There has been an unusual amount of action coming out of the Middle East this week regarding the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS.
Sinjar, Iraq-
On Thursday, Kurdish forces along with American air support launched an extensive operation that took the key city of Sinjar in northern Iraq. The planning and execution of this operation can be seen here.
Threats to Russia-
On the same day, ISIS produced another extremely violent video that threatens the Russian people. Pillaging women, enslaving children, and taking cities like Moscow are all things that ISIS has implemented in their Russian campaign. My advice to ISIS is to first take a step back and do some research on what happened to the German army in the 1940s when they tried to invade Russia. ISIS better bring all they have and then some if they think that taking Moscow will be a stroll in the park as they proclaim.
Jihadi John-
Today, the notorious Jihadi John was targeted in a US drone strike. The poster child for ISIS, Mohammed Emwazi, was the young and trending British Islamic terrorist who was never one to shy away from being the executioner in a beheading video. Last year, when ISIS started its march through the Middle East, Emwazi was the the man who played the executioner role in the viral beheading videos. He has proclaimed death to America, death to the Western world, and death to all of those who do not support ISIS.
He achieved none of his goals in life.
So far, reports are that the US is ‘99% sure’ that Emwazi has been killed in the airstrike. While Islamic news organizations say that he was taken to a local hospital, any access to the hospital has been denied.
Overall, ISIS lost Sinjar, lost their poster-child, and threatened another one of the world's superpowers.
Tough week.