Though unarmed, he stopped a knife wielding terrorist from entering the Palace of Westminster during the 2017 Westminster attack; he died from wounds he received in this attack.
He then joined the Territorial Support Group, a grouping that specialises in public order and operates across Greater London. In 2015, he was nominated as “best thief taker” at the Commissioner’s Excellence Awards in recognition of making 150 arrests in twelve months.
At approximately 14:40, he was approached by Khalid Masood who was armed with two knives. Though unarmed, Palmer confronted Masood in an attempt to stop him. Masood fatally injured Palmer during this encounter.
By confronting Masood, Palmer delayed him long enough for an armed policeman to arrive and shoot Masood dead.
Funeral
Before the funeral procession
Palmer was granted the rare honour of lying in rest in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, Palace of Westminster; other recipients of this honour include Margaret Thatcher and Tony Benn. On 9 April 2017, his coffin was received into the chapel with a guard of honour of police officers.
A private service was then held for his family.
Officers kept vigil next to the coffin overnight.
The following day, on 10 April, Palmer’s coffin travelled in procession to Southwark Cathedral. The route was 2.6-miles long and avoided Westminster Bridge where the terrorist attack had begun.
Instead, the procession crossed the Thames over Lambeth Bridge, during which a ten-second horn salute was given by boats on the river.
Tens of thousands of people lined the streets, including 5,000 police officers.
The procession was fronted by a colour party carrying the Metropolitan Police Service Standard, who were followed by five mounted police officers. Then came the funeral conductor and chaplains (including Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Chaplain to the House of Commons) who were walking in front of the hearse.
The hearse carried Palmer’s coffin which was draped in the police flag, and there were “red and white floral tributes atop the hearse”;
these “spelled out ‘No 1 Daddy’, ‘husband’, ‘son’, ‘brother’, ‘uncle’ and ‘Keith'”.
Making up the rear were cars carrying his family, and four more mounted officers.
Palmer was given a full police funeral at Southwark Cathedral. It was attended by his family and friends, and a number of dignitaries including Cressida Dick, the newly appointed Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
The hearse carrying Palmer’s coffin with ‘No 1 Daddy’ floral decoration.
Dick read the poem Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden at the service which was her first public engagement since taking up the post. The address was given by Andrew Nunn, the Dean of Southwark.
Personal life
Palmer was married to his wife, Michelle. They have a daughter, who was aged five at the time of Palmer’s death.
“for confronting an armed terrorist to protect others and Parliament”.
In recognition of his sacrifice, the Metropolitan Police Service retired his shoulder number (4157U) and stated that it would :
“not be reissued to any other officer”.
His name has been added to the National Police Officers Roll of Honour and Remembrance by the Police Roll of Honour Trust.
He was awarded the outstanding bravery of the year award at the 2018 Met Excellence Awards
George Medal
Criteria
The medal is granted in recognition of “acts of great bravery”. The original warrant for the George Medal did not permit it to be awarded posthumously. This was changed in December 1977 to allow posthumous awards, several of which have been subsequently made.
The medal is primarily a civilian award, but it may be awarded to military personnel for gallant conduct that is not in the face of the enemy.
As the Warrant states:
The Medal is intended primarily for civilians and award in Our military services is to be confined to actions for which purely military Honours are not normally granted.
Bars are awarded to the GM in recognition of the performance of further acts of bravery meriting the award. In undress uniform or on occasions when the medal ribbon alone is worn, a silver rosette is worn on the ribbon to indicate each bar.
Recipients are entitled to the post-nominal letters GM.
The details of all awards to British and Commonwealth recipients are published in the London Gazette. Approximately 2,122 medals have been awarded since its inception in 1940.
British Isis fighters known as ‘the Beatles’ captured in Syria
Two British Isis militants implicated in brutal acts of torture and execution, have been captured by US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria.
The two men, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, formed part of a group of four fighters nicknamed “the Beatles” due to their British accents and are allegedly responsible for murdering approximately two dozen hostages in Syria.
Kotey, a 34-year-old convert to Islam who grew up in west London, and 29-year-old Elsheikh, whose family fled to the UK from Sudan in the 1990s, were the only remaining members of the group still at large.
The group’s leader, Mohammed Emwazi, nicknamed Jihadi John, was killed in a 2015 airstrike. Emwazi was believed to be the militant responsible for the gruesome beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, which were captured on film and distributed in Isis propaganda videos.
The capture was first reported by the New York Times and independently confirmed by the Guardian.
Citing unnamed US officials, the Times reported the two men were captured by the American-backed Kurdish militia the Syrian Democratic Forces, operating south of the Euphrates river, close to the Syria-Iraq border.
Two US officials also confirmed the capture to Reuters. The two men were captured in early January, and US forces were given access to them, one of the officials told the news agency.
They all grew up in west London, and all wound up in the same cell of the Islamic State group guarding, torturing and killing hostages in Syria and Iraq.
Now, the last two members of the group dubbed the “Beatles” by their hostages, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, have been arrested by Syrian Kurdish fighters.
The group of four British men were radicalised in the UK before travelling to Syria, where they became infamous for their high-profile executions of Western hostages.
US officials believe the “execution cell” beheaded more than 27 Western hostages and tortured many more.
Each was known to their hostages by their respective Beatles moniker – Paul, Ringo, John and George.
I’m delighted that these animals have been caught & will face justice somewhere/someday (hopefully in the UK or USA) for their inhuman cruelty and abuse they showed to their poor hostages including James Foley , Steven Sotloff, and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning
Whom after months/years of abuse & torture at the hands of theses monsters , where slaughtered like animals in the backyard of humanity , in the name of the sickest and most barbaric Islamic ideology of modern times.
Their crimes shocked and sickened all decent folk the world over , including peace loving Muslims and they passed a red line of humanity not seen since biblical times.
Thankfully Emwazi , the ringleader & most brutal of the group was incinerated on 12 November:
“as the car he was in was targeted in a strike by an unmanned drone in the city of Raqqa, destroying the car and killing him instantly”.
Hallelujah – Hope he’s burning in the eternal flames of hell!
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The Beatles Terrorist Cell
History & Background
“The Beatles“, dubbed as such by their hostages because of their English accents, was an active Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group. Its members were nicknamed John, Paul, George, and Ringo by the hostages, after the four members of the British rock group the Beatles. In November 2015, one of The Beatles was killed and one was arrested, but the other two remain active with ISIL as of 2017.
They have taken hostages; have guarded more than 20 Western hostages of ISIL in cramped cells in Western Raqqa, Syria; have beheaded hostages; and have memorialized their acts in beheading videos that they made public.
The Beatles spoke to each other in English, and struggled with Arabic. They always kept their faces hidden.
Guarding, torturing, and seeking ransoms for hostages
The Beatles, who have been assigned responsibility to guard foreign hostages by ISIL commanders, are harsher than other ISIL guards. One source said:
“Whenever the Beatles showed up, there was some kind of physical beating or torture.”
Haines, for example, was severely tortured and subjected to electric shock taser punishments by the Beatles, from the time of his March 2014 abduction. The group have also forced hostages to fight each other in boxing matches as the group watched, and then tortured the losers.
Because of their excessive brutality, at one point they were removed from their guard duties by ISIL.
The Beatles were interested in obtaining ransoms for their hostages. A former hostage reported that the Beatles bragged that they had been paid millions of dollars in ransoms by certain European countries; enough to retire to Kuwait or Qatar. The group contacted families of some UK hostages, and are believed to be maintaining links to their associates and friends in the UK.
James Foley‘s mother, Diane Foley, said in an interview:
“their requests were impossible for us, 100 million Euros, or all Muslim prisoners to be freed. The requests from the terrorists were totally directed towards the government, really. And yet we as an American family had to figure out how to answer them.”
The Beatles cell held at least 23 foreign hostages, nearly all of whom were ransomed or killed.
Jihadi John beheaded or participated in the beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as British humanitarian aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, American aid worker Peter Kassig, Japanese private military contractor Haruna Yukawa, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, and 22 members of the Syrian armed forces in a period from August 2014 to January 2015.
A former ISIS member said that using a British man to carry out the beheadings was likely a deliberate effort by ISIS to:
“project the image that a European, or a Western person, killed an American so that they can … appeal to others outside Syria and make them feel that they belong to the same cause.”
Hostages
In August 2014, it was claimed that there were more than 20 hostages remaining. Many hostage families have chosen not to reveal their relatives’ names in order to avoid drawing attention to them and compromising their safety.
The jihadist known as “John”, usually referred to as “Jihadi John”, was identified by The Washington Post, in February 2015, as Mohammed Emwazi, and appears in a video as Foley’s killer. His identity was known to US and UK intelligence agencies in September 2014, but was not released for reasons of operational security.
On 12 November 2015, a United States drone aircraft reportedly conducted an airstrike in Raqqa that targeted Emwazi as he left a building and entered a vehicle. US officials stated he had been killed, but his death had not been confirmed. The US was still analysing the data.
The official called it a “flawless” and “clean hit” with no collateral damage and that Emwazi “evaporated”.A senior US military official was quoted as saying, “we are 99% sure we got him”. In January 2016, ISIL confirmed his death.
“George”
George, the leader of the Beatles, often spent time repeating sections of the Quran and promoting ISIL’s extremist views publicly. George uses the nom-de-guerre of “Abu Muhareb“, which means “Fighter” in Arabic. It was the view of the hostages that George was not very intelligent. The Daily Telegraph has speculated that George is the West London jihadist Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary who may have travelled to Syria with fellow jihadist Mohammed Emwazi.
Mohammed Emwazi.
In 2016, Alexanda Kotey, a 32 year old convert from west London, was identified as a member of the Beatles by The Washington Post and BuzzFeed News. They were uncertain whether he was George or Ringo, although social media evidence pointed towards Ringo.
Alexanda Kotey
A few months later, another joint investigation by the Post and BuzzFeed identified the last member of the group. El Shafee Elsheikh, a British citizen whose family fled Sudan in the 1990s, was a 27 year old Londoner who had travelled to Syria in 2012. They were still uncertain as to whether Elsheikh or Kotey was George.
In early January 2017, the US State Department froze the assets of Alexanda Kotey but did not confirm he was ‘George’.
“Ringo”
Ringo was frequently seen by the hostages. In 2016, Alexanda Kotey, a 32 year old convert from west London, was identified as a member of the Beatles by the Washington Postand BuzzFeed News. They were uncertain whether he was George, or whether he was Ringo, although social media evidence pointed towards Ringo.
A few months later, another joint investigation by the Post and BuzzFeed identified the last member of the group. El Shafee Elsheikh, a British citizen whose family fled Sudan in the 1990s, was a 27 year old Londoner who had travelled to Syria in 2012. They were still uncertain as to whether Elsheikh or Kotey was Ringo.
In early January 2017, the US State Department froze the assets of Alexanda Kotey but did not confirm he was ‘Ringo’.
“Paul”
Aine Lesley Davis
Paul appeared in the cells of the hostages less than the other Beatles, and appeared to be a guard only. Aine Lesley Davis, reported to have been one of the British Islamists assigned to guard Western hostages, was arrested in Turkey on 13 November 2015.
He was tried in Turkey in 2016 over allegations that he was plotting a terror attack there.[42]On 9 May 2017, he was convicted of terrorism offences by a Turkish court and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison.
Reactions
The use of “Beatles” as a nickname for the group elicited a response from English musician and former Beatle Ringo Starr, who expressed his disgust at the use of his former band’s name in this context, saying:
“It’s bullshit. What they are doing out there is against everything The Beatles stood for,” and adding that the Beatles had stood for peace and opposed violence.
Former British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron said: “British people are sickened thaa British citizen could be involved in murdering people – including a fellow British citizen who had gone to Syria to help people – in this way. It is the very opposite of what our peaceful, tolerant country stands for.”
A significant force of the British Special Air Service was deployed to Northern Iraq in late August 2014, and according to former MI6 chief Richard Barrett will be sent to Syria, tasked with trying to track down the Beatles using a range of high-tech equipment and with potentially freeing other hostages.
As of September, British intelligence and security agencies including MI5 and Scotland Yard, aided by GCHQ communication monitoring, were working with the FBI and CIA, and field teams from MI6 and the CIA in Northern Syria, to identify and locate the group. British and US electronic eavesdropping agencies have targeted communications by the group.
In October, British Prime Minister Cameron told the heads of MI5, MI6, and GCHQ that the manhunt was their top priority
Mother of Jac Holmes, 24, who left IT job in Bournemouth to volunteer with Kurdish fighters in Syria, says he died on Monday.
A British former IT worker who went to Syria to fight against Islamic State has been killed in Raqqa a week after the group’s de facto capital was liberated, his mother has said.
Jac Holmes, 24, from Bournemouth, was one of the longest-serving volunteers with Syria’s Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), having travelled to northern Syria three times since August 2015. He featured regularly in the international media.
It is understood he died on Monday morning in an explosion as the sniper unit he commanded cleared mines to make way for freed civilians to leave the war-ravaged city.
His mother, Angie Blannin, told the Guardian:
“I’m completely heartbroken. I can’t believe he’s gone. I was on the phone to Jac only on Sunday and we talked about how he planned to come home for Christmas now Raqqa is liberated. He wanted to stay to see the end of the caliphate. It was a moment of history and he wanted to be part of it. It feels so ironic he had to die when it was finished.”
Describing the fight against Isis as her son’s “calling”, she added: “He was lost for a while before he went to Syria and didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. He didn’t feel like he had any purpose. But then he went to Syria and found one. He said:
‘Mum, I love what I’m doing and I’m good at it.’
“It wasn’t my place to stop him. He had to find his own path in life. And death. My job as a mother wasn’t to keep him at home, but to support him and help him in whatever he chose to do. Even though I didn’t want him to go, and we talked about that a lot, you have to let your children grow and be their own person. Anyway, he was very like me: headstrong. He didn’t like being told what to do.”
Holmes’ death comes four days after the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces – of which the YPG is the majority component – declared the “total liberation” of Raqqa, which for more than three years was the de facto capital of Isis.
On Sunday Holmes joined hundreds of anti-Isis fighters at Raqqa central sports stadium to celebrate the victory, later posting on Facebook:
“Walking into the stadium in Raqqa for the first time since the battle ended. We spent weeks seeing this place from hundreds of metres away – it was strange walking the streets and finally going inside.”
Kimberley Taylor, who is believed to be the only British woman fighting Isis in Syria, said she had spent the past eight months on the Raqqa front with Holmes. Describing him as “everyone’s best friend”, she told the Guardian:
“I don’t know what to say, I’m in pieces. I haven’t been able to stop crying since I heard. I want people to know that he wasn’t just a brave warrior but had one of the kindest hearts of anyone I’ve known.”
She said she spent all of last Friday with him after they bumped into each other at the celebration. “I hadn’t seen him in a few weeks and saw him in the crowd. I ran over to him and gave him a hug and we spent the rest of the day together, laughing and talking about everything we’d been through.
Now among other great Warriors in the Majestic halls of Valhalla
Iraqi marksman – nicknamed the ‘sheikh of snipers’ – has died in battle after killing at least 320 ISIS thugs
Abu Tahsin al-Salhi, 63, was killed during a firefight with the terror group.
A MARKSMAN who killed at least 320 ISIS fighters has died in battle.
Silver-bearded Abu Tahsin al-Salhi, 63 — dubbed the Sheikh of Snipers and Hawk-Eye — boasted of slaying a minimum of four a day.
He was famed for his fingerless gloves and chequered scarf as he hunted jihadis on his off-road motorbike.
A video this year showed the Iraqi militiaman tracking a jihadi in his rifle scope and killing him. He said: “Today I gunned down two.
“That’s ridiculous. The minimum for me is four. Now I’m at 320.”
Al-Salhi honed his skills in five wars, going back to the 1973 Arab- Israeli conflict. He died as pro-government forces fought ISIS for control of Hawija in northern Iraq.
The veteran lost his life in battle trying to regain control of Iraq’s Hawija town from ISIS thugs.
Abu Tahsin al-Salhi (1953 – 29 September 2017) was an Iraqi veteran sniper. A volunteer in Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, he claimed to have killed 320 ISIL members during the Iraqi Civil War, receiving the nicknames “the sheikh of snipers” and the “hawk eye”.
According to al-Salhi, in the Yom Kippur War he was part of an Iraqi brigade fighting with Syria against Israel on Golan Heights. In the Iran–Iraq War, the invasion of Kuwait and the 2003 invasion of Iraq al-Salhi fought on Iraqi side. Around May 2015 al-Salhi joined the Popular Mobilization Forces.
According to al-Salhi, he began fighting ISIL in Jurf Al Nasr (formerly Jurf Al Sakhar) and learned sniper skills from the Russian military. He became stationed in the Makhoul Mountains, northern Iraq, armed with a Steyr rifle
According to the Popular Mobilization Forces spokesman, al-Salhi was killed as he advanced on Hawija in Iraq.
Brainwashed ‘cubs of the caliphate’ shoot prisoners in the back of the head in sickening new ISIS execution video
Shocking video shows young boys carrying out brutal executions in Afghanistan
So-called ‘cubs of the caliphate’ rant at the camera before murdering two ‘spies’
A separate scene shows four adult jihadists shooting three more prisoners
Brainwashed children brandishing handguns shoot prisoners in the back of the head in a brutal new ISIS execution video.
The two boys, both dressed in black, force their captives to kneel in front of them in front of the doorway of a building in Afghanistan.
Footage shows them aggressively pulling back the heads of the two terrified ‘spies’ before the younger of the two jihadists starts ranting at the camera. They then point their handguns at their prisoners and carry out the killings.
The children are so-called ‘cubs of the caliphate’ – the name given to youngsters who have been brainwashed with ISIS ideologies and trained to fight and kill for the terror group.
ISIS has released several videos, including one earlier this year, showing young children carrying out brutal executions of adults, training with weapons, and pledging allegiance to ISIS.
Last month it emerged that the head of ISIS in Afghanistan was killed in a raid carried out by Afghan and US special forces, the country’s president said.
Abdul Hasib died during an attack by 50 US special forces and 40 Afghan commandos overnight on April 27, President Ashraf Ghani said.
How the Islamic State Attracts,
Coerces and Indoctrinates Children to its Cause
Since its declaration of a Caliphate in 2014, the Islamic State (IS) has released a number of publications depicting children participating in rallies, undergoing training, undertaking combat operations and even executing prisoners. Armed groups exploiting children in war zones is nothing new and across Iraq and Syria, many factions have been accused of employing children as spies and messengers to actual soldiers.
However, the scale and sophistication employed by the IS in attracting, coercing, training and indoctrinating children into its cause is particularly noteworthy. Referred to as the “Cubs of the Caliphate” (ashbal alkhalifa), these children are not just a present-day threat on the battlefield, but a potential threat for the future, as the question of what happens to them once the Islamic State is defeated remains.
For armed groups and insurgencies, using children in their operations have
a number of pragmatic benefits: Children often appear less suspicious to security
forces, are easier to indoctrinate and often difficult to fight against for a number
of practical and political reasons.
The IS is certainly aware of these benefits when it includes children in its operations. However, the IS’ motivations for recruiting children extend beyond simple pragmatism. By training children in not only warfare but also ideology, the IS seems to be working towards consolidating its state-building project and making sure that even if its organisation comes to an end, its ideology will persist.
Moreover, although the IS has attracted a number of foreign fighters into its fold, it has consistently failed to attract the loyalty of major jihadist organisations or worldwide grassroots support. The fact that the IS seems to not just train children as soldiers but raise them as a new generation of citizens loyal to its cause supports the notion that it has “given up” on gaining the support of the adult population in the areas it inhabits.
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The purpose of this report is therefore to analyse how the IS recruits children into its cause, whether through forceful means like kidnap and coercion or through means based on enticement to encourage children to join voluntarily. It then looks into the training camps and schools operated by the IS to see how the children are gradually de-sensitised to violence trained in combat and ideology.
How the Islamic State Recruits Children
The IS uses a wide variety of tools to recruit children into its cause, both voluntarily and involuntarily. More often than not, these tools are part of the IS’ wider state-building apparatus and are deployed alongside other projects aimed at the general population in areas it has under its influence. This report has identified four primary sources of underage recruitment for the IS:
• Public Events, Projects and Services
• Enticement and Gifts
• Kidnapping and Forced Recruitment
• Children of Islamic State Supporters
• Public Events, Projects and Services
As a result of the Syrian Civil War and the US occupation of Iraq and the subsequent insurgency, many areas across Syria and Iraq have suffered from endemic insecurity, scarcity and unavailability of public services. Under these circumstances, one of the Islamic State’s greatest sources of legitimacy in the areas it controls has been the restoration of security and services in the areas it controls.
The IS is well aware of the propaganda value of such efforts and in the areas it has limited control over or has not consolidated yet, it tends to engage in a “charm offensive” designed towards familiarising the locals with the positive side of the IS. Referred to as Da’wa (“the call”), these events cost the IS little but can build up tremendous grassroots support. Da’wa sessions involve distribution of food and drink, informing the locals about “matters of their religion”, and informing the locals of its policies in a manner that will avoid backlash.
Although aimed at the population as a whole, these events have a specific youth focus due to the IS’ aforementioned long-term planning and its seeming distrust towards
adults. Observers report that in Aleppo, the Da’wa sessions aimed at youth involved competitions and contests with prizes for winners, Qur’an reading sessions, video viewing parties to regale them with “epic battles” and members of the organisation handing pamphlets to children.
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The education sector has been one of the hardest-hit sectors in Syria since the beginning of the civil war, with many schools either damaged by fighting or being used to house refugees. Syria’s pre-war literacy rate of %90 has plummeted and it is estimated that 2.8 million Syrian children are out of school10. The education vacuum has proven ideal recruitment tool for many of the armed groups in Syria, including the IS. The IS has provided shelter and education for many out-ofschool children in the region, grooming them for recruitment in the process.
In areas it has tighter control, the IS has also re-opened schools, instituting a
curriculum that emphasizes religious education and pro-IS ideology12. Although
most Islamic State school activity falls under training and indoctrination (and
will therefore be analysed in the relevant chapter), in a region where there are
few-to-none alternatives for education left, they are also a major source of initial
exposure and recruitment for the organisation.
Enticement and Gifts
The on-going conflicts across Syria and Iraq have not only led to a collapse of security and public services, but also a drastic reduction of incomes and opportunities, forcing many Iraqis and Syrians below poverty line. Just as the case in social services and security, the IS has used its ability to provide jobs and income to bolster its legitimacy, offering incomes, bribes and gifts to those it wants to recruit. Children and youth are no exception. As mentioned above, Da’wa sessions often feature gifts and competitions with rewards for winners attached to them.
However, beyond rewards for winners, members of the IS have been known to offer small gifts (such as toys and sweets) to all children who participate in meet-and-greet events. Children have also been given simple but inclusive tasks (such as waving a flag for a photo) that bolster the sense of belonging among potential recruits.
The IS has employed similar tactics towards older children and teenagers, although appealing to other forms of enticement. Observers in Iraq have noted that especially across Anbar, the organisation have regaled potential recruits with promises of power, status, prestige and revenge against the Shia. Recruiters of the Islamic State had access to luxury goods (such as high-end cars) that would be beyond the reach of an ordinary citizen, tying together notions of prosperity and the Islamic State. Beyond gifts and token rewards, the Islamic State has found cash to be just as viable a recruiting tool.
At the height of its power, the organisation was earning significant funds through the oil trade, taxation, smuggling and looting. This has allowed it to offer its fighters much higher salaries than those of other armed groups or even members of the Syrian or Iraqi militaries. In a region wracked with poverty and lack of prospects, the notion of a steady income alone has driven potential recruits, young and old, to sign up with the organisation.
Reports from the Human Rights Watch indicate that recruits signing up with the
Islamic State are given a Kalashnikov, ammunition, uniform and tied to $100.
LGBT fighting unit in Syria ‘kicked out of Raqqa offensive’ by US-backed umbrella forces
US-backed Arab-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces reportedly remove controversial ‘TQILA’ and anarchist unit from front lines of fight for Isis’ de facto Syrian capital
‘We fight against tyranny, oppression and domination with the people’, TQILA’s founding statement says IRPGF
A sub-unit fighting against Isis in Syria made up of LGBT individuals which makes “smashing the gender binary and advancing the women’s revolution as well as the broader gender and sexual revolution,” has been kicked out of the frontline fight for Raqqa, several reports have said.
‘TQILA’, as it is known, made headlines after its formation was announced last month by the anarchist International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF), a small offshoot fighting force in Syria made up of foreigners.
Initially it appeared that TQILA and the IRPGF were working with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Arab-Kurdish coalition Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The mainly-Kurdish militias in the north of the country have won significant US support for proving themselves the most effective ground force against Isis since the militants rose to prominence in 2014.
However, as word spread of TQILA’s formation, requests for comment were met with denials from the SDF that the group is affiliated with their fighters, or exists at all.
While the new unit was praised by some as a positive response to the systematic persecution of gay individuals by Isis, it was also met with criticism for what many saw as a tone-deaf announcement by foreigners which could inflame tensions with more conservative militias fighting for the same cause.
TQILA told The Independent that its members counted themselves as “Middle Eastern queers” which come from a range of countries, as well as the Middle East’s ethnic groups. It is not clear how many they number – by some accounts, fewer than 20.
A later statement said that “Our unit, as an autonomous organisation and member group of the IFB (International Freedom Battalion) has the right to make subgroups. TQILA is one such subgroup and as such not a battalion or formation apart from our armed struggle collective, the IRPGF. This is where the confusion is coming from.”
Social media posts and inquiries made by The Independent to people in the region indicated that TQILA had members both training in the city of Rojava and involved in the fight to reclaim Isis’ de facto capital of Raqqa, which began in earnest in June.
A tweet on Sunday from an account affiliated with the official YPG international battalion, however, said that the
“IRPGF yesterday got kicked out of Raqqa, hopefully soon from Rojava – we need less empty propaganda, more fighting”.
The tweet has since been deleted. SDF, IRPGF and TQILA representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
YPG fighters have previously been critical of the IRPGF’s efforts in the fight against Isis. An official Twitter accounts said they are “three crazies” with which they refused to form an alliance with.
Isis recruiter Sally Jones reportedly wants to leave Raqqa and return to Britain
Sally Jones, the leading female recruiter for Isis, reportedly wants to leave Raqqa and come home to Britain. The former punk rocker who married a now-dead Isis fighter and took her son to Syria has been “crying and wants to get back to Britain,” according to reports.
Sky News spoke to an immigrant to the so-called Islamic caliphate now under Kurdish guard in a refugee camp who said that few immigrants wanted to join the war. “Aisha” told Sky News that she knew Jones
When asked if she met many British people, Aisha replied:
“I know one-Umma Hussain al Britani”.
She used Jones’ nom de guerre, according to Sky News. Jones was married to Junaid Hussain, Isis’ chief of digital jihad who was killed by a US drone strike in 2015.
“She lost her husband in battle last year. She had one boy,” Aisha continued.
Jones’ son Jojo was born in the UK and is about 12 years old. The boy’s grandparents and father expressed their fears in 2016 that he had been brainwashed into becoming an executioner for the terrorist group. A chilling video released by Isis shows a group of boys executing five Kurdish fighters.
Aisha said: “She was crying and wants to get back to Britain but Isis is preventing her because she is now a military wife. She told me she wish to go to her country.” Sky News noted that if that is in fact what Jones wants, she will have to be prepared to give up her jihadi recruiting and prepare to exchange life in Raqqa for a lifetime in prison.
Jones reportedly rose up a US kill list back in May, with analysts believing she was behind several Isis terror plots. “Mrs Terror,” as Jones has been dubbed, is reportedly behind more than 10 operations that targeted army personnel and civilians.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says the destruction of an ancient mosque in the city of Mosul is “an official declaration of defeat” by so-called Islamic State (IS).
Iraqi forces say IS blew up the Great Mosque of al-Nuri and its famous leaning minaret as jihadists battled to stop advancing pro-government troops.
IS said American aircraft had destroyed the complex, a claim denied by the US.
Aerial photographs show the complex largely destroyed.
The mosque, which was more than 800 years old, was where in July 2014 IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi demanded allegiance in his first and only public appearance following the declaration days earlier of a “caliphate”.
The mosque’s destruction has brought widespread condemnation.
Lazare Eloundou Assomo, deputy director of the UN’s cultural organisation Unesco, said the “iconic” mosque could have helped foster “reconciliation and peace” in Iraq in future.
What happened to the Great Mosque?
The Iraqi commander in charge of the offensive to retake Mosul said troops were within 50m (160ft) of the mosque when IS “committed another historical crime”.
Footage released by the Iraqi forces shows the ancient landmark being demolished.
A caliphate (Arabic: خِلافة khilāfa) is an area containing an Islamic steward known as a caliph (Arabic: خَليفة khalīfah pronunciation (info. • help))—a person considered a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad (Muhammad ibn ʿAbdullāh), and a leader of the entire Muslim community.
Isis chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears in first video
July 214
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamist militant group Isis, has called on Muslims to obey him, in his first video sermon.
Baghdadi has been appointed caliph by the jihadist group, which has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
The video appears to have been filmed on Friday during a sermon at the al-Nouri Mosque in Mosul, northern Iraq.
It surfaced on Saturday amid reports that he had been killed or wounded in an Iraqi air raid.
It was not clear when the attack was supposed to have taken place.
In the sermon, at Mosul’s most famous landmark, Baghdadi praised the establishment of the “Islamic state”, which was declared by Isis last Sunday.
Experts say the reclusive militant leader has never appeared on video before, although there are photographs of him.
“Appointing a leader is an obligation on Muslims, and one that has been neglected for decades,” he said.
He also said that he did not seek out the position of being the caliph, or leader, calling it a “burden”.
“I am your leader, though I am not the best of you, so if you see that I am right, support me, and if you see that I am wrong, advise me,” he told worshippers.
It was famous for its leaning minaret, which gave the city its nickname “the hunchback” (الحدباء al-Ḥadbāˈ). Tradition holds that the mosque was first built in the late 12th century, although it underwent many renovations over the years. Most of it was destroyed on 21 June 2017, during the Battle of Mosul. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) claims that the USA destroyed it, while Iraqi troops claim ISIS was responsible. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi stated that the destruction of the mosque was ISIS’ “declaration of defeat.
It was famous for its leaning minaret, which gave the city its nickname “the hunchback” (الحدباء al-Ḥadbāˈ). Tradition holds that the mosque was first built in the late 12th century, although it underwent many renovations over the years. Most of it was destroyed on 21 June 2017, during the Battle of Mosul. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) claims that the USA destroyed it, while Iraqi troops claim ISIS was responsible. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi stated that the destruction of the mosque was ISIS’ “declaration of defeat”.
Tradition holds that Nurettin Zengin (Nur ad-Din Zangi in Arabic) the Turkish atabeg built the mosque in 1172–1173 during the Abbasid Caliphate, shortly before his death. According to the chronicle of Ibn al-Athir, after Nur ad-Din took control of Mosul he ordered his nephew Fakhr al-Din to build the mosque:
[Nur ad-Din] rode in person to its site and viewed it. He climbed the minaret of the mosque of Abu Hadir, looked down on the site of his mosque and ordered that the neighbouring houses and shops should be added to the land that he viewed but that nothing should be taken without the willing agreement of the owners. He put the Sheikh Umar al-Malla in charge of the project, a pious and good man. The properties were purchased from their owners at most substantial prices and the construction began, on which large sums were expended. The building was completed in the year 568 [i.e. AD 1172-3].
In 1511, this mosque was extensively renovated by the Safavid Empire.
Minaret
The minaret and mosque in 1932
The mosque was well known for its leaning minaret, known as al-Hadba’ (“the hunchback”). Grattan Geary, a 19th-century traveler, described the minaret’s appearance:
It is several feet out of the perpendicular, though it starts fair from the ground, and at the top, before putting on its gallery and dome, it regains an erect posture. Its attitude is that of a man bowing.
When the cylindrical minaret was built it stood 45 metres (148 ft) high, with seven bands of decorative brickwork in complex geometric patterns ascending in levels towards the top. By the time the traveler Ibn Battuta visited in the 14th century it was already listing and had acquired its nickname.
The design of the minaret follows a form originally developed in neighboring Iran and Central Asia and shares similarities with other minarets in northern Iraq, such as those in Mardin, Sinjar and Arbil.
According to local tradition (which resolutely ignores chronology), the minaret gained its tilt after the Prophet Muhammad passed overhead while ascending to heaven. The minaret bowed itself in reverence but could only regain its balance after its top joint had been kinked in the opposite direction. According to local Christian tradition, however, the mosque’s tilt was due to its bowing towards the tomb of the Virgin Mary, reputedly located near Arbil.
Modern history
Both the mosque and its madrasa were dismantled and reassembled in 1942 in a restoration programme undertaken by the Iraqi government. The minaret remained unrestored, although attempts were made in 1981 by an Italian firm to stabilise it. The bombing of Mosul during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s broke underground pipes and caused leaks under the minaret that further undermined it. The lean later worsened by another 40 centimetres (16 in).
The cause of the lean was disputed – some have blamed the prevailing wind – but local officials have attributed it to the effects of thermal expansion caused by the heat of the sun, causing bricks on the sun-facing side to expand and progressively tilt the minaret. In recent years cracks proliferated along the base of the minaret, which leant nearly 3 metres (9.8 ft) off the vertical. It was listed by the World Monuments Fund as a site of concern due to the ongoing risk of collapse.
The structure was targeted by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants who occupied Mosul on 10 June 2014, and previously destroyed the Tomb of Jonah. However, residents of Mosul, incensed with the destruction of their cultural sites, protected the mosque by forming a human chain and forming a resistance against ISIL.
Rather than destroying the site, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared during a Friday prayer in this mosque on 4 July 2014 to declare the formation of a new caliphate.
The mosque, including its minaret, was destroyed in June 2017 – according to the Iraqi Prime Minister, by ISIS fighters.
Destruction
By June 2017, the Battle of Mosul had progressed to the stage that ISIL-controlled territory in Mosul was limited to the Old City area, which included the mosque. On 21 June 2017, Iraqi government forces reported that the mosque had been blown up by ISIS forces at 9:50 PM and that the blast was indicative of bombs being deliberately placed to bring it down .
ISIL’s propaganda ministry Amaq claimed an airstrike by the United States is responsible for the destruction, but this claim does not appear to be substantiated by any information. Iraqi forces were within 50 meters of the mosque before the explosion which appears to have been an attempt to kill members of the approaching army by members of ISIL. Aerial photos of the destruction were released by the Iraqi military a few hours later.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi stated that the destruction of the mosque was ISIS’ “declaration of defeat”. BBC News journalist Paul Adams wrote of the mosque’s destruction as ISIS’ “final act of angry defiance before finally losing their grip on Mosul”
Believe it or not the mad men (and women) of Islamic State have an evil handbook on how best to terrorise and slaughter their enemies ( pretty much everyone on a planet earth then ) and a strategy for the creation of a new Islamic Sate , otherwise known as the caliphate.
It is a terror manual that describe in gruesome detail how to bring about the caliphate through the use of extreme violence and brutality and Islamic State have followed its twisted instructions with brutal attention to details and unspeakable acts of inhumanity.
This dark jihadist instruction manual that first appeared in 2004 is called The Management of Savagery and offers a template for terrorism and defeat of all infidels.
The author of the book was one Abu Bakr Naji , an Egyptian , who was thought to have been an important al-Qaeda strategist , possible evens its one-time head of external affairs.
Thankfully Karma caught up with this scumbag and Naji was to succumb to a rather hi-tech piece of savagery management himself – when a US drone obliterated the car he was travelling in and sent him straight to the eternal flames hell.
The Management of Savagery – Abu Bakr Naji
Management of Savagery
Management of Savagery: The Most Critical Stage Through Which the Islamic Nation Will Pass (Arabic: إدارة التوحش: أخطر مرحلة ستمر بها الأمة, Idārat at-Tawaḥḥuš: Akhṭar marḥalah satamurru bihā l ‘ummah), also translated as Administration of Savagery, is a book by the Islamist strategist Abu Bakr Naji, published on the Internet in 2004. It aimed to provide a strategy for al-Qaeda and other extremists whereby they could create a new Islamic caliphate.
The real identity of Abu Bakr Naji is claimed by the Al Arabiya Institute for Studies to be Muhammad Khalil al-Hakaymah.His known works are this piece and some contributions to the al-Qaeda online magazine Sawt al-Jihad. National Public Radio has described Naji as a “top al-Qaida insider” and characterized the work as “al-Qaida’s playbook
Theme
Management of Savagery discusses the need to create and manage nationalist and religious resentment and violence in order to create long-term propaganda opportunities for jihadist groups. Notably, Naji discusses the value of provoking military responses from superpowers in order to recruit and train guerilla fighters and to create martyrs. Naji suggests that a long-lasting strategy of attrition will reveal fundamental weaknesses in the ability of superpowers to defeat committed jihadists.
Management of Savagery argues that carrying out a campaign of constant violent attacks (vexation operations) in Muslim states will eventually exhaust their ability and will to enforce their authority, and that as the writ of the state withers away, chaos—or “savagery”—will ensue.
Extreme violence is emphasized.
“One who previously engaged in jihad knows that it is naught but violence, crudeness, terrorism, frightening [others] and massacring — I am talking about jihad and fighting, not about Islam and one should not confuse them”.
Jihadists can take advantage of this savagery to win popular support, or at least acquiescence, by implementing security, providing social services, and imposing Sharia. As these territories increase, they can become the nucleus of a new caliphate.
Naji nominated Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, North Africa, Nigeria and Pakistan as potential targets, due to their geography, weak military presence in remote areas, existing jihadist presence, and easy accessibility of weapons.
Naji professes to have been inspired by Ibn Taymiyya, the influential 14th-century Islamic scholar and theologian.
Etymology
The word in the title توحش tawaḥḥuš has been translated as “savagery” or “barbarism”.[9] As it is a form V verbal noun derived from the root وحش waḥš “wild animal”, it has also accordingly been translated “beastliness”.
In practice
A number of media outlets have compared the attempts by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to establish territorial control in Iraq and Syria with the strategy outlined in Management of Savagery.
The first issue of the Islamic State’s online magazine, Dabiq, contained discussion of guerrilla warfare and tactics that closely resembled the writings and terminology used in Management of Savagery, although the book was not mentioned directly. Journalist Hassan Hassan, writing in The Guardian, reported an ISIL-affiliated cleric as saying that Management of Savagery is widely read among the group’s commanders and some of its rank-and-file fighters. It was also mentioned by another member of ISIL in a list of books and ideologues that influence the group.
Scholars Brian A. Jackson and Bryce Loidolt argue that Management of Savagery and Mustafa Setmariam Nasar‘s The Global Islamic Resistance Call led al-Qaeda to innovate and shift practices.
The Management of Savagery – Abu Bakr Naji
My autobiography: A Belfast Child is now available to pre-order on Amazon , launch date is 30th April.
Vandal who ransacked Lee Rigby memorial days before fourth anniversary of his murder is fined just £105
Patrick Burke, 66, binned flags and tributes left at site of Fusilier Rigby’s murder
A teddy bear left by Lee’s six-year-old son, Jack, was pulled down and thrown
Burke handed a fine and a conditional discharge at Bromley Magistrates Court
My blood ran cold when I learnt of this outrageous insult to the memory of Lee Rigby and regardless of his age , Mr Burke has gone to far and should be ashamed of himself.
If it wasn’t for Lee and others like him our world would be a lot less safer and I for one am eternally grateful for their service and sacrifice.
A sick vandal who ransacked a memorial to Fusilier Lee Rigby just days before the fourth anniversary of his murder got away with a £105 fine.
Patrick Burke, 66, binned several flags and tributes during a destructive rampage at the monument, which marks the spot where the soldier, 25, was butchered by two terrorists.
During the incident a teddy bear left by Lee’s six-year-old son, Jack, was pulled down and thrown over a nearby wall, Bromley Magistrates Court heard today.
Burke was caught on CCTV targeting the display outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich on May 22, 2013.
Burke’s defence solicitor Emma Sackville said the pensioner didn’t think it was ‘appropriate’ to have the memorial outside his block of flats.
Michael Adebowale, 25, and Michael Adebolajo, 32, were jailed for 45 years and life respectively for killing the off-duty soldier near his barracks.
The pair knocked him down with a car before hacking him to death with a meat cleaver and knives in an attack that shocked the world.
Ms Sackville told Bromley Magistrates’ Court today that Burke had pleaded guilty at ‘the first opportunity’.
A Hero who died serving his Country!
She said: ‘He did not mean any disrespect to Lee Rigby by his actions.
‘There is a memorial in a church nearby which is 700 metres away and Mr Burke’s view is that this is a more appropriate place for tributes to be left.
‘And he asked me to say that he did not intend to cause distress to Lee Rigby’s family or anyone else and he does regret it. He is a quiet man who keeps to himself.’
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Belfast Child 