The Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has released a statement that they are planning to take over the United States.
“I say to America that the Islamic Caliphate has been established,” Abu Mosa, a spokesman for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), said in a video. “Don’t be cowards and attack us with drones. Instead send your soldiers, the ones we humiliated in Iraq. We will humiliate them everywhere, God willing, and we will raise the flag of Allah in the White House.”
A group called VICE Media, who embedded a reporter with the terrorist group for three weeks, released the video.
The terrorist group also said in their announcement that the city of Raqqa is now the capital of their newly declared Islamic nation.
The video release came the same day that President Obama authorized air attacks by U.S. forces on the terrorist group.
“To stop the advance on Erbil, I’ve directed our military to take targeted strikes against ISIL terrorist convoys should they move toward the city,” Obama elaborated, using the acronym for another name the terror group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. “We intend to stay vigilant, and take action if these terrorist forces threaten our personnel or facilities anywhere in Iraq, including our consulate in Erbil and our embassy in Baghdad.”
Tens of thousands of Christians fled northern cities Thursday as the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria launched an offensive into Christian communities in the mostly autonomous Kurdish region.
The assault was so significant that Kurdish fighters who were protecting the Christian villages were forced to flee with the residents.
“The Nineveh plain yesterday was emptied of its people,” Tal Keif Mayor Bassem Bello told the Wall Street Journal. “There is not a Christian town left standing.”
Bello said that 30,000 Christian residents of the city fled overnight toward cities further into the Kurdish region hoping to find protection by Kurdish militia.
The terrorist group has been on a roll of successful attacks since they overran the defenses of the city of Mosul in early June. The group has been taking surrounding towns, destroying churches and any buildings or emblems of Christianity or Judiasm. They also issued commands to any residents remaining in the communities to convert to Islam or be killed.
The insurgents posted videos online of destroying Christians and Jewish homes while shouting “allahu akbar.”
A Lebanese TV station has added the Arabic letter “N” to their name as a show of solidarity with the persecuted Christians of Iraq.
A news anchor that wore a T-shirt during an evening newscast emblazoned with the letter made the announcement. Arabic language speakers pronounce the letter “N” as “noon”.
“From Mosul to Beirut, we are all Noon,” anchor Dima Sadeq said. “We are all targets to be pointed at with a finger or a sword because we’re different, whether in terms of sex, religion or color of our skin. We are all targets of murder in this insane era. The era of radicals, dictatorships and Israel’s hatred. Only here [in the region,] are children killed on beaches, churches closed down, mosques raided, shrines of prophets destroyed.”
Viewers of the TV station flooded phone lines and websites with positive responses.
The letter has become a symbol of solidarity with Christians in Iraq because the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria sprays the letter on the homes and businesses of Christians. The letter was chosen because it’s the first letter in Nazarene, the term they use for followers of Christ.
The exodus of Christians from the northern parts of Iraq has reached levels that some major cities have virtually no Christians left. The city of Mosul does not have a single operating church within its borders.
The Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria accepted responsibility for a homicide bombing in Baghdad that has left at least 31 people dead.
Another 58 people were injured in the blast, some very severely, and officials say it’s likely the death toll is going to rise.
Christian bishops in Iraq are now calling for the government to protect Christians who are being killed and driven out of their homes in masses. They’re calling for the government to also provide funding for the thousands of families suddenly displaced by Islamic extremists.
Over 35,000 Christians have been forced to flee the city of Mosul after ISIS threatened to kill them unless they convert to Islam or pay a huge fine. Many of them have fled to Baghdad, where ISIS targets them in attacks.
Christian relief group World Compassion estimates at least 750,000 Christians have been forced to leave their homes since the Islamists began their campaign in northern Iraq.
Christians are fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul after the Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria issued a “convert or die” order in the city.
The edict says that by Saturday all Christians in the city must convert to Islam, pay a large fine or be killed according to a statement read in mosques throughout the city.
“Christian families are on their way to Dohuk and Irbil,” Patriarch Louis Sako told AFP news agency. “For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.”
Islamists have been going through the city marking the homes of Christians for easy identification.
Mosul reportedly contained around 35,000 Christians when the Islamic terrorist group launched their campaign to take over Iraq. Churches throughout the city have been ransacked and their possessions taken or burned.
The Islamists have also destroyed Christian or Jewish shrines or artifacts within the city, including the tomb of the Prophet Jonah.
The Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has destroyed the tomb of the Prophet Jonah.
The terrorists gleefully went into the tomb with sledgehammers and took turns destroying the resting place of the Old Testament prophet. The terrorists filmed their efforts and posted them online saying it was the will of Allah for the tombs to be destroyed.
The members of the terrorist group say it is against the teachings of Islam to give special attention to tombs and it doesn’t matter if the tomb is for another faith. If the tomb is within their land, the group says they have the right to destroy it.
The tomb of the prophet Seth was also destroyed by the terrorists but no video of that destruction was posted online.
Iraqi authorities also announced the discovery of 53 bodies south of Baghdad who appear to have been executed by Islamic terrorists. An investigation is underway to determine who ordered the killings.
The Islamic extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has declared that the land they have taken from the Syrian and Iraqi government is now their own country ruled by Islamist law.
In an audio released for the first day of Ramadan, the group says the new nation runs from Aleppo in northwest Syria through Diyala province in northeast Iraq. The group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was named the “imam and khalifah for Muslims everywhere.”
The group said that all Muslim groups around the world should pledge allegiance to them.
Experts in the region say the declaration by ISIS could have a backfiring impact on their goal for an Islamic state.
“Now the insurgents in Iraq have no excuse for working with ISIS if they were hoping to share power with ISIS,” analyst Aymenn al-Tamimi, told The Associated Press. “The prospect of infighting in Iraq is increased for sure.”
Other middle east observers believe this is a tipping point in the power struggles among Islamic extremists groups worldwide, as the ISIS is now positioning itself to replace al-Qaeda. The two groups have a contentious relationship after al-Qaeda denounced al-Baghdadi in February.
A new CNN report shows that Islamic extremists are teaching kidnapped boys how to behead others “for the sake of God.”
CNN spoke to a young man who was able to escape his kidnappers from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the same group that is attempting to overthrow the governments of Syria, Iraq and Jordan.
The young man, called Mohammed, said that he was taken from his school when the terrorists stormed the building. The first thing they did was remove the female students from the room, saying it was forbidden for the young men to be in the same room with them. The terrorists then forced the boys into a truck and drove them into the desert.
“We were all so scared. On the way back, we were celebrating that we had finished our tests. We were excited to go home and see our families. We didn’t know why they took us,” Mohammed told CNN.
The terrorists then forced the children to watch videos of beheadings and were given instructions on how to kill prisoners by cutting off their heads. They were also trained in other methods of urban combat as if they were being prepared for the Iraq insurgency.
Mohammed escaped with other boys when classmates created a diversion.
“I was so happy when I got home. My mother had no idea that I had escaped. I was so excited to see her,” Mohammed said.
ISIS terrorists have told residents of the area there is now a bounty on Mohammed’s head.