Iraq

[angelburst29]

Thanks for the extra info, angelburst29, but I'm afraid you misunderstood my remark.

My only problem was the discrepancy between the 64,000 casualties you mentioned ahead of the article and the actual numbers cited in the article which only add up to 54,000.

A discrepancy of 10,000 casualties, of whichever sort they may be, seems too large to just overlook, I thought. That's all there is to it as far as I am concerned.

EDIT: adjusted reasoning

Thanks for the clarification, Palinurus.

In my own way, I have an understanding of what you are pointing out. On several occasions, I have tried to narrow down the number of casualties of American soldiers in Iraq (by year) and each and every report contains discrepancies of some sort. The numbers given "never add up".

The U.S. Military have been in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. The American public were given "the impression" that our soldiers were being "pulled out" in 2011 and replaced with 8 different Defense Contractors (who had direct connections with the Pentagon). Then in 2014, under Obama, more troops were sent in. The Pentagon claims, that due to security reasons, no exact amount can be given. The same seems to apply to wounded and casualties.

Truth is - there has been a steady and heavy "occupation of U.S. Military Forces" in Iraq since 2003. The last link below, documents a list of U.S. Military installations, in the form of " Camps, Forward Operating Base (FOB), Contingency Operating Base (COB), Contingency Operating Site (COS), Combat Outpost (COP), Patrol Base (PB), Outpost, Logistic Base (Log Base), Fire Base (FB), Convoy Support Center (CSC), Logistic Support Area (LSA) and Joint Security Station (JSS)." And this list is only for Iraq!!!

With all these installations, I would assume there is a large number of Combat troops and personnel? Plus, some of these installations are for the Air Force and Navy. But casualty lists never offer a break down of the different branches or if the injury or death is the result of combat - everything is lumped together. After awhile, you get the feeling, all this confusion is by design and will continue on this path. It amounts to a guessing game.

A TIMELINE OF THE IRAQ WAR
https://thinkprogress.org/a-timeline-of-the-iraq-war-6622633720be/

MARCH 19, 2003: Bush launches invasion of Iraq.

May 17, 2011· As U.S. Military Exits Iraq, Contractors To Enter
https://www.npr.org/2011/05/17/136357821/as-u-s-military-exits-iraq-contractors-to-enter

A U.S. Army helicopter brigade is set to pull out of Baghdad in December, as part of an agreement with the Iraqi government to remove U.S. forces. So the armed helicopters flying over the Iraqi capital next year will have pilots and machine gunners from DynCorp International, a company based in Virginia.

On the ground, it's the same story. American soldiers and Marines will leave. Those replacing them, right down to carrying assault weapons, will come from places with names like Aegis Defense Services and Global Strategies Group — eight companies in all.

All U.S. combat forces are scheduled to leave Iraq by year's end, but there will still be a need for security. That means American troops will be replaced by a private army whose job will be to protect diplomats.

American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_intervention_in_Iraq_(2014%E2%80%93present)

An American-led intervention in Iraq started on 15 June 2014, when President Barack Obama ordered US forces to be dispatched to the region, in response to offensives in Iraq conducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). American troops went, at the invitation of the Iraqi Government, to assess Iraqi forces and the threat posed by ISIL.

List of United States Military installations in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) between 2003 and 2011
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Military_installations_in_Iraq_during_Operation_Iraqi_Freedom_(OIF)

 

[angelburst29]

Iraq's Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari underlined strong opposition to the establishment of any permanent base by the US-led coalition in his country.

FM: No Permanent Base for US-Led Coalition in Iraq
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960925001614

"The international coalition has no intention to have permanent military bases in Iraq after the ISIL is defeated. The international coalition's military intervention in Iraq was meant to support the Iraqi government's war against the ISIL on the condition that it would not violate the country's sovereignty," Jafari was quoted as saying by the Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper on Saturday.

He explained that the coalition will remain in Iraq until all ISIL affiliates are uprooted in Iraq.

His remarks came after Iraqi sources revealed in August that the US army has started constructing its biggest military base in Iraq's Nineveh province in a bid to control the country's border with Syria.

"The US troops have kicked off the construction operations of the largest military base near the village of Kahriz in Zamar region West of the Tigris River in Nineveh province," Official Spokesman for Arab Tribes Group Mozahem al-Havit said.

He reiterated that the US also plans to construct four more military bases in other parts of Nineveh province, and said, "The US forces' mission in Western Mosul will be monitoring Iraq-Syria border from the West of Sinjar region to al-Qaem."

The Iraqi volunteer forces of Hashd al-Shaabi warded off a heavy attack of ISIL terrorists on pro-government forces at the country's border with Syria on Saturday, inflicting major losses on the terrorists.

Iraqi Forces Repel Terrorists' Heavy Offensive at Border with Syria
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960925001017

The popular forces of Hashd al-Shaabi engaged in fierce clashes with ISIL that utilized at least seven armored vehicles carrying a number of terrorists, including suicide attackers, to target the government forces' positions at border with Syria.

The Hashd al-Shaabi fighters killed a number of terrorists and destroyed one of the armored vehicles and managed to fend off their attack.

Also, the artillery units of Hashd al-Shaabi shelled one of the positions of ISIL in Syria's territories opposite to Tad Safouk at Iraq-Syria border and destroyed it.

A commander of Hashd al-Shaabi said earlier this month that the Iraqi forces completed their operation in al-Jazeera Desert in Western Anbar province and drove ISIL out of the border region with Syria.

Abu Ali al-Basri reported that the Iraqi forces seized full control over the common border with Syria within the framework of their large-scale anti-ISIL operation in al-Jazeerah Desert.

He further said that the Iraqi forces started fortifying the newly-captured positions.

The commander of the Tigris Operation Room Brigadier General Muzher al-Azzawi confirmed the neutralization of 10 ISIS terrorists in an airstrike carried out on the provincial boundary between Diyala and Salaheddin.

Iraqi Air Force strikes ISIS high-ranking meeting in Diyala
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iraqi-air-force-strikes-isis-high-ranking-meeting-diyala/

The commander of the Tigris Operation Room Brigadier General Muzher al-Azzawi confirmed the neutralization of 10 ISIS terrorists in an airstrike carried out on the provincial boundary between Diyala and Salaheddin.

Azzawi stated in a press conference on Friday that two ISIS meeting locations were destroyed in the al-Miyta region north of Ba’aquba. He added that the targeting of the aforementioned hotspots led to the death of 10 militants who were plotting insurgent attacks to harass the local security forces and populace.

Notably, the operation was carried out after information was confirmed and provided by the Popular Mobilization Units’ (PMU) intelligence identifying accurate the coordinates of the ISIL HQs in rural Diyala.

After Iraq’s liberation from ISIS, Iraqi national forces are reserving no efforts in hunting down ISIS’s sleeper cells across Iraq’s vast countryside. Many believe that complacency, corruption, and ignorance on the part of the Iraqi government pre-2014 led to ISIS’s expansion across the country’s deserts and rural regions before the terror group swept through most of Anbar province and the Tigris river.

The current administration seems adamant in its quest to avoid a repeat of this dark chapter in Iraq’s history.

 

[angelburst29]

The Iraqi Armed Forces declared the Salaheddine Governorate completely free of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) after a successful operation in the Mutaibija area.

Iraqi forces declare Salaheddine province ISIS-free
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iraqi-forces-declare-salaheddine-province-isis-free/

According to Iraq News, the Iraqi Army and their allies confirmed the capture of Mutaibija after a succesfful operation against the Islamic State.

“Baghdad Today quoted Karim al-Khaqani, commander of the second brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces, saying in a press statement that ‘operations to purge Mutaibija, north of Salahuddin’s Samarra, and surrounding areas have come to an end…with the support of the Iraqi army’s 15th division and the air force,'” Iraqi News reported.

The Iraqi Armed Forces will now attempt to clear the remaining Islamic State sleeper cells around the country.

The Iraqi pro-government paramilitary troops confiscated a mass grave and destroyed rest houses and workshop for the ISIL militants in Salahuddin province.

ISIL’s Mass Grave, Rest Houses, Training Camps Found in Iraq
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960927000587

The media service of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) quoted Karim al-Khaqany, commander of the second brigade, as saying “PMFs as well as the army’s fifth division managed to control village and crossing of al-Mayta in North of Samarra, during the second day of operations to purge Mutaibija”, Iraqi News reported.

“Troops also ran into a recent grave by ISIL as well as rest houses, training camps, booby-trapping workshops and amount of explosives in the village,” he added.

Earlier on the day, the War Media Cell said in a statement that 25 villages were combed, 15 bombs were detonated and three tunnels of ISIL were destroyed during operations that launched on Saturday.

Dijla Operations Command announced that joint troops of Dijla and Samarra operations as well as the PMFs and tribes, backed by army warplanes, launched a military operation to purge Mutaibija region, on borders between Diyala and Salahuddin provinces.

The operation, according to the statement, will include several regions in the vicinity of Mutaibija, including al-Mayta, al-Bu Janaan, Hawi al-Udhaim and Um Talil, as the operation targets security and combing the borders between the two provinces.

On Friday, army fighter jets destroyed two ISIL rest houses in al-Mayta region, located on borders between Diyala and Salahuddin, leaving 10 ISIL members killed.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has declared the end of military operations against the ISIL group in the Arab country.

ISIL began a terror campaign in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks. Iraqi forces then launched operations to eliminate ISIL and retake lost territory.

The Kurdish security forces (Asayish) have surrounded the office of NRT News in Erbil city, today, after protests erupted all over Iraqi Kurdistan, NRT reported this afternoon.

Kurdish security forces surround NRT News office as protests erupt in Iraqi Kurdistan
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/kurdish-security-forces-surround-nrt-news-office-protests-erupt-iraqi-kurdistan/

“The protection of our staff in Erbil is a responsibility of the Kurdistan Regional Government,” NRT channel said.

“The security forces told us that they wanted to prevent unwanted incidents and to secure the security situation,” the head of NRT stated.

 

[angelburst29]

Iraq: Church bells ring again for Christmas in IS-liberated Mosul (Video)
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iraq-church-bells-ring-christmas-liberated-mosul/

On the eve of Christmas, church bells have rung out again at Saint Paul’s Church in Mosul for the first time in three years, after the city was liberated from Islamic State (IS; formerly ISIS, ISIL).

Both Christians and Muslims attended a special service in the Church to mark the birth of Jesus.

One member of the congregation, Uday-Al-Adhamy has a postivie message for church-goers this Christmas.

“As you can see this church is destroyed, but some people from this city volunteered themselves to rebuild the church, because of its importance as a message of peace for the entire world. The church bells are back again in the city”, he said.

When Islamic State took Mosul, the city’s Christian population was persecuted, with many being forced to leave. Since Iraqi forces recaptured the northern city in July 2017, its former Christian population has slowly begun to return.

The Associated Press has released an updated casualty report from the battle of Mosul: between 9,000 and 11,000 dead, many times higher than the figure of 1,260 cited by the Iraqi government after the climactic fight against Daesh ended in June 2017.

Mosul death toll rises from 1,260 to 9,000
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/mosul-death-toll-rises-1260-9000/

Brian Becker and John Kiriakou, hosts of Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear, spoke to PressTV war correspondent Ali Musawi, witness to the destruction of Mosul, to learn more about where these new thousands of dead suddenly came from.

​”In most parts of Mosul, before the liberation, most of the destruction was caused by air strikes,” Musawi said. “The actual fighting on the ground between Iraqi security forces and Daesh terrorists were always in one or two buildings, one street, one neighborhood even. But most of the destruction was caused by air strikes.”

Kiriakou brought up an AP report that a major cause of civilian death during the battle was buildings falling on top of people, toppled by airstrikes.

“Yes, that’s basically what it was,” replied Musawi. “In one instance I spoke to people who fled the old city of Mosul about a month before its liberation. They told me how Daesh terrorists would put three families in one house and blocked the doors with cars. They’d imprison them them in the house and then they made it look like a Daesh headquarters with flags flying all over [so the coalition would bomb it.]”

“Lucky for him, an airstrike hit the area but not the house directly. That created room for them to escape although there were two deaths among those civilians. Daesh uses civilians, whether it’s against air strikes or the advancing army, as human shields. That’s another reason why the high number of civilians were crushed: because they were not allowed to flee.”

Becker asked Musawi why there was such a disparity between coalition casualty figures and the new report, which Musawi believed was primarily due to post-battle activities in Mosul.

“I think the true number is even higher than that, once they tally the final number. The way the war was going is that, when an airstrike took place or when Daesh exploded a building, the people simply took there their dead and buried them in mass graves. As you said, it was a time of war.”

Now that the fighting is over, people have returned to those graves over the past year or so. They are digging the bodies up to register them with the government that these were civilians who were being killed, so they can issue them death certificates and all the legal documentation for inheritance, or to receive compensation from the government, which requires them to prove that that person has been killed.”

Another reason the figures could differ: politics, of course. Why else would anyone do anything? The coalition’s lowballing of casualty figures was done to “show the world that we won the war with ease, without the high number. Although, I think the figures that they were showing were the numbers they were able to calculate back before they started counting those who have been buried without a cause of death.”

“Now that they’re going through the tally, of course the number’s going to increase. I’m sure those in the coalition knew that, and that’s why they issued the numbers back then to show that their war against Daesh worked with minimal casualties,” Musawi predicted.

 

[angelburst29]

The parliament speaker of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan, Yousef Muhammed, announced his resignation on Monday amid the ongoing protests in the city of Sulaymaniyah against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament Speaker Quits amid Angry Protests December, 26, 2017
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2017/12/26/1612113/iraqi-kurdistan-parliament-speaker-quits-amid-angry-protests

Muhammed, a senior member of the opposition Movement for Change (Goran) Party, said that he has always tried to use his position for the interest of his people and today's resignation served the same purpose, the Daily Sabah reported

His decision came a week after the Goran and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) both announced their withdrawal from the KRG's ruling coalition to show support for the large anti-government rallies held in Sulaymaniyah.

Goran, which holds only 24 seats in the Kurdish parliament, forfeits the Kurdish parliamentary speakership, along with the KRG's finance and Peshmerga affairs portfolios.

Since December 18, Sulaymaniyah has been rocked by massive demonstrations by civil servants demanding payment of overdue salaries and an end of government corruption.

On December 19, at least five protesters were shot dead by local security forces in the city, while a number of public facilities -- including several party offices -- were torched by angry demonstrators.

The Kurdistan region has been suffering from financial and economic hardships as a result of disagreement with the central government in Baghdad over distribution of crude oil revenues extracted from the northern oilfields.

Tensions have been running high between Baghdad and the KRG after the Kurds held a controversial referendum on the independence of Kurdistan on September 25.

 

[angelburst29]

Arrest warrants have been issued to the former Iraqi Defense Minister, Khaled Al-‘Obeidi, and Air Force commander, Anwar Hamma Amin, Aliya Nassif of the National Iraqi Alliance told Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Aswat.

Arrest warrants issued for former Iraqi Defense Minister and Air Force commander: report
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/arrest-warrants-issued-former-iraqi-defense-minister-air-force-commander-report/

According to the Saudi daily, the former Iraqi Defense Minister and Air Force commander were issued arrest warrants for allegedly “squandering public funds.”

“Orders were issued two weeks ago to arrest Lieutenant General Anwar Hama Amin, the commanding officer of the Iraqi Air Force, accused of wasting public money in questionable arms deals. Another order was issued to arrest former Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi,” Nassif told Asharq Al-Awsat.

This is not the first time that rumors of Al-‘Obedi’s arrest has surfaced; however, the Iraqi government has been cracking down on public officials recently over alleged corruption.

Iraq's Kata'ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Battalions) group warned the US military forces to leave the Arab country voluntarily or wait for dire consequences.

Popular Forces Warn US Army Not to Deploy in Iraq
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961009001326

Kata'ib Hezbollah was quoted by al-Aba news channel as saying in a statement that Washington is attempting to deploy its military forces in Iraq again under false pretexts. It cautioned the Americans not to think of returning to Iraq or they will be forced to leave the country.

The statement also called on the Iraqi parliament to adopt a firm position against the presence of US forces in Iraq.

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Spokesman and a senior commander of Iraq's Kata'ib Hezbollah popular forces Jafar al-Hosseini warned the US to withdraw its military men from Iraq once the ISIL is fully defeated in the country.

Al-Hosseini made the remarks in an interview with the Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel.

He described the American forces' presence as the biggest obstacle to Iraq's anti-terrorism fight, and called for the withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq after the ISIL will be defeated.

Elsewhere, al-Hosseini also revealed that the US, in collaboration with President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region Massoud Barzani, has aided the ISIL in Tal Afar.

"Before the start of Tal Afar operations, the ISIL members were transferred to al-Ayaziyeh region on 11 buses sent by affiliates to Massoud Barzani and key ISIL commanders fled from Tal Afar and al-Ayaziyeh to Nineveh plain in coordination with Barzani and the Americans," he added.

Newly declassified documents from Britain’s National Archives have revealed internal discussions and planning between the American and British Governments on prolonging the 1991 war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

National Archives: US and UK Planned to Attack Iraqi Forces After 1991 Gulf War (Video)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201712291060387707-uk-us-iraq-1991/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Ne9V8BCXI (5:03 min.)

Among a tranche of files and minutes published on Friday, December 29, is a secret note omitted from official documents recalling discussions between the then British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd and US Secretary of State James Baker on July 17, 1991.

According to the note, both countries were weighing up the possibility of continuing the war against Saddam Hussein after his forces had already been expelled from Kuwait.

The document makes clear the British enthusiasm for joining the Americans in an extension of the conflict, which the US did not want to undertake alone.

The discussions were acknowledged in a secret letter from the Ministry of Defense dated July 12.

'Political Burden-Sharing' - The primary concern of the US, according to the letter, was "the political burden-sharing that would be provided by the inclusion of UK (and French) aircraft," if military action was to continue.

The primary target of the renewed military action, at least officially, was to be Iraqi stocks of presumed nuclear, biological and chemical weapons on the basis that the Iraqis had not yet allowed UN inspectors to determine what stockpiles of biological, chemical and other weapons the country still possessed.

Internal discussions within the British Government expose concerns over the logistics of Britain participating in future military action, with the suggestion being made to station fighter-jets at the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, due to overcrowding at the NATO airbase at Incirlik in south-eastern Turkey.

Concerns also existed over the legality of such actions, with the suggestion made in Cabinet papers that a gradually escalating series of aerial attacks on Iraqi infrastructure would be more legally defensible than a one-off shock-and-awe-style assault.

Legal advice which the UK Government received on the matter made clear any such unilateral action would violate the UN Charter and permission had to be granted by the Security Council, which at that time included the Soviet Union as a permanent member.

The Gulf War, often referred to as the First Gulf War commenced on August 2 1990 when Iraq under President Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied the oil emirate of Kuwait.

Kuwait Invasion Was to Rid Iraq of Debts - Kuwait, along with much of the Arab world, European states as well as the US and the Soviet Union had supported Iraq in its war against Iran from 1980 to 1988, but that conflict which killed upwards of a million people on both sides left Iraq close to bankruptcy.

Then in possession of the world's fourth largest military, Iraq attempted to rid itself of part of the nearly US$60 billion debt it owed Kuwait and other Gulf States in the form of loans it had received in the 1980s.

​Despite international calls for a negotiated solution, the United States assembled the largest military alliance since World War II and, in conjunction with the United Kingdom, expelled the Iraqis from Kuwait in what they referred to as Operation Desert Storm.

The Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein remained in power until the US-led invasion in 2003.

Contrary to the declared justification for the 2003 invasion, it is widely acknowledged that Iraq's stockpiles of WMDs were verifiably declared and destroyed by the UN in the 1990s.


Operationally the strikes would be carried out under US command, to which Prime Minister John Major agreed.

The Iraqi Armed Forces killed several Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists that were attempting to infiltrate from the Syrian border this week.

Iraqi forces kill several ISIS terrorists in shootout along the Syrian border
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/graphic-video-iraqi-forces-kill-several-isis-terrorists-shootout-along-syrian-border/

According to a military report from Baghdad, the Iraqi Border Guards, alongside Hashd Al-Sha’abi, were involved in a fierce battle with Islamic State militants this week, as the latter attempted to infiltrate the government’s garrisons.

As a result of this attack, at least seven Islamic State terrorists were killed and several more were wounded, resulting in the terrorist group’s ultimate withdrawal from the border.

In response to this attack, the Iraqi Armed Forces have sent a large number of reinforcements from Hashd Al-Sha’abi to the Syrian border in order to confront any future attacks by ISIS.

An Iraqi legislator said that search teams have found a mass grave in the country’s Northern province of Nineveh containing the bodies of dozen members of Izadi minority, who are believed to have been executed by ISIL terrorists when they were in control of an area there.

Iraqi Search Teams Find Dozens of Izadi Bodies in Mass Grave in Nineveh
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961009000584

Haji Kendor told Arabic-language al-Ghad press news agency on Friday that the mass grave contains the bodies of 80 elderly and disabled women and is located near the town of Sinjar, situated over 400 kilometers Northwest of the capital Baghdad.

Kendor added some of the victims had been buried alive, noting that the ISIL terrorists buried the Izadi women in a fish farm, and the grisly discovery was made by local search teams.

 

[angelburst29]

The US-led coalition military helicopters have recently carried out another heliborne operation in Northern Iraq to evacuate a number of terrorist commanders from the region, Secretary-General of Iraq's Badr Organization Mohammad Mahdi al-Bayati said on Sunday.

US Rescuing Terrorist Commanders Trapped in Northern Iraq Sun Dec 31, 2017
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961010000873

Al-Bayati said that the US helicopters carried out heliborne operation in Tuzkhurmato region in Eastern Salahuddin, rescuing commanders of the newly-formed terrorist group of al-Rayat al-Bayedh (the white flags) from the region.

He further quoted local Kurds as saying that as the Iraqi security forces and the country's volunteer forces of Hashd al-Shaabi arrived in the region to hit the White Flags and ISIL terrorists, when the US helicopters rushed to assist the terrorists and evacuate them from the region via a heliborne operation.

Al-Bayati went on to say that the White Flags fighters are a combination of Takfiri terrorists and illegal Kurdish political parties.

Iraq's Kata'ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Battalions) group on Saturday warned the US military forces to leave the Arab country voluntarily or wait for dire consequences.

Kata'ib Hezbollah was quoted by al-Aba news channel as saying in a statement that Washington is attempting to deploy its military forces in Iraq again under false pretexts.

It cautioned the Americans not to think of returning to Iraq or they will be forced to leave the country.

The statement also called on the Iraqi parliament to adopt a firm position against the presence of US forces in Iraq.

The Iraqi Armed Forces confronted a large Islamic State (ISIS) group inside the Al-Miqdadiyah District of Diyala, today, resulting in a series of intense clashes.

Iraqi forces kill scores ISIS terrorists near Iranian border
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iraqi-forces-kill-scores-isis-terrorists-near-iranian-border/

Led by Hashd Al-Sha’abi;s (Popular Mobilization Units) 4th Special Forces Brigade, the Iraqi Armed Forces eliminated at least 13 Islamic State terrorists in the Al-Miqdadiyah District on Sunday morning.

Hashd Al-Sha’abi has been working relentlessly to clear the Islamic State hot-zones inside the Diyala Governorate; however, the terrorist group continues to operate sleeper cells around the province.

The Diyala Governorate is located just west of Iran, making Iraq’s border security a top priority for Baghdad and Tehran.

 

[angelburst29]

The Islamic State terrorist group has launched a mass-suicide bombing attack against Iraqi forces near the Syrian border. Iraqi troops managed to repel the attack, but only just.

ISIS launches mass-suicide bombing offensive against Iraqi forces near border with Syria
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/isis-launches-mass-suicide-bombing-offensive-iraqi-forces-near-border-syria/

According to military-affiliated sources, on Tuesday, Iraqi forces operating near the Syrian border were attacked by scores of ISIS suicide bombers utilizing both car bombs and vest bombs in what appears to have been a desperate attempt by the terrorist group to overrun the positions of pro-government forces after many failed raids in previous weeks.

Reports state that the attack fell on the 28th Brigade of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units near Tal Sefok and that the resulting battle saw pro-government troops destroy no less than 18 Islamic State fighters with explosive vests as well as two car bombs.

As with many engagements that have taken place between Iraqi forces and ISIS near the Syrian border over the last three weeks, the terrorist assault was once again launched across the border from areas inside eastern Syria that have yet to be cleared.

Hundreds of trucks crossed the Parviz Khan Border crossing with the Iraqi Kurdistan region in Sulaymaniyah on Wednesday, after Baghdad requested it’s re-opening.

Iran re-opens border crossings with Iraq-Kurdistan region
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iran-re-opens-border-crossings-iraq-kurdistan-region/

Iran re-opened two crossings with the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Tamarchin and Parviz Khan, on Tuesday after being closed for over two months following tensions between the Iraqi government and the Erbil-based Kurdish regional government after the Kurdish referendum.

Truck drivers that had been unable to work for weeks, expressed their optimism over the gesture, “two months ago the crossing was closed and we were jobless, thank goodness the crossing is re-opened now and we can go forth as usual.”

For Varshad Abbas, a truck driver from Kermanshah in Iran, this constitutes a “good gesture” from Iran’s side and is linked with the wave of demonstrations that has shook Iran over the past days.

The secretary general of Hezbollah al-Nujaba, a major Iraqi Shiite resistance movement fighting terrorist groups, warned Baghdad about Western attempts to save terrorists under the pretext of defending human rights.

West Seeking to Save Terrorists in Iraq: Hezbollah Al-Nujaba Chief
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2018/01/03/1618893/west-seeking-to-save-terrorists-in-iraq-hezbollah-al-nujaba-chief

Speaking at a meeting with Iraqi Minister of Justice Haidar Al Zamily in Baghdad, Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi stressed the need for the execution of Takfiri terrorists condemned to death in the Arab country regardless of pressures from “Western mercenary institutions”.

The cleric further cautioned against some secret deals to let detained terrorists escape from the country and said foiling “the sinister plot” is the responsibility of Iraq’s security and judicial organizations.

The Iraqi minister, for his part, underlined the need for legal action to deal with those who jeopardize Iraq’s national security and hailed the major role of the Hezbollah al-Nujaba in the fight against Takfiri terrorism.

More than 40 members of Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group were killed and several others captured by the Iraqi forces in an operation to clear the remnants of terrorists in Hawija district, west of Kirkuk.

Iraqi Troops Gun Down Daesh Forces in Hawija Operation
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2018/01/05/1619903/iraqi-troops-gun-down-daesh-forces-in-hawija-operation

During the first day of a major military operation to cleanse the Hawija District of Daesh terrorists, the Iraqi Army forces, backed by the voluntary forces (known as the Popular Mobilization Units or Hashid al-Shaabi), shot down more than 40 terrorists hidden in an inn in al-Abbasi region, Alsumaria News quoted a local officials as saying on Thursday.

Ten Daesh members were also in the operation in the district, 50 southwest of Kirkuk.

The Iraqi military forces, led by the 9th Armored Division, have begun an operation to clear remaining pockets of Daesh around the northern city of Kirkuk.

 

[angelburst29]

The Turkish military has launched a land operation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, stating that its aim is to “prevent PKK militants from threatening border security.”

Turkey launches first ground operation in northern Iraq
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkey-launches-first-ground-operation-northern-iraq/

The operation is the first time in nine years that Turkish land forces have engaged in Iraq.

Commando units entered the Zap region of Iraq after crossing from the Çukurca district of the southeastern province of Hakkari. The move, which is part of “Operation Zap,” came after the military determined an increase in movement of outlawed militants in the area, Doğan News Agency reported on Oct. 18.

A total of 21 PKK militants have been “neutralized” since the air-supported operations began on Oct. 16, according to statements made by the military. Authorities use the word “neutralized” to refer to militants who are killed, wounded or captured.

Four soldiers were killed in two separate PKK bomb attacks in Zap, according to the army, which revealed the identities of the soldiers as Furkan Aydın, İlhan Sezer, Seçkin Arıkan and Adem Gezer.

The U.S. troops in Iraq are expected to be gradually reduced over the coming months, as the Iraqi government’s victory over the Islamic State (ISIS) has reduced the need for Coalition forces inside the country.

US troops to be reduced in Iraq
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/us-troops-reduced-iraq/

According to Al-Sumaria News, the U.S. military presence will be become limited to advisory roles and that the total number of soldiers will be reduced inside Iraq.

Citing U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Sillman, Al-Sumeria added that the U.S. military presence has already been significantly reduced, especially in the Al-Anbar Governorate.

The U.S forces have been inside Iraq the invasion in 2003 to topple President Saddam Hussein.

According to several Arab news sources, meetings have been held between exiled members of the banned Iraqi Ba’ath Party and officials from the Israeli and Saudi regimes. This is reported by Fars News.

Arab newspapers: Saddam Hussein loyalists trying to return to power with Israeli-Saudi support
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/arab-newspapers-saddam-hussein-loyalists-trying-return-power-israeli-saudi-support/

London-based Pan-Arab newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi reported that members of the Sunni Tahalof al-Qowa coalition have been meeting with the Israeli ambassador to Jordan in Amman.

“The meeting had been planned several months ago and it was recently held in Jordan and a number of members of the coalition met with the Israeli envoy and his deputy under tight security measures,” the newspaper stated.

Similarly, the Arab-language news website Sadr al-Khalij claimed that senior Ba’ath party leader Amed Abdolmajid al-Sa’adoun has been participating in a gathering organised in Baghdad by former Saudi ambassador to Iraq, Thamer al-Sabhan. Saudi Arabia is a notable opponent of growing Shia influence in the Middle East, as well as opposing Baghdad’s increasingly friendly relations with neighbouring Iran.

These reports correspond to similar statements by Iraqi lawmaker and leader of the National Tashih Movement Kamel al-Dulaimi, who was quoted by the Iraqi al-Raqed news site in August as saying that “A delegation of the dissolved Baath party is negotiating with the US officials, specially Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, to study the possibility for its return to Iraq’s political process after changing its name.”

“We have access to certain intelligence which proves that the delegation is pursuing Baath party’s return to power in Iraq under a new name,” Dulaimi continued.

While the Iraqi Ba’ath Party, the Arab supremacist organisation headed by Saddam Hussein until 2003 and not to be confused with the Syrian Ba’ath Party led by Bashar al-Assad, is banned by the Iraqi constitution, some descendant organisations are still legally active in the country’s political scene.
Furthermore, some of the most radical supporters of the late dictator who was executed in 2006, still wage a low-level guerilla war against the Baghdad government.

BASHIQA, Iraq: Northern Iraq’s Yazidi community that suffered so terribly under Daesh group persecution celebrated on Friday as it inaugurated a restored temple to the sound of traditional drums and flutes.

Iraqi Yazidis celebrate restoration of temple destroyed by Daesh
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1224946/middle-east

Overlooked by conical domes of polished stone, hundreds of men in dishdasha robes and women veiled in white gathered at the site which was blown up by the rampaging jihadists in 2014.

The temple at Bashiqa was one of 68 Yazidi temples destroyed by Daesh, officials said — and one of the last of 23 in the region to be restored.

The Yazidi community in Iraq comprised some 550,000 people before it was scattered by the Daesh offensive.

Orthodox Muslims consider the peacock to be a demon figure and refer to Yazidis as devil-worshippers.

Daesh group murdered Yazidis in their thousands in 2014 and abducted thousands of women and teenage girls to make them sex slaves.

According to the religious affairs ministry in Iraqi Kurdistan, some 360,000 Yazidis were displaced by the fighting with 100,000 leaving the country.
Of 6,417 Yazidis reported kidnapped by the jihadists, just 3,207 have been rescued or managed to escape their captors. Half of those still missing are women and girls, the ministry said.

It also said that to date 47 mass graves of Yazidis massacred by Daesh have been discovered.

UN investigators have said the Daesh assault on the Yazidis was a premeditated effort to exterminate an entire community — crimes that amount to genocide.

Friday’s ceremony at the temple in the Bashiqa area some 15 kilometers (nine miles) east of Iraq’s second city Mosul was an act of both revival and defiance. “This ceremony shows that life has returned despite the terrorism of IS and its bloody attacks,” said 21-year-old Jihan Sinan.
Around her, families posed for pictures as traditional dishes and sweets were handed out and celebrants danced to the tunes of traditional flutes.

Religious leader Ali Rashwakari, 72, urged the international community to help “rebuild the temples and Yazidi regions” of Iraq.

 

[angelburst29]

The death toll of two explosions in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has risen to 26 people, reports Al Arabiya TV. Earlier it was reported that only six had died and that there were more than 20 victims.

Baghdad Suicide Attack Kills 16 or More, Wounds 65 – Interior Ministry
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801151060754122-suicide-attack-baghdad/

"Twenty-six people were killed in the center of Baghdad as a result of a double terrorist attack," the TV channel reported on Twitter, which added that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.

The circumstances of the incident are still being investigated.

According to Iraqi interior ministry, the death toll could rise as more bodies were being recovered from the site.

Update:

The Interior Ministry said two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a busy street market in central Baghdad on Monday, in back-to-back explosions that killed at least 38 people, while another 105 people sustained injuries.

Iraq: 38 Dead, 105 Wounded in Baghdad Twin Suicide Attack
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961025000806

The attackers struck during the rush-hour at the city's Tayran Square on Monday morning. Ambulances rushed to the scene as security forces sealed off the area with yellow tape, World News reported.

General Saad Maan, a Spokesman for the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, announced that two individuals had blown themselves up at the busy square.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but it bore the hallmarks of ISIL, which has claimed many such attacks in the past.

Also on Saturday, a bomb attack in Northern Baghdad killed eight people.

A high-ranking Iraqi security official said government troops, supported by allied fighters from Popular Mobilization Units, have succeeded to purge more than half of the desert areas in the country’s Western province of Anbar of Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) Takfiri terrorists.

Iraqi Forces Purge over 80% of Anbar Desert Areas of ISIL
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961025000819

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Arabic-language al-Sabah al-Jadid daily newspaper on Sunday, Chairman of Anbar Provincial Security Council Naeem al-Kaoud said security forces and volunteer fighters, commonly known as Hashd al-Shaabi, have cleansed over 80 percent of Anbar desert areas of the extremists following multi-pronged military operations there.

“The troops also destroyed several Daesh hotbeds and remotely detonated four armored vehicles, which were used by the militant group,” he added.

Kaoud went on to say that ten more people were also arrested on suspicion of joining Daesh terror group.

“Although the militants hotbeds were built underground, the troops were able to destroy them after receiving intelligence reports on their locations,” the senior security official pointed out.

“The military operation, backed by the Iraqi Air Force, comes as part of ongoing efforts to eliminate Daesh militants on the country’s borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan,” Kaoud noted.

Iraq forces have kicked-off a major anti-insurgency operation throughout western Anbar province all to way down to the country’s southern border with Saudi Arabia, detecting and neutralizing a noteworthy ISIS presence in the process so far.

ISIS presence on Iraqi-Saudi border annihilated by Iraqi forces in major operation
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/isis-presence-iraqi-saudi-border-annihilated-iraq-forces-major-operation/

On Tuesday, Iraqi troops launched a wide-scale anti-insurgency operation in the western countryside of Anbar province with elite counter-terrorism units of the army’s 1st Division and pro-government tribal fighters sweeping as far south as the border with Saudi Arabia.

As expected, elements of ISIS in the form of a small motorized force and a regional operations room where uncovered and destroyed by government troops.

Iraqi media reports that pro-government forces destroyed four pickups, captured another three vehicles and neutralized 4 Islamic State encampments.

The operation in western Anbar is part of a wider campaign by Iraqi forces aimed at destroying the remaining elements of ISIS within the entire country which have since moved their insurgency underground after the terrorist group suffered major defeats in 2017.

 

[angelburst29]

Iraq’s al-Nujaba Movement, a major Shiite resistance group, has inaugurated its first military and ideological training center in Iraq, a report said.

Al-Nujaba Movement Opens Military Academy in Iraq (+Photos) January, 17, 2018
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2018/01/17/1630474/al-nujaba-movement-opens-military-academy-in-iraq-photos

Al-Nujaba Movement has opened an academy in Iraq in a bid to provide military training and also propagate Islam’s true tenets across the Arab country to counter the ideology of Takfiris and terrorists, according to a statement by the resistance group.

To that end, the academy provides its participants with ideological, social, and cultural training programs, it added.

Al-Nujaba, which has about 10,000 fighters, is a branch of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Sha’abi).

Iraq’s volunteer force was formed in 2014, when the Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terror group managed to make sweeping territorial gains in Iraq’s western and northern parts, helping the government forces regain their strength and speed up their counter-offensives.

Back in November 2016, al-Nujaba said it respected the decisions of Iraq’s national army, hinting that it will act on an order to hand heavy arms back when the counter-terrorism battles end.

“The heavy weapons belong to the Iraqi government, not us. We are not rebels or agents of chaos and we do not want to be a state within a state,”
the spokesman for al-Nujaba, Hashim al-Mousawi.

The volunteer fighters were at the forefront of the fight against Daesh and played a major role in putting an end to the so-called caliphate of the terror group.

The US-led coalition, fighting the Daesh terror group, has not yet addressed Iraq’s Defense Ministry to coordinate the issue of establishing a new border security force in Syria near to the Turkish and Iraqi borders, Iraqi Defense Ministry’s spokesman Tayar Khafaji told Sputnik on Wednesday.

US not coordinating with Iraq issue of Syrian border force creation – Iraqi MoD
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/us-not-coordinating-iraq-issue-syrian-border-force-creation-iraqi-mod/

“As of now, there has been no coordination on this issue with the Defense Ministry. If there is [coordination], if this issue is on the negotiating table, then, of course, the ministry will engage,” Khafaji said.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry is coordinating its activities with the coalition to a significant extent, the spokesman stressed. Khafaji emphasized the coalition’s support to Baghdad in fighting terrorism, adding that Baghdad coordinates the activities of its forces in this area with the coalition directly.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry also coordinates its activities with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and receives support from the alliance, Khafaji pointed out.

Col. Thomas Veale, the public affairs officer of the US-led coalition, said in an interview with The Defense Post news outlet, published on Saturday, that the coalition had been training the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to create a 30,000-strong force to maintain security along Syria’s borders. On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he had discussed the issue with Pentagon chief James Mattis.

The US plans to create a border security force in Syria prompted condemnation from Damascus, which called these activities aggression and occupation.

Turkey, in turn, reiterated its condemnation of Washington’s support for the Syrian Kurds, which Ankara sees linked with the Turkish Kurdistan’s Workers Party (PKK), designated as terrorist organization in Turkey. Ankara also threatened to start an offensive against the Kurds in Syria.

 

[angelburst29]

Friendly fire from the US-led coalition fighting Daesh killed 10 members of the Iraqi security forces and a local official in an air strike west of Baghdad on Saturday, Reuters reports Iraqi officials saying.

Friendly fire kills 11 in Iraq air strike Sunday January 28, 2018
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180128-friendly-fire-kills-11-in-iraq-air-strike/

Friendly fire from the US-led coalition fighting Daesh killed 10 members of the Iraqi security forces and a local official in an air strike west of Baghdad on Saturday, Reuters reports Iraqi officials saying.

Early investigations indicated that Iraqi forces had called in an air strike against a local police force in the town of al-Baghdadi, 170 km (106 miles) north-west of Baghdad, assuming that they were militants, military and security officials said.

The local police group hit by the strike had come to the area without coordinating with an Iraqi army detachment that had been sent there to arrest an Daseh suspect, an Iraqi military spokesman said in a statement.

The strike was called in after the army detachment arrested the suspect and withdrew from the area, he added.

A spokesman of the US-led international coalition said all its air strikes are carried out at the request of the Iraqi security forces.

“Any and all support comes at request/approval of Iraq; NO unilateral coalition operations in Iraq,” said the spokesman, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, in a tweet.

The Iraqi government last month declared victory over Daesh which had declared a “caliphate” over parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014. The group has morphed back into an underground insurgency and continues to carry out attacks.

An earlier report on the "Friendly Fire" ...

An airstrike by the US-led coalition battling Daesh hit Iraqi security personnel on Saturday, officials said, in an apparent mistake that killed eight people.

Eight dead as US-led strike hits Iraq forces
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1234031/middle-east

The friendly fire incident drew swift criticism of the US military presence in Iraq from pro-Iranian figures in Baghdad.

“Eight people — a senior intelligence official, five policemen and a woman — were killed by a US strike on the center of Al-Baghdadi,” a town in western Iraq, a provincial official said, asking not to be identified.

“It seems the strike was a mistake,” the official said of the incident in the Euphrates Valley town, adjacent to the Ain Al-Asad air base 250 km west of the capital.

Those killed were traveling in a convoy which had been deployed to support a dawn raid on suspected Daesh militants in the area.

Despite the government’s declaration of victory over Daesh last month, the terrorists remain active underground in several regions of Iraq, particularly along the Euphrates Valley and in the vast desert to its west.

The US-led strike destroyed most of the vehicles in the convoy and also wounded 20 people, including the town’s police chief, who was in a serious condition, the provincial official said.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, which coordinates the country’s campaign against Daesh, said it had ordered a special forces raid in the town after receiving intelligence of a “meeting to be attended by terrorist commander Karim Al-Samarmad.” It said it had requested “air support from the international coalition.”

“Once the terrorist was arrested and while troops were carrying out searches, a grenade was thrown from an adjacent building.”

As the special forces troops withdrew to base, they ran into a convoy of police and paramilitaries of the Hashd A-Shaabi auxiliary force that had been sent to support them. The convoy was composed of pickup trucks and the returning forces mistook them for terrorists and called in a coalition air strike, the JOC said, lamenting the lack of coordination. “An inquiry has been opened,” it added.

Coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon said the strike had been carried out at the request of Iraqi forces, who would take the lead in investigating any failings. “Anything we do in Iraq is in support of the Iraqi security forces. We were asked for support and we provided it,” Dillon said.

Iraqi forces on Friday began fresh military operations aimed at finding and neutralizing Daesh terrorist cells in the eastern Diyala province, according to a local police source.

Iraqi army announces fresh anti-Daesh ops in Diyala
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180126-iraqi-army-announces-fresh-anti-daesh-ops-in-diyala/

“Army forces backed by Hashd al-Shaabi fighters have launched a major security operation against Daesh remnants in Diyala’s Azim sub-district 60 kilometers north of Baqubah,” Police Captain Habib al-Shimar told reporters.

“Security forces have found and arrested a number of wanted individuals and confiscated unlicensed weapons,” al-Shimar said.

Last December, Iraqi officials announced that Daesh’s military presence in the country had been all but dismantled.

Nevertheless, it is feared that the group still maintains “sleeper cells” in certain parts of the country.

Interpol has handed over former Trade Minister Abdul Falah Al-Sudani to Iraq’s Integrity Commission, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported.

Former Iraq trade minister extradited to Iraq on corruption charges
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180126-iraq-receives-ex-trade-minister-convicted-on-graft-charges-from-lebanon/

Al-Sudani, who was arrested in September last year in Beirut, is the first of four ministers convicted of corruption to be extradited.

Al-Sudani was a member of Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi’s Dawa Party, served as education minister during Ibrahim Al-Jaafari’s term as prime minister in 2005 and as trade minister in Nouri Al-Maliki’s first government from 2006 to 2009.

Al-Sudani is accused of embezzling state funds through the food rations programme and in 2012 the Iraqi judiciary sentenced Al-Sudani in absentia to seven years imprisonment.

The Iraqi Integrity Commission says four former ministers who fled the country are wanted on charges of corruption including Electricity Minister Ayham Al-Samarrai, Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan, Trade Minister Abdul Falah Al-Sudani and Transport Minister Louay Al-Ors.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi, who took office in 2014, pledged to fight the rampant corruption in state departments.

An Iraqi court sentenced the former governor of Nineveh Province to three years in prison on Thursday. Atheel Al-Nujaifi has also had all of his property confiscated for allegedly “communicating” and “collaborating” with Turkey, agencies have reported.

Court sentences former Iraqi official to 3 years in prison
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180127-court-sentences-former-iraqi-official-to-3-years-in-prison/

The court issued its ruling, said Anadolu, against the high-profile Sunni official, after a complaint filed by the Department of the Shia Waqf (Religious Endowment) in Iraq.

Al-Nujaifi, who is the brother of the current Iraqi Vice President Usama Al-Nujaifi, was sacked in 2015 by the Iraqi parliament after he was blamed, with others, for the fall of Mosul at the hands of Daesh. He was also issued with a travel ban.

 

[angelburst29]

Friendly fire kills 11 in Iraq air strike Sunday January 28, 2018
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180128-friendly-fire-kills-11-in-iraq-air-strike/

Friendly fire from the US-led coalition fighting Daesh killed 10 members of the Iraqi security forces and a local official in an air strike west of Baghdad on Saturday, Reuters reports Iraqi officials saying.

Witnesses have said that a combat helicopter of the US-led coalition fired on a car transporting wounded people in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, claiming the lives of several police officers and civilians.

Eyewitnesses Recall Coalition's Alleged 'Friendly Fire' Attack in Iraq (VIDEO)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801301061193926-iraq-video-us-alleged-friendly-fire/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gag2M_e8ITA (1:08 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPdQ1YzJFYs (RT 3:10 min.)

A video showing eyewitnesses speaking about the coalition's "friendly fire" in western Iraq's Anbar province which killed at least eight people has emerged.

The death toll included police and civilians who were killed when the coalition's combat helicopter targeted a car ferrying wounded people, among them a woman, for medical assistance.

In the video, one of the eyewitnesses is seen saying that "we demand that Americans leave the country [Iraq] because of a disregard for people's lives."

The US-led Coalition attacked an Iraqi Army convoy in the western countryside of the Al-Anbar Governorate, Saturday, killing and wounding over ten soldiers as a result of this surprise bombing.

US Coalition bombs the Iraqi Army after they arrested a high ranking ISIS commander (photos) 27/01/2018
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/us-coalition-bombs-iraqi-army-arrested-high-ranking-isis-commander-photos/

According to a report from the Iraqi Armed Forces, their military personnel had just arrested a high ranking Islamic State (ISIS) commander, when a US Coalition helicopter attacked their convoy near the city of Al-Baghdadi in Al-Anbar.

According to a report from the Iraqi Armed Forces, their military personnel had just arrested a high ranking Islamic State (ISIS) commander, when a US Coalition helicopter attacked their convoy near the city of Al-Baghdadi in Al-Anbar.

The US Coalition stated on Saturday that the attack a mistake and that they have opened up an investigation into the bombing.

“It seems the strike was a mistake,” the official said of the incident in the Euphrates Valley town, adjacent to the Ain al-Asad airbase 250 kilometres (160 miles) west of the capital.

Below are some of the photos the Iraqi Armed Forces released after the US bombing in western Al-Anbar.

Baghdad has yet to comment on the information. The reported strikes take place days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Ankara aims to clear its borders from terrorists up until Iraq.

Turkish Warplanes Reportedly Hit Targets in Iraq Amid Afrin Op
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801301061178287-turkish-warplanes-iraq-targets-afrin-kurds/

According to Anadolu news agency, Turkish jets hit eight targets in northern Iraq, destroying shelters, hideouts and arsenals, belonging to militants, who were allegedly preparing to attack border posts.

The airstrikes, that have yet to be commented on by Baghdad, have reportedly been carried out in Iraqi Zap, Avasin, Basyan, and Hakurk regions.

It hasn't been immediately clear to which group the militants, who were targeted, belonged, however, the strikes took place amid the Afrin operation launched on January 20 in Syria. The area is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces-affiliated and US-backed YPG militias, which Ankara considers to be linked with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an armed conflict in Turkey seeking autonomy and equal rights for the Kurds in the country.

Turkey is not going to limit its military operation to the Syrian Afrin region, and is ready to fight in Iraq, if necessary, in its effort to destroy terrorism, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday.

Turkey Not to Limit Anti-Terrorist Op to Syria, Ready to Fight in Iraq - Ankara
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801261061104681-turkey-afrin-olive-branch-operation-syria-iraq/

"We will be in Syria until we destroy terrorism… and then will hand these territories to their true owners. The calls to limit our operation to Afrin have no influence on us. Wherever the terrorist threat comes from — Sinjar, Qandil, Manbij, east of Euphrates — we will fight and destroy it," Cavusoglu said while aired by the NTV broadcaster.

The statement was made after on January 21, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert issued a resolution on the situation in northwestern Syria, calling on Turkey "to exercise restraint and ensure that its military operations remain limited in scope and duration and scrupulous to avoid civilian casualties."

The Turkish Air Force carried out several attacks against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq this morning, the Turkish military reported.

Turkish forces attack Kurdish PKK in Iraq, 11 targets destroyed
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkish-forces-attack-kurdish-pkk-iraq-11-targets-destroyed/

According to the Turkish military, their Air Force destroyed at least 11 PKK targets along the Iraqi-Turkish border in the Qandil and Asos regions.

The Turkish military claimed these PKK fighters were planning to carry out an attack in Turkey before they were targeted by their Air Force on Monday.

 

[angelburst29]

Alliance of Kurdish mafia and IS fighters rallies to new banner, and surrender is the furthest thing from their minds.

No surrender: 'White Flags' group rises as new threat in northern Iraq Thursday 1 February 2018 (Photo of flag)
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraq-islamic-state-white-flag-hashd-al-shaabi-1282818812

TUZ KHURMATU, Iraq - Behind the roaring flames burning off excess gasses at an oil facility in northern Iraq's Jambur mountains stretch miles of inhospitable desert, and Iraq's latest post-Islamic State (IS) frontline.

The Jambur oil facility was secured by Iraqi forces in October, as the government regained control of disputed territories from the Kurdish Regional Government following its disastrous independence referendum. But, commanders say, the facility is still under daily attack from a militant group hiding out in the Jambur mountains.

Said to be an alliance of former Islamic State militants and disgruntled Kurdish mafia members pushed out of the nearby town of Tuz Khurmatu, the group are known locally as the White Flags, after their banner - a black lion on a white background.

Although the White Flags appear to be something of a mythical entity - photographic evidence is limited to a few widely circulated images on social media - to the forces holding the Jambur frontline, they pose a very real threat.

"The White Flags attack us most days, usually at dawn or dusk, and they have plenty of weapons, including heavy artillery and mortars," Ali Ghazi Swaish al-Obeidi told MEE, gesturing towards the mountains.

Obeidi commands a unit of the Hashd al-Shaabi Jundil Imam Brigade, which is responsible for security at the oil facility and extensive pipelines that carry oil from the Jambur fields to the main North Oil Company processing stations in Kirkuk.

"They are a mix of IS fighters and local Kurdish mafia guys. We know they fight under this white flag because, after our biggest battle against them here, where we had three martyrs and killed four of them, we found one of their white flags."

Obeidi estimated that there were at least 500 fighters operating in the mountains but said the number could be as many as 1,000.

Fearsome alliance - "The White Flags are members of IS and independent local Kurdish militias. They are not from the Peshmerga or any official Kurdish security forces," the head of Iraq's Special Forces Emergency Response Division (ERD), Thamer al-Husseini, told MEE, in Tuz Khurmatu.

Husseini said his forces had amassed in the town, 20km south of the Jambur frontline, to prepare for the liberation of the mountain range. "We do not think there are large numbers but they are occupying the mountains behind Tuz Khurmatu and behaving like terrorists."

The division recently beat back attacks from the White Flags on Tuz Khurmatu, in Iraq's Salah-al-Din province, as the first phase of the operation. They are now securing the town to enable residents to return to their homes, before moving troops into the mountains.

Husseini said the battle to liberate the Jambur mountains was imminent and would be a joint one, led by the ERD, and supported by Iraq's Hashd al-Shaabi forces and the KRG's Peshmerga, who will stage their part of the offensive from the KRG's post-October 2017 boundaries.

"The operation will be led by us from this side and by the Peshmerga from inside Kurdistan," he said.

"We have already been in talks with Peshmerga commanders and are arranging the details to make this a joint operation. We just deal with military commanders, we are not involved with any political matters between Iraq and the KRG."

What do the White Flags want? - According to Obeidi, the main aim of the White Flags is to regain control of the oil facilities, to enable them to continue what he claimed had been lucrative oil thefts. He said his forces had found widespread evidence of extensive oil theft carried out during the 14 years the area was under Kurdish control.

"We have already dug up four kilometres of small-gauge pipes which were fitted to the mainlines to tap the oil, stealing it and transferring it to other areas," said the Jundil Imam Brigade's head of civilian affairs, Faisal Ghazi.

"These thefts were carried out under the watch of the Kurdish security forces for 14 years. They should have been protecting the oil but they were also either overseeing, or involved in, stealing it for illegal trade and sales.

"There was no government control here for 14 years so they could do what they wanted."

Farid J Sadik al-Jadir, the head of Kirkuk's North Oil Company, said oil thefts in northern Iraq were a long-standing problem.

"There are indeed some places where oil thefts have been taking place but, since October when we started taking back control, we have removed these small pipes used by thieves and repaired the damage," he said.

"We are undertaking legal procedures against some of those responsible for stealing oil but we suspect such thefts are ongoing in some northern fields we do not control."

Obeidi said that the White Flags had damaged some oil infrastructure which lay beyond his force's area of control but was adamant that the Jambur degassing station and its employees were fully secured by his force of 500 men, which include 50 Kurdish fighters.

"We are here primarily to protect the oil facility and pipelines because the oil belongs to all Iraqi people, not just small groups or certain areas of the country," he said.

A road to more destruction - The White Flags also wanted to regain enough territory to reopen a strategic road to the Hamreen mountains near Hawija to enable rogue IS fighters to join their ranks, Obeidi said.

Hawija, IS's last outpost in Iraq, was liberated in October last year but, instead of putting up a final defence, many IS fighters fled the town to hide in outlying rural areas. Iraqi forces are still clearing the Hamreen mountains.

One of the most heavily guarded areas en route to the Jambur oil facility, which is only possible to reach with a heavily armed escort via a route sealed off from the main Baghdad to Kirkuk highway and lined with military outposts, is the closed road that runs to the Hamreen mountains.

Whoever they really are, their emergence was an expected consequence of the defeat of IS in the area and the reclamation of disputed territories by Iraqi government forces, according to local military commanders.

In an interview with MEE in November, the Hashd al-Shaabi commander in Tuz Khurmatu, Ahmed Assad Cheirli, predicted the emergence of militant entities in the Jambur mountain range.

"There are several camps behind the mountains. One is an IS training camp called Perkanna where there are still active IS members and there is at least one other camp there, housing displaced people from 43 villages in this area who supported IS," he said.

No friends in the mountains - After fierce clashes in Tuz Khurmatu, as government forces made the push to reclaim the disputed territories of northern Iraq, he said Kurdish fighters and members of mafia groups which had long-operated in Tuz Khurmatu fled towards this same mountain range.

"There is some Kurdish presence there too, who we believe are helping the IS members and their families," Cheirli said. "What we saw around Tuz Khurmatu was that some Kurds used IS to help them gain and maintain control of territory they wanted, and we believe there is still some existing relationship between them behind those mountains."

The Iraqi government is continuing its programme to resettle displaced people in the Salah-al-Din district in both Tuz Khurmatu and outlying towns and villages formerly occupied by IS.

But the programme remains a challenging one, with the widespread destruction of homes, a near-total lack of infrastructure and the issue of families of former IS militants all posing problems.

When former residents of the nearby town of Suliman Beg were welcomed back to view the state of their homes in a high-profile event last week, three families identified as former IS supporters were found hiding among the civilians, a senior ERD source told MEE.

They were arrested after journalists had left, he said.

The future of former IS militants and their families remains one of Iraq's most complex post-IS problems and, with almost nowhere else left to run to, the Jambur mountains appear to be something of a final refuge.

 

[angelburst29]

A United States military aircraft carrying US personnel has crashed in western Iraq, US Central Command said Thursday.

US Military Aircraft Crashes in Iraq 16.03.2018
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201803161062583071-us-military-aircraft-crash-iraq/

"A US military aircraft has crashed in Western Iraq with US service members aboard," CENTCOM said in a Thursday evening statement.

Rescue teams are responding to the scene of the downed aircraft at this time," the military statement noted. The reasons for crash are unknown at this time, but "an investigation will be initiated to determine the cause of the incident," the military said.

According to several reports, the downed aircraft is an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter. Just last month, US Air Force Central Command announced the that the US would be sending A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft and HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to support US President Donald Trump's South Asia strategy and for ongoing operations in Afghanistan.

According to US defense officials who spoke to CNN, the Black Hawk-variant chopper was not on a combat mission and up to seven service members were aboard the aircraft at the time of the incident. Pave Hawk aircraft have a primary mission to "conduct day or night personnel recovery operations into hostile environment to recover isolated personnel during war," a US Air Force fact sheet reads.

Reuters reports that the helicopter went down near al-Qaim, a town in Anbar Province near the Syrian border. Initial reports citing anonymous military sources say the crash has caused fatalities, but this has yet to be confirmed by the US military.