US Intelligence: Iraq’s Balad Airbase Is Now In Danger Of ISIS Takeover As Terrorists Push To Seize Their Own Air Force

Though many ISIS fighters are well educated — its own leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, holds a PhD in Islamic studies from the University of Baghdad — I’m doubtful that many, if any, within ISIS have had any formal training to operate military aircraft. Then again, we don’t know what experience the surging number of foreign ISIS fighters — some holding Western passports — are bringing to the table, not to mention any number of defectors from the Syrian military who may have joined the ranks of their former enemy. All it takes is just one experienced pilot to wreak even more havoc than we’ve already seen …

Qur’an Sura 8:59a, “The infidels should not think that they can get away from us. Prepare against them whatever arms and weaponry you can muster so that you may terrorize them …”

By Eli Lake and Josh Rogin, The Daily Beast – “In its march to Baghdad, ISIS seized the heavy weapons of a modern army. Now, the jihadists are attacking Iraq’s biggest air base – and could soon be able to attack from the sky.

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham is threatening to take control of Balad Airbase, Iraq’s largest airfield and one of America’s most important military outposts during its occupation of the country.

Today, Balad still has plenty of vehicles and aircraft on the base that any terrorist group would covet, including Russian-made transport helicopters, surveillance planes, and a fleet of pickup trucks fitted with heavy machine guns.

Now, that airbase is coming under fire — and is in danger of falling into the hands of ISIS, according to U.S. intelligence officers, internal reports from Balad, and outside analysts. Reuters reported Wednesday that the base was now surrounded on three sides by insurgents and taking heavy mortar fire.

‘We assess the group continues to threaten the air base and Iraqi Security Force control of the air base as it moves south towards Baghdad,’ a senior U.S. intelligence official told reporters Tuesday.

Of course, even if ISIS were to gain control of Balad, there is no guarantee its fighters would know how to operate or maintain the aircraft that are stored there. But an ISIS takeover of Balad would be significant nonetheless. As NBC News reported Tuesday, Iraqi officers say without air support they are on an equal footing with ISIS fighters.

Jessica Lewis — the research director for the Institute for the Study of War and a former U.S. Army intelligence officer who served in Iraq — told The Daily Beast, ‘It would mean that ISIS can beat the best that the Iraqi Army can muster, not just the northern units that have been ignored. It would mean strategic defeat for the Iraqi Army.’

Lewis estimates that Balad and neighboring Taji base are likely some of the next targets of the ISIS campaign. ‘Both of these bases are critical military sites for the Iraqi Army. Neutralizing one or both would demonstrate that ISIS can beat the Iraqi Army strategically.'” Read more.

Flashback: Report: ISIS Terrorists Claim To Have Access To Nuclear Weapons, Will Use Them Against Israel – “The well-organized army of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, claims it has access to nuclear weapons and a will to use them to ‘liberate’ Palestine from Israel as part of its ‘Islamic Spring,’ according to a WND source in the region. Franklin Lamb, an international lawyer based in Beirut and Damascus, said the move is part of the ISIS aim of creating a caliphate under strict Islamic law, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to Iraq.” Read more.