Sunni militants invade Iraq's biggest oil refinery

Obama sends U.S. military advisers to Iraq as battle rages over refinery Thu, Jun 19 20:48 PM EDT By Matt Spetalnick and Ghazwan Hassan WASHINGTON/TIKRIT Iraq (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday he was sending up to 300 U.S. military advisers to Iraq but stressed the need for a political solution to the Iraqi crisis as government forces battled Sunni rebels for control of the country's biggest refinery. Speaking after a meeting with his national security team, Obama said he was prepared to take "targeted" military action later if deemed necessary, thus delaying but still keeping open the prospect of airstrikes to fend off a militant insurgency. But he insisted that U.S. troops would not return to combat in Iraq. Obama also delivered a stern message to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on the need to take urgent steps to heal Iraq's sectarian rift, something U.S. officials say the Shi'ite leader has failed to do and which an al Qaeda splinter group leading the Sunni revolt has exploited. "We do not have the ability to simply solve this problem by sending in tens of thousands of troops and committing the kinds of blood and treasure that has already been expended in Iraq," Obama told reporters. "Ultimately, this is something that is going to have to be solved by the Iraqis." Obama, who withdrew U.S. troops from Iraq at the end of 2011,

said the United States would increase support for Iraq's beleaguered security forces. But he stopped short of acceding to Baghdad's request for the immediate use of U.S. air power against Islamist insurgents who have overrun northern Iraq.Warning that Iraq's fate "hangs in the balance," Obama said: "Only leaders with an inclusive agenda are going to be able to truly bring the Iraqi people together." While Obama did not join calls for Maliki to go, saying "it's not our job to choose Iraq's leaders," he avoided any expression of confidence in the embattled Iraqi prime minister when asked by a reporter whether he would do so. The U.S. president also said he was sending Secretary of State John Kerry to Europe and the Middle East starting this weekend for talks he hoped would stabilize the region. A U.S. official said: "Kerry is expected to go Iraq soon," but did not give a date. Obama's decision to deploy military advisers and deepen U.S. re-enagagement in Iraq came after days of arduous deliberations by a president who won the White House in 2008 on a pledge to disentangle the United States from the long, unpopular war there.

The contingent of up to 300 military advisers will be made up of special forces and will staff joint operations centers for intelligence sharing and planning, U.S. officials said. Leading U.S. lawmakers have called for Maliki to step down, and Obama aides have also made clear their frustration with him. Some U.S. officials believe there is a need for new Iraqi leadership but are mindful that Washington may not have enough clout to influence the situation, a former senior administration official said. He said that recent days had reminded Americans of the "deep scars" from its Iraq experience, which started with the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and saw U.S. troops occupy the country for nine years. REFINERY BECOMES BATTLEGROUND Even as Obama announced his most significant response to the Iraqi crisis, the sprawling Baiji refinery, 200 km (130 miles) north of the capital near Tikrit, was transformed into a battlefield. Troops loyal to the Shi'ite-led government held off insurgents from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, and its allies who had stormed the perimeter a day earlier, threatening national energy supplies. A government spokesman said at one point on Thursday that Iraqi forces were in "complete control." But a witness in Baiji said fighting was continuing. Two Iraqi helicopters tried to land in the refinery but were unable to because of insurgent gunfire, and most of the refinery remained under rebel control. A day after the government publicly appealed for U.S. air power, Obama's decision to hold off for now on such strikes underscored skepticism in Washington over whether they would be effective, given the risk of civilian deaths that could further enrage Iraq's once-dominant Sunni minority. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a NATO ally, said the United States "does not view such attacks positively," given the risk to civilians. A Saudi source said that Western powers agreed with Riyadh, the main Sunni state in the region, that what was needed was political change, not outside intervention, to heal sectarian division that has widened under Maliki. Maliki's Shi'ite alliance won the most votes in April parliamentary elections, and U.S. officials said the Obama administration was pressing Iraqi authorities to accelerate the process of forging a new governing coalition and for it to be broad-based, including Sunnis and Kurds. A senior member of Maliki’s State of Law list suggested immediate U.S. military action was no longer necessary because defenses in the capital, Baghdad, hade been strengthened and the new advisers would make it easier to bomb in the future if needed. ”Once they are down there, they will be able to do targeting,” the politician said, suggesting that Iraqi security forces have "bought time" by toughening their resistance to the insurgent advance. But Obama's decision drew criticism from some Republican opponents. Representative Edward Royce, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs committee,

said "the steps he announced are needed but fall short of what is required to stop this al Qaeda offshoot from gaining more power, which must include drone strikes."

Video aired by Al-Arabiya television showed smoke billowing from the Baiji plant and the black flag used by ISIL flying from a building. Workers who had been inside the complex said Sunni militants seemed to hold most of the compound in early morning and security forces were concentrated around the control room. The 250 to 300 remaining staff were evacuated early on Thursday, one of the workers said by telephone. Military helicopters had attacked militant positions overnight, he added. Baiji, 40 km (25 miles) north of Saddam Hussein's home city of Tikrit, lies squarely in territory captured in the past week by an array of armed Sunni groups, spearheaded by ISIL, which is seeking a new Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria. On Tuesday, staff shut down the plant, which makes much of the fuel Iraqis in the north need for both transport and generating electricity. ISIL'S ADVANCE ISIL, which considers Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority as heretics in league with neighboring Shi'ite Iran, has led a Sunni charge across northern Iraq after capturing the major city of Mosul last week as Maliki's U.S.-armed forces collapsed. The group's advance has only been slowed by a regrouped military, Shi'ite militias and other volunteers. The government announced on Thursday that those who joined up to fight in "hot areas" would be paid about $150 a week. ISIL, whose leader broke with al Qaeda after accusing the global jihadist movement of being too cautious, has now secured cities and territory in Iraq and Syria, in effect putting it well on the path to establishing its own well-armed enclave that Western countries fear could become a center for terrorism. The U.S. secretary of state, Kerry, played down the extent of possible cooperation with Iran, the main Shi'ite power, which backs Maliki, saying Washington wanted communication on Iraq with its old enemy to avoid "mistakes" but would not work closely with Tehran. Obama challenged Iran to play a constructive role in Iraq and not come in "solely as an armed force on behalf of the Shia." Anthony Cordesman, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, said Obama's decision guaranteed that the United States, not just Iran, would have a presence on the ground during the Iraq crisis. "It gives the United States the kind of direct contact with Iraqi forces that allows them to judge their strengths and weaknesses and act as a check on sectarian abuses," he wrote. "It keeps up the right kind of pressure on Maliki and any successor." From Iran, which has pledged to intervene if necessary in Iraq to protect Shi'ite holy places, a tweet from an account linked to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei noted that Western powers supported the mostly Sunni revolt against Syria's Iranian-backed leader. It called for Sunnis and Shi'ites to resist efforts by the militants and the West to divide Muslims.

A group of Islamist Sunni scholars led by the influential Qatar-based cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi called on Arab and Islamic states to protect Iraqi Sunnis, saying a "revolution" was "natural" because of the "great injustice" done to them.

(Additional reporting by Raheem Salman, Ned Parker and Oliver Holmes in Baghdad,; Patricia Zengerle, Susan Heavey, Roberta Rampton, Mark Felsenthal, Jeff Mason and Lesley Wroughton; in Washington and Amena Bakr and William MacLean in Dubai; Writing by Matt Spetalnick, Ned Parker and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Giles Elgood, Cynthia Osterman, Eric Walsh, Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney) ========= Samarah me Imam Hassan Askari-as & Imam Ali Naqi-as K Roza Per Takfiriyon K Rocket Hamly Jo K Roza K Sehen Per Giray Rozay Mahfoz ============= Battle for Iraq refinery as U.S. hesitates to strike Thu, Jun 19 08:30 AM EDT image 1 of 6 By Ghazwan Hassan TIKRIT Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi government forces battled Sunni rebels for control of the country's biggest refinery on Thursday as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki waited for a U.S. response to an appeal for air strikes to beat back the threat to Baghdad. The sprawling Baiji refinery, 200 km (130 miles) north of the capital near Tikrit, was a battlefield as troops loyal to the Shi'ite-led government held off insurgents from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and its allies who had stormed the perimeter a day earlier, threatening national energy supplies. A government spokesman said around noon (0900 GMT) that its forces were in "complete control" but a witness in Baiji said fighting was continuing and ISIL militants were still present. A day after the government publicly appealed for U.S. air power, there were indications Washington is sceptical of whether that would be effective, given the risk of civilian deaths that could further enrage Iraq's once dominant Sunni minority. Regional U.S. allies seemed keen to discourage air strikes. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a NATO ally, said the United States "does not view such attacks positively", given the risk to civilians - a view some U.S. officials have also expressed. A Saudi source said that Western powers agreed with Riyadh, the main Sunni power in the region, that what was needed was political change, not outside intervention, to heal sectarian division that has widened under Maliki. Video aired by Al-Arabiya television showed smoke billowing from the plant and the black flag used by ISIL flying from a building. Workers who had been inside the complex, which spreads for miles close to the Tigris river, said Sunni militants seemed to hold most of the compound in early morning and that security forces were concentrated around the refinery's control room. The 250-300 remaining staff were evacuated early on Thursday, one of those workers said by telephone. Military helicopters had attacked militant positions overnight, he added. CAPTURED TERRITORY Baiji, 40 km (25 miles) north of Saddam Hussein's home city of Tikrit, lies squarely in territory captured in the past week by an array of armed Sunni groups, spearheaded by ISIL, which is seeking a new Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria. On Tuesday, staff shut down the plant, which makes much of the fuel Iraqis in the north need for both transport and generating electricity. ISIL, which considers Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority as heretics in league with neighbouring, Shi'ite Iran, has led a Sunni charge across northern Iraq after capturing the major city of Mosul last week as Maliki's U.S.-armed forces collapsed. The group's advance has only been slowed by a regrouped military, Shi'ite militias and other volunteers. But on Tuesday, Sunni fighters took the small town of Mutasim, south of Samarra, giving them the prospect of encircling the city which houses a major Shi'ite shrine. A local police source said security forces withdrew without a fight when dozens of vehicles carrying insurgents converged on Mutasim from three directions. ISIL, whose leader broke with al Qaeda after accusing the global jihadist movement of being too cautious, has now secured cities and territory in Iraq and Syria, in effect putting it well on the path to establishing its own well-armed enclave that Western countries fear could become a centre for terrorism. The Iraqi government made public on Wednesday its request for U.S. air strikes, two and half years after U.S. forces ended the nine-year occupation that began by toppling Saddam in 2003. U.S. RESPONSE Washington has given no indication it will agree to attack and some politicians have urged President Barack Obama to insist that Maliki goes as a condition for further U.S. help. General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, avoided a direct answer when asked by senators whether Washington would accede to the Iraq request. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Iraqi request had included drone strikes and increased surveillance by U.S. drones, which have been flying over Iraq. However, they said, targets for air strikes could be hard to distinguish from civilians among whom ISIL's men were operating. Turkish premier Erdogan said: "America, with its current stance and the statements it has made, does not view such attacks positively ... Such an operation could result in a serious number of deaths among civilians." The Saudi source told Reuters: "No outside interference will be of any benefit," adding that Washington, France and Britain all agreed with Riyadh that "dialogue and a political solution is the way forward in Iraq". There is political pressure in Washington for Maliki to quit, although Obama has not made such a demand public. Several leading figures in Congress have spoken out against the premier, whom Obama has urged to do more to overcome sectarian rifts. "The Maliki government, candidly, has got to go if you want any reconciliation," said Dianne Feinstein, one of Obama's fellow Democrats, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. Republican senator John McCain urged Obama to "make it make very clear to Maliki that his time is up". OIL INDUSTRY If the Baiji refinery falls, ISIL and its allies will have access to a large supply of fuel to add to the weaponry and economic resources seized in Mosul and across the north. An oil ministry official said the loss of Baiji would cause shortages in the north, including the autonomous Kurdish area, but that the impact on Baghdad would be limited - at around 20 percent of supplies - since it was served by other refineries. Some international oil companies have pulled out foreign workers. Washington and other Western capitals are trying to save Iraq as a united country by leaning hard on Maliki to reach out to Sunnis, many of whom feel excluded by the Shi'ite parties that have dominated elections since the Sunni Saddam was ousted. In a televised address on Wednesday, Maliki appealed to tribes, a significant force in Sunni areas, to renounce "those who are killers and criminals who represent foreign agendas". But so far Maliki's government has relied almost entirely on his fellow Shi'ites for support, with officials denouncing Sunni political leaders as traitors. Shi'ite militia - some of which have funding and backing from Iran - have mobilised to halt the Sunni advance, as Baghdad's million-strong army, built by the United States at a cost of $25 billion, crumbles. Like the civil war in Syria next door, the new fighting threatens to draw in regional neighbours. REGIONAL CONFLICT Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made the clearest declaration yet on Wednesday that the Middle East's main Shi'ite power, which fought a war against Saddam that killed a million people in the 1980s, was prepared to intervene to protect Iraq's great shrines, visited by millions of Shi'ite pilgrims annually. A Twitter account regarded as carrying the views of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, posted a comment on Thursday accusing Sunni militants, abetted by Western powers, of trying to "create a war in Muslim world" and appealing to Sunnis and Shi'ites to resist falling into mutual mistrust. Iraqi troops are holding off Sunni fighters outside Samarra. The fighters have vowed to carry their offensive south to Najaf and Kerbala, seats of Shi'ite Islam since the Middle Ages. (Additional reporting by Raheem Salman, Ned Parker and Oliver Holmes in Baghdad; Writing by Ned Parker and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Giles Elgood) ======================= 18 June 2014 Last updated at 05:02 ET Paul Wood in Jalula, eastern Iraq: ''There is growing panic... they think the jihadis are coming in'' Continue reading the main story Struggle for IraqFailing state? Maps illustrate conflict Mortal blow to Baghdad Who are ISIS? Islamist-led militants have invaded Iraq's biggest oil refinery, after pounding it with mortars and machine guns from two directions. An official quoted by Reuters said the militants now controlled 75% of the Baiji refinery, 210km (130 miles) north of Baghdad. Government forces have made new air strikes on militants advancing towards the capital. Fighting is also reported in the western city of Ramadi. The government is battling to push back ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and its Sunni Muslim allies in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, after the militants overran the second city, Mosul, last week. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared on television with Sunni Muslim and Kurdish leaders on Tuesday to issue a call for national unity in the face of the advance - they demanded that non-state forces lay down their arms. BBC map However, such a call is unlikely to have much effect as Mr Maliki has openly sponsored the formation of Shia Muslim militias to fight alongside regular Iraqi troops, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Irbil in northern Iraq. Hundreds of people have been killed since the start of the militant offensive last week, many of them believed to be captured soldiers publicly shot by ISIS-led firing squads. During fighting in the city of Baquba this week, 44 prisoners were killed inside a police station in unclear circumstances. In other developments: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran would not "spare any effort" to defend Shia holy shrines in Iraq against "mercenaries, murderers and terrorists" Saudi Foreign Minister Saud bin Faisal warned that Iraq faced the risk of civil war Turkey is investigating reports that 15 Turkish builders were abducted by ISIS on Tuesday; 80 Turks were abducted in Mosul last week US President Barack Obama is to brief top congressional leaders on Iraq while in the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron will hold talks with his senior security advisers Oil stores attacked The attack on the refinery started at 04:00 (01:00 GMT) from outside two of the three main entrances to the refinery, according to Reuters. Baiji refinery (archive image) A view of the refinery in 2009 Map Smoke rose from a spare parts warehouse and some stores of oil were reportedly destroyed. Foreign personnel were evacuated earlier but local staff reportedly remained in place, with the military defending the facility. Baiji accounts for a little more than a quarter of the country's entire refining capacity, all of which goes toward domestic consumption for things like petrol, cooking oil and fuel for power stations, an official told AP news agency. Militants in the western province of Anbar, where the capital is Ramadi, said they had made advances, with a number of police stations near the town of Hit going over to dissident tribes. Stories from inside Iraq refugee camp Further north, the Iraqi government said it had recaptured the citadel in the strategic town of Tal Afar, where militants were said to have taken control on Monday. Using unusually strong language, Mr Maliki accused Saudi Arabia - which is largely Sunni - of backing ISIS. He also fired four army commanders for failing to halt the sweeping advance by the militants. They included the top commander for Nineveh, the first province where ISIS fighters made major gains. With Shia areas of the capital bombed almost daily, correspondents say inhabitants of Baghdad have developed a siege mentality. People with enough money have started to stockpile essential items of food, correspondents say, which has increased prices dramatically. Iraqis at a food distribution at Khazir refugee camp outside of Irbil, 217 miles (350km) north of Baghdad The government has insisted that food supplies are not in danger and that ISIS will not be able to take Baghdad Young Iraqis board a lorry at a recruiting centre in Baghdad, 14 June Young Iraqis have been volunteering to serve in the battle with the militants Iraqi Shia tribesmen parade with their weapons in central Baghdad's Palestine Street (17 June 2014) Shia militiamen (pictured) have been showing their strength in Baghdad Volunteers train at military base in the Shia holy city of Najaf, 100 miles (160km) south of Baghdad, 17 June 2014 Correspondents have warned that Iraq could be on the brink of outright sectarian war between Sunnis and Shias (seen marching here) line ISIS in Iraq ISIS supporters demonstrate in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 360km (225 miles) north-west of Baghdad The rebels now control the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit ISIS grew out of an al-Qaeda-linked organisation in Iraq Estimated 10,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria Joined in its offensives by other Sunni militant groups, including Saddam-era officers and soldiers, and disaffected Sunni tribal fighters Exploits standoff between Iraqi government and the minority Sunni Arab community, which complains that Shia Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is monopolising power ISIS led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, obscure figure regarded as a battlefield commander and tactician Iraq 'massacre' photos: What we know Are you in Iraq or do you have family there? Have you been affected by recent events? You can send us your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line "Iraq". =========================== Story of oil, money and blood  . Abdulateef AL-Mulhim Published — Wednesday 18 June 2014 Last update 17 June 2014 11:46 pm | نسخة PDF Send to Friend Print News | A A . LATEST STORIES IN Columns What happened to the world? Has it gone crazy? India must shine for all Al-Maliki’s bitter harvest Between Iraq and a hard place S. Asian women deserve more respect More Back in 2013, in one of my articles published in Arab News titled “Republic of Iraq — rich and fractured” I tried to analyze the Iraqi situation. I believe that Iraq is not only rich in oil, fractured but also the land of the most violent and prolonged sectarian war in the history of mankind — a war that has been going on for several centuries. Iraq has bore the brunt of many foreign interventions in its known history. At the end of the day, it is the internal strife that makes it easy for foreign powers or terrorist groups to take over the country. Observers may recall that the United States successfully invaded Iraq in 2003 utilizing a force of only 100,000 troops. That was the time when Iraq boasted of having the fifth largest army in the world. Only a decade later, the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) conveniently seized control of major Iraqi cities with only few thousands militants. In terms of area, Iraq is no small country but it is fractured. Despite being rich in natural resources and manpower, stability in this great country remains elusive. Due to disunity, Iraq and Iraqis have yet to exploit their true potential. This country has the potential to emerge as one of the most developed countries of the world. Ironically, its capital Baghdad remained a seat of learning for many centuries. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Greeks and many others lived side by side. And until 1958 and just before the bloody coup by Abdul Karim Gassem, it was common to see Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Christians, Jews, Ashorians and many others living harmoniously. The country was known for producing highly educated science and math teachers in the region. The 2003 invasion of Iraq is debatable but at least Iraq got rid of a dictator. Unfortunately, instead of forming an all-inclusive government that would introduce social equality, the new leaders proved more corrupt and power hungry than their predecessors. Their divisive policies drove a wedge between the people of Iraq and provided foreign elements — mainly Iran — with a chance to control Iraq. It is indeed sad that trillions of dollars that could have helped built a more beautiful country have been wasted on wars. The uncertainty and instability has triggered an irreversible brain drain. In the wake of the recent developments, it seems that stage has been set for a sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites. It is a war that does not differentiate between men, women, old and young. This sectarian rift is wreaking havoc on Iraq and the losses are much more than those incurred in any past wars Iraq was engaged in. The intolerance in Iraqi society is unprecedented. Iraq is now on an endless bloody path of civil war. Ironically, it is all done in the name of religion. Many experts are of the view that a conspiracy is being hatched to divide Iraq. This writer, however, believe that no one needs a conspiracy to divide an already divided country. It is a never-ending story of revenge and counter-revenge. Isn’t this strange that mosques, churches and temples are being destroyed in the name of religion. Email: almulhimnavy@hotmail.com ========================= Isis operating like a multinational company Terror group is a professional outfit that uses the most sophisticated technology to attract jihadists, experts warns Members of the Islam State of Iraq and Shaam (ISIS) with senior commander Abu Waheeb Tom Whitehead By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor 11:57AM BST 19 Jun 2014 The terror group Isis is the most sophisticated and professional extremist group which is operating like a multinational company and using the very latest technology to attract would-be jihadists. Alongside a stream of recruitment videos on social media, the group developed its own smartphone app to spread its messages and turn hundreds of thousands users in to automatic propaganda machines. Isis even publishes an annual report in which it grimly spells out how many attacks it has carried out and how many people it has killed. The slick running of its military-style operations has been likened to a successful international company, which experts warned makes it s even more dangerous and attractive to would-be fanatics. Shiraz Maher, from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at Kings College London, said: “Isis are the coolest, most attractive outfit right now to young people. Related Articles Who funds the Isis Islamist militants in Iraq? 18 Jun 2014 On the frontline of the battle against Isis 18 Jun 2014 Iraq crisis: Red-haired devil of Saddam's Iraq back in the fray 17 Jun 2014 Iraq crisis latest: Isis planning to attack Britain, says Cameron 18 Jun 2014 “They have understood the value of having a strong brand, a corporate identity that people can engage with.” As a terror group, Isis is at the forefront of media technology in its bid for new recruits and even developed an app called “Dawn of glad tidings” through Google Play for Android phones. Once downloaded, the app effectively hijacked the phone to distribute official Isis tweets and images to Twitter accounts, according to Channel 4 News. It was sophisticated enough to get around most spam detectors and was designed to have its messages Trending on Twitter. It was finally stopped when Google took it down. Followers have also used other social media websites like Ask-fm to provide tips and advice on how to join the fight. In its 400-page annual report for 2013, Isis claimed to have carried out more than 7,600 operations in Iraq, including 1,000 assassinations and planting more than 4,400 roadside bombs. It also claims to have assassinated 1,083 people and conducted 607 mortar attacks. Like any corporate document, it uses computer-generated graphics and lists its targets and performance – but in relation to death and carnage. Concerns about the strength and sustainability of Isis have deepened in recent days amid fears its has raided banks in the Iraqi cities it took over, looting hundreds of millions of pounds in the process. Jessica Lewis, director of research at the Institute for the Study of War, said: “They have a business plan and their principal business is expansion through conquest. “It is a very effective institution and that makes for a very effective military national corporation.” Messages from apparent British jihadists show they are already under the influence of Isis and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. One said he had ordered his followers to "go back" to Britain. It said: "@AbuRashashISIS: @AbuHussain101 I my brother intend to go back to #UK under the order of our Ameer Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi #foreign policy,". ==========================================