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F1: Hamilton fastest in practice
8/22/2014 12:11:34 PM
- Lewis Hamilton stars in Friday's practice section in Belgium
- Mercedes driver topped the charts ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg
- Rosberg leads drivers' championship by 11 points
- Hamilton has won five races so far this season
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(CNN) -- Lewis Hamilton might be in the midst of one of the fiercest Formula One battles of recent years but the Mercedes man is staying cool -- ice cool.
While Hamilton has just eight races remaining to secure a second world title, the 29-year-old took time out to brave the ALS ice bucket challenge.
But while some might have frozen with shock, Hamilton was in red-hot form during practice at Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, Friday.
The British driver, who trails teammate Nico Rosberg by 11 points in the standings, finished more than half-a-second clear of the field in the second practice session.
ALS #IceBucketChallenge pic.twitter.com/ZUUWREfUsA
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) August 22, 2014 "It's great to be back in the car and it was feeling good out there today," Hamilton told reporters on the first day back after the mid-season break.
"The morning wasn't as strong, but it definitely improved in the afternoon. As always, we still have work to do tonight, but overall today was OK.
"It stayed dry throughout both sessions but the forecast is wet for tomorrow, so it was important to maximize track time as this may be our last dry running before the race.
"We've seen rain so often here in the past and that can really mix things up -- particularly when it's wet in places and dry in others.
"Your visor is almost level with the ground, so it's not like looking from above where you can see the different patches.
"That makes it really hard to pick out the areas where you can find grip, but it's also a lot of fun."
Hamilton set a fastest lap of one minute 49.189 seconds on the soft compound tires, with German Rosberg just behind on one minute 49.793 seconds.
Fernando Alonso, who finished 0.741 seconds behind Hamilton, was third ahead of Williams' Felipe Massa and Jenson Button in the McLaren.
Good result today.Need to put all of that into tomorrow and Sunday! #BelgianGP #Spa #TeamLh photo by SteveEtherington pic.twitter.com/naPSvhVYml
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) August 22, 2014 Hamilton, whose five victories this season have taken him to 191 points, will start as favorite for pole position on Saturday but Rosberg is confident he can come out on top with adverse weather expected.
"As normal, it will be a long night analyzing everything that we learned today to really nail it tomorrow," Rosberg told reporters.
"The interesting challenge for this weekend is to find the right compromise between being quick over one lap and over a long distance in the race -- especially if it's wet tomorrow, with the predictions currently saying we will have mixed conditions."
Elsewhere, reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel was forced to miss the session after his Red Bull suffered engine failure.
U.S. Open: Djokovic gets tough draw
8/22/2014 12:06:54 PM
- Roger Federer plays his first-round match at the U.S. Open against Marinko Matosevic
- World No. 1 Novak Djokovic begins against a young Argentine, Diego Schwartzman
- Serena Williams starts against Taylor Townsend and is in Ana Ivanovic's quarter
- Wimbledon finalists Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard could meet in the last eight
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(CNN) -- Some tennis players say they look deep into draws. Others claim they simply look at their next opponent.
But one thing everyone agrees on is that draws can make all the difference.
Take Wimbledon, for example.
When organizers went against the world rankings and named Novak Djokovic as the top seed instead of Rafael Nadal, who was pushed down to No. 2, it helped the former.
Had a dream that Beyoncé won the @usopen. I think we'd all be happy with that, right?
— Eugenie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) August 20, 2014 Nadal's early path was filled with hard-hitting, dangerous players and the Spaniard suffered yet another upset at the All England Club, losing to Australia's Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round.
Djokovic, meanwhile, had a less bumpy road to the second week and he stepped up his game in the final to top Roger Federer. Federer, of course, wasn't such an easy draw for Djokovic, especially on grass.
The two took part in a five-set classic and without an injured Nadal at the U.S. Open, they'll be expected to meet in the final again in New York in a little over two weeks, despite a recent wobble from Djokovic.
As the top two seeds, they were placed on opposite sides of the draw Thursday, with Djokovic appearing to land in the more difficult half.
He could face 2012 champion Andy Murray or resurgent Rogers Cup winner Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals and either Stan Wawrinka or the big-serving Milos Raonic in the last four.
Wawrinka upset Djokovic on the hard courts of the Australian Open in January and stretched Djokovic to five sets at the U.S. Open last year.
Djokovic, like Murray, isn't in great form, having slumped at warm-up tournaments.
Federer, going for an 18th major, might meet huge servers in the second and third rounds, Sam Groth and Ivo Karlovic, and the highest seed in his quarter is the man who has been compared to the Swiss, Grigor Dimitrov.
In his half lie fourth seed David Ferrer -- Federer is 16-0 against the highest-ranked Spaniard at the tournament in Nadal's absence -- and Tomas Berdych. Although Berdych has ousted Federer in two of their last three encounters, one at the U.S. Open in 2012, he enters the event in poor form and confronts feisty Aussie Lleyton Hewitt in the first round.
In the women's draw, Ana Ivanovic surfaced in the same quarter as Serena Williams, who is trying to reach a grand slam quarterfinal for the first time this season.
Williams crashed out early in Melbourne, Paris and London, but she beat Ivanovic to win the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati last weekend.
Also in her half are Wimbledon finalists Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard. Both have struggled since leaving the grass, yet in Bouchard's case that might be due to injury.
Whoever emerges from the fourth quarter will be the favorite to reach the final, and the leading contenders are Simona Halep, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams.
Sharapova trumped Halep in the French Open final and won another bruising contest in Cincinnati last week.
Venus Williams is an elder stateswoman at 34 but her first-round foe, Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm, is even older at nearly 44. The last time they met at a major, Venus Williams prevailed 8-6 in the third set at Wimbledon in 2011.
Read: Djokovic downs Federer in Wimbledon epic
America's Cup teams named
8/22/2014 12:07:42 PM
- The six teams for 35th edition of America's Cup confirmed
- Five teams will race for right to challenge reigning champions Oracle Team USA
- American team pulled off stunning comeback in last year's race against Kiwi team
- Teams from UK, Sweden, France, Italy and New Zealand among contenders
(CNN) -- It produced one of the memorable sporting moments of 2013 and now the excitement is starting to brew all over again for America's Cup fans.
The first buoy of the 35th edition of sailing's most prestigious race was rounded on Thursday as the challengers to reigning champions Oracle Team USA were announced.
Five teams from Britain, Italy, Sweden, France and New Zealand will battle in out to determine who will race the U.S. team in 2017.
Oracle, skippered by Jimmy Spithill, pulled off one of sport's great comebacks last September when they overhauled a 1-8 deficit against the Emirates Team from New Zealand to eventually win 9-8.
Spithill is looking forward to see who his team will face.
"It's exciting to look at the roster of teams who are lining up against us," Spithill said on the competition's official website.
"We're facing five strong challengers who have a lot of resources, talent and experience.
"But our team is very competitive. We love challenges -- the bigger, the better. It's very easy to get motivated when you see what we're going to be facing."
Among the teams looking to deny the U.S. team a third consecutive victory will be a crew led by Britain's Ben Ainslie.
Ainslie, a four-time Olympic champion who played a key role in the Oracle team's victory last time around, will lead a team from Royal Yacht Squadron -- the club who originally awarded the trophy in 1851.
"We are delighted that Royal Yacht Squadron Racing's challenge for the 35th America's Cup has been officially accepted," Ainslie said in a statement.
"The America's Cup originates from the Squadron and it is our goal to return the Cup to where it belongs."
Fellow Brit, Iain Percy will skipper Sweden's Artemis Racing team.
Percy, a double Olympic champion, will be looking to honor the memory of his great friend and teammate Andrew "Bart" Simpson who was tragically killed when the Artemis boat capsized during training for last year's competition.
New Zealand's Emirates Team will be hoping to bounce back from their catastrophic defeat in San Francisco Bay.
"We see some formidable opposition taking shape in the 35th America's Cup and we have no illusions about the job ahead," skipper Dean Barker said in a statement.
"We have been working quietly behind the scenes towards this day almost since the last day of the 34th America's Cup. Now the real work begins."
Italy's Luna Rosa Challenge and Team France complete the line up.
The five challengers will race at venues around the world next year and in 2016. The outcome of these races will decide a "top challenger" that will go forward to race the U.S. team in 2017 at a venue in either Bermuda or San Diego.
Read more: Oracle Team USA wins America's Cup
Football: Can minnows cause upset?
8/22/2014 12:10:02 PM
- Tiny SD Eibar set to play first ever match in Spain's top tier on Sunday
- Minnows take on local Basque rivals Real Sociedad at Ipurua stadium
- Eibar had to raise $2.3m after promotion to comply with financial rules in Spain
- Club are smallest ever to compete in La Liga with a budget dwarfed by rivals
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(CNN) -- "We are like one grain of sand against a whole beach." Eibar fan Unai Eraso.
SD Eibar has already climbed one mountain this summer in being admitted to Spain's top football tier, but its next task is even more daunting -- trying to compete in the same division as European champion Real Madrid.
Not only can Real lavish a sum four times Eibar's annual budget on just one player, its Bernabeu stadium could hold the entire population of the tiny Basque town and still have 58,454 seats empty.
Read: The 'miracle of Eibar'
Eibar will be the smallest team ever to compete in La Liga and had to raise $2.3 million in capital just to take its place at the top table of Spanish football.
Its president Alex Aranzaba believes the greatest achievement in Eibar's history would be to survive on such an uneven playing field.
"There are several reasons why Real Madrid and Barcelona are so far ahead in terms of finance," Aranzabal told CNN.
"Both clubs have many connections around the world and don't earn money by just selling tickets -- they have big merchandising campaign.
"There's also the huge television deals which they both have. It's impossible to compete with them, not just for Eibar which is the smallest team, but even for bigger clubs like Sevilla, Valencia and Athletic Bilbao.
That Eibar will go head-to-head with the likes of Real Madird and Barca l is something of a sporting miracle.
After gaining promotion to Spain's second tier, the club promptly won the title for the first in its history.
But a debut season rubbing shoulders with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and champions Atletico was immediately under threat, due to a 1999 law passed down by the Spanish authorities.
It insists each team must have a capital equal to 25% of the average expenses of all sides in the second division, excluding the two clubs with the biggest outgoings and the two with the smallest.
The law is designed to ensure all clubs can attend to its debts, despite La Liga's leading lights -- Real Madrid and Barca -- being in the red to an estimated combined total close to €1 billion ($1.36 billion).
Eibar, on the other hand, are self-sustaining and completely debt free; even La Liga's president has referred to them as a "model club."
And yet, failure to raise the required €1.7 million ($2.3 million) would result in demotion back to the obscurity of Spain's third tier.
But football loves an underdog and when Eibar threw themselves at the mercy of fans by launching a share issue scheme, thousands stepped forward to help.
The cash was raised a full three weeks before Eibar's deadline, leaving Aranzabal and others at the club dumbfounded at the pledges of support.
"For a small city and a small club to receive such support from across the world is something that makes me very proud -- it feels like we're part of a family," said Aranzabal.
"At the beginning there were some doubts we'd raise the money, but later we realized we had a story to tell and that we could reach our target with hard work.
"Around 36% of our shareholders are from Eibar but because of the online marketing campaign we have shareholders from 50 different countries across the world.
"We had people buying shares from the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Germany, France, Mexico, Colombia. We had people coming to us from all over Asia and across the world.
"It really has been incredible."
With the financial hurdles overcome, Eibar's fans can now dream of the footballing treats that lie ahead.
Barcelona and Real Madrid will visit Eibar's titchy Ipurua stadium (capacity 5,900) in due course, but first up are neighbors Real Sociedad for a Basque derby on Sunday.
"This club was founded in 1940 after the troubles of the Civil War," added Aranzabal, referring to the conflict that tore Spain apart.
"This is the first time in 74 years and this is a dream. Now we have to maintain the dream in La Liga. We're sure that we're going to be competitive and fight until the last minute of the season to avoid relegation.
"This club is used to facing challenges."
Unai Eraso has been a supporters of Eibar all his life and is in no doubt the last year qualifies as a bona fide sporting miracle.
"You can't even compare Eibar with Barcelona or Real Madrid," said Eraso. "The population of Eibar is 27,000 people, against Real Madrid in a city of more than 3.5 million people.
"Everyone is bigger in terms of budget, population, stadium, players but our story is going to be a good one for football as a whole.
"It will be tough on the pitch but I'm really confident because we have no pressure on us. This year is a like a present to all the supporters of Eibar.
"Nobody's going to whistle or shout against the team or the players. We are Eibar -- we know who we are."
Like Aranzabal, Eraso believes Spanish football needs to redistribute its wealth better.
Though Eibar raised the cash it needed to lift its head above the financial bar imposed by the league, it's still dwarfed by almost all its fellow La Liga clubs.
Eibar's budget for the season is around the same as Barcelona star Lionel Messi will earn in wages over the same period.
That's partly because Spanish clubs are allowed to sell its television rights independently, meaning the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona could command four times the amount that Eibar can muster.
"It is not fair at all," Eraso said. "Not only in how the TV money is shared among the teams but also the huge amount of money some clubs owe. Eibar has no debt at all.
"These guys are free to buy a lot of players with the money they get from TV and it makes for a paralyzed league where the top two or three teams have 80% of the resources and the rest have peanuts.
"In Spain it is a nonsense to say someone outside of Real Madrid, Atletico or Barcelona will win the league. There is no fourth candidate."
Eibar isn't concerned with the title race though -- its battle is to finish fourth from bottom and avoid relegation.
Eraso is convinced they can do it, if they harness the intimidating surrounds of Ipurua, and call on the famed togetherness in the town.
"The spirit is the most important thing that will help us overcome all the challenges we will have this year," he said.
"We have overcome a lot of crises in the town and reinvented ourselves. We now have to adapt to what is coming this year.
"We're going to have the lowest budget with no big names in our team but we will make it with the players and all of us pushing in the same direction -- this is in our spirit."
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Should we call ISIS 'evil'?
8/22/2014 7:32:18 AM
- James Dawes: Evil is the strongest word we have to prepare ourselves to kill others
- Dawes: But the flip side is that it's also a word that stops us from thinking
- He says even if we can destroy ISIS, there will be other groups waiting in the wings
- Dawes: If we want to prevent spread of extremism, we must understand the people
Editor's note: James Dawes, director of the Program in Human Rights at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, is the author of "Evil Men" (Harvard University Press). The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- When most people look at ISIS, they see the incarnation of evil. Among its many horrific acts, the Islamic militant group beheaded American journalist James Foley and posted the video this week in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes in Iraq. The Pope typically protests violence, but he implied that he supports the use of military force to combat ISIS. Even al Qaeda says ISIS is too violent. Across the political spectrum, public officials and pundits have characterized them as "savages," a "cancer" and the "face of evil."
Is ISIS evil?
The problem with that question is that the answer is as easy as it is useless. Yes, ISIS is evil and must be stopped. Saying so over and over again could very well make it harder to stop them.
There is only one good reason to denounce a group as evil -- because you plan to injure them, and calling them evil makes it psychologically easier to do so. "Evil" is the most powerful word we have to prepare ourselves to kill other people comfortably.
The flip side is that "evil" is also a word that stops us from thinking.
There is no point in trying to understand evil because it is, in the most typical phrasing, "inhuman," "senseless" or "beyond comprehension." It is a fool's quest to analyze the local realities and strategic imperatives of unthinking savages. There is something almost offensive about trying to understand such evil.
National Review's Jonah Goldberg tried to shame those who are trying to think seriously about ISIS. In a recent tweet, he mocked the attempt to understand ISIS in its social and political context, suggesting that we should focus instead on one fact: "They're evil. They do obviously evil things for evil ends."
People looking to put ISIS in "context" desperately avoid most obvious context. They're evil. They do obviously evil things for evil ends.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) August 20, 2014 The fact is, there are few things more dangerous now than allowing ourselves to think that way.
To resist ISIS and, perhaps more importantly, the larger social forces it represents, the U.S. will need more than a collective psychological readiness to injure, and more than bombs.
The Wall Street Journal editorialized that this evil ideology will only be stopped when "enough of its fanatics have been killed." But if we've learned anything as a nation since our "shock and awe" campaign in Iraq, it is this: While invasions and bombing can be effective in the short term, they are not durable solutions to terror-based violence.
Even if U.S. military force could effectively destroy ISIS, there will be similar groups waiting in the wings. If we are to have any hope of preventing the spread of extremist ideologies, we must do more than bomb the believers. We must understand them. We must be willing to continue thinking.
How is ISIS able to achieve the support it needs? What drives people into its ranks? What social pressures and needs, what political and regional vacuums, make it possible for a group like this to thrive? We can choose to answer these questions in two ways.
We can say they are evil people doing evil things for evil ends. Or we can do the hard work of understanding the context that made them, so that we can create a context that unmakes them.
We can analyze the ways its violent tactics are effective for its purposes given the local power dynamics, so that we can also better understand its weak spots. And we can ask how it is that normal men -- men who were not born evil -- get turned into monsters, so that we can work to change the structures that produce terrorists over the long term instead of locking ourselves into an endlessly repeated, short-term policy of "killing fanatics" until they are gone.
Trying to understand something isn't the same as trying to justify or excuse it. That's a basic mistake, and a costly one.
As Jane Harman, president of the Woodrow International Center for Scholars, recently wrote: "We can't counter radical narratives if we don't understand the motives of the radicalized."
Nonetheless, trying to understand evil is an offense. It is an offense to everything we hold dear, because understanding -- that is, true and effective understanding -- must bring us close to the other, must help us see the world through their eyes.
That is a painful, offensive process, and that is exactly what we must do.
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U.S. warns of Russian build-up on Ukraine border
8/22/2014 11:42:12 AM
- NEW: U.S. calls Russian convoy in Ukraine an "unauthorized entry"
- Russia says its aid convoy is moving into eastern Ukraine, bound for Luhansk
- International Committee of the Red Cross says it is not accompanying the convoy
- Russian Foreign Ministry accuses Ukraine of inventing excuses to stop convoy
Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- What Russia calls a humanitarian convoy into eastern Ukraine was criticized by NATO, the United States and Ukraine itself on Friday as a guise for violating its neighbor's sovereignty.
Russia diverted 34 trucks from an aid convoy into eastern Ukraine after Russian and Ukrainian customs officials cleared them under the assumption that the International Committee of the Red Cross would be with them, the Ukrainian military said.
But the Red Cross said it was no longer with the convoy because of the "volatile security situation," a reference to fighting between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces. This was a violation of the deal between the two countries that any humanitarian convoy must be monitored by the Red Cross.
In total, at least 134 Russian vehicles in the aid convoy had entered Ukraine as of 2:20 p.m., according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which has an observer mission at the checkpoint the convoy is passing through.
The unaccompanied trucks effectively constitute a Russian invasion of Ukraine, said Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, the head of Ukraine's security service.
"We call this a direct invasion for the first time under cynical cover of the Red Cross," Nalyvaychenko said Friday.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen referred to the movement as a "so-called humanitarian convoy."
"It can only deepen the crisis in the region, which Russia itself has created and has continued to fuel," he said in a statement. "The disregard of international humanitarian principles raises further questions about whether the true purpose of the aid convoy is to support civilians or to resupply armed separatists."
The presence of Russian vehicles in Ukraine is an "unauthorized entry," and the personnel and vehicles must be removed immediately, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said Friday. No Russian personnel should enter Ukraine under the guise of a humanitarian convoy, Kirby said.
Russia has up to 18,000 "combat-ready" troops on its border with Ukraine on Friday, a significant increase from previous public estimates by the Pentagon, according to a U.S. defense official with direct access to the latest information.
The official described the units as being in a "fully combat-capable offensive posture."
A second U.S. official said that many of the units were positioned at "crossroads and towns" 2 to 10 miles from the border.
"They are definitely more overt, aggressive and out in the open," the official said. "They aren't even hiding it."
The second official said the United States has believed for weeks that some Russian troops have crossed the border as part of the convoys of military gear and weapons moving from Russia into Ukraine. Of particular concern is the apparent transport of long-range and advanced systems including at least two SA-22 surface to air missile system and a number of pieces of longer-range artillery.
Troublesome convoy
The news was the latest flashpoint in tensions between Moscow and Kiev, which for months has accused Russia of sending supplies into Ukraine to support pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine's east.
Ukraine, as of now, doesn't plan to use force against the convoy, though Kiev suspects that the trucks' supplies will be given to rebels, Nalyvaychenko said.
Meanwhile, another 90 vehicles are headed toward the Ukrainian border, according to Col. Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council. Ukrainian border guards, customs officers and Red Cross representatives have not been given access to that group, Lysenko said.
He said that the Ukrainian side had proposed talks with Russia over the humanitarian aid but that Moscow had refused.
The trucks were part of a larger convoy that left the Moscow area last week, with Russia insisting that it be allowed to send aid to civilians -- many of them Russian speakers -- affected by the months of fighting in eastern Ukraine. Aid groups say the battles have left thousands without access to water, electricity and proper medical aid.
Ukraine, concerned that Russia might try to smuggle military supplies, stalled the trucks for days on the Russian side of the border.
But Ukrainian officials acknowledged Sunday that the convoy of more than 260 Russian vehicles was, in fact, carrying humanitarian aid.
Red Cross monitors were supposed to accompany the initial 34 vehicles but decided not to do so because they did not get the security guarantees they needed, the agency said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said the first group of trucks was headed toward Luhansk, one of two Ukrainian regions at the center of the conflict.
Russian state news agency Itar-Tass said the initial convoy carried food and essential items for people in the region.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said Friday that the customs service had granted access for 34 vehicles, 34 people and 268,020 kilograms of Russian humanitarian aid.
Russia says Ukraine used pretexts to hold up convoy
In a statement Friday, Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of using pretexts in the days since to hold up the movement of the convoy while escalating its attacks on pro-Russia rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The ministry claimed that Ukrainian leaders were deliberately delaying the delivery of the humanitarian aid until there was no one left to deliver it to.
It said that it was ready for Red Cross staffers to accompany the Russian convoy and help with the distribution of aid.
Still, Ukraine's government has suspicions. Nalyvaychenko said he believes the neither the trucks nor the drivers are civilian. The drivers, he said, received Russian passports only two weeks ago -- days before Moscow started sending the convoy to the border.
The ongoing fighting -- sparked last year by a political crisis over whether Ukraine would seek closer ties with Europe or Russia -- has left more than 2,000 people dead and nearly 5,000 wounded in eastern Ukraine since mid-April, according to estimates from U.N. officials.
Four Ukrainian soldiers have been killed over the past 24 hours, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said Friday.
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CNN's Lindsay Isaac and journalist Victoria Butenko reported from Kiev, and Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. CNN's Jason Hanna and Olga Pavlova contributed to this report.
Is U.S. moving closer to airstrikes in Syria?
8/23/2014 3:31:04 AM
- The U.S. is gathering intel on the locations of ISIS leadership in Syria, officials say
- Ex-CIA official: ISIS is empowered when U.S. calls out, attacks them
- Administration officials leave open the possibility of airstrikes on ISIS in Syria
- Official: President Obama won't be "restricted by borders" in response to ISIS
Washington (CNN) -- After three years of avoiding it, President Barack Obama finds himself being pushed toward military action in Syria.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey both made clear that defeating Islamic State jihadists' rampage through northern Iraq would require going after them in neighboring Syria.
"That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a non-existent border," Dempsey told reporters Thursday.
On Friday, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said the administration was looking beyond the current airstrikes within Iraq's borders.
"If we see plotting against Americans, see a threat to the United States emanating from anywhere, we stand ready to take action against that threat," Rhodes told reporters.
The United States is already gathering intelligence on the locations of ISIS leadership and troops in Syria, two U.S. officials said.
Separately, U.S. officials said the military has been talking about increasing airstrikes in Iraq and possibly carrying out tailored airstrikes inside Syria against ISIS targets.
ISIS savagery
The ISIS fighters are helping Obama make his case with their savagery, which includes mass killings, abductions and other atrocities, such as the video-taped beheading of captured American journalist James Foley.
Brother: 'More ... could have been done' to save James Foley
But the President, who has declined to arm rebels fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, faces a policy change certain to embolden critics in both parties of his reticence back then.
Obama had avoided what he called reckless interventions of the past, particularly the Iraq War, launched by his predecessor.
Critics could argue that Obama's decision to previously keep out of the Syrian conflict contributed to ISIS' growth.
His former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has distanced herself from him on Syria strategy during his first term as she prepares for a possible presidential run in 2016.
Legal barrier evaporated
The Obama administration has acknowledged sending U.S. forces into Syria earlier this year in a failed attempt to free Foley.
That established a precedent of acting in Syria to protect U.S. citizens and interests, superseding any legal considerations such as being asked by the host government to enter, argued Frederic Hof, Obama's former point man on Syria.
"There's a pretty good possibility that we and/or some kind of multinational effort will engage in hitting ISIS targets inside Syria," he said.
Iraq escalation
Obama already escalated U.S. military involvement in Iraq to combat ISIS less than three years after ending a lengthy war there.
In June, he sent military advisers to work with Iraqi and Kurdish forces against the lightning ISIS sweep through the north. Earlier this month, the President authorized limited airstrikes on ISIS targets and sent additional advisers to Iraq to protect U.S. personnel and minority groups threatened by the Sunni extremists.
Hagel emphasized the ISIS threat on Thursday.
"They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded," he told reporters. "This is beyond anything that we've seen."
Broad-based approach
Hagel and Dempsey also said that defeating ISIS requires a broad-based approach that includes forging an international coalition and better governance in Iraq and Syria to build public opposition to the extremists.
"Political reform will make it harder for (ISIS) to exploit sectarian divisions," Hagel said. The United States and other powers will shore up Iraq at the same time.
The United States should build a coalition against ISIS that includes regional countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan that can contribute air power -- much of it provided by America, Hof said.
"All agree at some level or another that ISIS presents a threat," he noted.
Risky move
U.S. bombs exploding in Syria also would allow Islamic extremists to argue that America remains an imperialist bully. That could play into ISIS' hands.
"You have an adversary that is so proud of its accomplishments and so driven by its ideology that they want to appear on the world stage as our peer," said Philip Mudd, a former CIA counterterrorism official.
Strikes could boost their fund raising and recruiting.
At the same time, Mudd says, if the United States wants to really hurt ISIS, it has to strike at its base -- which is Syria.
But that also could empower al-Assad, who has long dismissed the uprising against his leadership as a fight against terrorists, Hof said.
Until now, al-Assad has allowed ISIS to grow in Syria because it joins his government in fighting the anti-government forces.
However, ISIS fighters have taken over rebel-held territory and even some government-held areas, causing al-Assad to launch airstrikes against them in some places.
Al-Assad's strategy
"This is basically two criminal gangs who often in effect collaborate but now have a difference over real money over who controls oil fields and the like," Hof said of the relationship between al-Assad and ISIS.
Wiping out the Syrian opposition would leave only ISIS and al-Assad, who would then position himself to the West as the lesser of two evils and an ally in fighting the jihadists, Hof said.
American public opinion
Intervention abroad has become unpopular with many Americans, weary from long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama "needs to reassure people that this effort does not presage boots on the ground or some kind of repeat of the Iraq experience," Hof said.
Rhodes called Obama "very deliberate toward the use of force."
"The American people also understand that there's some threats that have to be dealt with," he said.
Who is the ISIS?
Where are they?
CNN's Barbara Starr and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.
F1: Rosberg claims pole at Spa
8/23/2014 9:18:56 AM
- Mercedes Nico Rosberg fastest in qualifying for Belgium Grand Prix
- Teammate Lewis Hamilton second fastest; Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel third
- F1 drivers back in action after a four-week summer break
(CNN) -- Let battle commence ... again.
After a four-week summer break, it was business as usual for Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton as they battled for supremacy in qualifying for the Belgium Grand Prix on Saturday.
With eight races remaining in the 2014 Formula One season, it was the German who drew first blood taking pole position at the Spa Francorchamps circuit.
Heavy rain before and during the session made for treacherous conditions around the picturesque track which snakes through the Ardennes forest.
All the drivers struggled to keep control on the slippery surface but it was Rosberg who came out on top posting a time of two minutes 05.591 seconds in the third and final qualifying session (Q3) with Hamilton 0.228 seconds behind in second.
"It's awesome to be on pole especially at this track," Rosberg said. "But it's only qualifying and there is a long race tomorrow."
Hamilton had led the standings after Q2 but a mistake early in Q3 at the La Source hairpin (turn one) forced the Briton wide costing him valuable time.
Despite battling to the end of the session, Hamilton couldn't overhaul his Silver Arrows teammate and later revealed he had been hindered by a braking issue.
"I had a glazed front brake, so I was struggling under braking," Hamilton said. "I was losing massive amounts (of braking), especially into turn one."
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who won the race 12 months ago, finished third fastest, but was more than two seconds off the pace set by Rosberg.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso completes the second row of the grid after qualifying in fourth while Vettel's teammate Daniel Ricciardo -- the winner of the last F1 race in Hungary at the end of July -- starting Sunday's race from fifth.
Valtteri Bottas was fastest in the third practice session earlier in Saturday but could only steer his Williams to sixth ahead of McLaren's Kevin Magnussen in seventh and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in eighth.
Williams' Felipe Massa and Magnussen's teammate Jenson Button complete the top ten.
Conditions for Sunday's race are expected to be drier with sunny intervals forecast with a chance of rain later in the day.
Rosberg currently leads the drivers' championship with 202 points, 11 more than Hamilton with Daniel Ricciardo lying a distance third with 131 points.
Read more: Lewis Hamilton goes from ice cool to red hot
U.N.: 'Unspeakable' suffering in besieged Iraq town
8/23/2014 8:53:57 AM
- NEW: Suicide bomber strikes Interior Ministry intelligence headquarters in Baghdad
- United Nations calls for action to help a Turkmen Shiite town under siege by ISIS
- Gunmen who attacked a Sunni mosque were Shiite militiamen, Sunni lawmaker says
- Sunni lawmakers pull out of talks to form a government over the mosque attack
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- As violence continues to wrack Iraq, the United Nations warned Saturday of another ethnic slaughter in the making by Sunni extremists from ISIS.
ISIS fighters have besieged the ethnic Turkmen Shiite town of Amerli in the north for two months and residents are running out of food and water.
"The situation of the people in Amerli is desperate and demands immediate action to prevent the possible massacre of its citizens," said Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N. secretary general's special representative for Iraq.
He said the suffering was "unspeakable" and demanded that the Shiite majority Iraqi government "relieve the siege" on Amerli.
The religious group's head cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, pushed the government to do the same Friday. And he called for airdrops "to ease the suffering of its people, especially children and the weak."
Their situation echoes the ordeal of Iraq's ethnic Yazidis, whose plight after they were forced to flee into the mountains to escape militants ISIS triggered U.S. aid drops and the first U.S. air strikes against ISIS.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber targeted the Interior Ministry intelligence headquarters in central Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least four people and injuring 35 others.
The attacker drove up to the complex gate and detonated the explosives, local police officials said. They warned that the casualty figures are expected to rise.
The blast came as the death toll death rose to 70 from an attack on Sunni Muslims a day earlier at a mosque in northeast Iraq, when suspected Shiite militiamen opened fire on worshipers.
Yazidis braced for life in exile
Massacre of Sunnis
Friday's attack in the Musab bin Omar Mosque in the village of Bani Weis, about 50 miles northeast of Baquba, also injured at least 17 people, officials said.
It also threatened to derail efforts to form a new, inclusive government -- something world leaders have said is a must if the country hopes to defeat Islamic militants.
Iraqi authorities did not immediately identify the attackers, but Sunni politicians have put the blame on Shiite militias.
Outraged Sunni lawmakers withdrew from negotiations to form a new government, saying they would not return until those behind the attack were arrested, two party officials told CNN.
But the United States and the United Nations called on Iraq to continue its efforts to form a united government.
U.S. 'understands the threat'
U.S. President Barack Obama has authorized targeted airstrikes to protect U.S. personnel in Iraq -- including military advisers -- as well as minorities being brutalized by ISIS.
And U.S. officials have said that Washington is mulling the possibility of going after ISIS fighters in their stronghold in eastern Syria.
But Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby would not confirm concrete plans. "We don't telegraph our punches," he said.
"I'm not going to get ahead of planning that hasn't been done or decisions that haven't been made," Kirby said.
What will it take to beat ISIS?
ISIS vows retribution for killings
ISIS made threats over battle losses on Friday.
More than 50 of its fighters were killed while defending the large ISIS-held town of Jalawla "against the Peshmerga (Kurdish) mercenaries," it said on Twitter. A subsequent tweet said the group vowed revenge.
Iraqi and Kurdish forces surrounded Jalawla and took back several nearby villages in Diyala province, a spokesman for Kurdish forces said.
The Peshmerga and Iraqi commandos inflicted heavy losses against ISIS in those battles, military officials said.
In neighboring Salaheddin province, also north of Baghdad, Iraqi helicopters killed 30 ISIS fighters in the town of Dhuluiya, about 70 kilometers northeast of Baquba, Iraqi security officials told CNN.
Also Friday, Iraqi forces took another step in their attempt to take back Tikrit, the birthplace of former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein, Iraqi security sources said. The city fell to ISIS in June.
More U.S. airstrikes near Mosul Dam
Meanwhile, U.S. aircraft conducted three more airstrikes against the militants, primarily ISIS-driven vehicles, near the Mosul Dam, the Pentagon said.
Since August 8, the U.S. military has carried out 93 airstrikes, 60 of them in support of Iraqi forces near the Mosul Dam, according to the Defense Department.
The dam is the largest in the country, and Iraqi and U.S. officials fear that a breach in the dam would threaten the lives of millions of Iraqis who live downstream in Mosul and Baghdad.
The U.S. airstrikes have continued despite a threat by ISIS to kill another American hostage.
Earlier this week, ISIS posted an online video showing the execution of American journalist James Foley. The group threatened the life of another man, identified as American journalist Steven Sotloff, if the United States didn't end airstrikes in Iraq.
Where is ISIS?
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reported from Baghdad, and Chelsea J. Carter and Ben Brumfield reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Jason Hanna and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report.
Football: UEFA sanction Russia
8/22/2014 3:09:49 PM
- UEFA will not recognize matches involving Crimean teams
- Three clubs played in Ukraine last season
- Crimea annexed by Russia in March
- Three teams had been entered into Russian competition
(CNN) -- UEFA will not recognize any Russian soccer matches involving teams from the disputed region of Crimea.
The move was announced by European soccer's governing body after the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) appealed to UEFA and FIFA for their Russian counterparts to be sanctioned over "illegally and arbitrarily" taking three of its teams.
"The UEFA Emergency Panel has today decided that any football matches played by Crimean clubs in the context of competitions organized by the Russian Football Union (RFS) will not be recognized by UEFA until further notice," read a statement released Friday. "In order for football to take place within an organized sporting and legal framework, such participation has to comply with the terms set out in the UEFA Statutes."
Anatoliy Konkov
Annexation
The status of the three Ukrainian clubs -- Tavriya Simferopol, FC Sevastopol and a lower league team from Yalta -- was thrown into doubt in March when Russia invaded and annexed the region of Crimea, which lies on a Black Sea peninsular in the south east of Ukraine.
SC Tavriya and FC Sevastopol both played in the Ukrainian Premier League last season and were allowed to continue until its conclusion. Their home games were hosted outside of Crimea due to security concerns.
But when the season finished the three clubs were dissolved. Two were given new names -- TSK Simferopol, SKChF Sevastopol and Zhemchuzhina Yalta -- and entered in to Russian competition by the Russian Football Union, sparking protests from Ukraine.
UEFA's statutes does outlaw "combinations and alliances" of clubs from different associations but FIFA would only allow any such move if both the Russians and Ukrainians agreed to it.
"Our strong position is that Ukrainian teams have to be in Ukrainian competition and there is no right for them to take part in Russia," said Anatoliy Konkov, a former USSR national team who is now the president of the FFU, in an interview with the New York Times.
"The clubs are still Ukrainian. Nobody gave them to Russia," he added before explaining that the FFU had given no such permission for the move to take place."
Fall out
The geopolitical fall out from both the conflict in Ukraine and the MH17 plane disaster had already begun to engulf soccer.
Several politicians, including British deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, had called on Russia to be stripped of the right to host the 2018 World Cup finals over its alleged role in supplying and arming the Russian speaking insurgents currently fighting government forces in the east of Ukraine.
Crimea was also raised when FIFA president Sepp Blatter met Russian president Vladimir Putin last weekend to discuss preparations for the 2018 finals.
"FIFA President Blatter also reiterated that FIFA will handle the ongoing matter concerning Crimean football clubs based on the relevant processes that should be overseen by the respective confederation (UEFA) in the first instance," FIFA said in a statement.
Russian fears
Leading figures in Russian soccer had allegedly voiced fears that the annexation of Crimea's teams could lead to just such a political fallout.
Last week Russian investigative magazine Novaya Gazeta published a transcript of a leaked recording from a meeting between top Russian soccer executives.
The transcript of the meeting, which took place in July and lead to the vote which admitted the three Crimean teams into the Russian third division, appears to show discussions revealing how the vote may impact on Russian clubs playing in the UEFA Champions League.
Others raise fears that the vote might even harm Russia's hosting of the 2018 World Cup finals.
"I have a club to support, " Evgeny Giner, the president of CSKA Moscow, is alleged to have said. "And tomorrow they'll pull us from 2018."
Forced hand
The objections of the Ukrainian federation has forced UEFA to make the temporary sanction against Russia whilst working out what to do next. In the statement UEFA, rather hopefully, believes the two sides can come to an agreement on the status of Crimea's soccer clubs.
"The UEFA Emergency Panel has also requested that the UEFA administration, together with FIFA, facilitate discussions with the representatives of the RFS and the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) in order to find a common solution to this situation," concluded UEFA's statement.
But any agreement would likely be seen as a huge PR coup for Russia's annexation of Crimea, and appear highly unlikely.
Both the Football Federation of Ukraine and the Russian Football Union have not replied to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Football: Bayern start season with win
8/22/2014 4:50:54 PM
- Bayern Munich beat Wolfsburg 2-1
- First match of German Budesliga season
- Bayern goals from Thomas Muller and Arjen Robben
- Wolfsburg reply from Ivica Olic
(CNN) -- Bayern Munich started where they left off last season by beating Wolfsburg 2-1 in the curtain raise to the German Bundesliga.
But the German champions, who ran away with the 2013/214 league title, were pegged back for long periods of the game and can count themselves lucky not have conceded a chance late on that Junior Malanda somehow missed from inches out.
Pep Guardiola's side was missing a host of first team starters with Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franck Ribery, Thiago, Javi Martinez and Jerome Boateng all absent thanks to a mixture of injuries and suspensions.
That meant that Guardiola was forced to hand 17 year old Gianluca Gaudino his first ever Bayern start.
Yet it was Wolfsburg that were the most impressive in the opening stages until German international Thomas Mueller stabbed home and gave Bayern the lead before half time.
And things got worse for Wolfsburg when Arjen Robben, in scintillating form and showing no signs of fatigue after an excellent World Cup this summer for The Netherlands, sprinted through and placed his shot in the net.
Wolfsburg quickly replied through the veteran Croatia striker Ivica Olic, who curled home a wonderful long range shot into the top left hand corner past a beaten Manuel Neuer.
But the match will perhaps be best remembered for what will surely go down as one of the misses of the season, even at this early stage.
Belgian midfielder Malanda forced a superb save from Neuer, who deflected his shot on to the bar. The rebound hit Malanda, standing on the line, and it rolled harmlessly wide.
After that, Bayern held on for the perfect start to the season.
PSG held
Meanwhile in France, Paris Saint Germain continued their stuttering start to the season with a 0-0 draw against Evian after seeing new signing Yohan Cabaye sent off.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic and captain Thiago Silva out injured, and Thiago Motta, who was on the receiving end of a vicious headbutt after PSG's 2-0 win over Bastia last week, only on the bench, the champions couldn't break a resolute Evian down.
PSG had most of the possession and play until the 62nd minute when Cabaye, a summer signing from Newcastle United who has been on an extended break since representing France at this summer's World Cup, was sent off for a second bookable offense.
Life got easier for Evian after the sending off and they might have snatched victory at the death when Nicolas Benezet's shot was kept out by Italian goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu.
Despite being one of the richest clubs in the world after their Qatari buy out, PSG have now drawn two and won one of their first three games and will be counting the days until Ibrahimovich returns.
Late start in Spain
In Spain the second leg of the Super Cup between Atletico Madrid and Read Madrid was was due to kick off at the Vincent Calderon late Friday. The first leg between the Madrid rivals ended 1-1.
How Iraq's 'black gold' funds ISIS
8/22/2014 5:17:21 AM
- Terrorist group ISIS controls some oil fields in North Iraq, which helps fund its activities
- The group is using smuggling routes to get crude into nearby countries, and refine it
- The refined oil is then sold locally and used to fund ISIS' warfare and raise money
- The impact on global markets has so far been limited as ISIS is not in southern Iraq
Editor's note: Luay al-Khatteeb is visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, focusing on the geopolitics and political economy of the GCC and Iraq. He is the founder and director of the Iraq Energy Institute and serves as senior adviser to the federal parliament of Iraq for energy policy and economic reform. Follow him on Twitter.
London (CNN) -- Luay al-Khatteeb spoke to CNN about the impact of ISIS' march through northern Iraq, and the militant group's control of some oil fields. He explained how they used the oil fields to raise funds, and how it could impact global prices. This is an edited version of the conversation.
How much of Iraq's oil market do ISIS control?
ISIS control just a few marginal fields in Iraq's north, but they are enough to fund the terrorist group's self-sufficiency.
A month ago, the ISIS--controlled oil market in Iraq was reported to be worth $1 million a day. Now, with expansion, further control of oil fields and smuggling routes, the market is believed to be raising at least $2 million a day.
This could fetch them more than $730 million a year, enough to sustain the operation beyond Iraq.
ISIS have been battling over Baiji and the refinery is still under siege. However, if ISIS succeed in capturing it, the refinery would be very difficult to operate without capable and technical staff.
One important factor for the stability of global markets: ISIS is not yet in the south of Iraq, where the country's true oil bounty lies. Capturing the southern assets of the country would be mission impossible for the group.
The territory is far from fault lines, and is dominated by Shia, which makes dominating the region difficult for the Sunni militant group.
What do ISIS do with the oil they get?
ISIS smuggle the crude oil and trade it for cash and refined products, at a reduced price. They also have their own small and rudimentary refineries in Syria.
Refined oil is returned to ISIS for selling locally, in Iraq and Syria. ISIS also use the oil in their own warfare.
ISIS controls smuggling routes and the crude transported by tankers to Jordan via Anbar province, to Iran via Kurdistan, to Turkey via Mosul, to Syria's local market and to the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where most of it gets refined locally.
Turkey has turned a blind eye to this and may continue to do so until they come under pressure from the West to close down oil black markets in the country's south.
ISIS' oil will remain limited to these black markets, and the group will have no chance to establish a sophisticated pipeline network. Fixed distribution networks are complex, require investment and can become targets by the Iraqi Army and Kurdish Peshmerga.
What is ISIS' ultimate aim and how does oil wealth play into it?
At present, ISIS are trying to establish a self-sufficient state and a capital in what is known as the "Sunni triangle" (west and north Iraq), and oil production will be part of this.
They want to be self-sufficient, expand their territorial control, recruit more jihadists -- with focus on extremists with foreign passports -- and extend their operations, to eventually launch attacks on Western countries.
ISIS declared its Caliphate by turning Iraq and Syria into a hub to attract extremists. They are aiming to take over the Arabian Peninsula as their epicenter to launch attacks globally.
If this happens, they will be in control of a region that holds 60% of world's conventional energy reserves and produces 40% of global oil and gas production.
And the only way to do it is by attracting the masses of jihadists and extremists from all over the world to eventually outnumber the locals, which will endanger global security and economies.
How is ISIS' control of some of Iraq's oil fields impacting the global economy?
In the short to mid-term, the impact will be minimal as Iraq's south is its dominant producer.
However, there are enough rich assets in the midlands and the north part of Iraq that ISIS could reach out to, a potential capacity that could ramp up to a million barrels a day -- from its current 30,000 barrels a day -- should they seize control the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and its surrounding districts.
If they succeed in controlling those assets, cash inflow could stretch their empire of terrorism beyond imagination. But so far, ISIS oil trading has remained local with buyers in Jordan, Turkey, Syria and Iran via middlemen network and truck owners.
However, the instability created by Iraq effectively being broken up would have a ripple impact, in terms of hindering investment prospect in the country.
In turn, that could prevent Iraq from reaching its 2020 target of 9 million barrels of oil production per day, which is three times Iraq's current oil supply and 10% of global demand.
What it will take to beat ISIS
8/22/2014 1:49:50 PM
- Execution of journalist James Foley again highlights the nature of terror group ISIS
- Lister: Getting rid of ISIS will be tougher than taking on al Qaeda
- Challenges facing the U.S. and others including the resourcing of, and territory held by, ISIS
- Unlike most jihadist groups, ISIS has some serious weaponry and plenty of seasoned fighters
(CNN) -- "We need long-term to take out ISIS' leadership, to degrade their operational capabilities, to cut off their financing sources, to go after them in a comprehensive way to cut off their ability to do the things we've seen them do."
Those were the words of State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf on Monday -- suggesting the Obama Administration is preparing to do much more against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq than deprive it of the Mosul Dam. They sounded much like the checklist used to degrade al Qaeda over a decade.
Until the sudden capture of Mosul in June, ISIS was of concern to Western governments but not a pressing priority. Since then, the threat to Baghdad, the plight of the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq, direct threats to U.S. interests and citizens and now the gruesome execution of American journalist James Foley have galvanized an unlikely coalition.
Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Jabhat al Nusrah, the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria: all have the same adversary.
On Wednesday, President Obama said: "There has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so it does not spread." French President Francois Hollande concurs. In an interview with Le Monde Wednesday he called for a "comprehensive strategy against this structured group, which has access to substantial funding and to very sophisticated weapons, and which threatens countries such as Iraq, Syria or Lebanon."
The first step in taking down al Qaeda central was the invasion of Afghanistan to deprive it of living space. This time, the United States hopes others -- specifically the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi armed forces -- will do that part of the job against ISIS, with a little help from U.S. drones and F-16s.
Even so, killing off an organization that is now much more potent than al Qaeda or its affiliates will depend on a lot of things going right in a region where much has gone wrong.
Here are just a few of the challenges.
1. ISIS has considerable territory
In eight months, ISIS has taken control of swathes of western and northern Iraq, and expanded its presence in northern Syria. For hundreds of miles along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, ISIS is the power in the land; it now holds an area larger than the neighboring state of Jordan. While al Qaeda never really held territory beyond training camps and caves in remote parts of Afghanistan, ISIS controls cities (Mosul, Tikrit and Tal Afar in Iraq; Raqqa in Syria) and oil fields, main roads and border crossings. And it possesses more military hardware than some national armies after seizing both Iraqi and Syrian military bases and armories.
U.S. President Barack Obama
Critically, ISIS is able to use both Syrian and Iraqi soil in a much more muscular way than al Qaeda and the Taliban used the mountain tracks between Pakistan and Afghanistan. This gives it tactical flexibility and safe havens. Although its Syrian strongholds have come under aerial attack recently by the Syrian air force, the group retains control of Raqqa and Deir Ezzour provinces in the north and east of the country, and has in recent days seized villages close to Aleppo, some 250 miles from the border with Iraq. It also holds villages and towns along the Syrian border with Turkey.
As ISIS threatens to overwhelm other rebel groups (see below), especially the remnants of the Free Syrian Army, one critical factor will be the Syrian regime's tactics. Until recently it has focused its fire on other groups in securing Damascus and retaking Homs. There are signs it now sees ISIS as a clear and present danger; ISIS has seized several military bases in Raqqa province, and threatens to take the important Tabqa air base.
In the last week, the Assad regime has stepped up its use of air-strikes against ISIS, no doubt aware of the coincidental benefit of showing the West that Syrian help is required to tackle ISIS.
ISIS could be squeezed from several directions, but it would require co-ordinated commitment from Syria -- which has other battles to fight and may still see ISIS as a useful counterbalance against other rebel groups -- as well as the Iraqi army and the Kurds. Desperation has led Baghdad to co-operate with the Kurds. Whether that is sustainable is open to question.
2. ISIS has men, money, munitions
Unlike most jihadist groups, ISIS has some serious weaponry and plenty of seasoned fighters. In an assault on a major Syrian army base earlier this month, ISIS deployed three suicide bombers and dozens of well-armed fighters. A long battle ended with the fall of the base (one of the last held by the regime in Raqqa) and -- according to Syrian activists -- the summary execution of dozens of soldiers.
It was symbolic of ISIS' ability to conduct complex operations simultaneously in theaters hundreds of miles apart. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims ISIS gained 6,300 new recruits -- 80 percent of them Syrian and the rest foreign -- in July alone. While U.S. officials say the number of active fighters probably numbers some 15,000, Iraqi analysts believe ISIS may be able to field three times that number.
A significant number are from Europe, Australia and the former Soviet Union. On Wednesday, Austrian prosecutors said nine people had been arrested on suspicion of intending to join Islamic militants in Syria, the latest indication of the stream of radicalized young Muslims lured to the promised land.
ISIS paints a picture of this land through a sophisticated outreach program on social media and through its English-language online publication, Dabiq, which is full of accounts of the coming showdown with "crusader armies," appeals to Muslims to come to the Islamic State and promises that "it is only a matter of time and patience before it reaches Palestine to fight the barbaric jews."
Tim Lister, CNN
The aim of creating a Caliphate gives the group a mission that appeals to many young jihadists in Syria, Iraq and beyond. It's a goal that gives ISIS' campaign religious underpinning, and is constantly referred to in the group's literature.
ISIS has shown a ruthless discipline in its military tactics, forcing the Iraqi military to fight on several fronts at once and using mobile groups of a few dozen fighters as a first wave in attacking targets. It has a well-deserved reputation for accepting casualties in the pursuit of an objective and uses probing operations to test defenses (as in Mosul) and to keep opponents off-balance. In July, ISIS fighters attacked gas installations in Homs province, which diverted Syrian forces, only to then launch more concerted assaults on targets further east.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which follows ISIS' campaign closely, "the breadth of these linked offensives across Iraq and Syria illustrate the ISIS priority objective of establishing territorial integrity for the Caliphate, and are evidence of the large military capacity ISIS still possesses nearly two months after the fall of Mosul.
"As continued military successes from increasingly unified theatres of operation fuel the ISIS war machine, a hardened ISIS exterior line is likely to allow ISIS forces to pursue further expansion," ISW says.
ISIS control of border crossings is a source of revenue, as are bank raids in the towns and cities they have seized. The group has seized oil refineries, and may make as much as $2 million a day from its control of fuel supplies in northern Iraq. They also hold the al-Omar oilfield in Raqqa.
3. ISIS is strangling the Syrian rebels
Perhaps the most immediate -- and most difficult --- challenge in reversing the ISIS tide is preventing it from killing off what remains of the more moderate Syrian opposition to Bashar al Assad. Already driven out of Homs through starvation, these groups are now caught between the hammer of ISIS and the anvil of the Syrian army in and around Aleppo. ISIS is closing in on Aleppo from the north, while the regime cuts off other routes.
Brian Fishman, who has followed the rise of ISIS longer than most, says that supporting the Free Syrian Army earlier might have blunted ISIS, "but that's a pretty hollow position if one also gives Syrian rebel factions a pass for tolerating and even embracing ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusrah through late 2012."
The remnants of the Free Syrian Army are disjointed and deflated -- and deeply resentful of failed western promises to provide the sort of military aid that would have tipped the military balance. Elements of the anti-ISIS Islamic Front are also starved of resources, and even Jabhat al Nusrah, the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, has shifted its focus rather than take on ISIS.
After its gains north of Aleppo, ISIS may also be able to extend its control to parts of the Syrian-Turkish border, cutting off resupply routes for other groups. Syrian activists say ISIS fighters are now just a few miles from the town of Azaz, close to the border.
Can the U.S. and its partners help revive Syrian rebels to the point they can take on ISIS before the military balance in Syria tips decisively against them?
The record is not encouraging. Exactly three years ago, President Obama said the United States would lead the effort in "pressuring President Assad to get out of the way of this [democratic] transition, and standing up for the universal rights of the Syrian people - along with others in the international community."
George Packer, The New Yorker
Assad is still standing. The rebels are in disarray. And the Syrian people can only imagine what universal rights might look like.
4. ISIS hasn't over-reached as yet. But there are signs
Much of ISIS' success has derived from its ability to strike local deals with Sunni tribes in both Syria and Iraq -- either in the face of a common enemy or because tribal leaders see opposition as futile and/or suicidal. In Syria, for example, ISIS commanders co-opted the Sharabia tribe in joint operations against local Kurds.
It has shown merciless cruelty to enemies, beheading Syrian soldiers and executing Shia civilians and soldiers in Iraq. Displaying severed heads and other draconian demonstrations of ruthlessness are calculated to create a climate of fear among would-be adversaries. Human Rights Watch noted reports this week that ISIS had "executed as many as 700 members of the Sheitaat tribe in Deir al-Zour governorate, many of them civilians."
This ruthlessness is the ultimate form of totalitarian control -- but controlling such a vast area is only possible with the acquiescence of the civilian population. And this may change, especially if the new Iraqi Prime Minister extends an olive branch to the Sunni tribes; and if those who would oppose ISIS, both in Iraq and Syria, get support in the form of intelligence and weapons and support from the air.
Dawn Chatty, a social anthropologist at Oxford University, says that in north-eastern Syria "the Bedouin are very hard to terrorize, and the Bedouin will really come back." The head of the Sheitaat tribe has already called on other groups to join it in opposing ISIS.
But ISIS has shown itself to be smarter than its equally ruthless predecessor, al Qaeda in Iraq, which ultimately alienated Sunni tribes and led them to sign up for the U.S.-sponsored "Awakening" against extremism. It has provided food, fuel and security to populations on the brink of destitution after three years of civil war in Syria. And as Yochi Dreazen notes in Foreign Policy, ISIS "has generally allowed the local bureaucrats in charge of hospitals, law enforcement, trash pickup, and other municipal services to stay in their jobs." Its sharia courts have cut crime -- albeit more by cruel example than by due process.
While Raqqa is the flagship of ISIS' model of governance, there are other Syrian towns -- such as al-Bab and Manbij -- where it has shown organizational skills. Charles Caris at the Institute for the Study of War says that "as ISIS takes sole control over territory, it expands to provide more services, often operating the heavy equipment needed to repair sewer and electricity lines."
But running towns and dispensing services is a costly business, and there are only so many banks to empty. As Caris observes: "The immediate provision of aid and electricity, for example, does not translate into the creation of a durable economy."
5. The Iraqi government still needs to get its act together
In some ways, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki was the best recruiting sergeant ISIS could wish for, repeatedly alienating the Sunni minority with heavy-handed tactics against dissent, followed by indiscriminate bombing when ISIS took Fallujah in January. Maliki became identified with a chauvinistic Shia outlook heavily influenced by Iran.
Now Haidar al-Abadi -- the Prime Minister in waiting -- has the opportunity to win back the support of senior military commanders who had become disillusioned with the way Iraq's security forces had been so brazenly politicized, and lure the Sunni tribes back into political process. And that would starve ISIS of the "host" on which it has thrived for the past few months.
Some Sunni tribal leaders have already make it clear they will deal with al-Abadi, if the price is right. Iraqi analysts say this price includes an end to the allocation of ministries and other arms of government purely on the basis of partisan patronage.
The Kurds seem ready to give al-Abadi a chance. Hoshyar Zebari has returned to his post as Iraqi Foreign Minister in Baghdad, telling CNN's Becky Anderson Wednesday: "We've rejoined the caretaker government."
After the recapture of the Mosul Dam, the Iraqi army has launched another attempt to retake Tikrit. But so far ISIS is still in control of most of the town. There is a long way to go before real progress against ISIS can be demonstrated.
Brian Fishman, War On The Rocks
6. The international coalition needs to stick together
The events of the last few weeks, especially the horrendous brutality of ISIS that has mobilized global opinion and the existential threat to Iraq as a state, has concentrated minds from the Gulf to Europe and Washington.
"Suddenly, a common enemy has joined mutually distrustful players in the making of a coalition against ISIS -- just the kind of multilateralism that the U.S. President favors," writes George Packer in The New Yorker.
But does that coalition have willpower and cohesion to pursue what will be a costly -- and long-term -- mission? Will the U.S. be ready to use greater military force in Iraq in support of both the Kurds and the Iraqi military, including the deployment of Special Forces, given that the Obama administration sees ending the war in Iraq as a major achievement? And will the new government in Baghdad -- still likely to be a largely Shia coalition -- make enough concessions to both the Kurds and Sunnis to rekindle the 'concept' of Iraq?
In Syria, will the friends of the opposition, including the U.S., Turkey and the Gulf states be ready to prioritize the goal of helping rebel groups, including even Islamist elements, against ISIS, over the long-term aim of removing al Assad? Time is short.
Frederic Hoff of the Atlantic Council argues that "if, for example, the [opposition] Coalition were to establish itself in northern Syria, its associated military elements would need -- among other things -- the means to neutralize regime military aviation and ISIS ground forces." That's a lot of means.
Some former US military officials have spoken of the need to put 10,000 to 15,000 US troops on the ground to "roll back" ISIS. Brian Fishman, a Fellow at the New America Foundation, writes in War On the Rocks that "10,000-15,000 troops vastly understates the true commitment, which will actually require years, direct military action on both sides of the Iraq/Syria border, tens (if not hundreds) of billions of dollars, and many more than 15,000 troops."
And Fishman takes a pessimistic view of the prospects of getting rid of ISIS any time soon.
"The political consensus to incur the risks and costs of destroying ISIS is tremendously unlikely. And even then, success hinges on dramatic political shifts in both Iraq and Syria that under the best of circumstances will require years."
Which is where we started: the "long-term." And even then.
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Massacre inside Iraq mosque
8/22/2014 4:54:09 PM
- NEW: Sunni lawmakers pull out of talks to form a government over the killings
- ISIS vows retribution for killing of 50 of its fighters in Iraq
- Mosque gunmen were militiamen, Sunni lawmaker says
- Sunni lawmakers pull out of government negotiations over killings
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Suspected Shiite militiamen opened fire Friday inside a Sunni mosque in northeast Iraq, killing dozens in an attack that appeared to derail the formation of a new government -- something world leaders have said is a must if the country hopes to defeat Islamic militants.
The news of the attack that left 65 people dead came as Iraqi forces -- in some cases boosted by U.S. airstrikes -- touted successes in the fight to push back the extremist Sunni Muslim militant group, which calls itself the Islamic State. Militants control large swaths of northern Iraq and eastern Syria.
The attack in the Musab bin Omar Mosque in the village of Bani Weis in Diyala province, about 75 kilometers northeast of Baquba, also left at least 17 people wounded, officials said.
Sunni lawmakers withdrew from negotiations to form a new government, saying they would not return until those behind the attack were arrested, two party officials told CNN.
Iraqi authorities did not immediately identify the attackers, but Sunni politicians have put the blame on Shiite militias.
Calling it the latest in a series of attacks by militiamen aligned with Iraqi security forces in the fight against ISIS, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq -- a Sunni -- said the government must conduct an investigation and hold accountable those behind the attack.
"We want serious action," he told CNN.
But the United States and the United Nations called on Iraq to continue its efforts to form a united government, saying it is the only way for Iraq to defeat the sectarian divide that allowed ISIS to take hold.
"This senseless attack underscores the urgent need for Iraqi leaders from across the political spectrum to take the necessary steps that will help unify the country against all violent extremist groups," Marie Harf, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, said.
Sunni lawmaker Nahida al-Dayani, who was grew up in the village, told Reuters that roughly 150 people were worshipping inside the mosque Friday morning when Shiite militiamen stormed the building.
The attack, al-Dayani told the news agency, was believed to be retribution for a roadside bombing earlier in the day that targeted an Iraqi security force vehicle.
U.S. 'understands the threat'
U.S. President Barack Obama authorized targeted airstrikes to protect U.S. personnel in Iraq -- including military advisers -- as well as minorities being brutalized by ISIS. The Pentagon also has said the airstrikes are meant to support Iraqi and Kurdish defense operations.
Much has been made in recent days about whether the United States needs to expand its operations to go after ISIS fighters in their stronghold in eastern Syria.
Asked Friday whether the United States was considering expanding the air campaign into Syria, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said, "We don't telegraph our punches."
"I'm not going to get ahead of planning that hasn't been done or decisions that haven't been made," Kirby said. "... I think you can rest assured that the leadership here in the Pentagon understands the threat posed by this group, understands the threat posed inside Iraq."
ISIS vows retribution for killings
ISIS, through one of its Twitter accounts, said Friday that more than 50 of its fighters were killed while defending Jalawla "against the Peshmerga mercenaries," a reference to Kurdish forces.
A subsequent tweet said the group vowed revenge.
What will it take to beat ISIS?
The threat came as Iraqi and Kurdish forces lauded gains against ISIS fighters, taking back several villages in Diyala province, and they surrounded the large ISIS-held town of Jalawla, a spokesman for Kurdish forces said.
The Peshmerga and Iraqi commandos inflicted heavy losses against ISIS on Friday as they took back a number of towns and villages around Jalawla in Diyala province, Pershmerga spokesman Brig. Gen. Halgord Hikmat told CNN.
Jalawla, a mostly Kurdish city of about 50,000 people roughly 70 miles northeast of Baghdad, was taken by ISIS earlier this year. Kurdish and Iraqi forces now surround it, Hikmat said.
In neighboring Salaheddin province, also north of Baghdad, Iraqi helicopters killed 30 ISIS fighters in the town of Dhuluiya, about 70 kilometers northeast of Baquba, Iraqi security officials told CNN.
Also Friday, Iraqi forces took another step in their attempt to take back Tikrit, the birthplace of former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein, Iraqi security sources said. The city fell to ISIS in June.
More U.S. airstrikes near Mosul Dam
Meanwhile, U.S. aircraft conducted three more airstrikes against the militants, primarily ISIS-driven vehicles, near the Mosul Dam, the Pentagon said.
Since August 8, the U.S. military has carried out 93 airstrikes, 60 of them in support of Iraqi forces near the Mosul Dam, according to the Defense Department.
The dam is the largest in the country, and Iraqi and U.S. officials fear that a breach in the dam would threaten the lives of millions of Iraqis who live downstream in Mosul and Baghdad.
The U.S. airstrikes have continued despite ISIS' threat to kill another American hostage.
Earlier this week, ISIS posted to the Internet a video showing the execution of American journalist James Foley. The group threatened the life of another man, believed to be American journalist Steven Sotloff, if the United States didn't end airstrikes in Iraq.
Obama vowed justice in a televised address on Wednesday, saying the country would "continue to do what we must do to protect our people."
Where is ISIS?
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reported from Baghdad, and Jason Hanna and Chelsea J. Carter reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report.
Official: U.S. gathering intel on ISIS locations in Syria
8/22/2014 10:45:36 PM
- The U.S. is gathering intel on the locations of ISIS leadership in Syria, officials say
- Ex-CIA official: ISIS is empowered when U.S. calls out, attacks them
- Administration officials leave open the possibility of airstrikes on ISIS in Syria
- Official: President Obama won't be "restricted by borders" in response to ISIS
Washington (CNN) -- After three years of avoiding it, President Barack Obama finds himself being pushed toward military action in Syria.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey both made clear that defeating Islamic State jihadists' rampage through northern Iraq would require going after them in neighboring Syria.
"That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a non-existent border," Dempsey told reporters Thursday.
On Friday, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said the administration was looking beyond the current airstrikes within Iraq's borders.
"If we see plotting against Americans, see a threat to the United States emanating from anywhere, we stand ready to take action against that threat," Rhodes told reporters.
The United States is already gathering intelligence on the locations of ISIS leadership and troops in Syria, two U.S. officials said.
Separately, U.S. officials said the military has been talking about increasing airstrikes in Iraq and possibly carrying out tailored airstrikes inside Syria against ISIS targets.
ISIS savagery
The ISIS fighters are helping Obama make his case with their savagery, which includes mass killings, abductions and other atrocities such as the video-taped beheading of captured American journalist James Foley.
Brother: 'More ... could have been done' to save James Foley
But the President, who has declined to arm rebels fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, faces a policy change certain to embolden critics in both parties of his reticence back then.
Obama had avoided what he called reckless interventions of the past, particularly the Iraq War, launched by his predecessor.
Critics could argue that Obama's decision to previously keep out of the Syrian conflict contributed to ISIS' growth.
His former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has distanced herself from him on Syria strategy during his first term as she prepares for a possible presidential run in 2016.
Legal barrier evaporated
The Obama administration has acknowledged sending U.S. forces into Syria earlier this year in a failed attempt to free Foley.
That established a precedent of acting in Syria to protect U.S. citizens and interests, superseding any legal considerations such as being asked by the host government to enter, argued Frederic Hof, Obama's former point man on Syria.
"There's a pretty good possibility that we and/or some kind of multinational effort will engage in hitting ISIS targets inside Syria," he said.
Iraq escalation
Obama already escalated U.S. military involvement in Iraq to combat ISIS less than three years after ending a lengthy war there.
In June, he sent military advisers to work with Iraqi and Kurdish forces against the lightning ISIS sweep through the north. Earlier this month, the President authorized limited airstrikes on ISIS targets and additional advisers to Iraq to protect U.S. personnel and minority groups threatened by the Sunni extremists.
Hagel emphasized the ISIS threat on Thursday.
"They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded," he told reporters. "This is beyond anything that we've seen."
Broad-based approach
Hagel and Dempsey also said that defeating ISIS requires a broad-based approach that includes forging an international coalition and better governance in Iraq and Syria to build public opposition to the extremists.
"Political reform will make it harder for (ISIS) to exploit sectarian divisions," Hagel said. The United States and other powers will shore up Iraq at the same time.
The United States should build a coalition against ISIS that includes regional countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan that can contribute air power -- much of it provided by America, Hof said.
"All agree at some level or another that ISIS presents a threat," he noted.
Risky move
U.S. bombs exploding in Syria also would allow Islamic extremists to argue that America remains an imperialist bully. That could play into ISIS' hands.
"You have an adversary that is so proud of its accomplishments and so driven by its ideology that they want to appear on the world stage as our peer," said Philip Mudd, a former CIA counterterrorism official.
Strikes could boost their fund raising and recruiting.
At the same time, Mudd says, if the United States wants to really hurt ISIS, it has to strike at its base -- which is Syria.
But that also could empower al-Assad, who has long dismissed the uprising against his leadership as a fight against terrorists, Hof said.
Until now, al-Assad has allowed ISIS to grow in Syria because it joins his government in fighting the anti-government forces.
However, ISIS fighters have taken over rebel-held territory and even some government-held areas, causing al-Assad to launch airstrikes against them in some places.
Al-Assad's strategy
"This is basically two criminal gangs who often in effect collaborate but now have a difference over real money over who controls oil fields and the like," Hof said of the relationship between al-Assad and ISIS.
Wiping out the Syrian opposition would leave only ISIS and al-Assad, who would then position himself to the West as the lesser of two evils and an ally in fighting the jihadists, Hof said.
American public opinion
Intervention abroad has become unpopular with many Americans, weary from long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama "needs to reassure people that this effort does not presage boots on the ground or some kind of repeat of the Iraq experience," Hof said.
Rhodes called Obama "very deliberate toward the use of force."
"The American people also understand that there's some threats that have to be dealt with," he said.
Who is the ISIS?
Where are they?
CNN's Barbara Starr and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.
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