Pentagon Scrubs Major Attack on ISIS

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Just days ago, the generals were trumpeting plans to knock ISIS out of its most important stronghold in Iraq. Now, those plans are on indefinite hold.

The U.S. military’s goal to retake Iraq’s second largest city from the self-proclaimed Islamic State has been pushed back several months at least, defense officials told The Daily Beast. That’s a major shift for the Pentagon, which recently announced that the first major ground offensive in the war against ISIS could come in the next few weeks.

ISIS Losing Ground to Kurds

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Fears for 150 Christians abducted by the group grow as an ISIS supply line cut

A Kurdish fighter, in a photo taken last year, holds a a rocket-propelled grenade near an area in Iraq controlled by ISIS. A Kurdish official says they have cut a supply line that is a “main artery” for ISIS. (Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters)

Kurdish militia pressed a big offensive against ISIS in northeast Syria on Wednesday, cutting one of its supply lines from Iraq, as fears mounted for dozens of Christians abducted by the hardline group that recently beheaded 21 Egyptian Copts.

At least 90 Assyrian Christians were seized from villages in Hasaka province in a mass abduction coinciding with the offensive in the same region by Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict.

‘Jihadi John’ in ISIS Videos Is Identified as Mohammed Emwazi of London

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The Islamic State militant identified on Thursday as Mohammed Emwazi, shown in a propaganda video released last year.

The man in the black balaclava who has apparently beheaded several hostages of the Islamic State in gruesome propaganda videos has been identified by British security services as Mohammed Emwazi, a British citizen.

Known in the news media as “Jihadi John,” Mr. Emwazi is said to have been born in Kuwait and raised in London. He traveled to Syria in 2012. His name was first published on Thursday on the website of The Washington Post.

ISIS Burns 8000 Rare Books and Manuscripts in Mosul

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While the world was watching the Academy Awards ceremony, the people of Mosul were watching a different show. They were horrified to see ISIS members burn the Mosul public library. Among the many thousands of books it housed, more than 8,000 rare old books and manuscripts were burned.

“ISIS militants bombed the Mosul Public Library. They used improvised explosive devices,” said Ghanim al-Ta’an, the director of the library. Notables in Mosul tried to persuade ISIS members to spare the library, but they failed.

30 Jihadis Return Home to Australia After Being Foreign Fighters

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UPDATE: THE Federal Government will appoint a new counter-terrorism boss, as its revealed more than 30 foreign fighters have returned to Australia amid the rising threat of lone-wolf attacks.

There are at least 90 Australians fighting with and supporting terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria and at least 140 people in Australia supporting extremist groups, a review of Australia’s counterterrorism co-ordination has found.

A National Counter Terrorism Co-ordinator will be appointed to improve co-ordination of the various government agencies, Mr Abbott will announce in a National Security Statement to Parliament today.

Terrorists Luring Followers Through Pancake Propaganda

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Terrorists are serving up pancake recipes to win over new followers.

That is one of the conclusions of a national security review released by Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday.

The review report said terror groups such as Islamic State were using “highly targeted messages to appeal to vulnerable audiences”.

ISIS Female Police Disfigure 15 Women With Acid for Not Wearing Niqab

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The ISIS policing unit in Mosul severely disfigured the faces of 15 Iraqi women by pouring acid on them as a form of punishment after the women were caught without their faces being veiled appropriately, by ISIS standards, last weekend.

ISIS’ all-female policing unit, the Al Khansa brigade, which polices the streets of the group’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa and Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, reportedly carried out the punishments after the women were detained in the Mosul neighborhood of Salamiya, a kurdish official told media.

ISIS Harvesting Organs for Money

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ISIS is being accused of harvesting organs to fiance its operations. Picture: Twitter. Source: Twitter

THE Islamic State may be harvesting the organs of victims to finance its terror operations, Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations says.

Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim said today that in the past few weeks, bodies with surgical incisions and missing kidneys or other body parts have been found in shallow mass graves.

“We have bodies. Come and examine them,” he said, referring to the UN Security Council.

64 ISIS Members Killed As Egypt Launches First Foreign Strikes In 24 Years

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Egyptian jet shortly before take off to strike targets in Libya

Sixty-four Islamic State fighters have been killed and dozens wounded in Egyptian-Libyan military airstrikes on Libya, announced the spokesperson of the Libyan military, reported Al-Ahram.

The airstrikes, Egypt’s first foreign strikes since the Gulf War in 1991, come after ISIS released a video depicting the decapitation of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians that had been abducted in Libya.

According to Egypt’s military, the airstrikes were carried out in coordination with Libyan officials and targeted multiple ISIS locations, including weapons storage facilities, training points and buildings housing militants.

‘Anonymous’ Hacking Group Shuts Down Over 800 Islamic State Twitter Accounts

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The hacking group “Anonymous” on Tuesday took credit for shutting down hundreds of social media accounts linked to Islamic State sympathizers.

Last month, the group of “hacktivists” declared a cyberwar against the digital jihadists after the deadly terrorist attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo last month. The hacking campaign is called “Operation ISIS” or #OpISIS, Fox News reported.