Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 247

The other day I was driven in a convoy of awkward but heavily armoured Humvees through the scene of a recent battle near the village of al-Yusufiyah, 20 miles (32km) south-west of Baghdad.

The local military commander, Brigadier Jabbar Karam al-Taee, is a shrewd and effective soldier, who commands the 17th division of the Iraqi army. He and his men hold the key to Baghdad. If they fail to stop IS, the city itself will be in real danger.

But they are not failing: on the contrary, they've staged a remarkable comeback - with the support of American warplanes.

As we drove through the village in his personal Humvee, he showed me where the IS forces had been dug in, and where the American bombs had landed. They had been extremely accurate.

Now much of the village is in ruins, destroyed by IS as it pulled out. The buildings were destroyed by booby-trap bombs, the road was cratered by IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

...

Three-hundred-and-fifty of their officers had simply run away and abandoned them, leaving them leaderless and terrified.

In Baghdad, I met the commanding officer from Spyker, Lt Gen Ali Furaji. He did not run away, but his lined face with the black circles under his eyes showed the level of stress he had endured. He is 44, and looks 20 years older.

Lt Gen Furaji described the terror that had gripped the Spyker base when it became clear that the city of Mosul, to the north, had fallen, and that the forces of Islamic State were heading their way.

Wild stories spread that IS had a thousand vehicles, and were hundreds of thousands strong.

It was then that his officers started to desert. Many were young, and had been given their commissions by the strongly sectarian government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki because they were Shia Muslims, like him.

They panicked and drove out of the camp, while some even started destroying the camp's defences.

Of 2,000 soldiers in the camp, only 61 officers and 440 men stayed with Lt Gen Furaji.

...

For a start, Iraq has a new prime minister, Haider al-Abadi: a Shia Muslim, but one who understands, as Mr Maliki seems not to have, that this country can be governed only with the support of the Sunnis and the Kurds.

One of Mr Abadi's first jobs was to reorganise the army. Many of the young, inexperienced officers have been sacked, and older men who fought in the army under Saddam Hussein have been brought in - plenty of them Sunni Muslims.

The army is being re-equipped with better weapons, and plans are afoot to create a National Guard which is intended to strengthen Iraq's defences against IS.

Driving along the eastern bank of the Euphrates and watching Brig Karram's men, it is already clear that their morale is far higher. They no longer regard IS as supermen.

On October 11 2014 07:55 URfavHO wrote:
I was listening to the radio broadcast of BBC world news. The Iraqi army claims to have higher morale and expects the conflict to be a long one. I think the latter claim is extremely important to achieving stability in that Iraq.

On October 11 2014 08:05 JudicatorHammurabi wrote:

Yeah, a lot of the morale and discipline of a fighting force depends on its officers, I can tell you that for sure.

When Maliki was removing competent officers to put in corrupt stooges from his circle, the leadership and discipline died. However, these guys are being removed (including the highest commander of the army a couple weeks back) and replaced with more competent officers, including, in a somewhat surprising move, former Baath Iraqi military officers.

The conflict won't take a short time from this point, at least in Anbar, where IS is pretty well-rooted since January. They're really trying to reinforce their positions too. One such example was an air raid on fighters from Syria moving to Ramadi that were bombed by US airstrikes, killing ~220 fighters. At the same time, the Kurdish militias are attempting to make claim to territory outside the bounds of the Kurdistan Region. Also worrisome are the link: Iranian-backed Shiite militias and their possible demands.

On October 11 2014 08:42 Acrofales wrote:


Is that report true? Its main source seems to be an ex-MP of Maliki's government, which by all accounts was terrible and untrustworthy. Is his info to be believed?

At least 53 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed Friday in multiple operations by Iraqi warplanes in the al-Doloue'ia region, 90 km north of Baghdad, a security source told Spanish news agency Efe.

The source added that 20 IS militants were killed when attending a gathering in the village of Bishkan. Four boats used by the IS were also destroyed in the attack.

In addition, 17 others of the extremist organisation's fighters died in a bombing raid that targeted the houses they were using as safe havens in the al-Buguari district of northern al-Doloue'ia. A vehicle equipped with a heavy machinegun was also destroyed.

According to the same source, 16 jihadi militants were killed in an Iraqi airstrike on their locations in the al-Khazrag sector of northern al-Doloue'ia.

On October 11 2014 09:31 JudicatorHammurabi wrote:
^
Jeez... Kurds don't want Turkish forces in Kobani, Iranians don't want Turks in Syria overall... this doesn't leave Turkey much room to do much without expanding the conflict.

According to Iraqi news, 53 IS fighters were killed in Iraqi airstrikes north of Baghdad on Friday.

http://www.iraqnews.net/index.php/sid/226553367


I don't know about you guys, but with all the reported IS casualties just from airstrikes, nevermind the shittons of ground fighting that goes on, their personnel losses are extremely unsustainable. I say this with careful optimism.

On October 11 2014 10:16 pls no ty wrote:
Iran will also send its troops too, to secure Esads regime. Because they know, Turkeys main target is Esad. Turkish troops cant be trusted about that. They can attack directly to Syrian regime or to Pkk anytime. And this may end up with Russia cutting gas.

Its so sad to see there is still West & Russia thing going on. They should co operate against ISIS.

I really wonder whats gonna happen when isis goes underground. How many parts will be syria divided into... Poor Esad could fix everything instead of being a relentless dictator.

On October 11 2014 10:02 ImFromPortugal wrote:


They seem to be getting pretty beaten from all this airstrikes and fighting.

What do you think will happen if turkey sends troops to Syria ? Regarding the Iranian threats.

Kurdish fighters have seemingly thwarted an advance by ISIL into the heart of the besieged Syrian town of Kobane, a monitoring group said Saturday.

Amid fierce street clashes, armed members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were repelled following a pre-dawn attack, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

But beleaguered Kurdish forces called on a U.S.-led coalition to escalate airstrikes on ISIL. Without greater support, the border town is likely to fall to extremists, monitoring groups have said. Meanwhile, the U.N. has warned of a “massacre” of hundreds of civilians should ISIL take Kobane.