© AFP
ISIS has considerable manpower, heavy armor and air defenses in the Middle East and is striving to extend its reach into Europe, Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, hoping to become a "Terrorist International," a senior Russian military officer warned.
"The overall strength of Islamic State's (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) groupings reaches
around 33,000 militants, including 19,000 in Iraq and 14,000 in Syria," deputy director of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) Sergey Afanasiev said during the Moscow International Conference on Security on Wednesday.
IS militants are well-armed with "tanks, armored personnel carriers (APCs), anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles including man-portable air-defense systems," he emphasized.
Comment: Perhaps the Americans, Saudis, Qataris, Turks and Israelis never watched
Frankenstein. Or maybe they did, and they're completely insane. Because the fact is, the U.S. created a monster. As Ghassan Kadi writes for
the Saker:
The sad reality however dictates that the Daesh problem is not going to go away, and unless it is confronted from a position of both knowledge and strength as soon as possible, in time, it will get stronger.
If or when it gets stronger, dealing with it then will be much more difficult than dealing with it now. Ignoring it is not any different from ignoring a cancer.
The trajectory is predictable, if horrific: more terror attacks in the EU, more popular support for ultra-right parties, more targeting of EU Muslims, revoking their citizenship, all-out war with the Muslim world, justified Muslim resistance to attacks on their nations, no exit from this vicious circle.
... it is a scenario that can be avoided if the sane people of the world, Muslims and non-Muslims, stop for an honest moment NOW and make concerted and knowledgeable efforts to nip it in the bud, whilst they can, and if they sincerely want to.
Comment: Perhaps the Americans, Saudis, Qataris, Turks and Israelis never watched Frankenstein. Or maybe they did, and they're completely insane. Because the fact is, the U.S. created a monster. As Ghassan Kadi writes for the Saker: The trajectory is predictable, if horrific: more terror attacks in the EU, more popular support for ultra-right parties, more targeting of EU Muslims, revoking their citizenship, all-out war with the Muslim world, justified Muslim resistance to attacks on their nations, no exit from this vicious circle.