Five years later .. Nujaifi reveals the "real cause" of the fall of Mosul

[ChuckFinley]

I know I could count on you. No need to worry about slacking, you put us all to shame when it comes to map updating. 

[tigergorzow]

17 minutes ago, Synopsis said:

Yeah, ChuckFinley - You caught me slackin'! 

 

Actually, I was looking for a map all morning that would show the IDF progress and came up dry.

 

to TigerGorZow! Thank You TigerGorZow for the map fix today!

 

In the mean time.........................

 

Go Moola Nova!

 

Syn, Always got your back my friend.....

[tigergorzow]

Iraqi Day  🇮🇶‏ @iraqi_day 7m7 minutes ago

 

#BREAKING #Iraqi forces killed senior #ISIS commander Jasim Mohammed Akoub when he was crossing the Tigris river from west to east #Mosul.

12:51 PM - 23 Jun 2017

 

[tigergorzow]

Poisoned meal kills three Islamic State members in Kirkuk

 

by Mohamed Mostafa Jun 23, 2017, 12:32 pm

Whatsapp

 

 

 

Dead ISIS militants (representational photo).

 

 

Hawija (IraqiNews.com) Three Islamic State members have died of a poisoned meal in the group’s stronghold of Hawija, southwest Kirkuk, a security source said Friday.

The trio died at a checkpoint run by the group when they were offered a meal by unknown individuals, but the food was apparently poisoned, according to the source.

Islamic State fighters were deployed immediately in the streets of Hawija in search for the plotters.

Islamic State militants, who adopt an extreme version of Islam, have regularly sentenced violators of their religious directives to harsh sentences that could mount to death in many cases. Their government style forced thousands to flee the town.

Islamic State militants have been in control over Hawija and a few other surrounding regions since 2014, when they proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” spanning a third of Iraq and Syria.

Local tribal leaders and politicians from Kirkuk have mounted pressure on the Iraqi government to hasten with invading Hawija, suggesting that its people were experiencing a humanitarian crisis under the group’s rule. The Iraqi government is currently employing the largest portion of its military effort in Mosul, IS’s previously=proclaimed capital in Iraq where the group is reportedly cornered in a few square kilometers.

 

http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/food-poisoning-kills-three-islamic-state-members-kirkuk/

[jmartin1145]

5 hours ago, okane said:

Become a resource parent / foster parent

LOL. My house is stocked with weapons and ammo. They would have a coronary if they walked in my house to inspect. My mother fosters and they are treated just like the rest of the family.

[Synopsis]

35 minutes ago, tigergorzow said:

 

Syn, Always got your back my friend.....

 

Thank You, TigerGorZow, My Friend! 

 

The Best Of The Weekend To You!

[yota691]

Media announces war losses "Daesh" in the old city of Mosul, Ayman

 

Saturday June 24, 2017 11:09

 

 

 

Alsumaria News / Baghdad  announced media war cell Saturday for "Daesh" losses in the old city right side of Mosul, while noting that the ranks of the organization collapsed as a result of painful blows.  Said the cell in a statement received Alsumaria News, a copy of the "leadership of the federal police forces continue to run in battles in the southern axis and progress towards the goals set out in the old city, the last areas under the control of terrorist elements", indicating that "this city is still besieged by security cuts and progress on three axes which Vq a 3 u according to a 5 El according to a 6 El. "   He said the cell that "those forces have made progress in the depth of the old city and pursuing terrorist elements as painful blows to their strongholds rolled , which led to the collapse of the ranks of the enemy and inflict many losses in human beings, weapons and equipment," noting that " the pieces were backed by a band mechanism and the Army Aviation and aircraft march, artillery ".  She said the "enemy losses are killed 115 terrorists, and killed a sniper number 12, and the dismantling of an explosive belt one, destroying two warehouses of munitions, destroying the den of the enemy, and the bombing of 10 improvised explosive devices, and the destruction of detachment and one mortar, destroying one added," pointing out that "rapid reaction squad continue to purge the liberated areas and besieged the Republican hospital in the neighborhood of healing. "  The security forces are engaged in liberation battles last strongholds of the "Daesh" in Mosul, where he made remarkable progress and cost the organization of heavy losses in lives and equipment.

[nannab]

Thank you Yota. Good morning DV

[yota691]

Media war cell reveal "Daesh" losses in the old city of Mosul

- 6/24/2017 AM . 11:57:00 a.m.64 - number of readings

 

 

 

 

Khandan -

Revealed cell media war on Saturday, for organizing the "Daesh" terrorist losses in the old city of Mosul, while suggesting the collapse of the ranks of the enemy as a result of the succession of painful blows to its strongholds. 

The media said military cell in a statement that " the leadership of the federal police forces, continue to go to battle in the southern axis and progress towards the goals set out in the old city, the last areas under the control of terrorist elements." 

 The statement said that the elements of Daesh " is still besieged by our units , and progress on three axes which Vq a 3 u according to a 5 El according to a 6 El." 

The statement noted that those forces " have made progress in the depth of the old city and pursuing terrorist elements have been painful blows to their strongholds rolled broke down the ranks of the enemy as a result of blows painful was Tkebedhm many losses in human beings, weapons and equipment were the pieces of evidence by the band mechanism and the Army Aviation aircraft march and artillery." 
 
The loss of the "Daesh" terrorist , according to a statement media war cell, killing 115 terrorists, killing 12 sniper and the dismantling of an explosive belt, in addition to the destruction of two warehouses for moving equipment, Walker enemy, destroying 10 improvised explosive devices, and the destruction of a mortar detachment, in addition to the destruction of 4 additions to the enemy. 

 The statement noted that the rapid reaction task force continues to purge the liberated areas and besieged theRepublican Hospital in the neighborhood of healing.

[yota691]

Military leaders: the rest of the Daesh 500 square meters are holed up inside 200 extreme in the old Mosul

Number of readers: 1491

 

 

Military leaders: the rest of the Daesh 500 square meters are holed up inside 200 extreme in the old Mosul

 

24-06-2017 01:23 PM

 

Euphrates -

 

Military and security sources said that the joint forces will storm the old city center, after the arrival of units of the federal police and the army near the rest of the Mosque of al-Nuri in particular on the evacuation of civilians to safe areas forces operate.

It was reported that all the rest for Daesh about 500 square meters of old city center, are holed up inside less than 200 extremist, including snipers and suicide bombers, along with quantities of explosives and mortars, this information is the latest in command of military operations ordered to park their troops on the line contact one with anti-terrorism device to break into the heart of the old city. Leadership also noted that its joint includes a contingent of the army and the federal police force and units of the rapid reaction came in parallel with the fight against terrorism, the center of al-Faruq and neighborhood streets, and a short distance separating them from the rest of the mosque and the minaret of the humpback Nouri.

The field commanders explained that the organization used in fighting the three axes of mortar shells and some snipers, broke out after incurring direct confrontations Daesh during which significant losses. The joint operations, says that the balance tilted in favor of the fighting forces, and also resulted in the rescue of thousands of civilians.

[ChuckFinley]

Not much farther to go. 

 

Thanks again Yota.  

[Wiljor]

 Morning Yota, thanks and a super day to you my friend 

[Butifldrm]

WORLD NEWS | Sat Jun 24, 2017 | 7:58am EDT

Iraqi forces free hundreds of civilians in Mosul Old City battles as death toll mounts

 

 

16/16

 

By Marius Bosch | MOSUL, IRAQ

Iraqi forces opened exit routes for hundreds of civilians to flee the Old City of Mosul on Saturday as they battled to retake the ancient quarter from Islamic State militants mounting a last stand in what was the de facto capital of their "caliphate".

U.S.-trained urban warfare units were channeling their onslaught along two perpendicular streets that converge in the heart of the Old City, aiming to isolate the jihadist insurgents in four pockets.

The United Nations voiced alarm on Saturday at the rising death toll among civilians in the heavily populated Old City, saying as many as 12 were killed and hundreds injured on Friday.

“Fighting is very intense in the Old City and civilians are at extreme, almost unimaginable risk. There are reports that thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, of people are being held as human shields (by Islamic State)," Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, said in a statement. "Hundreds of civilians, including children, are being shot."

Iraqi authorities are hoping to declare victory in the northern Iraqi city in the Muslim Eid holiday, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, during the next few days.

Helicopter gunships were assisting the ground thrust, firing at insurgent emplacements in the Old City, a Reuters correspondent reported from a location near the front lines.

The government advance was carving out escape corridors for civilians marooned behind Islamic State lines.

There was a steady trickle of fleeing families on Saturday, some with injured and malnourished children. "My baby only had bread and water for the past eight days," one mother said.

At least 100 civilians reached the safety of a government-held area west of the Old City in one 20-minute period, tired, scared and hungry. Soldiers gave them food and water.

More than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are believed to be children, remain trapped in the crumbling old houses of the Old City, with little food, water or medical treatment.

The urban-warfare forces were leading the campaign to clear the Sunni Islamist militants from the maze of Old City alleyways, moving on foot house-to-house in locations too cramped for the use of armored combat vehicles.

Aid organizations and Iraqi authorities say Islamic State was trying to prevent civilians from leaving so as to use them as human shields. Hundreds of civilians fleeing the Old City have been killed in the past three weeks.

A U.S.-led international coalition is providing ground and air support in the eight-month-old campaign to seize Mosul, the largest city the militants came to control in a shock offensive in Iraq and neighboring Syria three years ago.

U.S.-supported Iraqi government offensives have wrested back several important urban centers in the country's west and north from Islamic State over the past 18 months.

 

HISTORIC MOSQUE BLOWN UP BY MILITANTS

Military analysts said Baghdad's campaign to recover Mosul gathered pace after Islamic State blew up the 850-year-old al-Nuri mosque with its famous leaning minaret on Wednesday.

The mosque's destruction, while condemned by Iraqi and U.N. authorities as another cultural crime by the jihadists, gave troops more freedom to press their onslaught as they no longer had to worry about damaging the ancient site.

It was from the mosque that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced himself to the world for the first time as the "caliph", or ruler of all Muslims, on July 4, 2014. Mosul's population at the time was more than 2 million.

Baghdadi fled into the desert expanse extending across Iraq and Syria in the early phase of the Mosul offensive, leaving the fighting there to local IS commanders, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. Recent Russian reports that he was killed have not been confirmed by the coalition or Iraqi authorities.

The Iraqi government once hoped to take Mosul by the end of 2016, but the campaign dragged on as IS reinforced positions in inner-city neighborhoods of the city's western half, carried out suicide car and motorbike bomb attacks, laid booby traps and kept up barrages of sniper and mortar fire.

By this weekend, the area still under IS control was less than 2 square km (0.77 sq miles) in extent, skirting the western bank of the Tigris River that bisects Mosul.

Islamic State retaliated for government advances on Friday evening with a triple bombing in a neighborhood in eastern Mosul, which Baghdad's forces recaptured in January.

The attack was carried out by three people who detonated explosive belts, killing five, including three policemen, and wounding 19, according to a military statement on Saturday.

The fall of Mosul would mark the end of the Iraqi half of Islamic State's "caliphate" as a quasi-state structure, but IS would still hold sizeable, mainly rural and small-town tracts of both Iraq and Syria.

In eastern Syria, Islamic State's so-called capital, Raqqa, is now nearly encircled by a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition.

 

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Mark Heinrich)

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-idUSKBN19F0D4?il=0

[pokerplayer]

Was wondering about Baghdadi just this AM and wondering when he would show up alive again.

 

The more I read the more I think this rat must be a distant relative of Hitler. Because he is so darn evil.

 

   pp

[boosterbglee]

How much longer do I have to do this.....

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

5 minutes ago, boosterbglee said:

How much longer do I have to do this.....

 

You know how long.......... until we call you from the lobby of the Wells Fargo . 

[jg1]

There needs to be a new requirement when Isis members surrenders.

First they need to strip down naked to show they are not hiding any explosive belts, then dip their finger in Pig's blood and draw a cross sign on their forehead. If they don't do this then they are shot until they are dead.

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

... with bullets soaked in pig's blood... small calibers, so it takes longer.   BWA-Ha-Ha-Haaaa....!

[boosterbglee]

See you Ladies at WF.....soon!

[tigergorzow]

More than 99% of Mosul's right bank liberated from ISIS

June 24 2017 05:47 PM

The Old City of Mosul

 

More than 99 percent of Mosul's right bank has been recaptured from ISIS terrorist group, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, Spokesman of the Joint Operations Command said on Saturday.

In a statement, Gen. Rasool added that military unites are pushing deep into the Old City, noting that the next few days will witness the full liberation of Mosul city.

Earlier, at least eight civilians were killed in two separate attacks on al-Muthanna popular Market on Friday.

This comes as the operation launched on 19th of February by US-backed Iraqi forces, supported by Iranian-backed sectarian IMIS Shiite militias to oust ISIS terrorists from Iraq. 

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/13520/More-than-99-of-Mosul-s-right-bank-liberated-from-ISIS

[tigergorzow]

Exclusive Video: Iran-backed IMIS, Iraqi army admit Mosul destruction (Video in link)

June 24 2017 05:24 PM

 

Iran-allied IMIS militias along with government forces have celebrated the destruction of the Great Nuri Mosque and the Hadba Minaret in Mosul, a video obtained by The Baghdad Post revealed. 

Lt Gen Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, commander of Counter-Terrorism Apparatus participated in the celebrations, the footage showed.

The video shows IMIS terrorists along with the army personnel while recognizing they destroyed the left and right sides of the Mosul.

The Nuri Mosque and its 55 feet high minaret were destroyed on Wednesday. 

The Iraqi army said ISIS terror group committed the crime against the historic monuments. 

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/13518/Exclusive-Video-Iran-backed-IMIS-Iraqi-army-admit-Mosul-destruction

Edited June 24, 2017 by tigergorzow

[tigergorzow]

Following suicide bombings, tightened security measures in Mosul

June 24 2017 04:53 PM

PM Haider Abadi with security forces

 

Security forces on Saturday imposed tightened security measures in Mosul's left bank for fear of fresh ISIS attacks, The Baghdad Post reported. 

On Friday, suicide bombings hit the Muthanna district leaving dozens killed and injured. 

Large numbers of local police and the Iraqi army personnel arrived in the neighborhoods of the left bank of Mosul Saturday morning.

These forces were deployed at the entrances and exits of residential areas, security sources said, adding  multiple checkpoints were established. 

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/13517/Following-suicide-bombings-tightened-security-measures-in-Mosul

[tigergorzow]

The secret lives of young ISIS fighters

June 24 2017 03:04 PM

The secret lives of young ISIS fighters

 

Personal photos and documents of three young ISIS terrorists founf dead on the banks of the River Tigris reveal the extraordinary stories of their private lives, a BBC report revealed on Saturday.



Mohammed is giddy with excitement as he films the discovery of three ISIS fighters on his mobile phone.

“Shoot him,” he shouts, gesturing at one of them.

His nervousness gives him away as the unit’s cook. He’s unarmed, but his fellow soldiers from the Iraqi police special forces - known as the Emergency Response Division - are armed to the teeth and are not taking any chances.

Two of the IS fighters are clearly dead. One, most likely a boy, is buried under the rubble of concrete bunker. His small, blackened hand sticks out from mangled remains. Nearby, an older fighter lies in the grass. His eyes are open, but part of his head is missing. He died in the same airstrike that took out the bunker.

But it is the third man, lying in the shadows, further ahead on the path alongside the River Tigris, who has the soldiers worried.

They fire a couple of shots into the prone figure. It does not move.

“He is a son of a *****, he was hiding. Be careful, be careful,” says one of the soldiers. “I don’t think he has a suicide vest,” says another.

They are at the foot of an olive grove, which is serving as the temporary base of the ERD as they push towards west Mosul, the last major redoubt of ISIS in Iraq.


Up close I look upon the dead man. His right leg is mangled, sliced through to the bone. He appears to have crawled out of the bunker and found a small hiding place in the rocks by the riverside.

Even in death his face is distinctive - a narrow chin and a puckish nose. His beard is wispy. He is more of a boy than a man. Nearby, soldiers find an M16 rifle which is marked as property of the US Government.

It is likely to have been among the thousands of weapons and vehicles ISIS seized from retreating Iraqi forces when it swept through from Syria more than two years previously.

“Adel, Adel, does anyone have ammunition? I want a full magazine,” says a fighter searching the dead man. The M16 now belongs to the man who found it.

“We have to go, it isn’t safe here,” an officer tells me. The men are jumpy and want to return to the base. There are still other ISIS fighters in the area, they warn.


It is late February and these men are in the midst of the battle of their lives. In three days they made lightning progress across the territory to the south of Mosul. Ahead of them the village of the Al-Buseif, then the ruined airport and the neighbourhoods of the west of the city.



All would fall in rapid succession, but the closer to Mosul they come, the more ISIS fighters they encounter, and the more bodies end up strewn across the roads and pathways.

It is already clear from the assault on the city’s east - it took 100 days - that ISIS  prepared well for this fight. Mosul was turned into a giant arsenal, with weapons dumps and hideouts in every neighbourhood.

Before we climb back up the hill to the base, I look again on the dead fighters. In the grass beside one, I find a small piece of paper marked with an ISIS stamp. It is a leave permission slip. On the back, it is smeared with his blood.




The soldiers do one final check of the bodies. On the young man in the shadows, they find some cash - a small amount of Syrian pounds, almost worthless. But in his other pocket, there is something small and far more valuable - a memory card from a mobile phone.

The pictures on it will lead us to uncover fragments of the lives of the dead men, the deep camaraderie among them, their brutality, and their journey through the battle for Mosul. And it will cast light on the dead fighter in the shadows. Who was this young man and what secrets of ISIS did he leave behind?


The photographs begin as bright family snapshots, but soon darken. The young man is seated, with the trace of a smile on his face. He is doe-eyed beside a little girl. Perhaps it is his sister. He holds her close, and she has her index finger raised - the Islamic sign for one true god.


His hair is curly, long and parted in the middle, and as the pictures progress they have been edited. His cheeks and lips turned a girlish pink, the whites of his eyes are touched-up and bright.

A transformation is taking place.

Soon he is in military gear, a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder, a walkie-talkie in his top pocket.

In another photo, he is asleep. It is almost certainly posed, the intention is to show a warrior at rest.

This is no longer a family album, it’s now a record of a martyr-to-be, a baby-faced suicide attacker, cleansed and ready to sacrifice himself for his cause.

The memory card found on his body has other pictures, too.

There is a group shot of young men and boys. The fighter is not in the frame. Maybe he is behind the camera, taking the shot. I would later learn that most of the men and boys were from Mosul and were part of the Nineveh Fire support Group, a rear-line, back-up unit. Their time in IS has forged a deep bond between them

One of the most striking is a photograph of what appears to be the fighter’s brother-in-arms. This man looks older, his hair is long and is also parted. He stares intently at the camera. My eye is drawn to his hands, which are settled on his waist. Curiously, he is wearing black gloves. Underneath those hands, hidden by his shirt, there is a suicide belt. His thumbs rest on its bulge.


The gloves are worn to hide the switch that will detonate the explosives, disguised so that the target does not recognise the threat posed by the smiling young man in khaki, until it is too late.

There are group pictures, too, with older men. Battle-hardened and scarred, their faces are unforgettable. And to some in Mosul, they are familiar.

But the photographs from the phone card have another secret to reveal, one that was right under my nose the entire time.

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/13514/The-secret-lives-of-young-ISIS-fighters

[tigergorzow]

ISIS burns 'Cubs of the caliphate' member in Salahudin Governorate

June 24 2017 01:20 PM

ISIS burns 'Cubs of the caliphate' member in Salahudin Governorate

 

ISIS terrorist group has burned one of 'Cubs of the caliphate' members, ISIS child soldiers, on Saturday after he refused to kill his family in Matbija district in Salahudin Governorate, a local source said in a statement.

He added that ISIS had started to guide its members to attack their families especially the families that refuse ISIS's thoughts and provide support to the Iraqi forces and tribal crowd.

ISIS has formed 'Cubs of the caliphate' to recruit the children and adolescents and use them as killing tools to carry out the suicide bombings.

The terror group has been committing such crimes since taking over Mosul three years ago. Many extrajudicial killings have been reported in the ISIS-held areas.

Security forces, backed by International Coalition air raids and logistic support of the US army, have retaken eastern Mosul and most of its western part after six months of battles. These forces are focusing now on controlling the Old City to oust ISIS from Mosul.

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/13505/ISIS-burns-Cubs-of-the-caliphate-member-in-Salahudin-Governorate

[tigergorzow]

Exclusive: US deploys troops to western Anbar

June 24 2017 01:42 PM

U.S. troops

 

The US Army has deployed its troops to al-Kasf district in western Anbar, well-informed sources told the Baghdad Post on Saturday.

The United States said in 2016 it was sending 600 more soldiers to Iraq as Baghdad declared a wide-scale offensive to retake the city of Mosul, ISIS’s largest stronghold in Iraq.

On February 19, US-backed Iraqi security forces launched a wide-scale military operation to oust ISIS terrorists from Mosul city.

Mosul fell to ISIS in 2014.

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/13508/Exclusive-US-deploys-troops-to-western-Anbar