LATEST: Islamic State Seizes More Villages, Surrounds Kurdish Town of Kobane

THURSDAY FEATURE

Iraq & Syria Audio Analysis: What Does Obama’s “No Boots on the Ground” Really Mean?

The House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the US Congress, has approved President Obama’s request for $500 million to train and equip about 5,000 of Syria’s insurgents over several months.

The measure, attached to a stop-gap spending bill, passed 273 to 156 on Wednesday night. It now goes to the Senate, the upper chamber of Congress, for passage.

The authorization of weapons to the insurgents, after years of indecision in Washington, was reframed by Obama as part of his plan to confront the Islamic State after its advance across Iraq as well as Syria.

The deputy leader of the Democrats, Steny Hoyer, used the Administration’s War-on-Terror rhetoric to persuade members of his party to vote Yes:

With Democrats largely split on the issue, the party’s House number two Steny Hoyer took to the floor to rally Congress to back the commander-in-chief in a time of crisis.

We are united in our resolve to meet this threat. We clearly may have differences on this House floor, but we are Americans when it comes to defending our people, and our country. We know empirically the cost of doing nothing is far too great.

One of the critics, Representative Rick Nolan, said, “Launching airstrikes on another country, by any standard, by any definition is an act of war. Have we not had enough of imperial presidencies doing what they want in the world?”

Despite the approval, other legislators expressed concern that the plan is insufficient to support insurgents who are fighting not only the Islamic State but the forces of the Assad regime.

Islamic State Seizes More Villages, Surrounds Kurdish Town of Kobane

Kurdish officials and activists say the Islamic State has taken more villages to the west and south of the Kurdish town of Kobane in northern Syria, near the Iraq border.

Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for the Kurdish Democracy Democratic Union Party, said the jihadists took up to 20 villages as Kurdish militia evacuated civilians.

However, “we’ve lost touch with many of the residents living in the villages”, said Ocalan Iso, deputy head of the Kurdish forces in Kobane.

Kobane provincial head Anwer Moslem expressed fears of an imminent mass killing, as in northern Iraq when the Islamic State seized territory this summer:

The Islamic State are attacking with American tanks and heavy weapons that they captured in Mosul [in Iraq] They are attacking Kobane and want to control it and carry out a massacre there just like what happened in Sinjar where people had to leave their homes, where people were killed, women were abducted, children were killed.

Moslem appealed for American intervention and said the Kurds were appealing for military aid from other Kurdish groups in the region including Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK].

Islamic State Releases Video of Another British Hostage

The Islamic State has apparently put out video of another British hostage, journalist John Cantlie.

Cantlie, a war photographer and correspondent, was abducted as he crossed into Syria from southeast Turkey in July 2012. He was shot during an escape attempt and then rescued by the Free Syrian Army; however, he soon disappeared again.

In contrast to recent beheading videos — US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines — and the threat to execute British aid worker Alan Henning, Cantlie is not shown under duress.

Cantlie says he will “convey some facts” about the Islamic State in a series of broadcasts:

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “He’s only doing this because he’s a prisoner. He’s got a gun at his head and he’s being forced to do this.”

Well, it’s true. I am a prisoner. That I cannot deny. But seeing as I’ve been abandoned by my government and my fate now lies in the hands of the Islamic State, I have nothing to lose.

Voice of Russia features analysis from EA:

The IS is playing to what is now a global community, essentially saying to the Muslims outside the Middle East, “This is the battle we are carrying out against the West and this is why you should support us.”

It is speaking to non-Muslim communities by saying “we are not the threat here, we are facing evil aggressors and imperialists”.

Iran FM Zarif Blames US for Rise of Islamic State

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has blamed the US for the rise of the Islamic State in Syria, because Washington is “not interested in allowing the Government to control…the number of foreign fighters who invaded its territory”.

Zarif declared to the Council on Foreign Relations, “You cannot fight ISIS and the Government in Damascus together. Had it not been for the resistance of the Government in Damascus…Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the so-called Islamic State, would be running it from Damascus.”

Interestingly, the Foreign Minister — trying to dismiss claims of a tacit non-aggression arrangement between the Assad regime and the Islamic State until June — derided those who spread “conspiracy theories” that ISIS is a product of any State: “No Government would create an organization like ISIS that would engage in such a brutal, savage campaign.”

Zarif’s fellow Iranian officials — including President Rouhani in a Wednesday interview with American television — have been prominent in recent weeks for their claim that the US and its allies such as Saudi Arabia fostered and supported the Islamic State.

See Iran Feature: Head of Revolutionary Guards “US-Led Coalition in Iraq is Just a Show”

Claimed Video: Insurgents Detonate Large Bomb Under Barracks in al-Ameria Section of Aleppo

Claimed footage, posted Wednesday, of an underground detonation in Ameria in southwest Aleppo (see map) — insurgents claimed the target was a barracks and support base with mortar stocks:

Regime Condemns Saudi-Qatar-Turkey-Israel Over Withdrawal of UN Peacekeepers from Golan Heights

Syria’s Ambassador to the UN, Bashar al-Jaafari has denounced the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, near the demilitarized zone with Israel, as the outcome of plotting by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Israel.

Al-Jaafari said this week’s withdrawal, which the UN said was for security reasons, followed coordination by the Qatari, Turkish, and Saudi intelligence services with the insurgent faction Jabhat al-Nusra to kidnap 45 Fijian peacekeepers.

He continued, “Israel is the most interested in having peacekeepers evacuated from the occupied Golan so as to be left without international monitoring.”

The Fijians were abducted, and more than 70 Filipino troops surrounded, amid fighting between insurgents and regime forces in Quneitra Province in southwest Syria.

The Filipinos evacuated into Israel last week, and the Fijians were released — after Qatari mediation — by Jabhat al-Nusra last Thursday.

Kurds Try to Hold Islamic State Back From Kobane in Northeast Syria

Islamic State forces have reportedly closed on the Kurdish town of Kobane (Ayn al Arab) in northeast Syria, fighting for control of villages just to the west.

Reports said the Islamic State briefly took Zeerik and Taalik and bombarded Dhakirman.

Footage of Kurdish forces in action against the jihadists:

Aftermath of Islamic State rocket fire on Kobane:

Activists: 100 Killed Across Syria on Wednesday

The Local Coordination Committees report 100 confirmed deaths across Syria on Wednesday, including eight women and 14 children. Of the deaths, 35 were in Hama Province, 28 in Damascus and its suburbs, and 18 in Aleppo Province.

The opposition group has reported at least 100 people killed on three days this week, as Syrian forces have stepped up shelling and air attacks in Idlib Province in the northwest, Homs Province in central Syria, and the Damascus suburb of Douma.