March 28, 2016
Today’s Major Developments
Iraq condemns deadly Easter Sunday terrorist attack against Pakistani Christians.
Al-Sadr publicity offensive moves to one-man Green Zone sit-in.
Army captures two areas south of Hit.
Daesh member confesses to organizing Babel soccer field attack; but concerns expressed about sectarian retaliation incidents.
Qayara ground attack delayed by bad weather, but Coalition pounds Daesh targets.
Syrian Army is in control of Tadmur (Palmyra).
Al-Azhar study says 55% of Daesh recruits are teen-agers.
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
BAGHDAD
Political developments
The CoR voted that Thursday is the deadline for Prime Minister Abadi to present his new government. [Sumaria]
The Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs issued a statement condemning the terrorist attack in Lahore against Christians celebrating Easter. The Ministry says media outlets and funding sources that support terrorism should be shut down. [Sumaria]
A Sadrist leader says Moqtada Al-Sadr refused to meet with high ranking Iraqi politicians in his tent in the Green Zone. Moqtada started a one man sit-in inside the Green Zone on Sunday. [Sumaria]
A statement by the Prime Minister’s office ordered all military units and the Ministry of Immigration and the Displaced to take all necessary measures to shelter the IDPs of the liberated areas. The statement said that this comes in response to the Ninewa liberation operations, and the Falluja operations that will start shortly. [Mawazin]
Three money exchange offices transferring moneys to Daesh controlled areas were detected by the economic intelligence units with the cooperation of the Central Bank, the MoI said. [Sumaria]
Rusafa Criminal Court sentenced a man to life imprisonment for blowing up a mosque in Baghdad. The attack did not leave any human casualties. [Ghad]
The UK said that 30 additional soldiers will be deployed in Taji and Basmaya camps to provide training on defusing explosives and on medical aid, according to the military attaché office of the British Embassy in Baghdad. [AIN]
Security developments
Saraya Al-Salam militia units, affiliated with the Sadrist movement, were extensively deployed in Sadr City in east Baghdad in preparation for a large demonstration in support of Al-Sadr expected today. [Ghad] It seems, however, that no demonstration actually occurred.
An eyewitness account direct to DaeshDaily reports that SWAT vehicles were placed all over Palestine Street, Shaab Stadium Road, and Mohammed Al-Qasim expressway, spaced 50 meters or less apart, causing major traffic delays in Baghdad Monday morning, especially in Rusafa.
Saad Al-Mutalibi, a member of Baghdad Provincial Council security committee, said that the current political chaos and the need to concentrate security forces in the middle of Baghdad to keep order has allowed organized crime activities to return, mainly kidnapping and armed robbery. [Mawazin]
Mahmudiya court announced that security forces arrested a big group smuggling oil in “modified” tankers. [Ghad]
54th army brigade located a cache of artillery shells and propellers in Abu Ghraib, while 22nd and 23rd brigades defused 5 IEDs in Tarbulia, Akaidat, and Tal Al-Samar north of Baghdad, the BOC said. 60th brigade killed one terrorist and wounded another in Al-Ubaid, south of Baghdad. [Mawazin ]
West Baghdad Operations announced it was stopping all military activities due to weather conditions. [Mawazin]
Security-related incidents reported
Northeast Baghdad
An IED exploded in Al-Shaab, wounding two civilians. [Ghad]
East Baghdad
Armed men kidnapped a civilian after stopping his car in Talibiya. [Sumaria]
Armed men threw a hand grenade at the house of a school headmistress in Sadr City. [Ghad]
Southeast Baghdad
An IED placed in a commercial area in Zafaraniya killed two civilians and wounded six others. [Mada]
South Baghdad
An IED placed near a popular restaurant in Camp Sarah killed one civilian and wounded seven others. [Mada]
Bodies of three men shot to death were found behind a vegetable market in Abu Dsheer, in Dora. [Mada]
Bodies of two men shot to death were found in an empty yard in Sadr Al-Yusufiyah. [Maalomah]
An IED placed in a market in Mahmudiya killed two civilians and wounded seven others. [Mada]
West Baghdad
A retired army officer shot two armed men dead as they tried to break into his house in Saidiya, while the others escaped. [Sumaria]
An automobile spare parts shop owner and a worker were killed by armed men with silencers in Al-Jihad neighborhood. [Mada]
A sticky bomb attached to a car of an army captain exploded, killing him as he drove in Ghazaliya. [Mada]
An IED went off in the Hameed Shaaban area in Abu Ghraib, killing one civilian and wounding five others. [Maalomah]
Total Baghdad incidents reported: 12 (Not an overall total)
The Combined Joint Task Force said that 14 airstrikes were executed in Iraq and Syria on March 27, ten of them in Iraq. It said that the strikes were near 4 major cities and destroyed a security headquarters, 5 tactical units, and a storage facility. In Syria, attacks near Mare’ and Manbij targeted 7 fighting positions and two tactical units (details). [CJTF]
ANBAR
Falluja
A meeting was held in the Green Zone between a delegation headed by the Governor of Anbar, Suhaib Al-Rawi, and security/tribal commands to discuss the liberation of Falluja. The delegation will meet the Prime Minister tomorrow. [Maalomah]
4 terrorists were killed and 4 wounded by the 14th army division in Albu Shijil, Qarma, and Taqsim sector, the BOC said. Meanwhile, the 1st Rapid Intervention force killed 17 Daesh terrorists, wounded 16 others, defused a car bomb, and destroyed a vehicle and two fighting positions in the Hitawiyeen, Andalus, Abu Rudaini area. A terrorist was killed in Bustan Al-Tikriti by the 55th brigade. [Mawazin]
A survivor from Daesh in Falluja said Daesh executes whoever tries to escape Falluja, and throws their bodies into the Euphrates. Daesh has tried to cover this policy by spreading rumors that those people committed suicide because of the governmental siege. [AIN]
DaeshDaily comment. This theme (people are committing suicide because of the government siege) is very popular in the “incubator” media these days. Many Arab media outlets are trying to show that the government is punishing Falluja people collectively. They forget to mention that it is Daesh that prevents people from leaving. They also forget that Haditha has suffered for around two years from a Daesh siege.
Ali Al-Faris, Chairman of Anbar Tribal Council, said that US pressure is delaying the recovery of Falluja, though he cannot understand the reasons behind that. [Mawazin]
PMF media said that the Ansar Al-Marji’ya brigade of the PMF opened three safe routes for the Falluja population to evacuate the city, and will build a camp and provide food and medical supplies there. [Harbi]
Risalyun regiment of the PMF intercepted a Daesh convoy of 7 vehicles, destroying two of them, a PMF source said. [Harbi]
An IED placed near a building materials shop in Dhira’ Dijla, north of Qarma, killed one civilian and wounded three others. [Maalomah]
Ramadi
Governor Al-Rawi announced that a team of foreign experts arrived in Ramadi to remove IEDs and war remains that could not be removed through local efforts. He said that coordinated efforts with the central government and the international coalition made this possible without any cost to the local government. [Sumaria]
Army artillery shelled a house in Jazeera Khaldiya, killing four Daesh terrorists and destroying a Daesh vehicle. [Maalomah]
Kornet missile units operating with the 10th and 14th army divisions destroyed two Daesh vehicles carrying machine guns in Jaraishi and Albu Ubaid, the JOC said. [Harbi]
Engineering units of the 16th division defused 15 IEDs and destroyed 5 in Al-Aramel neighborhood while the Kornet unit destroyed a booby-trapped shovel in Albu Taiban. The 76th brigade found a weapons cache in a Daesh guesthouse in Zangoura containing 3 rifles, 31 60mm and 11 82mm mortar shells, AA 23.5mm ammunition, an SPG9 rocket, 29 IED rods, and 14 IED pressure units. 3rd IFP battalion killed three terrorists who tried to sneak into Husaiba from Jazeera Khaldiya, the JOC said. [Harbi]
Hit/ Kubaisa
The areas of Ma’imara and Hawtha south of Hit were liberated by army units, who killed 17 Daesh terrorists after fierce battles, Tribal Mobilization of Anbar said. [Mada]
Army Aviation (IAA) helicopters killed 7 Daesh terrorists and destroyed three vehicles in an attack on a Daesh gathering in the middle of Hit, according to Lt. Aysar Al-Ubaidi, Tribal Mobilization intelligence officer in Albu Ubaid. [Maalomah] The lieutenant also said that IAA helicopters attacked a Daesh hideout in Hit, killing Abu Sayyaf Al-Tunisi and several others. [Maalomah]
Heavy rains and humidity detonated tens of IEDs at the entrances to Hit, as well as inside and south of the city, a source in Anbar security said. [Sumaria]
Two army battalions and one IFP battalion were moved from Khaldiya and Ramadi to hold liberated lands in Kubaisa and surroundings, a source in Anbar Operations Command (AOC) said. The battalions will also provide fire and back support for the advancing units. [Mada]
Daesh says the commander of Hit Tribal Mobilization forces, Colonel Yousef Al-Nimrawi, was killed in a booby-trapped house in Kubaisa. [A3maq]
A security source says a booby-trapped house exploded in Kubaisa, killing Colonel Yousef Al-Nimrawi from Anbar Police and an army lieutenant and a tribal fighter, and wounding three others. [Sumaria]
Sheikh Na’eem Al-Qa’ood of the Albu Nimr tribe says that tribal forces from all over Hit, Kubaisa, Baghdadi and Haditha are ready to contribute to the liberation of Hit. He said that the tribes are well aware of Daesh battle methods and tactics. He said that the Coalition is playing a major role in destroying Daesh supply lines, and their vehicles and equipment, and that Daesh morale is at its lowest. [Mada]
7th army division found an IED workshop at the municipal council building in Kubaisa containing 40 20-liter and 8 100-liter containers packed with explosives, and destroyed 6 IEDs on side streets. It also found a second workshop in a house in the city, containing 5 oxygen cylinders and 5 explosives containers, as well as 11 Jahannam shells, rocket launching pads, detonators, and fuses. 9 booby-trapped houses were defused by the engineering units, Joint Operations Command said. [Harbi]
A video of Iraqi forces in Kubaisa city [YouTube]
Haditha
Coalition warplanes attacked a Daesh gathering, destroying two vehicles and killing all terrorists inside them east of Baghdadi. Daesh was planning to attack the Majid checkpoint in Baghdadi from Jabriya village when attacked, a source in 7th army division said. [Sumaria]
Daesh says its snipers killed two Iraqi soldiers in the Albu Hayat area east of Haditha. Daesh also says its terrorists shelled Iraqi troops in the area with mortars. [JustPaste]
SALAHUDDIN
Shirqat
Suqoor Al-Shirqat, an armed group operating inside Shirqat, killed 3 Daesh terrorists in Dorat Al-Souq, a security source said. [Maalomah]
Baiji
The IFP commander says his troops killed 4 Daesh terrorists and destroyed a vehicle carrying a machine gun near the Harariyat area in Baiji district. [Sumaria]
Samarra
The IFP commander says his troops stopped a Daesh attack north of Thirthar, killing 25 Daesh terrorists and destroying 3 vehicle bombs. [Sumaria]
A video of 2 Daesh terrorists captured near Thirthar Lake. [YouTube]
Photos of Daesh tunnels found by the Saraya Al-Salam militia of the PMF in Jazeera Samarra. [AIN]
Tooz
A civilian was kidnapped by armed men in the middle of Tuz Khurmatu, a security source said. [Ghad]
DIYALA
Northern Diyala
An explosives team defused an IED placed on an agricultural road in Udhaim, according to Major General Jasim Al-Saadi, commander of Diyala Police. [Sumaria]
KIRKUK
Hawija
Daesh executed a man in a public square in Hawija on charges of cooperating with security forces, local sources said. [Maalomah]
A JOC source says the Daesh sharia judge of Kirkuk was killed by an Iraqi airstrike in Riyadh in Hawija District. [Harbi]
NINEWA
The Ninewa Governor says around 2,000 members of the Saddam-era army joined the tribal fighters and they ask the US troops to arm them in order to fight Daesh. [BasNews]
DaeshDaily comment. It’s not clear how many of these men were in the ranks and how many in the officer corps. As far as we know, most of the Saddam army’s officers in Ninewa either joined Daesh to help them against the government or were executed by Daesh. Support from ex-Army officers in Ninewa was instrumental in Daesh’s takeover of much of Iraq. So if we are now to believe that all these 2,000 guys were against Daesh all the time, then how was Daesh able to capture all that territory and kill so many people? Do we sound slightly suspicious?
Daesh issues a video message threatening Barzani and Erdogan. Daesh beheaded a Peshmerga fighter in the video and threatened to kill three others who appeared in the video. [Isdarat]
Makhmur/Qayara
Joint Operations Command said that Coalition warplanes executed 65 attacks on 19 different target areas in Ninewa, concentrating especially on the Makhmur/Qayara area. The attacks killed 97 terrorists and destroyed 6 gatherings, 14 gathering locations, 3 vehicles, a command center, a weapon storehouse, 5 mortars, a tunnel, a part of a bridge, two mortar positions, 2 heavy machine guns, 4 defensive positions, and 2 cannons. [Harbi]
A medical source in Ninewa said that Qayara hospital received 80 dead bodies of Daesh terrorists in addition to 120 wounded, most of them severely wounded. Several leaders from Arab and other foreign countries are among these casualties. [Buratha]
Army units killed 32 Daesh terrorists, including 17 suicide attackers, who attacked 15th army division units in Khurb Addar village in Qayara, a source in Ninewa Operations Command said. [Sumaria]
The MoD says Iraqi forces killed 5 Daesh terrorists and Coalition warplanes killed 12 in Khurb Addar. Iraqi forces Daesh tunnels linking the village to other villages in the area (video). [MoD Website]
Operations in Makhmur were halted due to bad weather conditions, according to Ninewa Operations Command (NOC). The army settled for artillery shelling of Daesh positions. [Shafaq]
An Iraqi Army 15th division source says the division stopped a Daesh attack in Makhmur, killing 10 terrorists. [BasNews]
An NOC source says Iraqi artillery is shelling Daesh locations in areas south of Mosul. The source also says 500 more families left their houses in those areas and headed to Makhmur. [Harbi]
Daesh says it detonated 2 booby-trapped houses on Peshmerga fighters in Um Al-Dhiban village and shelled the village with Katyushas and 220mm mortars. [JustPaste]
NOC called on the civilians south of Mosul to head to Makhmur city to ensure their safety. It started three safe routes for families of these areas to reach army and Peshmerga units in Makhmur. [Mada]
Ahmed Abdullah Al-Jubouri, a CoR member from the National Powers Alliance (Sunni coalition), warned that Ninewa liberation operations may be halted if there are no forces to hold ground in liberated areas. [Sumaria]
A security source said that fresh army units arrived in Makhmur to hold liberated areas. [Maalomah]
71st army brigade broke into Al-Nassr village in Makhmur and engaged Daesh terrorists in the village, a security source said. [Maalomah]
Daesh issued a video of its terrorists destroying an Iraqi Army armored vehicle near Al-Nassr village. [A3maq]
DaeshDaily comment. This was one of the villages reported as liberated last week.
An NOC source said that Iraqi Air Force destroyed a car carrying Mohammed Ahmed Al-Shaaban (Abu Al-Hareth), Daesh commander in Makhmur, killing him immediately. He was from Hammam Al-Alil, south of Mosul, an NOC source said. [Karemlash]
NOC denied reports that Coalition warplanes killed 30 Iraqi soldiers, including two commanding officers, by mistake near Makhmur, calling them “lies.” [Karemlash]
Daesh says American warplanes bombed Iraqi forces mistakenly near Kermerdi village west of Makhmur. [A3maq]
Daesh says its terrorists sneaked into and captured Iraqi Army positions west of Makhmur. [A3maq]
Mohammed Ali Shu’aib, the Daesh wali of Dijla, was killed by Iraqi army units in Haj Ali village south of Mosul with 5 others, the IWMC said. [Qurtas]
Zeryar Fisani, a commanding officer in Peshmerga forces, said that military operations near Nassr village were halted due to heavy rains. [Mada]
A video of Iraqi soldiers capturing and killing a Daesh terrorist in Makhmur. [YouTube]
Photo shows a tunnel used by Daesh south of Mosul. [Qurtas]
Mosul
Unidentified men armed with AK-47s opened fire and killed three Daesh terrorists in Al-Sa’a in downtown Mosul, and disappeared into the nearby avenues, according to local sources. [Maalomah]
Three attacks were executed by armed groups inside Mosul on Daesh terrorists, according to Gayath Sourachi, PUK media official in Mosul. The first in Al-Zuhur neighborhood on the left (east) side of Mosul killed Salim Mohammed Ajil, an official in the hisbah police; the second was near the gas factory in Intisar neighborhood in east Mosul and killed one terrorist; while the third targeted a Daesh patrol on the right (west) side of Mosul, killing two terrorists. [PUKMedia]
Gayath Sourachi also said that Coalition warplanes destroyed a Daesh car in Hay Al-Sukkar, a Daesh hideout in Al-Jawsaq, a gathering of Daesh in Al-Majmo’a Al-Thaqafiya, and Daesh Command centers in the Sihha and 17th of July areas. The attacks also destroyed Daesh cars near Ninewa Oberoi hotel, Ghizlani police station, and Mosul police department. Airstrikes were also reported on a car in Wardak and a Daesh gathering in Sultan Abdullah village, both in Hamdaniya, as well as a convoy in Makhmur. 25 terrorists were killed in these attacks including Mohammed Ali Ghadhban, Daesh’s financial officer in Mosul, Mohammed Shaaban Al-Jubouri, deputy wali of Mosul, Gailan Faris Ahmed Al-Jubouri, Daesh’s military official for east Qayara, and Nazar Ghalib (Abu Aisha). [PUKMedia]
A Ninewa Police source says Daesh executed 14 of its own men, who fled from the east side of Mosul to the west side after the Coalition heavy bombing. [BasNews]
A Ninewa Police source says Coalition warplanes launched heavy airstrikes on Daesh in Ghizlani camp south of Mosul, killing many terrorists and destroying vehicles and weapons storehouses. The warplanes also destroyed Daesh secret locations and communications towers in the area. [BasNews]
Kata’eb Al-Mosul says its fighters killed 2 Daesh security officials near Hammam Al-Alil.
Daesh publishes photos of detonating houses in the Salamiya area southeast of Mosul, accusing the houses’ owners of joining the tribal mobilization forces. [JustPaste]
DaeshDaily comment. Daesh has previously kidnapped and killed more than 200 people from this area.
Daesh issues a video of American bombing on the Wadi Hajar area in Mosul. [A3maq]
Other Governorates
SOUTHERN IRAQ
Babel
Sadiq Al-Sultani, the Babel Governor, says security forces arrested the mastermind behind the Haswa soccer field terrorist attack. The Governor says the arrestee is a Daesh member and has confessed his role in the attack. [Sumaria]
More videos of the first moments of the terrorist attack on the soccer field in Haswa [YouTube]
DaeshDaily comment. Hamid Hadeed, the Al-Jazeera Iraq office manager, a strong Daesh supporter, tweeted happily that PMF fighters were killed in the explosion. He forgot to mention that 17 of the victims were 10-16 years old. This is the type of media that controls the Arab world.
The Governor also reported that security authorities arrested two persons who confessed to participating in planning the attack on the Al-Athar checkpoint in Babel earlier this month. [Harbi]
Two terrorists confessed they brought the truck bomb from Anbar to the suicide bomber for the Al-Athar checkpoint attack. One of them said he was paid USD 500. [Mada]
The National Powers Alliance (Sunni) pleaded with Prime Minister Al-Abadi to stop revenge actions in Haswa and Iskandariya being carried out by a “dominant militia.” A statement by the Union said that despite the fact that most of the victims at the popular soccer field were Sunnis, tens of people have been kidnapped and a whole family and a mosque guard were killed in retaliation. The Union warned of a reaction that could lead to sectarian war. [Sumaria]
Sadiq Al-Sultani, the Governor of Babel, said that changes in security commands of Iskandariya will take place shortly, following the deadly attack on a soccer field, adding that a terror group related to this attack was arrested in a guesthouse in the city. He said that Wilayat Al-Janoub (southern province command) Al-Bara sector of Daesh is responsible for both the soccer field and the checkpoint attack. [Mada]
Mansour Al-Baiji, a CoR member for Babel, said that the 12,000 man security force of Babel is not enough to protect the 2 million person province. He demanded that the central government send more troops and modern equipment to reinforce security there, in recognition that Babel is the gateway to all the central and southern provinces. [Mawazin]
Basra
A man wanted for terrorism was arrested at Al-Sayyid checkpoint. He was carrying a Glock pistol and a magazine, Joint Operations Command said. [Harbi]
REPORTS FROM TURKEY
Political developments
The Turkish Prime Minister said on Sunday that the areas between Mosul and Aleppo represent a “safety belt” for Turkey. He said Turkey sent troops to Mosul so that Daesh or the PKK could not use that “belt”. [SotKurdistan]
DaeshDaily comment. The distinguished Prime Minister should make better use of maps. Turkey sent troops to Bashiqa, decidedly east of Mosul and not between Mosul and Aleppo.
Security developments
The YPG says that Turkish units fired two shells across the border on the city of Qamishli and then opened fire on YPG fighters who rushed to the scene. The YPG said it would file a complaint with the monitors of the Syrian truce about the incidents. [Hawar]
Turkish police arrested six Syrian nationals in the city of Gaziantep on suspicion of belonging to Daesh and of preparing to make a car bombing attack on Turkish soil, according to a statement issued Sunday by the provincial government. [ARA]
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
Northeast (Hasaka, Raqqa)
Daesh says its terrorists sneaked into Jalal village southeast of Shaddadi and planted IEDs, killing four YPG fighters. Daesh also says it shelled the village with mortars. [JustPaste]
DaeshDaily comment. Daesh’s seemingly proud message is really from weakness. It lost Shaddadi and was pushed further back. Apparently it doesn’t expect to return there soon. Now it can only say it sneaked a few guys into some village to kill people for no military advantage.
Northwest (Aleppo, Idlib)
Opposition militia repelled a Daesh attack on the southern outskirts of Mare’ north of Aleppo on Sunday night, wounding several Daesh members and forcing the attacking Daesh fighters to retreat. Heavy clashes also erupted Sunday between opposition militias and YPG fighters near Azaz in which opposition fighters advanced into YPG-held turf under cover of mortar fire that injured YPG members. [Qasioun]
Coalition planes struck Daesh sites in more than ten raids on the city of Jarabulus Monday amid ground battles on both sides of the Euphrates River. Daesh and the Syria Democratic Forces traded artillery and heavy gunfire along the River stretching from the Turkish border to the Tishrin Dam, according to a YPG source. A media activist said that Daesh and the SDF also engaged in direct ground combat in multiple areas east of Aleppo. [ARA]
Daesh publishes photos of its terrorists near Mare’. [JustPaste]
Daesh publishes photos of shelling Syrian troops with mortars in Tal Al-Ta’ana in Aleppo’s eastern countrywide. [JustPaste]
Daesh says its terrorists conducted a suicide attack on Syrian troops east of Khanaser in Aleppo’s countryside on Sunday. [A3maq]
Central and West (Homs, Hama, etc.)
After the Syrian victory expelling Daesh from Tadmur (Palmyra) on Sunday, Syrian Army troops attempted Monday to storm the city of Qaryatayn, also in the Homs countryside, but Daesh stopped their advance. [Qasioun]
Daesh says its terrorists destroyed a Syrian Army armored vehicle and a tank in clashes near Al-Qaryatayn. [A3maq]
Eleven Syrian Army officers and 48 soldiers were killed in the operations to expel Daesh from Tadmur, according to a list compiled by an opposition Syrian news site. Nearly all of the dead hail from Tartus, with the remainder mostly from Latakia or Salhab. Only two of the total 59 dead were from other areas, one from Homs and one from Hama (photos and list of names in Arabic). [Arabi21]
A video of the destruction Daesh caused in Palmyra. [SANA]
Syrian military copters are already taking off and landing from the Tadmur military airport, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has announced. [Erem]
Daesh briefly captured a Syrian tank unit in the countryside east of Homs on Monday, according to Daesh media and according to a local activist. The activist said that Daesh fighters captured the tanks in a surprise attack and held them briefly before being forced to retreat under heavy Syrian artillery fire and Russian airstrikes. At least 23 Syrian soldiers were killed in the fighting, some in a Russian air raid that hit a Syrian position in error, the activist said. [ARA]
Daesh issues a video of the results of American and Turkish bombing on Toqali village in Aleppo’s northern countryside. [A3maq]
DaeshDaily comment. Daesh claimed during the weekend it recaptured the village from Syrian opposition groups.
Daesh says its terrorists attacked the Al-Mahjoura battalion base near the T4 airbase, killing 23 Syrian soldiers before returning safely. Daesh says some of the soldiers were killed mistakenly by a Russian airstrike. [JustPaste] [A3maq]
Daesh publishes photos of weapons it got after capturing the battalion. [JustPaste]
Daesh says its terrorists, for the second day in a row, stopped Nusra attacks on its locations in West Qalamoun, killing 17 Nusra fighters including a military commander. [JustPaste]
East (Deir Ez-Zor)
Syrian aircraft committed a “massacre” in Deir Ez-Zor in the Daesh-held Al-Kanamat neighborhood on Sunday, an activist said. Six civilians were killed and eight others wounded in multiple Syrian raids on the area, the source said. [ARA]
Daesh publishes photos of shelling Syrian troops with mortars in Deir Ez-Zor. [JustPaste]
Daesh says Russian planes dropped weapons and ammunition to the Syrian troops trapped in Deir Ez-Zor and its airport. Daesh says 2 parachutes fell on areas it controls; each one had more than 150 shells. [A3maq]
South
Damascus
Tensions are reportedly at high levels between the pro-Daesh Ansar group and Nusra Front members in the Yarmouk Camp in Damascus, owing to a turf dispute between the two sides over Daesh’s presence in the “Street 15” area of the camp. Residents fear a return to violent clashes between the two groups. [Qasioun]
Daraa
An unspecified number of fighters of the “Muthanna Movement” militia believed to be tied to Daesh have defected from the group in Daraa and formed a separate militia, according to a statement issued Monday, which announced the name of the new militia as the “Murabitoun Brigade.” The statement said it would cut all ties with the Muthanna Movement but it would not withdraw from the “Al-Binyan Operations Room” of the “Southern Front,” which opposes the Syrian government. [ARA]
Opposition and Islamic militias repelled an attack by the Muthanna Movement and its ally “Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade” in the city of Hayt northwest of Daraa, just north of Jordan. As many as 15 Yarmouk and Muthanna fighters were killed in heavy battles that caused destruction and fires in civilian property in the city, according to militia and local sources. An emir of the Muthanna Movement, “Abu Omar Al-Munadi,” was one of those killed in the fighting in Hayt. [Qasioun] [Qasioun] [Anadolu]
OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA REPORTS
Neighboring countries
Lebanon
Heavy fighting erupted Monday between Daesh and Nusra Front partisans near the northeastern Lebanese cities of Arsal and Ras Baalbek on the Syrian border. Daesh conducted heavy raids on Nusra positions in Lebanon as fighting between the two groups spilled over from Syria. As many as 18 Nusra fighters were killed and six captured, while 14 Daesh militants died in the fighting, according to Reuters. [Erem] [Reuters (English)]
North Africa
Egypt
Al-Azhar’s “Observatory,” which monitors various Islamic trends, has released a report which says that up to 55 percent of Daesh’s recruits are teenagers, upon whom Daesh depends after its series of defeats in Syria and Iraq. A new generation of female recruits has been attracted to Daesh with the dream of carrying out suicide attacks, as opposed to the dream of marriage and procreation in an earlier wave of female Daesh recruits, the report says. The report also says that Daesh tries to attract young people for whom a relatively incomplete education in Islam has left them with a “weakness of religious faith,” according to the Observatory. [Aawsat]
North Sinai
Civilians in Sheikh Zuweid captured three Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis militants Monday as they were planting roadside IEDs around the Abu Tawila village south of Sheikh Zuweid. The three were then handed over to the authorities. [VetoGate]
Thirty Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis militants were killed and 12 civilian prisoners freed in raids south of Sheikh Zuweid on Monday, security sources said. Five Ansar members were detained in one of the raids, the sources added. [VetoGate]
At least 20 “Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis” militants were killed and at least 32 others were injured in multiple raids on Saturday and Sunday in and around Rafah. [VetoGate] [VetoGate]
Two people were injured Sunday when a mortar shell fell on a house in Rafah. [VetoGate]
Egyptian troops reportedly raided an Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis media center on Sunday in an unspecified North Sinai location, seizing computers and audiovisual equipment that were used for the production of its “Sinai 24” media outlet. [VetoGate]
North Sinai Security Directorate denied reports on Daesh media on Monday that an IED exploded in Arish that injured police personnel. [VetoGate]
An IED exploded on an armored security vehicle at the entrance to Arish on Saturday, injuring four policemen, a security source said. [ElWatan]
Police in Arish found and defused a roadside IED containing 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of explosives on Sunday. [VetoGate]
An IED exploded on an armored security vehicle in Arish on Sunday. No injuries were reported. [VetoGate] However, a second source reported an IED exploding on a security vehicle in Arish Sunday, reportedly injuring an unspecified number of soldiers. [ElWatan]
Daesh says it detonated an IED on an Egyptian Army M60 vehicle near Tawil village east of Arish. [JustPaste]
Libya
Northeast
Intermittent fighting continued on Saturday in the “400” neighborhood of Derna as Daesh fighters made attempts to infiltrate the area, sparking battles between its fighters on the one side and Mujahedin Derna Shura Council (MDSC) fighters and local militia allies on the other. As of Sunday a well placed source reported that the area was experiencing relative calm. The MDSC and their militia allies also used heavy weaponry to target Daesh snipers in the Al-Hajaj area on the eastern Derna waterfront who were covering Daesh’s advance, the source said. The Al-Fata’ih heights area overlooking the city was also seeing relative calm, the source added, which was broken from time to time by sporadic exchanges of gunfire and at least one air raid by Libyan fighters targeting Daesh positions. [Wasat]
Sporadic fighting has erupted over the last three days as Libyan troops continue their siege of Daesh fighters inside the sprawling Benghazi cement plant complex in the Al-Hawari neighborhood. The fighting came amid Libyan airstrikes on Daesh positions in the complex according to local witnesses. Mortar shelling has also been reported on the complex. [AfriGate]
Fighting between Libyan military units and unspecified militants in the rural area of Um Mabrouka, south of Benghazi city, killed one Libyan soldier, according to the spokesman of the Libyan special forces. The spokesman said that the area is now is under Army control. [AfriGate] [AfriGate]
Central Coast
Four Tunisian and Algerian Daesh commanders arrived in Sirte after leaving Sabratha following the clashes that took place in the latter city in the last month, local sources said. The commanders were accompanied by a group of Tunisian youth from Ben Guerdane, the sources added. The group were received by other Tunisian Daesh leaders in Sirte and taken to the Daesh stronghold of Dhahir west of Sirte, the sources said. The sources also added that American planes struck a Daesh training center in Sirte. [Wasat]
Tunisia
Tunisian authorities seized an ammunition and explosives cache in a rural area on the Libyan border near Ben Guerdane on Saturday, the Interior Ministry announced. The cache included explosive vests and various forms of IEDs, Kalashnikov rifles, silencers, and detonators. A security source said that Tunisian authorities were still searching the premises. [Ean]
Other countries
Belgium
Daesh issued more video messages threatening more attacks. [Isdarat] [Isdarat] [Isdarat]
SOCIAL MEDIA SOURCES
Facebook Page of the Day
Yalla, a news and variety page from Iraq
Daesh Twitter Accounts of the Day
https://twitter.com/oxxxxvxxxxo
https://twitter.com/wilayat_alraqqa
https://twitter.com/basa___3399
https://twitter.com/agdfjg_jamenddg
