Iraqi army preparing to retake Shargat

[Adam Montana]

  Iraq

Iraqi army preparing to retake Shargat

Iraqi forces fire a rocket during an operation to retake the Baiji oil refinery. AFP file photo.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Iraqi army has sent a military force to Baiji and an Iraqi security source announced Tuesday the main reason for the deployment is a pending military campaign to retake the town of Shargat, which fell to ISIS in June 2014.

 

“[shargat] is considered the last ISIS stronghold in Salahadin province,” the unnamed source said.

 

The source said some of the forces arrived in Baiji on Monday, and others arrived on Tuesday with types of heavy weapons believed to be used for the first time against the self-claimed Islamic State. They added ISIS would not attempt to fight in Shargat as its fighters have been asked to assist Mosul.

 

Baiji, located in Salahadin province roughly 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad, fell to ISIS in 2014. The city’s oil refinery is said to be the largest in Iraq and vital for the national economy.

The government has claimed victory in Baiji several times in the past months, but ISIS suicide attacks have halted the advances of Iraqi forces.

 

 

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/011220151

 

[Flamtap]

Thanks Adam

[newbieDA]

Baiji, Iraq

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baiji,_Iraq

 

2014 ISIS offensive

 

On 11 June 2014, ISIL insurgents advanced into Baiji, seizing the main court house and police station and setting them on fire. The militants, who were travelling in a group of around 60 vehicles, also took control of the Baiji prison and freed all the inmates within. Local residents told members of the media that ISIS sent a group of local tribal chiefs ahead of them to convince the 250 guards at the oil plant to withdraw, while soldiers and police had been warned to leave as well.^[2] Later in the day, militants reportedly retreated from Baiji either due to persuasion from local tribal leaders^[3] or due to reinforcements from the Iraqi Army's Fourth Armored Division arriving in the city.^[4] However, the next day it was confirmed ISIL was still in control of the town, except the refinery which was surrounded.^[5]

 

On 18 June, ISIL attacked the refinery with mortars and machine guns.^[6] An official from inside the refinery stated the militants had captured 75 percent of the facility, while a military spokesman claimed the attack had been repelled with 40 insurgents being killed.^[7]

 

On 19 June, Iraqi government forces claimed to have regained full control of the Baiji oil refinery, after heavy fighting with that left 100 militants dead.^[8] An Iraqi witness who drove past the Baiji refinery told the Associated Press that ISIL had hung their banners from the watch towers and created checkpoints surrounding the facility, despite government claims of control.^[9][10]

 

On 20 June, the town was still under complete control of the militants while the oil refinery was surrounded by ISIL forces and had once again come under attack.^[11]

 

2014 Army counteroffensive

 

Main article: Battle of Baiji (October–December 2014)

 

On 7 November, Iraqi forces retook control of most of the strategic city Baiji from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. So now government troops hold more than 70 percent of the city—including neighborhoods in the south, east and north—and are battling to capture the rest.^[12]

 

On 14 November, Iraqi officials say their forces have driven out ISIL fighters from the oil refinery town of Baiji, 200km (130 miles) north of Baghdad. Gen Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi told Iraqi state TV that the town "had been completely liberated". There are still reports of heavy fighting around the oil refinery, which is Iraq's largest. ISIL seized Baiji in June during a lightning advance through northern Iraq and laid siege to the refinery. The group, which also controls large parts of northern Syria, has been the target of a US-led military campaign since August.

 

 

Battle of Baiji (2014–15)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baiji_%282014%E2%80%9315%29

 

Renewed Iraqi offensive

On 14 October, the Iraqi Army, supported by volunteer Shiite militia fighters, as well as the U.S. and Iraqi Air Forces, launched a large-scale offensive to recapture Baiji and its ruined oil refinery.^[70]

 

On 15 October, Iraqi Army forces captured the village of Makhoul, to the north of Baiji, marking the Iraqi Army's farthest advance north in almost a year.^[10][71] Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani was said to have been the mastermind behind the latest offensive in Baiji. Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces, was also present in the region.^[10]

 

On 16 October, Iraqi forces fully recaptured the Baiji Oil Refinery, as well as the neighboring town of Al Siniyah.^[72] It was reported that there were several thousand Iraqi soldiers and Shi'ite militiamen in the city to carry out the offensive.^[72] Iraqi forces also severed all of the ISIL supply lines leading into Baiji city, and recaptured multiple other districts in the area, including the town of Al-Siniyah, reducing ISIL's control of Baiji city to a pocket in the southern 40% of the city.^[72][73] A spokesman for the US-led Coalition also stated that Coalition forces had carried out 43 airstrikes in the Baiji region in the past 30 days. Iraqi officials said that after the conclusion of the battle, they planned to retake the towns of Al-Shirqat and Hawija, where they expected heavy clashes.^[72]

 

On 17 October, Iraqi forces advanced northward from the Baiji Oil Refinery area to Mas'haq, recapturing the al-Hanshii and Baiji Thermal Power Station areas, reducing ISIL control of Baiji to a pocket in the southern part of the city, and another besieged pocket between the Baiji Fuel Depot and the Northern Company Fertilizer Plant.^[74] Later on the same day, Iraqi Government forces and Shi'ite militia forces pushed further north, besieging the town of Zawiyah, which was near the last ISIL supply route into the Kirkuk Province.^[75] At the same time, there were reports of residents fleeing ISIL-held villages to meet the Iraqi forces, or villagers turning on ISIL fighters within their own territory.^[75]

 

On 20 October, the Iraqi Security Forces and the Popular Mobilization Forces recaptured the entire city of Baiji, along with the surrounding region.^[16][76][77] However, pockets of ISIL resistance continued to persist in some parts of Baiji city,^[78] until they were finally cleared by the Iraqi Army and Shi'ite forces on 22 October. On 21 October, Iraqi forces uncovered 19 mass graves in Baiji that contained the bodies of 365 ISIL militants.^[77] On 22 October, chairman of the US Join Chiefs of Staff Joseph F. Dunford stated that Iraqi forces had successfully recaptured the oil refinery city of Baiji.^[79] US officials also praised the Iraqi soldiers and the Popular Mobilization Forces for successfully recapturing the city of Baiji.^[80] Brett McGurk, the Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, stated that the US had conducted 130 airstrikes in the Baiji region since August 2015, in support of the Iraqi Army and the Shi'ite militias.^[80] On 7 November, it was revealed that 920+ more ISIL fighters had been killed during the fighting in Baiji in October 2015.^[20]

Aftermath

 

On 23 October, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited the city of Baiji, declaring that Baiji was finally free from ISIL militants, and that the anti-ISIL forces had won a "valuable victory."^[81] Al-Abadi also stated that the battle proved the capabilities of the Iraqi forces, and a Shi'ite commander stated that his forces were removing the IEDs and landmines left behind by ISIL in the city.^[81]

 

 

Article up top.

 

 

Baiji, located in Salahadin province roughly 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad, fell to ISIS in 2014. The city’s oil refinery is said to be the largest in Iraq and vital for the national economy.

The government has claimed victory in Baiji several times in the past months, but ISIS suicide attacks have halted the advances of Iraqi forces.

Read more: http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?/topic/212581-iraqi-army-preparing-to-retake-shargat/#ixzz3tt0JskpH

 

Map to Mosul (hope this link works)

 

The Road to Mosul

 

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Mosul,+Iraq/Salah+Al-Din,+Iraq/@35.4439056,43.0365812,9z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x40079464db1a88b9:0x9745d74edd0f0930!2m2!1d43.1640004!2d36.3566484!1m5!1m1!1s0x15514647b09efe7d:0xfc19eaaaaed2b077!2m2!1d43.483738!2d34.5337527

 

 

I think they maybe heading to Al-Shirqat via Route 80 to Route 1, and not Shargat, no such town listed anywhere named Shargat. This is a very big leap forward.

Edited December 10, 2015 by newbieDA

[sandfly]

THANKS ADAM

[Theseus]

IS this rainbow Shargat or lemon? Oops, was think Sherbet. My bad. Move along.

[SnowGlobe7]

someone has lit the fire under the Iraqi army!

 

Go get em!!!

[newbieDA]

someone has lit the fire under the Iraqi army!

 

Go get em!!!

 

[calkid11]

Thank you Adam and newbie