LATEST ISLAMIC STATE HORROR MASKS A WEEK OF DEFEATS (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by STANews , Sunday, November 16, 2014, 20:45

The Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Photograph: Uncredited/AP

After a week in which Islamic state (Isis) has suffered a wave of setbacks, it is determined to show that it plays a long game.

On all of its active fronts, things have not been going well for the terror group. Iraq has been a particular problem: Isis appears to have lost control of one of its prized possessions, the Baiji oil refinery, following a push by Shia militias and the Iraqi military.

Elsewhere in the country, two air strikes have taken a hefty toll on the group’s senior leadership. The first, in al-Qaim near the Syrian border, killed the overall leaders of Anbar province and the pivotal Euphrates river region. And near Mosul, a chief aide to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed by a second strike.

The Isis leader and self-anointed caliph emerged on an audio tape on Thursday partly to dispel a belief that he had been injured in that attack. But the recent wounds to the group’s reputation appear to have stung.

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/16/islamic-state-video-week-defeats