ISIS

Last Tuesday, Iraqi troops made a concerted effort to retake Ramadi, which is around 60 miles west of Baghdad. 

The city fell to Islamic State back in May when, according to Ash Carter’s assessment anyway, the army showed no will to fight in the face of the advancing ISIS hordes. Once the army, with the help of Sunni tribal fighters, retook a strategic command center they began to advance on a government complex where, according to sources, some 100 militants were dug in. 

The Kremlin have announced the possibility of using Special Forces against the U.S. and Turkey after proof emerged that both of these nations support ISIS, and that ISIS are planning to attack Russian soil.  Russia have accused Turkey of training terrorist armed fighters “Majlis of Crimean Tatars” who are preparing to launch guerrilla warfare inside the Crimea Oblast. They also say that the U.S.

A Russian military official has claimed that ISIS is a CIA run organisation, and that it is essentially a re-branding of al-Qaeda, another CIA group.  Colonel Alexander Zhilin lays out in laymen’s terms why it is in Russia’s interests to support Assad in the video below. Intifada-palestine.com reports: A number of Russians, and Westerners as well, have some misunderstandings about Russia’s involvement. Zhilin explains why this is not an optional fight for Russia.

Anonymous have said that they successfully foiled an ISIS terror plot in Italy after uncovering vital plans on the terror network’s communications. The hacktivists made the claims in a series of Tweets in November. News.com.au reports: It comes weeks after the group issued a rallying call for those that want to join its cause. In a video posted to YouTube, an Anonymous member wearing the group’s signature Guy Fawkes mask, speaks about the group’s chaotic, leaderless structure. “Anonymous is not an organisation, it is not a club, a party or even a movement.

One of the most amusing things about Russia’s headlong plunge into Syria’s five-year conflict is the extent to which it effectively represented Moscow calling time on Washington’s strategy of seeking to bring about regime change in the Mid-East by intentionally destabilizing otherwise strong (if not always benign) governments.