Iraq

[sToRmR1dR]

Iraqi Forces Win Another Battle against ISIL in Northern Salahuddin

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950430001161

The Iraqi soldiers, federal police and volunteer forces of Hashed al-Shaabi beat back the ISIL terrorists from al-Sakariyat crossroad on way towards the town of al-Sharqat, the least ISIL's stronghold in Salahuddin province.

At least 25 ISIL fighters were killed and its military hardware majorly damaged in the attacks.

Sources also said on Tuesday that Iraqi Army troops and Hashed al-Shaabi completed siege on the key town of al-Sharqat, and were very close to seizing back control of one more strategic region near Mosul from ISIL.

"The Iraqi government forces have cut off the entire supply lines to al-Sharqat. The ISIL terrorists have no way out. The town will be imminently liberated," Mohammad al-Hattab said, adding, "In the meantime, ISIL's defense lines in Western side of al-Huweija have been under heavy attacks of the Iraqi government forces which have inflicted major losses on the Takfiri group."

"Al-Sharqat, from military point of view has come under the army control," he underlined.

"The Iraqi forces liberated several villages in Northern Salahuddin and cut off the entire supply routes to al-Sharaqat," al-Hattab went on to say.

"In the meantime, our forces have secured several roads for the evacuation of civilians form al-Sharqat," he said.

Iraq: ISIL Terrorists Fleeing Huweija with Shaved Off Faces Hours Before Gov't Forces Attack

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950430001227

"The time table of the Iraqi Armed Forces and announcing a final date for the liberation of Mosul on one hand, and the government forces' eye-catching victories in Northern Salahuddin and Southeastern Nineveh on the other hand, have caused the ISIL terrorists to shave off their beard and flee the battlefields to find safer shelters," the sources said.

"Iraqi armed forces have dispatched a large volume of army and mainly Russian-made ammunition to Huweija to reinvigorate this front," the sources said, adding, "Iraqi warplanes have launched several combat flights over ISIL's positons to pave the ground for easier advances of the ground troops in Huweija battlefield."

Military sources said on Sunday that the Iraqi army's engineering unit managed to build a floating bridge on the Tigris River to connect al-Qayyara and al-Makhmur strategic regions to each other.

The Iraqi army's floating bridge was mounted on Haj Ali village to the East and Ajhala village to the West.

The Iraqi news sites reported that building the bridge on the Tigris river in such short time was regarded a big achievement.

The floating bridge in Mosul liberation operations will pave the way for the Iraqi army to take control of other parts of Mosul.

28 ISIL Loyalists Killed during Operations in Eastern Afghanistan

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950430001239

The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan National Army forces said the militants were killed in Nangarhar province in past 24 hours, Khaama Press reported.

The operations were conducted by the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in Kot and Achin district, 201st Silab Corps said.

No casualties were incurred to the civilians or the members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, 201st Silab Corps added.

The loyalists of the terror group have not commented regarding the report so far.

Both the Taliban insurgents and ISIL loyalists are active in a number of the remote districts of Nangarhar Province.

They often conduct insurgency activities against the Afghan security forces amid ongoing operations to eliminate the militants operating against the government in this province.

Explosion in Yemen's Aden Leaves Four Dead, Six Injured

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160720/1043341995/yemen-explosion-casualties.html

An explosive device was detonated near a police checkpoint in the Mansoura region in Yemen's city of Aden and killed four people, according to media reports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Four people died and six were injured in an explosion in the Mansoura region in Yemen's city of Aden, media reported Wednesday.

According to Sky News Arabia, an explosive device was detonated near a police checkpoint. A suicide bomber reportedly detonated the explosive.

No terrorist groups have claimed responsibility for the blast so far. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Daesh, banned in Russia and numerous other countries, are currently operating in the country.

 

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An Iraqi parliamentary panel has opposed the role of US troops in the liberation of Mosul, saying Iraq's armed forces can recapture the Daesh-held city on their own.

No need for US forces in Mosul liberation offensive: Iraq MP
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/22/476382/Iraq-Haidar-alAbadi--Nayef-alShammari-Daesh--Mosul

Iraq “has sufficient forces to free its cities, including Mosul, from the grip of Daesh terrorists,” MP Nayef al-Shammari told Arabic-language al-Malouma news network on Friday.

"Iraqis have already retaken Tikrit, Fallujah and the neighboring city of Ramadi," he added.

The MP, a member of parliament's Security and Defense Committee, said Iraqi troops and volunteer forces are currently carrying out an offensive to liberate Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said Iraqi troops were now on their way to Mosul ahead of the planned offensive.

The premier stressed that his government sought to press ahead with “the fight against terrorism, over which we have registered numerous victories, liberating our cities one after the next.”

His remarks came as top diplomatic and military officials of a US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh gathered in Washington to discuss the Mosul battle.

“Mosul will be the ultimate test,” Brett McGurk, the US special presidential envoy to the coalition told defense and foreign ministers from more than 40 countries.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has recently said his country would send 560 more troops to Iraq to help recapture Mosul.

“These additional US forces will bring unique capabilities to the campaign and provide critical enabler support to Iraqi forces at a key moment in the fight,” Carter said during a visit to Baghdad on June 11.

Critics have questioned US deployment of new troops, citing Washington's failure to commit troops when Daesh was overrunning Syrian and Iraqi cities one after another.

Four people were injured in a car bomb explosion outside a mosque after Friday prayers in Yemen's capital Sana'a.

Four injured in car bomb blast outside mosque in Sana'a
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/22/476427/Yemen-Sanaa-car-bomb-bombing-blast-explosion-mosque-Daesh

Worshipers were leaving the Bilal mosque, which is run by the Houthi Ansarullah movement, when the blast was carried out.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the blast, but it bears hallmarks of the Takfiri Daesh terrorists, who carried out a similar assault in Sana’a in September 2015. The twin bombings killed at least 29 worshipers.

On July 20, four Yemeni policemen were killed in a bomb blast in the southern city of Aden, where al-Qaeda is active. Six other officers were also injured.

Over the past months, the al-Qaeda militants have exploited the conflict in Yemen and the Saudi campaign, which was launched to crush the Houthi movement and reinstate the resigned Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The Arabian Peninsula’s impoverished country has seen almost daily airstrikes by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015, with internal sources putting the toll from the bloody aggression at about 10,000.

The UK has now admitted that Saudi Arabia and its allies may have breached humanitarian laws in Yemen, an embarrassing turnaround on Britain’s position over the war in Yemen.

UK makes U-turn over Saudi crimes in Yemen
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/22/476351/UK-Saudi-Yemen

The British Foreign Office issued several corrections on Thursday to statements from cabinet ministers over the past few months that international humanitarian law had not been breached by the Saudis.

Britain’s reversal in its stance came after a United Nations’ report released last month found that Saudi forces and their allies fighting in Yemen were responsible for killing more than 500 children.

[...] Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen in a bid to bring the country’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, back to power and undermine the Ansarullah movement. More than 10,000 people have reportedly been killed since then.

A UN report leaked to the Guardian in January found “widespread and systematic” targeting of civilians in the Saudi-led strikes. The report found 119 strikes that it said violated international humanitarian law, including attacks on health facilities, schools, wedding parties and camps for internally displaced people and refugees.

 

[angelburst29]

Hashem Nasseef Jassem Al-Hayali, an aide of Daesh extremist group leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi has been eliminated by Iraqi security forces in a course of an operation in the eastern Diyala province, the country's Defense Ministry has announced.

Iraq Security Forces Eliminate Aide to Daesh Leader Baghdadi
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160724/1043539016/iraq-security-forces-eliminate-baghdadi-aide.html

Iraqi security forces have managed to eliminate an aide of Daesh extremist group leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi during an operation in the eastern Diyala province, the country’s defense ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"Troops of the First Battalion of the Twentieth Infantry Brigade, under the control of the command of the Tiger operations, succeeded in eliminating criminal Hashem Nasseef Jassem Al-Hayali, assistant to terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in the Al-Muhith district of Abu Sayda in northern Diyala province,” the statement said.

According to the statement, a number of al-Hayali’s supporters were injured during the operation.

Iraq's joint military forces started preemptive military operations in the Northern part of Baghdad after receiving intelligence tips that ISIL is planning to start military operations soon.

Iraqi Army Starts Military Operations to Take Upper-Hand against ISIL Near Baghdad
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950502001243

Three military bases of the ISIL were destroyed and the terrorist group's military equipment were also seized in the Iraqi joint military forces' offensives.

The Iraqi military forces also seized suicide belts, bombs and explosive devices from the ISIL in al-Qanat region in the Northern part of Baghdad city.

Meanwhile, Iraq's joint military forces seized machineguns and bombs from the terrorists.

The Iraqi forces also destroyed two military bases of the ISIL in al-Mazanik region in Southern part of Baghdad.

The second in command of the Daesh terrorist group has been killed in an Iraqi military operation the country’s eastern province of Diyala.

Iraqi forces kill Daesh’s 2nd in command in Diyala
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/23/476605/iraq-daesh-diyala-second-in-command

According to a statement released by the Iraqi Defense Ministry on Saturday, Hisham Nassif Jassem al-Hayyali was killed during an ambush in the Abu Sayda region located to the province’s north.

Hayyali was thought to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s first assistant.

The statement noted that several other high-ranking terrorists were also injured in the operation, which was launched after the Iraqi military gained accurate information on Hayyali’s location.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is seeking to accelerate the implementation of death penalty, says a statement released by his office.

Iraqi PM seeks to accelerate death sentence implementation
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/23/476590/Iraq-PM-Abadi-death-penalty-Daesh-

Abadi ordered that a committee be set up “to determine the obstacles and causes that result in the delay in the implementation of death sentences,” the statement said Saturday.

It added that the committee will make recommendations to “speed up the ratification of those sentences and their implementation.”

Iraq has recently witnessed several deadly bombings. In one of the worst-ever single bombings in Iraq, nearly 300 people lost their lives after a bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a shopping district in Baghdad’s Karradah neighborhood on July 3.

One day after the bombing, which was claimed by the Daesh Takfiri terror group, Abadi ordered that all terrorists sentenced to death be immediately executed.

On the same day, the Iraqi Justice Ministry announced that five people had been put to death, in a statement linking the timing of the executions with the blast.

Rights group Amnesty International subsequently called on the Iraqi government to halt executions, saying death penalty is “frequently handed out by courts following grossly unfair trials marred by the use of 'confessions' extracted under torture.”

The rights group said nearly 100 death sentences had been carried out so far in Iraq this year.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence since Daesh terrorists started a large-scale campaign of terror in the country in June 2014.

According to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 662 Iraqis were killed and another 1,457 wounded in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in June.

The number of executions in Saudi Arabia during the current year has exceeded 100 after the regime executed a man convicted of murder in Riyadh province.

Saudi executions exceed 100 in 2016
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/23/476462/Saudi-Arabia-execution-Amnesty-International-Nimr-alNimr

The Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement on Friday that Saudi national Fahad Abdulhadi al-Dusari was executed after he was found guilty of shooting dead a fellow citizen, Mubarak bin Mohammed al-Dusari, following a dispute.

The statement, released by the official SPA news agency, did not elaborate on the method used for the execution, but most of the people sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with the sword.

The Friday execution brought to 101 the number of those executed by the Saudi regime this year.

The Arab kingdom executed a total of 158 people in 2015, a global high.

A statement released by the UK's foreign office revealed that a Saudi official was accused of bringing a slave to London, among other "serious and significant offenses" committed by individuals with diplomatic protection in the UK.

UK Reveals Saudi National with Diplomatic Immunity Involved in Human Trafficking
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The statement, listed 11 offences that were allegedly committed by people protected from prosecution by diplomatic immunity in 2015, Al Araby reported.

Saudi Arabia accounted for two of the offences, which were "Human trafficking into the UK for the purposes of exploitation, specifically domestic servitude" and "human trafficking; slavery or servitude/ forced or compulsory labor".

Al Araby contacted the UK's Foreign Office for further details on the allegations and whether action was taken against the Saudi official, but they declined to comment on individual cases.

The Foreign Office has issued a statement on this matter, however the statements lacks any punitive action against the perpetrator.

Death toll from a suicide attack in Kabul rose to 80 people, with 231 being injured, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Death Toll From Kabul Suicide Attack Climbs to 80
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160723/1043527917/kabul-death-toll-80.html

A blast shook the Afghan capital earlier in the day during the protest over the planned 500kW power line project.

According to the ministry, the explosion was organized by three suicide bombers. One of the attacker managed to trigger an explosive device, the bomb carried by the second suspect did not work, while the third man was eliminated by the security forces.

Among those killed and injured in the attack are members of the country's defense and security forces who were ensuring safety at a rally when the explosion occurred.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani promised on Sunday to "defeat" those responsible for the bombing attack on a peaceful protest in Kabul that has claimed lives of 80 people and injured another 231 people.

Afghan President Declares Sunday Day of Mourning After Deadly Kabul Attack
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160723/1043538474/afghan-president-day-mourning.html

Ghani declared Sunday the day for the nation to mourn the victims of the deadly suicide bombing that shook the capital city of Kabul.

“Our enemies, attacking civil liberties, think they can divide us. But they will be defeated," Ghani said Saturday during a televised address to the nation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday expressed condolences to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani over the deadly suicide bombing in Kabul and reassured him of readiness to cooperate in anti-terror fight, Kremlin’s press service said in a statement.

Putin Expresses Condolences to Afghan Leader Over Kabul Attack
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160723/1043532114/attack-putin-condolences.html

Among those killed and injured in the attack are members of the country's defense and security forces who were ensuring safety at the rally when the explosion occurred.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to President of Afghan Republic Ghani in regard to the significant number of casualties from a terrorist attack in Kabul. The Russian leader decisively condemned this cynical crime against civilians and reiterated his readiness to continue the most active cooperation with the government and people of Afghanistan in the fight against all forms of terrorism,” the statement reads.

Putin also conveyed words of sympathy and support to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to all those who were injured in the attack.

Daesh claimed responsibility for a suicide attack which killed around 20 people and wounded 170 more during a mass demonstration by Hazara minority in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday.

Suicide Bombing Leaves at Least 10 Dead, Dozens Wounded in Kabul
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160723/1043516907/suicide-bombing-kabul.html

Afghanistan is in a state of political and social turmoil, with government forces fighting the continuing Taliban insurgency, while other extremist groups, such as Daesh, outlawed in many countries including the United States and Russia, have also expanded their activities both in the country and in neighboring states.

 

[angelburst29]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced his readiness to fight terrorists along with Afghanistan after a deadly attack targeted the Afghan capital Kabul.

Putin offers to help Afghanistan against terrorists
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/23/476611/russia-putin-afghan-kabul-blast

Putin made the announcement in a message of condolence sent to his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani on Saturday.

"The head of the Russian state strongly condemned this cynical crime committed against peaceful citizens and reiterated readiness to continue the most active cooperation with the authorities and people of Afghanistan in fighting all forms of terrorism," read part of the letter published in a statement released by the Kremlin.

Putin also voiced his sympathies and support to the families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

[...] Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry has issued a statement banning public gatherings of any manner for the next 10 days.

Ghani has also declared Sunday as a day of national mourning during a live televised speech.

"I promise you I will take revenge against the culprits," he said. "I have ordered the attorney general to set up a commission to investigate this incident."

 

[angelburst29]

Commanders of the ISIL terrorist group have ordered their forces and family members to leave their last bases and strongholds in Western Iraq as Iraq's military forces are preparing to launch massive military operations in the region, local sources said Tuesday.

ISIL Commanders Fleeing Last Headquarters in Western Iraq
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"The Iraqi military forces are preparing to capture the last ISIL strongholds in Western Iraq and the military equipment for these operations have been fully supplied and transferred, and we are waiting for the final order by the joint operations command center to attack al-Khalediya island and Heet town in the Western parts of al-Anbar province," Head of the Security Committee of al-Anbar province's Council Rajeh al-Issawi said on Tuesday.

Also, a local source in Western Iraq said that the ISIL commanders and their families have fled the al-Baghdadi island in the Western parts of Heet, one of the most notorious ISIL bases, in the past 72 hours.

The source added that ISIL commanders, fearing the Iraqi army and popular forces' rapid advance, have fled towards al-Qae'm town in Western al-Anbar.

12 ISIL terrorists, including a top security commander, were killed and many more were wounded in the Iraqi Air Force attack on the Takfiri group's command center at the country's Western border with Syria.

Iraqi fighter jets destroyed ISIL's artillery and artillery shell production factory in al-Anbar province, a senior military commander announced.

Iraqi Air Force Destroys ISIL's Artillery Shell Production Factory in Anbar Province
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The ISIL's artillery production factory was razed to the ground in al-Khalediya region of Anbar province after the Iraqi air force received intelligence tips about the precise location of the factory, Fallujah Liberation Operation Commander Abdol-Wahhab Saedi said.

Meantime, the Iraqi army started building up trenches around the city of Fallujah in a bid to block the ISIL's attacks.

Separately, Iraqi media reported that ISIL has executed three members of a family that was trying to escape militants in Iraq’s Southwestern Kirkuk Province.

A security source told al-Sumeria news website that ISIL terrorists burned to death a man and a woman and their two-year-old daughter on Sunday in the Rashad district in the city of Hawijah in Kirkuk.

According to the report, the family was ambushed as they were attempting to head to the al-Alam district in neighboring Salahuddin Province through Hamrin Mountains.

 

[angelburst29]

Iraq's F16 fighter jets struck the military positions and gathering centers of the ISIL terrorist group in the city of Sharqat in Salahuddin province, inflicting heavy losses on them.

Iraqi Air Force Hits Hard ISIL's Military Positions in Sharqat
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950506000963

Several ISIL terrorists, including four Iraqi bomb experts, three Saudis and two Palestinians were killed in the Iraqi airstrikes in al-Sharqat.

Meantime, the Iraqi warplanes pounded the ISIL military base, control and communication centers in Kirkuk province, killing ISIL's communications commander and his bodyguards as well as destroying all their weapons.

The Afghan intelligence operatives arrested a key member of the ISIL terrorist group in Afghanistan's Eastern Nangarhar province.

Afghan Intelligence Arrest Explosives Expert of ISIL in Nangarhar
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950506001128

The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said the detained individual has been identified as Azizullah son of Omid Gul who was operating as explosives expert of ISIL loyalists, Khaama Press reported.

According to a statement by NDS, the intelligence operatives seized two land mines, 12 kgs of explosives, 6 packets of water gel explosives, 2 mobile phone sets which were prepared for remote control bombing, 29 explosives capsules, 1 land mine conductor, 3 meters of line used for explosives, instruction book for making mines, 60 pages of propaganda material.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) Media Operations Officer Michael Meyer said that Washington will investigate reports of civilain casualties during the US-led coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

US Investigating 20 Reports of Alleged Civilian Casualties in Iraq, Syria
http://sputniknews.com/world/20160727/1043686074/us-centcom-civilian-casualties.html

The United States is processing 20 credibility assessments that allege civilian casualties by the US-led coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, US Central Command (CENTCOM) Media Operations Officer Michael Meyer told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"There are 20 allegations pending credibility assessment," Meyer said. "This includes 13 credibility assessments in Iraq and seven in Syria."

A credibility assessment is a preliminary investigation undertaken by the US military to determine if there were civilian casualties and if the US forces caused them.

Meyer explained that credibility assessments can take up to 14 days from receipt of the initial report or allegation of civilian casualties.

"It’s important to note that the current environment on the ground in Syria makes investigating allegations extremely challenging," he pointed out.

Meyer also said that until the ongoing investigations and associated processes are completed, "we cannot discuss details."

The Defense Department takes reports of non-combatant casualties seriously, and assesses all incidents as thoroughly as possible, he added.

 

[angelburst29]

The Daesh Takfiri terrorists have executed 17 of the group’s commanders for escaping the battlefield in a strategic Iraqi town south of their stronghold of Mosul.

Daesh executes 17 commanders for escaping battlefield south of Mosul
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/27/477212/Daesh-Iraq-Mosul

The commanders were executed by the firing squad in Mosul for getting away from the frontline in the town of Qayyarah, a local source told Iraq’s al-Sumaria news website on Wednesday.

Last month, Iraqi forces launched an operation to liberate the town from the control of Daesh in preparation for an offensive to retake Mosul. The forces have so far made remarkable advances against the terrorists.

The ISIL terrorist group executed 17 commanders in the Northern Iraqi city of Mosul, local sources said on Thursday.

ISIL Executes 17 Commanders in Mosul, Disguises Members in Afghan Costume
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950507000279

The ISIL executed 17 of its commanders who had fled the battleground against the Iraqi forces in Qayara (a town some 60 kilometers South of Mosul), at a square in the center of al-Shoura region in Mosul city," the sources in Nineveh province, who called for anonymity, said.

The sources also said that the ISIL members who fear the Iraqi forces' attack against the city have disguised themselves in Afghan and local costumes, shaved their beards and withdrew from the Mosul streets.

The Iraqi government says Hashd al-Shaabi forces, also known as the Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs), are to be placed on par with Iraq's army units and subject to military law.

Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi to be granted official status: PM
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/28/477274/Iraq-Popular-Mobilization-Forces-official-status-Prime-Minister-Haider-alAbadi-liberation-Fallujah-Mosul

The statement from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, released on the English-language PMUs Twitter feed, touched on the important role played by the group in seizing back territory from Daesh.

The statement stipulates that “politics” would be banned within PMUs, which comprises various Iraqi sects, assisting army soldiers in battles against Takfiri terrorists.

“Members of the Hashd who are part of this body are to have no links to any political, party political or social framework,” the statement said.

A spokesperson for the Popular Mobilization Units said the change would put the forces on par with the elite Counter-Terrorism Forces.

“We are now under command of the prime minister's office currently held by Haider al-Abadi,” the spokesperson pointed out.

The Popular Mobilization Units has played an important role in seizing back territory from Daesh terrorists, and together with Iraqi army troops and tribal fighters managed to recapture the strategic western city of Fallujah late last month.

The report comes as the Iraqi military and its allies are preparing to launch a large-scale operation and liberate the northern city of Mosul, which Daesh has proclaimed its headquarters in Iraq. Mosul fell to Daesh Takfiris early in the summer of 2014.

Five Saudi border guards have been killed in retaliatory attacks launched by Yemeni forces backed by allied Popular Committees.

Five Saudi troops killed in Yemeni retaliatory attack
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/27/477244/saudi-troops-killed-yemen-retaliatory

The troops were killed by Yemeni sniper fire in two separate attacks on the Saudi borders regions of Raboah and Khobah on Wednesday.

Earlier, Yemeni forces launched a ballistic missile at a Saudi-led mercenary base located in the district of Nihm close to the Yemeni capital Sana’a.

Some sources put the number of mercenaries killed and injured in the attack at around 50.

Tehran has slammed the Saudi regime for pushing ahead with its “divisive policies” in a recent Arab League summit, saying the outcome of the meeting showed Riyadh has failed to muster support against Iran.

Riyadh failed to rally anti-Iran support in Arab League summit: Iran
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/28/477365/Iran-Arab-League-Saudi-Arabia-Bahram-Qassemi

“A statement issued separately by a four-way committee of the Arab League against our country on the sidelines of the recent summit in Mauritania shows the failure of the Saudis in building consensus,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Thursday.

“Iran’s Foreign Ministry closely monitored all the developments in this summit, the documents that were issued as well as the actions of certain countries” during the Mauritania meeting, Qassemi added.

The latest Arab League summit opened in Mauritania’s capital, Nouakchott, on Friday, with only a handful of the 22-nation organization in attendance.

The forum is said to be the most poorly-attended summit of the Arab League, which is highly influenced by Saudi Arabia.

The lack of participation led to the meeting being cut to a single day, in what analysts say is proof of a growing rift among member states of the Cairo-based organization over regional issues.

However, reports say during the forum, the past initiatives, among them plans to establish a joint force to confront “Iran’s spreading power,” failed to gather steam.

The summit’s ending statement refused what it called “external interference in Arab affairs by Iran.”

Qassemi further warned the “few countries” that continue to back Saudi Arabia’s “divisive policies,” stressing that such support “would lead nowhere in the future, except that these countries will have a share in [Riyadh’s] responsibility for crimes such as child killings and terror support.”

The Iranian official further slammed the Saudi regime for forcing other states into supporting its hostile approach in Yemen, Syria and Bahrain.

Riyadh has betrayed the Arab world by openly forming an alliance with the Israeli regime, said the Iranian official, stressing that the poor participation in the recent summit was a result of such Saudi policies.

A key local Taliban leader who was involved behind in the killing of at least 30 Afghan Local Police forces was arrested in Southern Helmand province.

Taliban Leader behind Killing of 30 Policemen Arrested in Helmand
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950507000850

The Afghanistan’s intelligence, National Directorate of Security (NDS), said the Taliban leader has been identified as Sharafuddin son of Abdul Razaq, Khaama Press reported.

Operating under the supervision of Mawlavi Haqyar group, Sharafuddin was involved in a major attack on a ALP check post that left at least 30 policemen dead.

NDS said another key Taliban commander identified Shaista was arrested during a direct encounter with the intelligence operatives in Garamser district.

Another Taliban militant who was accompanying Shaista was also wounded during the encouter, NDS said, adding that the intelligence operatives confiscated a heavy machine, 2 Ak-47 rifles, and a vehicle from the militants.

The Taliban militant group has not commented regarding the report so far.

A Court in Kuwait convicted a member of the country's parliament in absentia and sentenced him to 14 years in prison for "defaming Saudi Arabia and Bahrain."

Kuwaiti MP Dashti Sentenced to 14 Years for Criticizing Saudi Terror Acts
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950507000368

The Kuwaiti Public Prosecution had charged Abdulhamid Dashti with "discrediting Saudi Arabia" and filed three lawsuits against him, Al-Qabas reported.

It is worth noting that MP Dashti harshly has criticized the Saudi role in supporting the terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria and in launching the destructive war on Yemen.

He also lashed out the Bahraini regime for oppressing the citizens, insisting on publicizing the issue.

Human Rights Watch said Bahraini human rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab faces up to 12 years in prison in Bahrain over tweets critical of the Saudi war on Yemen.

Bahraini Activist Faces 12 Years in Prison
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950506001238

The US-based international non-governmental organization said on Wednesday that the charges leveled against the 52-year-old president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights constitute a serious violation of his right to freedom of expression, press tv reported.

It added that Rajab’s prison condition amounts to arbitrary punishment, as he was kept in solitary confinement for more than two weeks after his arrest in mid-June and denied compassionate leave to take part in a relative’s funeral.

Saudi Arabia has been waging a non-UN-sanctioned war on Yemen since March 2015.

 

[angelburst29]

Saudi-backed militiamen in Yemen have destroyed the centuries-old mausoleum of a Sufi Muslim in the southwest of the country.

Militia blow up Sufi tomb in south Yemen
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/30/477604/Yemen-Taizz-Sufi-tomb

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the militia attacked the mausoleum of Sheikh Abdulhadi al-Soodi in the Ashrafiya neighborhood of the city of Ta’izz, situated 346 kilometers (214 miles) south of the capital, Sana’a, on Friday and reportedly exhumed his remains.

The militants later bombed the tomb, completely destroying its dome and seriously damaging its walls, Arabic-language Yemen Press news agency reported.

The force of the explosion damaged the facade of a number of buildings, and at least 20 civilians sustained injuries after being hit by flying debris in the targeted area.

Sheikh Soodi was a renowned Sufi scholar who lived at the turn of the 9th century on the Islamic lunar calendar and wrote a number of books on mysticism.

Citing evidence on the ground, Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement says a US trooper has been killed in the war-battered country.

US soldier killed in Yemen: Houthis
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/29/477426/Yemen-US-soldier-Ansarullah-Tyler-Nathaniel-Caldwell

The movement’s news outlet, ansarullah.com, said on Friday that Yemen’s 'War Media' had published pictures proving American presence in the Arab country.

The pictures show an American passport and a birth certificate (seen below) belonging to Tyler Nathaniel Caldwell from Florida.

It is not clear under what circumstances the US soldier died in Yemen.

Back in May, Yemen’s al-Masirah television channel reported that US Special Forces had arrived in Yemen to fight alongside Emirati forces in alleged operations against al-Qaeda militants in the country’s south.

It cited Tom Bawman, the National Public Radio’s Pentagon reporter, as saying that the troops had arrived in Yemen on April 25.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE last year provided financial and military support to militants to confront Houthis and the Yemeni army units that had taken over the security of the country after Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi resigned as Yemen’s president.

The US’s deployment of troops came a year after the withdrawal of its forces from Yemen.

On March 21, 2015, the US evacuated its remaining forces out of al-Anad airbase in southern Yemen “due to the deteriorating security situation” a day after al-Qaeda captured the nearby city of al-Houta.

Al-Qaeda has, meanwhile, become stronger in Yemen by taking advantage of the chaos created by the Saudi war on the country, which started in March 2015.

Riyadh launched the war to reinstate Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh. About 10,000 people have been killed in the Saudi aggression.

Earlier in July, The Washington Post reported that the US had been playing a “quiet but lethal role” in Yemen through its persisting weapons sales to the Saudi regime, including globally-banned cluster bombs.

A close aide to the leader of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has been killed along with 12 senior figures from the terror outfit in an Iraqi airstrike in a town in Iraq’s embattled western province of al-Anbar.

Aide to Daesh leader slain in Iraq airstrike
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/30/477563/Iraq-airstrike-Qaim-Ahmed-Hassan-Abu-Kheir-Daesh

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced in a statement that Ahmed Hassan Abu Kheir, who was the brother-in-law of Ibrahim al-Samarrai, also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Daesh leader, was killed in an Iraqi airstrike in the town of al-Qaim, situated about 500 kilometers (about 310 miles) west of the capital, Baghdad, on Friday.

The statement added that tens of other Daesh extremists, including the 12 high-ranking ones, were killed and 11 others injured in the strike.

Daesh’s self-proclaimed governors of Fallujah and Forat region as well as the terror network’s deputy war minister, identified by the nom de guerre Abu Qasourah, were among the slain militant commanders.

The fatalities also included foreign militants from Russia and the North Caucasus region of Chechnya.

The Iraqi army statement further said that two car bombs, a weapons cache and a considerable amount of highly explosive materials were destroyed in the airstrike.

British lawmaker Ann Clwyd has called for a probe into statements made by Philip Hammond, the former UK foreign secretary, on the Saudi war on Yemen.

Motion of contempt sought against Hammond over Saudi war
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/30/477545/Philip-Hammond-Saudi-war

Hammond, who is now the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, originally stated that the Saudi actions in Yemen comply with humanitarian law.

The British Foreign Office later changed the stance claiming the UK is unable to assess whether Saudi Arabia breached international humanitarian law in Yemen.

Labour MP Ann Clwyd has said the discrepancies in statements are serious and wants to know if the UK’s approach is being influenced by the fact that Britain is a major arms exporter to Saudi Arabia.

Clywd added that Saudi Arabia, using British bombs and planes may have committed war crimes against Yemeni civilians.

"UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia topped £3.3bn in the first year of the Saudi-led conflict in the Yemen. The UN Panel of Experts on the Yemen has listed 119 coalition exercises relating to war violations, with Human Rights Watch reporting 36 unlawful strikes - some of which may amount to war crimes - which have killed at least 550 civilians since the conflict began. We need to know the truth,” she added.

Amnesty International said it was shocked that the UK government misled the parliament on the Saudi war in Yemen.

[...] Yemen has been under military strikes by Saudi Arabia since March 26, 2015. The Saudi war was launched in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has resigned as Yemen’s president but seeks to grab power.

(Note: As stated in the second article above - US Special Forces had arrived in Yemen a month later on April 25th to join Saudi forces. )

The commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, Hadi al-Ameri, announced that the Fallujah-Ramadi highway has completely been purged of terrorists.

Iraqi Commander Declares Full Liberation of Fallujah-Ramadi Highway
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950509000497

"The Iraqi security and Hash al-Shaabi (popular forces) could liberate the highway during their effots to retake al-Khalediya Island," Ameri said on Saturday.

Noting that Bobali, Abu Obaid and al-Qartan villages and a number of towns adjacent to the highway have also been freed, he underlined that liberation of these villages and towns indicates the collapse of Fallujah and Ramadi.

The Iraqi popular forces, supported by the air force, could retake 3km of al-Khalediya Island (23km East of Ramadi) only hours after the start of operations to liberate the region on Saturday.

The attacks to free al-Khalediya Island in al-Anbar province from the ISIL terrorists are being led by al-Jazira and Badiya operations command center.

An army officer said on Saturday that the Iraqi forces entered al-Khalediya Island from al-Zouya region.

Reports said earlier this week that commanders of the ISIL terrorist group have ordered their forces and family members to leave their last bases and strongholds in Western Iraq as Iraq's military forces are preparing to launch massive military operations in the region, local sources said Tuesday.

Iraqi popular forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) announced that an ISIL mufti has been killed in an airstrike in al-Shirqat region, Northern Salahuddin province.

ISIL Mufti Killed in Iraq's Salahuddin
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950509000347

"The Mufti who was a Saudi national was killed in the Iraqi army's airstrike along with three other ISIL members," Jabbar al-Amouri, a commander of Iraqi popular forces, said on Friday.

According to him, the popular forces also could repel the ISIL terrorists' attack on the army positions near Makhoul mountain in Salahuddin province, killing a number of them and blowing up their vehicle.

Earlier this week, Iraq's F16 fighter jets had struck the military positions and gathering centers of the ISIL terrorist group in the city of Shirqat in Salahuddin province, inflicting heavy losses on them.

Several ISIL terrorists, including four Iraqi bomb experts, three Saudis and two Palestinians were killed in the Iraqi airstrikes in al-Shirqat.

Meantime, the Iraqi warplanes pounded the ISIL military base, control and communication centers in Kirkuk province, killing ISIL's communications commander and his bodyguards as well as destroying all their weapons.

At least 13 notorious ISIL leaders were killed by Iraqi warplanes near the Syrian border.

Al-Baghdadi's Deputy, 12 Other Notorious ISIL Commanders Killed at Iraqi-Syrian Border
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950509000315

Among the dead is deputy of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ringleader of the ISIL, an army statement said.

The Iraqi fighter jets launched an airstrike on a gathering center of ISIL commanders in al-Qa'em town, which is located nearly 400km Northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border, it added.

The statement said that the airstrike also led to the destruction of two booby-trapped cars and a bomb-making plant.

The statement also pointed to massive explosions at the site "which means the high quantities of ammunition and explosive belts which were destroyed".

The Iraqi warplanes bombed the terrorists' positions in Mosul in 10 rounds of combat sorties, killing at least 10 ISIL terrorists and destroying their secret tunnels and military vehicles.

Iraqis' Massive Airstrikes in Mosul Destroys ISIL's Secret Tunnel, Vehicles
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950509000277

During the airstrikes in the Southern parts of Mosul, over 7 terrorists were killed and several others were wounded while a vehicle carrying weapons, ammunitions and missile and equipped with missile launchers were destroyed.

Also a bomb-production plant belonging to the terrorists was smashed in the airstrikes.

The Iraqi fighter jets also blew up the ISIL's secret tunnels and bases as well as two military vehicles, equipped with missiles and missile-launchers in al-Osajah village in the Northern parts of Qayara base.

Also a plant special to equipping suicide vehicles and making bombs near Qayara base and 12 missile-launching pads in al-Houd village in Southern Mosul were destroyed. The Iraqi pounding of the ISIL positions also shredded a car in Mosul-Qayara road and killed all three terrorists inside.

Several field commanders of the ISIL terrorists, including commander of the group in Tigris region, were killed in Iraqi warplanes' heavy bombardments in Southern Mosul.

Several ISIL Commanders Killed in Iraqi Air Attacks Southeast of Nineveh
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950509000321

Abu Sho'eib Hashem Hassan Mohammad and his comrades were killed when their meeting in a hideout in al-Qayyara was targeted by the Iraqi jets.

Leader of Yemen's Houthi Movement Seyed Abdelmalik al-Houthi blasted the US and Saudi Arabia for planning and implementing plots against the regional states, specially Yemen.

Houthi's Leader: US Engineering, S. Arabia Executing Plots against Yemen
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950509000234

The US is engineering events in our country and it is directly and indirectly present in the war against Yemen and is supporting Saudi Arabia in this war," Houthi said.

Saudi Arabia is the executor of the US-Israeli plots and the US and Saudi regime should be blamed for attacks and shedding bloods of thousands of innocent people killed in Yemen, he added.

His remarks came after Ansarullah popular forces, in a video, disclosed that an American mercenary fighting alongside the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, has been killed in clashes with the revolutionaries.

Ansarullah's video displayed the US passport, driving license, and birth certificate of Tyler Nathaniel Caldwell. Caldwell is a US citizen from the state of Florida.

 

[angelburst29]

Militants have attacked a gas facility and an oil station near Iraq’s northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least four of its employees.

4 killed as militants storm two energy facilities in N Iraq
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/31/477757/Iraq-Kirkuk-Bai-Hassan

In the first assault, four gunmen carrying hand grenades broke through the external door of the AB2 gas compressor station at around 0300 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) on Sunday.

According to security sources, during the attack, the militants killed four staff in a control room of the facility and planted explosives charges there, five of which went off.

Two security guards, who sustained injuries in the attack, are in critical condition, the sources said.

Forces from Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service, however, managed to regain full control of the place and freed 15 other employees who had hidden in the facility.

Later, militants used the same strategy to enter the Bai Hassan oil station, where they blew up an oil storage tank, the sources said.

Clashes are still ongoing between the militants and security forces, while the number of casualties is not immediately clear.

The Daesh Takfiri terror group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Houthi movement has expressed surprise at a new UN peace proposal on the conflict in Yemen, saying the United Nations has altered the terms of a draft agreement worked out in Kuwait.

Houthis surprised by UN-proposed peace agreement
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/31/477749/Yemen-Hadi-agreement-peace-deal-Kuwait-talks

On Saturday, UN Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the talks had been extended by a week after they came on the verge of collapse when the Saudi-backed side abandoned the negotiations.

The Saudi side, however, reversed its position on Sunday, saying it has agreed to extend peace talks in Kuwait with Houthis and their General People's Congress party allies.

Ansarullah delegates said the new plan offered by the world body was a non-starter, because it merely constituted a framework, far from being a peace deal for signing.

They dismissed the proposal, saying its terms differed from the actual text agreed between the Houthi movement and the Saudi-backed representatives before.

The Houthis also accused the UN envoy of siding with the representatives of the former Saudi-backed president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

A political dissident in Bahrain has reportedly died as a result of injuries sustained under torture while in regime custody.

Bahraini dissident dies ‘after torture’ in regime custody
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/31/477777/Bahrain-death-in-custody

Hassan Hayki passed away at the Salmaniya Medical Complex in the capital, Manama, on Sunday morning.

Hayki’s family attributed his death to the severe torture he was subjected to during criminal investigations over the past 20 days, which had left him unable to speak and move, Arabic-language Lualua television network reported.

They said Bahraini regime forces had strung their son up by his hands for five days, and beaten him on the head and genitals during detention.

Hayki’s family said they found out about various forms of torture that Hassan had endured following a first meeting with him.

Officials from the Bahraini Interior Ministry, however, have claimed that he died of natural causes.

The late political dissident had been taken to the Public Prosecutor’s Office several times to sign confessions. He was not able to speak due to fatigue the first time, and refused to sign what was offered to him the next time.

Hayki’s family said their son was not suffering from any disease or health problems before his arrest.

Bahrain upholds prison sentence for cleric crackdown on political dissent.

An appeals court has, meanwhile, upheld the prison sentence of senior Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Mohammed al-Mansi, who was a leader of the now-dissolved Islamic Scholars’ Council.

Bahraini security forces arrested the prominent cleric in mid-April under the pretext of holding prayers without legal permission from the Al Khalifah regime.

Sheikh Mansi is known for his efforts to follow up on the issue of the destruction of 43 Shia mosques by the Manama regime.

Other senior clerics are also either in jail or being tried at courts for similarly trumped-up charges.

Since February 14, 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis, calling on the Al Khalifah rulers to relinquish power.

In March that year, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — themselves repressive Arab regimes — were deployed to the country to assist Manama in its crackdown on protests.

 

[angelburst29]

The attack occurred early Monday morning at the North Gate Hotel in the Afghan capital City of Kabul, but there is still no word on the number of casualties associated with the major terrorist strike.

Camp North Gate, a hotel that caters to mostly US military contractors serving in Afghanistan. The facility has diplomatic status.

Dozens Feared Dead After Truck Bomb Blast, Four Gunmen Strike Hotel in Kabul
http://sputniknews.com/news/20160801/1043816316/kabul-bomb-gunmen-afghanistan-terror.html

A large explosion rocked the Afghan capital city of Kabul early Monday, knocking out the city’s electricity. Local reporters claim a truck bomb was involved in the incident and said that there was ongoing attack by four gunmen at the Northgate hotel.

The blast occurred in the middle of the night, at around 1:30 am local time. Some witnesses on Twitter claimed that the electricity had actually gone off in Kabul shortly before, and not after, the explosion.

The blast has been described on Twitter as being so loud that it woke up people "all over the city."

TOLOnews reports that Afghan security forces have cordoned off the area around the North Gate Hotel.

There is still no word from officials on the total number of casualties from the terrorist attack, who was responsible for the strike, or what their motives were.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the North Gate hotel attack in the Afghan capital, local media said Monday.

​Earlier, a truck bomb explosion hit the Northgate guesthouse, located on Jalalabad Road in the Pul-e-Chakri area and frequented by foreigners. Several militants attacked the building after the blast.

"It was a place of luxury for foreigners and hotel was far from civilian homes," the Taliban said, as quoted by the TOLOnews channel.

Afghan security forces have now cordoned off the area, with sounds of gunfire no longer audible.

The attack occurred at Camp North Gate, a hotel that caters to mostly US military contractors serving in Afghanistan. The facility has diplomatic status. The facility has diplomatic status. It was the target of a similar terror strike at the hands of Taliban militants in 2013.

It said by local reporters that there have been dozens of casualties although no official figure has been offered.

Daesh warlords are leaving Iraq's Mosul amid a large campaign to obliterate the terrorists, the country's defense minister said.

Daesh Commanders Fleeing Mosul Amid Iraqi Army's Liberation Campaign
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160731/1043811121/daesh-fleeing-mosul.html

Daesh commanders are fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul with their families to the Syrian territory amid an army campaign to liberate the Nineveh province from the terrorists, Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled Obeidi said Sunday.

"A large number of IS [Daesh] officers and the families sold their property and headed toward Syria, while some attempted to enter the region [of Iraqi Kurdistan]," the minister told the Al Iraqiya television channel.

Obeidi added that he had received such information from his own sources and from intelligence agencies.

The ISIL terrorist group's treasurer in the Iraqi city of Mosul has stolen all assets under his authority and escaped along with three of his assistants, a source disclosed on Sunday.

ISIL Treasurer in Mosul Steals All Assets, Escapes with 3 Assistants
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950510001240

"After the treasurer escaped along with three of his assistants with all assets, trophies and antiques, the ISIL security committee arrested the guards who protected the treasury office, and after interrogation, executed 6 of them for collaboration in the robbery and the four men's escape," the source said.

Other sources also said that the ISIL has not paid the salaries of its members for over 6 months now
and they are in a state of panic and perplexity with strong disputes".

Iraqi army troops, backed by fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units, are seeking to win back militant-held regions in joint operations. They have managed to dislodge the militants from several areas in major offensives over the past few months.

A former Afghan lawmaker was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Kabul city in the latest wave of target killings which has been on the rise amid deteriorating security situation.

Ex-Afghan MP Shot Dead by Unknown Gunmen in Kabul
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950510001141

According to the security officials, the former lawmaker Dr. Asadullah Hematyar was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the vicinity of Stanikzai Meena, Khaama Press reported.

The police No.6 district police chief Mohammad Dawood Paktiawal said the gunmen opened fire on Dr. Hematyar near his clinic.

Hematyar was representing the central Logar province in the Lower House of the Parliament, Wolesi Jirga and was working as a physician when he was assassinated.

The main motive behind his assassination has not been ascertained and no group has so far claimed responsibility behind the attack.

The attack on Dr. Hematyar followed a day after a magnetic bomb explosion targeted a vehicle carrying the head of the HR department of the Afghan parliament, leaving him dead along with another individual.

Another prominent Afghan lawmaker Sher Wali Wardak was also killed in an explosion in Kabul city earlier last month.

MP Wardak was killed after an explosive device was planted in an electricity tower close to his residence.

The Taliban group claimed responsibility for the attack on MP Wardak and explosion that targeted the HR head of the parliament.

 

[angelburst29]

A massive truck bomb and Taliban gunmen struck a hotel in the Afghan capital city of Kabul on Monday morning rattling the entire area with dozens feared dead. The Taliban has taken responsibility for the attack on the facility that caters primarily to US defense contractors.

Afghan Forces 'Preparing to Storm' Kabul Hotel Attacked by Taliban Gunmen, Bomb
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160801/1043817823/kabul-blast-bomb-taliban-gunmen.html

Reports out of Kabul indicate that Afghan security forces are preparing to "storm" the Camp North Gate hotel that caters primarily to US and Western defense contractors after the facility was struck by a massive explosion before at least four Taliban gunmen took the hotel by force.

Dozens are believed to be dead in the attack which appears to be a copycat of a similar 2013 strike at the same facility that left 9 dead. There are still no official reports on the death count.

Afghan security forces have just begun storming the facility in an attempt to root out the Taliban gunmen who took the hotel under siege earlier in the morning.

 

[angelburst29]

The shocking rates of infant mortality and cancer in Iraqi city raise new questions about battle

Toxic legacy of US assault on Fallujah 'worse than Hiroshima'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/toxic-legacy-of-us-assault-on-fallujah-worse-than-hiroshima-2034065.html

Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.

Iraqi doctors in Fallujah have complained since 2005 of being overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs. They said they were also seeing far more cancers than they did before the battle for Fallujah between US troops and insurgents.

Their claims have been supported by a survey showing a four-fold increase in all cancers and a 12-fold increase in childhood cancer in under-14s. Infant mortality in the city is more than four times higher than in neighbouring Jordan and eight times higher than in Kuwait.

Dr Chris Busby, a visiting professor at the University of Ulster and one of the authors of the survey of 4,800 individuals in Fallujah, said it is difficult to pin down the exact cause of the cancers and birth defects. He added that "to produce an effect like this, some very major mutagenic exposure must have occurred in 2004 when the attacks happened".

US Marines first besieged and bombarded Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, in April 2004 after four employees of the American security company Blackwater were killed and their bodies burned. After an eight-month stand-off, the Marines stormed the city in November using artillery and aerial bombing against rebel positions. US forces later admitted that they had employed white phosphorus as well as other munitions.

In the assault US commanders largely treated Fallujah as a free-fire zone to try to reduce casualties among their own troops. British officers were appalled by the lack of concern for civilian casualties. "During preparatory operations in the November 2004 Fallujah clearance operation, on one night over 40 155mm artillery rounds were fired into a small sector of the city," recalled Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, a British commander serving with the American forces in Baghdad.

He added that the US commander who ordered this devastating use of firepower did not consider it significant enough to mention it in his daily report to the US general in command. Dr Busby says that while he cannot identify the type of armaments used by the Marines, the extent of genetic damage suffered by inhabitants suggests the use of uranium in some form. He said: "My guess is that they used a new weapon against buildings to break through walls and kill those inside."

The survey was carried out by a team of 11 researchers in January and February this year who visited 711 houses in Fallujah. A questionnaire was filled in by householders giving details of cancers, birth outcomes and infant mortality. Hitherto the Iraqi government has been loath to respond to complaints from civilians about damage to their health during military operations.

Researchers were initially regarded with some suspicion by locals, particularly after a Baghdad television station broadcast a report saying a survey was being carried out by terrorists and anybody conducting it or answering questions would be arrested. Those organising the survey subsequently arranged to be accompanied by a person of standing in the community to allay suspicions.

The study, entitled "Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005-2009", is by Dr Busby, Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi, and concludes that anecdotal evidence of a sharp rise in cancer and congenital birth defects is correct. Infant mortality was found to be 80 per 1,000 births compared to 19 in Egypt, 17 in Jordan and 9.7 in Kuwait. The report says that the types of cancer are "similar to that in the Hiroshima survivors who were exposed to ionising radiation from the bomb and uranium in the fallout".

Researchers found a 38-fold increase in leukaemia, a ten-fold increase in female breast cancer and significant increases in lymphoma and brain tumours in adults. At Hiroshima survivors showed a 17-fold increase in leukaemia, but in Fallujah Dr Busby says what is striking is not only the greater prevalence of cancer but the speed with which it was affecting people.

Of particular significance was the finding that the sex ratio between newborn boys and girls had changed. In a normal population this is 1,050 boys born to 1,000 girls, but for those born from 2005 there was an 18 per cent drop in male births, so the ratio was 850 males to 1,000 females. The sex-ratio is an indicator of genetic damage that affects boys more than girls. A similar change in the sex-ratio was discovered after Hiroshima.

The US cut back on its use of firepower in Iraq from 2007 because of the anger it provoked among civilians. But at the same time there has been a decline in healthcare and sanitary conditions in Iraq since 2003. The impact of war on civilians was more severe in Fallujah than anywhere else in Iraq because the city continued to be blockaded and cut off from the rest of the country long after 2004. War damage was only slowly repaired and people from the city were frightened to go to hospitals in Baghdad because of military checkpoints on the road into the capital.

 

[angelburst29]

A high-ranking Israeli Government official admitted for the first time that thousands of children were kidnapped in the 1950s from their Jewish mothers and fathers who had fled Yemen, before being given or sold to Jewish Ashkenazi families.

Israel Finally Admits Kidnapping, Selling Yemeni Jewish Children
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950511001316

The official said that until today, those children do not know who their parents were, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.

“The deliberate operation of stealing hundreds of children truly happened,” Minister-without-portfolio Tzachi Hanegbi of the Likud party said.

However, the minister did not explain in details to which parties the kids were handed to, but only said that they “hope to study the documents and evidences to understand what happened and try to reach a solution”.

Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the issue of the Yemeni children constitutes an “open wound for many families that do not know what happened to their children who disappeared, and are still looking for the truth.”

The Yemeni children were kidnapped from Israeli hospitals.

Hanegbi reached his conclusions after examining classified documents linked to the affair from the regime’s archives. Over the past several decades, there have been already 1.5 million documents gathered by three investigative committees tasked by the cabinet to probe the case.

Hanegbi said he would continue to examine additional documents after November and would then present recommendations to the Israeli cabinet to issue a decision that would declassify these documents.

ISIL butchers filmed themselves beheading two men in front of children at a busy park, apparently located in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

ISIL Butchers Behead Two 'Spies' in Front of Children in Iraq
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950511001352

The video, released from the terror group's news channel Wilayat Ninawa, shows two knife-wielding terrorists in commando gear with their faces on show delivering a rant in French, Daily Mail reported.

In the video footage, they also threaten more attacks on the streets of Paris, Marseilles and Nice and call out President Francois Hollande before taking the small knives to decapitate the two victims.

The video was released on July 20 on ISIL terrorist channels and is labelled as coming from 'Wilayat' Ninawa in Iraq.

Ninawa is one of ISIL's most important occupied territories, and includes the Iraqi city of Mosul.

The identities of the victims is still unknown, but there is speculation on forums the light-haired victim on the right in the video is European.

ISIL's butchers claim they are Iraqi Shiite soldiers that were captured in Nineveh Province, Iraq.

In the seven-minute clip, one of the ISIL executioners says: 'President Hollande, it will be repeated on your citizens in the streets of Paris, Marseilles, and Nice.'

Two men dressed in red overalls are on their knees in front of the terrorists and are accused in the video of being 'coalition spies'.

They are then brutally murdered in front of a big crowd which includes children as cars drive by sounding their horns.

Both victims talk in pre-recorded filming on the video and news footage of the Nice attack in which Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel killed 84 people when he drove his truck through huge crowds celebrating Bastille Day.

After the two men are decapitated using small, serrated blades, children are interviewed about the beheadings.

Neither man put up a struggle when they are bundled to the floor face-down and have their heads pulled up as the executioners hunch over their bodies and dismember them.

Iraq's air force inflicted heavy losses and casualties on the ISIL terrorists' convoy in the Western part of Anbar province, killing a number of terrorists, including a notorious commander.

ISIL Commander, 11 Terrorists Killed in Iraqi Airstrike in Anbar Province
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950511001293

"At least 11 ISIL terrorists and their commander were killed in the Iraqi airstrikes on their convoy in the town of Rawah in Western Anbar province," Colonel Nazem al-Jugheifi said on Monday.

All of the ISIL's military vehicles were destroyed in the Iraqi airstrike.

In a relevant development earlier on Monday, the Iraqi army repelled three suicide attacks by the terrorists on its military positions in Salahuddin province on Monday.

The ISIL terrorists were trying to attack the Iraqi army's military positions with three suicide vehicles in al-Sharqat region, but they were pushed back by Iraqi soldiers.

At least three ISIL terrorists were killed and their military vehicles were also destroyed in the Iraqi army's counteroffensive.

The Yemeni army and popular forces launched a fresh round of attacks on the Saudi forces' positions in the kingdom's Najran province, killing tens of Arab coalition troops, including a Saudi colonel.

Saudi Colonel Killed in Kingdom's Najran Province
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950511000897

Colonel Bandar bin Hamd al-Rahwi, a senior commander of Saudi Arabia's Armed Forces, was killed inside an Abrams tank in al-Makhrouq military base when his tank came under the Yemeni forces' attack.

Several other Saudi officers and soldiers were also killed along Colonel al-Rahwi in al-Makhrouq military base in Najran province.

A large number of the militants' military and armored vehicles were also destroyed by the Yemeni popular forces in the battle.

Meantime, five other Abrams tanks of the Saudi troops were destroyed by the Yemeni army and popular forces.

In a relevant development on Sunday, the Yemeni forces also destroyed five other Abrams tanks in Jizan province.

Also on Sunday, the Yemeni army targeted and destroyed a Saudi reconnaissance airplane and an Abrams tank in the kingdom's South and Southwest.

"The Saudi spy plane was downed in Mojazeh border region in Assir province," the Arabic-language al-Masira news agency quoted an unnamed military source as saying.

 

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UK Tornado fighter jets attacked Daesh jihadist group’s headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in the former palace of ex-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, according to a statement published by the UK Defense Ministry on Wednesday.

UK Strikes Hussein’s Former Palace in Iraq Used as Daesh Headquarters
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160803/1043890548/daesh-uk-strike-iraq.html

The attack was carried out on Monday, the same day UK fighter aircraft also destroyed a network of fortified positions on the outskirts of Syria’s Manbij, the ministry added.

"Tornados participated in a major coalition air strike on Saddam’s former palace in Mosul, used by Daesh as a headquarters and training establishment for foreign terrorists," the statement reads.

Following the strike, UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon praised the UK Royal Air Force for the attack as well as announced additional UK troops to be deployed to Iraq later this month to provide counter improvised explosive device, first aid and infantry skills training.

AM General just landed a $356 million contract to provide Humvees to Afghan forces – with the US government picking up the tab.

US Taxpayers Foot the Bill for 1,673 Humvees for Afghanistan
http://sputniknews.com/us/20160803/1043880968/am-general-afghan-humvee-contract.html

Last year, AM General lost a major contract to build new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) for the US military.

But with the Pentagon still bankrolling Afghan security efforts, it’s decided to make it up to the vehicle manufacturing company, awarding AM General a $356 million deal to build 1,259 M1151 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, also known as Humvees, as well as 414 M1152 models.

This contract announcement reinforces AM General’s position as the global leader in Light Tactical Vehicles. Our international partners continue to rely on us to meet the most diverse range of mission capabilities offered by the most adaptable, affordable Light Tactical Vehicles on the planet," company president and CEO Andy Hove said in a statement.

The US government will pay for the vehicles, which will then be sent to Afghanistan to be used by the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.

Manufacturing of the Humvees is slated to begin this month in Indiana, and continue through next July.

As Breaking Defense notes, AM General may have missed out on the JLTV contract, but it has received a lot of Pentagon business since last year. This includes a $429 million for Humvee ambulances and a $373 million contract for 2,082 Humvees to be shipped to "Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Ukraine, and Tunisia."

The deputy intelligence chief of the Taliban militant group has been arrested by Afghan security forces in the north of the country, the Afghan foreign and domestic intelligence agency said Wednesday.

Deputy Head of Taliban Intelligence Arrested in Northern Afghanistan
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160803/1043897664/taliban-intelligence-arrest.html

The arrested individual, identified as Mirwais, was reportedly involved in gathering intelligence information on the locations and movement of Afghan government forces, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) announced, as cited by the Khaama Press.

The NDS noted that the detention of Mirwais was part of a major military operation conducted all across the country, aimed primarily at detaining top Taliban officials.

 

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Iraq's joint military forces managed to seize back a strategic border crossing in Anbar province near the borders with Syria.

Iraqi Forces Win Back Key Border Crossing in Anbar Province
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950513001346

The Iraqi forces are now in full control of al-Walid border crossing in Rataba region in Anbar province which is located near Iraq-Syria border," the Arabic-language al-Sumeria News channel quoted Rataba Governor's Office as saying on Wednesday.

The ISIL terrorists were controlling al-Walid border crossing since last year. The ISIL had captured the border crossing in May 2015.

In a relevant development on Tuesday, the Iraqi army announced that 25 top ISIL leaders were killed in an aerial bombing which targeted a meeting of ISIL leaders West of Anbar province.

The Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Sha'abi) discovered a bomb-making workshop of the ISIL in a new area they seized back from the terrorist group in Khalediya Island.

Iraq's Hashd Al-Sha'abi Seize Bomb-Making Workshop in Khalediya Island
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950513000709

The workshop was used for manufacturing bombs and a missile known as 'Hell' in the Eastern part of Ramadi.

Part of a video released shows Hashd al-Sha'abi forces entering the bomb-making workshop and taking its control.

In a relevant development on Monday, the Iraqi army took control of three more strategic villages from the ISIL in Anbar province in Western Iraq, and destroyed the terrorists' military operations room in Albu Jarish region.