Iraq: PM Al-Abadi announces formal victory against IS in Mosul

[Synopsis]

3 minutes ago, Floridian said:

Top of the Evening to you, too, Synopsis.  

 

They said the IMF Exchange Rate Page has been down since yesterday, and noted that Iraq and the IMF are having a meeting this week.

 

I hope it means something good, and not just a glitch.

 

Thank You, Floridian! Me, Too!

 

[ChuckFinley]

1 hour ago, Shedagal said:

Me, too, Chuck.  At first I told close friends (some of whom at least showed an interest) and co-workers (highly professional types who quickly told me it was a scam).  Since I've retired, I've lost contact with most of the office folk.  I am hoping it will be a 30-second announcement on the news, and everyone will have forgotten I even mentioned it.  My plan is to definitely fly under the radar. 

 

 

Same here, nannab.

I am just going to disappear into the sunset. Most everyone has been told this is a scam and there are so many scams out there that people will just move on.  I am hoping that they just give a 10 sec blurd and it more on to how bad Trump is doing.  

[DinarThug]

5 minutes ago, DinarThug said:

Iraq's PM Abadi leaves Mosul without giving 'victory speech'

July 09 2017 07:53 PM

Breaking

 

Iraqi PM Haider Abadi has left the newly-liberated Mosul city without delivering a speech of victory, sources confirmed to The Baghdad Post Sunday. 

Earlier on Sunday, Abadi's official Twitter account said Abadi arrived in Mosul to announce its full liberation form ISIS terrorists.

"PM Al-Abadi arrives in Mosul to announce its liberation and congratulate the armed forces and Iraqi people on this victory," Abadi's media office said.

 

Abadi hailed the great efforts  by Iraqi Security forces to recapture the city from.

Security forces, backed by International Coalition air raids and logistic support system" rel="">support of the US army, have retaken both the eastern and western banks of Mosul.

The city, Iraq's second largest, fell to ISIS in June 2014. 

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/.....ory-speech

 

 

[ChuckFinley]

Thanks Thug, like the GOI - postponed.  

[Floridian]

Just now, ChuckFinley said:

I am just going to disappear into the sunset. Most everyone has been told this is a scam and there are so many scams out there that people will just move on.  I am hoping that they just give a 10 sec blurd and it more on to how bad Trump is doing.  

 

I think my friends will notice when suddenly I move to a more "upscale" neighborhood, buy a new car, etc.  It will be hard to hide, even if I'm not flashing wealth around.  They will know something is up.

[Floridian]

Abadi must be frustrated.  Isn't this his 2nd trip to Mosul to announce victory?

[WheresmyRV?]

8 minutes ago, Floridian said:

Abadi must be frustrated.  Isn't this his 2nd trip to Mosul to announce victory?

At least his 2nd trip I'm thinking.

[coorslite21]

I don't follow the day to day in Iraq as closely as many.....my take though is it doesn't matter if they don't have the last little bit yet...They know this is done and the timing for what ever lies ahead isn't dependent on the capture of a few more ISIS members in Mosul.......Abadi was there for a higher purpose......just another piece placed in the RV puzzle.......JMO

[DinarThug]

2 minutes ago, WheresmyRV? said:

At least his 2nd trip I'm thinking.

 

He's Been There So Often Between The Liberation Of The Right Coast And The Left Coast That His Presidential Camel Motorcade Is Getting Blue Bawls ! 

     

 

[Karsten]

14 minutes ago, Floridian said:

 

I think my friends will notice when suddenly I move to a more "upscale" neighborhood, buy a new car, etc.  It will be hard to hide, even if I'm not flashing wealth around.  They will know something is up.

I wont have that problem....People here already think I have a lot of money for some reason. Hell 2 Harleys, 3 Corvettes, boats.....But they are old stuff. I love the old classics that I can pay cash for and clean them up like say a 20 year old truck pulling a 43 year old boat.

 

 

Now I could use a bigger Motor Home with some slide outs but even the upgrade will be something older.

 

Karsten

[mr.unlikely]

Wow, I have to admire Abadi for doing that. Most politicians would say that no matter what just to be the person who got to announce something like that, but this guy looks around and talks to the generals with boots on the ground and realizes it ain't over yet. The minute he makes that announcement and the first suicide bomber who makes it to the market, everybody would point the finger at Abadi for not knowing what was going on in his country. I could only imagine how Maliki could spin that. Best to wait until his military men say it's over, then make an announcement. They are still fighting them in Tal Afar, in Iraq it ain't over yet, but soon... (had to throw that in)

[yota691]

6 minutes ago, mr.unlikely said:

They are still fighting them in Tal Afar, in Iraq it ain't over yet, but soon...

That be the next stop and one more I believe...it about Mosul. Abadi doesn't refer to all of Iraq, that another subject all together!!!

[SnowGlobe7]

be safe Abadi.....prayersup

[Shadowhawk]

© AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images An Iraqi federal police member waves his country's national flag as he celebrates in the Old City of Mosul on July 9, 2017 after the government's announcement of the 'liberation' of the embattled city.

 

(Bloomberg) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi traveled to Mosul to declare it liberated from Islamic State, three years after the city’s abrupt fall to the jihadists alerted the world to the group’s growing strength, territorial ambitions and barbarity.

 

Abadi congratulated the Iraqi people and fighters on a “great victory” as the last pockets under Islamic State control were being retaken, according to a tweet from his media office.

The campaign to free Mosul from Islamic State entered its final phase in the narrow streets of the Old City in mid-June, eight months after thousands of Iraqi troops and Kurdish fighters backed by U.S.-led airstrikes began their offensive. Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, commander of the coalition, has described it as the toughest urban warfare he has seen in 34 years of service.

Retaking Mosul marks a major blow against Islamic State, whose leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his first speech as self-proclaimed caliph from one of the city’s mosques in 2014. The group is now diminished, having lost much of its territory spanning northeastern Syria and northwestern Iraq. Its ability to attract foreign fighters is also dented, although it continues to inspire militants abroad who have staged terrorist attacks from London to Tehran. For Abadi, whose government has struggled to overcome political and sectarian challenges and rebuild an economy stripped of oil revenue, it’s a major success.

There have been scenes of jubilation as Iraqi forces have slowly taken back control of Mosul, removing the black banners of the jihadist group. The United Nations says as many as 150,000 residents were trapped in the Old City when the battle there began, with illness and disease spreading as clean drinking water, food and medicine ran low. Islamic State used those who stayed as human shields, according to the UN. Over the last few months, it has massacred hundreds who attempted to flee the city in an attempt to deter others from doing the same.

Brutal Punishment

In one of its final acts of defiance, Islamic State blew up the Great Mosque of al-Nuri on June 22. The monument, whose iconic leaning minaret is pictured on Iraq’s 10,000-dinar note, once towered above the historic city center. It was there that Baghdadi made his first sermon as self-proclaimed caliph and called on the world’s Muslims to obey him, dressed in a black robe and turban to signify his claim of descent from the Prophet Muhammad.

As the group sought to entrench its strict interpretation of Islam, it meted out brutal punishments to those who opposed it. Children were trained to be fighters. It also destroyed ancient sites it said were heresy to its ideology -- apart from the Great Mosque, Mosul also lost the Tomb of Jonah. Its museum was ransacked.

Lightning Assault

Mosul was Islamic State’s most important bastion along with Raqqa in Syria, its self-styled capital. It featured in its propaganda videos, many filmed in the style of television news reports. British hostage John Cantlie appeared in at least five that sought to portray the city as an example of utopian governance with a bustling economy. In reality, residents described shortages and struggles to cope with rising prices for basic foods and fuel.

An estimated 2.4 million people lived in Mosul before the war, making it northern Iraq’s largest city. Hundreds of thousands fled after it was captured and as operations began to retake it in October 2016, with many seeking refuge in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region and camps nearby.

Islamic State evolved from al-Qaeda in Iraq, which U.S. troops and Sunni militias defeated after its powers peaked in 2006 to 2007 in a campaign that was known as the Awakening. It was able to expand in 2013 in Syria, where a civil war has raged for more than six years, attracting fighters from Chechnya, Afghanistan, North Africa and Europe.

The extremists took advantage of the poor military performance of Iraqi troops -- portraying themselves as a champion of Sunni Arabs who felt alienated by a Shiite-led government -- in a lightening assault across northern Iraq in the summer of 2014. The group then headed south toward Baghdad, triggering fears of the country’s breakup as ethnic and sectarian tensions surged.

Last Stronghold

Iraqi forces and militias supported by Iran had pushed Islamic State into reverse with months-long battles in key cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi, before moving on to Mosul. The air power, artillery, and intelligence provided by a U.S.-led coalition helped secure the city’s eastern neighborhoods in January. Residents returned to their homes, children went back to school, and shopkeepers reopened stores, free to sell whatever they choose.

Battlefield progress then slowed as fighting moved deeper into the Old City, as Iraqi forces entered dense neighborhoods and faced persistent counterattacks. With the offensive from the south stalling, Iraqi troops repositioned to begin a new offensive from the north in May.

While Mosul was Islamic State’s last main urban center in Iraq, it still controls several areas in the west and northeast part of the country, including Hawija near Kirkuk.

Noureddin Qablan, vice chairman of the council in Nineveh province, whose capital is Mosul, said by phone on July 3 from the city that Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders have met to prevent the eruption of sectarian or nationalist conflicts. “There are possibilities, but they are weak,” he said, citing the absence of violence in parts of the city freed months ago.

Territory Losses

Keeping the peace won’t be easy, said Kamran Bokhari, a fellow with George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. Local leaders need to prevent the spiraling of tensions over sectarian differences and the region’s political and economic plight, which Islamic State would look to exploit, he said. “But will they be able to?"

As Islamic State’s territory has shrunk, the group has shifted its emphasis from state building and governance to survival, and analysts say battlefield losses don’t spell the end of its ideology. A cappella hymn, or nasheed, released this month insists the jihadist group won’t vanish despite the setbacks: “Oh people of error, it (the state) is remaining, not vanishing, Anchored like the mountains.”

The message is “clearly addressing the current losses faced by the Islamic State amid the coalition campaign against it,” said Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, an analyst at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, who translated the nasheed.

“Military defeat and the loss of territory in Syria and Iraq will be insufficient to sway the views of Islamic State supporters,” IHS Markit, a London-based information and analytics group, said in a June 29 report. “The group’s video productions have declined in frequency, suggesting that it is less capable of disseminating its messages. However, it has already prepared its followers for the loss of territory.”

(Updates with comment from local official in 15th paragraph.)

To contact the reporters on this story: Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net, Donna Abu-Nasr in Beirut at dabunasr@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Ros Krasny

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mosul-liberated-as-islamic-state-faces-total-defeat-in-iraq/ar-BBE3Yo9?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

Edited July 10, 2017 by Shadowhawk

[Shadowhawk]

Iraqi leader congratulates troops in Mosul; fight goes on

 

Iraqi leader congratulates troops in Mosul; fight goes on

By SUSANNAH GEORGE and SINAN SALAHEDDIN

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated Iraqi troops Sunday in the streets of Mosul for driving Islamic State militants out of most of the city. But airstrikes and sniper fire continued amid the revelry, and the extremists stubbornly held small patches of ground west of the Tigris River.

Over the nearly nine-month campaign, Iraqi forces — backed by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition — reduced the IS hold on Iraq’s second-largest city to less than a square kilometer (less than a mile) of territory.

Iraqi special forces planted a flag on the Tigris River bank on Sunday after the country’s prime minister arrived to declare victory over the Islamic State group. (July 9)

Still, al-Abadi and Iraqi commanders stopped short Sunday of declaring an outright victory against the extremists, who have occupied Mosul for three years. Losing Mosul would be a major defeat for the Islamic State, which has suffered major setbacks in the past year.

“We are glad to see normal life return for the citizens,” al-Abadi said, according to a statement from his office. “This is the result of the sacrifices of the (country’s) heroic fighters.”

Dressed in a black military uniform, the prime minister met field commanders, kissed babies and toured a reopened market in western Mosul. At one point, he briefly draped an Iraqi flag on his shoulders.

A few kilometers away, special forces commanders climbed over mounds of rubble on the edge of Mosul’s Old City to plant an Iraqi flag on the western bank of the Tigris, marking weeks of hard-fought gains in the heart of the congested district.

Suddenly, two shots from an IS sniper rang out, sending the men scrambling for cover. The flag was retrieved and planted farther upriver behind a wall that protected it from a cluster of IS-held buildings nearby.

“We’ve been fighting this terrorist group for 3 1/2 years now,” said Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab al-Saadi of the special forces. “Now we are in Mosul, the east part was liberated, and there’s only a small part left in the west.”

Al-Saadi emphasized that despite the flag-raising, the operation to clear Mosul of the militants was ongoing. Behind him, a group of soldiers and local journalists recording the scene sang a traditional Iraqi victory ballad.

Lt. Gen. Jassim Nizal of the army’s 9th Division said his forces achieved “victory” in their sector, after a similar announcement a day earlier by the militarized Federal Police.

Soldiers danced atop tanks to patriotic music even as airstrikes sent up plumes of smoke nearby.

But the backdrop to the moments of revelry was a grinding conflict and widespread devastation.

Inside the Old City — home to buildings that date back centuries — the path carved by Iraqi forces leveled homes, shattered priceless architecture and littered the narrow alleys with corpses decomposing in the summer heat.

Less than an hour after the flag-raising, special forces Lt. Col. Muhanad al-Timimi was told that two of his men were shot by an IS sniper, and one of them had died.

“He was one of our best,” al-Timimi said. “He just got married six months ago.”

Blocks from the army celebrations, a line of weary civilians walked out of the Old City, past the shells of destroyed apartment blocks lining roads cratered by airstrikes.

Heba Walid held her sister-in-law’s baby, which was born into war. The parents of the 6-month-old, along with 15 other family members, were killed last month when an airstrike hit their home. When Walid ran out of formula, she fed the baby a paste of crushed biscuits mixed with water.

Inside IS-held territory, the extremists are using human shields, suicide bombers and snipers in a fight to the death that has slowed recent Iraqi gains to a crawl.

Islamic State militants seized Mosul in the summer of 2014 when they swept across northern and central Iraq. That summer, the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, appeared at Mosul’s al-Nuri Mosque and declared a caliphate on territory it seized in Iraq and Syria.

Iraq launched the operation to retake Mosul in October. The fierce battle has killed thousands and displaced more than 897,000 people.

Last month, as Iraqi troops closed in on the Old City, the militants destroyed the al-Nuri Mosque and its famous leaning minaret to deny the forces a symbolic triumph.

U.S.-backed Syrian forces have encircled and pushed into the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa in neighboring Syria after a month of fighting, although a long battle lies ahead.

More than 2,000 militants are holed up with their families and tens of thousands of civilians in Raqqa’s center, the city’s most densely populated districts.

The extremists still hold several smaller towns and villages across Iraq and Syria.

___

Salaheddin reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writer Salar Salim in Mosul contributed.

 

https://www.apnews.com/70b124cf644a44cfba6c6a023c2b3ef0/Iraqi-leader-congratulates-troops-in-Mosul;-fight-goes-on

[Shadowhawk]

 

[Shadowhawk]

 

[sandfly]

Thanks 

[DinarThug]

Abadi postpones victory after long hours of anticipation and media

Editorial date: 2017/7/10 0:49 • 171 times read

 

 

[Ayna-Baghdad] 
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, decided to declare victory and liberate the city of Mosul, which arrived Sunday afternoon.

 

 

After many hours of waiting and information, in the follow-up to the media office of the Prime Minister to visit Abbadi to Mosul since his arrival and step by step, the various media, written statements, photos and videos of his tour and meetings with security leaders and meetings with citizens gave a moral impetus and a clear hint at the official declaration of victory and liberation of the city Fully from the dipper. 

A map published by the Joint Operations Command in its last statement on Sunday showed that only two areas of clashes were going on, in the Old City and the Tigris River on the right side. 

 

After the announcement of the release was delayed, the news of the postponement was mixed, but the prime minister made the decision to postpone the victory, even though it was not explicitly mentioned. 

"We came [to Mosul] to take up the field and honor the battle, which left only one pocket or two pockets for the flocks, so the battle is decided and the big victory is by hand," Abadi said in his latest statement on Sunday evening during a meeting with senior commanders and military officers. 

"The security forces are fighting valiantly to liberate them," he said. 

Abadi also stressed that "victory is settled and there are remnants of the besieged trapped in the last news and it is a matter of time to declare victory." 

Despite the urgent step and the confusion that has taken place and lost the sweetness of joy for the Iraqis and the state of the world, but it is inevitable. 

 

The popular victory was achieved, and celebrated the masses in various provinces and went out to the public squares and streets to express joy in victory, although not officially announced so far. 

 

http://www.alliraqnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=63707

 

[yota691]

10-07-2017 12:53 PM

Abadi: Our ambition is to return all displaced people and people of religions, nationalities and sects, including Christians

 

 

 

He confirmed Prime Minister Haider al - Abadi on Monday that he hopes for the return of displaced persons, especially the Christians of their homes in Mosul, while stressing the need to prevail coexistence between the sons of Nineveh. 

Ebadi said that the Office of 'Prime Minister and Commander of the Armed Forces , Haider Abadi , at the headquarters of Ninawa Operations Command this morning, a delegation of Christians from the inhabitants of the city of Mosul, in the presence of a number of security leaders'. 

Abadi said that 'our ambition is that all displaced people and the sons of religions, nationalities and creeds and return them brothers Christians in particular to their homes in Mosul', adding that 'natural response to Daesh is to live together'. 

He added that 'our diversity of pride to us, and must be preserved and foil Daesh scheme who wanted dye Iraqis one color tearing unity that thousands of years ago interbred them', pointing out that 'duty is to protect citizens and provide services to them regardless of their affiliation, and in my neck as an administrator dealing with all Iraqis without discrimination. " 

Abadi said the 'reign of coexistence between the sons of Nineveh', calling on everyone to 'keep this victory achieved our heroine with courage and sacrifices precious'. 

Meanwhile, the members of the delegation congratulated victories in Mosul and the courage of the Iraqi forces and the liberation of cities and villages, and expressed pride in the diversity of civilization and their keenness on the unity of the Iraqi people and their stability , and their willingness to act and cooperate in order to facilitate the return of all displaced persons and restore security and stability in Mosul.

[yota691]

GMT 10:28 2017 Monday , July 10 : Last Updated

Abadi meet with the Christians of the city and is preparing to declare victory in which

Edit Mosul: the satisfaction of international concerns and challenges facing Iraq

Dr. Osama Mahdi

• 
  Abadi meeting with representatives of Christians in Mosul

 

While continuing Abadi of Mosul for the second consecutive day follow-up battles against the militants organizing Daesh in recent clocks as a prelude to announcing the final victory there has prevailed international relief to restore the city from the grip of the organization and warnings of challenges described Balhailh facing Iraq in the next stage and is will affect the future of all countries in the region.

Elaf from London : official data and contacts with Iraqi officials vassal "Elaf" today, expressed various countries welcomedliberationMosulsaying that it is a blow to terrorism inworld confirmed its cooperation with Iraq to completely eliminating terrorismannouncingincreaseaid to the country in orderrestore stability and reconstruction Majrepetth war.

European Union: our countries benefit from the victory of Mosul

The European Union stressed that it will continue to support the Iraqi government's efforts to achieve stability in the liberated areas and reconstruction and announced increased aid to Iraq worth 211 million euros for the current year.

She praised the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union Vidrbaka Mugireny Iraqi armed forces for its great victory on Daesh terrorist gangs resulted in the liberation of the city of Mosul after providing great sacrifices in lives .. tight by saying "the beneficiary of this victory is not only Iraq but the whole of Europe because it It will weaken terrorism and threats to European citizens. "

She noted in a letter to Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said the European Union will continue to support the efforts of the Iraqi government to extend stability operations in the liberated areas and reconstruction.

Announced increased aid to Iraq worth 211 million euros this year dedicated additional humanitarian assistance and long-term aid for displaced Iraqis and additional funding for mine clearance operations and other efforts to extend stability as well as disaster response mechanisms.

Shifty: Iraq faces enormous challenges

For his part, French President Emmanuel shifty today pledged that his country will continue to fight against terrorism, the highest degree of determination and everywhere, including on its territory.

He welcomed the statement from the Elysee Palace in the wake of the announcement of the liberation city of Mosul, the victory achieved by the Iraqi forces against al-Daesh with the support of the international coalition headed also congratulated Iraq's leadership and people. He said that the liberation of all shifty Iraq is still in progress, especially the elimination of strongholds Daesh in Syria, especially in the tenderness and the Euphrates valley, vowing that his country would continue its military effort to fight terrorists everywhere, including on French soil.

Shifty added that Iraq is facing enormous challenges on the political, military and economic levels, pointing out that a number of issues will have to take them responsible by the decision makers of the Iraqi politicians and community options. He predicted that the future of Iraq and the region depend on the health of these options, expressing the hope that the victory of Mosul opens a new page in the history of this country and allow him to restore peace, stability and unity .. vowing that France stands next to Iraq.

He stressed that the restoration of Mosul, a key stage in the campaign, which began since the summer of 2014 to address and then to defeat al Daesh .. referring to France's solidarity with all those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom in the face of terrorism, including the Iraqi security forces and the Peshmerga and volunteers, as well as the civilian population who have suffered from the oppression " Daesh "violence and fighting.

 

Map shows in red pockets Daesh remaining where fighting is taking Mosul Ayman

 

Britain is required to make more efforts in Mosul

For his part, congratulated the British time, Michael Fallon, Iraq's defense minister to defeat the organization Daesh Mosul called for more efforts to eliminate terrorists.

Fallon said in a statement, "I congratulate Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Iraqi troops fighting on the ground on the great courage in front of a savage enemy, does not care about the lives of innocent civilians at all and must welcome defeat in the city considered a stronghold of the organization of what he calls the caliphate."

He said that in the context of Britain 's participation in the coalition led by the United States against the organization British forces have hit 750 goals in the battle to liberate Mosul from al Daesh, adding that "there is still to be done" in the city and the wider region. He warned that "this barbaric group is still present in the west of the Euphrates and we will need to be cleared in Mosul and surrounding areas operations because of the threat of IEDs." 

Egypt: stand with Iraq in the face of terrorism

And our Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry his Iraqi counterpart, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, in a telephone call by editing the city of Mosul, and reiterated Egypt's commitment to stand by Iraq in its war against terrorism and to prevent its spread.

Discussed Shukri al-Jaafari bilateral relations between Baghdad and Cairo and ways of boosting them to serve the interests of the two peoples and efforts to combat terrorism and the prospects for strengthening cooperation between the two countries and the coordination of positions in international forums. "The two sides stressed the need to complete the next round held political consultation between the two countries at the level of foreign ministers procedures, in addition to the Committee joint Higher headed by the prime ministers of the two countries.

For his part, al-Jaafari stressed that "the victory of Iraq is a victory for all the peoples of the world because terrorism is aimed at all of humanity does not distinguish between one country and another .. and offered" the condolences of the Iraqi government and people of the Egyptian people the martyrdom of a number of members of the armed forces and the police in the recent terrorist attack in Rafah. "

Syria: cooperate with Iraq to ensure that the return of terrorism

The Syrian government of Iraq and congratulated the Government and people for his victory to defeat al-Daesh from the city of Mosul, from which the official said the Syrian Foreign Ministry source said in a statement that "Syria affirms that it continues the people and the army and the government in cooperation with the people and the government, the army and the crowd popular Iraqi to eliminate the rest of the Daesh terrorist gangs because the mobilization of our common effort in the two countries is the key factor to ensure that the return Daesh or any form of bloody terrorism and all of these countries throughout the region. "

Abadi remains in Mosul to announce the final victory, calling for the coexistence

Since yesterday the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Prime Minister Haider Abadi, continues to meet with military commanders in Mosul to follow-up battles against al Daesh in recent clocks and meeting with representatives of the city's residents waiting for the official announcement of liberation completely stressing the need to prevail coexistence between the people of Nineveh province, all of us.

Abadi involved the citizens of Mosul, celebrating the liberation of their city:

Abadi met at the headquarters of Ninawa Operations Command on Monday morning with a delegation of Christians from the inhabitants of the city of Mosul, in the presence of a number of security leaders. Abadi addressed the delegation, saying that "our ambition is to return all displaced people and people of religions, nationalities and creeds and brothers of them Christians, in particular, to their homes in Mosul, the natural response to Daesh is to live together."

"The diversity of pride for us and must be preserved and foil Daesh scheme, which wanted to dye the Iraqis one color tearing unity that thousands of years ago interbred where" as quoted by his press office said in a press statement followed the "Elaf" .. stressing that "our duty is to protect citizens and provide services to them regardless of their affiliation and in my neck as an administrator dealing with all Iraqis without discrimination, and it must prevail coexistence between the sons of Nineveh ".. calling on everyone to" keep this victory achieved with courage and our heroine Ptdhyateaalgalah. "

For their part, gave the delegation members congratulated victories in Mosul and the courage of the Iraqi forces and the liberation of cities and villages expressing their pride in their diversity of civilization and their keenness on the unity of the Iraqi people and their stability, and their willingness to work and cooperate in order to facilitate the return of all displaced persons and restore security and stability in Mosul.

The Abadi confirmed Mosul last night that the battle in Mosul, only a pocket or two pockets of remnants Daesh was left in front of them, not only a smuggler of death or surrender, so the battle is settled and the great victory by hand.

Abadi praised the high spirit of the fighters and the cooperation of the sons of Mosul and celebrating their victory and the return of normal life on both sides and the return of business activity and the opening of schools and hospitals, and we thank the troops and civil ministerial effort.

He called on all employees to join their jobs .. stressing that restoring stability operations taking place in full swing in parallel with the processes of liberalization, and that the next phase to strengthen security and civil effort in light of the great cooperation of the citizens with our security forces.

Mosul is the second largest city in Iraq was dominated by Daesh on the tenth of June in 2014, but Iraqi forces during the military campaign began on 17 October, from the restoration of the eastern half left of the city on January 24 last and then began on February 19 the last military operation to regain control of the western part of the city right.

[Butifldrm]

Iraqi Prime Minister Arrives in Mosul to Declare Victory Over ISIS

By TIM ARANGO and MICHAEL R. GORDONJULY 9, 2017

Continue reading the main storyShare This Page

Photo

 

Mosul’s old city on Sunday. Iraqi forces have been battling for months to wrest control of the city from ISIS militants. CreditAhmad Al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

MOSUL, Iraq — Dressed in a military uniform, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived here in Mosul on Sunday to congratulate Iraq’s armed forces for wresting the city from the Islamic State. The victory marked the formal end of a bloody campaign that lasted nearly nine months, left much of Iraq’s second-largest city in ruins, killed thousands of people and displaced nearly a million more.

While Iraqi troops were still mopping up the last pockets of resistance and could be facing guerrilla attacks for weeks, the military began to savor its triumph in the shattered alleyways of the old city, where the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, put up a fierce last stand.

Hanging over the declaration of victory is the reality of the hard road ahead. The security forces in Mosul still face dangers, including Islamic State sleeper cells and suicide bombers. And they must clear houses rigged with explosive booby traps so civilians can return and services can be restored.

Mosul was the largest city in either Iraq or Syria held by the Islamic State, and its loss signifies the waning territorial claims of a terrorist group that had its beginnings in the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. The group is also threatened with the loss of its de facto capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa, which is encircled by Arab and Kurdish fighters supported by the United States.

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But the end of the Islamic State’s hold on Mosul does not mean peace is at hand. Other cities and towns in Iraq remain under the militants’ control, and Iraqis expect an increase in terrorist attacks in urban centers, especially in the capital, Baghdad, as the group reverts to its insurgent roots.

 

 

 

 

 

An Iraqi forces sniper looks out Sunday after an airstrike by U.S.-led international coalition forces targeting the Islamic State, in the Old City of Mosul. CreditAhmad Al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“It’s going to continue to be hard every day,” said Col. Pat Work, the commanding officer of the Second Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, which is carrying out the American advisory effort here.

“Iraqi security forces need to be on the top of their game, and we need to be over their shoulder helping them as they move through this transition to consolidate gains and really sink their hold in on the west side,” Colonel Work said as he rolled through the streets of western Mosul recently in an armored vehicle. “ISIS will challenge this.”

The victory could have been sweeter as the Iraqis were denied the symbolism of hanging the national flag from the Grand al-Nuri Mosque and its distinctive leaning minaret, which was wiped from the skyline in recent weeks as a final act of barbarity by Islamic State militants who packed it with explosives and brought it down as government troops approached.

It was at that mosque in June 2014 where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi strode to the top of a pulpit and declared himself the leader of a caliphate straddling the borders of Iraq and Syria, a vast territory where for three years Islamist extremists have governed with a strict form of Islamic law, held women as sex slaves, carried out public beheadings and plotted terrorist attacks against the West.

This past week, as fighting raged nearby, Iraqi soldiers took selfies in front of the stump of the minaret and posed at the spot where Mr. Baghdadi made his speech. Destruction surrounded them, as did the stench of decaying bodies of Islamic State fighters, left to rot in the blazing sun.

 

 

Source: Based on UN Data

 

By Joe Burgess

The battle for Mosul began in October, after months of planning between Iraqis and American advisers, and some Obama administration officials had hoped it would conclude before they left office, giving a boost to the departing president’s efforts to defeat the Islamic State.

Instead, it lasted until now, and it was far more brutal than many expected. With dense house-to-house fighting and a ceaseless barrage of snipers and suicide bombers, the fight for Mosul was some of the toughest urban warfare since World War II, American commanders have said. Iraqi officers, whose lives have been defined by ceaseless war, said the fighting was among the worst they had seen.

“I have been with the Iraqi Army for 40 years,” said Maj. Gen. Sami al-Aradi, a commander of Iraq’s special forces. “I have participated in all of the battles of Iraq, but I’ve never seen anything like the battle for the old city.” He continued: “We have been fighting for each meter. And when I say we have been fighting for each meter, I mean it literally.”

Even as Mr. Abadi arrived here outfitted in the black uniform of Iraq’s elite Counterterrorism Service, Iraqi forces were pressing to erase a pocket of Islamic State resistance by the Tigris River. Speaking from his base in the old city, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, a senior commander in that service, said that the militants’ enclave was about 200 yards long and 50 yards wide and that he expected it to be taken later in the day or on Monday.

After arriving here, Mr. Abadi met with the Federal Police, who have taken significant losses in the battle, and went to visit the joint command overseeing the operation. But in an acknowledgment that the victory he had come to proclaim was not completely sealed, Iraqi officials said the prime minister would not make a public statement until the last patch of Islamic State territory in Mosul was cleared.

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Members of Iraqi Federal Police on Sunday carried suicide belts used by Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul. CreditAlaa Al-Marjani/Reuters

Earlier in the day, a post on Mr. Abadi’s official Twitter account stated that he had come to Mosul “to announce its liberation and congratulate the armed forces and Iraqi people on this victory.”

9 Jul

Haider Al-Abadi 

 

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القائد العام للقوات المسلحة الدكتور حيدر العبادي يصل مدينة الموصل المحررة ، ويبارك للمقاتلين الابطال والشعب العراقي بتحقيق النصر الكبير

 

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PM Al-Abadi arrives in Mosul to announce its liberation and congratulate the armed forces and Iraqi people on this victorypic.twitter.com/bUtkj7z88A

7:18 AM - 9 Jul 2017

 

 

 

Some militants had sought to escape by swimming across the river, but General Saadi said his soldiers had shot them. The general said he had planted the Iraqi flag on the banks of the Tigris on Sunday morning — an act he described as a “special moment” in which he reflected on the many soldiers he had lost in the long battle.

The retaking of the city, by all accounts, came at a great cost. Sensitive to the mounting casualties, the Iraqi government does not disclose how many of its troops have been killed. But deaths among Iraqi security forces in the Mosul battle had reached 774 by the end of March, according to American officers, which suggests the toll is more than a thousand now.

Even more civilians are estimated to have been killed, many at the hands of the Islamic State and some inadvertently by American airstrikes. At least seven journalists were killed, including two French correspondents and their fixer, an Iraqi Kurdish journalist, in a mine explosion in recent weeks.

The Iraqis and their international partners will now be confronted by the immense challenge of restoring essential services like electricity and rebuilding destroyed hospitals, schools, homes and bridges, which were wrecked in the ground combat or by the airstrikes, artillery fire and Himars rocket attacks carried out by the American-led coalition to help Iraqi troops advance.

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Members of the Emergency Response Division rested on Sunday in the Old City of Mosul.CreditAlaa Al-Marjani/Reuters

“When the fighting stops, the humanitarian crisis continues,” said Lise Grande, the deputy special representative for Iraq for the United Nations secretary general.

Western Mosul, especially its old city, where the Islamic State made its last stand, was hit particularly hard, becoming a gray and decimated landscape. As the combat has drawn to a close, thousands of civilians have begun to return. But 676,000 of those who left the western half of the city have yet to come back, according to United Nations data.

It is not hard to see why. Of the 54 neighborhoods in western Mosul, 15 neighborhoods that include 32,000 houses were heavily damaged, according to data provided by Ms. Grande. An additional 23 neighborhoods are considered to be moderately damaged. The cost of the near-term repairs and the more substantial reconstruction that is needed in Mosul has been estimated by United Nations experts at more than $700 million, she said.

In the heart of the old city, craters littered intersections and roadways, marking the places where bombs pummeled the ground, dropped from coalition warplanes. Street after street was covered in soaring piles of rubble, with rebar poking out of shattered masonry.

In a church used as a weapons-making factory by the Islamic State, mortars were lying on the ground next to a pink backpack decorated with a picture of a kitten. When troops unzipped the backpack, they found plastic sachets of a white explosive powder, which they identified as C4 used in militants’ bombs.

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An Iraqi woman, who fled the fighting between government forces and Islamic State jihadists in the Old City of Mosul, waited on Saturday to be relocated. CreditFadel Senna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The military victory in Mosul has come without a political agreement between Iraq’s two largest communities, Sunni and Shiite Arabs, whose stark sectarian divisions led to the rise of the Islamic State. For many members of Iraq’s minority Sunnis, the Islamic State was seen as a protector against abuses they had suffered under Iraq’s Shiite-led government, especially under the former prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

After the Islamic State seized Mosul in 2014, many Sunnis welcomed them. Mr. Maliki was then removed from office, replaced by Mr. Abadi, a more moderate and less sectarian leader, but one widely viewed as weak. Under Mr. Abadi, there has been no meaningful reconciliation.

“I will leave Mosul because it has become a destroyed city,” said Aisha Abdullah, a teacher who endured life under the Islamic State. “In every corner of it there is memory and blood.”

And while the Islamic State, with its harsh rule, alienated many of the Sunni residents it sought to represent, residents said its ideology caught on among some of the population, particularly young men.

“There is no use in reconstructing the city if the people of Mosul don’t change,” Ms. Abdullah said. “There are still many people who assist ISIS, and the acts of violence will never end.”

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Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (third from right) walked alongside police and army officers upon his arrival in Mosul. CreditAgence France-Presse — Getty Images

Marwan Saeed, another Mosul resident, who lives in the city’s east side, which was liberated in January and where life has largely been restored to normal, with schools and shops reopening and most civilians returning home, said he feared for the future, now more than ever.

“Frankly, I’m desperate over the future,” he said. “ISIS destroyed the people’s mentality, and the wars destroyed the infrastructure, and we paid the price. There is no such thing as the phase ‘after ISIS.’ ISIS is a mentality, and this mentality will not end with guns alone.”

Iraqi forces still have to retake several Islamic State strongholds: Hawija and Tal Afar in northern Iraq and a series of towns in Iraq’s Euphrates River valley, stretching from Anah to Qaim.

While this is happening, Syrian fighters backed by American firepower are to complete the taking of Raqqa before moving to surround and kill the militants in Euphrates River towns on the Syrian side of the border.

“Mosul and Raqqa is not the end of it by any stretch of the imagination,” said Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Croft, a senior Air Force officer with the American-led task force that is fighting the Islamic State.

And there is the fear that many Islamic State fighters who were not captured or killed had simply put down their guns and blended in with the civilian population, to live to fight another day.

The wives of Islamic State fighters also pose a risk. In the last week, a woman holding a baby and wearing a long-sleeved robe that disguised a hand-held detonator tried to blow herself up as she approached an Iraqi soldier, said Second Lt. Muntather Laft, a media officer with the Counterterrorism Service.

“Do you know that most of the ISIS fighters have shaved their beards and took off their clothes, and now they are free?” said Zuhair Hazim al-Jibouri, a member of Mosul’s local council.

Reporting was contributed by Rukmini Callimachi and Falih Hassan from Mosul, Omar al-Jawoshy from Baghdad, and an employee of The New York Times from Erbil, Iraq.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/09/world/middleeast/mosul-isis-liberated.html

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This is related... Sort of anyway

Preventing the Rise of ISIS 2.0

A dirty word: "nation-building."

Max Boot / July 10, 2017

 

AP Photo/Hadi Mizban

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On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi traveled to Mosul to claim victory in the battle against ISIS. A few ISIS die-hards remain holed up in Mosul, but he is surely right that the battle over this city, which began nine months ago and has lasted longer than the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II, is more or less finished. (Stalingrad: 200 days. Mosul: 266 days, as of Sunday.)

Seeing the pictures of what Mosul looks like now reminded me of a trip to Ramadi that I took in 2007, almost exactly a decade ago, shortly after its liberation from al-Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Here is what I wrote: “Buildings are either entirely destroyed or badly damaged. Twisted girders jut into the sky. Piles of rubble are everywhere. Water sits in the streets; the water mains have been broken by countless explosions of buried IEDs. There are crater holes from roadside bombs every few feet.”

I was nevertheless optimistic about the outcome in Anbar Province, of which Ramadi is the capital, because simply wresting control of major population centers from al-Qaeda was a major accomplishment that seemed impossible to contemplate even a year earlier. In hindsight, my optimism was misplaced. Not because “the surge” wasn’t successful: it was. What I could not have predicted was that Barack Obama would win the presidency and pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq in 2011, thus creating a power vacuum that allowed AQI to rise from the ashes.

That is a lesson worth keeping in mind today, when ISIS, the latest incarnation of AQI, appears to be on the ropes not only in Iraq but in Syria. Rumors of the organization’s demise have been exaggerated before and, sadly, may be exaggerated today. It has shown the staying power of a particularly virulent form of cancer.

A report from West Point’s Combatting Terrorism Center looked at what happened in 16 Iraqi and Syrian cities that were previously liberated from ISIS control. “From each city’s date of liberation from the Islamic State until April 2017,” the authors find, “the Islamic State reported that it carried out 1,468 separate attacks in these 16 cities.” That’s a lot of attacks for a group that has supposedly been defeated!

What the West Point report suggests is that ISIS will now focus not on controlling territory but, rather, on undertaking terrorist attacks—and not only in Iraq and Syria. To show its continuing relevance, ISIS may now feel more compelled than ever to pull off spectacular terrorist operations in the West. As the New York Times notes, “the Islamic State has partly compensated for its losses at home by encouraging affiliates abroad—in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria and the Philippines—and by activating operatives elsewhere.”

Combatting ISIS operatives abroad will require the usual mix of security and intelligence operations combined with attempts to counter its malign influence in the battle of ideas—to prevent the radicalization of more Western youth. But to prevent ISIS—or another radical Sunni group, such as al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, formerly known as the Al Nusra Front—from rising again in Syria and Iraq it will be necessary to prevent those countries from falling under the grip of Shiite extremists.

That may sound paradoxical, given that radical Sunnis and Shiites slaughter each other, but it’s true that extremists of both sects feed off each other. The existence of one justifies the existence of the other. That is why a key part of the surge’s success in 2007-2008 were the steps that General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker took to strong arm then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki into reaching out to Sunnis and blunting the threat from Shiite extremists. Unfortunately, after the U.S. departure in 2011, we lost any leverage over Maliki, and the result was that he pursued a sectarian agenda that pushed many Sunnis into the arms of a resurgent ISIS.

The battle of Mosul has been hard enough. It will be harder still to prevent this cycle of radicalization from occurring again. Haider al-Abadi is more moderate than Maliki, but Shiite extremists backed by Iran continue to exercise a disproportionate influence in Baghdad. There is every reason to fear that an incompetent, sectarian central government will neglect—or, even worse, oppress—Sunni areas as soon as they have been cleared of ISIS control. Unless Baghdad makes a significant effort to rebuild battered cities like Mosul and to give their representatives a significant say in policymaking, Sunni grievances will fester again, providing a perfect petri dish for the rise of ISIS 2.0.

It will not be easy to avoid such an outcome, and it will require a significant U.S. presence in Iraq going forward. That means not only a diplomatic, intelligence, and political presence but also a military presence. Without having significant forces on the ground it will be hard to counter the Iranian-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. The U.S. will need to champion Sunnis’ legitimate rights and assure them that they will not once again be at the mercy of Shiite ethnic cleansing squads.

And that, in turn, will require the U.S. government to embrace nation-building—a term even more neuralgic for Donald Trump than it was for Barack Obama. Will Trump put aside his campaign rhetoric and commit the U.S. to an active role in Iraq—and Syria—for years going forward? Who can say? But that is what it will take to truly defeat ISIS.

 

[10 YEARS LATER]

Abadi 's HQ must have a revolving door for as many times as he's been up there just recently. 

[csd9013]

#BREAKING #Iraq PM @HaiderAlAbadi OFFICIALLY announces #Mosul completely liberated.

 

Edited July 10, 2017 by csd9013
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