Isis captures more Iraqi towns and border crossings
Source: The Guardian
Jihadist fighters in Iraq seized three border crossings into Syria and Jordan and four nearby towns over the weekend, giving the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) control over much of the country's western frontier and directly threatening the country's main power supply.
Isis can now add large swaths of the Iraqi border to a 300km stretch of land it already controls along the Euphrates river, from Mosul in the north to Saddam Hussein's home town, Tikrit, which now gives the group a launching pad for potential attacks on strategic sites, including the lifeblood of Iraq's electricity generation, the Haditha dam. The gains also bring the crisis in Iraq to the doorstep of Jordan, a key ally of the United States.
...
The latest Isis offensive in western Anbar province has seen the group take four towns in recent days. Iraqi officials said the militants took over the Turaibil crossing with Jordan and the Walid crossing with Syria after government forces there pulled out. Al-Qaim, a restive town on the Syrian border, fell a day earlier.
The capture of the crossings follows the fall on Friday and Saturday of the towns of Rawah, Anah and Rutba. They are all in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, where the militants have since January controlled the city of Falluja and parts of the provincial capital, Ramadi.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/22/isis-take-border-crossings-iraq-syria-jordan
Botany
(70,449 posts)Oh my oh my, they weren't in Iraq because Saddam used to shoot them.
Mission Accomplished! Operation Iraqi Freedom!
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)Sounds like they have a problem they need to solve.
They_Live
(3,225 posts)Why now?
Botany
(70,449 posts)n/t
They_Live
(3,225 posts)is funding (unlimited) which US candidates?
Turbineguy
(37,296 posts)plenty of money in the local banks. I read the take in Mosul was US$ 1.5 billion.
Uncle Joe
(58,300 posts)Thanks for the thread, Bosonic.
EEO
(1,620 posts)On a lighter note, whenever I hear about ISIS I automatically think about the show Archer.
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)makes it into the mainstream US "press." Gee....wonder why? Ms Bigmack