(Alleged) I.S.I.S. members. The yellow flag translates from Arabic as "Don't Tread on Me."
Having been what passes for busy in Bouffant World (although still following S.O.P. of neither paying attention or caring) first seeing the current mess in Mesopotamia as a
fait accompli astounded even the jaded members of the editorial staff; details from
Foreign Policy are more fun.
ISIS used battle-hardened fighters from the Syrian and Iraqi theaters to smash their way -- in a matter of hours -- into Mosul's western neighborhoods from the Jazira, the Syrian-Iraqi desert between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Iraqi government's weak grasp on the Jazira gave the movement the capacity to surge hundreds of fighters from Iraq and Syria into the battle of Mosul. Even so, the ISIS attack force does not appear to have been large, numbering between 400 and 800 fighters by various estimates. Surprise and aggression allowed the movement to crumble the morale of Iraq's paramilitary police and army forces in Mosul in three days of hard fighting. ISIS took on and defeated a government force 15 times their size.
Let that sink in.
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