Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 265

New Islamic State video from Kobani (Drone & Combat footage).

Al-Zahraa/al-Nubl engagements, from the Seifullah al-Shishani Jamaat of the Nusra Front.

Video showing the 2 VBIED operations carried out in Sheikh Miskin.

ISIS new video in Deir Ezzor.

Shuhada Al-Islam Brigade, Storming a building.

"These figures suggest that the Islamic State and Assad’s security forces have embraced the clever strategy of ignoring each other while focusing on attacking more moderate opposition groups.

On December 10 2014 08:10 AssyrianKing wrote:
@JudicicatorHammurabi

Regardless if the military does succeed. We Assyrians no longer trust the Iraqi Army or the Kurds to defend us as is their job, they just ran away without even telling us and left us for dead. We need our own security force even after this insurgency or else I fear there will be no Assyrians left in Iraq.

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters stormed a town in Iraq's western Anbar province on Saturday, killing at least 19 policemen and trapping others inside their headquarters, in the latest attack in the desert region where the armed group controls large amounts of territory, officials said.

ISIL seized the town of Al-Wafa, about 20 miles west of Anbar's capital Ramadi, on Saturday after starting its assault early on Friday. The group now controls three major towns to the west of Ramadi, including Hit and Kubaisa.

The surprise Saturday attack also drew fresh attention to the Iraqi government's struggle to arm Sunni tribes in western Iraq who are fighting ISIL, a Sunni insurgency that has managed to earn the support of many minority Iraqi Sunnis.

"Police forces have been fighting Islamic State fighters since Friday, but lack of ammunition forced it to retreat and losing the town. I'm frustrated because we were left alone without support," said Hussain Kassar, Al-Wafa's mayor.

Police forces backed by few government-paid Sunni tribal fighters tried to prevent ISIL from crossing the sand barrier surrounding the town, but were overwhelmed when sleeper cells from inside open fired on them, the mayor and a police officer said.

Police forces and the pro-government Sunni fighters were forced to retreat to a nearby police-brigade headquarters bordering the town.

Nusra firing TOW missile.

Hazzm Movement using TOW missile against target.

Suqor al-Sham (IF) at Hamdiyya armored depot, capture 5+ tanks, 5+ BMP/un-id'd armored vehicles (potentially damaged).

(Reuters) - Around 100 Syrian soldiers and 80 Islamist fighters were killed during a two-day battle in which insurgents captured the Wadi al-Deif military base, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Tuesday.

The Britain-based group said Islamist insurgents including al Qaeda's Syria wing, the Nusra Front, on Monday took the base next to the country's main north-south highway linking Aleppo with Damascus. Fighters also captured the smaller Hamidiya base, southwest of the Wadi al-Deif, the Observatory said.

The group said that around 120 soldiers were captured in the assault, citing insurgent sources.

Abandoned SAA armor.

Islamic State group militants gained a foothold on the Jordan-Iraq border Tuesday when they destroyed at least six Jordanian border control posts, according to reports from Jordanian activists and Islamic fighters associated with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. The attacks, which Jordan's army has yet to confirm, marked the first time since June the Sunni militant group tried to enter Jordan from Iraq.

BAGHDAD: ISIS militants forced Iraqi forces to retreat Wednesday after fierce fighting in the city of Beiji, close to the country’s biggest oil refinery, a local official and tribal leader said.

Local police and anti-ISIS fighters tried to repel the insurgents for five days, but lack of support and ammunition had forced them to leave their positions in central Beiji to the militants, said Saad Thahir, a Beiji council member.

Before clashes erupted last week, security forces and allied militias had stationed themselves inside the refinery facilities and left the defense of the city itself to under-equipped local police and Sunni tribal fighters.