Day: September 10, 2016

The following information is from a Russia Today article: 

The Associated Press has gathered documents and testimonials to produce a picture of widespread atrocities in Iraq and Syria where 55 ISIS mass graves have been located in Syria and 17 in Iraq, containing as many as 15,000 victims.

The information came from a satellite intelligence firm named AllSource that matches photos from space with eyewitness accounts, and also from aid groups such as Yazda, and often from ISIS itself that brags about its atrocities of killing “infidels” and “traitors.”

An investigator for the Iraqi Kurds said, “They are beheading them, shooting them, running them over in cars, all kinds of killing techniques, and they don’t even try to hide it.”

The biggest known massacre was committed in Tikrmt in June 2014, when ISIS gunned down up to 1,700 unarmed Shiite Iraqi Air Force recruits, forcing them to shout slogans as they laid down waiting to be executed.  Thirty-six of the perpetrators were hanged for the war crime earlier this month.   Another similar massacre also happened two days earlier near Ramadi as described by survivors who played dead and escaped during the night with 15 others.

With the war still ongoing in many areas such as Hardan, which is a Kurdish area, the authorities have only roped off the mass graves for excavating the dead in the future when resources will exist to do so, currently leaving the bodies exposed to the elements, to the horror of local villagers.

Since ISIS is enemies with different sects such as Shia and Yazidis, and different ethnicities such as Kurds, and even certain Sunni tribes, there are estimated to be hundreds of mass graves that will take years to be fully mapped for their victims to be given a proper burial.

“This is a drop in an ocean of mass graves expected to be discovered in the future in Syria,” said Ziad Awad, who is cataloging the ISIS massacres.

Following are points from a CNN article:

— European security officials estimate that 30 to 40 suspected ISIS terrorists who supported the November 13 Paris shootings that killed 130 people are still at large, and they believe they are preparing for more international attacks as the resources of security agencies are stretched beyond their limits.

— The Paris attacks that killed 130 was meant to be even broader and include other countries such as the Netherlands, and an operative allegedly linked to the Paris attackers remained free for months after authorities learned of his existence.

— The European countries most at risk are the ones launching attacks against ISIS:  France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Denmark, as well as Germany.

— The US is vulnerable also due to its porous border with Mexico, and Western European passport holders can travel to the U.S. without a visa.  U.S. nationals are able to travel to and from Syria and Turkey from the U.S. via Western Europe.

— It is essentially impossible to track ISIS sympathizers and former fighters due to its structure of concentric rings of secrecy where militants are unaware of who the others are that are involved.  For example the people supplying the weapons used in the Paris attacks had no idea what they would be used for.

— The number of European passport holders who have traveled to Syria and Iraq range from 6,000 to 9,000 people, many of whom traveled to fight for ISIS.

— As ISIS suffers losses in Syria and Iraq, its fighters will return to Europe in record numbers to launch attacks and mobilize others.  Security officials say that Europe tightening security would prompt ISIS to send as many fighters there as possible in the awareness that its ability to do so would not last indefinitely.

— During the past few years a wave of foreign fighters, a general increase in the Salafi movement, and “a sky-rocketing of right-wing-motivated criminal offenses” stretched security agencies beyond their limits.  Security services in Western and Central Europe and the Balkans are operating at full capacity just by trying to identify those returning from Syria and Iraq and then trying to identify those who are a threat.  Problems arise from budget and resource constraints along with sub-optimal intelligence sharing practices.

— An example of problems arising from inadequate security measures is the fact that it took months for one of the Paris attackers Abid Tabaouni to be tracked down as he was visiting Amsterdam and Brussels, with him posting pictures online of the Amsterdam’s waterfront skyline on a few occasions.

— ISIS propaganda is focusing on overwhelmingly inciting “lone wolf” individuals to launch independent attacks such as the Orlando nightclub shootings, which is a difficult element for security services to contend with.

From the video:  “Should offensive speech be banned?  Where should we, as a society, draw the line where permitted speech is on one side, and forbidden speech is on the other?  Should we even have that line?  And should free speech be limited by things like trigger warnings and punishments for microaggressions?  Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, answers these questions and more.”

This video shows how resourceful smugglers can be.