister is right to emphasise that the effects of any continuing instability in Iraq will not be confined to the region. But it will be necessary to meet the challenge of terrorism by constructing a coalition of allies from both the EU and Nato. A unified approach will be essential with no room for dissent or compromise between countries. The jihadists of IS [the Islamic State] will most certainly test political resolve as well as security challenges."

 

In his interview the defence secretary confirmed that a small number of regular British soldiers were also sent briefly into the semi-autonomous Kurdish north of the country. The troops from 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment were flown into Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, last week to prepare for a possible deployment of Chinook helicopters on a mission to save families from a little-known religious sect who were stuck on a mountainside.

ISIS plans to take holy war to Xinjiang

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi makes his first public appearance from a mosque in Mosul in northern Iraq on July 5, 2014, calling on all Muslims around the world to join him in a holy war against the West. (Photo/CFP)
 

The Islamic State, the jihadist group better known as ISIS, is planning to expand its holy war to northwest China's restive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, reports the Chinese-language magazine Phoenix Weekly.
 

ISIS, which claims religious authority over all Muslims across the world, is currently facing US air strikes in Iraq aimed at protecting American diplomats and religious minorities from what US president Barack Obama called a "potential act of genocide."
 

On July 4, US Independence Day, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released a video detailing the group's explansion plans, declaring that he planned to seek vengeance against those who took away the rights of Muslims in 20 countries across the world, of which China was placed first. Other areas mentioned included India, Palestine, Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Caucasus.
 

"By God, we will take revenge. Even if it takes a while, we will take revenge and we will retaliate doubly and more," Al-Baghdadi said, adding, "the day will come when Muslims will be walking everywhere as noble masters. Those who dare to stand up against them will be disciplined and all hands that reach out to them will be cut off."
 

In the video, Al-Baghdadi referenced China and Xinjiang numerous times, criticizing Beijing's policy against Muslims in the region and asking all Chinese Muslims to plead allegiance to him.
 

Xinjiang is home to the Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority, who have long accused the Chinese government of suppressing their religious and cultural freedoms. Uyghurs have been largely blamed for a spate of terror attacks in and out of the region in recent years, including a riot late last month which authorities say led to 100 deaths and over 200 arrests. It is the most violent incident to rock the region since the infamous 2009 riots in the capital of Urumqi that left 197 people dead and another 1,700 injured.

 

 

China's minister of Public Security, Guo Shengkun, has visited Xinjiang three times this year alone to oversee counter-terrorism and social stability campaigns.

Obama's intervention: Iraq is not Syria

The limited use of military force announced by President Obama was likely prompted by concern at the success of ISIS's latest offensives across Syria and Iraq. The jihadist group has recently redoubled its efforts in Raqqa, Syria, in an effort to take the remaining pockets of Syrian Government-held territory in the province. At the same time, ISIS's performance against Kurdish forces would have raised concern in Washington and Baghdad, and led to a re-assessment of  some overly optimistic judgments about Kurdish capabilities.

 

The situation facing the Yazidis and the Christians is of grave humanitarian concern. The fact that the refugees are geographically concentrated would have made air support an attractive option for the president. Add to this the fact that the sovereign Iraqi Government invited the intervention, and the stage was set for a dual humanitarian/limited direct military intervention operation to which Obama could agree.

 

There will of course be accusations that Obama is a hypocrite for intervening in Iraq but not Syria. That argument is simplistic and wrong. If the US is obliged to intervene militarily everywhere there is a humanitarian need, it would never stop intervening. Obama said as much in his speech. He is one of the few US leaders to understand the limits of American power. 

 

Moreover, the situation in Syria is far more complex. To have assisted one side would have meant breaching a nation's sovereignty (no big deal) and potentially assisting the very Islamist forces that pose a security threat to the region and the West (a very big deal). The intervention in Iraq requires Obama to do neither of those things, so the calculus is completely different.

 

In his speech, Obama was careful to emphasise the need for an Iraqi political solution to the crisis engulfing the country. As long as Maliki remains prime minister, there will be little appetite for substantive US air support. The intriguing question is whether a more politically inclusive Iraqi prime minister might prompt a more robust US response in terms of air support and stand-off weapons.