May 20, 2016
Today’s Major Developments
Sadrists invade Green Zone, Council of Ministers; cause security forces to use tear gas, live fire.
Iraqi forces seize town on Jordanian border; border crossing will be reopened.
Daesh stages another bizarre mass execution in Mosul.
Coordinated attack on Daesh in Raqqa looms.
Nigeria Army liberates 97 from Boko Haram.
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
NATIONAL NEWS
Thousands of Sadrists broke into the Green Zone and entered the Council of Ministers building (photos and video). Several sources say the Sadrist militia, Saraya Al-Salam, was deployed near the Green Zone. [Mada] [Sumaria] [Mada] [SotIraq] [Ghad] [Rudaw] [BasNews]
The Joint Operations Command (JOC) says some “intruders” broke into government buildings, exploiting the fact that Iraqi forces are preparing to liberate Falluja. The IWMC says the “riot groups” attacked security forces near the Green Zone with knives, wounding several of them. The JOC later said Iraqi forces controlled the riots near the Green Zone. [Sumaria] [Sumaria] [Mada]
An MoI source says 81 people were injured when security forces used tear gas against the demonstrators. Security forces also used live bullets, leaving at least 2 people wounded. [Mada] [Mada]
Security forces issued a curfew in Baghdad and prevented civilian vehicles from entering the city. Later on Prime Minister Abadi ended the curfew. [Sumaria] [Mada]
A police source says the demonstrators withdrew from the Green Zone. [Sumaria]
Prime Minister Abadi said in a televised statement that some people are trying to drag the country into chaos, attacking the security forces when Iraqi forces are preparing to liberated Anbar and Mosul. He says the breach that happened today is unacceptable and that the law should prevail. He also says Rutba was liberated yesterday and Falluja will be next. [Sumaria] [Mada]
Abadi visited the Joint Operations Command headquarters. [Sumaria]
A police source says the Counter Terrorism Service’s Golden Division was deployed around the Green Zone. [Sumaria]
DaeshDaily comment. This is the best unit in the armed forces and it was the spearhead in all Iraq’s victories over Daesh. However, putting these units in Baghdad takes them away from the battlefield. The Prime Minister should make a bigger issue over this.
Moqtada Al-Sadr issued a statement condemning the government’s “violence against the unarmed protestors” and demanding that all the “revolutionizes” who were captured be released. He also says the government will face the same fate as Saddam and Gaddafi.
DaeshDaily comment. Something tells us that this statement was written earlier and that Sadr was actually preparing for this. Peaceful demonstrators don’t break into government buildings. And speaking of Saddam, he once fired the Ministr of Interior because the Minister told his troops to “shoot above the heads of the demonstrators.” Saddam thought the word “above” was unnecessary. The last person who can credibly criticize other people’s violence is Moqtada himself. We reported yesterday that the Sadr militia, Saraya Al-Salam, was deployed in Baghdad; this was supposedly to “support security forces” but was more likely intended as a show of force.
While demonstrating against government ineffectiveness and corruption is a national duty, breaking into the Green Zone and damaging government buildings is a crime, and the way in which it was done this time raises reasonable suspicions as to the motive, especially given the urgent military requirements of the moment.
The Iraqi Observatory for Journalism Freedoms mourns Ala’ Qassem Mohan, a journalist who died from a wound he sustained in the Sadr City terrorist attack a few days ago. [Sumaria]
The IWMC says IAF planes dropped leaflets on Mosul, Shirqat, Qayara, and Shura, urging citizens to stay away from Daesh locations so to avoid upcoming airstrikes. The planes also dropped “safety cards” that could be used by civilians at government checkpoints when they leave Daesh controlled areas. [Baghdadia]
BAGHDAD
Security-related incidents reported
North (Tarmiya, Taji, etc.)
An MoI source says two people were killed and six wounded when an IED exploded near a commercial area in Husseiniya. [Mada]
Southeast (Mada’in, etc.)
A security source says the body of an unknown man was found shot in Zafaraniya. [Sumaria]
South (Dora, Mahmudiya)
A security source says unknown armed men shot and wounded a woman in Dora. [Sumaria]
Iraqi Army 23rd brigade troops destroyed 5 IEDs in the Manari area of Arab Jubour.
Southwest (Rasheed)
Daesh says it attacked 2 PMF military positions in the Rasheed area. [JustPaste]
West (Mansour, Ghazaliya, Abu Ghraib)
An Iraqi Army 24th brigade unit destroyed a Daesh machine gun-mounted vehicle in the Abadi area of Abu Ghraib, killing the terrorists inside. [BOC Facebook Page]
An MoI source says an IED exploded near a market in Radwaniya, killing two people and wounding seven. [Mada]
Total Baghdad incidents reported: 7 (Includes only incidents reported)
ANBAR
Falluja
Falluja city. A PMF source says that the Falluja liberation operation has not been postponed, despite the events in Baghdad. [Harbi]
A PMF commander says Baghdad Operations Command held a meeting for Iraqi Army and PMF commanders, setting the date for the start of the Falluja liberation operations. [ROJ]
The IFP commander says his troops are ready to participate in the Falluja liberation. [Harbi]
12 major PMF factions have been now deployed near Falluja. [Harbi]
Daesh Daily comment. The Sadrist Saraya Al-Salam is not one of them.
A tribal PMF commander says many Daesh terrorists fled Falluja with their families after Iraqi forces surrounded the city. [Maalomah]
Al-Suqoor Intelligence Cell says the IAF bombed a Daesh location in Falluja, killing 13 terrorists, including 9 suicide terrorists, and wounding 4, and destroying 21 explosives vests and a machine-gun mounted vehicle. One of the dead terrorists is Hamid Al-Jumaili, a terrorist who had escaped Abu Ghraib prison and was responsible for transporting Daesh vehicle bombs from Ameriyat Al-Falluja to Baghdad, in addition to 2 Iraqi explosives experts. The Cell says Daesh was planning to transport the suicide terrorists to Baghdad. [Harbi]
Rapid Intervention artillery killed 2 Daesh terrorists and wounded 5 in the Muwadhafin neighborhood in Falluja city. [BOC Facebook Page]
A tribal PMF commander says Iraqi forces shelled and rocketed Daesh locations in Falluja, killing 22 terrorists and destroying 3 machine gun-mounted vehicles and a rocket launcher. [Mada]
North and east of Falluja. Iraqi Army 51st brigade killed 5 Daesh terrorists and wounded 4 and destroyed a rocket launcher in Albu Shijil and Zaghareed village near Saqlawiya. [BOC Facebook Page]
Iraqi Army 14th division artillery shelled Daesh gatherings in Rashad, Rofa, and Saqlawiya, killing 10 terrorists and wounding 4, and destroying 2 hideouts and a machine gun-mounted vehicle. [BOC Facebook Page]
Coalition warplanes killed 4 Daesh terrorists in the Rofa area. [BOC Facebook Page]
A Rapid Intervention unit killed several terrorists and destroyed a vehicle and heavy machine gun near the leather factory, east of Falluja. [BOC Facebook Page]
A Rapid Intervention unit killed 8 Daesh terrorists and destroyed a guesthouse in the Subaihat area in Qarma. [BOC Facebook Page]
A PMF commander says his unit rocketed and destroyed a Daesh explosives storehouse in Qarma. [Harbi]
South and west of Falluja. Daesh says it destroyed an Iraqi Army 23mm cannon in the Ma’amir area in Zoba’a. [A3maq]
Daesh says several Sahwa fighters were killed when a booby-trapped house exploded on them in the Jaffa area, west of Falluja. [JustPaste]
Ramadi
The chairman of the Khaldiya subdistrict council says Iraqi forces cleared the Albu Dhiab area, north of Ramadi, killing “tens” of terrorists. He also says Iraqi forces are preparing to launch a major attack to clear several areas north of Ramadi. [Maalomah]
DaeshDaily comment. We’d be more impressed if these areas hadn’t been “cleared” before.
The Chairman also says Coalition warplanes bombed a Daesh gathering in Jazeera Khaldiya, killing 10 terrorists, including the Daesh mortar units commander in the area, and destroying 3 rocket launcher-mounted vehicles. [Mada]
Hit/Baghdadi/ Haditha
The commander of the tribal PMF in Haditha says two fighters were killed when they were trying to defuse a roadside IED in the Dolab area. [Maalomah]
A security source says Iraqi forces stopped a Daesh attack on Baghdadi, killing 5 terrorists and destroying a machine gun-mounted vehicle. [Maalomah]
Rutba/Western Anbar
A tribal PMF commander says Iraqi forces liberated Bustan station on the Iraq-Jordan border, killing 150 Daesh terrorists. [Maalomah]
The Joint Operations Command (JOC) said Iraqi forces cleared the international road between Ramadi and the Trebil border crossing with Jordan. A member of the Anbar PC Security Committee says Council members and security officers are waiting at the border crossing for the Minister of Interior to attend the official ceremonies reopening the crossing. [Mada]
A security source says 30-45 Daesh terrorists sneaked from Syria into western Anbar in armored vehicles. [Ghad]
DaeshDaily comment. This seems to contradict yesterday’s report about the terrorists fleeing to Syria. However, we have also predicted that Daesh would make a stand somewhere in Western Anbar.
SALAHUDDIN
Shirqat
A security source says an unknown masked man killed the Daesh security officer of Shirqat and one of his associates near the man’s house.
Baiji
A tribal leader says Iraqi forces launched a large military campaign to clear the Himrin Basin and Mountains. [Maalomah]
The IFP says its troops killed 3 Daesh terrorists and destroyed a hideout in the Makhoul Mountains area. [Harbi]
Tikrit
A local source says Daesh terrorists blew up the house of an Al-Daur subdistrict council member and stole 150 sheep in the Albu Khaddu area, southeast of Al-Daur. [Ghad]
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack. [JustPaste]
Iraqi forces captured 4 Daesh suspects in two different locations in Tikrit District. [MoD Website]
DIYALA
Northern Diyala
Daesh says it detonated then blew up the houses of two “PMF” fighters in the Qala’ area of Udhaim. Daesh also says it blew up a fuel station that belongs to a “PMF” fighter in the same area. [JustPaste]
Daesh says it killed a neighborhood Mukhtar in Saadiya. [JustPaste]
DaeshDaily comment. This is one of the oldest Daesh “standard procedures”. The mukhtars are local officials responsible for documenting citizens in their neighborhoods and acting as a link between the citizens and the local governments. During Saddam’s days the mukhtars were responsible for reporting any “threat” in their areas. By killing them, Daesh cuts off these links and hopes to benefit from any resulting local chaos.
A PMF commander says 200 displaced families returned to their houses in the Al-Hawi area. [Harbi]
A security source says a Daesh cell of 3 terrorists was captured in the Al-Nida area. [Sumaria]
KIRKUK
A local police source says Kirkuk police captured 2 Daesh terrorists and seized guns with silencers in east Kirkuk. [Maalomah]
NINEWA
Mosul
A local source says Daesh killed 13 civilians in Mosul by drowning them in iron cages, after accusing them of communicating with security forces. [Harbi]
A KDP official says Daesh arrested 22 people from Al-Zuhour neighborhood in Mosul city center. [Mada]
Makhmur/Qayara
Local sources say Daesh beheaded three men in Safina village in Qayara because the men had attempted to escape the village, and threatened to behead their entire families. [ARA]
Daesh says it destroyed an Iraqi Army vehicle with an IED east of Al-Nassr village. [JustPaste]
Daesh says it targeted Iraqi forces with 70 mortar shells in Kharbardan and Kubruk villages. [JustPaste]
KURDISTAN
A Turkish newspaper says Turkish warplanes attacked hideouts and weapons storehouses in the PKK’s Qandil Mountains operations center. [Ghad]
REPORTS FROM TURKEY
The Turkish parliament approved a constitutional amendment that allows the parliament to revoke the immunity of 138 Kurdish MPs, after accusing them of terrorism. Turkey accused the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party of being the political façade of the PKK. [Maalomah] [SANA]
DaeshDaily comment. The increasingly dictatorial and paranoid behavior of Mr. Erdogan is really worrisome.
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
Daesh publishes a video about the Syrian opposition groups who work with the Coalition. [DawaAlhaq]
Northeast (Hasaka, Raqqa)
Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently activists say Coalition warplanes dropped leaflets on Raqqa asking people to leave the city (photo). The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says this is not the first time Coalition planes dropped leaflets, but it’s the first time they asked people to leave. He also says these leaflets might be linked to YPG preparations to attack the city. [RBSS] [BasNews]
The Russian news agency, Sputnik, quoting YPG sources, says the attack on Raqqa will commence in the coming hours. [EnabBaladi]
Daesh issues a video of one of one of its religious seminars in Raqqa. [A3maq]
Northwest (Aleppo, Idlib)
An opposition group commander says Turkey-backed opposition groups, supported by Turkish artillery, recaptured Yahmoul and Tal Hussein from Daesh. [ARA]
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Daesh captured 15 of its own terrorists, including a French member, as they tried to flee to Turkey from Jarabulus. [BasNews]
Daesh says two women and two men were killed and four other civilians wounded in a Coalition airstrike on Arshaf village north of Aleppo. [A3maq]
Security forces captured 2 Daesh terrorists who were members of a sleeper cell in Azaz. [ARA]
Daesh shelled several villages in the Kobane area with heavy artillery. Coalition warplanes targeted Daesh in the Jabal Shami area, near Jarabulus. [Hawar]
The YPG says Daesh terrorists tried to cross the river to Shekhlar in Afrin, but YPG fighters stopped them, killing a terrorist. [Hawar]
A 25 year old man was wounded by Turkey-backed opposition groups’ shelling on Afrin. [Hawar]
A child was killed and three wounded when Turkey-backed opposition groups shelled Sheikh Maqsoud. [Hawar]
Central and West (Homs, Hama, etc.)
A Syrian military source says Syrian warplanes conducted several airstrikes on Daesh gatherings near Sha’er oilfield, destroying several vehicles. [SANA]
A local activist says Syrian troops, supported by Russian warplanes, attacked Daesh in the Sha’er oilfield area but Daesh stopped the attack. [ARA]
A Syrian military source says Syrian troops captured several hills southeast of Homs from Daesh. [SANA]
Daesh says it destroyed a Syrian Army BMP armored vehicle east of Tadmur. Daesh also says it destroyed a Syrian Army tank east of Tadmur airport. [A3maq] [A3maq]
Daesh says it killed seven Syrian soldiers and destroyed 2 tanks in an ambush northwest of Tadmur. [A3maq] [A3maq] [A3maq]
Daesh says it stopped a Syrian Army attack near the Barda area east of Qaryatayn, killing or wounding several soldiers and destroying 2 tanks. [JustPaste]
East (Deir Ez-Zor)
Russian and Syrian warplanes conducted more than 20 airstrikes on Deir Ez-Zor. [Qasioun]
Daesh captured more areas south of Deir Ez-Zor after heavy clashes with Syrian troops and its allied militias. [Qasioun]
A Syrian Army general and lieutenant were killed on Thursday in battles with Daesh near the Deir Ez-Zor military airport. [Qasioun] [EnabBaladi]
South (Rif Damashq, Suwayda, Daraa, etc.)
A Syrian official source says government-backed militias ambushed a Daesh group north of Suwayda, killing or wounding several terrorists and confiscating a shipment of weapons and ammunitions. [SANA]
OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA REPORTS
North Africa
Egypt
Egyptian warplanes continued their airstrikes on terrorist positions south of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, and east of Arish, for the second day. [ElWatan]
Eyewitnesses say Egyptian warplanes killed 5 Daesh terrorists south of Rafah. [ElWatan]
Security forces destroyed 2 IEDs in Barath village south of Rafah. [VetoGate]
Security sources say 4 Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis terrorists attacked a police patrol in near the Sheikh Zuweid police station. The police responded, killing 2 terrorists and causing the remaining two to flee. [VetoGate]
According to two slightly conflicting stories from the same source, security forces killed either one or four an Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis terrorists who attacked a security checkpoint from a motorcycle and were killed shortly after in Sheikh Zuweid. [VetoGate] [VetoGate]
A policeman was wounded by a sniper near Joura village, south of Sheikh Zuweid. [VetoGate]
Eyewitnesses say a mortar shell fell near the peace-keeping compound in the Joura area south of Sheikh Zuweid without causing any casualties. [VetoGate]
Daesh says it attacked an Egyptian army convoy south of Sheikh Zuweid and destroyed an armored vehicle, forcing the convoy to retreat. [JustPaste]
Security sources killed 6 terrorists in Jabal A-Halal in Central Sinai. [VetoGate]
Daesh says it destroyed a police armored vehicle with an IED in Arish City. [JustPaste]
Daesh says it destroyed a police minesweeper west of Arish City. [JustPaste]
Daesh says it detonated an IED on an Egyptian Army M60 near Bir Lahfen village south of Arish. [JustPaste]
Libya
Northeast
Photos of the Benghazi University library that was burned down by Daesh. A Libyan military source says the University is still filled with Daesh mines and IEDs. [AfriGate] [AfriGate]
Daesh published a video of executing a mosque imam and his brother on March 19th in the Fata’eh area east of Derna. [AfriGate]
A Libyan special forces commander says his troops shelled Daesh locations in the Qawarsha and Fa’akat areas in Benghazi with heavy artillery, destroying armored vehicles and tanks and killing several terrorists. [AfriGate]
Central coast
An eyewitness says Daesh called on the people of Sirte to fight against the military forces of the National Accord Government. [Libya24]
Local sources say Daesh executed four young men from Sirte after accusing them of being soldiers. [Libya24]
The National Accord Government Operations Room says its troops are positioned in the Buerat area 75 km (47 miles) west of Sirte. It also says its troops found the bodies of three fellow soldiers who were killed by a Daesh car bomb in Al-Hisha Al-Jadida during the last few days. [Libya24]
Daesh says it detonated several IEDs on a Fajr Libyan convoy on the road between Jufra and Bu Najim, forcing the convoy to retreat. [JustPaste]
Other countries
Nigeria
The Nigerian Army says it liberated 97 women and girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria. [AfriGate]
Niger
The Niger Army says Boko Haram terrorists attacked a village in southeast Niger and shot and killed two civilians, burned several others alive, and wounded seven more. [AfriGate]
Yemen
Daesh issues a video about its operations in Yemen. [DawaAlhaq]
Bangladesh
Daesh says it killed a medical doctor whom it accused of being a Christian missionary in Kushita, in west Bangladesh. [A3maq]
The Philippines
Daesh says it detonated an IED on Filipino soldiers on Basilan Island. [JustPaste]
SOCIAL MEDIA SOURCES
Facebook Page of the Day
A Raqqa news page
Daesh Twitter Accounts of the Day
https://twitter.com/AssAtwhe3d
https://twitter.com/alnajdi012
Other Daesh media
Daesh audio newsletter for today [JustPaste]
