take with grain of salt. ISIS SURRENDERS IN IRAQ

[blueskyline]

Thanks Thug ............

[DinarThug]

Syrian troops capture ISIS stronghold Al-Mayadeen amid major offensive

Published time: 14 Oct, 2017 14:19 Edited time: 15 Oct, 2017 01:41

 

 

Syrian troops have captured Al-Mayadeen in Deir ez-Zor province, one of the last strongholds still remaining in the hands of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), Russia’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed.

 

 

“Syrian government troops have completed the operation to eliminate Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] fighters in the city of Al-Mayadeen,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said.

“The assault units of the Syrian army, commanded of by General Hassan Suheil, overcame fierce resistance of terrorists in the central and southern districts to completely liberate the city,” he added.

The spokesman stressed that Al-Mayadeen was the largest city under IS control in the Euphrates Valley and the main terrorist stronghold in eastern Syria.

The terrorists deployed the most efficient reserves from Iraq to defend the city, and their defeat provides Damascus with conditions to further facilitate success on the battlefield.

According to the spokesman, Syrian forces are continuing their advance on terrorist positions with Russian air support.

Earlier, a military source told SANA state news agency that the Syrian army has captured Al Mayadeen.

The city of Al-Mayadeen lies south of Deir ez-Zor’s provincial capital. Over the past months, it has seen fierce fighting between Islamic State and Syrian forces trying to push the Islamists from the small swath of land they held.

Earlier in October, the Syrian Army reached the outskirts of Al-Mayadeen, effectively trapping IS terrorists in the city. Russian naval task force also launched cruise missile strikes on terrorist positions in Al-Mayadeen. 

 

On Friday, the Russian General Staff announced that Islamic State now controls less than eight percent of Syria due to major successes of the Syrian troops.

The liberation of the strategic city of Al-Mayadeen is a “very important achievement” for the Syrian military, Jamal Wakeem, a Lebanese professor of history and international relations, told RT.

Al-Mayadeen is “a key city that lies on the line of communication that links Syria to Iraq,” he said, adding that “at the same time [this success] strengthens the position of the Syrian Army in Deir ez-Zor.”

US-led coalition bombards Raqqa residential areas – Russian military

The successful actions of the Syrian troops in the west of the country are in sharp contrast to the “stupor” of the US-coalition, which has been unable to complete their counter-terrorism operation in Raqqa for months, Konashenkov said.

“The carpet bombings of residential areas by the US and the coalition as well as deliberate destruction of all natural sources of water supply in Raqqa have so far resulted in nothing, but thousands of victims among the ‘liberated’ population and stark examples of faulty planning of military operations,” he said.

Meanwhile, a member of the Raqqa Civil Council told Reuters on Saturday that the remaining Islamic Sate fighters are going to leave Raqqa “tonight.”

The terrorists will be taking 400 civilians with them as human shields, in accordance with the deal proposed by the US, he said.

The operation to liberate Raqqa, Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria, started on June 6 and was carried out by the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces, with US-led coalition air support.

It led to vast destruction and numerous casualties in the city, with Human Rights Watch and other groups blaming the US-led coalition of not taking the necessary precautions to preserve the lives of civilians.

The US operation in Raqqa is dragging on because the Americans “aren’t really up to scratch in the game that Daesh [Arabic pejorative term for Islamic State] is playing,” Ammar Waqqaf, founder and director of Gnosos consultancy, told RT.

Waqqaf said that the Americans “bombed and stopped” the buses which were taking the retreating Islamic State fighters from eastern Lebanon to Deir ez-Zor in accordance with the deal with Syria, Lebanon and Hezbollah in early September.

“And this backfired as there’s apparently an agreement for the remaining Daesh forces to leave Raqqa, but they’re refusing to go out without taking civilian hostages with them,” he said.

In a way, it’s the Americans which are “forcing Daesh – even if they’re not necessarily wishing so – to hide behind civilians,” Waqqaf stressed.

LINK

Map (note Al-Mayadeen is only about 1 hour and 30 min from Al-Qaim, Iraq - is along the Euphrates river as well)

[DinarThug]

800 IS militants turn in themselves to Peshmerga in Kirkuk: Official
by Nehal Mostafa Oct 16, 2017, 12:07 am

 

Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Around 800 Islamic State militants turned in themselves to the Kurdish Peshmerga troops in Kirkuk, a paramilitary official said on Sunday.

Speaking to AlSumaria News, Jabbar al-Maamouri, leader with al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) said “around 800 IS militants turned in themselves to Peshmerga deployed in Kirkuk after fleeing Hawija.”

“Thirty IS leaders, who were emirs of four of the group’s states, including Kirkuk, Diyala and Salahuddin, were among those who extradited themselves,” Maamouri added.

Regarding destiny of the arrested militants, Maamouri described it as mysterious. “Peshmerga did not provide information about places to which the militants were transferred.”

Last week, Ahmed Khorsid, member of Hawija council, said Iraqi troops should launch operation to comb Hawija as well as villages of al-Dibs town, southwest of Kirkuk, and the northwest of the province. He warned that IS militants could be hiding at underground tunnels or remote regions in order to attack the troops again.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi declared, earlier this month, liberation of Hawija. Joint troops killed 385 IS members, including five snipers, as Hawija Operations Command announced accomplishing targets of the second phase of operations, which launched in late September.

557 IS militants were killed, while more than 100 villages and regions were liberated during the first phase, which launched on September 24th.

Having recaptured Hawija, Iraqi troops still have only western Anbar’s towns of Rawa and Qaim remaining under the militant’s control.

LINK

[DinarThug]

ISIS faces last stand in Syria's Raqqa, its self-declared capital city

by Josh Siegel | Oct 15, 2017, 3:54 PM 

Final assault starts on Syria's Raqqa as some Islamic State fighters quit

Reuters

 

American-backed forces began a final assault against the Islamic State in Syria's Raqqa on Sunday, as the terrorist group loses its grip on its self-declared capital city.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, an American-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, allowed a convoy of ISIS fighters to surrender and leave the city, leaving around 100 militants left inside a small part of Raqqa.

"The battle will continue until the whole city is clean," the Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement.

The fight for Raqqa began in June, with Syrian Democratic Forces leading the assault backed by American airstrikes. At least 90 percent of the city is believed to be controlled by the allied Syrian fighters. ISIS had captured the city in January 2014.

If ISIS were to lose Raqqa, it would only hold some of Deir el-Zour province in Syria and Iraq's Anbar province, as well as other small areas, far short of the caliphate the terrorist group claimed to establish connecting Syria and Iraq.

LINK

[DinarThug]

Officials Provide Details of Latest Strikes Against ISIS

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release 

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 16, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting ten strikes consisting of 11 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

 

 

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted two strikes consisting of two engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Ash Shadaddi, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a tactical vehicle.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted eight strikes consisting of nine engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Qaim, four strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed five supply routes, two vehicle-bomb factories and an ISIS-held building.

-- Near Rutba, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed three vehicles.

-- Near Rawa, a strike destroyed two command-and-control nodes and an anti-air artillery system.

-- Near Tuz, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a tunnel.

Additionally, officials announced details today of an Oct. 14 strike near Qaim for which the information was not previously available. The strike destroyed five ISIS supply routes and a tunnel entrance.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes are conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect.

For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

LINK

[DinarThug]

Beware Of Falsies !  

 

     

 

 

100,000 fake visas were seized in Iran to Iraq

1 hour ago

Iranian police seized 100,000 fake visas to Iraq for Iranians seeking religious visits, a newspaper reported Monday.

 

"The security forces dismantled a gang of six people and seized 100,000 false visas as the 40th anniversary approached," said Tehran police chief General Hussein Rahimi. "We are visiting Karbala, about 100 kilometers southwest of Baghdad.

LINK

Edited October 16, 2017 by DinarThug

[DinarThug]

Breaking: ISIS retreats from east Euphrates region amid rapid Syrian Army gains

By Andrew Illingworth

16/10/2017

 

BEIRUT, LEBANON (3:40 P.M.) – The Syrian Arab Army has made another big advance on the eastern shore of the Euphrates River today, pushing ISIS militants from a key town near Kurdish lines.

Several hours ago, vanguard forces of the Syrian Army liberated the strategic town of al-Husayniyah after 24 hours of clashes with ISIS militants. The settlement is located to the northeast of Deir Ezzor city.

By this advance, Syrian Army forces have cemented the siege imposed on Islamic State militants inside Deir Ezzor and de facto blocked any further attempt by Kurdish-led militias to expand southwest of the Deir Ezzor industrial zone.

According to Al-Masdar News journalist Ibrahim Joudeh, the next target for Syrian Army troops operating on the eastern Euphrates bank is the town of Janenah.

LINK

[DinarThug]

U.S.-backed forces celebrate in Raqqa after ISIS fighters surrender
By HOLLY WILLIAMS CBS NEWS October 16, 2017, 7:14 PM

 

RAQQA, Syria -- There's been no official declaration of victory, but U.S.-backed fighters in Raqqa aren't waiting for one.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is finished in Raqqa, they said, after hundreds of extremists surrendered over the weekend. 

They've had some help from U.S. airstrikes, but the Syrian militiamen that did the fighting on the ground are the very definition of a ragtag army.  

Shiar Kakhorki showed CBS News his homemade hand grenades -- held together with Scotch tape.

As they clear the city, ISIS gunmen still lurk in tunnels and buildings.

ISIS claimed to be men of God when they seized Raqqa over three years ago. In truth, they were bloodthirsty thugs, beheading their enemies and selling women as sex slaves. 

What's left is the carcass of a city pulverized by artillery, flattened by airstrikes and deserted by its people. So many empty houses were turned into fighting positions during the battle, and destroyed in the process.

Yunus Omar and his family finally escaped Raqqa Monday, some of the last to get out. Like other civilians, they were used by the extremists as human shields.

They tried to leave twice before and were shot at by ISIS fighters, Yunus said, but Monday they didn't see any.

Clearing Raqqa of explosives laid by ISIS could take months, but the city is no longer a stronghold for terrorists. The ISIS leaders who are still alive are thought to have fled south toward the border with Iraq months ago.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/raqqa-us-backed-fighters-celebrate-isis-fighters-surrender/

[NEPatriotsFan1]

I sure hope that after ISIS is completely eradicated that the Kurds and Iraqis can get their collective 💩 together and pass the HCL and Article140!!! 

 

This is has to be part of the hold up

[DinarThug]

(CNN)US-backed forces fighting ISIS in Raqqa say "major military operations" in the city have ended and that the jihadists have lost control of their self-declared capital.  " BREAKING NEWS "

 

The development marks a decisive victory in the fight against ISIS, though US officials said there were still pockets of resistance in the city.

"Major military operations in Raqqa are finished but they are now clearing the city of sleeper cells -- if they exist -- and mines," Talal Salo, spokesman for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, told CNN. The SDF is a coalition of Arab and Kurdish fighters.

"The situation in Raqqa is under control and soon there will be an official statement declaring the liberation of the city."

The defeat of ISIS in Raqqa is a symbol of the terror group's decline -- it now controls a small strip of territory along the Euphrates river in northern Syria.

The city became the de facto capital of the terror group's self-proclaimed "caliphate" following a sweep of territorial gains in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

[DinarThug]

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/.....S-in-Raqqa

Woman's incredible reaction after being liberated from ISIS in Raqqa

 

 

• World news

 

Woman's incredible reaction after being liberated from ISIS in Raqqa

October 17 2017 11:13 AM

Woman's incredible reaction after being liberated from ISIS in Raqqa

 17th October, 2017
A woman liberated from ISIS tore off her burqa to reveal a leopard print outfit underneath, the Mirror news reported.

Kurdish forces have driven ISIS terrorists out of much of the terror capital Raqqa.

The terrorists claim the woman ripped off her clothing, apparently a burqa, before hugging the liberators as she is overwhelmed with elation.

In an act of defiance which bears similarities to a scene in chick flick Sex and the City 2, underneath her black clothes, she reveals she is wearing a leopard-print shawl - something which would have been banned under ISIS rule.

ISIS terrorists have been driven out of 90% of the city with the final districts held by Western terrorists holding the last strongholds until the final bullet.

It is hoped they will hold out for just days before the city, which has been home to so much terror, is fully liberated.

Some citizens have started to rebuild their lives in the Syrian city, which has been under ISIS rule since 2014.

While under ISIS control women were required to wear full burqas and were subject to inspection from ISIS police teams.

The retaking of Raqqa will be a major milestone in efforts to roll back the theocratic "caliphate" that ISIS declared in Syria and Iraq.

Earlier this year, ISIS was driven out from the city of Mosul in another significant defeat.

Omar Alloush, a member of the Raqqa Civil Council, set up to run Raqqa after it is freed from ISIS, said 100 ISIS terrorists who had already surrendered had been convinced to do so during talks with the tribal elders.

Last week it was reported that ISIS recruiter Sally Jones, 50, was struck down near the Syria-Iraq border in June.

[DinarThug]

http://aynaliraqnews.com/index.....id22=84453

Syria's democratic forces control the entire city of Raqqa

 

17th October, 2017

 

Syrian opposition sources said on Tuesday that the city of Riqqa was completely free of armed supporters, after Syria's democratic forces took control of the last strongholds of the organization in the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that "the city of Riqqa has become completely free from the elements of the organization is calling."

The forces, composed of Kurdish and Arab factions backed by Washington, have announced their control of the Al-Raqqa stadium, one of the last bastions in the city.

This comes after the forces succeeded in gaining control of the National Hospital, one of the last pockets of Al-Raqqa in Raqqa.

"The National Hospital has been liberated and cleared of mercenaries," the Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement on its website.

The clashes raged between the two sides since Monday evening in the vicinity of the hospital and the nearby municipal stadium in the center of the city of Raqqa, killing 22 foreign fighters from the organization, according to the statement.

Syria's democratic forces, backed by the US-led coalition since June, have been battling fierce battles in the city of Raqqa, Syria's most prominent stronghold.

About 3,000 civilians, as well as dozens of local fighters, have stepped out of the city's radical organization in recent days under an agreement brokered by clan elders.

"Syria's democratic forces are now fighting the strongest," said a spokeswoman for the "Euphrates" campaign, whose goal was "to end an oppressive presence, which in itself means either death or surrender, that is, eliminating it."

[Joe Sutherland]

https://mobile.twitter.com/FoxNews/status/920247601080832000?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet

 

[nannab]

The good news just keeps on coming.   Joe Sutherland  

[DinarThug]

About 400 IS fighters recently surrendered in Raqa: US

By AFP

PUBLISHED: 17:37 EDT, 17 October 2017 | UPDATED: 17:37 EDT, 17 October 2017

 

Hundreds of Islamic State jihadists surrendered as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces finished the push to recapture Raqa

About 400 Islamic State members -- including foreign fighters -- have in recent weeks surrendered to US-backed forces in the jihadists' former Syrian stronghold Raqa, a US military official said Tuesday.

Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition helping train and equip local forces in Syria and Iraq, said the bulk of those jihadists had surrendered over the past week, as operations to seize the city reached their final moments.

The fighters had surrendered to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighter.

"In the last few days, about 350 fighters surrendered to the SDF in Raqa, with several confirmed foreign fighters taken into custody after SDF screening," Baghdad-based Dillon told reporters in a video call.

In recent weeks, an average of about four IS fighters had been surrendering each week, he added.

The SDF announced they had fully captured Raqa after more than four months of fighting.

"We have seen also that prior to these battles, once the area is isolated and before offensive operations begin, many of the leaders will often high-tail and leave," Dillon said.

When asked what the US military footprint would be in Raqa going forward, Dillon said there remained considerable work to do in the city.

"We must clear the remnants of all the explosives that have been left in Raqa throughout this battle," he said.

A Raqa security force commander and two colleagues were killed Monday as they walked through the city and triggered a bomb, Dillon said.

Elsewhere, the anti-IS coalition remains engaged in northern Iraq, particularly in the Anbar region, where allied aircraft have conducted more than 30 strikes in the past week.

IS still holds two towns in this area near the Syrian border -- Al-Qaim and Rawa.

In the strategic Iraqi city of Tal Afar, seized by Baghdad in August, IS abandoned large weapons caches including 550 homemade bombs, Dillon said

LINK

[DinarThug]

Raqqa, ISIS ‘Capital,’ Is Captured, U.S.-Backed Forces Say

By ANNE BARNARD and HWAIDA SAADOCT. 17, 2017

 

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces greeted one another after returning from the frontline in east Raqqa last week. On Tuesday, the American-backed militia group announced that it had taken full control of the city. CreditIvor Prickett for The New York Times

BEIRUT, Lebanon — American-backed forces said on Tuesday that they had seized the northern Syrian city of Raqqa from the Islamic State, a major blow to the militant group, which had long used the city as the de facto capital of its self-declared caliphate.

Celebrations erupted in Raqqa, where residents had lived under the repressive rule of militants who beheaded people for offenses as minor as smoking. Fighters could be seen cheering and firing celebratory gunfire in the streets, according to residents reached by phone and text message.

The United States Central Command stopped short of declaring victory, saying that “more than 90 percent of Raqqa is in S.D.F. control,” a reference to the Syrian Democratic Forces, an American-backed militia group made up of Syrian Kurds and Arabs.

Col. Ryan S. Dillon, a spokesman for the United States military in Baghdad, said Tuesday that Raqqa was on the verge of being liberated, but that there were still pockets of the city controlled by the Islamic State. Syrian Democratic Forces officers, however, were emphatic in phone interviews and public statements that they had finally wrested control of the city from the militants after a monthslong campaign.

“The military operation is over,” said Talal Salo, a commander reached by phone at the group’s headquarters in Hasaka.

Still, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, Moustapha Bali, said suicide bombers might still be hiding in the city. In a video teleconference with Pentagon reporters, Colonel Dillon also said that Islamic State fighters had booby-trapped the city with improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance that officials say could take years to remove.

Whether final or not, the seemingly inevitable defeat in Raqqa of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, carries heavy symbolic weight. At its height in 2014, the group controlled Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, as well as Raqqa and large stretches of land on both sides of the border. And it had grand aspirations to increase its territory and cement its rule.

The Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who once spent time in a prison run by occupying American troops in Iraq, claimed to be the successor to the caliphs, the Islamic emperors who shaped the region in past centuries. He persuaded tens of thousands of Muslims from around the world, some new to the faith or poorly versed in it, to travel to the region to fight. The group seized the ancient ruins of Palmyra in Syria and those of Hatra in Iraq, destroying important historical monuments in the name of its interpretation of Islam.

With the fall of Raqqa, the Islamic State has lost the two most important cities of its self-declared caliphate in three months. It was pushed out of Mosul, Iraq, in July, and now holds only a fraction of the territory it once controlled.

Analysts say the group is already preparing for a new phase, morphing back into the kind of underground insurgency it started as, when it took root among disaffected Sunni populations that were willing to tolerate, if not wholeheartedly embrace, its ultraconservative brand of Islam. And while many Arabs quickly soured on the group because of its brutal crackdowns and unfulfilled promises, their underlying political disaffection has not been addressed.

Another major concern, now that Islamic State-held territory is reduced, is how countries in Europe, the Middle East and around the world will handle the foreigners who joined the group in places like Syria and might return home and plan attacks there.

A victory in Raqqa has come at a heavy cost. Much of the city has been devastated by American-led airstrikes that killed more than 1,000 civilians, according to tallies by local activists and international monitors. In earlier years, many were killed by Russian and Syrian government strikes. About 270,000 residents have been displaced by the fighting, and thousands of homes have been destroyed.

LINK

[DinarThug]

OIR Spokesman: ISIS Faces Devastating Defeat on 3rd Anniversary of Operations

 

By Terri Moon CronkDoD News, Defense Media Activity 

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2017 — The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is now on the verge of a devastating defeat in Raqqa, Syria, the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman said today.

 

 

Army Capt. Ryan Stanfield, a flight nurse, and Sgt. Jared Belisle, a crew chief, pull German soldiers into an HH-60M Black Hawk helicopter during a coalition medevac and hoist training exercise at Erbil, Iraq, Aug. 20, 2016. DoD photo by Army Sgt. Kalie Jones

 

Speaking to Pentagon reporters via teleconference from Baghdad, Army Col. Ryan S. Dillon called the impending collapse of ISIS in the city it declared the seat of its so-called caliphate “momentous,” noting that today is the third anniversary of coalition operations.

Three years ago, the global threat of ISIS was met with a U.S.-led coalition of 69 nations and four international organizations and partner forces on the ground, Dillon said. That coalition has beaten back ISIS on all fronts in Iraq and Syria.

Quickly Shrinking Territory

“ISIS in Iraq and Syria are all but isolated in their quickly shrinking territory,” he said, citing another hard-fought victory in Mosul, Iraq.

Raqqa is now more than 90 percent cleared of ISIS forces, he said.

“Over the past 96 hours, we have seen about 1,300 civilians assisted to safety by the [Syrian Democratic Forces], and just about 3,000 civilians rescued in the last week,” he said.

And in the last few days, about 350 fighters surrendered to the SDF in Raqqa, with several confirmed foreign fighters taken into custody after SDF screening, Dillon added.

Raqqa Clearance Speeds Up

Clearance of the remaining portion of Raqqa’s city center has accelerated after the SDF ensured the safety of civilians, he said, adding that the SDF have moved on the national hospital complex and the soccer stadium.

The SDF also fully cleared the Naim traffic circle, once a symbol of fear and terror under ISIS, where the enemy organization conducted public executions.

“In Raqqa and elsewhere across Syria, our focus remains on reducing risk to the civilians, while continuing to pursue and defeat ISIS terrorists at every opportunity as they retreat into the remaining held areas in the Middle Euphrates River Valley,” Dillon said.

Anbar Province

Meanwhile, in Iraq, coalition forces remain focused on supporting the Iraqi offensive against ISIS holdouts in Rawa and Qaim in western Anbar province, the spokesman said.

In the past week, the coalition has conducted more than 30 strikes against ISIS military targets in the area, including command-and-control facilities, car-bomb factories, weapons caches and a training camp, he added.

Back-clearance operations are ongoing in areas recently liberated from ISIS.

“In the Tal Afar area, since the beginning of this month, the [Iraqi forces] have found [and] removed large caches of weapons and explosives left behind by ISIS,” Dillon said. “These caches contain a total of 550 improvised explosive devices, 1,800 mortars, 25 landmines, 101 suicide vests, 16 tunnels and 11 factories for making IED’s.”

LINK

[DinarThug]

Strikes Continue in Effort to Defeat ISIS in Syria, Iraq

 

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release 

 

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 17, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, conducting three strikes consisting of three engagements in recent days, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

 

 

Officials reported details of the strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strike in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted one strike consisting of one engagement Oct. 15 near Dayr Az Zawr, engaging an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two fighting positions.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq yesterday, coalition military forces conducted two strikes consisting of two engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Rahwa, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an improvised explosive device weapons facility.

-- Near Qaim, a strike destroyed a vehicle-borne-IED factory.

LINK

[DinarThug]

 

For ISIS, Losing Territory Means Losing Revenue

The terror group’s ability to make money from taxes and oil sales is taking a hit with its battlefield defeats

By Maria Abi-Habib

Oct. 18, 2017 3:31 p.m. ET

 

Once the wealthiest terror group in the world, Islamic State is losing lucrative sources of income and its ability to recruit fighters along with the territory in Iraq and Syria that is rapidly slipping from its grip.

LINK

[DinarThug]

Officials Provide Details of Latest Strikes Against ISIS

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release 

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 19, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 12 strikes consisting of 15 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

 

 

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted five strikes consisting of five engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed a weapons cache and two tactical vehicles.

-- Near Shadaddi, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and suppressed an indirect fire position and a defensive fighting position.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 10 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Qaim, four strikes destroyed an ISIS headquarters, an ISIS-held building, two weapons caches, a VBIED storage facility and a tactical vehicle.

-- Near Rawah, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed two command-and-control centers, an ISIS safe house, an IED facility and an ISIS encampment.

LINK

Edited October 19, 2017 by DinarThug

[DinarThug]

Over ten IS members killed in army airstrikes, near Syrian borders
by Nehal MostafaOct 19, 2017, 11:17 pm

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) At least ten Islamic State militants were killed in airstrikes launched by army near borders with Syria, the military media said.

“Iraqi fighter jets launched airstrikes that destroyed three vehicles in north of Akashat region, west of Anbar,” the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell reported on Thursday.

“The shelling left more than 10 IS militants killed,” it added.

In late September, Iraqi army announced the total recapture of Annah. Troops also liberated Akashat region, between Rutba town, on borders with Jordan, and Qaim, on borders with Syria. Iraqi troops were able to return life back to normal in the biggest cities of Anbar including Fallujah, Ramadi and others after recapturing them in 2015 and 2016. Anbar’s western towns of Qaim and Rawa have been held by the extremist group since 2014, when it occupied one third of Iraq to proclaim a self-styled Islamic “Caliphate”.

On Wednesday, the Joint Operations Command said huge losses were inflicted on IS in Qaim, one of its two last bastions in western Anbar, as F-16 jets launched airstrikes, killing man militants. U.S.-led coalition warplanes reportedly pounded IS members in Qaim while setting up barricades preparing for an attack on security forces, killing ten of them.

LINK

[Wiljor]

Dropping like flies Thugs, soon IS will be history 

[DinarThug]

Breaking: Iraqi forces begin final operation to destroy ISIS empire in Iraq

By Andrew Illingworth - 20/10/2017

Iraqi government forces are seen near the Falahat village west of Fallujah on June 27, 2016. Iraqi forces took the Islamic State group's last positions in the city of Fallujah on June 26, establishing full control over one of the jihadists' most emblematic bastions after a month-long operation. / AFP PHOTO / MOADH AL-DULAIMI

BEIRUT, LEBANON (12:50 P.M.) – Moments ago, Iraqi pro-government forces commenced their long-awaited operation to completely destroy the Islamic State’s caliphate in Iraq.

According to reports from military-affiliated sources, the Iraqi Army and the Popular Mobilization Forces have kicked-off their campaign to liberate western Anbar province from ISIS militants.

West Anbar is the last region in Iraq where the Islamic State holds contiguous stretches of territory. Most of the jihadist faction’s fighters are most likely stationed throughout the middle Eurphrates valley.

Two key strongholds held by ISIS in western Anbar are the towns of Rawa and Al-Qa’im (Iraqi-Syrian border). It is here where ISIS is expected to concentrate its defensive efforts.

Reports say that the Iraqi military operation is one of the largest yet in terms of the amount of manpower and heavy equipment being deployed against ISIS and comes at a time when pro-government forces are also involved in a major campaign against pro-Barzani militias in the country’s northwest.

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[DinarThug]

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release 

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 21, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 11 strikes consisting of 11 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted five strikes consisting of five engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed an ISIS-held oil wellhead.

-- Near Dayr Az Zwar, four strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed three logistics nodes and a fighting position.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted six strikes consisting of six engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Qaim, six strikes destroyed an ISIS weapons cache, two ISIS-held buildings, an improvised explosive device factory, a weapons storage facility and an ISIS petroleum, oil, and lubricants site.

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[umbertino]

 

Islamic State’s last stronghold, Raqqa, has fallen. But the world’s attention must now focus on what it or other Islamist groups will plot next

 

Jason Burke

Saturday 21 October 2017 23.51 BST

 

 

 

Syrian Democratic Forces fighters stand guard in Raqqa on 20 October after retaking the city from Isis militants.

Photograph: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vid in link

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/21/isis-caliphate-islamic-state-raqqa-iraq-islamist