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Prioress of Dominican Sisters in Iraq chronicles ISIS takeover, expresses fears and frustrations Sister Maria Hanna: "The disaster is overwhelming, and we are unable to comprehend it all." August 27, 2014 03:14 EST By Carl E. Olson Sister Aman Miriam places her hands in the hands of her Prioress, Sister Maria Hanna (right), as she makes Perpetual Profession of Vows, in this undated photo from the website of the Adrian Dominican Sisters (www.adriandominicans.org) Sister Maria Hanna, Prioress of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in Iraq, has been posting about the harrowing situation there over the past...

A destroyed building in Mosul in Northern Iraq News / World Life Under IS in Mosul 26.08.2014 Diyar Aziz BasNews, Erbil A Mosul citizen has told BasNews about life in Mosul under control of the Islamic State (IS) militants. The citizen, 23-years-old, wanted to remain anonymous for reasons of safety. He talked about public services in Mosul, “There are no services left in the city, especially now that the federal government of Iraq has cut electricity to the city. Oil and gas are both hard to come by and have become very expensive in the bazaar. The quality is...

Cross being removed from the Armenian Church in Raqqa, Syria, 2013 Source:  Caffè Storia, August 22, 2014 It was in March 2013, at the peak of the complex phase of the civil war in Syria, when the Jihadist militants of Jabat al-Nusra captured the city of Ar Raqqah (Raqqa or Rakka) from the government troops of President Bashar al-Asad.  In May of 2013, while the United States and Europe were still discussing a possible military intervention in Syria against al-Asad and at the United Nations they were trying to find, without success, tangible proof as to who had really...

Two days before Mosul fell to the Islamic insurgent group Isis (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), Iraqi commanders stood eyeballing its most trusted messenger. The man, known within the extremist group as Abu Hajjar, had finally cracked after a fortnight of interrogation and given up the head of Isis's military council. "He said to us, 'you don't realise what you have done'," an intelligence official recalled. "Then he said: 'Mosul will be an inferno this week'.' Several hours later, the man he had served as a courier and been attempting to protect, Abdulrahman al-Bilawi, lay dead in...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official says American fighter jets and drones conducted nearly a dozen airstrikes in Iraq since Tuesday, even as Islamic State militants threatened to kill a second American captive in retribution for any continued strikes. The militants released a video Tuesday showing U.S. journalist James Foley being beheaded. The official says the airstrikes were in the area of the Mosul Dam and were aimed at helping Iraqi and Kurdish forces create a buffer zone at the key facility. The strikes have helped Iraqi and Kurdish troops reclaim the dam from the insurgents.

US officials have begun discussions with local leaders in Iraq’s Ninevah province about how to recapture the city of Mosul in the wake of the successful operation to recover control of Mosul Dam from the Islamic State (IS), a US official said. In an interview Aug. 20 with Al-Monitor, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, predicted that recovering Iraq’s second largest city — which was seized by IS on June 10 — would “require local forces” and be a long-term project. “We’re in touch with the governor of Ninevah and all the Iraqi leaders and a number of...

President Obama announced Monday that Iraqi and Kurdish security forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes, have recaptured the vital Mosul Dam -- calling it a "major step forward" in the fight against Islamic State militants who seized the dam earlier this month. "If that dam was breached, it could have proven catastrophic," Obama said, speaking from the White House briefing room. The joint military campaign lasted for hours, as U.S. airstrikes pounded Islamic militant positions while Iraqi security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters battled on the ground to retake the infrastructure. Obama, who spoke during a brief pause in D.C. from...

Iraqi and Kurdish forces claimed Monday that they ejected Islamic State fighters from a strategically vital dam in northern Iraq, after waves of U.S. airstrikes scattered the radical Islamist militants in the biggest push yet to reverse their blitz through the country. Fighting continued on the western bank of the lake at the head of the Mosul Dam, and government troops were unable to enter the facility because it was booby-trapped by the retreating militants, officials said. But the officials claimed that Islamic State fighters were on the run after the offensive launched by Iraqi special forces and Kurdish pesh...

US airstrikes hit Islamic State positions near Iraq dam Last Updated: Monday, August 18, 2014, 17:15 The US military conducted airstrikes today on Islamic State positions near the Mosul Dam in northern , the Pentagon said.A mix of US fighter, bomber and drone aircraft took part in the strikes, which damaged or destroyed six armed vehicles, a light armored vehicle, a vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft artillery gun, a checkpoint and an improvised explosive device emplacement belt, the Pentagon said in a statement.Since August 8th the US military has conducted a total of 68 airstrikes in Iraq, the Pentagon said. Of those...

(CNSNews.com) – Amel Shimoun Nona, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, Iraq, who is now living in exile, warned that his diocese is now run by radical Muslims and that “liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here,” adding that “Islam does not say that all men are equal,” and if Westerners “do not understand this soon enough, you will become the victims of the enemy you have welcomed into your home.” The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Rite church, under the authority of Pope Francis. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Archbishop Amel Nona, now living in...

FULL TITLE: Archbishop of Mosul: "I have lost my Diocese to Islam - You in the West will also become the victims of Muslims" Armenian Orthodox church in Raqqa, Syria, now an ISIS office Our sufferings today are the prelude of those you, Europeans and Western Christians, will also suffer in the near future. I lost my diocese. The physical setting of my apostolate has been occupied by Islamic radicals who want us converted or dead. But my community is still alive. Please, try to understand us. Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here. You must consider again...

The latest round of US airstrikes in Iraq against the Islamic State extremist group includes the first reported use of land-based bombers in the military campaign. Kurdish security officials say Kurdish forces, aided by US and Iraqi airstrikes, have now taken over parts of the dam. Militants had captured control of the dam less than two weeks ago. The US military says US forces conducted nine strikes yesterday and another 16 today. The second round of strikes damaged or destroyed 10 armed vehicles, seven Humvees, two armored personnel carriers, and one checkpoint, the US said.

Our sufferings today are the prelude of those you, Europeans and Western Christians, will also suffer in the near future. I lost my diocese. The physical setting of my apostolate has been occupied by Islamic radicals who want us converted or dead. But my community is still alive. Please, try to understand us. Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here. You must consider again our reality in the Middle East, because you are welcoming in your countries an ever growing number of Muslims. Also you are in danger. You must take strong and courageous decisions, even at the...

AL-QOSH, Iraq: Iraqi Kurdish forces backed by US air strikes on Sunday retook the country's largest dam from jihadist militants who seized it the previous week, officials said. A peshmerga officer and two political party officials told AFP that Kurdish forces had retaken Mosul Dam...

By Associated Press August 17 at 9:08 AMIRBIL, Iraq — An Iraqi security official says Kurdish forces have taken over parts of the country’s largest dam, which was captured by the Islamic State extremist group earlier this month.Gen. Tawfik Desty told The Associated Press that peshmerga forces backed by Iraqi and U.S. warplanes started the operation to retake Mosul Dam early Sunday.Desty, a commander with the Kurdish forces at the dam, which was seized on Aug. 7, said they now control the eastern part of the dam and that fighting is still underway.

Kurdish Forces Capture Telsqof, Advance Towards Mosul Dam By RUDAW 2 hours ago “The assault will continue until we retake Zumar and Shingal as well,” ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Supported by US fighter jets Kurdish Peshmerga forces took the town of Telsqof early Sunday morning and they are making rapid advance towards the Mosul dam, said a Kurdish commander. “With the help of American fighter jets the Peshmerga launched a wide-ranging attack this morning, we have taken Telsqof and Risala villages and we are moving towards the Mosul dam,” a Peshmerga commander in the area told Rudaw. The commander said that...

By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News Saturday, 16 August 2014 Kurdish troops backed by U.S. warplanes launched a bid Saturday to recapture Mosul dam, Iraq’s largest, from militants, a senior Kurdish military official said. “Kurdish peshmerga, with U.S. air support, have seized control of the eastern side of the dam” complex, Major General Abdelrahman Korini told AFP. “We killed several members of Daash. We are still advancing and in the coming hours should announce welcome news,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group. Witnesses said the air strikes...

Kurdistan US Jets Strike Multiple IS Positions Around Mosul 7 hours ago ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—US fighter jets launched a bombing campaign against positions of the Islamic State (IS) near Mosul dam and surrounding towns shortly after midnight on Friday, Rudaw reporter said. The jets have bombed IS positions in four areas near the dam as well as in Rabia crossing, Mahmoudia, Telskouf, Zumar and Tilkef. A Peshmerga eyewitness said this is the heaviest US bombing of militant positions since the start of airstrikes against the Islamist group last week. Rudaw reporter Hevidar Ahmed said that a gas station used by...

U.S. warplanes carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq near ISIS-controlled Mosul Dam early Saturday morning, the Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported, citing eyewitnesses. CNN confirmed that a U.S. and Iraqi military operation aimed at retaking the country's largest hydroelectric dam from the so-called Islamic State was scheduled to begin early Saturday morning (Friday at 6 p.m. ET). The operation was to begin with U.S. and Iraqi airstrikes against ISIS positions, with Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces following up on the ground. U.S. fighter jets began carrying out the strikes early Saturday morning local time, Rudaw reported

The FBI “most wanted” mugshot shows a tough, swarthy figure, his hair in a jailbird crew-cut. The $10 million price on his head, meanwhile, suggests that whoever released him from US custody four years ago may now be regretting it. Taken during his years as a detainee at the US-run Camp Bucca in southern Iraq, this is the only known photograph of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the new leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria. But while he may lack the photogenic qualities of his hero, Osama bin Laden, he is fast becoming the new poster-boy for the global jihadist movement....