Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 237

With Iraq’s then-Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, losing his grip on the country, Iran quickly decided to send military advisers, drones and, by some accounts, Iranian-piloted fighter jets.

This decision to intervene was unusually bold. Previously, Iran’s leaders have been circumspect about overt foreign intervention, preferring to operate through local proxies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon. When the Afghan Taliban — another puritanical Sunni movement with a special hatred for Iran — overran the city of Mazar-i-Sharif and executed eight Iranian diplomats in August 1998, Iran massed 70,000 troops on the border and threatened to invade. But Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, after deliberating for a few days, decided that an invasion, though militarily feasible, was not worth the risks. More recently, Iran has denied supporting Syria’s President Bashar Assad in Syria’s civil war, despite ample evidence to the contrary.

However, in the case of Iraq, the Iranians believe that they have too much to lose by standing on the sidelines. Iraq became Iran’s closest Arab ally soon after Saddam Hussein’s regime fell in 2003. In addition to their close political ties, bilateral trade has soared, to $12 billion in 2013. As a result, Iran is more explicit about the need to intervene.

But an interventionist policy has its dissenters. Beyond the need to protect the central government in Baghdad, some critics are questioning the assumption that Iraq’s Shiite majority necessarily implies Shiite political dominance. Etemad, a moderate Iranian newspaper, warns that Iran’s support for Maliki has alienated too many Iraqi Sunnis and Kurds over the last eight years, and that given Iraq’s multi-denominational character, majoritarian democracy based on a unified Shiite electoral bloc “will certainly mean the continuation of the crisis in Iraq.”

Discussions about the latest turns in U.S. military policy in Iraq have centered on President Obama’s plan to “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Yet that conversation doesn’t seem to include the elephant in the room – how to end abuses by the Iraqi government and its allies.

Obama has steered clear of pressing Baghdad on even nominal security system reforms, despite extensive documentation of abuses by Iraqi security forces, and their infiltration by the very Shia militias that have wantonly killed Iraqis and American soldiers. Until only a few months ago, the U.S. was supplying military hardware and training the forces operating under former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s direction without meaningful human rights vetting of those forces.

Instead of turning a blind eye to ongoing abuses for the sake of hitting ISIS, the administration needs a much broader plan, alongside its military plan, that addresses this core issue. ISIS’s spectacular gains in Iraq and its horrifically brutal tactics there and in Syria have diverted attention from the critical need for the Iraqi government to stop using abusive tactics, especially if President Obama and his allies hope to undermine the militant group.

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Over the past year, as the U.S. continued to ship military aid to Baghdad, Human Rights Watch documented unspeakable abuses by forces loyal to the Maliki government: indiscriminate air strikes that killed hundreds or even thousands of civilians in Sunni areas; torture and extrajudicial killings in prisons; a justice system that seemed exponentially more abusive than just; and, most recently, Maliki’s incorporation of Shia militia into the government’s security forces to the extent that the two are now effectively indistinguishable.

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No one, least of all the U.S., now refutes the fact that Maliki’s abusive sectarian rule alienated the Sunnis who led the Awakening Councils that defeated al-Qaida. Many of them are now backing ISIS and need to be brought back to the other side for there to be any viable anti-ISIS strategy.

The U.S. needs to explain why it is supporting the new government and how it will address past abuses. It needs to redouble its efforts to engage with Sunni leaders to prevent further sectarian abuses and press for full accountability for past abuses against members of the Sunni Awakening Councils by Maliki’s security forces. Washington should also investigate whether militias have taken advantage of the latest U.S. intervention to carry out further abuses, say how it plans to deal with them and insist that the new Iraqi government puts a stop to these abuses. That’s essential to make sure that efforts to rid Mosul and Tikrit of ISIS won’t result in reprisal killings and other attacks on Sunni civilians there.

Baghdad: Iraqi pro-government forces backed by warplanes on Sunday repelled a militant attack on a strategic town only 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, security sources said.

Daesh attacked Amriyat Al Fallujah at around 1:00 am (2200 GMT on Saturday), local police chief Aref Al Janabi told AFP.

“They attacked from two sides... The fighting lasted five hours,” he said, adding that soldiers, policemen and Sunni tribesmen were fighting together to defend the town.

“Warplanes eventually engaged the insurgents and killed 15 of them,” he said.

According to Janabi, the Daesh military leader in the nearby city of Fallujah - whom he named as Mullah Jassem Mohammad Hamad - was killed leading the attack.

On September 29 2014 05:06 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Keep in mind the amount of casualties that the Iranian armed forces have suffered in Iraq is entirely separate from those that have died in Syria. Which could easily be in the thousands and Iran saying they have yet to reveal their full force potential should be taken with a grain of salt.

On September 29 2014 05:20 JudicatorHammurabi wrote:


You're going to have to forgive my ignorance on this specific matter, but you're saying 1,000s of Iranian soldiers may have died in Syria in the course of the civil war?

QUSH TAPA, Iraq — The Iraqi military command has launched a campaign to re-enlist soldiers and officers who abandoned their units, a crucial step in its effort to rebuild an army that has been routed in battle after battle by Islamic State jihadists.

Even as the government has continued to equip volunteers, the de facto amnesty for deserters is an acknowledgment that the army desperately needs experienced soldiers — even ones who ran — for a force that is sustaining heavy losses despite the American-led airstrike campaign against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

Army officials at re-enlistment centers in Baghdad and in the northern Kurdistan region say they have seen some success in the effort. More than 6,000 soldiers and officers, including those who were sent home by their commanders as well as those who fled unilaterally, had registered at a military outpost here in Kurdistan, and more than 5,000 had signed up in Baghdad, officials said.

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Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress this month that of the 50 Iraqi brigades the United States military had assessed, 26 were deemed to be “reputable partners.”

“They seem to have a certain cohesion and a commitment to the central government,” General Dempsey said. The remainder, he said, had problems with “infiltration and leadership and sectarianism.”
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Most of the soldiers said they had retreated on orders from superiors. Others said there were never orders: Their commanders simply vanished and, lacking leadership, the soldiers followed.

“There was no ISIS, there was no fighting,” recalled Ahmed Mohammad, 30, who was a sergeant assigned to a unit of the 12th Division at a base near Kirkuk. “Our commander said, ‘Leave your weapons and go home.’ ”

“I don’t know how to describe the feeling when a commander is weak like that,” he said.
“Our leaders ran away,” added Mr. Fawzi, a soldier who had been posted on Hamreen Mountain near Baiji in Salahuddin Province. “We were feeling betrayed. We were feeling that the high commanders betrayed us and betrayed our country.”

On September 30 2014 06:18 JudicatorHammurabi wrote:
The situation in Anbar is pretty confusing. There's lots of territory exchanges going on between ISIS and Iraq, but however, increased Iraqi military presence and local leaders rallying the bannermen tribes is putting a lot of pressure on ISIS.

A couple recent developments in Anbar:
ISIS takes the towns of Abu Etha and al-Hamdhiya, but allegedly other territory was recaptured by military forces. (See spoiler)
+ Show Spoiler +


ISIS's hand was forced, and they made an attack against Amariya al-Fallujah, a very important strategic town near Fallujah. Meanwhile, two interviewed sheikhs in the nearby area are rallying fighters against ISIS. See the video near the top of the news page for more info. on this as well. The article also includes information about the fighting in Syria and Kurds prevented from crossing into Syria from Turkey to assist embattled fighters at Kobani.
+ Show Spoiler +


A dam in Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad, has been recaptured from the Islamic State.
+ Show Spoiler +

Council members from Mosul push forward plans to form a militia to retake Mosul.
+ Show Spoiler +

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LOL this video is funny. It's the trailer for a parody series satirizing ISIS premiering in Iraq. The first version of the trailer is in the video below, but a second version was produced last minute to remove Qatari Sheikha Mozah and the American cowboy, for reasons in the spoiler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx0Gu0PlNjI
+ Show Spoiler +

On September 30 2014 08:07 ImFromPortugal wrote:


Why would turkey stop those Kurds from going to Syria to fight against ISIS ? Maybe they are afraid of the security risks?

The United Kingdom launched their first airstrikes against Islamic militants in Iraq on Tuesday, officials said. Two Royal Air Force Tornado fighter jets, launched from a base on Akrotiri in the Aegean Sea, were on an "armed reconnaissance mission ... tasked to assist Kurdish troops in northwest Iraq who were under attack from ISIL (ISIS) terrorists," Britain's Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

"One Paveway IV guided bomb was used to attack the (ISIS) position," the ministry said. "Following this engagement, the patrol identified an (ISIS) armed pick-up truck in the same area and conducted an attack on the vehicle using a Brimstone missile. An initial assessment indicates that both precision strikes were successful."

Fighting between the pesh merga and Islamic State also erupted in Zumar, about 40 miles northwest of Mosul, near the reservoir of the Mosul Dam, officials said. Zumar has been the site of periodic clashes since early August when militants captured the area.

Iraqi and Kurdish officials also reported heavy fighting in Daquq, a district located on the main highway connecting the oil-rich area around Kirkuk with the capital, Baghdad. Islamic State fighters seized control of the area during its June push into northern and central Iraq, commandeering the Kirkuk-Baghdad road along with two other major north-south highways, effectively halting ground transportation between central and northern Iraq.

With the support of airstrikes by warplanes from the United States-led coalition, Iraqi and Kurdish forces pushed into Daquq on Tuesday morning, taking control of the villages of Sa’ad, Khaled and Wadah, about 20 miles south of Kirkuk, officials said. Government forces also took control of Tazah, a district between Kirkuk and Daquq, officials said.

But late Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Hussein Mansour, a division commander for the pesh merga, reported that a counterattack by the insurgents had forced the government troops to retreat from Sa’ad, Khaled and Wadah, allowing the Iraqi Air Force to conduct airstrikes on the militants’ positions.

Iraqi officials also reported that Sunni tribal fighters allied with Iraqi government forces were fighting Islamic State militants in the Rashad district on the highway connecting Kirkuk with Tikrit.

The participation of Sunni tribal fighters in battle against Islamic State could prove as important a development as the advance itself.

Members of the influential Shammar tribe, one of the largest in northwestern Iraq, joined the Kurds in the fighting, a tribal figure said.

"Rabia is completely liberated. All of the Shammar are with the Peshmerga and there is full cooperation between us," Abdullah Yawar, a leading member of the tribe, told Reuters.

"We believe the U.S. air strikes have helped in containing Islamic State's momentum," said lawmaker Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a former head of Iraq's advisory security council.

Iraqi officials said U.S. air strikes, along with strikes by Iraq's own aircraft, had killed dozens of Islamic State fighters the previous day south of the capital.

"It appears that 67 (Islamic State) militants were killed in Fadiliya," said an Iraqi security source, referring to a town in the Euphrates valley south of the capital. He said the casualty estimate came from satellite imagery and informants.

Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from Suruc close to Turkey's southern border, said Turkey's prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet military commanders on Tuesday to spell out Turkey’s strategy against ISIL.

"The prime minister is expected to present two motions to parliament authorising Turkish forces to operate in both Iraq and Syria, and to allow foreign forces to use Turkish soil in operations against ISIL," he said.

The government previously said it would submit motions to parliament authorising armed forces to take action in Iraq and Syria, so Ankara could join the US-led coalition against the ISIL fighters.

SAS and American special forces are working with Kurdish fighters on the Iraqi front lines as part of a major offensive to push Isil jihadists back and relieve pressure on the besieged Syria town of Kobane, senior Kurdish military officers have disclosed.

The Kurdish forces launched attacks just before dawn on three fronts - Rabia, on the Syrian border, Zummar, a town near Mosul Dam, and a number of villages near Daquq, south of Kirkuk.

SAS and American special forces were working along these battle zones as observers on the front lines as well as training Kurdish troops. Brig. Gen. Hikmet also said that discussions were under way to give them a dedicated base near the Kurdish city of Dohuk.

On October 01 2014 21:17 zatic wrote:
There was another piece about German IS recruits on the radio this morning.

About 100 islamists have returned to Germany from Syria over the past months. Interestingly, only about 1/4 actually saw any kind of military training or combat.
According to the police, the returnees are not a problem yet as the majority of them are disappointed with their experience, disillusioned, and have apparently no desire to continue the fight in Germany. They were described at mostly young, unemployed men, with low level of education.

ISIS opens diplomatic consulate in Istanbul, Turkey’s President denies

Istanbul (IraqiNews.com) On Wednesday the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed that it had opened its first diplomatic consulate in Istanbul.

Abu-Omar al-Tunisi, the head of ISIS Foreign Relations announced that ISIS is determined to open its first diplomatic consulate in Istanbul, and in a friendly country like Turkey.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan firmly denied the ISIS presence in the country, however, an official source in the government anonymously stated that Turkey is developing formal relations with ISIS following al-Tunsi’s announcement that ISIS has opened a consulate in Istanbul.

According to Turkish daily Aydinlik, the consulate will provide consular services for all who wish to join the group, send money funds, and will pay the hospital fees of all wounded militants who traveled to Turkey to receive medical treatment.

It is noteworthy that Twitter recently suspended an account that belonged to ISIS and had shown the address and contact information of the ISIS consulate in Istanbul.

Source

On October 02 2014 01:49 AngryMag wrote:

Did they give some kind of source to the 25% claim? I would be very surprised if this number is not just based on pure speculation for the following reasons:

-The groups going down there are normally small groups, like 4-5 guys which get down there with the help of smugglers etc. Once in the area they look for contacts to fighting groups which then put them into their units. There is no contingent of 100 german guys fighting in Syria or something like that--> How do they get reliable information about many scattered groups in a civil warzone? German intelligence service hardly has the budget to track them all and get reliable info.

- The process against the fella originally from Kosovo who was down there. He is accused of terrorist stuff but he doesn't say anything regarding the accusations. Officials openly stated the difficulties to proof that the guy was indeed involved in terrorist shit because of a lack of witnesses, proof etc. What makes you think that they know what the other 100 guys did out there?

I guess the number is based on their own testimonies they gave to their family or the cops and thus completely worthless as they will hardly state anything which could get them in trouble, wouldn't they?

In my opinion it is just another dose of government Kool-Aid/propaganda making clear that we do not have a problem regarding fundamental Islam in this country (500 fighters in Syria, according to Hans Georg Maaßen a supporting network of 40000 people actively supporting global Djihad in various legal and illegal organisations and a bigger number of people which do not have problems with fundamental islamic believes, oh and the salafascists movement has annual growth rates of 10-20%).

It is really time to confront this problem instead of sugar-coating it, otherwise it'll need just some more armed conflicts in the islamic world (not really a shortage on them nowadays) and their numbers will continue to grow as will their supporting networks which will either lead to an export of fundamental, violent nutjobs in conflict zones and if they ever get strong enough here, they might also start some shit in Germany.