With the start of Ramadan ISIL declares new 'Islamic caliphate'.

#ISIS is now #islamickhilafahstate - a meaningless proclamation built on overconfidence & illusion of omnipotence https://t.co/bBuKw9T10O
— Andreas Krieg (@andreas_krieg) June 29, 2014

With the start of Ramadan ISIL declares new 'Islamic caliphate'. (Taz).

Fighters in Syria and Iraq have announced the establishment of a "caliphate", referring to the system of rule that ended nearly 100 years ago with the fall of the Ottoman empire, Al Jazeera reported.

In an audio recording distributed online on Sunday, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) declared its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as "the caliph" and "leader for Muslims everywhere".

Baghdadi is believed to be the leader of ISIL, which announced that it is now called "The Islamic State".

According to the statement, the new caliphate stretches from Iraq's Diyala province to Syria's Aleppo.
"The Shura (council) of the Islamic State met and discussed this issue (of the caliphate)... The Islamic State decided to establish an Islamic caliphate and to designate a caliph for the state of the Muslims," said ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani.

"The words 'Iraq' and 'the Levant' have been removed from the name of the Islamic State in official papers and documents," Adnani said, describing the caliphate as "the dream in all the Muslims' hearts" and "the hope of all jihadists".

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reporting from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, said that a caliphate is effectively an Islamic Republic led by one leader, regardless of national boundaries.

With the announcement, the armed group is declaring that they are now legitimate, declaring the caliphate as the "true muslim state", he said.

The announcement might bring up problems with other Sunni fighters in Iraq, who are fighting the central government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and not fighting for the caliphate, our correspondent said.

Related:

A few Thoughts on the ISIS-"Caliphate"

HT To Mr. Andreas Krieg who saw it coming :)

There is something going on within #ISIS media department - use #Ramadan to officially announce #caliphate in #Iraq #Syria ?
— Andreas Krieg (@andreas_krieg) June 29, 2014

#ISIS use 1st day of #Ramadan to declare the #islamickhilafahstate - 20,000 followers cannot crown a #khalifa pic.twitter.com/QNFHSsHv25
— Andreas Krieg (@andreas_krieg) June 29, 2014

Turkey's Ties With ISIL Continue to Arouse Suspicions.

Turkey adds for ISIS

Turkey's Ties With ISIL Continue to Arouse Suspicions. HT: VOA.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants continue to score victories across Iraq. For neighbor Turkey, there is growing concern over ISIL's growing power, particularly in its predominantly Kurdish southeast, which borders Iraq and Syria.

In Diyarbakir, as in the rest of Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast, many Kurds are religious.
That, analysts say, and decades of economic underdevelopment and conflict, with the Kurds fighting for minority rights, have helped make the region a fertile recruiting ground for organizations like ISIL.
Young Kurds

Already more than dozen young Kurds from Turkey have died fighting for ISIL in neighboring Iraqi and Syria, according to Muammer Akar, a Diyarbakir city counselor and prominent member of Turkey's ruling AK Party.

Besides local factors, the region - like the rest of the Middle East - is paying the price for years of religious rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran, he said, adding that ISIL is attracting a growing number of recruits.

Saudi Arabia has spent a significant amount of money here developing a radical form of Sunni Islam called Wahhabism to counter Iran's influence. Over the years, many Kurdish youths were attracted and have become increasingly radical and closer to committing violence.

Akar claims funerals in the region for ISIL militants draw large numbers and have become a powerful recruiting tool for the Islamic group.

But critics are accusing the ruling AK Party, which has its roots in Islam, of turning a blind eye to ISIL activities on Turkey's border with Syria because of the party's opposition to the Syrian regime, and because ISIL is fighting Syrian Kurds, who have declared a secular autonomous state on Turkey's border.

Ankara fears its own restive Kurdish population could make similar demands for autonomy. It has accused the Syrian Kurdish leadership of links to the PKK, which has been fighting the Turkish state for minority rights for decades.

Two hours drive from Diyarbakir, in the town of Cizre, located near the Tukrish, Syrian and Iraqi borders, Deputy Mayor Kadir Konur accuses the ruling party of going beyond tacit support of ISIL.

He said ISIL's resources come from Turkey, citing what he said are numerous instances of trucks leaving Turkey with arms for groups like ISIL.

Many people on Cizre's streets appear to share such concerns, especially for the plight of Syrian Kurds just across the border.

"We are very pessimistic because of ISIL and all the massacres they've done in Syrian Kurdistan, he said. The killing of women and children. It is very clear that many ISIL fighters cross the border from Turkey and the AK Party allows this," said a man on the street interviewed by VOA.


Suspicions of Turkish government involvement with ISIL have been heightened by an anonymously released video showing Turkish soldiers intercepting two Turkish trucks allegedly carrying Syria-bound weapons. The soldiers manhandle Turkish intelligence officers who are in cars escorting the trucks. According to prosecutors, the arms were being sent to radical Islamic groups fighting in Syria.

The government claims the trucks were only carrying aid and strongly denied allegations of gun-running, pointing out that it has designated ISIL a terrorist group. But the prosecutors and soldiers investigating the trucks have now been charged with spying.

Diyarbakir city counselor and AK Party member Muammer Akar said his own party may not be aware of the dangers Turkey is facing. "Ankara doesn't see the danger, as they are dealing with so many other issues, but we do," said Akar. "It's only a matter of time before ISIL targets Turkey; since they see us as a country of heretics, they will attack our big western cities."

ISIL videos aimed at Turkish and Kurdish youths continue to appear on the Internet, calling them to join the jihad. Observers are increasingly asking if -- or when -- the war to create an Islamic state will come to Turkey.Hmmm........You reap what you sow.

Video - Claimed to be ISF deploying to Tikrīt, large convoy, dozens Humvees, M1 Abrams tanks

Videos - Today's ISIS parade in Mosul, 40+ vehicles est. 120+ ISIS fighters.

Muqtada Sadr: We will shake the ground under ISIL feet.

Muqtada Sadr: We will shake the ground under ISIL feet. (Abna).

Iraqi powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr pledged to defeat extremist and Takfiri militants while voicing strong opposition to another US military presence in the country.

On Wednesday, Sadr ruled out any intervention by the United States in Iraq and pledged to stop assaults by militants of the al-Qaeda splinter Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“We will shake the ground under the feet of ignorance and extremism as we did under those of the occupation,” Sadr said in a televised speech from the holy city of Najaf.

The prominent cleric expressed opposition against US military advisers’ meeting with Iraqi commanders, adding that he would back “international support from non-occupying states for the army of Iraq.”

Sadr’s remarks came days after his supporters paraded in the Sadr City, situated in the north of the capital Baghdad.

On June 10, the Takfiri militants took control of the Nineveh provincial capital Mosul, in a lightning advance, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

The ISIL has vowed to continue its raid towards Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said that the country’s security forces would confront the terrorists, calling the seizure of Mosul a “conspiracy”.

Soldiers of the Iraqi army have been engaged in heavy fighting with the militants in different fronts and have so far been able to push back militants in several areas.