29th June: On the first of Ramadan, Daash has declared itself and the territory it holds an Islamic State. It has changed its name to Daulat Islamia or Islamic government/state or its acronym DI. The new caliph and “successor” of Muhammad (sawa) and the “commander of the faithful (Amerul Momineen)” of Daulat Islamia is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. DI has asked all fighters within its borders to pay allegiance to their caliph.
NB: The title Ameerul Momineen (Commander of the faithful) is one that Sunnis have used for nearly every single Caliph or Sultan. The Shias only refer to Ali Ibn Abi Talib (as) by this title, not even the other Imams are called by this title.
Other notables who have called themselves Amerul Momineen in recent times:
The King of Morocco
Mullah Umar of the Taliban
Nawaz Sharif tried to add it to his title but failed.
Reportedly, Zia ul haq of Pakistan
30th June: Other Islamist groups in Iraq and in the region, along with some Salafist clerics, have reacted with disappointment at DI’s declaration of a DI, Stating that such a state and the allegiance sought may undermine the gains made by Islamists everywhere.
30th June: Transcript of a video message by DI, A DI fighter pointing to the now defunct border: “The Safavi army used to stand here. But there is no border. This is the so called check point, the soldiers of Maliki used to stand…” he later steps on a army battalion board, “the only battalion here is of Allah. Abi Bakr al Baghdadi used to say that he is the breaker of borders. We will inshallah break the borders of Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan. There will be only one flag of DI. All the flags of kufr will be no more. We are one country all muslims, and we have one imam.”
30th June: A very important link by David Hungerford in the comments to the previous SITREP: http://www.brussellstribunal.org/article_view.asp?id=1623#.U7B5pcvD9Ah
The article shows a broad based resentment of the Government in Baghdad and the firm resolve of Iraqi Sunni society to get rid of the “sectarian puppet corrupted government” of Nouri Al Maliki.
The rebels against the government consist of Iraqi Sunni Arab tribes, ex army officers, Ex Ba’athist and Islamic Jihadist. The government refers to all its enemies as Daash. The Kurdish authorities and press have a similar tendency of calling the Sunni revolution as Daash.
30th June: The leader of the largest Sunni tribe in Iraq, Ali Hatem Suleimani, has stated that his tribe will continue to back the Islamists as long as Maliki is in power.
30th The government has played down the importance of the eastern towns of Rawa, Ahna, and al-Qaem. It is stating that nothing of strategic importance is located there.
30th June: Iran is pushing as priority gas supply to Iraq to feed Iraq’s four gas power plants.
30th June: CNN reports that most of the Shia volunteers have been given between 7-10 days of training, but are full of conviction, before being sent to fight DI.
30th June: A woman claiming to be a resident of Tikrit sends a video message to CNN: “June 28, 2014. Thank God, Tikrit is safe and still in the hand of tribesmen and not troops of 'al-Haliki” (al-Haliki is a derogatory reference to Maliki, it refers to his death)
30th June: Rear Adm. John Kirby of the Pentagon stated that the American jets were not slow in coming and that the first two jets still to be delivered would have made little impact on the ground. Russian officials must have a higher regard for the SU-25 than the Americans have of their F-16.
30th June: His Holiness the Pope, Francis I, has asked the authorities in Baghdad to form a national unity government and end the vilence in the country. He has expressed solidarity with the refugee Christian population of Iraq.
30th June: The king of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah has sacked the deputy defense minister Prince Khaled bin Bandar bin Abdul-Aziz on the recommendation of the Defense Minister Prince Salman.
30th June: An Iranian military commander Hassan Firouzabadi has expressed alarm at the death sentence handed to Shia Saudi cleric Ayatollah Nimr al-Nimr. He has expressed his hope that the government of Saudi Arabia (land of turbulent Princes, aging monarchs and caged princesses) will overrule this unjust sentence.
30th June: Shimon Peres has expressed hope that the presence of Daash will help unite Arabs and Israelis to a bigger threat.
30th June: In other news from the promised/cursed land, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the creation of an independent Kurdish state.
30th June: This article by the New York Times claims that the State Department investigator of the Blackwater atrocities in Iraq has had his work hampered by death threats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/us/before-shooting-in-iraq-warning-on-blackwater.html?_r=0
30th June: Obama has pointed out the threat returning European Jihadist fighters pose to the National Security of the USA.
What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return.
30th June: The Iraqi Governments tally for the day:
The police have made five arrests in Basra
An IED has exploded in al-Ghazaliya suburb, west Baghdad killing one and injuring seven
Government kills three militants in Injana, north of Diyala, in air strikes
The Baghdad operational Command claims to have stopped an infiltration attempt by DI
Three civilians are killed in north east of Baqouba by mortar fire