PrairiePundit

Daily Mail: ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi is sleeping in tunnels with suicide vest as he becomes paranoid his closest team will betray him  The terror mastermind is cowering beneath besieged Mosul while continuing to send jihadists to their death in the battle for the Iraqi city, according to an informant Good riddance if he lights the fuse to his suicide vest.  One can hope that he is living in the kind of fear he imposed to thousands.  I guess he is afraid to take his chances on the road to Raqqa.

USA Today: An Iraqi Air Force has bombed the convoy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Iraq's western Anbar province, the Iraqi military said Sunday. The condition and location of al-Baghdadi were not known, the military said. It did not say when the strike occurred. The military said al-Baghdadi, 44, had been heading to Karabla, near the Syrian border, to attend a meeting with ISIL commanders, the BBC and other media outlets reported. "The location of the meeting was also bombed and many of the group's leaders were killed and wounded," the statement said. ... If true the attack on the commanders meeting may have been the more important one.  Al Baghdadi has been seriously wounded before and it did little to effect ISIL operations.  The group has shown a resilience to survive attacks on leadership targets.

Guardian: The leader of Islamic State , Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been seriously wounded in an air strike in western Iraq, sources have told the Guardian. A source in Iraq with connections to the terror group revealed that Baghdadi suffered serious injuries during an attack by the US-led coalition in March. The source said Baghdadi’s wounds were at first life-threatening, but he has since made a slow recovery. He has not, however, resumed day-to-day control of the organisation. Baghdadi’s wounding led to urgent meetings of Isis leaders, who initially believed he would die and made plans to name a new leader. Two separate officials – a western diplomat and an Iraqi adviser – confirmed the strike took place on 18 March in the al-Baaj a district of Nineveh, close to the Syrian border. There had been two previous reports in November and December of Baghdadi being wounded, though neither was accurate. The diplomat confirmed an air strike on a three-car convoy had taken place on that da...

NY Times: Lebanon Is Said to Detain Wife and Son of ISIS Leader An army official said that the woman, believed to be the wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was still being questioned, and that it remained unclear how much information she had on the group’s operations. I kind of doubt al Baghdadi was prone to pillow talk.  He also strikes me as too self absorbed to fret about his loss.   However she may have information on where he likes to stay.

Fox News: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State terrorist group, was wounded in an airstrike, Iraqi officials said Sunday, while Pentagon officials said they had no immediate information on such a strike or al-Baghdadi being wounded. Iraq's Defense and Interior Ministries issued statements saying al-Baghdadi had been wounded, without elaborating. An Interior Ministry intelligence official told The Associated Press that al-Baghdadi was hit during a meeting Saturday with militants in the town of Qaim in Iraq's western Anbar province. The official, citing informants within the militant group, said the strike wounded al-Baghdadi. A senior Iraqi military official also said he learned in operational meetings that al-Baghdadi had been wounded. Both officials said the operation was carried out by Iraqi security forces. Neither knew the extent of al-Baghdadi's apparent injuries. Col. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in the Middle East, told Fox News ...

Jerusalem Post: US led airstrikes have targeted a gathering of Islamic State leaders in Iraq in a town near the Syrian border, possibly including the group's top commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Al-Hadath television channel said on Saturday. Iraqi security officials were not immediately available for comment on the report from the station, part of Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television, but two witnesses told Reuters an air strike targeted a house where senior Islamic State officers were meeting, near the western Iraqi border town of al-Qaim. They said Islamic State fighters had evacuated a hospital so that their wounded could be treated. Residents said there were unconfirmed reports that Islamic State's local leader in the western Iraqi province of Anbar and his deputy were killed. US officials would not confirm or deny if Baghdadi, the group's overall leader, had been targeted. One US official said that air strikes were carried out against a convoy near the northern c...

NY Times: ISIS’ Harsh Brand of Islam Is Rooted in Austere Saudi Creed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, adheres to a ruthless creed that has clear roots in the 18th century Arabian Peninsula.  I suspect that al Baghdadi thinks he is doing what Mohammad commanded.  His brand of Islam is based on religious bigotry and an intolerance of any deviation from his weird beliefs.

It is a good question.  We hit their headquarters while they were at home sleeping.

Decapitations and crucifixions are common place as are beatings.  These people have created a hell on earth.

LA Times: Even as it launched sweeping new airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria, the U.S. military said Tuesday that it had expanded the campaign to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, targeting an offshoot of Al Qaeda said to be plotting "imminent" attacks against American and Western targets. A total of eight U.S. air attacks carried out in Syria’s largest city were aimed at the "Khorasan Group," described in a U.S. Central Command statement as an organization of Al Qaeda veterans. The Aleppo campaign marked an expansion of the bombing effort launched initially against strongholds of Islamic State in eastern Syria, conducted by U.S. planes, drones and ships with the help of five Arab nations. The strikes indicate that the U.S. air campaign in Syria has broader objectives than going after the Islamic State, the target of the attacks in eastern Syria. The bombing west of Aleppo, about 100 miles northeast of the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqah, ...

USA Today: The U.S. military has begun air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria late Monday, as the war ordered by President Obama against the militant organization took on an urgent new phase. "I can confirm that U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against ISIL terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles," said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary. "Given that these operations are ongoing, we are not in a position to provide additional details at this time." The attack, carried out by warplanes dropping bombs and ships firing cruise missiles, hit about 20 IS targets, including headquarters buildings for the militants who have based their movement in Syria, according to a senior Defense Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the attack. ... Reuters reports that there is Arab participation and Fox News is reporting there are f...

NY Times: ISIS Withstands U.S. Airstrikes as Sunni Tribes Stand Aside After six weeks of Western air support, Iraqi forces have scarcely budged Islamic State fighters from their hold on more than a quarter of the country. I think it has been more effective in conjunction with Kurdish forces who have recovered some of the territory lost in the earlier ISIL offensive.  The Iraqi government forces have not been effective in removing the ISIL forces.

NY Times: Though Adversaries on the Surface, U.S. and Hezbollah Share a Goal In practice, Hezbollah and the United States are already working — separately — on a common goal: to stop the extremist Islamic State from moving into Lebanon. Hezballah is actually responsible for the deaths of more Americans than the Islamic State so why isn't the US working to see both lose this fight?  I can understand our support of the Kurds.  I oppose helping Hezballah.  It is an organization antithetical to peace in the region.

Guardian: Kurds call on 'all Middle East' to help defend stronghold from Isis Tens of thousands of Kurdish refugees have fled to Syria-Turkey border region of Kobani to escape onslaught of Islamist militants Kurdish fighters from within Turkey are flowing to the battle and I suspect some from Iraq are also joining the fight.  We should be helping them, but it is unclear whether Obama will offer air support.  The fight provides an opportunity to strike ISIL forces out in the open as they move their people into position to attack.

Sunday Telegraph: Isil fanatics 'fear being killed by a woman will deprive them of virgins in paradise'  Women fighters joining ranks of Kurdish peshmerga forces hold particular power over male extremists promised 72 virgins if they die in battle Clearly we need to train more women fighters to confront them.

BBC: Some 66,000 refugees - mainly Syrian Kurds - have crossed into Turkey in 24 hours, officials say, as Islamic State militants advance in northern Syria. Turkey opened its border on Friday to Syrians fleeing the Kurdish town of Kobane in fear of an IS attack. Activists say some 300 Kurdish fighters have crossed into Syria from Turkey to help defend the strategic town. IS controls large areas of Syria and Iraq and has seized dozens of villages around Kobane, also called Ayn al-Arab. Turkey - which shares a border with Iraq and Syria - has taken in more than 847,000 refugees since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began three years ago. ...  The ISIL forces have overrun several Kurdish towns in Northern Syria in recent days.  The armed Iraqi Kurds and a few armed Turkish Kurds are probably the only forces capable of helping them regain their communities.  I think we should support that effort.

NY Times: Dozens of Turkish Hostages Held by ISIS Are Freed Forty-nine hostages held for months in Iraq were returned to Turkey on Saturday after what Turkey said was a covert operation led by its intelligence agency. Turkey has become the primary supply line for the Islamic State and its main trading partner in the black market sales of stolen oil.  It is also the main transit point for recruits from around the world seeking to join the head chopping brigands.  The Islamist government of Turkey has also refused to allow the use of its air bases for attacks on the Islamic religious bigots.  It will be interesting to learn whether they paid a ransom for the release of the hostages.

Washington Free Beacon: Dem Rep: 40 American ISIL Fighters Have Already Returned to the United States   These individuals under surveillance, 'being tracked' by the FBI The Ted Cruz proposed legislation would put these people's citizenship in question.   It seems like the current procedures will be very labor intensive for the FBI.

Institute for the Study of War: On September 18, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) launched a complex attack likely targeting the Adala (Justice) Prison in Baghdad’s Kadhmiyah neighborhood in northern Baghdad. According to the Baghdad Operations Command, the attack was  intended to break into the prison but was foiled. ISIS also launched another attack in Baghdad’s Iskan neighborhood that likely targeted the offices of the Iraqi Shi’a political group and militia, the Badr Organization. ISIS’s attack included mortar rounds, Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIEDs), and Suicide Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (SVBIEDs). The mortars were likely launched from the areas of the northern Baghdad belt including Taji. Fourteen mortar rounds reportedly targeted the Adala prison and in the vicinity of Kadhmiyah, and other mortar rounds fell in the Greaat area in northern Baghdad which is adjacent to Kadhmiyah. An SVBIED also targeted the prison, resulting in the ...

Bill Gertz: CIA goes to war against Islamic State A look at how the CIA will take on the next phase of its war on terrorist.  It will be a lot of electronic surveillance and drone strikes.