December 9, 2015
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
Today’s major developments:
US suddenly moves 200 Special Operations soldiers to Anbar base.
Dispute over Turkish troops in Ninewa enters third day unresolved.
Turkey displays Kurdistan flag at meeting with Barzani in Ankara.
Deadly suicide bombing targets Shia mosque in east Baghdad.
Ex-Sahwa fighters being kidnapped in Kirkuk.
BAGHDAD
Political developments
The controversy over the Turkish troop deployment in northern Iraq continues to roil Iraq. While KRG President Masoud Barzani was in Ankara to meet top Turkish diplomats, the Iraqi Parliament in Baghdad approved a resolution to denounce the Turkish presence in Ninewa, with 195 members present, according to MP Hoda Sajjad of the National Alliance. Kurdish MPs in the KRG were unable to attend because the KRG airports were closed. [Sumaria]
The Turkish President’s spokesman says Turkish forces are in Iraq to support Iraqi security forces in the liberation of Ninewa Governorate. [Rudaw]
The US-led Coalition has distanced itself from Turkey’s troop deployment in Ninewa, with President Obama’s Special Presidential Envoy for the Coalition Brett McGurk saying in a press conference at the US Embassy that Turkey’s action is not part of the Coalition’s activities in Iraq, which he said were all conducted with the knowledge of the Iraqi government. McGurk added that dialogue between Turkey and Iraq is underway. [Sumaria] [Sumaria]
Meanwhile, the American representative to the UN, Samantha Power, has described Iraq’s position as “sound” in its dispute with its neighbor, saying that the deployment should have had Iraqi approval. Power called for dialogue between the two states and invited their representatives to meet in Washington. [BasNews]
The Kurdistan flag was on display alongside the Turkish flag for KRG President Barzani’s meeting in Ankara with the Turkish deputy foreign minister and other Turkish officials. (photos) [Rudaw]
DaeshDaily comment: Turkey has historically resisted all formal signs of Kurdish nationalism. The appearance of the Kurdistan flag in a meeting between high-level Turkish and Kurdish figures is significant. This gesture seems to reinforce the widespread belief that the Turkish deployment in Ninewa came from a deal between Barzani and Erdogan.
Barzani and top KRG officials also met in Erbil with US Gen. Lloyd Austin and US diplomatic and military officials. [BasNews]
Foreign Affairs Minister Jaafari says after a meeting with Brett McGurk that Iraq used all the possible diplomatic ways with Turkey and now Iraq will go to the UN and the Security Council to stop the Turkish breach. [Sumaria]
A group calling itself the “Death Squads” threatened to attack Turkey’s interests in Iraq if Turkey doesn’t withdraw from Ninewa. [YouTube]
DaeshDaily comment. So, in response to Turkey’s lawlessness, a lawless group wants to attack businesses inside Iraq. That’s not what Iraq needs right now.
The Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry warns its citizens not to travel to Iraq, except the IKR. [Anadolu]
The PYD President say the Turkish move is a “dangerous escalation” and says the troops are more than just trainers. [ROJ]
DaeshDaily comment. The blame game is normal in Baghdad and many have started to criticize Abadi over this issue. Iraqi social media is boiling and blaming the government. Former Saddam supporters are saying this would have not happened if Saddam were still in charge, forgetting of course that Saddam was the first one to sign an agreement allowing Turkey to enter Iraqi to fight the PKK. Arab media outlets are divided. Saudi media are supporting Turkey; Egyptian media are opposing it; but everyone agrees it’s almost impossible to make the Turks leave.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which exists under Turkish military protection and would otherwise not exist, may be a clue. A major orchestrator in the Ninewa scenario is former Governor Nujaifi. The Nujaifi family, for generations, advocated for annexing Mosul to Turkey. A separate Ninewa Sunni entity under Turkish protection would take a lot of territory from Iraqi control, and all of Ninewa’s non-Sunni northern areas could be handed over to Barzani and the KRG without Iraq being able to do anything about it.
Military developments
Brett McGurk, President Obama’s special envoy to the Coalition, has announced that the Coalition is considering deploying American ground troops alongside Iraqi forces in the battle against ISIS, without specifying details. The diplomat also said that recent media reports claiming an “Arab Islamic” force of thousands of soldiers will arrive in Iraq were false, saying this is a matter for the Iraqi government to decide. McGurk also said that $10 million had been set aside for rebuilding Anbar Governorate after seizing it from Daesh control. [Mada] [BasNews]
DaeshDaily comment. It does not appear from McGurk’s remarks that he is referring to the reported additional personnel just sent to the US base in Anbar. (See below).
A suicide bomber detonated himself in the Ahl al-Bayt Husseiniya (Shia) mosque in the Obeidi area in east Baghdad, killing at least seven and injuring at least twenty-two. The casualty figure is expected to climb due to the intensity of the blast. [Mada]
Daesh claims responsibility for the suicide attack in Obeidi. [Dump]
A member of the Baghdad GC says many armed groups are using their status as PMFs to move freely in Baghdad and conduct criminal activities. He warns that Daesh might do the same. [IraqPress]
Present camps for displaced persons are unsuitable for the coming winter conditions, CoR Speaker Saleem Al-Jubouri has said. He called for measures to ensure that the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons are safe. The problems faced in ensuring that displaced Iraqis can return to their areas are not only security issues, he said but also “socio-political” issues.
The Speaker also called for a “joint tribal-religious committee” with wide representation in Iraq and support from the central government and the United Nations to “end the problems between different parties” in Iraq, linking these divisions to the problem of terrorism in the country. [Sumaria]
The American Embassy in Baghdad says one of Daesh’s leaders, Wissam Al-Zubaidi, who participated in the Speicher massacre, was killed in an American airstrike on Derna in Libya on November 13. [Ghad]
An Iraqi Army 23rd Brigade unit found 4 IEDs and other explosives in the Manari and Baijiya areas in south Baghdad. [BOC Facebook Page]
The MoD publishes a video of an IAF plane conducting a sortie on Daesh locations. [MoD Website]
Daesh says it killed a PMF commander, his son, and five of his associates by blowing up his vehicle with an IED in Tarmiya in north Baghdad. [JustPaste]
Daesh says it destroyed an Iraqi Army Humvee with an IED in Tarmiya. [JustPaste]
Daesh says it blew up an Iraqi Army Humvee in Arab Jabour in south Baghdad yesterday. [A3maq]
An Iraqi 22nd Brigade unit defused 3 IEDs and destroyed 2 hideouts in the Al-Zor area in northwest Baghdad. [BOC Facebook Page]
An IFP unit confiscated 37 rockets in the Khawalid area west of Baghdad. [BOC Facebook Page]
An Iraqi Army 24th Brigade unit clashed with a Daesh group in the Abadi area west of Baghdad, killing 3 Daesh terrorists and destroying a machine-gun-carrying vehicle. [BOC Facebook Page]
Coalition planes conducted 18 sorties on Tal Afar, Shirqat, Mosul and Ramadi, killing many Daesh members and destroying 7 shelters, 8 rocket launchers, 15 locations, 2 weapons storehouse, 4 vehicles (including 2 vehicle bombs), 15 barricades, a tunnel, 2 gatherings, 16 hideouts and 2 heavy machine guns. [IWMC Report]
According to security sources:
- An IED exploded near a commercial area of Griaat in north Baghdad, killing one person and injuring seven others. [Mada]
- Unknown armed men dressed in black and driving four-wheel drive vehicles abducted a doctor who works in a pediatric hospital in the Iskan area north of Baghdad.
- An IED exploded near the Nahrawan intersection in southeast Baghdad, killing two people and wounding six others. [Mada]
- An IED exploded on a passing police patrol in the Arab Jubour area of Dora, south Baghdad, killing one officer and injuring four others. [Mada]
- A civilian was injured in a roadside IED explosion in an unspecified area of south Baghdad. [Sumaria]
- Armed men raided a money changer’s office in Al-Amal al-Shaabi Street in the western Ameriya district of Baghdad, making off with around 20 million Iraqi dinars ($18,000 USD). [Sumaria]
- One person was killed and another injured when a sticky IED exploded on a civilian vehicle, also in Ameriya. [Mada] [Baghdadia]
- An IED exploded near a sheep market in Suwaib, west of Baghdad, killing one and injuring four others. [Mada]
ANBAR
Ramadi
Two hundred American soldiers have reportedly arrived at the Ayn Al-Asad base west of Ramadi, an Anbar Operations Command source said. “American Army planes touched down at Ayn Asad Airbase and transported 200 American Special Forces soldiers,” the source told Al-Mada Press, adding that “these planes also transported arms and ammunition.”The source gave somewhat inconsistent comments on this development, saying that the US personnel will engage in combat in the battle to retake Ramadi from Daesh, but also saying that US forces will have a combat role in clearing areas around the base, securing the territory to prevent Daesh fighters from approaching, and destroying hidden Daesh positions. [Mada]
Meanwhile, Iraqi forces have continued their clearing operations in Ramadi, raising the Iraqi flag over the former presidential palace north of the city, the Anbar Operations commander said. This followed yesterday’s announcement that the former Anbar Operations Command center had been cleared from Daesh’s presence. An Anbar Police battalion has been transferred to the Tameem area to hold the area after it came under government control yesterday. [Sumaria] [Mada]
Iraqi forces killed 3 Daesh terrorists hiding in the former Anbar Operations Command headquarters. [IWMC Report]
Videos of the IWMC chief arriving at the former Anbar Operations Command headquarters [YouTube] [YouTube]
Anti-Terrorism troops found a weapons and rockets storehouse, 3 weapon caches and a car bomb factory in Tameem. [IWMC Report]
Coalition airplanes bombed 17 targets in the Amarat residential compound in Tameem. [IWMC Report]
Coalition aircraft flew 8 sorties on different areas in Ramadi District killing an unknown number of terrorists and destroying 3 weapons storehouses, 2 heavy machine guns, 11 hideouts, 15 barricades and 8 gatherings in addition to killing 14 terrorists near the former headquarters of the Anbar Operations Command and the Warrar Bridge. [IWMC Report]
Daesh members are retreating to positions inside Ramadi city as Iraqi forces destroy their defensive positions surrounding the city, an Anbar Operations Command source said. He said Iraqi forces killed 26 Daesh members and destroyed tens of vehicles in battles to clear the southern and western sectors around Ramadi. [Mada]
Daesh is compelling civilian families to stay in the city under penalty of death, an Anbar police source said, adding that the organization is using the civilians as human shields. [Sumaria]
Coalition planes with Iraqi ground support launched strikes on Daesh targets in Albu Dhiab and Albu Aitha north of Ramadi, the Anbar Operations Commander says, reporting that 65 Daesh members were killed in the attacks. [Sumaria]
Iraqi forces mortared areas north of Ramadi and destroyed 2 Daesh vehicle bombs in Albu Farraj. [IWMC Report]
The IAA and Coalition aircraft stopped a Daesh attack on Iraqi forces near the Palestine Bridge, killing 13. [IWMC Report]
Iraqi forces defused 4 IEDs near the Palestine Bridge. [IWMC Report]
Iraqi forces cleared more areas in Humaira southeast of Ramadi and defused four IEDs. [IWMC Report]
Iraqi forces killed a Daesh Moroccan terrorist and 3 of his associates in a hideout in Humaira. [IWMC Report]
Iraqi Rapid Intervention Division forces, part of the IFP, launched attacks on Daesh positions in East Hsaiba, killing 11 members of the organization in fighting that lasted for two hours. The IFP commander added that his forces had cleared several houses of Daesh control. [Baghdadia] [Sumaria]
Anbar Operations Command artillery killed 11 Daesh fighters while they were planting IEDs near the water station in Wasitiya in Ramadi city. [IWMC Report]
IFP troops stopped a Daesh attack east of Ramadi, killing 8 terrorists and destroying a vehicle and destroying or defusing 18 IEDs. [IWMC Report]
Daesh says 5 civilians were killed and 15 wounded in the airstrikes on Ramadi, including women and children (photos and a video). [JustPaste] [A3maq]
Falluja
IAF planes destroyed a Daesh vehicle in the Albu Hatim village near Falluja city, killing its occupants, and destroyed a munitions cache in the same area, the IWMC announced. [Mada] [Baghdadia]
A Rapid Intervention sniper killed a Daesh terrorist in Nuaimiya. [BOC Facebook Page]
Coalition airplanes destroyed a big Daesh weapons storehouse in Dwailiba east of Ameriyat Al-Falluja on the Euphrates. [IWMC Report]
The IWMC says the IAF destroyed a Daesh vehicle and a weapons cache in Falluja District and killed several terrorists. [PUKMedia]
Daesh publishes photos of the results of the bombing on Falluja last night and says there were no human casualties. [JustPaste]
Baghdad Operations Command troops killed 13 Daesh fighters and destroyed a motorcycle in Qarma District. [BOC Facebook Page]
Hit/Haditha
Jazeera Operations Command troops defused 40 IEDs and 15 booby-trapped houses in the Baghdadi area. [IWMC Report]
Coalition airplanes killed 8 Daesh terrorists and destroyed 2 boats in the Suainikh village near Albu Hayat. [IWMC Report]
Coalition airplanes destroyed a Daesh hideout in the Dolab area, killing 9 Daesh fighters including foreigners. [IWMC Report]
Western Anbar
Photos of families fleeing Daesh-held areas in western Anbar, some after paying a sum to the organization to buy permission to leave Daesh territory [Sumaria]
Daesh publishes a detailed video of an attack on Iraqi forces in west Anbar. The attack included a teenage Syrian suicide terrorist blowing up a vehicle bomb. [Archive]
SALAHUDDIN
Baiji
Dijla Operations Command troops, supported by the IAF, killed many Daesh terrorists and destroyed 3 vehicles in Zarqa in north Salahuddin. [IWMC Report]
The IAF destroyed a Daesh foreign terrorists’ guesthouse and killed 12 fighters in Msahaq village north of Baiji. [IWMC Report]
Salahuddin Operations Command troops killed 15 Daesh terrorists in the Makhoul Mountains area and were shelling Iraqi forces with mortars near the Shirqat Bridge, which connects northern Baiji District to Shirqat. [IWMC Report]
Iraqi forces rocketed Daesh in the Makhoul Mountains area destroying a hideout and a construction shovel. [IWMC Report]
Daesh publishes a video of the battles in the Makhoul Mountains area. [Archive]
Videos of PMFs in the Makhoul Mountains area. [Harbi] [Harbi]
Iraqi PMF forces killed a Daesh member in an ambush near the Makhoul Mountains, and found after his death that that he had been carrying a Kalashnikov, a hand grenade, and a pen rigged with explosives. [Sumaria]
Elsewhere in Salahuddin
Iraqi Federal Police, supported by the IAF, conducted a large military campaign near the Ajil area in the Himrin Mountains, killing many terrorists and destroying 2 heavy machine guns. [IWMC Report]
DIYALA
Baquba
Daesh publishes a video of an attack on a late Sahwa leader’s house in Buhriz just south of Baquba that killed members of his family. Daesh brings up what was reported in the Iraqi media about clearing the Buhriz orchards and says it was all lies. [DabiqNews]
DaeshDaily comment. The leader was killed in June and now Daesh targets his family. Daesh published a report about this attack last week.
Security forces and Peshmerga and PNF militiamen in Diyala Governorate are reinforcing defensive positions along the banks of the Diyala River northeast of Baquba in villages extending toward Muqdadiya, in a bid to prevent Daesh from infiltrating to establish pockets from which to attack villages and tribal fighters in the area, a Diyala security source said. [Sumaria]
Muqdadiya/Abu Saida
An IED exploded in the rural Abu Saida area, killing a farmer working his fields, prompting an MP from Diyala to call for Dijla Operations Command to put an end to this kind of violence, which has killed tens of civilians in Diyala in the past year. [Sumaria]
Daesh says it destroyed 3 Iraqi Army vehicles near Imam Wais, a village north of Muqdadiya. Daesh also says its snipers targeted policemen in Imam Wais killing one of them and wounding two. [JustPaste]
Iraqi forces defused 15 IEDs in the Albu Hishma area south of Muqdadiya. [IWMC Report]
Daesh says it killed a Shia (civilian) with an IED in Abu Saida. [JustPaste]
Northern Diyala
Daesh publishes photos of Iraqi Army vehicles destroyed by a parked car bomb in Mtaibija in the Udhaim area. [JustPaste] Daesh says 5 PMFs were killed in the explosion. [JustPaste]
Daesh says it detonated an IED on a PMF patrol in another area in Udhaim, killing three PMFs and wounding one. [JustPaste]
Daesh says its terrorists attacked an Iraqi JOC barracks in Shahraban wounding two soldiers. [JustPaste]
KIRKUK
Coalition jets launched heavy strikes in the Hawija area, killing or wounding numerous Daesh fighters, a Kirkuk security source said. He added that security forces in Kirkuk have directed all civilians in Hawija and other Daesh-held areas to leave for Kirkuk city, and said that “a large number” of families had left the Hawija, Al-Abbasi, and Al-Zab areas already and relocated to Kirkuk. [BasNews]
Unknown armed men abducted as many as seven former Sahwa members in Hawija in separate kidnapping attacks the last 24 hours in various areas of the District, a local tribal source said, while a security source said the grandson of a water and juice bottling company owner was abducted in central Kirkuk and a barber was also taken in a separate raid. [BasNews]
The Kirkuk police commander says the special committee formed by PM Abadi to investigate the assassination of the head of the Arab bloc in Kirkuk GC has finished its work and submitted its report to the Prime Minister. [Sumaria]
A security source says clashes erupted between Daesh local and foreign fighters in Hawija after a failed attack on Tuz yesterday. [Ghad]
Daesh publishes two photos of shelling PMFs in the Shamsiya village in Daquq with a 57mm cannon. [JustPaste]
NINEWA
Mosul
Daesh executed a secondary school teacher east of Mosul after she allegedly refused to teach the Daesh curriculum. [BasNews]
Kata’eb Al-Mosul say its fighters shot at a Daesh vehicle and killed 3 terrorists near Tel Keif. [KM Facebook Page]
A local source says Daesh executed four of its Russian terrorists in the Ghizlani camp south of Mosul, accusing them of spying for Russia. The source says one of the executed was Daesh’s intelligence officer in Ninewa. [Sumaria]
Daesh says a child was killed and three civilians wounded in a Coalition drone airstrike on the left coast (east) in Mosul. [A3maq]
Northwest Iraq
A local source says unknown armed men shot and killed a Daesh Yemeni commander in Wana northwest of Mosul. [Maalomah]
Other Governorates
KURDISTAN
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Suleimaniya against the Turkish troop presence in Ninewa. The demonstrations were organized by the Kurdistan Society Freedom Movement and attended by former President Talabani’s wife and several PUK officials. [ROJ]
DaeshDaily. This is a significant political development, as it shows clearly that Barzani and the KDP are politically isolated on this issue within the KRG.
The KRG issues a statement saying it supports all military operations against Daesh but that should not be a reason for Russia to violate Kurdistan airspace and stop flights in the KRG airports. [Sumaria]
Turkish airplanes bombed two PKK villages in the Qandil Mountains in Erbil Governorate, an Erbil security source said. [Baghdadia]
DaeshDaily comment. The timing of this attack might raise political suspicions. Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish opposition party, was in Suleimaniya to meet with Jalal Talabani when the airstrikes happened. Once he heard the news, he left without holding the meeting. As Erdogan likes to paint Demirtas as a bedfellow of the PKK, it’s not far-fetched to wonder if the timing of the bombing was intended to embarrass Demirtas.
REPORTS FROM TURKEY
Another report from our friend in Turkey:
A translated article which appeared in yesterday’s (December 8) edition of Turkey’s left-wing Bir Gün newspaper (which has pro-Moscow and pro-Assad leanings) may be of interest. In it, Erk Acarer interviews a founding member of the Turkmen Brigades in Syria, concentrating on Turkey’s role in training and arming them. Full translated article could be found here.
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
Northeast
Daesh has released a group of 25 Assyrian Christian captives who were earlier abducted from the Tal Tamr village near Hasaka, the Assyrian Human Rights network has said. [BasNews]
DaeshDaily comment. Recent stories have revealed that releases of Assyrian prisoners are tied to large ransoms being paid to Daesh for each person released.
Daesh publishes photos of the battles with the YPG east of Ain Eissa. [JustPaste]
Northwest
Clashes continue between the YPG on one side and Nusra Front and Ahrar Al-Sham on the other side in Aleppo’s northern countryside. [Hawar] [Hawar] [ARA]
Central and West
Daesh publishes photos of the battles against the Syrian Army near Al-Qaryatayn. [JustPaste]
Daesh says its terrorists sneaked into the mountains near Mahin in western Homs Governorate and killed nine Syrian soldiers and captured their military positions and storehouses there. [Dump] [A3maq]
East
Several Daesh terrorists were killed in a Coalition airstrike on an oil field in Deir Ez-Zor. [Qasioun]
Daesh publishes photos of the battles near the Deir Ez-Zor airport. [JustPaste]
REPORTS FROM OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Daesh audio newsletter for today in English. [Archive]
Egypt. Daesh says it destroyed two Egyptian police armored vehicle in Arish, killing the policemen inside them. [A3maq]
Daesh also says it destroyed an Egyptian Army mine destroyer south of Rafah in north Sinai. [A3maq]
Libya. A military source says Libyan planes launched airstrikes on Daesh locations in Benghazi Tuesday night. [AfriGate]
Daesh issues a statement saying 9 of its non-Libyan fighters were killed in the airstrikes. [AfriGate]
Daesh says it detonated an IED near a police station in Derna. [JustPaste]
SOCIAL MEDIA SOURCES
Facebook Page of the Day
Xendan news agency page
Daesh Twitter Accounts of the Day
https://twitter.com/goldentree75
