Islamic State Ongoing Updates - March 2015

Previous Updates: February 2015 | January 2015 | December 2014 | November 2014 | October 2014 | April - November 2014

March 31, 2015

• UPDATE (04-04-15): Russian Muslims denounce ISIS as ‘enemies of Islam'
• UPDATE (04-04-15): Spain police arrest family, say children were to join jihad
• UPDATE (04-04-15): Islamic State’s Propaganda Magazine Justifies Use Of Child Executioners
• UPDATE (04-04-15): ISIS Photos Show Jihadists Leveling Entire Cemetery
• UPDATE (04-04-15): Iraqi forces drive Islamic State out of central Tikrit: PM

March 30, 2015

• UPDATE (04-04-15): ISIS fighter: we wanted to take over the world
• UPDATE (04-04-15): Catholic university officials caught on secret video approving student club devoted to raising money for ISIS, saying: ‘We’re here to get that done'
• UPDATE (04-04-15): Assad: Turkey Helping IS Fighters Enter Syria
• UPDATE (03-31-15): Commencing jihad: ISIS tweets photos of military 'graduation'
• Assad 'open' to negotiations with US, says ISIS strengthening despite airstrikes

March 29, 2015

• UPDATE (02-30-15): New Video Allegedly Shows Teenage Boys Delivering Captives to Islamic State Terrorists for Beheading

March 27, 2015 

• UPDATE (03-30-15): Iraqi prelate pleads for help at first-ever UN session on persecution of Christians
• UPDATE (03-30-15): Islamic State in Illinois Planned Another Ft. Hood
• UPDATE (03-30-15): The Islamic State, Boko Haram and the evolution of international jihad 

March 26, 2015

• UPDATE (03-30-15): FBI disrupts plot to kill scores at military base on behalf of Islamic State
• UPDATE (03-30-15): Chicago-area cousins planned US terrorist attacks
• UPDATE (03-30-15): Guardsmen arrested throwing in with ISIS
• UPDATE (03-30-15): Pro-Islamic State magazine bombed in Turkey; one dead

March 25, 2015

• UPDATE (03-26-15): IS Stones To Death Man & Woman In Mosul For Adultery
• UPDATE (03-26-15): ISIS Recruit 400 Children for 'Cubs of Caliphate'
• UPDATE (03-26-15): Along with their ancient Syrian city, Christians of Homs are coming back to life --- but ISIS looms
• UPDATE (03-26-15): New Afghan president warns of 'terrible threat' from Islamic State
• UPDATE (03-26-15): U.S. Airstrikes Begin at Iraq's Request in Stalled Battle to Retake Tikrit from Islamic State
• UPDATE (03-26-15): US conducting airstrikes to help Iraqi forces retake Tikrit
• UPDATE (03-26-15): Opening New Iraq Front, U.S. strikes ISIS in Tikrit
• UPDATE (03-26-15): ISIS hacking group: We're inside military websites
• Italy arrests suspected ISIS recruiters
• Islamic State releases Bangledeshi hostages in Libya oilfield attack
• Australia blocks travel for 200 suspected militants

March 24, 2015

• UPDATE (03-26-15): Morocco: Assassination of Public Figures Among Terrorist Cell Plans
• UPDATE (03-25-15): Tunisian town near 'Star Wars' backdrop now features in battle against ISIS
• UPDATE (03-25-15): Islamic militants recruits hundreds of children, says group
• How Iraqi Sunnis really feel about the Islamic State
• Wives of slain Melbourne jihadists beg for donations to Islamic State

March 23, 2015

• Patriarch Sako: 'Stop the Factory of Death'
• Assyrian Bishop Writes Letter to Islamic State Demanding Release of Christian Hostages

March 22, 2015

• UPDATE (03-23-15): Yemeni implosion pushes southern Sunnis into arms of al-Qaida and ISIS
• Why a 'Peace Pope may (reluctantly) back force against ISIS

March 21, 2015

• UPDATE (04-14-15): Afghan president admits he’s losing troops to ISIS
• UPDATE (03-24-15): Egyptian Christians pretend to be Muslim to survive ISIS attack in Libya
• UPDATE (03-22-15): Fearing ISIS, Italy Beefs Up Defenses in Mediterranean
• UPDATE (03-22-15): ISIS hackers call for homegrown 'jihad' against U.S. military, posts names and address of 100 service members 
• UPDATE (03-22-15): Nine British medical students believed to be in Syria - report
• UPDATE (03-22-15): Military Warns Service Members of Purported ISIS Group's Threat
• UPDATE (03-22-15): ISIS claim laying waste to 4th century Iraqi Christian monastery
• UPDATE (03-22-15): 45 dead in attacks on Syria Kurds celebrating New Year

March 20, 2015

• UPDATE (03-22-15): Chaldean bishop: war is the only way to stop the persecution of Iraq's Christians
• UPDATE (03-22-15): 142 dead in Yemen mosque bombings claimed by IS
• UPDATE (03-22-15): In wake of ISIS atrocity, sadness and optimism mingle for Egypt's Christians
• UPDATE (03-22-15): U.S. fears Islamic State is making serious inroads in Libya
• UPDATE (03-22-15): Tunis Bardo Museum: Nine suspects arrested for links to attack
• UPDATE (03-22-15): ISIS destroys historic Christian and Muslim shrines in northern Iraq
• UPDATE (03-22-15): Islamic State video purports to show Kurdish peshmerga beheadings

March 19, 2015

• UPDATE (03-22-15): IS Yazidi attacks may be genocide, says UN
• UPDATE (03-22-15): ISIS destroy 4th Century Mar Benham Monastery in Iraq

March 18, 2015

• UPDATE (03-25-15): Italy to deport man over alleged terror links
• UPDATE (03-22-15): US aircraft strike IS drone in Iraq: officials

March 17, 2015

• UPDATE (03-22-15): Regime and ISIS Agree to Share Electricity in Aleppo Countryside
• UPDATE (03-18-15): Chaldean Patriarch Calls for Law Against Religious Leaders Who Incite Violence
• UPDATE (03-18-15): Air Force vet charged with trying to join ISIS

March 16, 2015

• UPDATE (03-17-15): ISIS Destroys Assyrian Churches, Hostages Still Being Held
• UPDATE (03-17-15): Inside the Lives of the Wives and Widows of ISIS
• UPDATE (03-17-15): Iraqi offensive for Tikrit stalls as casualties mount
• UPDATE (03-17-15): Australian counter-terror police 'stopping 400 per day'
• UPDATE (03-17-15): The Islamic State's War on Christianity Depicted in 12 Chilling Photographs
• Teen 'planning to head to Syria'
• Why Every Muslim Should Join the Islamic Caliphate
• ISIS Maintains Hold in Tikrit as Iraq Pauses Offensive
• Saddam Hussein's tomb destroyed in Tikrit fighting

March 15, 2015

• UPDATE (03-16-15): Iraqi Kurds say ISIS used chemical weapons against them
• UPDATE (03-16-15): Islamic State fighters in Libya battle militia near Sirte
• UPDATE (03-16-15): Iraqi offensive on Tikrit stalls, Kurds say Islamists used chlorine
• UPDATE (03-16-15): 'We Took You By Surprise': Islamic State Lists Exactly Which American and European Landmarks It Plans To Blow Up
• UPDATE (03-16-15): ISIS shows support, claims Nigerian terrorists have recapture Gamboru
• UPDATE (03-16-15): Saddam Hussein's Tomb 'Virtually Leveled' in Clashes Between Islamic State, Iraqi Forces

March 14, 2015

• UPDATE (03-16-15): Iraqi Kurds say Islamic State used chlorine gas against them
• UPDATE (03-15-15): Only 25 British terror suspects have had their bank accounts frozen despite more than 600 UK jihadis traveling to fight for ISIS, report reveals
• UPDATE (03-15-15): ISIS executes nine 'spies' for 'betraying the religion of Allah'
• Iraqi forces 'hope to take Tikrit from IS in a week'
• Iraqi troops pause, await back-up in battle for Tikrit against militants

March 13, 2015

• UPDATE (03-16-15): Mosul residents prepare for battle
• UPDATE (03-16-15): The Islamic State is Losing, But No One Is Winning
• UPDATE (03-16-15): ISIS Has Lost 25 Percent of Territory It Once Held in Iraq, US Says
• UPDATE (03-14-15): St. Vincent de Paul members abducted in Syria, whereabouts unknown
• UPDATE (03-14-15): Iraqi forces pause in battle to drive Islamic State from Tikrit
• UPDATE (03-14-15): Looted antiquities for sale by Islamic State
• U.S. Exaggerates Islamic State Casualties
• Vatican backs military force to stop ISIS 'genocide'
• Spain arrests eight suspected Islamist militants in dawn raid
• Iraqi forces 'push into Tikrit'
• Islamic State go niche on social media
• Iraqi army 'regaining confidence'
• Defending Italy from the Islamic State
• Islamic State Accepts Allegiance of Boko Haram

March 12, 2015

• UPDATE (03-13-15): The monastery of St. George in Mosul damaged, but not destroyed
• UPDATE (03-13-15): Man arrested 'for helping British trio'
• UPDATE (03-13-15): Iraqi forces slowed by snipers and bombs in Tikrit
• UPDATE (03-13-15): Iraqi Shiite Militias Fighting ISIS Are Using Social Media to Recruit Foreign FighterS
• UPDATE (03-13-15): The Islamic State Has Sights Set On South Asia
• UPDATE (03-13-15): Iraq's first Christian brigade formed to battle IS
• UPDATE (03-13-15): Islamic State: We want Paris and Jerusalem, vows to attack White House, Big Ben, and Eiffel Tower
• UPDATE (03-13-15): ISIS spokesperson: We want Paris and Jerusalem
• UPDATE (03-13-15): Will Al-Shabaab Follow Boko Haram and Pledge Loyalty to ISIS? 
• Satellites capture how the lights have gone out in Syria

March 11, 2015

• UPDATE (04-12-15): In The Bosnian Village Seduced By ISIS
• UPDATE (03-14-15): As Iraq fights back against ISIS, a call for the protection of Christians, other vulnerable communities
• UPDATE (03-14-15): Fighting against Islamic State driving more families from homes, Chaldean Patriarch reports
• UPDATE (03-13-15): Calgary imam declares 'fatwah' on ISIS and denounces the terrorist group's efforts to recruit Canadians
• UPDATE (03-12-15): ISIS sympathizer arrested after plotting to bomb U.S. consulate in Toronto: CBSA
• UPDATE (03-12-15): US effort against ISIS could expand to include Boko Haram in Nigeria
• UPDATE (03-12-15): Sixty-give people have left Italy to join ISIS
• UPDATE (03-12-15): Patriarch Twal: Weary We May Be, But Not Without Hope
• Iraqi troops advance in Tikrit
• Iraqi troops, militia retake strategic town north of Tikrit from Islam State
• Grim new ISIS video appears to show child executing alleged Mossad spy
• Islamic State Still Holds Assyrians Captured Despite Suffering Military Setback

March 10, 2015

• UPDATE (03-14-15): UK police say 3 schoolgirls who went to Syria won't be charged with terrorism if they return
• UPDATE (03-14-15): Islamic State says it has killed three for homosexuality, blasphemy
• UPDATE (03-14-15): ISIS Kidnaps Catholics in Syria, Threatens to Decapitate Adults and Burn Their Children Alive in Cages
• UPDATE (03-13-15): Why ISIS' destruction of antiquities hurts so much
• UPDATE (03-12-15): ISIS Blows Up 10th Century Assyrian Catholic Monastery Near Mosul
• UPDATE (03-11-15): ISIS Releases Video of Child Executing Alleged Israeli Spy

March 9, 2015

• UPDATE (03-12-15): 'ISIS' hacks Tuscany political website
• UPDATE (03-10-15): Islamic State supporters launch their own social media site
• UPDATE (03-10-15): Islamic State infighting in Syria kills 9: monitor
• UPDATE (03-10-15): [French] PM: "10,000 Europeans to wage jihad by year's end"
• UPDATE (03-10-15): Fighting thwarts release of captives held by Islamic State in Syria
• Islamic State earns $1 billion in drug trafficking
• Australian teens caught attempting to join Islamic State
• Brothers stopped at Sydney airport 'attempting to join IS'
• Air strikes on Daesh-run refineries in Syria kill 30 
• IS beheaded Libyan guards in attack that seized 9 foreigners

March 8, 2015

• UPDATE (03-12-15): Pakistani Cleric Laments That No Scholar of Islam Is Rising to Confront ISIS
• UPDATE (03-09-15): Islamic State releases video to recruit deaf and mute
• UPDATE (03-09-15): Race in Iraq and Syria to Record and Shield Art Falling to ISIS
• UK plans airline laws to stop Britons from joining Islamic State
• The Islamic State Is Wiping Out All Remnants of an Ancient Civilization
• Gunmen kill more 12 Islamic State militants in eastern Syria
• Nigeria's Boko Haram 'pledges allegiance to ISIL'

March 7, 2015

• UPDATE (03-14-15): ISIS Crosses River in New Attacks on Assyrian Villages in Syria
• UPDATE (03-08-15): ISIS has a new, dangerous recruit: Boko Haram
• UPDATE (03-08-15): Nine Foreigners Unaccounted for After Islamic State Attack on Oil Field
• UPDATE (03-08-15): Female Islamic State recruited arrested at Barcelona airport
• UPDATE (03-08-15): ISIS hang dead bodies from metal frame above street
• Boko Haram 'joins Islamic State'
• Study finds ISIS supporters may be operating 46,000 Twitter accounts
• Should Twitter Banish ISIS Fans, Or Track Them?
• ISIS militants destroy remains of Hatra in northern Iraq
• Islamic State 'demolish' ancient Hatra site in Iraq
• Islamic State militants raze Iraq's ancient Hatra city: Government
• ISIS demolition is a war crime against heritage, says UN
• Iraqi army drives IS from key town

March 6, 2015

• UPDATE (03-08-15): Destruction of ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud by ISIS is a war crime, says UN
• UPDATE (03-08-15): Nimrud: Outcry as IS bulldozers attack ancient Iraq site
• UPDATE (03-08-15): ISIS 'bulldozes' Nimrud: UNESCO condemns destruction of ancient Assyrian site as 'war crime'
• UPDATE (03-08-15): ISIS Bulldozing of Nimrud Site in Iraq Stirs Outrage
• UPDATE (03-08-15): 650 Germans have joined ISIS: minister
• UPDATE (03-07-15): IS bulldozing of ancient city condemned as war crime
• UPDATE (03-07-15): ISIS controls as many as 90,000 Twitter accounts
• UPDATE (03-07-15): Letter from Iraqi Refugees to Pope Francis
• UPDATE (03-07-15): Islamic State militants bulldoze ancient Nimrud ruins as idolatrous 
• Man soliciting for Islamic State reported at Harvard

March 5, 2015

• UPDATE (03-08-15): Assyrians appeal to international community: "Save us from ISIS"
• UPDATE (03-08-15): ISIS bulldozes ancient city of Nimrud in Iraq
• UPDATE (03-08-15): Police arrest 'ISIS fighter' at Dusseldorf airport
• UPDATE (03-05-15): 'Dangerous' Teacher Jailed for Syria IS Plot
• UPDATE (03-06-15): Ancient Nimrud ruins 'bulldozed' in Iraq
• ISIL torches oil field east of Tikrit - witness

March 4, 2015

• UPDATE (03-06-15): ISIS barbarians throw 'gay' man off building
• UPDATE (03-06-15): Iraqi forces seek to encircle ISIS fighters in Tikrit
• UPDATE (03-06-15): California man charged with trying to join Islamic State
• UPDATE (03-05-15): Ex-Nigerian Chief Justice's Son Joins Terrorist Group ISIS

March 3, 2015

• UPDATE (03-14-15): 5,000 Foreign Fighters Flock to Libya as ISIS Calls for Jihadists
• UPDATE (03-05-15): NYPD in training to combat potential ISIS attack
• American ISIS Fighters Return Home
• Battle rages for IS-held Iraqi city of Tikrit 
• Iraqi forces try to seal off Islamic State around Tikrit
• Iraq begins assault on ISIL strongholds north of Baghdad
• Iraqi forces unload on ISIS positions near Tikrit

March 2,  2015

• UPDATE (03-05-15): Man Jailed in Bashkortostan [Russia] for Fund Raising for IS in Syria
• UPDATE (03-04-15): 180 Americans Joined Islamic Militants in Syria, 40 Have Already Come Home
• UPDATE (03-03-15): Sources: More than a dozen ISIS operatives in Libya, but no US authority to strike
• UPDATE (03-03-15): Islamic State Threat Leads Unexpected Security Cooperation and Mobilization of Forces
• UPDATE (03-03-15): Iraq 'seizes districts from IS' in Tikrit advance
• UPDATE (03-03-15): Twitter Escalates Its Own ISIS Battle: 2,000 Accounts Suspended Last Week
• UPDATE (03-03-15): Boko Haram beheading video show ties to experts, say experts
• UPDATE (03-03-15): 1 of the 21 men beheaded was not a Christian - until he saw the death of those who refused to deny Jesus
• UPDATE (03-03-15): Vincentians among Syrian hostage victims
• ISIS Threatens Twitter Employees & Co-Founder Jack Dorsey After Account Blocked
• Vatican security chief says ISIS threat to pope is real
• Why It's So Hard to Stop ISIS Propaganda
• 32 Islamic State Fatwas
• ISIS executes four Iraqis from Tikrit
• Assyrian Christians released, but many concerned for those still held
• Saint Milad Saber and His Twenty Companions
• Iraq forces reportedly begin attack to recapture Tikrit from ISIS
• Iraq launches offensive against Islamic State in Tikrit
• Iraq State TV: Operation Underway to Retake Saddam Hussein's Hometown from Islamic State
• Iraq State TV: Operation to Retake Tikrit Begins

March, 1 2015

• UPDATE (03-03-15): The Martyr from Chad
• UPDATE (03-03-15): Iraqi offensive to retake Tikrit underway
• UPDATE (03-02-15): Iraq says launches offensive on ISIL north of Baghdad
• ISIL tries to lure Italian jihadists with offer of a free fridge
• ISIS releases 19 Syrian Christians, activists say
• Italy to begin naval exercises off Libya
• Terrorists threaten Senator Jacquie Lambie with beheading unless she helps introduce Sharia law
• US rethinking plan to retake Mosul from ISIS
• Assyrian Christians under increasing assault from ISIS fight back
• ISIS Is Not a Terror Group: Why Counterterrorism Won't Stop the Latest Jihadist Threat
• What ISIS Really Wants: The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it.