United States Intelligence Officials Want ISIL Fighters to Keep Tweeting

Radical Islamists in Iraq are using social media to spread fear and propaganda in a way no terrorist group has done before.
Fighters from the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) have shared Instagram pictures of gory executions, YouTube videos showing a beheading, tweeting ''This is our ball. It’s made of skin #WorldCup.'' Seemingly without break, their Twitter accounts spews a mixture of carnage and preaching, peppered with weird jokes and gruesome taunts.

And American officials want them to keep it up.
An employee with a major social media company told Mashable that U.S. intelligence officials approached
the company and asked that the ISIL accounts not be taken down, despite the often bloody and threatening content.
"U.S. intelligence prefers for these accounts to stay up, rather than come down," the employee said on condition that he and his company not be named.

The reason? American intelligence officials are monitoring the ISIL accounts, trying to glean information about the deadly group and its strengths, tactics and networks.
Social media "is one of the many sources" American analysts monitor when "assessing the fluid ISIL
situation," a U.S. intelligence official told Mashable on condition of anonymity.
"Whether or not it makes more sense to be trying to quash this kind of communication so they can’t get
their message out, intel folks would always want them to have it more open," said Jason Healey, a founding member of the Pentagon's first joint cyber war-fighting unit and now director of the Atlantic Council's Statecraft Initiative.

ISIL is the first international terror group to have embraced social media as a vital part of its identity.
When they are not fighting, the militants tweet no end, sharing pictures of captured weapons, taking over popular memes and tweeting about about their battle plans. In fact, their social media presence is so energetic, experts believe they are either quite naive about their exposure or their messages are part of a plan to inflate the group's power and popularize themselves amongst potential recruits.
"These guys are so busy promoting themselves online, you’d think they were Justin Bieber," Clint Watts, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told Mashable.

Certainly, the group appears to have a coordinated social media strategy, according to experts on intelligence gathering and the Middle East. As Kalev Leetaru, a fellow at Georgetown University, put it: ISIL is the first group to use "social media as an actual
weapon of war."
Even so, social media is a double-edged sword since it allows U.S. analysts to discover things about the fighters they might not want to reveal.
"Right now I could get online and I could watch ISIL on social media and tell you where they are operating, which countries they’re from and who they’re working with," Watts said.
Being blind did not stop me. What is your excuse for staying behind? #Tawheed #Hijrah #Jihad #IS #Khilafah pic.twitter.com/gQiv9cIFbj
— Taymullaah (@Taymullaah) July 8, 2014

By studying social media feeds, American intelligence analysts can better understand what motivates ISIL fighters, the hierarchy of the organization and the ultimate aims of the group. As Watts told Mashable,
ISIL fighters tweet about their plans and their leaders, and different factions of the group have ideological debates on Facebook.
If analysts know where to look, all they have to do is watch.
"There’s a lot of information that is being spread by ISIL accounts which could be used if the U.S. opts for drone attacks on Syria or Iraq," said intelligence expert Pieter Van Ostaeyen, who has been following ISIL tweets which, he says, reveal a stunning amount.

"They don’t seem to be afraid of anything being put out in the open. Or maybe they just don’t realize what
they’re doing."
He cited an example from a few weeks ago, involving five British-born ISIL fighters, who went on Twitter to chat about meeting at a specific Syrian Internet cafe.
When some of the other militants didn't show up as agreed, one of the fighters complained to the others on Twitter as if they were "in some private chatroom," Van Ostaeyen said.

Beyond such analysis of "open source" intelligence, U.S. officials are likely to have approached companies such as Facebook and Twitter to try to gain access to individual accounts, terrorism experts say. With that kind of access, agents could get information including the individual computer's IP address, using that to pinpoint the exact location of a fighter. Access to someone's Twitter account might also reveal an email address, which could lead to a new contact list for analysts to monitor.
Twitter and Facebook declined to comment for this article. YouTube, for its part, said that the company complies "valid court orders and subpoenas," but declined to answer specific questions about ISIL.

Though they might collect such information, the U.S. doesn't currently have a way to put it to use.
“Even if we were able to use the IP addresses, we’d have to be willing and able to deploy cyber tools, special ops and drones. And all three of those are
currently imperfect responses to ISIL," said Tom Sanderson, a terrorism and intelligence expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Though the U.S. could pass information to the Iraqi government or even militias preparing to fight ISIL, Sanderson said he doesn't think the American government is about to do that. Information leaks to the ISIL or an unfriendly government are too great a risk.

Spreading fear and propaganda, of course, is nothing new. The terror of Genghis Khan's campaign across
Mongolia in the 12th century was a language of sorts: heads on spikes communicated a clear message of pitilessness that helped crush opponents' spirits. Much later, al-Qaeda would found Inspire magazine to spread propaganda and its off-shoot in Iraq would turn to televised beheading to signal their willingness to commit unspeakably brutal acts.

During the late 2000s, as al-Qaeda in Iraq was losing ground, decimated by both American forces and local Sunni tribes turning against them, the group clung to life — in part through social media, according to Watts. And just as the Internet was evolving from a
series of static websites to a digital sphere fueled by connectivity, al-Qaeda was evolving as a network. The group took lessons learned about fighting, recruitment and propaganda in Iraq with them into Syria, where they emerged some years later as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
An influx of often young and tech savvy volunteers from the west has helped the group translate its message — not just linguistically but technologically and culturally through the appropriation of memes, for example — to a western audience. Yet there is something paradoxical about a group that wants to return everyone to the Dark Ages, yet uses high-tech
American companies to disseminate that message.

In terms of how to respond, some terrorism experts in think it might be worthwhile trying to shut down some
of the more prolific accounts. But few really think it's a feasible task.
"These guys can move to so many new accounts on Twitter and Facebook," Sanderson told Mashable . "It’s just going to be an endless game of whack-a-mole."
"Extremists are on social media to stay," J.M. Berger, a researcher who focuses on extremists' use of social media, told Mashable. "And there's no putting the genie back in the bottle."

Courtesy:
mashable.com

Exclusive: Iraq Tells U.N. that 'Terrorist Groups' Seized Nuclear Materials

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Insurgents in Iraq have seized nuclear materials used for scientific research at a university in the country's north, Iraq told the United Nations in a letter appealing for help to "stave off the
threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad."
Nearly 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of uranium compounds were kept at Mosul University, Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the July 8 letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.
"Terrorist groups have seized control of nuclear material at the sites that came out of the control of the state," Alhakim wrote, adding that such materials "can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction."
"These nuclear materials, despite the limited amounts mentioned, can enable terrorist groups, with the availability of the required expertise, to use it separate or in combination with other materials in its terrorist acts," said Alhakim. He warned that they could also be smuggled out of Iraq.

A U.S. government source familiar with the matter said the materials were not believed to be enriched uranium and therefore would be difficult to use to manufacture into a weapon. Another U.S. official familiar with security matters said he was unaware of this development raising any alarm among U.S. authorities.

A Sunni Muslim group known as the Islamic State is spearheading a patchwork of insurgents who have
taken over large swaths of Syria and Iraq. The al Qaeda offshoot until recently called itself the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
"The Republic of Iraq is notifying the international community of these dangerous developments and asking for help and the needed support to stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad," Alhakim wrote.

Iraq acceded to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material on Monday, said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The convention requires states to protect nuclear facilities and material in peaceful domestic use, storage and transport.
"It also provides for expanded cooperation between and among states regarding rapid measures to locate and recover stolen or smuggled nuclear material, mitigate any radiological consequences of sabotage, and prevent and combat related offences," according to the IAEA.

Courtesy:
Reuters

ISIS Allegedly Issues ‘Caliphate’ Passport

Militant members and sympathizers of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have circulated pictures of what they said was the passport of the so-called “caliphate” declared last week by the militant group.

The "State of the Islamic Caliphate” appears to be inscribed at the top of the purported passport. At the bottom, it says: “The holder of the passport if harmed we will deploy armies for his service.”

ISIS reportedly said the new document will be distributed to 11,000 citizens living in cities bordering Iraq and Syria.

The militant group, which operates in both Iraq and Syria, said their caliphate would spread from Aleppo in northern Syria to Diyala in eastern Iraq.

The passport is reportedly being printed in a government facility in Mosul that was built in 2011.

The facility known as the “Identification and Passport Center” was scheduled by the Maliki’s government to start issuing new ID card next week, according to Iraqi media reports.

Last week, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on Muslims with military, medical and managerial skills to flock to its newly-declared pan-Islamic state, in an audio recording.

“Those who can immigrate to the Islamic State should immigrate, as immigration to the house of Islam is a duty,” said Baghdadi.

The newly named “caliph” said the appeal especially applied to “judges and those who have military and managerial and service skills, and doctors and engineers in all fields.”

Baghdadi also addressed the group’s fighters, saying that “your brothers in all the world are waiting” to be rescued by them.

“Terrify the enemies of Allah and seek death in the places where you expect to find it,” he said. “Your brothers, on every piece of this earth, are waiting for you to rescue them.”

Courtesy:
Al Arabiya News

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Calls for Reconciliation Between Jihadist Groups

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), one of al Qaeda's official branches, posted a statement on jihadist forums on Jul. 1 praising the Islamic State's recent military gains in Iraq. AQIM also calls for reconciliation between the ISIS and rival jihadist groups in Syria. The message was first obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The statement was authored on June 22, one week before the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS) rebranded itself as the Islamic State and declared that it now ruled over a caliphate. The Islamic State's controversial caliphate announcement is not, therefore, addressed in AQIM's statement.

AQIM's message is addressed to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), which is how the group will be referred to here.

AQIM begins by praising "the victories of our people the Sunnis in Iraq under the command of their mujahideen sons, and on top of them the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham" (ISIS). Interestingly, AQIM argues that ISIS' advances in Iraq have "alleviated our calamity in" Syria and "mended the rift and directed arrows of the mujahideen to the necks of the enemies of the Ummah and the religion: the Crusaders, the [Shiites], and the apostates."

Therefore, AQIM sees ISIS' advances in Iraq as aiming the jihadists' "arrows" at their appropriate common enemies, instead of one another. However, the gains made by the ISIS in Iraq have not put an end to the infighting in Syria, where the ISIS and its rivals have battled for months.

After calling for broad support for the jihad in Iraq, AQIM's statement then says the jihadist factions should reconcile their differences. AQIM first addresses the ISIS. "We call upon our mujahideen brothers in Iraq and on top of them, our brothers in the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham [ISIS], to take advantage of these conquests and winds of victory to gather and meet, and forget the past of dispute and conflict, and open a new page with their brothers," the group's statement reads, according to SITE's translation.

Without naming any specific groups in Syria, AQIM addresses jihadists there, arguing that they should support the ISIS' efforts in Iraq. "We call upon our mujahideen brothers in Sham to strongly support the conquests of their brothers in Iraq and protect their backs and provide them with what they need to continue their march and complete their victory, as recommended by our Sheikh and Emir Sheikh Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, may Allah preserve and protect him, because Iraq is a debt upon the entire Ummah."

Courtesy, full article:
Long War Journal

ISIS Jihadists Declare ‘Islamic Caliphate’, Names Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "The Caliph"

Jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq announced Sunday the establishment of a “caliphate,” referring to the system of rule that ended nearly 100 years ago with the fall of the Ottomans, Agence France-Presse reported.
In an audio recording distributed online, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) declared its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi “the caliph” and “leader for Muslims everywhere.”
"The Shura [council] of the Islamic State met and discussed this issue [of the caliphate] ... The Islamic State decided to establish an Islamic caliphate and to designate a caliph for the state of the Muslims," said ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani.
"The jihadist cleric Baghdadi was designated the caliph of the Muslims," said Adnani. Baghdadi "has accepted this allegiance and has thus become the leader for Muslims everywhere."
"The words 'Iraq' and 'the Levant' have been removed from the name of the Islamic State in official papers and documents," Adnani said, describing the caliphate as "the dream in all the
Muslims’ hearts" and "the hope of all jihadists."

Ever since the Prophet Muhammad’s death, a caliph was designated "the prince" or emir "of the believers.”
After the first four caliphs who succeeded Muhammad, the caliphate lived its golden age in the Omayyad empire from the year 661 to 750,
and then under the Abbasids, from 750 to 1517. It was abolished when the Ottoman empire collapsed in 1924.

(With AFP)

Al Arabiya News

President Obama sends CIA to UK to probe terrorist 'breeding ground' and growing 'lone wolf' terrorism

President Obama has sent  a special unit of CIA officers to the UK to investigate British Muslim extremists amid growing fears in Washington that we are becoming a ‘breeding ground’ for terrorism.

In a pointed snub to MI5, the agents arrived on a ‘lone wolf’ mission to interrogate senior security experts about the radicalisation of UK Muslims.

The mission has been revealed as UK security services have been forced to admit they are struggling to keep track of the estimated 500 Britons who have travelled to the Middle East to fight alongside the Islamic  Isis forces in Syria and Iraq.

It is unusual for the CIA to send a team to the UK: the agency usually relies on information passed to it by  MI5 or MI6 or by its agents stationed at the American Embassy in London.

Sources have told The Mail on Sunday that the agents were keen to establish the ‘stability’ of the relationship between the Sunni and Shia branches of Muslims in the UK. The fighters going out to join Isis have been British-based Sunnis, causing deepening tensions within the community.

Professor Anthony Glees, of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at Buckingham University, said the mission, which took place earlier this year, showed the level of concern in Washington over the issue, which he claimed was rooted in the UK’s ‘lax’ immigration policies.

‘The US is worried about the British situation. They fear there might be a knock-on effect for them,’ Prof Glees said.

‘The throat-cutting between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq and Syria has not yet spread to the UK, but it is a real threat. It is conceivable you could see Shia “hit squads” in Britain targeting Sunnis preparing to go out to the conflict zones to fight.’

He said: ‘The Americans regard the UK as a disaster because of our lax stance on immigration which has allowed this militancy to take hold.

‘Frankly, they would not be doing their jobs properly if it did not do this – forming an objective view of the situation outside of the reports they get from MI5 and their officers at the US Embassy in London.’

Last night a source at the CIA insisted British intelligence had been informed of ‘all outside contacts’ the agents made in  the UK.

However, the sources also admitted that the move revealed a growing lack of trust in Washington over MI5 and MI6’s ability to provide a reliable assessment of the security threat presented by young Muslims under the sway of imams who are radicalised and then recruited to fight in religious wars around the globe.

The Obama administration has become increasingly anxious that young American Muslims could follow the same pattern. There are strong links between British and American radicals and the sources say the CIA feels British efforts to identify and unmask them have been inadequate.

A CIA and a Home Office spokesman declined to comment.

Courtesy:
Daily Mail

ISIS Militants Kidnap 150 Kurdish Students in Syria

Al Qaeda-inspired extremists kidnapped at least 150 children as they went home after exams in northern Syria, Kurdish leaders told NBC News on Friday. Aged between 10 and 15, the students were traveling from the city of Aleppo to their hometown Kobani when they were abducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) at the end of May, Kurdish rebel commander Ali Muslim said. Among them were dozens of schoolgirls who were released within hours, said a Kurdish political activist who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"We thought at first the students were abducted because they go to regime areas or because they are Kurds or because the majority of the Kurds are with PYD [Democratic Union Party] who are fighting against ISIS,” the activist said. “But now, we are afraid that the students are trained to fight with them or using them as human shields.” Six students had managed to escape, according to Muslim. Kurds in Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey have been fighting for a separate homeland for decades.

NBCNews