Saturday, November 22, 2014

"Woe unto thee, Chorazin!" - ISIL or ISIS



A Public Park around Tokyo



ISIL or ISIS

Apparently the biggest factor of global tragedy is ISIS or ISIL.

But where have they come?
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

On 16 May 2010, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was appointed the new leader of the Islamic State of Iraq.[82][83] Al-Baghdadi replenished the group's leadership, many of whom had been killed or captured, by appointing former Ba'athist military and intelligence officers who had served during the Saddam Hussein regime. These men, nearly all of whom had spent time imprisoned by the US military, came to make up about one-third of Baghdadi's top 25 commanders. One of them was a former Colonel, Samir al-Khlifawi, also known as Haji Bakr, who became the overall military commander in charge of overseeing the group's operations.

In July 2012, al-Baghdadi released an audio statement online announcing that the group was returning to the former strongholds from which US troops and their Sunni allies had driven them prior to the withdrawal of US troops.[86] He also declared the start of a new offensive in Iraq called Breaking the Walls, which was aimed at freeing members of the group held in Iraqi prisons.[86] Violence in Iraq began to escalate that month, and by July 2013 monthly fatalities had exceeded 1,000 for the first time since April 2008.[87] The Breaking the Walls campaign culminated in July 2013, with the group carrying out simultaneous raids on Taji and Abu Ghraib prison, freeing more than 500 prisoners, many of them veterans of the Iraqi insurgency.

On 8 April 2013, al-Baghdadi released an audio statement in which he announced that al-Nusra Front had been established, financed and supported by the Islamic State of Iraq[92] and that the two groups were merging under the name "Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham".[42] Al-Jawlani issued a statement denying the merger and complaining that neither he nor anyone else in al-Nusra's leadership had been consulted about it.[93] In June 2013, Al Jazeera reported that it had obtained a letter written by al-Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, addressed to both leaders, in which he ruled against the merger, and appointed an emissary to oversee relations between them to put an end to tensions.[94] In the same month, al-Baghdadi released an audio message rejecting al-Zawahiri's ruling and declaring that the merger was going ahead.[95] In October 2013, al-Zawahiri ordered the disbanding of ISIL, putting al-Nusra Front in charge of jihadist efforts in Syria,[96] but al-Baghdadi contested al-Zawahiri's ruling on the basis of Islamic jurisprudence,[95] and his group continued to operate in Syria. In February 2014, after an eight-month power struggle, al-Qaeda disavowed any relations with ISIL.


While al-Nusra has a "large contingent of foreign fighters", it is seen as a home-grown group by many Syrians; by contrast, ISIL fighters have been described as "foreign 'occupiers'" by many Syrian refugees.[97] It has a strong presence in central and northern Syria, where it has instituted sharia in a number of towns.[97] The group reportedly controlled the four border towns of Atmeh, al-Bab, Azaz and Jarablus, allowing it to control the entrance and exit from Syria into Turkey.[97] Foreign fighters in Syria include Russian-speaking jihadists who were part of Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (JMA).[98] In November 2013, the JMA's Chechen leader Abu Omar al-Shishani swore an oath of allegiance to al-Baghdadi;[99] the group then split between those who followed al-Shishani in joining ISIL and those who continued to operate independently in the JMA under new leadership.[100]


In May 2014, Ayman al-Zawahiri ordered al-Nusra Front to stop attacks on its rival ISIL.[101] In June 2014, after continued fighting between the two groups, al-Nusra's branch in the Syrian town of Al-Bukamal pledged allegiance to ISIL.[102][103]


In mid-June 2014, ISIL captured the Trabil crossing on the Jordan–Iraq border,[104] the only border crossing between the two countries.[105] ISIL has received some public support in Jordan, albeit limited, partly owing to state repression there,[106] but has undertaken a recruitment drive in Saudi Arabia,[107] where tribes in the north are linked to those in western Iraq and eastern Syria.


On 29 June 2014, ISIL removed "Iraq and the Levant" from its name and began to refer to itself as the "Islamic State", proclaiming itself caliphate and naming Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as caliph.[6] The declaration as caliphate has been criticized and ridiculed by Muslim scholars and rival Islamists inside and outside the occupied territory.


At the end of October 2014, radical militants in control of the Libyan city of Derna pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, thus making Derna the first city outside Syria and Iraq a part of the so-called "Islamic State caliphate".


On 2 November 2014, in response to the US-led airstrikes, representatives from Ahrar ash-Sham attended a significant meeting with the al-Nusra Front, the Khorasan Group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and Jund al-Aqsa, which sought to unite several hard-line groups against the US-led Coalition and other moderate Syrian Rebel groups.[131] On 10 November 2014, the Egyptian terrorist group Ansar Bait al-Maqdis also pledged its allegiance to ISIL.

List of ISIL Leaders
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Leader since 2010, various titles)[144]
Abu Muslim al-Turkmani (Deputy Leader in Iraq)
Abu Ali al-Anbari (Deputy Leader in Syria)
Abu Mohammad al-Adnani (official spokesperson)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant


Al-Baghdadi is believed to have been born near Samarra, Iraq, in 1971.[13][14] According to a biography that circulated on jihadist internet forums in July 2013, he obtained a BA, MA and PhD in Islamic studies from the Islamic University of Baghdad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_al-Baghdadi

If the US had not invaded Iraq and taken on Saddam Hussein in the War on Terror in Iraq that started in 2003, there would not be ISIS or ISIL today.  In addition, if President Obama had not withdrawn US troops while situations in Iraq were still unstable, there would not be ISIS or ISIL today.

As Saddam Hussein was not respected by Arab or Islamic leaders, ISIS or ISIL is not respected by other Muslims.  But they occupied a large area in Iraq and Syria, since both the countries are not in full order and justice.

The US is clearly responsible for the present state in the area.  But could it be a final solution for the US to send ground troops there again?

However, if Israel should come to be threatened by ISIS or ISIL, the US would be fully involved.

Or does Israel think that ISIS or ISIL is a favorite factor of its safety, since ISIS or ISIL is damaging mostly Muslim communities in upstream ares of the River Euphrates and the River Tigris?

Anyway, poor Muslims suffering under the pressure from ISIL or ISIS could ask help from Allah.



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Mat 11:20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
Mat 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Mat 11:22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.