Embattled Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014...
warned that the entire region is endangered by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original...
, whose gunnies have rampaged across his country in recent weeks. Facing pressure to step aside, al-Maliki said the focus must be on countering the threat — not wholesale leadership changes.
The myrmidon group has fed off the chaos and supercharged sectarian atmosphere of Syria's civil war to seize control of a large chunk of territory there. With its recent blitz across Iraq, it has expanded its gains while also effectively erasing the border between the two countries and laying the groundwork of its proto-state.
Led by an ambitious Iraqi myrmidon known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group this week unilaterally declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the land it has seized. It also proclaimed al-Baghdadi the head of its new self-styled state governed by Shariah law and demanded that all Moslems pledge allegiance to him.
Its assault in Iraq appears to have slowed after sweeping across the predominantly Sunni Arab areas and encountering stiff resistance in Shiite-majority regions. But in Syria, al-Baghdadi's group has forged ahead with an offensive against towns and villages held by rival rebels along the Euphrates River in the eastern province bordering Iraq.
Militants stormed houses in the frontier town of Boukamal, rounding up people suspected of opposing them, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The murderous Moslem group captured Boukamal on Tuesday, after fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front defected.
Al-Baghdadi's fighters also were battling rival factions at the northern entrance to the nearby town of Sheheil, a Nusra Front stronghold, forcing thousands of residents to flee.
The group — which has changed its name simply to the Islamic State — is reviled by most Syrian rebel groups, and many of them have been locked in a bloody six-month battle with it across northern Syria that has killed more than 7,000 people. A few smaller rebel factions have pledged loyalty to al-Baghdadi's organization out of fear or convenience, but most factions in Syria oppose it.
On Wednesday, nine Syrian rebel groups, including a powerful coalition called the Islamic Front, rejected al-Baghdadi's declaration of a caliphate. In a statement posted on Islamic websites, they said the declaration was "void" and pledged to continue the fight.
In Raqqa, the Syrian stronghold of al-Baghdadi's group, activists said the snuffies displayed more heavy weaponry believed to have been looted from Iraqi military bases.
Video posted by activists showed what appeared to be an Islamic State leader asking a group of people in a mosque, including children, to pledge loyalty to al-Baghdadi. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other News Agency that Dare Not be Named reporting.
"Before, it was enough if you showed them support; now they're asking people to swear allegiance," said a Raqqa-based activist who spoke condition of anonymity because he fears retribution. He and other activists said the group also was punishing and jailing people suspected of breaking the traditional dawn-to-dusk fast for the holy month of Ramadan, which began Sunday.