ill
Superstar
That post is really going the kingsmen route. Now ISIS fighters are Russian military
Cmon now
That post is really going the kingsmen route. Now ISIS fighters are Russian military
Cmon now
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
That post is really going the kingsmen route. Now ISIS fighters are Russian military
It's funny because the soldiers active in Eastern Ukraine and "Little Green Men" in the Crimea weren't either!
Do you go hunting in brand new JSOC gear? Maybe Russia had an unannounced clearance sale.
Just a funny coincidence I suppose(serious).
One of ISIS' top commanders was a 'star pupil' of US-special forces training in the country of Georgia
JEREMY BENDER SEP 18 2015, 2:57 AM 205
Aside from ISIS’ ‘caliph’ Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Georgian ex-commando Omar al-Shishani might be the most recognisable and popular of the powerful militant group’s leaders.
Sporting a recognisable red beard and happy to pose for photos, Shishani has acted as a very public face for some of ISIS’ most notorious successes.
It was Shishani who posed with the stolen US Humvees that ISIS had seized from Mosul and brought back into Syria. And it was Shishani who had led successful ISIS military campaigns throughout Syria as well as a blitz through western Iraq that put the group within 100 miles of Baghdad.
These military successes are not simply the result of any innate military capabilities. Instead, Shishani spent years conducting military campaigns against the Russians first as a Chechen rebel and then as a soldier in the Georgian military. During Shishani’s four years in the military, from 2006 to 2010, his unit received some degree of training from American special forces units.
“He was a perfect soldier from his first days, and everyone knew he was a star,” an unnamed former comrade who is still active in the Georgian military told McClatchy DC. “We were well trained by American special forces units, and he was the star pupil.”
“We trained him well, and we had lots of help from America,” another anonymous Georgian defence official told McClatchy about Shishani. “In fact, the only reason he didn’t go to Iraq to fight alongside America was that we needed his skills here in Georgia.”
In 2008, when Russia and Georgia briefly went to war over the Georgian breakaway province of South Ossetia, Shishani reportedly was a star soldier. Although Russia quickly won the war, Shishani and his special forces unit caused asymmetrical damage to the invading Russian forces, including the wounding of the Russian commander of the 58th Army.
Shishani ultimately fell out of favour with the Georgian military and was arrested for 15 months for illegally harboring weapons. In 2012, after serving his sentence, Shishani fled Georgia and went to Syria via Turkey.
However, his history of asymmetrical fighting against the Russians in the Caucasus, both before and after having received American training, has played a key role in defining Shishani’s military and command style.
“Shishani is somewhat unique among ISIS’s commanders. Shishani is fighting like an insurgent,” Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, told Musings on Iraq. “He’s using a complex style in Anbar [province in western Iraq], relying on a very small force … Shishani’s forces emphasise speed and agility.”
“They will hit multiple targets on the same day, and engage in harassing attacks to try to draw out the enemy, the Iraqi Security Forces or the Sahwa [Sunni tribes aligned against ISIS in Iraq]. Then he loves trapping the people he’s able to draw out that are in pursuit of him.”
Institute for the Study of War
These tactics have worked extremely well for Shishani throughout Iraq. Despite US-led coalition airstrikes and the combined forces of the Iraqi Security Forces and Iranian-backed militias, ISIS has continued to seize territory and embed itself deeper into Iraq’s Anbar province.
And more concerning is that even if ISIS were to lose ground, there is no clear indication that it would make Shishani any less dangerous. Having trained and specialised in insurgent-like, asymmetrical warfare, Shishani would be just as much of a danger to Iraq even should ISIS begin to lose territory.
MajorVitaman
Superstar
BobbyBooshay
Arnold Jackson
Argentina arrests Syrians traveling on false Greek passports
World | Sat Dec 5, 2015 5:46pm EST
Related: WORLD, ARGENTINA, TURKEY, GREECE
Argentina arrests Syrians traveling on false Greek passports
BUENOS AIRES | BY HUGH BRONSTEIN
Authorities in Argentina arrested six Syrians who flew into the South American country on false Greek passports, a spokesman for the federal police told Reuters on Saturday, adding that the bogus travel documents were probably obtained in Turkey.
The six, including one minor, were taken into custody at a downtown Buenos Aires hotel on Friday after landing at the city's Ezeiza International Airport on Thursday, the spokesman said.
A spate of detentions in South and Central America over recent weeks show the region has become a route for Syrians fleeing war in their homeland.
Less than three weeks ago, five Syrian men who had paid smugglers $10,000 each to travel through Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica were detained in Honduras as they tried to head north to the United States.
Those arrested on Friday were unarmed and charged only with using false travel documents, said the spokesman. A court hearing has been set for Wednesday, as Monday and Tuesday are public holidays in Argentina. The detainee under the age of 18 was undergoing psychological counseling.
"No more information will be released until they make statements before a judge," said the spokesman, who did not disclose the origin of the flight the Syrians took to Ezeiza.
"They are being very cooperative," he said.
The earlier cases sparked alarm among some U.S. lawmakers after it emerged at least one of the attackers involved in the deadly shootings and suicide bombings in Paris last month may have entered Europe among migrants registered in Greece.
In October Brazil detained eight Iraqi nationals who police said were traveling on false Greek passports they had obtained in Turkey. A trickle of immigrants also reach the U.S. land border from other countries fighting Islamist insurgencies.
(Additional reporting by Richard Lough and Juliana Castilla; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
World | Sat Dec 5, 2015 5:46pm EST
Related: WORLD, ARGENTINA, TURKEY, GREECE
Argentina arrests Syrians traveling on false Greek passports
BUENOS AIRES | BY HUGH BRONSTEIN
Authorities in Argentina arrested six Syrians who flew into the South American country on false Greek passports, a spokesman for the federal police told Reuters on Saturday, adding that the bogus travel documents were probably obtained in Turkey.
The six, including one minor, were taken into custody at a downtown Buenos Aires hotel on Friday after landing at the city's Ezeiza International Airport on Thursday, the spokesman said.
A spate of detentions in South and Central America over recent weeks show the region has become a route for Syrians fleeing war in their homeland.
Less than three weeks ago, five Syrian men who had paid smugglers $10,000 each to travel through Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica were detained in Honduras as they tried to head north to the United States.
Those arrested on Friday were unarmed and charged only with using false travel documents, said the spokesman. A court hearing has been set for Wednesday, as Monday and Tuesday are public holidays in Argentina. The detainee under the age of 18 was undergoing psychological counseling.
"No more information will be released until they make statements before a judge," said the spokesman, who did not disclose the origin of the flight the Syrians took to Ezeiza.
"They are being very cooperative," he said.
The earlier cases sparked alarm among some U.S. lawmakers after it emerged at least one of the attackers involved in the deadly shootings and suicide bombings in Paris last month may have entered Europe among migrants registered in Greece.
In October Brazil detained eight Iraqi nationals who police said were traveling on false Greek passports they had obtained in Turkey. A trickle of immigrants also reach the U.S. land border from other countries fighting Islamist insurgencies.
(Additional reporting by Richard Lough and Juliana Castilla; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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@Brown_Pride @¢apitali$t Migraine @DEAD7 @H@LLOW @superunknown23 @Black Reign @FaTaL
@Domingo Halliburton @Ill @strapped @88m3 @hashmander @Skooby [USER=1507]@LeyeT @mbewane @Leasy @el_oh_el @Swavy Karl Marx @Darth Humanist @hayesc0 @tmonster @Ed MOTHERfukkING G @keepemup @Broletariat @mson @FAH1223 @ADevilYouKhow @Dominique Wilkins @Liu Kang @Futuristic Eskimo @Leasy @Type Username Here
@Tuling @Always-Right Liggins @Max B @Primordial @King Ming @franknitty711 @unit321 @Spidey Man @mbewane [/USER] @sicc2def @Nomadum @Skooby @choc_cardigan @Dirty_Jerz @killacal @midwesthiphop @smitty22 @The Fukin Prophecy @Reality @Atlrocafella @Joe Sixpack @PewPew @Orbital-Fetus @Misanthrope @KidStranglehold @CriticalThought @rapbeats @JahFocus CS @Din0can @Tunez @Tjbenz @Lucky Millionaire @The Taxman @NERO @Shogun @Abso831 @zerozero @BigJohnsons @Reggie Rhodes @KeysT
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
^^ Would you highlight this had it been an American airstrike? Just curious m8