Nearly 3 years after Da'ish took the city... #Iraq's flag has been raised above #Mosul's government buildings

[tigergorzow]

Iraqi PMU English‏ @pmu_english 20h20 hours ago

 

Iraqi PMU English Retweeted Pierre Breteau

Please just refer to use a PMU if it is about tweet length. We are not Sunni or Shia militia. We are all Iraqi.

https://twitter.com/pmu_english

[tigergorzow]

Battle for west Mosul: Bombs 'fall like rain' on front line -BBC

February 27 2017 11:17 AM

.

By Wyre Davies/ BBC

This weekend as many as 2,500 residents of Mosul escaped from the western half of a city that has been under the yoke of ISIS terrorist group for almost three years, BBC reported on Tuesday.

Aid agencies estimate that there are approximately 750,000 civilians trapped in western Mosul, unable or too frightened to leave despite the very real prospect of a prolonged, intense battle over the city between Iraqi government forces and ISIS fighters.

The assault on western Mosul has, thus far, been largely as expected - a much better equipped and better trained Iraqi army than the one humiliated by ISIS in 2014, methodically pushing towards the edge of the city thanks to overwhelming fire power and the cover of coalition air strikes.

For all their brutality and intolerance, IS fighters are nothing if not ingenious and in recent days they have been deploying a battle tactic almost unprecedented in modern urban warfare - the use of commercially available drones to drop bombs and grenades against civilian and military targets.

Large military drones are, of course, used to devastating effect by armies all over the Middle East, often resulting in huge loss of life. But the frequency and accuracy of how the ISIS group is utilising small, relatively unsophisticated drones in Mosul has significantly slowed the advance of government forces.

The drones have also caused panic among the civilian population, including residents of eastern Mosul. That part of the city was recaptured from IS last month during the first part of a campaign to drive the Islamists from their last stronghold in Iraq.

At a hospital in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil I met 55-year-old Umm Mohammed. The mother of seven, from the eastern side of Mosul, was sitting up in her bed, attached to a drip and unable to rest because of the searing pain from her right leg.

It had been shattered in several places by a grenade or small bomb dropped from a drone.



"I'd just gone to the market for some shopping... The next thing I was lying on the ground and looking up. People started pointing up to the sky from where the bomb had come," she told me. "Where's the security when these machines are hovering over people and killing us?"

Psychological effects

The use of drones, with their relatively light payloads, will not change the course of this conflict.

There are much more expensive, lethal and sophisticated weapons being deployed each day in their thousands.

Yet the psychological impact of drone attacks cannot be discounted, says Emanuele Nannini from the Italian aid agency Emergency, which helps run the hospital where Umm Mohammed and several other drone victims are being treated.

"Physically they are very similar to a mortar attack but actually they are very precise," Mr Nannini tells me, as he supervises a rapid expansion of the hospital beds and wards in anticipation of the battle unfolding in western Mosul.

"So each of these drones is actually striking the target that was chosen. Psychologically it can be very bad for the population because they can strike at any moment and at any place."

The residents of eastern Mosul are, ironically, getting a brief respite from the drone attacks because IS militants have diverted their attention to the new front line to the south and west of the city.



A colleague who returned from reporting duties at the front over the weekend told me in graphic terms that it was "almost raining bombs" - such was the frequency and intensity of the drone attacks on forces trying to enter the city.

Again, it's important to emphasise the overwhelming military and numerical advantage that Iraqi military units have over their IS enemies.

They are also getting considerable help from their American and other coalition allies.



"The fight in Mosul would be a huge challenge for any army, but this battle is only going to end with one result," says Lieutenant Colonel John Hawbaker, commander of the 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry.

American "advisers" and troops are a common sight on and just behind the front line and at forward command bases, assisting and advising their Iraqi counterparts.

But, as Lt Col Hawbaker readily acknowledges, American soldiers - so-called "boots on the ground" - are seeing action where it is deemed appropriate.

At the base I visited a few kilometres back from the western edge of Mosul, huge American artillery pieces fired shells at IS positions in and around the besieged city.

The day before, the gunners told me, they'd had the busiest period yet in this conflict, lobbing hundreds of shells at distinctive targets picked out by their own spotters and much more sophisticated "eyes in the sky", or surveillance drones.

The state of the art US weaponry will be of less use as the battle moves into the narrow, winding streets of Mosul itself.

On the first day of real fighting inside the western zone, government troops reported encountering "dozens" of booby-trapped car bombs. Some of them were successfully defused but others exploded, killing and wounded several Iraqi soldiers.

It's also thought that, in another example of drones adapted for urban warfare, IS militants are using the small aircraft to guide suicide car bombers to their targets.



Amid the chaos and mayhem, Mosul's civilian residents are being exposed to unimaginable daily horrors.

American and Iraqi generals say the fighting will be "house-to-house" in buildings where IS militants have deliberately placed themselves among the civilian population and in which they have constructed an elaborate network of tunnels to move themselves and their weapons.

Outside the city, aid workers wait nervously. The UN refugee agency is building new camps, just to the south, preparing to receive as many as 250,000 internally displaced people.

The real concern, as one UN aid official told me, is that most of the population won't able to escape, that they'll be trapped inside Mosul until the fighting finishes, the guns fall silent and ISIS is defeated.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7523/Battle-for-west-Mosul-Bombs-fall-like-rain-on-front-line-BBC

[TexasMike1958]

18 minutes ago, tigergorzow said:

Battle for west Mosul: Bombs 'fall like rain' on front line -BBC

 

February 27 2017 11:17 AM

.

By Wyre Davies/ BBC

This weekend as many as 2,500 residents of Mosul escaped from the western half of a city that has been under the yoke of ISIS terrorist group for almost three years, BBC reported on Tuesday.

Aid agencies estimate that there are approximately 750,000 civilians trapped in western Mosul, unable or too frightened to leave despite the very real prospect of a prolonged, intense battle over the city between Iraqi government forces and ISIS fighters.

The assault on western Mosul has, thus far, been largely as expected - a much better equipped and better trained Iraqi army than the one humiliated by ISIS in 2014, methodically pushing towards the edge of the city thanks to overwhelming fire power and the cover of coalition air strikes.

For all their brutality and intolerance, IS fighters are nothing if not ingenious and in recent days they have been deploying a battle tactic almost unprecedented in modern urban warfare - the use of commercially available drones to drop bombs and grenades against civilian and military targets.

Large military drones are, of course, used to devastating effect by armies all over the Middle East, often resulting in huge loss of life. But the frequency and accuracy of how the ISIS group is utilising small, relatively unsophisticated drones in Mosul has significantly slowed the advance of government forces.

The drones have also caused panic among the civilian population, including residents of eastern Mosul. That part of the city was recaptured from IS last month during the first part of a campaign to drive the Islamists from their last stronghold in Iraq.

At a hospital in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil I met 55-year-old Umm Mohammed. The mother of seven, from the eastern side of Mosul, was sitting up in her bed, attached to a drip and unable to rest because of the searing pain from her right leg.

It had been shattered in several places by a grenade or small bomb dropped from a drone.



"I'd just gone to the market for some shopping... The next thing I was lying on the ground and looking up. People started pointing up to the sky from where the bomb had come," she told me. "Where's the security when these machines are hovering over people and killing us?"

Psychological effects

The use of drones, with their relatively light payloads, will not change the course of this conflict.

There are much more expensive, lethal and sophisticated weapons being deployed each day in their thousands.

Yet the psychological impact of drone attacks cannot be discounted, says Emanuele Nannini from the Italian aid agency Emergency, which helps run the hospital where Umm Mohammed and several other drone victims are being treated.

"Physically they are very similar to a mortar attack but actually they are very precise," Mr Nannini tells me, as he supervises a rapid expansion of the hospital beds and wards in anticipation of the battle unfolding in western Mosul.

"So each of these drones is actually striking the target that was chosen. Psychologically it can be very bad for the population because they can strike at any moment and at any place."

The residents of eastern Mosul are, ironically, getting a brief respite from the drone attacks because IS militants have diverted their attention to the new front line to the south and west of the city.



A colleague who returned from reporting duties at the front over the weekend told me in graphic terms that it was "almost raining bombs" - such was the frequency and intensity of the drone attacks on forces trying to enter the city.

Again, it's important to emphasise the overwhelming military and numerical advantage that Iraqi military units have over their IS enemies.

They are also getting considerable help from their American and other coalition allies.



"The fight in Mosul would be a huge challenge for any army, but this battle is only going to end with one result," says Lieutenant Colonel John Hawbaker, commander of the 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry.

American "advisers" and troops are a common sight on and just behind the front line and at forward command bases, assisting and advising their Iraqi counterparts.

But, as Lt Col Hawbaker readily acknowledges, American soldiers - so-called "boots on the ground" - are seeing action where it is deemed appropriate.

At the base I visited a few kilometres back from the western edge of Mosul, huge American artillery pieces fired shells at IS positions in and around the besieged city.

The day before, the gunners told me, they'd had the busiest period yet in this conflict, lobbing hundreds of shells at distinctive targets picked out by their own spotters and much more sophisticated "eyes in the sky", or surveillance drones.

The state of the art US weaponry will be of less use as the battle moves into the narrow, winding streets of Mosul itself.

On the first day of real fighting inside the western zone, government troops reported encountering "dozens" of booby-trapped car bombs. Some of them were successfully defused but others exploded, killing and wounded several Iraqi soldiers.

It's also thought that, in another example of drones adapted for urban warfare, IS militants are using the small aircraft to guide suicide car bombers to their targets.



Amid the chaos and mayhem, Mosul's civilian residents are being exposed to unimaginable daily horrors.

American and Iraqi generals say the fighting will be "house-to-house" in buildings where IS militants have deliberately placed themselves among the civilian population and in which they have constructed an elaborate network of tunnels to move themselves and their weapons.

Outside the city, aid workers wait nervously. The UN refugee agency is building new camps, just to the south, preparing to receive as many as 250,000 internally displaced people.

The real concern, as one UN aid official told me, is that most of the population won't able to escape, that they'll be trapped inside Mosul until the fighting finishes, the guns fall silent and ISIS is defeated.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7523/Battle-for-west-Mosul-Bombs-fall-like-rain-on-front-line-BBC

The pictures of the children are heartbreaking.  While it is wonderful that they are now free, its the children who suffer the most from war.  Often they are the only ones left of their family.  God Bless them

[MyLadiesDaddy]

6 hours ago, TexasMike1958 said:

The pictures of the children are heartbreaking.  While it is wonderful that they are now free, its the children who suffer the most from war.  Often they are the only ones left of their family.  God Bless them

That is EXACTLY why when everyone talks about civil war in America I am so against it. And it is one of the motavators to starting an orphanage for me. I fear that war is coming to America and it will be the children that suffer the most. Someone must stand in the gap.  

[yota691]

28-02-2017 01:55 PM

The announcement of the monument's first floating bridge on the right coast of the city of Mosul

 

 

 

Revealed Nineveh province, on Tuesday, near the monument for military engineering first floating bridge on the right coast of the city of Mosul in parallel with the fourth bridge the editor, indicating that the size of the damage caused to the organization , "Daesh" criminal in all the bridges was about 30 percent. 

He said the technical adviser to the province , Abdul Sattar crawling, if 'category Military Engineering is preparing to set up the first floating bridge parallel to the editor fourth bridge to cross the river additional forces and its entry in the battles for liberation and achieve greater flexibility for those forces. " 

Crawling, he added that 'engineering staff in the province and Baghdad is able to reconstruct damaged bridges urgently but needed financial allocations'. 

He added that ' the size of the damage wrought Daesh gangs in all the bridges amounted to about 30 percent after detonated a large explosive devices to prevent the advance of the security forces towards Ayman Mosul'.

[Officiallytook]

Okay I'm calling this done by Thurs

[tigergorzow]

More than 100 civilians killed in minefields set up by ISIS in Mosul

February 28 2017 12:54 PM

Displaced people in Mosul

 

More than 100 civilians, including women and children, were killed when they were trapped in minefields set up by ISIS terrorist group on the outskirts of the right bank of Mosul, eyewitnesses told Baghdad Post.

The witnesses asserted that Iraqi security forces have not yet opened mobile shelters for the families who were forced to leave their homes in the areas witnessing daily conflicts between the Iraqi troops and ISIS militants on the western side of Mosul.

Most of the western districts of Mosul are known to be densely populated as the old city of Mosul is full of narrow streets and alleys that would make it a very tough mission for any invading troops to engage in street fighting with ISIS terrorists, the witnesses added.

Several relief organizations, including the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), have recurrently warned against a serious humanitarian catastrophe after the launch of military operations to retake the city which has been suffering from an economic siege over the past few months.
 
Before the onset of a military operation on February 19th, The British charity organization OXFAM has warned an estimated 750,000 people were trapped in western Mosul without an escape from ISIS before the city’s military operation began.

 

The organization mentioned the humanitarian conditions in western Mosul had been deteriorating since November 2016 after supply routes were blocked following the Iraqi security forces’ advance east of the city.

“OXFAM is deeply concerned for the safety of families trapped in western Mosul, and particularly the Old City where the narrow, densely-populated streets could become a death trap,” read the statement.

 

Moreover, the statement asked the armed forces to provide safe routes for civilians to be able to escape from battle zones.
 

OXFAM installed aid supplies to respond to a possible displacement of 250,000 people as the military operation to liberate the west of Mosul kicked off last week.

They have provided civilians in southern Mosul villages with blankets, heaters, hygiene kits, and other essential needs.

According to the statement, the organization also plans to support trauma centers inside and around Mosul.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7567/More-than-100-civilians-killed-in-minefields-set-up-by-ISIS-in-Mosul

[MyLadiesDaddy]

Yep, SUDDENLY

[tigergorzow]

ISIS terrorists start opting for a "scorched land" policy in Mosul

February 28 2017 01:12 PM

In its "scorched land" technique ISIS terrorists blacken the skies of Mosul

 

In a new strategic turn for the ongoing battles of Mosul, ISIS leaders have ordered their militants to burn every available object whatsoever in the right bank of Mosul, a security source told Baghdad Post.

The orders included the ability of ISIS terrorists to confiscate Mosul residents' vehicles to burn them in order to halt the advancement of the Iraqi troops inside the city's main streets and districts, the source added.


The source asserted that Mosul skies are now shrouded with pitch black billows of smoke with almost no visibility as black and white smokes rising out of tens of torched locations all over the city.

ISIS terrorists also distributed hundreds of petrol barrels and thousands of car tires in the streets of the right bank of Mosul and burned them to blacken the city's skies.

ISIS terrorists have previously opted for the "scorched land" technique in many other places in the group's fighting in Iraq; for example the battle launched by Iraqi forces to capture the oil-rich Qayyarah town where the terrorists set on fire several oil well and flooded the town's streets with petrol.

The Qayyarah oil wells fires resembled the Kuwaiti oil wells fires during the second Gulf War during which the Iraqi Army had burnt various Kuwaiti oil wells during their retreat from the country.

Kuwait oil fires were caused by Iraqi military forces setting fire to a reported 605 to 732 oil wells along with an unspecified number of oil filled low-lying areas, such as oil lakes and fire trenches, as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991 due to the advances of Coalition military forces in the second Gulf War. The fires were started in January and February 1991, and the first well fires were extinguished in early April 1991, with the last well capped on November 6, 1991.

For months and still, the Iraqi government have been trying to put out the fires in Qayyarah oil wells whose flames put the lives of the town's residents in jeopardy.

With ISIS' use of the same techniques in the right bank of Mosul, fears are escalating as per the health and lives of the densely populated areas of Mosul as a result of the fires and heavy oil smoke emitted from them.

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7570/ISIS-terrorists-start-opting-for-a-scorched-land-policy-in-Mosul

[tigergorzow]

ISIS barbarians putting up fierce resistance in final defence of Mosul -The SUN

February 28 2017 01:08 PM

.

The SUN

 

ISIS barbarians are putting up fierce resistance as they stage their final defence of Mosul, unleashing snipers, armed drones and poison gas car bombs, "The Sun" reported on Tuesday.

Correspondent Owen Holdaway experienced the terror group’s brutality first hand when he was caught up in an attack on the frontline in the Iraqi city.

Here’s his account front the frontline:

The frontline is just north of Ghazlani military base and near the city’s main airport, an area that had been successfully liberated the day before.

“We are heading to the frontline now watch out for snipers,” said Mohammed, from the Iraqi Special Operation Forces.

“We are following this tank and building up a walled position to overlook ISIS, but the area is not secure,” the gunner from Baghdad added.



Sure enough the position is attacked.

“Don’t get out of the vehicle,” said the driver of the MRAP, a mine resistant ambush protected vehicle.

“And don’t open the windows, we have been hit here,” pointing to the cracked glass.

Shortly after, the nearby tank fires off a deafening round in an attempt to hit the potential sniper.

Meanwhile, a low flying apache helicopter provides extra support, launching missiles, in a similar direction.

The operation lasts approximately two hours, but there are no confirmed kills by the end of it.

Back at a temporary base, around three lines from the frontline, the commander of this special forces division explains how the operation is going.

“We are building up an overlooking position while another ISOF division is moving [round] into the western outskirts,” he states.

“But the battle will be difficult there are snipers, IEDs, explosives and landmines in our way.”

Iraqi soldiers believe ISIS’s days are numbered in Mosul, with one fighter insisting the terror group’s grip on the city would be completely lost in a few months.



Special forces fighter Khatab said: “I fought them in east Mosul, this battle is harder, the terrain is more difficult in the west and there are more civilians.

“But I still believe ISIS will be finished in Mosul in months.”

Despite this, ISIS extremists seem intent to unleash increasingly cruel tactics until the bitter end.

The desperate extremists are planting booby traps and landmines in an attempt to stall the offensive by coalition-backed Iraqi forces to retake the city in northern Iraq.

ISIS even deployed a ‘suicide car bomb’ carrying 1,000 litres of chlorine in south Mosul

ISIS took control of Mosul, north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, in a few days in June 2014.

Iraqi forces launched a fresh offensive to retake the western part of Mosul around 10 days ago.

Iraqi security forces are now getting close to the main government complex in western Mosul in their offensive to dislodge the militants.

But this part of the city is thought to be a bigger challenge with its narrow streets and a population of over 750,000.

“We are trying to prevent any civilian casualties,” the commander added.

“It will be difficult as they are relocating civilians and mixing in with them.”

The coalition forces have dropped leaflets telling civilians to escape, but this is not always possible, charities say.

“Families in western Mosul tell us escape is not an option – if they try to flee they risk summary execution by ISIS fighters," Maurizio Crivallero, Save the Children’s Iraq Country Director said.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7569/ISIS-barbarians-putting-up-fierce-resistance-in-final-defence-of-Mosul-The-SUN

[tigergorzow]

Albania to send troops to fight ISIS in Iraq

February 28 2017 05:39 PM

Mimi Kodheli

 

Albania's defense minister says she plans to send an infantry platoon to become part of the anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq, ABC News reported on Tuesday.

Mimi Kodheli on Monday told a parliamentary committee that following a request from the United States they had agreed to send a unit with about 30 infantry troops for military operations in Iraq.

The Iraqi government must agree before the Albanian government will seek parliamentary approval, she said, as "we are not speaking as being part of NATO, but of a volunteer global coalition."

Albania has been in Iraq before with army units protecting or accompanying military or public objects but not with a ground-operational platoon.

Albania, a NATO member since 2009, takes part in international peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Mali and the Aegean Sea. Albanian troops will set foot in Iraq again, nine years after their last operations there ceased, as part of global anti-ISIS voluntary operations in response to a request of the US government.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7578/Albania-to-send-troops-to-fight-ISIS-in-Iraq

[tigergorzow]

Mosul caught in 'strange and terrifying' battle - Reuters

February 28 2017 11:41 AM

.

Reuters

 

The families cowered in basements, huddling in the dark as war raged overhead between Iraqi forces and ISIS militants fighting for control of the streets of Mosul, "Reuters" reported on Tuesday.    

Above ground, soldiers from Iraq's Rapid Response division move from house to house through the same openings ISIS militants smashed through the walls in preparation to defend their last remaining stronghold in the city's west.

The passageway led them through living rooms and gardens, into a kitchen with a pot of lentil soup on the counter -- the scenes of domesticity highlighting the chaos of war that is intensifying as Iraqi forces advance.

"It's strange and terrifying," said a young woman who was barely visible in the gloom of a basement under her house in the Josaq district, where she went into hiding after giving birth to a baby girl 72 days ago. "I rarely go upstairs."

Iraqi forces advanced quickly in the early stages of the offensive to recapture Mosul's western half, retaking the airport and piercing ISIS defenses around the city within days.

Now they are encountering tougher resistance as they push into residential districts where as many as 750,000 civilians are essentially trapped.

If they defeat ISIS in Mosul that would crush the Iraq wing of the caliphate its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared in 2014 over parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.

The Iraqi soldiers climbed through a hole in the wall of a garden strewn with ripe oranges and shattered glass, and emerged to find an ISIS fighter lying flat on his back where he had been killed by Iraqi forces.

Lt. Colonel Abdel Amir al-Mohammadawi went through the dead man's pockets after making sure he was not wearing a suicide belt, and pulled out a small address book containing telephone numbers of other fighters, and a contact for "Islamic Police".

"He's not Iraqi. He's probably not an Arab," said Mohammadawi, judging the man by his appearance and imperfect spelling. "The closer we get to the center, the more we come up against the foreigners".  

Unlike Iraqi militants who can blend in with civilians and possibly slip through the net of security forces, foreign fighters have no escape and will therefore fight to the end. Mohammadawi said: "They don't flee like the locals".

There are noticeably more foreign militants in the western half of the city than the east, which Iraqi forces cleared one month ago after 100 days of fighting, Mohammadawi added.   

After losing the east, ISIS militants prepared for battle in the west, knocking holes through the walls and expelling residents whose homes offered a vantage from which to fire at advancing Iraqi forces.  

At one point, the passage led into an empty hall where a motorcycle was parked. Evidently it had been used by the militants because there was a prayer mat in the plastic crate attached to the back, the soldiers said.

"Search upstairs!," Mohammadawi ordered, sending two men up the stairs, gun barrels first, to make sure no militants were hiding there.

Also found were paper slips granting ISIS members leave for short periods of no longer than a day, which one officer said indicated they had no time or manpower to spare.  



CIVILIANS HIDE IN BASEMENTS

The densely populated terrain is already proving a challenge. Mohammadawi said Rapid Response forces had been forced to pause their advance in Josaq on Sunday because five ISIS snipers were hiding among civilians.

A tactical unit had then killed the militants in an overnight raid, Mohammadawi said, clearing the way for Rapid Response forces to reach the first of five bridges that straddle the River Tigris bisecting Mosul.   

As the sounds of artillery and small arms fire reverberated, a group of civilians came running across the street toward Iraqi forces, the women weeping in fear. The soldiers corralled them into a house where the women went down to the basement.

The women described how the militants had set the upper floors of their homes ablaze to create a smokescreen against coalition aircraft.

Mahmoud, who was amongst the group, escaped after secretly contacting the commander in the area, keeping his phone on silent so the ring tone would not give him away to ISIS militants. But his brother stayed behind.

"Brother, get out," Mahmoud said urgently over the phone to his brother. "It's better. Get your stuff together. Protect your children. No inch is safe."

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7562/Mosul-caught-in-strange-and-terrifying-battle-Reuters#section_236

[WaitIsOver]

6 hours ago, ladyGrace'sDaddy said:

That is EXACTLY why when everyone talks about civil war in America I am so against it. And it is one of the motavators to starting an orphanage for me. I fear that war is coming to America and it will be the children that suffer the most. Someone must stand in the gap.  

Thank you for having such plans. Yes I agree, the children are the ones that have already suffered the most thanks to the information wars. I wish I could help fund some more extra capital after rv. It would be a privilege to sow into an institution that is going to help children. If there's a way  tell me please.. I don't see this waiting going beyond March. Thank you.

[tigergorzow]

IS Official Killed in Diyala Province 

28/02/2017 - 21:23

 

LEEDS — A local source in Diyala Province revealed that an Islamic State (IS) official was killed in the province by an artillery shelling, Alsumaria News reported on Tuesday.

The source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Iraqi army troops shelled the IS position using mortar cannons in the area of al-Sobaiat near Hawi al-Mayta on the border between the provinces of Diyala and Salahaddin, IraqiNews reported. 

The shelling has resulted in the killing of the IS official who was reportedly responsible for the transfer of militants from Hwija to the borders of Diyala, known by the name of Abu Muthana, the source added. 

He further explained that the IS terrorist group is currently relying on a limited number of members on organizing the transfer of militants from Hawija. However, the territory of Diyala is considered an area with a significant IS presence.

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/iraq/333463

[tigergorzow]

Garmiyan Kurdish Youth Duped into Hashd Militia: Sources

A source blames PUK officials for turning a blind eye on the move

• 
   

28/02/2017 - 21:11

 

ERBIL — As the majority of Kurds refuse to join the mainly Shi'ite Popular Mobilization Forces, under the name of recruiting Kurdish Peshmerga forces, some parties are pushing more Kurds to sign up with the Shi'ite militias, a Kurdish MP said.

The names of the Kurdish recruits are reported to Baghdad for receiving funds and even if the enlisted people refuse to take the funds after realizing the trick, the militias keep receiving the fund under the names of the recruits, Shakhawan Abdulla told BasNews on Tuesday.

He warned Kurdish people that their names may be exploited for receiving funds from Baghdad for the Shi'ite militias.  

Commenting on the same subject, Jabbar Yawar, the Secretary General for  Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs told BasNews they have no information over the reports of registering Kurds in Popular Mobilization Forces or Hash al-Shaabi militias under the name of recruiting Peshmergas.

Yawar said no Hashd force has been formed in Kurdistan and "in the areas where Kurdistan Peshmerga is present, Hashd is not allowed."

However, he added, "in the Kurdish areas beyond Kurdistan Region's borders it has been noted that from time to time they [Hash militias] have enrolled [Kurdish] people."

An informed source who preferred not to be named told BasNews that the Kurdish recruits in Hashd al-Shaabi are initially told that they join the 70th Unit of Peshmerga, affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

People realize the trick, once they are issued Hashd militias uniforms and flags, according to the source, who blamed PUK officials for "not only turning a blind eye on the move but also pushing people to sign up with the force."

Another confidential source from Baghdad told BasNews that the project has been proposed by the top Hashd al-Shaabi leaders, Hadi al-Ameri and his vice Mahdi al-Muhandis who have subtly studied the economic and social circumstances of the targeted areas.

The target areas are those covered by article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, better known as the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil governments and the target communities are Kurds and Turkmens, the source declared.

Thought the Iraqi government has not officially sanctioned the project which aims at buttressing the Shi'ite parties foothold for the upcoming elections in the disputed areas, so far 1,300 Shi'ite Kurds and triple this number Shi'ite Turkmen have joined the Hashd militias, the source said.

According to the source, Hashd has exploited the unemployment and weak economic status of the targeted areas for signing up new conscripts and in doing so, has included even the Sunni people.

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/kurdistan/333458

[tigergorzow]

Iraqi Forces Continue to Retake Ground Against IS in Mosul 

28/02/2017 - 20:38

 

 

MOSUL — The Iraqi Rapid Response Units have fired a missile against the Islamic State (IS) militants during heavy clashes south of Mosul.

A representative of the Nineveh Plains Protection Units who spoke to Sputnik Arabic on Tuesday said that the Iraqi forces have recaptured the al-Maamun neighborhood on Monday, clearing the area of any IS presence.

A representative of the Nineveh Plains Protection Units, Mahmoud al-Surdji, who spoke to Sputnik Arabic on Tuesday said that the Iraqi army is aiming to finish the operation for freeing the neighborhood of Wadi Hajar on Tuesday, which is a key point as it will give the forces a better access to other districts in the city which are still under IS control.

The future advances of the army will be made by the Rapid Response Forces, which have already been deployed near the fourth bridge connecting east and west Mosul over the Tigris River and are now approximately 150 meters away from al-Dawasa district, Surdji said.

However, according to the official, the IS extremists are putting all efforts in fighting the government forces and keep hold of their positions. The slow movement of civilians fleeing the western areas on the city is another reason for the slow and steady advance of the Iraqi forces as the civilian safety is put first as a main priority within the military planning.

The operation against IS in west Mosul was launched on February 19 by the Iraqi forces, with the help of the US-led coalition air support.

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/iraq/333447

[tigergorzow]

Humanitarian Crisis in Mosul Worse Than Aleppo: Russian FM

28/02/2017 - 20:56

 

LEEDS — Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the humanitarian after effect of the coalition military campaign in Mosul is worse than it was in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Lavrov told reporters in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday that he would like to periodically remind Russia’s Western partners that there is a much more serious humanitarian situation in Mosul than the one in Aleppo caused by the airstrikes, Sputnik reported.

The city of Aleppo was considered in the past the economic capital of Syria before the start of the civil war in the country back in 2011. However the city has been under the control of militant groups until December 2016, when the government forces with the support of the Russian airstrikes managed to recapture the city, despite the ongoing presence of several different armed groups. The operation led to a serious humanitarian crisis and the significant destruction of large areas of the city.

The operation for liberating the northern Iraqi city of Mosul started in October last year, when the Iraqi government with the support of the US-led coalition and the help of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Shi’ite militia Hashd al-Shaabi launched a massive offensive against the Islamic State (IS) group, who has been controlling the areas since they first entered Iraq in mid-2014.

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/middle-east/333455

[DWS112]

popular crowd: THREE WEEKS and be fully liberated Mosul - 2/28/2017

Tuesday, February 28, 2017 - 18:21 GMT

Spokesman Hezbollah Brigades (a faction of the popular crowd) Jaafar al-Husseini, the crowd that the task forces in the liberation of Nineveh operations are coming to an end, likely declaration of Nineveh province, editor in full within three weeks.

World Iraq

Husseini said the agency "Knight" that: Faction terrorist Daesh suffered great losses of lives and equipment in various cutters editing operations in Mosul.

He pointed out that the popular crowd task forces in the western cutter connector nearing their end after the great progress within a page six for operations west axis.

He guessed Husseini at the same time to be announced Nineveh province liberated from the control of the terrorist group Daesh fully in the next three weeks, in light of the current field indicators.

It is noteworthy that the popular crowd forces had embarked on the sixth page of the western axis of the connector operations aimed at freeing the strategic district of Tall Afar from the control of terrorist clique.

This comes at a time when other military units engaged in fierce battles with terrorist clique in the right coast of the connector where are the other are rapidly progressing in light of the collapse and confusion clear in the ranks of the terrorist group Daesh.

[climber7]

Funny how this puts it around the 21st--exactly when Iran said it's going to a one currency system 

Hmmmm

[tigergorzow]

12 minutes ago, DWS112 said:

Spokesman Hezbollah Brigades (a faction of the popular crowd) Jaafar al-Husseini, the crowd that the task forces in the liberation of Nineveh operations are coming to an end, likely declaration of Nineveh province, editor in full within three weeks.

DWS112 Thanks,  DV,  Excellent article....."The Liberation Of Mosul" is progressing very well and soon enough we will hear from PM Abadi & The World that Mosul is now completed liberated. 

[tigergorzow]

13 minutes ago, climber7 said:

Funny how this puts it around the 21st--exactly when Iran said it's going to a one currency system 

Hmmmm

Yes...Interesting indeed....

[tigergorzow]

16 ISIS terrorists killed in air strike on Ramadi

February 28 2017 10:30 PM

ISIS terrorists neutralized

16 ISIS terrorists have been killed in an air raid that targeted one of the terror group's hideouts west of Ramadi, a sources at Al-Jazeera Operation Command said Tuesday.

The fighter jets of the US-led coalition conducted several raids on ISIS positions west of Ramadi, he added in a press release.

On 5 September, 15 September and 3 December 2014, different sets of countries gathered to discuss concerted action against ISIS.

Arab and western states have formed the anti-ISIS coalition which  is led by the US and mainly tasked with conducting air strikes on the positions of the group.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7589/16-ISIS-terrorists-killed-in-air-strike-on-Ramadi

[tigergorzow]

End of ISIS: How the group started, ended, and who is coming next?

February 28 2017 09:55 PM

ISIS is fading

Mostapha Hassan

ISIS terrorist group is fading. Its end is looming following a sting of blows and thundering defeats.
 

But, this did not end speculation and questions that surfaced concerning the fate of the terrorist group.
 

These questions are on the increase as the terror group is fighting on many fronts and receiving huge losses in land, personnel, and even image.
 

Many in the Arab region and worldwide are asking only one question: Who is coming after ISIS? Especially in Iraq and Syria after the demise of ISIS.
 

The Baghdad Post is bringing about the full story on the rise and demise of the terror group:
 

How did it begin?
 

In the summer of 2014, the terror group rose to prominence as a so-called 'caliphate', with it seizing large swaths of land in Iraq and Syria, and even stretched out to Libya.
 

In a lightning attack, SIS became the first group to capture major cities (Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor).
 

The group pushed south till it was on the borders of the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.
 

But the  group emerged from an extremist faction originally founded in 1999 that started to gain traction after the 2003 Iraqi invasion led by the U.S.
 

ISIS grew in notoriety through an aggressive social media and viral video strategy that had it engage with sympathizers and glamorize violence.
 

It beheaded many of its victims, including U.S. journalist James Foley.
 

 The terror group often filmed executions through drowning, burning alive, and shooting.
 

 When it captured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, it institutionalized slavery and rape of the Yazidi minority.



 

Major blows on battlefield
 

A cohort of strategists detailed the losses of ISIS over the past months due to the fierce multi-faction battles raging in Iraq, Syria and other spots.
 

In Syria, the Kurdish forces brought ISIS terrorists to kneels.
 

They managed to push them out of Kobani after a four-month long fighting.
 

And on January 26, 2015, the Kurdish forces, backed by the US-led coalition, succeeded in driving ISIS out of the city.
 

Also, the terror group was dealt another severe blow in Manbij.
 

Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) recaptured the city located north of Syria in December 2016, ending ISIS's two-year control over the city.
 

Turkish forces along with other Syrian rebel factions, including Free Syria Army (FSA), liberated the city of Jarablus, located on its borders.
 

This came as Turkish troops and special forces backed by the FSA launched operation "Euphrates Shield" against ISIS.
 

The fighting for Jarablus ground on for 14 hours before the FSA  announced on its Twitter account that they pushed ISIS out and raised the Syrian Revolution flags over its buildings.
 

Two days ago, three Syrian rebel groups backed by Turkey declared they recaptured Al-Bab city, the latest stronghold for ISIS in Syria.
 

On the front line in Iraq, ISIS is facing a major offensive to retake Mosul.
 

The eastern side of the city has been liberated from the terror group. And another operation had started to retake the western side.
 

The US-led coalition is assisting the Iraqi forces in this battle, which makes things grimmer for ISIS, Christopher Reuter, a Der Spiegel magazine analyst, said.
 

ISIS's ignominious defeat has become inevitable, he concludes.
 

In late March 2015, Iraqi forces declared they recaptured the city of Tikrit, located 160 kilometers north of Baghdad.
 

Three years thereafter, Ramadi city was liberated, one year after ISIS occupied it.
 

ISIS did lose in Syria and Iraq. But this was not the end of losses.
 

In Libya, the terror group saw a relapse, losing the major city of Sirte in 2016.
 

The city fell to ISIS terrorists in 2015.
 

The swaths controlled by ISIS plummeted 62 percent between the summer of 2014 and November 2016, a British study found.
 

In Syria, the territories falling under the authority of the terror group decreased 30 percent.
 

Also, the group's budget fell to $ 970 million in 2016 compared to $ 1.89 billion in 2016.


 

So what is next?
 

To many, the post-ISIS era raises a lot of questions, misgivings and concerns.
 

Will they reintegrate themselves into the societies they came from? Or will they form new cells and carry out new terror operations?
 

The Washington Post forecasts that the situation in the Middle East will worsen after uprooting the terror group.
 

The damage caused by the terror group is deep. And it cannot be easily cured, the newspaper notes.
 

A lot of Shiites and Christians have become convinced that the greatest part of Sunni Muslims are embracing the doctrine of ISIS terrorists.
 

Most of Muslims condemn the acts of the terror group. But others see that ISIS emerged due to the rampant grievances experienced by the Sunni peoples.
 

More divisions will hit the Shiite faction following the demise of ISIS.
 

And instead of fighting the terror group, they will fight each other, leading to more chaos in Iraq.
 

In Syria, things will go even worse since the Iranian militias will not condescend and leave Damascus after the 'sacrifices' it made.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7587/End-of-ISIS-How-the-group-started-ended-and-who-is-coming-next

[WaitIsOver]

3 minutes ago, tigergorzow said:

End of ISIS: How the group started, ended, and who is coming next?

 

February 28 2017 09:55 PM

ISIS is fading

Mostapha Hassan

ISIS terrorist group is fading. Its end is looming following a sting of blows and thundering defeats.
 

But, this did not end speculation and questions that surfaced concerning the fate of the terrorist group.
 

These questions are on the increase as the terror group is fighting on many fronts and receiving huge losses in land, personnel, and even image.
 

Many in the Arab region and worldwide are asking only one question: Who is coming after ISIS? Especially in Iraq and Syria after the demise of ISIS.
 

The Baghdad Post is bringing about the full story on the rise and demise of the terror group:
 

How did it begin?
 

In the summer of 2014, the terror group rose to prominence as a so-called 'caliphate', with it seizing large swaths of land in Iraq and Syria, and even stretched out to Libya.
 

In a lightning attack, SIS became the first group to capture major cities (Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor).
 

The group pushed south till it was on the borders of the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.
 

But the  group emerged from an extremist faction originally founded in 1999 that started to gain traction after the 2003 Iraqi invasion led by the U.S.
 

ISIS grew in notoriety through an aggressive social media and viral video strategy that had it engage with sympathizers and glamorize violence.
 

It beheaded many of its victims, including U.S. journalist James Foley.
 

 The terror group often filmed executions through drowning, burning alive, and shooting.
 

 When it captured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, it institutionalized slavery and rape of the Yazidi minority.



 

Major blows on battlefield
 

A cohort of strategists detailed the losses of ISIS over the past months due to the fierce multi-faction battles raging in Iraq, Syria and other spots.
 

In Syria, the Kurdish forces brought ISIS terrorists to kneels.
 

They managed to push them out of Kobani after a four-month long fighting.
 

And on January 26, 2015, the Kurdish forces, backed by the US-led coalition, succeeded in driving ISIS out of the city.
 

Also, the terror group was dealt another severe blow in Manbij.
 

Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) recaptured the city located north of Syria in December 2016, ending ISIS's two-year control over the city.
 

Turkish forces along with other Syrian rebel factions, including Free Syria Army (FSA), liberated the city of Jarablus, located on its borders.
 

This came as Turkish troops and special forces backed by the FSA launched operation "Euphrates Shield" against ISIS.
 

The fighting for Jarablus ground on for 14 hours before the FSA  announced on its Twitter account that they pushed ISIS out and raised the Syrian Revolution flags over its buildings.
 

Two days ago, three Syrian rebel groups backed by Turkey declared they recaptured Al-Bab city, the latest stronghold for ISIS in Syria.
 

On the front line in Iraq, ISIS is facing a major offensive to retake Mosul.
 

The eastern side of the city has been liberated from the terror group. And another operation had started to retake the western side.
 

The US-led coalition is assisting the Iraqi forces in this battle, which makes things grimmer for ISIS, Christopher Reuter, a Der Spiegel magazine analyst, said.
 

ISIS's ignominious defeat has become inevitable, he concludes.
 

In late March 2015, Iraqi forces declared they recaptured the city of Tikrit, located 160 kilometers north of Baghdad.
 

Three years thereafter, Ramadi city was liberated, one year after ISIS occupied it.
 

ISIS did lose in Syria and Iraq. But this was not the end of losses.
 

In Libya, the terror group saw a relapse, losing the major city of Sirte in 2016.
 

The city fell to ISIS terrorists in 2015.
 

The swaths controlled by ISIS plummeted 62 percent between the summer of 2014 and November 2016, a British study found.
 

In Syria, the territories falling under the authority of the terror group decreased 30 percent.
 

Also, the group's budget fell to $ 970 million in 2016 compared to $ 1.89 billion in 2016.


 

So what is next?
 

To many, the post-ISIS era raises a lot of questions, misgivings and concerns.
 

Will they reintegrate themselves into the societies they came from? Or will they form new cells and carry out new terror operations?
 

The Washington Post forecasts that the situation in the Middle East will worsen after uprooting the terror group.
 

The damage caused by the terror group is deep. And it cannot be easily cured, the newspaper notes.
 

A lot of Shiites and Christians have become convinced that the greatest part of Sunni Muslims are embracing the doctrine of ISIS terrorists.
 

Most of Muslims condemn the acts of the terror group. But others see that ISIS emerged due to the rampant grievances experienced by the Sunni peoples.
 

More divisions will hit the Shiite faction following the demise of ISIS.
 

And instead of fighting the terror group, they will fight each other, leading to more chaos in Iraq.
 

In Syria, things will go even worse since the Iranian militias will not condescend and leave Damascus after the 'sacrifices' it made.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7587/End-of-ISIS-How-the-group-started-ended-and-who-is-coming-next

WOAH Tiger! Your makin it Roar in Dvets land today! Thanks brother 

Edited February 28, 2017 by WaitIsOver

[tigergorzow]

Floating bridge to be installed to connect Mosul's left, right banks

February 28 2017 07:59 PM

Floating bridges to be installed in Mosul

Security forces have started to connect Mosul right and left banks together through floating bridges, Brigadier Abdel-Karim Al-Sabawi said Tuesday.

Engineering corps ushered in installing the first floating bridge to connect Mosul's right and left banks, he added.

There is urgent necessity to establish such bridges for the security forces and military vehicles to move smoothly on both sides of the city, Al-Sabawi further noted.

It is worth mentioning that the US-led coalition forces bombed the five main bridges connecting the city's right and left banks.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/7586/Floating-bridge-to-be-installed-to-connect-Mosul-s-left-right-banks