Syrian Civil War (Graphic Photos/Vid Not Allowed)
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Aramagedon
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60 civilians killed in US-led bombing in Syria
August 1, 2017
At least 60 civilians have been killed in fresh airstrikes conducted by US led-coalition in Dayr al-Zawr province in eastern Syria. The coalition has been conducting air raids since September 2014 without any authorisation from Damascus or a UN mandate.
According to official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the Tuesday raids destroyed homes in several districts in Dayr al-Zawr and left scores, mostly women and children, wounded.
The airstrikes came less than 48 hours after US led jets bombarded civilian areas, including a hospital, in Al Bukamal city in the same province, killing six civilians and injuring 10 others. The coalition strikes on many occasions have resulted in civilian casualties.
On Sunday, Damascus sent an official request to UN calling for dissolving the US-led coalition in Syria and halt alliance’s air strikes in the country.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry, through two different letters addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has complained that the US led coalition “continues to commit massacres against Syrian innocent civilians through conducting systematic airstrikes.” Damascus has also noted that the US-led strikes were meant to support terrorist groups in that country.
Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad, while addressing 22nd Army foundation day, on Tuesday, said that his country was facing Takfiri terrorists, a term used to the terror groups influenced by Saudi origin Wahabi ideology, the likes of which have never been throughout the history in terms of treachery, malevolence and hatred, an enemy which is backed by several regional and international parties that have been seeking for years to impose their dominance on the whole region.
In early January 2015, an Iraqi Member of Parliament Majid al-Ghraoui, told official Iraqi News Agency that an American aircraft dropped a load of weapons and equipment into the hands of the IS militants in south-east of Tikrit, the hometown of former President Saddam Hussein.
www.apnlive.com/world-news/60-civilians-killed-us-led-bombing-syria-23093
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481 Syrian civilians killed in Raqqah in July: NGO
US-led international coalition launched operation to expel Daesh from Raqqah on June 6
03.08.2017
By Khaled Suleiman
At least 481 Syrian civilians were killed in Syria’s northern province of Raqqah during the month of July, an NGO reporting from the area has indicated
Data from Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), which is a citizen journalist movement, revealed that U.S. coalition forces had carried out 633 air raids in the city of Raqqah in July, which led to the deaths of 189 Syrian civilians.
Another 126 civilians were killed by 440 Russian airstrikes, while 121 others were killed by artillery shelling carried out by the PYD terrorist group, the Syrian branch of the PKK -- considered a terrorist outfit by the U.S, the EU and Turkey.
Last month, the Syrian Network for Human Rights documented that some 1,400 civilians, including 308 children and 203 women, had been killed in Raqqah over the previous eight months.
The U.S.-led international coalition launched on June 6 an operation to expel the terrorist group Daesh from the city of Raqqah.
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/-481-syrian-civilians-killed-in-raqqah-in-july-ngo/875156
August 1, 2017
At least 60 civilians have been killed in fresh airstrikes conducted by US led-coalition in Dayr al-Zawr province in eastern Syria. The coalition has been conducting air raids since September 2014 without any authorisation from Damascus or a UN mandate.
According to official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the Tuesday raids destroyed homes in several districts in Dayr al-Zawr and left scores, mostly women and children, wounded.
The airstrikes came less than 48 hours after US led jets bombarded civilian areas, including a hospital, in Al Bukamal city in the same province, killing six civilians and injuring 10 others. The coalition strikes on many occasions have resulted in civilian casualties.
On Sunday, Damascus sent an official request to UN calling for dissolving the US-led coalition in Syria and halt alliance’s air strikes in the country.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry, through two different letters addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has complained that the US led coalition “continues to commit massacres against Syrian innocent civilians through conducting systematic airstrikes.” Damascus has also noted that the US-led strikes were meant to support terrorist groups in that country.
Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad, while addressing 22nd Army foundation day, on Tuesday, said that his country was facing Takfiri terrorists, a term used to the terror groups influenced by Saudi origin Wahabi ideology, the likes of which have never been throughout the history in terms of treachery, malevolence and hatred, an enemy which is backed by several regional and international parties that have been seeking for years to impose their dominance on the whole region.
In early January 2015, an Iraqi Member of Parliament Majid al-Ghraoui, told official Iraqi News Agency that an American aircraft dropped a load of weapons and equipment into the hands of the IS militants in south-east of Tikrit, the hometown of former President Saddam Hussein.
www.apnlive.com/world-news/60-civilians-killed-us-led-bombing-syria-23093
----------------------------------------
481 Syrian civilians killed in Raqqah in July: NGO
US-led international coalition launched operation to expel Daesh from Raqqah on June 6
03.08.2017
By Khaled Suleiman
At least 481 Syrian civilians were killed in Syria’s northern province of Raqqah during the month of July, an NGO reporting from the area has indicated
Data from Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), which is a citizen journalist movement, revealed that U.S. coalition forces had carried out 633 air raids in the city of Raqqah in July, which led to the deaths of 189 Syrian civilians.
Another 126 civilians were killed by 440 Russian airstrikes, while 121 others were killed by artillery shelling carried out by the PYD terrorist group, the Syrian branch of the PKK -- considered a terrorist outfit by the U.S, the EU and Turkey.
Last month, the Syrian Network for Human Rights documented that some 1,400 civilians, including 308 children and 203 women, had been killed in Raqqah over the previous eight months.
The U.S.-led international coalition launched on June 6 an operation to expel the terrorist group Daesh from the city of Raqqah.
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/-481-syrian-civilians-killed-in-raqqah-in-july-ngo/875156
PakBlood
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Im new on this forum but have been following the syrian war since 2014
@worldonalert:
#Syria: Many #Assad forces were killed by #ISIS and Eastern #Ghouta rebels between last Sunday and Tuesday, including 1 Brigadier General.
#HTS and #Malhama Tactical have killed 20 pro-#Assad forces and destroyed 1 #BMP north of #Aleppo City today.
btw, can someone please tell me how to directly post/embed a tweet here?
Living in Syria @Livinginsyria·Aug 2
"Oh bashar, we ask Allah to give you a day where you wish for death but you do not find it" -Prayer of an oppressed #Syria
Liz Sly @LizSly·19h
To those who question why activists in Syria usually choose to remain anonymous. RIP Bassel Safadi.
One of Syria’s best known democracy activists has been executed
washingtonpost.com
@worldonalert:
#Syria: Many #Assad forces were killed by #ISIS and Eastern #Ghouta rebels between last Sunday and Tuesday, including 1 Brigadier General.
#HTS and #Malhama Tactical have killed 20 pro-#Assad forces and destroyed 1 #BMP north of #Aleppo City today.
btw, can someone please tell me how to directly post/embed a tweet here?
Living in Syria @Livinginsyria·Aug 2
"Oh bashar, we ask Allah to give you a day where you wish for death but you do not find it" -Prayer of an oppressed #Syria
Liz Sly @LizSly·19h
To those who question why activists in Syria usually choose to remain anonymous. RIP Bassel Safadi.
One of Syria’s best known democracy activists has been executed
washingtonpost.com
C130
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Kornet and Faras
Kornet ATV
what is Faras?? is that a radar looking thing next to the Kornet?? and I am liking that Kornet ATV as well.
ultron
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It's a radar that finds targets like vehicles.
http://roe.ru/eng/catalog/air-defence-systems/ground-surveillance-radars/fara-vr/
C130
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ahh sorta like Spexer 1500/2000
http://northamerica.airbus-group.co...bus-Defense-and-Space/SPEXER/SPEXER-1500.html
Aramagedon
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U.S.-led airstrikes kill seven children in Syria’s Raqqa
August 4, 2017
At least seven children were killed by fresh U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria’s northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State (IS), state news agency SANA reported on Friday.
“The airstrikes targeted several residential areas in Raqqa overnight, leaving many people wounded and destroying their houses,’’ SANA said.
The U.S.-led coalition has carried out 44 air raids over the past 48 hours, targeting residential areas.
The state news agency repeated the government stance that the Washington-led coalition has been formed “illegitimately, as it was formed under the pretext of fighting terrorism, while the facts suggest that the coalition is attacking infrastructure and committing massacres.”
Earlier this week, the Syrian Foreign Ministry urged the UN to dissolve the coalition, citing the falling of victims on daily basis.
The U.S.-led coalition started its operation in Syria in 2014 against the IS positions in north of the country.
Recently, the coalition upped its strikes on Raqqa as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are on a crushing offensive to drive IS out of its main stronghold in Syria.
The SDF has been making strides in the battles against IS in Raqqa, whose countryside is also subject to a military offensive by the Syrian government forces.
A day earlier, IS’s Amaq news agency said that one of the IS suicide bombers targeted a group of Kurdish fighters in the Souk Al-Hal area, southeast of Raqqa, killing 40 fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Raqqa is a major stronghold of IS, but the battle to eradicate the terror-designated group, which has started by the U.S.-backed SDF, will not be easy with recent reports suggesting the IS militants are in possession of chemical weapons inside that city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the IS militants will likely use such weapons should the SDF advance more into Raqqa.
www.premiumtimesng.com/foreign/world-foreign/239216-u-s-led-airstrikes-kill-seven-children-syrias-raqqa.html
_______________________________
Mosul Massacre II: US Is Bombing Civilians in Raqqa
By Ian Greenhalgh on July 30, 2017
It seems the widely condemned slaughter of civilians in Iraq’s Mosul was never enough; because the United States is now busy doing the same thing in Syria’s Raqqa – bombing civilians who have two choices: flee or die.
ISIL was defeated in Mosul after a nine-month Iraqi military campaign. But US airstrikes that destroyed significant parts of Iraq’s second largest city, killing up to 40,000 civilians and forcing as many as one million more people from their homes, is now repeating itself in Raqqa. Now, the United States is focusing its energies – and warplanes – on the ISIL-occupied city of Raqqa in an offensive dubbed “Euphrates Rage Operation.”
ISIL’s brutal treatment of civilians in Syria has been well reported and publicized. And the Syrian government has every right to dislodge the terrorist group from its soil. But that does in no way give a ticket to the US to slaughter its innocent civilians as well. Reports and photographs from journalists as well as first-person accounts from those with family members living in areas under US bombardment, detail a strikingly different tale of the American offensive – one that looks a lot less like a battle against ISIL and a lot more like a war on civilians.
These human rights groups and local reporters say that, across Syria in recent months, the US-led coalition and US Marines have bombed or shelled many civilian objects: Primary schools and high schools; a health clinic and an obstetrics hospital; Raqqa’s Science College; residential neighborhoods; bakeries; post offices; at least 15 mosques; a cultural center; a gas station; cars carrying civilians to the hospital; a funeral; water tanks; at least 15 bridges; a makeshift refugee camp; the ancient Rafiqah Wall that dates back to the 8th century; and an Internet cafe, where a Syrian media activist was killed as he was trying to smuggle US war crime news out of the besieged city.
In a sense, the United States is one of the deadliest warring parties in Syria. In May and June combined, the US-led coalition killed more civilians than the terrorists, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization that has been monitoring the death toll and human rights violations since 2011. “The US is targeting and killing without taking into consideration the benefits for the military and the collateral damage for the civilians. This, of course, amounts to war crimes,” the group concludes.
Nowhere is this war against civilians more acute than in ISIL-occupied Raqqa, where trapped civilians are living under dozens of airstrikes every day. This particular city has become one of the most isolated cities in the world. The militants ban residents from having home Internet, satellite dishes, or WiFi hotspots. They arrest and kill local reporters and ban outside journalists.
Despite these restrictions, dozens of journalists and activists have risked and still risk their lives to smuggle information out of besieged Raqqa – and their efforts are the only reason global media outlets have any information about the war crimes the United States and its allies are committing there.
It’s because of this work that we know the Raqqa offensive by the US is not about liberating the terror-held city; it’s about a barrage of airstrikes and artillery shelling that are designed to hit schools, train stations, the immigration and passport building, mosques, and multiple residential neighborhoods. They are never designed to target the terrorist group, much less liberate the city in one piece.
Worse still, the US military forces are also using white phosphorous bombs. White phosphorus is capable of burning human flesh to the bone. When exposed to oxygen, the chemical ignites reaching a temperature of 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s so flammable that its burns can reignite days later if the bandages are removed too soon.
US military officials have not denied using white phosphorus in the city. The Pentagon regime has, in fact, published photos of US Marines deployed to the Raqqa region transporting US-manufactured white phosphorus munitions. Its spokesmen claim that the US military only uses this incendiary agent to mark targets for air strikes or to create smoke screens and therefore remains in accordance with international law. But Amnesty International warns: “The US-led coalition’s use of white phosphorus munitions on the outskirts of al-Raqqa, Syria, is unlawful and may amount to a war crime.” Amnesty similarly accused the US of committing war crimes during its campaign against ISIL in Mosul.
This madness has to stop – before many more civilians are killed in US airstrikes or burned to death by white phosphorous bombs. There are many causes of death for the long-suffering people of Raqqa. Last thing they want is white phosphorous bombs and indiscriminate airstrikes by the US or daily artillery shelling by Washington’s favorite terrorists.
In June alone, US warplanes and Marines fired or dropped approximately 4,400 munitions on Raqqa and its surrounding villages. According to the Human Rights Watch, these munitions are dropped by B-52 bombers and other warplanes, most taking off from the al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, or the USS George H.W. Bush, an aircraft carrier stationed off Syria’s coast in the eastern Mediterranean.
Hundreds of US Marines, most from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are also positioned outside Raqqa and are firing high explosive artillery rounds into the city from M777 Howitzers. In late June, the Marines’ official Twitter feed boasted that they were conducting artillery fire in support of US-backed troops and terrorists 24 hours a day.
The result of this type of warfare is not that hard to predict: A staggering increase in civilian casualties – or more accurately, as many civilians in Syria and Iraq as were killed in the previous two and a half years of the Obama administration. In the book of International Law, this is not what they call fighting terrorism.
Related Posts:
August 4, 2017
At least seven children were killed by fresh U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria’s northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State (IS), state news agency SANA reported on Friday.
“The airstrikes targeted several residential areas in Raqqa overnight, leaving many people wounded and destroying their houses,’’ SANA said.
The U.S.-led coalition has carried out 44 air raids over the past 48 hours, targeting residential areas.
The state news agency repeated the government stance that the Washington-led coalition has been formed “illegitimately, as it was formed under the pretext of fighting terrorism, while the facts suggest that the coalition is attacking infrastructure and committing massacres.”
Earlier this week, the Syrian Foreign Ministry urged the UN to dissolve the coalition, citing the falling of victims on daily basis.
The U.S.-led coalition started its operation in Syria in 2014 against the IS positions in north of the country.
Recently, the coalition upped its strikes on Raqqa as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are on a crushing offensive to drive IS out of its main stronghold in Syria.
The SDF has been making strides in the battles against IS in Raqqa, whose countryside is also subject to a military offensive by the Syrian government forces.
A day earlier, IS’s Amaq news agency said that one of the IS suicide bombers targeted a group of Kurdish fighters in the Souk Al-Hal area, southeast of Raqqa, killing 40 fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Raqqa is a major stronghold of IS, but the battle to eradicate the terror-designated group, which has started by the U.S.-backed SDF, will not be easy with recent reports suggesting the IS militants are in possession of chemical weapons inside that city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the IS militants will likely use such weapons should the SDF advance more into Raqqa.
www.premiumtimesng.com/foreign/world-foreign/239216-u-s-led-airstrikes-kill-seven-children-syrias-raqqa.html
_______________________________
Mosul Massacre II: US Is Bombing Civilians in Raqqa
By Ian Greenhalgh on July 30, 2017
It seems the widely condemned slaughter of civilians in Iraq’s Mosul was never enough; because the United States is now busy doing the same thing in Syria’s Raqqa – bombing civilians who have two choices: flee or die.
ISIL was defeated in Mosul after a nine-month Iraqi military campaign. But US airstrikes that destroyed significant parts of Iraq’s second largest city, killing up to 40,000 civilians and forcing as many as one million more people from their homes, is now repeating itself in Raqqa. Now, the United States is focusing its energies – and warplanes – on the ISIL-occupied city of Raqqa in an offensive dubbed “Euphrates Rage Operation.”
ISIL’s brutal treatment of civilians in Syria has been well reported and publicized. And the Syrian government has every right to dislodge the terrorist group from its soil. But that does in no way give a ticket to the US to slaughter its innocent civilians as well. Reports and photographs from journalists as well as first-person accounts from those with family members living in areas under US bombardment, detail a strikingly different tale of the American offensive – one that looks a lot less like a battle against ISIL and a lot more like a war on civilians.
These human rights groups and local reporters say that, across Syria in recent months, the US-led coalition and US Marines have bombed or shelled many civilian objects: Primary schools and high schools; a health clinic and an obstetrics hospital; Raqqa’s Science College; residential neighborhoods; bakeries; post offices; at least 15 mosques; a cultural center; a gas station; cars carrying civilians to the hospital; a funeral; water tanks; at least 15 bridges; a makeshift refugee camp; the ancient Rafiqah Wall that dates back to the 8th century; and an Internet cafe, where a Syrian media activist was killed as he was trying to smuggle US war crime news out of the besieged city.
In a sense, the United States is one of the deadliest warring parties in Syria. In May and June combined, the US-led coalition killed more civilians than the terrorists, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization that has been monitoring the death toll and human rights violations since 2011. “The US is targeting and killing without taking into consideration the benefits for the military and the collateral damage for the civilians. This, of course, amounts to war crimes,” the group concludes.
Nowhere is this war against civilians more acute than in ISIL-occupied Raqqa, where trapped civilians are living under dozens of airstrikes every day. This particular city has become one of the most isolated cities in the world. The militants ban residents from having home Internet, satellite dishes, or WiFi hotspots. They arrest and kill local reporters and ban outside journalists.
Despite these restrictions, dozens of journalists and activists have risked and still risk their lives to smuggle information out of besieged Raqqa – and their efforts are the only reason global media outlets have any information about the war crimes the United States and its allies are committing there.
It’s because of this work that we know the Raqqa offensive by the US is not about liberating the terror-held city; it’s about a barrage of airstrikes and artillery shelling that are designed to hit schools, train stations, the immigration and passport building, mosques, and multiple residential neighborhoods. They are never designed to target the terrorist group, much less liberate the city in one piece.
Worse still, the US military forces are also using white phosphorous bombs. White phosphorus is capable of burning human flesh to the bone. When exposed to oxygen, the chemical ignites reaching a temperature of 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s so flammable that its burns can reignite days later if the bandages are removed too soon.
US military officials have not denied using white phosphorus in the city. The Pentagon regime has, in fact, published photos of US Marines deployed to the Raqqa region transporting US-manufactured white phosphorus munitions. Its spokesmen claim that the US military only uses this incendiary agent to mark targets for air strikes or to create smoke screens and therefore remains in accordance with international law. But Amnesty International warns: “The US-led coalition’s use of white phosphorus munitions on the outskirts of al-Raqqa, Syria, is unlawful and may amount to a war crime.” Amnesty similarly accused the US of committing war crimes during its campaign against ISIL in Mosul.
This madness has to stop – before many more civilians are killed in US airstrikes or burned to death by white phosphorous bombs. There are many causes of death for the long-suffering people of Raqqa. Last thing they want is white phosphorous bombs and indiscriminate airstrikes by the US or daily artillery shelling by Washington’s favorite terrorists.
In June alone, US warplanes and Marines fired or dropped approximately 4,400 munitions on Raqqa and its surrounding villages. According to the Human Rights Watch, these munitions are dropped by B-52 bombers and other warplanes, most taking off from the al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, or the USS George H.W. Bush, an aircraft carrier stationed off Syria’s coast in the eastern Mediterranean.
Hundreds of US Marines, most from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are also positioned outside Raqqa and are firing high explosive artillery rounds into the city from M777 Howitzers. In late June, the Marines’ official Twitter feed boasted that they were conducting artillery fire in support of US-backed troops and terrorists 24 hours a day.
The result of this type of warfare is not that hard to predict: A staggering increase in civilian casualties – or more accurately, as many civilians in Syria and Iraq as were killed in the previous two and a half years of the Obama administration. In the book of International Law, this is not what they call fighting terrorism.
Related Posts:
- The Assault of Raqqa is Drowning in Blood
- First Mosul then Raqqa. How Washington targets civilians
- Russian Air Force monitoring Daesh attempts to flee Raqqa disguised as civilians
- US Aircraft Commit Massacre in Aleppo Countryside, Killing Dozens Civilians
- Iraq – US Apocalypse in Mosul in the Guise of Bombing ISIS
Banglar Bir
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Isis: UN study finds foreign fighters in Syria 'lack basic understanding of Islam'
Research shows economic factors and 'lack of meaning' in life makes warzone attractive
Lizzie Dearden Home Affairs Correspondent
@lizziedearden
The Independent Online
More than 850 people have left the UK to join Isis in Iraq and Syria, with half having since returned
Young men who leave their homes to fight for terrorist groups in Syria mainly come from disadvantaged backgrounds, have low levels of education and “lack any basic understanding of the true meaning of jihad or even the Islamic faith”, according to a new report.
A study for the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism found that despite claiming to protect Muslims, most of the returned fighters were “novices” in their religion and some did not know how to pray properly.
“Most saw their religion in terms of justice and injustice rather than in terms of piety and spirituality,” said the authors of the report, which was based on interviews with 43 people from 12 countries.
READ MORE
“He is also more likely than not to come from a marginalised background, both socially and politically,” the reported added.
“Most were unemployed, or underemployed, and/or said that their life lacked meaning.”
Three quarters of those interviewed reached Syria but subsequently decided to leave, while others were intercepted by authorities in their own country or stopped en route.
Thousands of British Muslims gather to denounce Isis and call for 'peaceful caliphate'
Despite an appeal to all UN member states, the authors expressed regret that only seven countries agreed to participate in the study - three from the EU and four from the Middle East and North Africa.
Professor Hamed el-Said, of Manchester Metropolitan University, and terrorism expert Richard Barrett met most of the returnees in prison or under the watchful eye of security services.
Isis fighters have 'poor religious knowledge', report finds
The majority of interviewed fighters, who attempted to join groups including Isis, al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and jihadi Ahrar al-Sham, came from large and dysfunctional families in deprived parts of cities where they were “isolated from mainstream social, economic and political activity”.
“Religious belief seems to have played a minimal role in the motivation of this sample,” the report found, saying economic factors had become more important as terrorist groups promised wages, homes and even wives.
The findings supported previous research using leaked Isis documents, which showed that most recruits profess to have only a “basic” knowledge of Sharia law, and warnings of a growing “crime-terror nexus” seeing violent criminals travel to Syria in the hope of “redemption”.
Following the declaration of the so-called Islamic State in 2014, the group produced a huge amount of propaganda seeking to attract Muslims with the promise of life free of supposed Western oppression, lived in comfort and peace.
Rose-tinted videos sought to present a utopian existence, showing smiling militants engaging in activities like bee-keeping, farming and even pizza-making as Western fighters used Twitter to broadcast images of palatial homes, swimming pools and expensive cars provided by the “caliphate”.
The UN report said the propaganda exerted a powerful pull on young men who feel they have little prospects at home, especially when combined with perceived grievances and a wish to protect Sunni Muslims in areas of Syria targeted by Bashar al-Assad’s government.
“For some, this sense of brotherhood was reinforced by a sense of religious obligation,” it said.
“The respondents of this survey claimed they did not go to Syria with the intention of becoming a terrorist, nor did they return with that purpose in mind.”
Authorities 'missed opportunities' to stop brothers joining al-Qaeda
Despite the role of propaganda sparking a global crackdown on extremist online activity, the report found that among surveyed fighters, the internet played “a far less significant role as an independent source of radicalisation than is generally assumed, and certainly a far less significant role than real life contact”.
The authors found that would-be jihadis went online to confirm and strengthen ideas that were already taking root, adding: “The internet then played a key role in reinforcing a decision that had in part been taken already.”
Far more important was friendship circles and social networks formed around mosques, prisons, schools, universities, neighbourhoods or the workplace – a conclusion supported by the high number of known British militants who were part of radical networks or left the country with friends and relatives.
The UN report said identity politics played a key role in radicalisation, warning of “significant policy implications" arising from perceived injustice and discrimination.
It added: “Bad governance, especially disregard for the rule of law, discriminatory social policies, political exclusion of certain communities…harassment by the security authorities, and confiscation of passports or other identity documents, all contribute to feelings of despair, resentment, and animosity towards the government and provide fertile ground for the terrorist recruiter.”
Mehdi Hassan, also known as Abu Dujana, is one of many British fighters who joined Isis with friends - in his case the 'Britani Brigade Bangladeshi Bad Boys', who have all been killed (Twitter)
Although their accounts are highly unreliable, several imprisoned former Isis members have blamed the security services for their radicalisation.
Harry Sarfo, a German-born militant who grew up in the UK and joined Isis for three months in 2015, told The Independent his experience of police raids and harassment from the local community after he fell under suspicion as an extremist drove him to Syria.
“My friend kept on telling me: ‘This is what you get for being Muslim in the West, especially Germany. You are black and Muslim, your wife is covered, what do you expect? They think you are a bloody terrorist. You should go and live in the Islamic State, where every Muslims’ rights are protected. Life for you here is over,” he recalled. “At the time, everything he said made sense.”
Similar concerns have been raised about the Government’s controversial Prevent strategy, which is viewed by some to be divisive and discriminatory, while Isis itself has been attempting to capitalise on air strikes on its territory by publishing graphic images of dead children alongside calls for global terror attacks.
As Isis has been pushed back in Iraq and Syria, routes to its territories have shut down and the group’s calls have largely switched from calling on supporters to travel to the “caliphate”, to inciting attacks in their home countries across the West.
Some analysts say the failure of Isis’ state project will dent its lure to potential recruits, although the fighters in the UN’s sample found themselves “disillusioned” by the group even at its peak.
The report said they left Syria because of their “genuine disappointment in and disenfranchisement by the terrorist organisation they joined”, feeling alienated by the group and local Syrians, the deaths of friends or calls by loved ones to come home.
They authors hope the research will help countries around the world to improve counter-extremism programmes that prevent people from considering joining Isis and other terrorist groups, as well as safely reintegrating those returning from the group’s shrinking territories.
Harry Sarfo is imprisoned in Germany, where he is under a new investigation for taking part in a mass execution
With an estimated 25,000 foreign fighters from more than 100 countries travelling to Syria, concern has been mounting over a potential influx of jihadis as Isis loses territory including its de-facto capital of Raqqa.
The city is completely sealed off and under heavy bombardment by the US-led coalition, and Isis is known to kill anyone caught attempting to defect, leading analysts to expect the number of recruits managing escape to be small.
“Not all returnees present the same degree of threat,” the UN report found, warning against treating all former fighters as high risk and “thereby radicalising those who are low threat through unwarranted persecution.”
Isis losses in Syria and Iraq 'not reducing terror threat in UK'
Prof el-Said and Mr Barrett argued that some ex-terrorists could become powerful voices against the groups they once joined, adding: “Governments will need to screen their returnees to identify the more dangerous among them as well as to select credible and trustworthy individuals who could counter recruitment narratives.”
Isis is currently intensifying its efforts to discredit defectors and featured Sarfo in a recent propaganda magazine decrying “fools who strayed” and spread “lies and falsehoods”.
While returned foreign fighters have been among Europe’s deadliest terrorists, including the “super cell” that carried out the Paris and Brussels attacks – the threat from supporters of the group who have been prevented from realising their desire to travel to Syria is increasing.
London Bridge ringleader Khuram Butt, Normandy church attacker Abdel-Malik Petitjean and Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who shot a Canadian soldier dead outside the country’s war memorial, are among failed foreign fighters who chose to launch attacks on home soil instead.
“It is important at least not to underestimate the motivations and determination of those who failed to make it to Syria,” the report concluded.
“There is little room for complacency, but while the risk presented by returning foreign terrorist fighters is a real one, it should not be exaggerated.
“A practical, effective and proportionate response should start from a sound understanding of the root causes of the problem.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...tanding-of-islam-radicalisation-a7877706.html
Research shows economic factors and 'lack of meaning' in life makes warzone attractive
Lizzie Dearden Home Affairs Correspondent
@lizziedearden
The Independent Online
More than 850 people have left the UK to join Isis in Iraq and Syria, with half having since returned
Young men who leave their homes to fight for terrorist groups in Syria mainly come from disadvantaged backgrounds, have low levels of education and “lack any basic understanding of the true meaning of jihad or even the Islamic faith”, according to a new report.
A study for the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism found that despite claiming to protect Muslims, most of the returned fighters were “novices” in their religion and some did not know how to pray properly.
“Most saw their religion in terms of justice and injustice rather than in terms of piety and spirituality,” said the authors of the report, which was based on interviews with 43 people from 12 countries.
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“He is also more likely than not to come from a marginalised background, both socially and politically,” the reported added.
“Most were unemployed, or underemployed, and/or said that their life lacked meaning.”
Three quarters of those interviewed reached Syria but subsequently decided to leave, while others were intercepted by authorities in their own country or stopped en route.
Thousands of British Muslims gather to denounce Isis and call for 'peaceful caliphate'
Despite an appeal to all UN member states, the authors expressed regret that only seven countries agreed to participate in the study - three from the EU and four from the Middle East and North Africa.
Professor Hamed el-Said, of Manchester Metropolitan University, and terrorism expert Richard Barrett met most of the returnees in prison or under the watchful eye of security services.
Isis fighters have 'poor religious knowledge', report finds
The majority of interviewed fighters, who attempted to join groups including Isis, al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and jihadi Ahrar al-Sham, came from large and dysfunctional families in deprived parts of cities where they were “isolated from mainstream social, economic and political activity”.
“Religious belief seems to have played a minimal role in the motivation of this sample,” the report found, saying economic factors had become more important as terrorist groups promised wages, homes and even wives.
The findings supported previous research using leaked Isis documents, which showed that most recruits profess to have only a “basic” knowledge of Sharia law, and warnings of a growing “crime-terror nexus” seeing violent criminals travel to Syria in the hope of “redemption”.
Following the declaration of the so-called Islamic State in 2014, the group produced a huge amount of propaganda seeking to attract Muslims with the promise of life free of supposed Western oppression, lived in comfort and peace.
Rose-tinted videos sought to present a utopian existence, showing smiling militants engaging in activities like bee-keeping, farming and even pizza-making as Western fighters used Twitter to broadcast images of palatial homes, swimming pools and expensive cars provided by the “caliphate”.
The UN report said the propaganda exerted a powerful pull on young men who feel they have little prospects at home, especially when combined with perceived grievances and a wish to protect Sunni Muslims in areas of Syria targeted by Bashar al-Assad’s government.
“For some, this sense of brotherhood was reinforced by a sense of religious obligation,” it said.
“The respondents of this survey claimed they did not go to Syria with the intention of becoming a terrorist, nor did they return with that purpose in mind.”
Authorities 'missed opportunities' to stop brothers joining al-Qaeda
Despite the role of propaganda sparking a global crackdown on extremist online activity, the report found that among surveyed fighters, the internet played “a far less significant role as an independent source of radicalisation than is generally assumed, and certainly a far less significant role than real life contact”.
The authors found that would-be jihadis went online to confirm and strengthen ideas that were already taking root, adding: “The internet then played a key role in reinforcing a decision that had in part been taken already.”
Far more important was friendship circles and social networks formed around mosques, prisons, schools, universities, neighbourhoods or the workplace – a conclusion supported by the high number of known British militants who were part of radical networks or left the country with friends and relatives.
The UN report said identity politics played a key role in radicalisation, warning of “significant policy implications" arising from perceived injustice and discrimination.
It added: “Bad governance, especially disregard for the rule of law, discriminatory social policies, political exclusion of certain communities…harassment by the security authorities, and confiscation of passports or other identity documents, all contribute to feelings of despair, resentment, and animosity towards the government and provide fertile ground for the terrorist recruiter.”
Mehdi Hassan, also known as Abu Dujana, is one of many British fighters who joined Isis with friends - in his case the 'Britani Brigade Bangladeshi Bad Boys', who have all been killed (Twitter)
Although their accounts are highly unreliable, several imprisoned former Isis members have blamed the security services for their radicalisation.
Harry Sarfo, a German-born militant who grew up in the UK and joined Isis for three months in 2015, told The Independent his experience of police raids and harassment from the local community after he fell under suspicion as an extremist drove him to Syria.
“My friend kept on telling me: ‘This is what you get for being Muslim in the West, especially Germany. You are black and Muslim, your wife is covered, what do you expect? They think you are a bloody terrorist. You should go and live in the Islamic State, where every Muslims’ rights are protected. Life for you here is over,” he recalled. “At the time, everything he said made sense.”
Similar concerns have been raised about the Government’s controversial Prevent strategy, which is viewed by some to be divisive and discriminatory, while Isis itself has been attempting to capitalise on air strikes on its territory by publishing graphic images of dead children alongside calls for global terror attacks.
As Isis has been pushed back in Iraq and Syria, routes to its territories have shut down and the group’s calls have largely switched from calling on supporters to travel to the “caliphate”, to inciting attacks in their home countries across the West.
Some analysts say the failure of Isis’ state project will dent its lure to potential recruits, although the fighters in the UN’s sample found themselves “disillusioned” by the group even at its peak.
The report said they left Syria because of their “genuine disappointment in and disenfranchisement by the terrorist organisation they joined”, feeling alienated by the group and local Syrians, the deaths of friends or calls by loved ones to come home.
They authors hope the research will help countries around the world to improve counter-extremism programmes that prevent people from considering joining Isis and other terrorist groups, as well as safely reintegrating those returning from the group’s shrinking territories.
Harry Sarfo is imprisoned in Germany, where he is under a new investigation for taking part in a mass execution
With an estimated 25,000 foreign fighters from more than 100 countries travelling to Syria, concern has been mounting over a potential influx of jihadis as Isis loses territory including its de-facto capital of Raqqa.
The city is completely sealed off and under heavy bombardment by the US-led coalition, and Isis is known to kill anyone caught attempting to defect, leading analysts to expect the number of recruits managing escape to be small.
“Not all returnees present the same degree of threat,” the UN report found, warning against treating all former fighters as high risk and “thereby radicalising those who are low threat through unwarranted persecution.”
Isis losses in Syria and Iraq 'not reducing terror threat in UK'
Prof el-Said and Mr Barrett argued that some ex-terrorists could become powerful voices against the groups they once joined, adding: “Governments will need to screen their returnees to identify the more dangerous among them as well as to select credible and trustworthy individuals who could counter recruitment narratives.”
Isis is currently intensifying its efforts to discredit defectors and featured Sarfo in a recent propaganda magazine decrying “fools who strayed” and spread “lies and falsehoods”.
While returned foreign fighters have been among Europe’s deadliest terrorists, including the “super cell” that carried out the Paris and Brussels attacks – the threat from supporters of the group who have been prevented from realising their desire to travel to Syria is increasing.
London Bridge ringleader Khuram Butt, Normandy church attacker Abdel-Malik Petitjean and Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who shot a Canadian soldier dead outside the country’s war memorial, are among failed foreign fighters who chose to launch attacks on home soil instead.
“It is important at least not to underestimate the motivations and determination of those who failed to make it to Syria,” the report concluded.
“There is little room for complacency, but while the risk presented by returning foreign terrorist fighters is a real one, it should not be exaggerated.
“A practical, effective and proportionate response should start from a sound understanding of the root causes of the problem.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...tanding-of-islam-radicalisation-a7877706.html
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AUGUST 6, 2017 / 12:16 PM
Syria investigator del Ponte quits, blaming U.N. Security Council
FILE PHOTO - United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syrian Arabic Republic co-commissioner Carla del Ponte speaks during a news conference at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, February 8, 2016.Pierre Albouy
GENEVA (Reuters) - A member of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria said on Sunday she was quitting because a lack of political backing from the U.N. Security Council had made the job impossible, Swiss national news agency SDA reported.
Carla del Ponte, 70, who prosecuted war crimes in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, told a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Locarno Film Festival that she had already prepared her letter of resignation.
"I am quitting this commission, which is not backed by any political will," she said, adding that her role was just an "alibi".
"I have no power as long as the Security Council does nothing," she said. "We are powerless, there is no justice for Syria."
Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general, joined the three-member Syria inquiry in September 2012, chronicling incidents such as chemical weapons attacks, a genocide against Iraq's Yazidi population, siege tactics, and the bombing of aid convoys.
The U.N. Commission of Inquiry said in a statement that del Ponte had informed colleagues in June of her decision to leave in the near future. It said the investigations would continue.
"It is our obligation to persist in its work on behalf of the countless number of Syrian victims of the worst human rights violations and international crimes known to humanity," it said.
Del Ponte's departure leaves only two commissioners, Brazil's Paulo Pinheiro and Karen Koning AbuZayd from the United States.
The commission was set up in August 2011 and has regularly reported on human rights violations, but its pleas to observe international law have largely fallen on deaf ears.
Although the United Nations is setting up a new body to prepare prosecutions, there is no sign of any court being established to try war crimes committed in the six-and-a-half year-old war, nor of any intention by the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
Del Ponte's determination to be independent made her outspoken and occasionally controversial. She shocked Western governments in May 2013 by declaring that the United Nations had "strong suspicions" of Syrian rebels using sarin gas.
Two years later, she said justice would catch up with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even if he remained in power under a negotiated peace settlement.
Earlier this year, when the commission reported on Syrian government aircraft deliberately bombing and strafing a humanitarian convoy, del Ponte hinted at her frustration with the inability to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"What we have seen here in Syria, I never saw that in Rwanda, or in former Yugoslavia, in the Balkans. It is really a big tragedy," she added. "Unfortunately we have no tribunal."
Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Susan Fenton
Syria investigator del Ponte quits, blaming U.N. Security Council
FILE PHOTO - United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syrian Arabic Republic co-commissioner Carla del Ponte speaks during a news conference at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, February 8, 2016.Pierre Albouy
GENEVA (Reuters) - A member of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria said on Sunday she was quitting because a lack of political backing from the U.N. Security Council had made the job impossible, Swiss national news agency SDA reported.
Carla del Ponte, 70, who prosecuted war crimes in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, told a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Locarno Film Festival that she had already prepared her letter of resignation.
"I am quitting this commission, which is not backed by any political will," she said, adding that her role was just an "alibi".
"I have no power as long as the Security Council does nothing," she said. "We are powerless, there is no justice for Syria."
Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general, joined the three-member Syria inquiry in September 2012, chronicling incidents such as chemical weapons attacks, a genocide against Iraq's Yazidi population, siege tactics, and the bombing of aid convoys.
The U.N. Commission of Inquiry said in a statement that del Ponte had informed colleagues in June of her decision to leave in the near future. It said the investigations would continue.
"It is our obligation to persist in its work on behalf of the countless number of Syrian victims of the worst human rights violations and international crimes known to humanity," it said.
Del Ponte's departure leaves only two commissioners, Brazil's Paulo Pinheiro and Karen Koning AbuZayd from the United States.
The commission was set up in August 2011 and has regularly reported on human rights violations, but its pleas to observe international law have largely fallen on deaf ears.
Although the United Nations is setting up a new body to prepare prosecutions, there is no sign of any court being established to try war crimes committed in the six-and-a-half year-old war, nor of any intention by the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
Del Ponte's determination to be independent made her outspoken and occasionally controversial. She shocked Western governments in May 2013 by declaring that the United Nations had "strong suspicions" of Syrian rebels using sarin gas.
Two years later, she said justice would catch up with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even if he remained in power under a negotiated peace settlement.
Earlier this year, when the commission reported on Syrian government aircraft deliberately bombing and strafing a humanitarian convoy, del Ponte hinted at her frustration with the inability to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"What we have seen here in Syria, I never saw that in Rwanda, or in former Yugoslavia, in the Balkans. It is really a big tragedy," she added. "Unfortunately we have no tribunal."
Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Susan Fenton
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