Islamic State ‘pursuing development of chemical weapons’, security chiefs say

Even before the Paris attacks, Obama was under pressure from allies and his own administration to show progress in the campaign against the Islamic State. The USA has led the coalition carrying out air strikes in Syria for the last 15 months while Britain has chosen to remain more active in neighbouring Iraq. The Pentagon says it doesn’t do body counts, but the attacks are believed to have killed upward of 20,000 IS fighters. “It has been called a “proto-state” and a ‘quasi-state.’ Whatever the terminology, it’s much more than an insurgent group now – and it has millions of dollars at its disposal to fund its military adventures at home and overseas”. Or could it be that it has something to do with the fact that France has been more vigorous than the rest of the West in tackling ISIS?

Experts on Islam focus on the group’s Islamic postings.

The alternative to effective USA action is that ISIS will continue to have secure bases from which to plot attacks in Europe and the US and train terrorists. Oil experts stress the financial resources the group has accumulated from oil sales.

In the face of continued ISIS threats, it’s time for common sense.

ISIS was born as a splinter faction of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

This sounds like a pummeling created to bury an enemy, particularly one facing the military might and technological power of the United States.

What’s Life Like In The Caliphate? . And that is the follow-on step that can’t wait for an ISIS defeat on the battlefield. When candidates say, we wouldn’t admit three-year-old orphans – that’s political posturing.

But al-Zamili, citing intelligence reports he has access to, told the AP that the group has managed to attract chemical experts from overseas as well as Iraqi experts, including ones who once worked for Saddam Hussein’s now-dissolved Military Industrialization Authority.

Is ISIS Getting Stronger Or Weaker? .

The president defended his remarks during a combative press conference in Turkey on Monday, on the sidelines of the G20 meeting.

And attacks outside its core area are not new for ISIS.

“If there was a swift and quick solution to this, I assure you that not just the United States, but France and Turkey and others who have been subject to these terrorist attacks would have implemented those strategies”, he said, adding that America’s weakening of al Qaeda was proof that he was not sitting back and letting jihadists roam free.

France can not escape responsibility for the rise of the Islamic State which has now unleashed bloodbath in Paris, the CPI-M said on Thursday.

Peter Certo is the editor of Foreign Policy In Focus and the deputy editor of OtherWords, a non-profit editorial service run by the Institute for Policy Studies.

Many parts of Syria controlled by other rebels – even ones fighting the Islamic State group – rely on IS for oil since they have few other sources. Not everyone involved is a supporter of ISIS or connected to ISIS directly or ideologically.

As the fight against ISIS terrorism expands, both France and the European Union need to make sure that their response to terrorism does not diminish democracy more than the acts of terrorism themselves. One of the key unanswered questions in the recent spate of attacks is whether they were directed by ISIS leaders or carried out independently. The sophistication and organization suggest the attacks were carefully orchestrated, but investigators are still putting the pieces together. Whether those boots on the ground come from the United States, a coalition of Western nations, or the armies of surrounding Sunni nations, the only way to defeat ISIS is to first drive it off its ground and crush it on the run. Should the president acknowledge that his goal of extricating the US from warfare is impossible given the lethal threat? Otherwise, taking the fields would require ground forces. A year to the month after commencing airstrikes in Iraq, France began flying missions in Syria as well.

So far, the only overt sign of the group’s chemical weapons program has been the apparent use of mustard gas against Iraqi Kurdish fighters and in Syria.

The biggest potential limiting factor for ISIS may be opposition from other Muslims.

Greg Myre is the global editor at NPR.org. Larry Kaplow is NPR’s Middle East editor. In Brussels, Muslims have already taken to the street to protest the ISIS attacks in France.