An Update On ISIS Activities

December 28, 2015

December 28, 2015

Noorhan

REPORTS FROM IRAQ

 

Today’s Major Developments:

Iraqi troops take over most of Ramadi, including government complex.

Daesh executes a six-year-old child in Shirqat; executes many more in Ninewa.

1,000 Arab tribal fighters from Kirkuk will join effort to regain Hawija.

Another rumored involvement of US ground troops, in Kirkuk, shot down by US spokesman.

Anti-Daesh Syrian journalist murdered in southeast Turkey.

 

BAGHDAD

Political developments

Iraqi troops and about 1,000 tribal fighters managed to capture most of Ramadi city after over a week of fighting. (See Ramadi report below) Lt. General Abdul Ghani Al-Asadi, the commander of anti-terrorism troops, said Monday that the battle of Ramadi was a “stab in the heart” of the Daesh organization, and that their defenses are falling apart. [Mada]

DaeshDaily comment. Although Iraqi forces now hold most of the city, including the government complex, parts of the city have yet to be liberated and Daesh fighters have retreated into those areas. Whether they will make a stand in the city is unpredictable.

 

Prime Minister Abadi congratulates the Iraqi people on the Ramadi liberation and says Iraq will get rid of Daesh in 2016. [Xendan]

 

A video shows Iraqi people celebrating the liberation of Ramadi. [Facebook]

 

Steve Warren, the Coalition spokesman, said Monday that the US welcomes the liberation of Ramadi by the Iraqi troops. He added that the Coalition played an important part in this victory, by conducting over 600 airstrikes since July. [IraqPress]

 

Parliament Speaker Saleem Al-Jubouri stated on Sunday that the defeat of Daesh in Ramadi should also be the starting point for the liberation of Ninewa, issuing a call to take advantage of the momentum. [Sumaria]

 

The general secretary of the so-called Political Council of Iraq Revolutionaries, considered close to the Baath Party, stated that that it is not their policy to oppose Daesh, although they have different points of view and that frictions with Daesh in the field are sometimes inevitable. He added that Izzat Al-Douri, the leader of the Baath, is somewhere in Iraq but he is not sure where exactly. [Sumaria]

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey is hosting 300,000 Iraqi refugees, as he chastised Iraq for its objections to the controversial Turkish troop deployment in Iraqi territory. Erdogan said in an interview with Al-Arabiya satellite television that while Turkey was offering all this help, Russia and Iran have not made similar gestures. Erdogan said his country’s soldiers, based at Camp Zilkan in Ninewa Governorate, were in Iraq solely for the purposes of training Iraqis to fight Daesh. [Rudaw]

The National Guards law is expected to be passed by the Iraqi Parliament after the end of the current legislative holiday. The law was delayed for over a year by political differences and budget restrictions, but is finally about to be enacted after agreements resolving points of difference among parliamentary blocs. [Mada]

Medhat Al-Mahmud, Chief of the Supreme Judicial Council, stated on Monday that there is not a single corruption case filed against the Iraqi judiciary. He added that 65 judges and prosecution officials have been martyred since 2003, four of them appeals court judges. Many judges lost family members as well, he added. [Sumaria]

DaeshDaily comment. This statement seems to be a response to anti-corruption demonstrators who keep demanding reforms in the judicial system.

 

Iraq’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has announced the decentralization of five of its departments, turning over the administration of its Operations, Loans, Vocational Training, Care for People with Special Needs, and National Center for Occupational Health and Safety functions to the governorates. (This does not affect the KRG, already in an autonomous region.) [AllIraqNews]

 

Security developments

Daesh says its terrorists clashed with Iraqi soldiers in Sayyed Abdullah village in Mahmudiya, killing one soldier and forcing the rest to flee. Daesh also says it detonated a booby-trapped house on Iraqi soldiers in the same area killing three soldiers and wounding others. [ADI]

An Iraqi Army 25th Brigade unit killed a terrorist and defused an IED in Sayyed Abdullah village. [BOC Facebook Page]

 

An Iraqi Army 23rd Brigade unit killed the Daesh military commander of the Ikaidat area in south Baghdad. [BOC Facebook Page]

Daesh publishes 2 photos of destroying an Iraqi Army vehicle in Arab Jabour in south Baghdad. [ADI] Daesh says it targeted an Iraqi Army “source” with an IED in Arab Jabour. [ADI]

 

Daesh says it detonated an IED on an Iraqi Army Humvee in Khtaimiya, near Yusufiyah in south Baghdad, wounding an officer. [ADI]

 

An Iraqi Army 60th Brigade unit killed 2 Daesh terrorists and destroyed 2 sniper positions in Al-Atar in southwest Baghdad. [BOC Facebook Page]

Iraqi forces destroyed a vehicle and killed 2 terrorists in two different operations west of Baghdad. [BOC Facebook Page]

 

According to security sources:

  • One civilian was killed and five wounded when an IED went off in Saba’ Al-Bor in north Baghdad. The bomb was placed in a popular marketplace. [Baghdadia]
  • A sticky bomb attached to a university professor’s car went off Monday morning as he drove through Adhamiya District in north Baghdad. The professor was badly wounded and his son, who was in the car with him, was killed. [Mada]
  • Two persons were killed and six wounded Monday in an IED explosion near a popular restaurant in the Sheikh Omar area in central Baghdad. [Baghdadia]
  • One civilian was killed and six wounded Monday in an IED explosion at a popular market in the Al-Alf Dar neighborhood in New Baghdad District. [Mada]
  • Unidentified armed men shot a policeman and wounded his brother in the Al-Turath area southeast of Baghdad today. Both brothers are displaced from Salahuddin area. [Baghdadia]
  • A former Daesh prisoner led security troops to two Daesh hideouts in the Mada’in District in southern Baghdad Governorate today. IEDs, sticky bombs, RPG 7 launchers, mobile phones, Daesh flags, mortars, machine gun ammunition, SPG 9 rockets, and other ammunition were found in the raid. [Mada]
  • An IED placed near an alcohol shop on Al-Sa’adoon Street in the heart of Baghdad went off, killing one person and wounding seven late Sunday night. [Baghdadia]
  • A terrorist was killed while exchanging fire with the 17th Army troops in Sayed Abdullah village in Mahmudiya south of Baghdad Sunday evening. [Ghad]
  • Two civilians were killed and eight wounded when an IED went off in a popular market in Mahmudiya in southern Baghdad Governorate Monday. [Mada]
  • Four persons were killed by an IED explosion in Hay Al-Amil west of Baghdad near a private electricity generator. The explosion killed the generator owner and three men standing nearby. [Baghdadia]
  • Five soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb went off in Abu Ghraib in western Baghdad Governorate during their patrolling of the area. [Mada]

ANBAR

Ramadi

Iraqi forces control most of Ramadi after expelling Daesh from the governmental complex in the city center, according to a senior military source. Daesh forces reportedly withdrew from parts of the city on Saturday, allowing Iraqi forces to transfer families who were trapped in the besieged city center to the Sufiya area east of Ramadi. The ratio of destruction in infrastructure and properties in the city is at 80%, said the Anbar GC today. The process of clearing IEDs and searching for remaining Daesh fighters in the city is underway. [Mada] [Maalomah] [Rudaw]

Lt. General Abdul Ghani Al-Asadi, anti-terrorism forces commander, stated Sunday that Ramadi is under full control of Iraqi armed forces and that Daesh fighters had escaped eastwards towards the desert of Khaldiya. He added that the engineering units are now clearing the “very heavily booby-trapped areas” of Ramadi. [Ghad]

DaeshDaily comment. Other military sources say Daesh still has fighters in the city, and that parts of the city are not yet controlled by the government. The areas still held by Daesh are mostly on the northern side of the city.

 

Engineering units of the 8th Army Division, Anbar police, and anti-terrorism units started clearing the 300 IEDs planted by Daesh inside the government complex in Ramadi. Most of these IEDs are oxygen bottles filled with C4 and poisonous chlorine gas, distributed throughout the complex and other buildings. [Sumaria] Joint Operations Command announced Monday that engineering units were dismantling IEDs in government buildings in Ramadi after Daesh fighters abandoned the buildings without fighting. [Ghad]

MoD says Daesh planted an IED in each square meter in Ramadi. [MoD Website]

 

Abu Ahmed Al-Alwani, the head of Daesh’s military council, was killed in a military special operation in Anbar along with tens of his command members. [Buratha]

Operations in Anbar have proceeded according to plan and were executed cautiously with the goal of minimizing civilian casualties, the Iraqi government spokesman has said, describing the preparations to take Ramadi as the largest operation undertaken by Iraqi forces since Daesh seized large parts of Iraqi territory in 2014. [Rudaw]

The Ministry of Defense said Monday that tribal mobilization troops will take control of the liberated areas in Ramadi.  Ministry spokesman Naseer Nouri said PMFs did not take part in liberating Ramadi, which was as planned by the Joint Operations Command. Ten battalions of tribal PMFs, five of which have already entered Ramadi, will assume this task. [Ghad]

According to Anbar Operations Command, Iraqi Army and security troops have gained control of the road connecting Albu Farraj and Al-Jazeera bridge alongside the Euphrates river north of Ramadi.[Mada]

A two km road connecting the bridges of Jaraishi and Jazeera along the Euphrates was cleared by the engineering corps on Monday, according to Major General Ismail Al-Mahalwai. Tens of IEDs and roadside bombs were cleared to render the road totally clear. [Sumaria]

A security source says Iraqi forces liberated the House of a prominent Anbari tribal leader, Sheikh Majid Al-Ali Al-Suleiman in Ramadi, killing 16 Daesh terrorists. Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and eight wounded in the fight. [Youm7]

DaeshDaily comment. When Daesh captured Ramadi, its terrorists executed 11 members of the Sheikh family, including his 2 year old granddaughter Noorhan (pictured).

 

A security source says Iraqi forces freed 150 people who were trapped by Daesh terrorists in the Thaila and Qattan areas in Ramadi. [Maalomah]

 

The Anbar Governor says more than 1,000 Daesh terrorists were killed during the Ramadi liberation battles. [Ghad]

 

Wisam Al-Hardan, the leader of the Iraq Sahwa Council, called Sunday for establishing a council of elders in all liberated parts of Anbar to help the government identify Daesh operatives in the post Daesh period. He said that a meeting between security commands and anti-Daesh operatives held at the Habbaniya base did not reach firm decisions for the post-Daesh period. [Sumaria]

 

A video of Iraqi soldiers raising the flag over the governmental compound in Ramadi [Facebook]

A video of Iraqi troops in Al-Hoz area in Ramadi [Yalla]

 

Falluja

Iraqi forces continued their operations south of Falluja and they are a couple of hundreds of meters away from clearing the entire eastern side of the Euphrates. [MoD Website]

 

Baghdad Operations Command arranges a media tour in newly liberated Nuaimiya, 4 km (2.5 miles)from Falluja. [BOC Facebook Page]

 

Iraqi forces killed 18 Daesh terrorists and wounded 10, destroyed 2 vehicles and a hideout, and defused 35 IEDs during the operations south of Falluja. [BOC Facebook Page]

 

Baghdad Operations Command troops killed 5 terrorists in Albu Sawda in Qarma. [BOC Facebook Page]

 

Daesh says it stopped an Iraqi attack on Zoba’a south of Falluja, killing more than 20 soldiers and destroying 2 armored vehicles and 2 bulldozers. [ADI]

 

Hit/Haditha

An airstrike by the Coalition took place in coordination with the 7th Army Division on a Daesh location in Kasarat, between Hit and Baghdadi subdistricts. The strike left 20 Daesh fighters dead, in addition to considerable material damage. [Sumaria]

A security source says Coalition warplanes bombed Daesh in Al-Dolab, killing 5 terrorists. [Sumaria]

 

West Anbar

The MoI says several Daesh high ranking terrorists were killed in two airstrikes, in Akashat and Toubiya, including Alwani, Abdul Rahman Al-Yamani Abu Maisra (a colleague of Zarqawi and Anwar Awlaki) and others, and wounded Abu Anas Al-Samarra’i, a terrorist implicated in the attack on the American consulate in Istanbul. [Sumaria]

A second account of the Akashat story says Al-Samarra’i, the Daesh security commander for the western area, was killed, along with five of his associates. Their headquarters was totally destroyed. [Baghdadia]

 

IWMC said today that Army helicopters have destroyed a workshop for booby-trapping cars in Akashat in Qa’im District. The strike was coordinated with the national intelligence agency.  Mada]

 

SALAHUDDIN

Baiji

Artillery bombardment by Army troops targeting a Daesh gathering in Al-Fatha north of Baiji on Monday left tens of Daesh fighters dead, as well as destroying three military vehicles. [Baghdadia]

An air raid by Iraqi Army helicopters in coordination with Salahuddin Operations Command on Monday against Daesh gatherings in Siniya subdistrict near Baiji left 15 Daesh fighters dead and destroyed 3 vehicles. [Baghdadia]

Four oil tankers belonging to Daesh were destroyed by an Iraqi Air Force strike on Daesh locations near Allas oil field east of Tikrit on Monday. [Baghdadia]

Daesh has changed its command in Allas areas east of Salahuddin province, according to the PMF command. Confirmed intelligence is that the new leader is Hamid Al-Saba’ (alias Abu Khaldoun), who has a notorious history in Salahuddin. He escaped from Baiji after its liberation. [Ghad]

Imam Ali brigades of the PMFs successfully countered an attack by Daesh on their defensive lines in Siniya east of Baiji. Daesh fighters reportedly suffered extensive casualties before their retreat to the desert areas. [Ghad]

A security source says PMFs stopped a Daesh attack near the Strategic Line (oil pipeline) west of Baiji, killing two Daesh terrorists. [Mada]

 

Daesh publishes photos of the battles in the Makhoul Mountains area. [ADI]

DaeshDaily comment. Unlike previous posts, these photos don’t show anything on Iraqi casualties. 

 

Shirqat

Daesh executed a six year-old child by handing him a sticky IED and detonating it remotely in Shirqat, one week after the execution of the child’s father on charges of attacking a Daesh checkpoint and killing two of its fighters. [Sumaria]

Samarra

The IWMC said today that the Iraqi Air Force bombed the house of a terrorist Sunday on Watban Street in Samarra, south of Tikrit. The raid resulted in the destruction of a large workshop for booby-trapping cars and armoring vehicles, as well as a bombed car and 500 containers of C4. [Baghdadia]

The Saraya Al-Salam PMFs have seized the Sherif Abbas area west of Samarra after clashes in which tens of Daesh fighters were killed, a PMF commander said. Engineers are now clearing the area of IEDs and booby-trapped houses. [Harbi]

 

A security source says IFP troops killed 5 Daesh terrorists and destroyed their vehicle in Jazeera Samarra. [Maalomah]

 

Elsewhere in Salahuddin

Local sources in Kirkuk say that eyewitnesses spotted oil smuggling operations by Daesh using modified tankers. The oil is pumped through a 400-meter pipeline from two oil wells 10 km (6 miles) away from Allas oil field. [Mada]

 

DIYALA

Baquba

A joint security, military, and PMF force found an underground workshop for manufacturing IEDs in an abandoned orchard near Abu Dihin village, 35 km (22 miles) northeast of Baquba) on Monday. The workshop contained 14 IEDs ready to use in addition to various explosives.  [Sumaria]

An “electronic” recruiter for Daesh was arrested near Baquba on Monday by a special security force. The recruiter was using social media sites to recruit young people to join the organization. A trap was set that located the recruiter through one of the social media websites. [Sumaria]

A security source says a civilian was killed and three wounded in an IED explosion near a popular restaurant in Al-Khalis, east of Baquba. [Maalomah]

 

Muqdadiya/Abu Saida

The 24-hour curfew in some of the villages north of Muqdadiya District was lifted this morning after the end of a search campaign in nearby orchards following armed attacks on these villages that killed and wounded 7 police and popular mobilization troops. [Sumaria]

Daesh says it shelled Iraqi forces with mortars in two areas in Shahraban, south of Muqdadiya. [ADI]

 

Daesh says its terrorists attacked an Iraqi Army military headquarters in Shahraban with light and midsize weapons, forcing the soldiers to flee. Daesh also says the terrorists planted IEDs in the area and detonated one of them on an Iraqi Army vehicle, killing four soldiers. [ADI]


Northern Diyala

The MoI says security forces found 7 Daesh secret hideouts in the Hawi area in Udhaim. [Maalomah]

Daesh says it detonated an IED on a Badr vehicle southwest of Udhaim, killing three fighters. [A3maq]

 

KIRKUK

Kirkuk’s Arab population has raised a force of 1,000 fighters to participate in the anticipated operations to eject Daesh from the Hawija area and to hold reclaimed territory, a tribal source said. The fighters, to be known as the “Arab Mobilization” were recently trained for two months in Baghdad by the Iraqi Interior Ministry with Italian and American trainers and will be operationally linked to Kirkuk’s police forces, the leader of the Obeid tribe in the area said.

 

There have been conflicting reports as to the possible capture of Abu Omar Al-Shishani, a wanted Daesh commander, in a raid reportedly conducted last week by American and Kurdish forces southwest of Kirkuk city. However, the Coalition spokesman denies that American troops were involved.

Three detainees in that raid have reportedly been transferred to Suleimaniya in the KRG, prompting the Security Committee in CoR to demand that the government investigate the matter and that the detainees be transferred to the control of the central government.

A Daesh commander in Kirkuk was killed in another supposedly American and Kurdish raid in the Riyadh area last Friday, a security source said. The raid targeted Daesh’s sharia court in Kirkuk province as well as its Kirkuk “military council.” Husayn Al-Eisafi, a member of the council, was killed in the raid along with ten of his associates.  [AllIraqNews]

 

Daesh’s Hisbah office started a campaign Monday morning to confiscate satellite dishes from houses and commercial shops in Hawija, after anti-Daesh messages were broadcast by some satellite channels. Daesh also arrested 12 persons who were trying to escape the area held by the terror organization. [Sumaria]

15 persons were arrested by Daesh while trying to escape the Rashad and Riyadh areas toward  Kurdish-held areas. [Mada]

Brigadier-General Khattab Omar Aref has officially become Kirkuk’s Chief of Police. He met with Minister of Interior Mohammed Salim Al-Gabban to discuss all operational and coordinative details of his new post. This seems to fully resolve the impasse between Baghdad and Kirkuk over who had authority to appoint the new Chief. The general was targeted by bombings and assassination attempts when he headed the Kirkuk Rapid Intervention force in his previous position. [Sumaria]

Daesh executed one of its local leaders in Kirkuk Sunday evening. Daham Mohamed Haj was burned to death in Al-Zab subdistrict on charges of treason. [Ghad]

NINEWA

Nineveh Plain

Daesh has renewed its shelling of the Zilkan base in Bashiqa, a security source said, adding that 12 mortar rounds fell on the base on Sunday, killing two members of the National Mobilization Forces and wounding eight others. [Maalomah] Another source says 5 NMFs were killed and 16 wounded in addition to 8 Turkish soldiers wounded. [Ghad]

Daesh publishes a video of rocketing the Zilkan camp in Bashiqa yesterday. Most of the video was taken by a drone. Daesh said yesterday it targeted the camp with 43 rockets and 53 mortar shells. [A3maq] [A3maq]

 

Eleven Daesh fighters were killed today by an artillery bombardment by Peshmerga, said the KDP media spokesman. The Daesh convoy of four vehicles was caught near Tesgofa in Tel Keif District and all vehicles were destroyed. [Mada]

 

A local source says Daesh blew up 10 houses belonging to displaced Yazidi families in Tel Keif. [Maalomah]

DaeshDaily comment. Daesh wants to make sure displaced people can’t go back to their houses even after it’s gone.

 

Makhmur

Iraqi forces are prepared and waiting for orders from Iraqi PM Haider Al-Abadi to begin their assault on Daesh-held areas of Ninewa, the Ninewa operations commander said.

The head of the Ninewa GC security committee, Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Bayati, said that 250 Humvees have been received by Ninewa Command center in Makhmur District in eastern Ninewa to use in the forthcoming liberation of Mosul. The 71st, 72nd , and 92nd  Army brigades and other troops from the 16th Army Division are getting ready in Makhmur for the operation. [Mada] [Mawazin]

Mosul

The head of the Ninewa Provincial Council, Nooraldin Qablan, stated Monday that the number of IDPs from Ninewa is 1.5 Million, the largest total among all provinces. He added that around 100,000 have returned to their home areas after their liberation, apparently a reference to Sinjar primarily. [Sumaria]

DaeshDaily comment. We suspect that such a huge number of people cannot all return that fast.

 

Daesh has executed thirty youths, all under 16, in a public square in Qayara south of Mosul after they reportedly fled the fighting in Ramadi where they had been ordered to fight after being abducted from Mosul and pressed into Daesh’s military service. [AllIraqNews]

 

A local source says Daesh executed tens of civilians, including women and children, in Al-Houd village in Qayara after the people of the village asked Daesh terrorists to leave. [Sumaria]

Another local source says Daesh executed four young men in the village and displaced the people of the village. [Harbi]

Daesh executed eight tribal leaders in a public square in the Bab Al-Tob area of Mosul, on the grounds that they refused to pledge allegiance to Daesh, eyewitnesses and security sources say. [Karemlash]

 

Daesh executed three women in Bab Al-Tob in downtown Mosul for refusing to wear the khimar face covering. The execution was done through something called the “biting machine.” [Mada]

A security source says Daesh executed two more female teachers in Mosul for refusing to teach the Daesh school curriculum. [Ghad]

Daesh publishes photos of beheading 2 men in Ninewa, without even mentioning the exact accusations. [ADI]

Daesh’s Hisbah religious police arrested hundreds of Mosul residents for shaving their beards and wearing their trouser legs too long, both of which violate the codes of dress it has imposed, local sources report, adding that the past two days have witnessed a number of public beatings of several young people, while others have been fined and imprisoned and assigned to religious instruction. [Karemlash]

 

An international coalition drone bombarded a car in the Al-Muthanna neighborhood in north Mosul on Monday, killing four Daesh members including a leader called Muthanna Al-Ifri. [Sumaria]

 

Coalition forces bombed Daesh fighters as they attempted to advance on Peshmerga positions on the Khazer front northeast of Mosul, stopping their advance. [Rudaw]

A KDP official says a high ranking Daesh official, Younes Al-Sabaawi, and his associate were killed in a Coalition airstrike near the 4th Bridge in Mosul. [Rudaw]

Daesh says its terrorists killed two Peshmerga fighters in Aski Mosul. [ADI]

DaeshDaily correction. When we published the story about the You Tube video showing Daesh menacing and abusing a group of Yazidis last week [YouTube], which had spread like wildfire on social media, we mentioned that it was against policy for Daesh to issue videos of these incidents. It now turns out that the scene was staged as part of an anti-Daesh media publication.  We apologize for not exercising our usual level of suspicion.

 

Northwest Ninewa

Daesh publishes 2 photos of targeting a Peshmerga excavator with a 37 mm cannon. [ADI]

 

Other Governorates  

KURDISTAN

A YouTube video shows Peshmerga troops firing a Milan rocket and destroying a vehicle bomb. [IraqPress]

SOUTHERN IRAQ

Diwaniya. Iraqi security forces acting on intelligence reports have arrested three men on terrorism charges in various areas of Diwaniya Governorate. [Mawazin]

 

REPORTS FROM TURKEY

 

Unknown armed men shot dead Syrian journalist Naji Jeref, near a shopping mall in Gazientep, using firearms fitted with silencers, before fleeing the scene, an informed source said. Jeref was known to be anti-Daesh and sympathetic to the Syrian opposition. [Rudaw]

 

REPORTS FROM SYRIA

 

Northeast

Turkish forces entered the Syrian border village of Dayrna Aghi north of Hasaka, deploying 100 meters (100 yards) into Syrian territory, local sources said. The Turkish forces were reportedly heavily armed and traveled in about 80 vehicles. YPG forces reportedly asked villagers to go out with weapons to block the Turkish deployment, but the villagers did not respond. [ARA]

 

Both Daesh and the YPG have made advances in the countryside north of Aleppo, Qasioun reports. Daesh has seized the villages of Koubri, Doudian, and Ghazal, after heavy clashes with opposition fighters on Sunday, with 20 of its fighters killed in its siege of Doudian. Heavy clashes were also reported near Jariz village as Daesh attempted to storm the village. Meanwhile YPG units took control of the village of Shawaghira after clashing with Sunni militia fighters, taking an unspecified number of prisoners. Russian warplanes also struck the village of Shawaghira, and nearby Faisal, wounding a number of civilians. [Qasioun]

Syria Democratic Forces with Coalition air support seized control of the strategic Tishrin Dam and eight nearby villages on the Euphrates River after clashes with Daesh east of Aleppo on Saturday. The SDF launched a campaign to eject Daesh from the area four days earlier. Tishrin Dam is considered one of the most strategic sites in the area and is the primary source of electricity for the surrounding area. [Qasioun]

 

Northwest

A YPG fighter, who participated in the battle, says the Syria Democratic Forces captured the residential compound near the Tishrin Dam killing many Daesh terrorists, including a Moroccan commander, and capturing others. [ARA]

The Turkish Prime Minister repeated his statement about not allowing the YPG to cross to the western side of the Euphrates. He says the DSF troops who captured the Tishrin Dam (and actually crossed the river) are mostly Arabs supported by the Coalition. [Anadolu]

However, Turkish troops moved from Gaziantep heading to the Syrian border. [Cihan]

 

A local source from Manbij says Daesh moved the prisoners it has from the city to an unknown location after executing some of them. The source also says Daesh members and their supporters are leaving the city with their families. [Hawar]

 

Daesh says its terrorists captured Ghazl and Qara Kobri villages in Aleppo’s northern countryside near the Turkish border from Syrian opposition groups. [A3maq]

 

Daesh shelled Tal Aren with mortars, wounding a 17 years old girl. [Hawar]

 

Central and West

A suicide bomber detonated himself and at least one car bomb exploded in the Al-Zahra area of central Homs on Monday, killing at least 32 people and wounding 90 others, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. [AllIraqNews]

 

Syrian planes dropped hundreds of leaflets Monday on several towns and villages near the city of Eastern Ghouta, in the shape of US dollars with the images of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi of Daesh and Abu Mohammed Al-Golani of Al-Nusra. The leaflets called on insurgents to hand over their weapons and surrender to the Syrian Army, and promised food and medical treatment. [Sumaria]

 

Daesh says its terrorists sneaked into Syrian Army posts near Mahin, killing many soldiers and capturing 2 tanks (photos). [ADI]

 

REPORTS FROM OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES

 

Daesh’s leader Awwad Baghdadi publishes an audio message on Saturday. [ADI]

DaeshDaily comment. Although Baghdadi mentioned the Saudi-led Coalition, which might indicate that was the reason for his speech, the more likely reason was to give a morale boost to his supporters after the defeat in Ramadi. The same thing happened after Baiji when Daesh’s spokesman Taha Hamama (AKA Adnani) published a similar speech. In general the theme of the speech was about the victorious victim (everyone is fighting us but we are going to win). He also asked all the Muslims in the world to participate in his war, of course omitting to mention that his terrorists have so far killed tens of thousands of Muslims. 

 

Daesh audio newsletter for today in English.

 

Yemen.  A very interesting recording from a former Daesh sharia official in Yemen. He explains why he and many other Daesh members in Yemen defected. [Archive]

 

Egypt. The Dar Al-Ifta, which issues religious edicts (fatwas) and monitors fatwas issued elsewhere, gave a negative judgment on the speech just given by Daesh leader Al-Baghdadi. It said the speech, which promised attacks on Israel among other points, was a means to recruit new fighters and rebuild the organization’s lost reputation after consecutive defeats in Iraq and Syria. [Sumaria]

 

An unspecified number of Egyptian troops were injured when an IED exploded. It targeted a convoy carrying soldiers to their monthly respite as it passed through the Bir Lahfan area south of Arish in North Sinai, a security source said. [Vetogate]

 

Egyptian security sources in North Sinai have denied reports that Daesh-affiliated Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis killed an Egyptian soldier near a cement factory in central Sinai. [Vetogate] Daesh says it detonated an IED on an Egyptian Army armored vehicle near the Cement Factory in Sinai without mentioning any casualties. [ADI]

 

Egyptian forces defused an IED planted near a secondary school in central Arish. [Vetogate]

 

Libya. Libyan Air Force conducted air raids on Daesh sites in four areas of Benghazi. Sporadic clashes have erupted between the Libyan Army and militia fighters in the Al-Jamiei area and on the road to the 17 February base. [Afrigate]

 

Fighters of the Mujahedin Derna Shura Council clashed with Daesh in multiple areas of the Derna suburbs, using heavy and medium-gauge weapons, with the Shura Council claiming to have stopped a Daesh attack and killed a number of Daesh fighters. [LibyaAkhbar]

 

The Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries has issued a statement rejecting Daesh in areas it controls (Image). [LibyaAkhbar]

 

Iran. A Daesh member known as Haiwa Maraymi has been killed in Iranian Kurdistan, Iranian media has announced without providing specifics. Maraymi, who reportedly joined Daesh in the spring of this year, hailed from the town of Sardasht and formerly lived in Kanimir. [Rudaw]

 

Other countries

Afghanistan. Daesh says it stopped a Taliban attack on its fighters in Nangarhar, killing 11 Taliban fighters and capturing four. [ADI]

 

SOCIAL MEDIA SOURCES

 

Facebook Page of the Day

Rapid Intervention Program from Al-Iraqia TV page

 

Daesh Twitter Accounts of the Day

https://twitter.com/abukatadata

https://twitter.com/ab_2aeh51

https://twitter.com/alngf22

https://twitter.com/FURSAN_043

https://twitter.com/34almalk143

 

 

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