Pictures of Iranian General visiting Shi’ite militiamen in Fallujah have outraged Sunni lawmakers from Anbar province.
208 Killed As Iraqi And Iranian Special Forces Surround Fallujah, Hoping To Enter City Within Hours !
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Iranian media released the pictures of the al-Quds brigade commander making what was an unannounced and, so far, unconfirmed visit with the Shi’ite troops. The Iraqi government has claimed to have a need for Iranian advisers during the war on the Islamic State militants, so the visit is likely to have happened. There are also reports that the Iranians are building a large base in Sulaymaniya province.
M.P. Hamid al-Mutlaq, however, criticized that need and questioned whether Turkish or Saudi advisers would be just as welcome.
In fact, Baghdad has ordered Turkish advisers to leave northern Iraq in recent months. The troops are there with the permission of Iraqi Kurdistan, but not with Baghdad’s consent.
Other lawmakers rightly bring up sectarian concerns.
Sunnis in Anbar do no want the Shi’ite militiamen in their province at all, let alone
an Iranian general guiding them. Before Daesh took over Fallujah, protests against Baghdad’s treatment of Sunnis had been taking place in Anbar. Some of them were met with deadly violence.
By taking advantage of this discord, the Islamic State found support and quickly occupied Fallujah and much of Anbar province. Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the commander of allied forces in Iraq fear there may still be enough discontent among the Sunnis to fight security forces trying to reclaim Fallujah.
About 800 civilians have escaped the Daesh cordon around Fallujah, but authorities lament that most of them were from surrounding areas and not the city itself. Despite the creation of safety corridors, residents are unable to pass freely from their homes to areas of Iraqi control. Residents are unable even to reach the city cemetery; they’ve been forced to bury their dead in their own gardens.
Iraqi special forces are now in position around
Fallujah with the hope to enter the city itself within hours.
American commandos are on the front lines in Syria in a new push toward the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Raqqa, but in Iraq it is an entirely different story: Iran, not the United States, has become the face of an operation to retake the jihadist stronghold of Falluja from the militant group.
The U.S. Regime Worries About Iran Led Operation To Retake Falluja Iraq
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On the outskirts of Falluja, tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers, police officers and Shiite militiamen backed by Iran are preparing for an assault on the Sunni city, raising fears of a sectarian blood bath. Iran has placed advisers, including its top spymaster, Qassim Suleimani, on the ground to assist in the operation.
The battle over Falluja has evolved into yet another example of how United States and Iranian interests seemingly converge and clash at the same time in Iraq. Both want to defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. But the United States has long believed that Iran’s role, which relies on militias accused of sectarian abuses, can make matters worse by angering Sunnis and making them more sympathetic to the militants.
While the battle against the Islamic State straddles the borders of Iraq and Syria, the United States has approached it as two separate fights. In Syria, where the government of Bashar al-Assad is an enemy, America’s ally is the Kurds.
But in Iraq, where the United States backs the central government, and trains and advises the Iraqi Army, it has been limited by the role of Iran, the most powerful foreign power inside the country.
That United States dilemma is on full display in Falluja as the fighting intensifies.
Inside the city, tens of thousands of Sunni civilians are trapped, starving and lacking medicine, according to activists and interviews with residents. Some were shot dead by the Islamic State as they tried to flee, and others died under buildings that collapsed under heavy military and militia artillery bombardment in recent days, according to the United Nations.
The few civilians who have made it to safety have escaped at night, traveling through the irrigation pipes.
In an extraordinary statement on Wednesday, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the world’s pre-eminent Shiite religious leader, who lives in Najaf in southern Iraq and is said to be concerned by Iran’s growing role in Iraq, urged security forces and militia to restrain themselves and abide by “the standard behaviors of jihad.”
The grim sectarian tableau in Falluja — starving Sunni civilians trapped in a city surrounded by a mostly Shiite force — provides the backdrop to a final assault that Iraqi officials have promised will come soon.
The United States has thousands of military personnel in Iraq and has trained Iraqi security forces for nearly two years, yet is largely on the sidelines in the battle to retake Falluja. (Article continues.)
The Yemeni intelligence sources disclosed that the country's security forces have gained access to a series of documents and correspondence which prove the UAE's role in supporting Al-Qaeda and other radical terrorists groups in Southern Yemen.
Report: Documents Prove UAE's Support for Terrorists Groups in Yemen
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"The documents and letters gained by the Yemeni security forces clearly show that the United Arab Emirates has supported Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups in Yemen, specially in the Southern part of the country,"
The sources reiterated that the UAE spies have given a lot of cash and weapons to the commanders of the Al-Qaeda and the ISIL in Yemen to conduct their terrorist acts in the Southern Yemeni provinces.
"These documents and intelligence unveil the relations between a UAE intelligence officer with senior commanders of Al-Qaeda and the ISIL in Yemen," the added.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have been supporting the Takfiri terrorist groups in Southern Yemen against the Yemeni popular forces.
In mid-March, a senior Yemeni military source disclosed that the Saudi regime has coordinated with Al-Qaeda to dispatch a large number of Takfiri terrorists to the strategic regions in Southern Yemen.
"Saudi Arabia has stationed a large number of al-Qaeda terrorists around the strategic strait of Bab al-Mandeb in Southern Yemen in line with a US plot to increase its military presence there," Khalil Abdullah told FNA.
Abdullah also said that Saudi Arabia has asked its Sudanese mercenaries to advance towards Ta'iz and Lahij provinces.
"Hundreds of Al-Qaeda terrorists are now in Southwestern Yemen and they have pointed their artillery at the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait," Abdullah said.
The Iraqi fighter jets pounded and destroyed the buildings of ISIL's Court of Sharia (religious court) and media center near the city of Fallujah in Anbar province in Western Iraq on Sunday, and the country's volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) continued their advances in the same region.
Iraqi Air Force Destroys ISIL's Key Buildings Near Fallujah City
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The ISIL's Sharia Court and Media Center buildings were completely annihilated in the Iraqi airstrikes today.
Meantime, commander of Anbar military operations said his forces are now in full control over the surrounding areas of Fallujah city, adding that the Iraqi joint armed forces will start their operations to liberate Fallujah in coming hours.
Earlier today, the Iraqi army and volunteer forces continued their advances in Anbar province, killing tens of Takfiri terrorists near the city of Fallujah.
At least 110 ISIL terrorists were killed in the offensive of Iraqi joint forces in Northern al-Karmah to the Northeast of Fallujah city.
Al-Karmah is an important and strategic city near Fallujah and is considered as an entrance gate to the city of Fallujah. It is located 16 kilometers to the Northeast of Fallujah.
On Tuesday, Iraqi military forces managed to push ISIL militants back from agricultural areas outside Fallujah as they continue their military operation to retake Iraq's Western city.
A senior commander of Iraqi popular forces rapped the US-led coalition for its passive presence in Fallujah liberation operation.
Popular Forces' Commander Blasts US-Led Coalition for Embarrassing Performance in Fallujah Operation
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"The international coalition does not have an active partnership in these operations and the Iraqi air force is the biggest actor in this war," Mohammad al-Hatab told FNA on Sunday.
He, meantime, said that despite the US-led coalition's procrastinated assistance to the Iraqi army, the operation to free Fallujah is advancing well based on the plan and timeline.
Hatab also said that the Iraqi popular forces have now taken control of the routes used by the civilians who escape from the ISIL's hands, supplying them with humanitarian aid.
The Iraqi army and popular forces on Saturday took control of more districts near Fallujah in the province of Anbar from ISIL militants, getting ready to enter the key town.
Iraqi army troops and volunteer forces are ready to start the new phase of the military operation against the ISIL to take back the key town from the Takfiri terrorists.
According to Iraqi Federal Police Forces Commander Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat, the security forces have so far managed to evacuate 760 people, mostly women and children, from the Northern outskirts of the embattled city of Fallujah and moved them to a safe place away from the battlefield.
On Friday, the Iraqi military said that it had managed to evacuate 65 families, mostly women and children, from the eastern outskirts of the city.
The Iraqi Federal Police forces imposed their control on Fallujah highway in Western Baghdad, the Federal Police Command announced in a statement.
Iraqi Police Controls Fallujah Highway in Western Baghdad
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The Iraqi Federal Police Captain, Raed Shakir Jawdat, confirmed in a statement that the police forces imposed their control on Fallujah highway.
Meanwhile, journalists based in the Iraq's Ministry of Defense also reported that Baghdad Operations’ reconnaissance regiment found a booby-trap devices laboratory and an armored car bomb in al-Karma City.
“The car bomb was dismantled by the military engineering teams,” they indicated
The ISIL terrorist group executed five of its own fighters for escaping the battlefront in Fallujah, where clashes are ongoing between the terrorist group and the Iraqi army, local activists said.
Iraq: ISIL Executes Own Members on Charge of Escaping Battle in Fallujah
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“They have left their post at the battlefront in the Northeastern suburb of Fallujah without permission from their leadership, which ISIL deems as a treason,” media activist Salwan Rashidi told ARA news in Fallujah.
The five fighters were arrested inside the city of Fallujah, and the Sharia Court decided to execute them publicly on charges of “high treason”.
“They were shot dead in Central Fallujah after an ISIL officer read a statement, vowing that any fighter who would desert his fighting position will face the same punishment,” the source reported.
This comes just one day after the Iraqi army forces recaptured the strategic town of Karma near Fallujah from the ISIL.
At least ten Taliban commanders were killed in an airstrike in Northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan, the country's ministry of defense said Sunday.
10 Taliban Commanders Killed in Northern Afghanistan
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According to the ministry, the airstrike targeted a gathering of the Taliban insurgents in the vicinity of the district, leaving ten of their commanders dead and another one seriously wounded.
The Taliban militants group has not commented regarding the report so far.
The security situation in Baghlan province has been sharply deteriorating during the past few months as a result of the Taliban-led insurgency.
The Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANSDF) managed to end siege of at least three military bases in this province recently which resulted into the rescue of over 100 trapped security personnel.
