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Is it the beginning of the end for ISIS?
One certainly hopes so -- much happier place than the end of the beginning.
[ARA] In an unprecedented development, the U.S.-led international coalition called on civilians in the IS-held Syrian city of Raqqa to evacuate their houses immediately.

The American appeal came on Sunday through paper scraps dropped by warplanes on the city, local sources reported on Sunday.

Local activists from Raqqa told ARA News that chaos prevailed in the city after residents obtained these scraps, amid continues raids against IS locations.

This comes after a wave of defections hit the ranks of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group (IS/ISIS).

Speaking to ARA News on the phone, a military source from the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
(FSA) in the IS-held city of Manbij said (under the condition of anonymity) that the number of IS turbans has decreased in the city.

"The IS group is even afraid of sending their gunnies on missions and patrols outside Manbij," the source reported. "Those bad boys, who are supposed to perform military missions and come back to their bases, mostly do not return, as the recent cases in the IS-held Amarna and Jazira checkpoints on the road to Jarablus."

In the meantime, the town of Ain Issa, in southeastern Kobane (Ain al-Arab), was reported free of IS turbans on Sunday evening. The group has transferred its Sharia Court and headquarters to the nearby town of Sulug, amid the escape of large numbers of turbans towards the Turkish territory across Tel Abyad in Raqqa countryside, in northeastern Syria.

Media sources also reported that the IS faceless myrmidons are planning to withdraw from the northern countryside of Aleppo, after their loss in Kobane's battles.

Commenting on these developments, media activist Khabat Hisso told ARA News: "After the group's defeat in Kobane, I'm afraid of IS recklessness and retaliatory practices against civilians before their withdrawal from any area."

The defending forces of Kobane have made great advancement in these areas. The IS group has entered the stage of collapse, at least in the mentioned areas, according to observers.
Posted by: Fred 2015-02-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=410315