The Dawn of the Islamic State of Iraq and Ash-Sham

[Sally]

The author sounds like he has a pretty good handle on things.

The Dawn of the Islamic State of Iraq and Ash-Sham
Aymenn Jaweed al-Tamimi

In the course of the Syrian civil war, two major rebel factions have emerged who share al-Qaeda’s ideology: Jabhat al-Nusra (JN), which was founded at the beginning of 2012 by Abu Mohammed al-Jowlani, and the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS). In April 2013, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI—the umbrella front for al-Qaeda in Iraq), proposed that JN and ISI merge together. He thus announced the formation of a new Islamist polity, ISIS, which included territories in Iraq and Syria (ash-Sham). Baghdadi argued that Jabhat al-Nusra had been initially set-up with financial support and manpower from the ISIand therefore that the Syria-focused JN was a mere “extension” of the Iraq-based organization. Jowlani, however, rejected Baghdadi’s proposal to combine their efforts on the grounds that he was not consulted. Subsequently, he renewed JN’s bay’ah (pledge of allegiance) to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda Central.

In June of 2013, al-Jazeera revealed a leaked letter in which Zawahiri ruled in favor of maintaining a separation betweenISI and JN in Iraq and Syria respectively. The network released video footage of Zawahiri reading the letter aloud in November 2013. Many observers interpreted this televised pronouncement from al-Qaeda Central’s leader as a renewal of the call to disband ISIS, although sources within ISIS circles inform me that the video in question had, in fact, been in private circulation among their members for months. In any event, Baghdadi has personally rejected the call to disband ISIS. Similarly, ISIS’s new official spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, a Syrian veteran of the Iraq War, has also rejected the proposal in even more forceful terms, going so far as to accuse Jowlani of “defection” and affirming that ISIS would not accept geographical limitations based on “Sykes-Picot.”

Continue reading at:

Research - The Dawn of the Islamic State of Iraq and Ash-Sham - Hudson Institute

 

[waltky]

Militants push towards Baghdad...

ISIS militants still pressing forward in Iraq
June 14, 2014 -- Iranian ministry rejects claim that Iran has sent troops to battle ISIS militants; Airstrikes kill 70 militants and wound 40 in Tikrit, state TV reports; Bomb blasts hit Baghdad neighborhoods and a Sunni area north of the city; Sunni tribal leaders supporting militant push, Saudi intelligence source says

Emboldened militants, backed by Sunni tribal leaders, pushed toward Baghdad on Friday as increasingly nervous U.S. officials mulled their limited options to help slow the militants' advance. In recent days, Iran has sent about 500 Revolutionary Guard troops to fight alongside Iraqi government security forces in Diyala province, a senior security official in Baghdad told CNN. However, that claim was rejected by Iran's Foreign Ministry. "We have made our position clear. We are not involved in fighting in Iraq," ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told CNN. A senior Iranian government official told CNN that Tehran is monitoring the situation in Iraq and could send advisers there, but would not send a fighting force. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reiterated his nation is prepared to help advice Iraq if asked.

Meanwhile, Sunni tribal leaders have lined up in support of radical Islamists from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, making their push toward Baghdad easier, a Saudi intelligence official told CNN's Nic Robertson. As Iraq further disintegrated, residents fled Mosul in droves. Militants captured the country's second-largest city this week after soldiers scattered, leaving their uniforms and weapons behind. Three explosions hit Shiite areas in the capital city Friday evening, killing one person and wounding 20 people, police told CNN. A car bomb also exploded in al-Tarmiya, a Sunni area about 37 miles (60 kilometers) north of Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding seven others, police officials in Baghdad told CNN.

ISIS group vows to march on Baghdad

The spreading violence prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to say the beleaguered government required assistance, but he warned Friday that it would take "several days" for the U.S. to react. "This is not going to happen overnight," he told reporters. And, he said, the United States will need assurances from Iraq's government that it will work to find a political solution the crisis. A senior Obama administration official said Friday that the President has not yet made a decision on whether to act on any military options. But another senior administration official indicated that a decision could come as early as this weekend.

Airstrikes are among the options on the table, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday. But there will be no repeat of a large U.S. troop presence on Iraqi soil. "We are not contemplating ground troops," Carney said. "I want to be clear about that." U.S. officials have also discussed bolstering ongoing efforts to send arms, equipment and intelligence information to help Iraq and its military.

Kerry: Wake-up call

See also:

Iranian President Rouhani says country is ready to help Iraq if asked
June 14, 2014 ~ Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday his country is ready to help Iraq if asked, adding that it has "no option but to confront terrorism," as hundreds of young Iraqi men poured into volunteer centers across Baghdad, answering a call by the country's top Shiite cleric to join the fight against Sunni militants advancing in the north.

Dozens climbed into the back of army trucks, chanting Shiite slogans and hoisting assault rifles, pledging to battle the Al Qaeda-linked Sunni group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, (ISIS), which has launched a lightning advance across the country. The massive response to the call by the Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued via his representative Friday, comes as sectarian tensions are threatening to push the country back toward civil war in the worst crisis since U.S. forces withdrew at the end of 2011. "Given the current threat facing Iraq, defending the land, honor and holy places is a religious duty," Ayatollah Sistani said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Speaking at a press conference Saturday, Rouhani suggested that the militants are linked to politicians who lost in parliamentary elections held in April. "We will study if there is a demand for help from Iraq. Until today, no specific request for help has been demanded. But we are ready to help within international law," Rouhani said. "Entry of our forces (into Iraq) to carry out operations has not been raised so far. It's unlikely that such conditions will emerge." Iran has built close political and economic ties with Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led government, and many influential Iraqi Shiites, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, have spent time in the Islamic Republic. Iran this week halted flights to Baghdad because of security concerns and said it was intensifying security on its borders.

After seizing Iraq's second city Mosul and Hussein's hometown of Tikrit earlier this week, the jihadist ISIS vowed to take the battle all the way to Baghdad and the Shiite heartland of southern Iraq, home to the faith's most revered shrines. Soldiers and policemen have melted away in the face of the lightning advance, and thousands have fled to the self-rule Kurdish region in northern Iraq. In an address to military commanders in Samaara, al-Maliki warned that army deserters could face the death penalty if they don't report back to their units. But he insisted the crisis had a silver lining. "This is our chance to clean and purge the army from these elements that only want to make gains from being in the army and police," he said. "They thought that this ist he beginning of the end but, in fact, we say that this is the beginning of their end and defeat."

On Saturday, insurgents seized the small town of Adeim in Diyala province after Iraqi security forces pulled out, said the municipal council, Mohammed Dhifan. Adeim is about 60 miles north of Baghdad. There was no official confirmation of the loss of the town. Rouhani suggested the Islamic state could not have made such swift gains on its own, saying "other issues and coordination were involved." Figures from Hussein's deposed government as well as other Sunni militants are believed to have allied with the Islamic state in its campaign against the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. "Those defeated (in elections) have resorted to bullets. This is a grave blunder," Rouhani said. Also Saturday, the Iraqi government's counterterrorism department said the son of Saddam's vice president, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, was killed in an air raid by the Iraqi air force in Tikrit. It said Ahmed al-Douri was killed with some 50 other Saddam loyalists and ISIS fighters on Friday. The report could not be immediately verified.

Iranian President Rouhani says country is ready to help Iraq if asked | Fox News

 

[Flanders]

The author sounds like he has a pretty good handle on things.

The Dawn of the Islamic State of Iraq and Ash-Sham
Aymenn Jaweed al-Tamimi

To Sally: In Short: The Arab Spring skipped over Summer and Fall and went right to an Arab Winter.

 

[Hollie]

It’s important to point out that that islamist state proposed by ISIS will be an exclusive Sunni/Salafi brand of islamist state.

This is already a full-blown religious war pitting, as usual, the sunni vs. shia. Iran, (overwhelmingly shia), is already reported to be sending troops to prop up al-Maliki, the shia president of Iraq. .

We see this dynamic of authoritarian states which are infected with a particular ethnic or confessional identity across the islamist Middle East. They rely upon force, religiously sanctioned violence and hate, not consent, to remain viable.