"Bodies of Christian children and their parents litter the chaotic streets of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, as violent Muslim extremists have seized a terrorized city Iraqi Christians once considered their last safe refuge.
“Mosul fell overnight,” reported Nina Shea of National Review. “Panic-stricken
Christians, along with many others, are now fleeing en masse to the rural Nineveh plain, according to the Vatican publication Fides. The border crossings into Kurdistan, too, are jammed with the cars of the estimated 150,000 desperate escapees.
"ISIS has now captured the Salahaddin cities of Bayji, which has Iraq's largest oil refinery, and Tikrit, the provincial capital.
ISIS units traveling in a convoy of more than 60 vehicles advanced into Bayji last night, and torched several government buildings, court houses, and police headquarters, according to ITAR-TASS and Reuters. ISIS fighters are said to have surrounded the refinery and sent a delegation to security forces who are holding out in the complex.
According to Reuters, the 250 security personnel agreed to withdraw from the refinery complex, the largest in Iraq."
From the Fiscal Times...
"Christian Whiton, a former George W. Bush administration State Department senior advisor, said that the mishandling of Iraq dates back to the first President Bush. He added that President Obama’s desire to disengage from Iraq while reengaging in Afghanistan has led to troubles there.
“We defeated ourselves twice in Iraq,” said Whiton. “For his part, Obama gave away the security and power that came from Bush's victorious surge of military forces in 2007. Obama intentionally failed to reach
an agreement to keep some forces in Iraq and felt he was above dealing with Iraq's leaders as Bush had.”
“Very critical and even apocalyptic,” was an emailed description from Catholic Priest Najeeb Michaeel who signed off abruptly, saying armed extremists had surrounded the convent to which he had fled.
“Most of the inhabitants of the city have already abandoned their houses and fled into the villages,” wrote the Dominican friar. “Many thousands of armed men from the Islamic Groups of Da’ash have attacked the city of Mosul for the last two days. They have assassinated adults and children. The bodies have been left in the streets and in the houses by the hundreds, without pity.
“What we are living and what we have seen over the last two days is horrible and catastrophic. The priory of Mar Behnam and other churches fell into the hands of the rebels this morning and now they have come here and entered Qaraqosh five minutes ago.
“A mass exodus is underway from Iraq's second largest city after its seizure by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an Iraq and Syria-based Sunni Muslim extremist group,” reports Christian Today. The extremists are known by the initials ISS.
“The population, particularly its Christian community, has much to fear,” writes Shea. “The ruthlessness of ISIS, an offshoot of al-Qaida, has been legendary. Its beheadings, crucifixions, and other atrocities against Christians and everyone else who fails to conform to its vision of a caliphate have been on full display earlier this year, in Syria.”
"Mosul soon will be emptied of Christians," said a World Watch Monitor source. "This could be the last migration of Christians from Mosul. Christian families are terrified." CH
Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh,
Genesis 10:11
From CNN...
"The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has taken over much of the Iraqi province of Nineveh, including
the country's second largest city, Mosul. In the course of doing so, they have released thousands of jihadist prisoners, reportedly taken hundreds of people hostage and -- perhaps most worryingly of all -- fortified their already strong territorial position in the region."
From FOX...
"Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant took control a day earlier of much of Mosul, the country's second-largest city, in a major blow to the authority of the country's Shiite government and a sign of Iraq's reversals since U.S. forces withdrew in late 2011.
An estimated half a million residents fled the economically important city."
From CBS...
"Mosul is the capital of Ninevah province. It and the neighboring Sunni-dominated province of Anbar share
a long and porous border with Syria.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the massive security failure in Sunni-dominated Ninevah province that allowed militants to seize Mosul was the result of a "conspiracy," and that those members of the security forces who fled rather than stand up to the militants should be punished.
The ISIS has carried out summary executions in the name of Islamic law and seized control of large swathes of territory in the country's north.
CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reports that even al Qaeda has condemned ISIS for its excessive violence, and severed ties with the group late last year."
From ABC...
"ISIS forces have currently surrounded the Syrian border town of Deir el-Zour, one of the last pockets of resistance to ISIS in northern Syria.
From CBS...
"Mosul is the capital of Ninevah province. It and the neighboring Sunni-dominated province of Anbar share
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the massive security failure in Sunni-dominated Ninevah province that allowed militants to seize Mosul was the result of a "conspiracy," and that those members of the security forces who fled rather than stand up to the militants should be punished.
The ISIS has carried out summary executions in the name of Islamic law and seized control of large swathes of territory in the country's north.
CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reports that even al Qaeda has condemned ISIS for its excessive violence, and severed ties with the group late last year."
From ABC...
"ISIS forces have currently surrounded the Syrian border town of Deir el-Zour, one of the last pockets of resistance to ISIS in northern Syria.
Here are five things to understand about ISIS and its fight across the Middle East:
- Who They Are: ISIS stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The group is trying to form an independent state with territory in Iraq, Syria, and parts of Lebanon. They are led by an Iraqi cleric who goes by the name Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
- What They Do: ISIS has been fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as other militant Islamic groups in Syria for control of parts of Syria while also fighting the Iraqi government in its quest to form the unified ISIS state. Its brutal tactics have been disavowed as too extreme by al Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
- How Powerful They Are: This week, ISIS forces took Mosul, the third biggest city in Iraq and the biggest one along the Iraq-Syria border. When they took the city, the ISIS seized more than $400 million from city banks, making it richer than many small nations.
- How They're Able to Fight: Since it controls cities on either side of the Syria-Iraq border, ISIS forces were able to quickly move weapons seized from Mosul into Syria on Monday. The weapons, including Humvees, rifles, missiles and ammunition, will help arm ISIS in its fights on both sides of the border.
- The State They Want to Create: The territory in the western part of Iraq that ISIS wants is made up of mostly Sunni Muslims, as is the part of Syria that ISIS wants. Many Sunni Muslims in Iraq have joined ISIS in fighting against the Iraqi Army, which is under the control of a Shiite minority that mainly lives on the other side of the country."
From TheLongWarJournal...
ISIS units traveling in a convoy of more than 60 vehicles advanced into Bayji last night, and torched several government buildings, court houses, and police headquarters, according to ITAR-TASS and Reuters. ISIS fighters are said to have surrounded the refinery and sent a delegation to security forces who are holding out in the complex.
According to Reuters, the 250 security personnel agreed to withdraw from the refinery complex, the largest in Iraq."
"Christian Whiton, a former George W. Bush administration State Department senior advisor, said that the mishandling of Iraq dates back to the first President Bush. He added that President Obama’s desire to disengage from Iraq while reengaging in Afghanistan has led to troubles there.
“We defeated ourselves twice in Iraq,” said Whiton. “For his part, Obama gave away the security and power that came from Bush's victorious surge of military forces in 2007. Obama intentionally failed to reach
“No one is saying our troops should be fighting today in Mosul or Fallujah, but if we hadn't withdrawn precipitously, we could be bucking up Iraqi troops and deterring Maliki's sectarianism and toadying to Iran,” he said. “Instead, Obama chucked what was achieved at high cost to please his liberal base.”
Added Whiton, “This will come back to bite us.”