01 July 2014: Just when you think you understand what ISIS is up to (based upon their proclaimed jihadist ideology), they make another press release that has the effect of turning everything you thought you knew about their objectives upside down and inside out. This is exactly what has occurred today.
ISIS has just announced that their battle plan is to destroy the Kaaba in Mecca. Why? Isn't the Kaaba central to Islamic practices, the heart of the Islam itself? Apparently not so according to Islamic purists like ISIS and Al Qaeda. That rock, the Hajar al-Aswad or Holy Black Stone, is located within a metallic shroud on a corner of the Kaaba in Mecca (seen in the image above) is what they consider to be the centerpiece of idolatrous worship. The stone is a black meteorite, and an icon they want to destroy as soon as possible, as soon as their new Islamic Caliphate conquers Saudi Arabia. The Kaaba and the black rock pre-date the establishment of Islam, they were both were part of the pagan religion in Arabia prior to the establishment of Islam.
An ISIS spokesman by the name of Abu Turab al-Mugadassi has been quoted as saying: "If Allah wills, we will kill those who worship stones in Mecca and destroy the Kaaba. People go to Mecca to touch the stone, not for Allah." During the Islamic pilgrimage, the hajj, to Mecca, Muslim nearly stampede each other in an attempt to merely touch or kiss the black stone. That means it's pretty important to them. ISIS has different plans for treating it.
Here's where this gets real interesting.
Where else do Muslim's go to worship a stone? To Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount, in the Dome of the Rock, that's where they go. Let that thought sink in and the potential repercussions overwhelm you as they just overwhelmed me this morning. Imagine ISIS destroying the Dome of the Rock, the very center of which used to be the Holy of Holies within the first two Jewish temples. Since June 1967, 37 years ago, the Dome of the Rock has been under the joint protection of the Hashemite Kingdom of Abdullah II, the Waqf and Israeli security forces. And so ISIS would want to destroy the Dome of the Rock because it is idolatrous and something a Muslim should never do.
What then would stand in the way of the Temple Institute beginning the construction of what will be the third temple on the mount? Not much. Everything for the construction of the temple is in readiness, and there's even a very strong candidate red heifer alive at this moment without any blemish.
Keeping an eye on this one!
Russian troops position a just-arrived Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot close air support aircraft at al-Muthanna Air Base on 1 July 2014.
Russia has just delivered to Iraq's al-Muthanna Air Base the first five of a total of twelve Sukhoi Su-25 "Frogfoot" close air support jet aircraft. Within a few days these aircraft will provide much needed support for Iraqi and Iranian ground troops in Iraq engaged in combat against the forces of the newly declared Islamic State (formerly ISIS). It is apparent that Russia will also be providing the pilots to fly these aircraft on combat missions in Iraq. This is obvious because Iraq has no pilots trained to fly this type of Russian aircraft, and haven't had any in over a dozen years. The Su-25 Frogfoot is the Russian version of the US-made A-10 "Warthog."
2 July 2014: Yesterday the five Russian Su-25 Frogfoot close air support aircraft at al-Muthana Air Base were joined by a total of seven Iranian Su-25 Frogfoot aircraft. This constitutes the total of 12 aircraft promised to be deployed to Iraq by Russia.
The Iranian Su-25s (3 each Su-25UBKM and 4 each Su-25KM variants) were seen in a video released by the Iraqi government in Baghdad. Analysis of the video revealed that these are aircraft known by their serial numbers to be within the inventory of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Air Force. Ten IRGC pilots were deployed with these aircraft, and they will likely provide 4 Iraqi pilots with (no pun intended) a crash course in their effective combat operation. So, now we have Russian, Iranian IRGC and US aircraft operating side-by-side in Iraq.
Update 3 July 2014: The declared "Islamic State" (formerly known as ISIS) recently had its caliph appointed by is own Islamic Shura (court). The Shura appointed former ISIS commander Abu Bakr al-Qurayshi al-Husayni al-Baghdadi as Caliph, henceforth to be known as "Caliph Ibrahim" and thereby claiming a direct lineage to Muhammed. One of "Caliph Ibrahim" very first edicts was to announce the foreign policy of the "Islamic State" to the world-at-large. Among the many points in the announced policy is that he himself is the sole representative of Islam in the world (i.e. he is the awaited Islamic al-Mahdi); all Muslims must obey his dictates and that joining his jihad is an utmost obligation to them all; his plans for the "conquest of Rome;" his plans for the conquest of the entire world (hence the title of this Global SITREP C13-14).
