Iraq crisis: al-Qaeda forces push towards Baghdad in sight - live - Telegraph.co.uk

The spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, also threatened that ISIS fighters will take the southern Iraqi Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf, which hold two of the holiest shrines for Shia Muslims.

The statement, which could not be independently verified, came in an audio posting on militant websites commonly used by the group.

08.58 ISIS has said it will now march on Baghdad, AFP reports.

_{ISIS militants stand next to a newly cut road through the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of al-Hasakah (PHOTO: AFP)}

08.35 Iraq's parliament is expected to hold an emergency session to vote on declaring a state of emergency, Associated Press reports.

MPs were to convene at noon (10am BST) to consider a request by embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has asked them to declare the state of emergency following the push by ISIS fighters into Sunni-dominated cities north of Baghdad.

Yes-votes from two-thirds of the 325-member parliament are required to approve a state of emergency, which grants the prime minister wider powers in running the country. Legal experts say those could include powers to impose curfews, restrict public movements and censor the media.

08.00 There appears to be a lull in the fighting at present, though how much of this is due to the Iraqi forces' response or simply the militants consolidating their positions in cities captured yesterday is not yet clear.

The BBC is reporting rumours of an imminent offensive from Fallujah, the city west of Baghdad which they already hold.

07.30 Isis, which was formely al-Qaeda in Iraq, has a complicated relationship with al-Qaeda itself, made more difficult by its decision to operate in Iraq against al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri's wishes.

For more details on this al-Qaeda offshoot and others, from Boko Haram to al-Shabaab, take a look at our interactive graphic.

07.00 More details have emerged overnight of the White House's position on intervening in the deteriorating Iraq situation. According to Reuters:

The White House signaled on Wednesday that it was looking to strengthen Iraqi forces to help them deal with an insurgency rather than to meet what one U.S. official said were past Iraqi requests for U.S. air strikes.

An Obama administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Iraq had previously made clear its interest in drone strikes or bombing by manned U.S. aircraft to help it beat back the militant onslaught.

However a separate US official briefed AFP on condition of anonymity that "Washington is now weighing possibilities for more military assistance to Baghdad, including drone strikes".

06.05 For those of you just waking up this morning a brief summary of key developments overnight:

Washington vowed to boost aid to Iraq and is mulling drone strikes amid fears Iraqi forces are crumbling in face of militants increasingly emboldened since the US withdrawal.

The United States has been fast to provide necessary support for the people and government of Iraq," National Security Advisor Susan Rice told a Washington think-tank on Wednesday.

"We are working together to roll back aggression and counter the threat" posed by ISIL to Iraq and the region," Rice said.

But she insisted the US "must do more to strengthen our partners' capacity to defeat the terrorist threat on their home turf by providing them the necessary training, equipment and support."

ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani promised that the battle would "rage" on Baghdad and Karbala, a city southwest of the capital that is considered one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

Do not relent against your enemy... The battle is not yet raging, but it will rage in Baghdad and Karbala," Adnani said, according to a SITE translation of an audio statement released on the militants' Twitter feed.

"Put on your belts and get ready."

The UN Security Council will meet today to discuss developments within the country.

Diplomats say the closed consultations will begin at 11:30 am (1530 GMT) and will include a briefing by video link from the UN special representative to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov.

The US has also pledged to support Iraqi leaders as they combat a militant offensive that has seized a large swathe of northern and north-central Iraq.

The United States will stand with Iraqi leaders across the political spectrum as they forge the national unity necessary to succeed in the fight against ISIL" (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

Read how yesterday's events unfolded as described on our blog

06.00 Here's some Youtube footage purportedly showing abandoned Iraqi military positions in Mosul and ISIS fighters driving openly through the streets with their black banners flying.

05.55 Colin Freeman warns that Iraq is at risk of full-scale civil war, as the al-Qaeda uprising has pushed to within striking distance of Baghdad:

A day after snatching controlf the northern city of Mosul, fighters were on Wednesday night within 60 miles of the Iraqi capital, encountering little resistance from government troops.

En route they seized major towns, oil refineries and military bases and embarked on an orgy of kidnappings and executions, forcing an exodus of more than half a million people across the north.

The extraordinary developments reignited the political debate about the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 alongside America, a conflict which cost the lives of 179 British Service personnel and cost at least £9 billion.

_{People gather at the site of a suicide-bomb attack in Baghdad's Shi'ite slum of Sadr city yesterday}

05.50 Good morning everyone. Please follow our live blog of developments in Iraq from overnight and across the day, where Isis forces have taken firm control of much of the north, in particular the cities of Tikrit and Mosul, with the suggestion that focus will turn to the capital Baghdad today.