26 September 2014 - New actions against ISIS
U.S. says airstrikes crippled most of small oil refineries held by Islamic State in Syria
Rebecca Collard and Craig Whitlock (The Washington Post)
BEIRUT — American military officials said Thursday that U.S. and allied airstrikes had crippled most of the small oil refineries controlled by Islamic State in Syria and that the remainder would be targeted in coming days.
“The point was to render them incapable of using these refineries, which was a significant stream of revenue for them,” Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters.
The attacks by the U.S. military and two Arab partners were part of a broadening assault on the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Britain was expected to join the coalition with a parliamentary vote Friday approving airstrikes in Iraq.
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Identification
Julia Edwards and Mark Hosenball (The Chicago Tribune)
A masked Islamic State militant seen wielding a knife in videos at the beheading of two Americans has been identified, FBI Director James Comey said on Thursday, but he declined to give the person's name or nationality.
The videos released in August and September of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff showed a masked Islamic State militant brandishing a knife and speaking English with a British accent.
A European government source familiar with the investigation said that the accent indicated that the man was from London and likely from a community of Asian immigrants. U.S. and European officials said the principal investigative work identifying the man was conducted by British government agencies.
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Britain
Patrick Wintour, Nicholas Watt and Ewen MacAskill (The Guardian)
Wary British MPs are expected to back military action in Iraq, as part of a daunting mission to destroy Islamic State (Isis) that the defence secretary Michael Fallon said could endure for as long as two to three years.
The Commons motion, agreed unanimously by the cabinet and due to be debated by MPs for seven hours , is couched in terms of protecting Iraq from the brutality of Isis and specifically excludes air strikes in Syria without a further Commons vote.
Fallon said the war would be “a long haul” and made little attempt to deny that Isis’s destruction may eventually, subject to another vote from MPs, require coalition action against Isis militants in Syria. The motion, the product of extensive negotiations with the Labour leader Ed Miliband, also promises that the UK will not deploy troops in ground combat operations in Iraq, a wording that nevertheless permits the presence of trainers, intelligence and special forces to help guide RAF jets and strengthen Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
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Opinion
Patrick Cockburn (The Independent)
Britain is set to join the air campaign against Isis in Iraq, but, going by David Cameron’s speech to the UN General Assembly, the Government has no more idea of what it is getting into in this war than Tony Blair did in 2003.
Mr Cameron says that there should be “no rushing to join a conflict without a clear plan”, but he should keep in mind the warning of the American boxer Mike Tyson that “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”.
The Prime Minister says that lessons have been learned from British military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan but it is telling that he did not mention intervention in Libya for which he himself was responsible.
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"26 September 2014 - New actions against ISIS", La Clé des Langues [en ligne], Lyon, ENS de LYON/DGESCO (ISSN 2107-7029), septembre 2014. Consulté le 03/10/2024. URL: https://cle.ens-lyon.fr/anglais/key-story/archives-revue-de-presse-2014/26-september-2014-new-actions-against-isis