Iraq militants take Syria-border post in drive for caliphate

Taliban attacks NATO air base in east Afghanistan Sat, Jun 21 16:22 PM EDT KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants fired eight rockets into a NATO air base at one of Afghanistan's main airports on Saturday evening, provincial authorities said. While there were no casualties or damage to buildings at the base at Jalalabad airport, the attack comes just two weeks after militants attacked Pakistan's Karachi airport, killing dozens. Haji Mohammad Sediq, the district governor of Behsud in eastern Nangarhar province said one or two of the missiles landed near the U.S.-run military airfield. The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying it had executed eight heavy explosions inside the airfield. The Pakistani Taliban claimed the attack on Pakistan's busiest airport. The groups share a similar jihadist ideology but operate as separate entities. Afghanistan's Taliban have sustained a high level of violence even as most foreign troops are due to pull out of the country this year, leaving Afghan security forces to face the insurgents on their own. In a separate attack on Saturday in Nangarhar province, at least four people including a police official were killed when a bomb exploded near a police checkpoint in Jalalabad city. "Its target was a police check post in that area but most of its victims are innocent civilians," Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the Nangarhar governor said. (Reporting by Rafiq Shirzad in Jalalabad and Mirwais Harooni in Kabul; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Alison Williams) ======================== Fox news claims a "high-level" Shia cleric Nassir al-Saedi loyal to Sadr issues threat to US military advisers. Private donors in the Gulf are flocking to support the al-Qaeda splinter group that has spearheaded the insurgency in Iraq, pledging millions of dollars to inflame the crisis. The success of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (Isis), which has seized large swathes of northern and central Iraq, has captured the imagination of radical clerics, religious groups, charities and officials in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. Sat, Jun 21 06:25 AM EDT By Kamal Namaa ANBAR, IRAQ(Reuters) - Sunni fighters seized a border post on the Iraq-Syria frontier, security sources said on Saturday, smashing a line drawn by colonial powers almost a century ago and potentially creating an Islamic Caliphate from the Mediterranean Sea to Iran. The militants, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), first moved into the nearby town of al-Qaim on Friday, pushing out security forces, the sources said. Once border guards heard that al-Qaim had fallen, they left their posts and militants moved in, the sources said. Sameer al-Shwiali, media adviser to the commander of Iraq's anti-terrorist squad, told Reuters that the Iraqi army was still in control of al-Qaim. Al-Qaim and its neighbouring Syrian counterpart Albukamal are on a strategic supply route. A three-year civil war in Syria has left most of eastern Syria in the hands of Sunni militants, including the Albukamal-Qaim crossing. The Albukamal gate is run by al Qaeda's official Syria branch, the Nusra Front, which has clashed with ISIL but has also agreed to localised truces when it suits both sides. The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, Rami Abdulrahman, said ISIL has pushed the Nusra Front out from many areas of eastern Syria in the past few days and their capture of al-Qaim will allow them to quickly move to the Syrian side. ISIL already controls territory around the Abukamal gate, effectively pinching the Nusra Front between its forces in Syria and those in neighbouring Iraq, said Abdulrahman, who tracks the violence. SHI'ITES MOBILISE With stunning speed, ISIL, an offshoot of al Qaeda, has captured swathes of territory in northwest and central Iraq, including the second city, Mosul. They have seized large amounts of weaponry from the fleeing Iraqi army and looted banks. The fighting has divided Iraq along sectarian lines. The Kurds have expanded their zone in the northeast to include the oil city of Kirkuk, which they regard as part of Kurdistan, while Sunnis have taken ground in the west. The Shi'ite-led government has mobilised militia to send volunteers to the front lines. President Barack Obama has offered up to 300 U.S. special forces advisers to help the Iraqi government recapture territory seized by ISIL and other Sunni armed groups across northern and western Iraq. But he has held off granting a request for air strikes to protect the government and renewed a call for Iraq's long-serving Shi'ite prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to do more to overcome sectarian divisions that have fuelled resentment among the Sunni minority. In Baghdad's Shi'ite slum of Sadr City, thousands of fighters wearing military fatigues marched through the streets. They carried rocket-propelled grenades, semi-automatic rifles and trucks had mounted long-range rockets, including the new 3-metre “Muqtada 1” missile, named after Shi'ite cleric Muqtada Sadr, who has tens of thousands of followers. Sadr has yet to throw his fighters into the recent wave of fighting but has criticised Maliki for mishandling the crisis. "These brigades are sending a message of peace. They are the brigades of peace. They are ready to sacrifice their souls and blood for the sake of defending Iraq and its generous people," a man on a podium said as the troops marched by. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Writing by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Jon Boyle) ========================== INSIGHT-Iraq's implosion could redraw Middle East boundaries Source: Reuters - Sat, 14 Jun 2014 06:00 GMT Author: Reuters Map of northern Iraq highlighting areas taken over by Sunni insurgents and Peshmerga Kurds (Repeats item first issued on June 13) * Jihadis' capture of Sunni cities redraws map of Iraq,region * Future of Iraq as unitary state under threat * Al Qaeda's comeback may usher in Afghanistan on Mediterranean * Top religious cleric mobilises Shi'ites against insurgents * Obama and Iran are alarmed by insurgents' victories * Mobilisation of Shi'ite militias could trigger all-out war. By Samia Nakhoul BEIRUT, June 13 (Reuters) - The capture of Iraqi cities Mosul and Tikrit by al Qaeda-influenced jihadis has not only redrawn the map of a country corroded by sectarian hatred. It could also redesign Middle Eastern national boundaries set nearly a century ago after the fall of the Ottoman empire, and lead to a forging of new regional alliances. As well-armed forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) raised their black flags over Mosul this week, routing an Iraqi army that fled rather than fight, the future of Iraq as a unitary state hung in the balance.

As they pressed south towards Baghdad, the rest of the region, the United States and other powers woke up to the prospect that this Jihadi comeback could establish a dangerous base in the heart of the Middle East - an Afghanistan on the Mediterranean. "What we are witnessing is the fragmentation of power. The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will never be able to centralize power in the same way he has," says Fawaz Gerges, a Middle East expert at the London School of Economics. "We are seeing a redrawing of boundaries for sure," he said.

As the conflict escalated, Iraq's most senior Shi'ite cleric on Friday urged his followers to take up arms to defend themselves against the Sunni revolt. A rare message from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest religious authority for Shi'ites in Iraq, said people should unite to fight back against the insurgency by ISIL fighters and former Saddam loyalists. Sistanis's intervention followed the failure of the government of Nuri al-Maliki, the Shi'ite prime minister re-elected in April, to convene a quorum in parliament to grant him emergency powers. Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers had stayed away. A STUNNED REGION The peshmerga forces of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq meanwhile seized Kirkuk, the oil-rich region bordering their self-governing territory, stepping into a security vacuum to claim a prize they have always regarded as their own. The ease with which ISIL, a Sunni Jihadi movement that has fed on the civil war in Syria and staked out the ungoverned space between eastern Syria and western Iraq, swept into Iraqi cities has stunned a region seemingly inured to shock. The insurgents, led by Iraqis who broke with al-Qaeda, are pressing south to Baghdad. Some experts say they may be over-reaching. But while ISIL's predecessors were defeated in 2007-08 by Sunni tribal militias empowered by U.S. forces, ISIL has exploited Sunni anger at Maliki's sectarianism and inherited networks from Saddam Hussein's army.

"ISIL has been able to embed itself with a disaffected and alienated Sunni community", says Gerges. "In fact, the most important development about ISIL in the last year is its ability to recruit former officers and soldiers of the dissolved Iraqi army. If you observe how ISIL has been waging war you see a skilled mini army, confident, that has command and control, is motivated and using war tactics." "The Sunnis of Iraq are willing to go to bed with the devil to defeat Maliki, this is where the danger lies," Gerges said. "Iraq has never healed, it is a mutilated country. The crisis is reaching a tipping point whereby Iraq will splinter into 3 or 4 states or reconcile. To reconcile you need a new leader, a new mindset and you don't have it there."

The ISIL advance has been joined by former Baathist officers who were loyal to Saddam as well as disaffected armed groups and tribes who want to topple Maliki. So far the towns and cities that have fallen to the militants have been Sunni. REDRAWING THE BORDERS The million-strong Iraqi army, by contrast, trained by the United States at a cost of more than $20bn, is hobbled by low morale and corruption that impedes its supply lines. Its effectiveness is hurt by a perception among Sunnis that it pursues the hostile interests of the Shi'ites, a majority in Iraq, raised to power by the U.S. led invasion of 2003. The Kurdish capture of Kirkuk overturns a fragile balance of power that has held Iraq together since Saddam's fall. Iraq's Kurds have done well since 2003, running their own affairs while being given a fixed percentage of the country's overall oil revenue. But with full control of Kirkuk - and the vast oil deposits beneath it - they could earn more on their own, eliminating the incentive to remain part of a failing Iraq. U.S. President Barack Obama threatened military strikes against ISIL, highlighting the gravity of the group's threat to redraw borders in a region already wracked by war. Hayder al-Khoei, Associate Fellow at Chatham House, said the jihadi onslaught leaves Washington in an awkward position.

"With US-made military vehicles and weapons being paraded by jihadists in Mosul, policy-makers will be questioning the effectiveness of providing Baghdad with even more military hardware that may end up in the hands of the very people they want to defeat,". "Maliki is playing with fire by trying to unleash Shi'ite militias, this is a recipe for disaster. That's exactly what ISIL wants - to trigger all-out sectarian war," Gerges said.

AMBIVALENT TO HOSTILE Reactions inside the region are ambivalent to hostile. Deep down Saudi Arabia and its Sunni allies, which have never reconciled themselves to the loss of Sunni-ruled Iraq to the Shi'ites, detest Maliki for his alliance with non-Arab Shi'ite Iran. They would like to see Maliki brought down but did not want al-Qaeda affiliates to be the ones doing it. They believe Iran, backed by its allies, wants to build a Shi'ite crescent from Iraq through Syria to Lebanon.

"I can imagine a Saudi official saying 'the wrong people are doing the right thing'," said Jamal Khashoggi, head of a TV news station owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal

. On the other hand, Iran, which has strong leverage in Iraq, is so alarmed by the ISIL advances that it may be ready to cooperate with Washington in helping Baghdad fight back. A senior Iranian official told Reuters the idea is being discussed among the Islamic Republic's leadership. For now, officials say, Iran will send its neighbour advisers and weaponry, although probably not troops, to help Maliki. Turkey, which has turned a blind eye to Jihadis crossing its border to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is not ready to intervene militarily because it fears its own sectarian demons and will focus on securing its borders, experts say. The Kurds, crucial players, will likely resist Baghdad's calls to be drawn in by sending troops to recapture Mosul and other towns. They will instead consolidate their presence in Kirkuk and along their borders, Kurdish officials said. IRAN WEIGHING IN Iraq watchers say ISIL, estimated to have a few thousand fighters inside Iraq, won't be able to advance into Baghdad, a capital of 6 million where Maliki has his special forces deployed, backed by Iranian-trained militias.

"I don't think they will run as far as Baghdad. They haven't got the numbers, they overreached themselves...It is more about the weakness of the Iraqi state than it is about the state of ISIL," said Toby Dodge, Director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics.

Just as there is little chance of ISIL taking over the Shi'ite-dominated capital, the Iraqi army is unlikely to dislodge ISIL from Mosul or regain full control of the north of the country, even with Shi'ite militia volunteers and likely Iranian support. With the rising Sunni insurgency, Iran may have to weigh in to salvage its ally and Tehran's influence in Iraq as it did in neighbouring Syria. Diplomatic sources said Iran already has high-ranking commanders, including two close aides of Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards elite Quds force, regularly holding meetings with Maliki. Malikis' mobilisation of Shi'ite militias, endorsed by the highest religious authority, has the potential to trigger all-out sectarian strife, analysts say. And there are concerns that Iraq might disintegrate into sectarian and tribal conflict, shattering into Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish entities. (Additional reporting by William Maclean in Dubai, Parisa Hafezi and Jonny Hogg in Ankara, Nick Tattersall and Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul and Alex Dziadosc in Beirut; editing by Janet McBride) ================================== KRG holds first cabinet meeting — ISIS & Peshmerga announce ceasefire in Sulaiman Bek — Petrol shortage leads to violence and panic in Erbil BREAKING Iraqi forces have made a "tactical" withdrawal from three western towns, a spokesman says as Sunni militants widen their offensive Apply Ukraine+ Balcan Formula here, but IRAQ always shocks the World. ====================== Renegade general urges Turks, Qataris to leave east Libya Sun, Jun 22 06:20 AM EDT BENGHAZI, Libya, June 22 (Reuters) - A Libyan renegade general has called on all Turks and Qataris to leave volatile eastern Libya, accusing the two countries of supporting "terrorism", his spokesman said on Sunday. Retired General Khalifa Haftar has declared war on Islamist militants in eastern Libya, part of growing turmoil in the oil producer where the government is unable to control armed groups which helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but now defy state authority. The Tripoli government says Haftar has no authority to act but its orders are routinely ignored in much of the oil-producing country, especially in the east where Islamists, tribes and militias vie for control. "All citizens of Turkey and Qatar should leave Libya within 48 hours. The deadline started last night," Haftar's spokesman, Mohamed El Hejazi, said. "They should leave the part of Libya from Imsaid (at the Egyptian border) to Sirte (in central Libya) and we are not responsible for these two nationalities on the Libyan land." A Turkish embassy official declined to comment. Turkey moved staff of its Benghazi consulate to Tripoli this month. Qatar's mission could not be immediately reached for comment. Turkey and Qatar both have supported the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement which has been declared a "terrorist" organization by Egypt and Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia. There has been speculation among analysts that Haftar has the support of neighbouring Egypt and of Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates, which like the West are worried about Islamist militants exploiting the chaos in Libya. Haftar had last week accused Qatar of supporting armed militias in Libya. The latest fighting in Libya comes days before a parliamentary election that ordinary citizens hope will ease the chronic political infighting that has paralysed decision-making since the last vote in the summer of 2012. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli and Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Nick Macfie) =======================