November 18, 2015
DaeshDaily cross-reference: One of the friends of DaeshDaily (whose name we will withhold for their own safety) sent us an interesting interview with a Daesh commander who defected, which appeared in yesterday’s Cumhuriyet newspaper in Turkey. The former commander talks about the help they used get from Turkish authorities. Relations with Turkish intelligence were excellent. Daesh intelligence personnel have operated in Turkey with few problems. He talks about two mosques in Kilis where Daesh and Al-Nusra members (each with its own mosque) gather before they enter Syria. Some Daesh terrorists from Syria were once provided with McDonald’s hamburgers, courtesy of Turkish intelligence. [Cumhuriyet]
Our friend translated the article to English and you can find it here.
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
Among today’s major developments:
Coalition planes blast Daesh in Ramadi.
Barzani declares that Tuz is Kurdish territory–PMFs keep out.
Daesh shows photo of soda can bomb that downed Russian plane.
ANBAR
Anbar provincial government has only received 18 percent of its expected allocation from the central government, the Anbar Governorate Council spokesman has said, urging the central government to release the remaining funds to help the governorate face the challenges posed by displaced persons and heavy fighting on its territory. [Maalomah]
DaeshDaily comment. It’s not just Anbar. Iraq has a major financial crisis because of the huge worldwide decline in the price of oil, on which over 90% of its economy depends. It is likely the most oil-dependent economy in the world. This situation threatens both the war effort and the efforts to rebuild a politically and economically viable country after Daesh is gone. The lower oil prices have been great for the American people, bad for the Iraqi people.
Ramadi
Coalition planes launched 50 airstrikes on Daesh in Ramadi city. According to the Iraq War Media Cell (IWMC), the strikes killed 15 Daesh members and destroying 31 locations, 4 vehicle bombs, a bulldozer, 8 vehicles and several weapons and combat locations. [IWMC Report]
A separate report based on a security source says Coalition planes bombed a local Daesh headquarters on Street 17, killing 25 Daesh members and destroying three vehicles. [Baghdadia]
Security forces liberated the Qattana police station in southern Ramadi city, a security source said, adding that Iraqi forces are clearing the recently recaptured areas. [Maalomah]
A video shows 1,500 volunteers from Ramadi joining Iraqi forces. [Forat]
Iraqi forces with Coalition air support stopped two Daesh attacks north of Ramadi, killing 40 Daesh members and destroying five vehicle bombs, an Anbar Operations Command source says. [Sumaria]
Iraqi forces destroyed a Daesh hideout north of Ramadi with a rocket, killing four terrorists. Iraqi forces also ambushed and killed a Daesh fighter as he tried to attack an Army vehicle with a rocket launcher. [IWMC Report]
Iraqi troops were clearing the Kilo 5 area near the city when a Daesh member shot two Iraqi soldiers, killing one and wounding the other before he was killed by Iraqi troops. Iraqi forces killed 10 more terrorists in the area and found a Daesh IED factory, a vehicle bomb and another bomb in addition to weapons and explosives. [IWMC Report]
A video shows the destruction in the Kilo 7 area after it was liberated from Daesh. [YouTube]
The Chairman of the Khaldiya District Council says Iraqi forces cleared two areas in Hay Al-Tameem southwest of Ramadi, killing many Daesh fighters. [Mada]
Iraqi forces destroyed a Daesh weapons cache and 3 anti-aircraft machine guns southeast of Ramadi. [IWMC Report]
A video of Iraqi forces blowing up a Daesh vehicle bomb in Ramadi area (under control). [Iraqia]
Falluja
Baghdad Operations Command troops killed seven Daesh fighters, destroyed 2 vehicles, and defused 3 IEDs in areas south of Falluja. [BOC Facebook Page]
IAA destroyed two Daesh vehicles in the Zoba’a area south of Falluja, killing six Daesh fighters. [Maalomah]
A PMF source says PMF snipers killed 4 Daesh members in Saqlawiya north of Falluja. [Harbi]
Iraqi artillery shelled Daesh in Albu Sawda in Qarma, killing 13 terrorists and destroying a weapons cache. [IWMC Report]
Baghdad Operations Command troops killed 5 Daesh members and wounded 3 and destroyed 2 vehicles in Qarma. [IWMC Report]
Daesh publishes photos of its elementary schools in Falluja. [JustPaste]
Hit/Haditha
Iraqi forces stopped a Daesh attack on a residential compound in Baghdadi, forcing the assailants to retreat, the Chairman of the Baghdadi subdistrict council says, adding that the group shelled Baghdadi with no casualties. [Sumaria]
A security source says the commander of the Al-Assad Brigade (an anti-Daesh tribal force) survived an attempt on his life when unknown armed men shot at his personal car with mid-size weapons in Baghdadi city. The attack is the first of its kind inside the city. [Sumaria]
Iraqi forces destroyed a Daesh vehicle carrying a machine gun in the Jubba area in Baghdadi subdistrict, Jazeera Operations Command says. [Mada]
The Jazeera Operations Commander says his troops killed 3 Daesh suicide terrorists and destroyed a machine-gun-carrying vehicle in the Albu Hayat area. He also says his troops found a mass grave for 11 Daesh fighters in the area. [Ghad]
Iraqi forces shelled a Daesh gathering in Qusairat in Haditha district, killing five Daesh members including a local Daesh leader, and destroyed a vehicle carrying weapons and rockets, Jazeera Operations Commander announced. [Mada]
A security source says the IAA targeted Daesh in Zawiya in Haditha, killing 5. [Baghdadia]
SALAHUDDIN
Baiji
Iraqi forces liberated Masoud village, 20 km (12.5 miles) north of Baiji, a security source says. The strategically located village had been a launching point for Daesh attacks on Iraqi forces. However, 20 IFP members were reportedly wounded. IFP troops killed three Daesh members in Masoud and destroyed a bulldozer bomb, an IFP commander says. [Mada] [Baghdadia]
PMF fighters found hallucinogenic pills on two would-be suicide bombers they killed yesterday, a PMF commander said, one of them a Saudi. The PMF commander said that such drugs were commonly used by Daesh suicide bombers. [Sumaria]
Iraqi forces stopped a Daesh attack in the Makhoul Mountains area, killing six Daesh members and destroying three vehicle bombs. [Maalomah]
Iraqi Federal Police troops killed 75 Daesh fighters and destroyed 4 vehicle bombs during the last 3 days in the Makhoul Mountains area. Iraqi forces continued clearing the eastern side of the Mountains and defused another vehicle bomb there. [IWMC Report]
A PMF source says the Ali Akbar Brigade conducted a military operation in the Makhoul Mountains area, claiming that they killed or wounded many Daesh terrorists. [Harbi]
A video of the PMFs in the Makhoul Mountains area [YouTube]
Daesh publishes photos of one of its suicide terrorists in an armored vehicle bomb attacking Iraqi forces in the Makhoul Mountains. [JustPaste]
Daesh publishes photos and a video of the battles in the same area. [JustPaste] [JustPaste] [Archive]
Tikrit
Heavy clashes are reportedly underway between Daesh and Iraqi forces on the strategic line west of Tikrit, security sources have announced. Iraqi reinforcements are reportedly on their way to the battle site. [Baghdadia]
Samarra
Samarra Operations Command troops stopped a Daesh attack in Mkaishifa, killing 5 terrorists and destroying 3 vehicles. [IWMC Report]
IFP forces stopped a Daesh attack in the Jazeera Samarra area, killing four Daesh members, and destroying a hideout. [Baghdadia]
An IAA airstrike reportedly killed Abu Rasoul Al-Faransi, a French national implicated in several terrorist attacks. Saraya al-Salam announced that its militiamen located the Daesh member and provided the location to the IAA, which launched the attack, killing Al-Faransi and several of his associates. [Maalomah]
Samarra Operations Command troops destroyed 40 IEDs in Sayed Gharib southeast of Samarra. [IWMC Report]
A video of a close hand grenade battle between the PMFs and Daesh near Samarra. [YouTube]
Elsewhere in Salahuddin
The spokesman of President Barzani says the President has no issues with the PMFs regarding the war against Daesh, but that doesn’t mean the PMFs can go to Tuz. He says Tuz is Kurdish land and it is protected by the Peshmerga. The spokesman says President Barzani stressed that Kurdish land is not a place for the PMFs. [Rudaw]
DaeshDaily comment. Apparently the KRG President (who of course is no longer legally the President) intends to acquire parts of Iraq by decree. Sinjar and now Tuz have been added in the last few days, and we should expect more territorial claims as Daesh is gradually displaced. Defeating Daesh is vital, but it is not the end game in Iraq.
Meanwhile, a Peshmerga commander says the agreement between the Peshmerga and PMFs in Tuz is being implemented. He says the PMFs released 15 Kurds and will release 7 more and after that the Peshmerga will release the PMF prisoners. [Rudaw]
BAGHDAD
Security forces conducted a raid in Taji in north Baghdad, finding a cache of weapons and explosives reportedly intended for attacking Shia faithful on the upcoming Arba’in pilgrimages. [Baghdadia]
Prime Minster Abadi says the governorate councils of liberated governorates should have their meetings in the governorate and not in Baghdad. His remarks came in a press conference held after the Salahuddin Governorate Council met in a hotel in Baghdad yesterday and voted to dismiss their Chairman and appoint his deputy to replace him. [Sumaria]
Minority group CoR members ended their boycott of CoR sessions after President Masoum vetoed the National Card Law that discriminated against non-Muslims. [AIN]
The CoR’s Migration and Displacement Committee says 15 displaced people committed suicide recently and held the government responsible for not adequately supporting the displaced people. [IraqPress]
A Sunni CoR member says Iraq should seek a Resolution from the UN Security Council to declare support of terrorism by any country a violation of Article Seven. [Buratha]
Baghdad Operations Command troops found IEDs in southeast and southwest Baghdad. [IWMC Report]
Daesh says it killed an Iraqi Army “informant” in his house in Mahmudiya in south Baghdad. [JustPaste]
According to security sources:
- A roadside IED exploded in Rashidiya, in north Baghdad, killing a municipal worker and wounding another. [Baghdadia]
- The body of an unknown man was found in Hay Ur in northeast Baghdad. [Baghdadia]
- An IED exploded near a commercial area in Shaab in northeast Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding seven. [Mada]
- The body of an unknown man was found shot in Sadr City in east Baghdad. [Ghad]
- An IED exploded near a popular restaurant in the Jisr al-Diyala area in southeast Baghdad, killing one person and wounding five. [Mada]
- An Iraqi soldier was killed and four wounded when an IED exploded on their vehicle in Arab Jabour in south Baghdad. [AIN]
- An IED exploded in the Wardiya area in south Baghdad, killing two people and wounding six others. [Mada]
- An IED exploded near a popular market in Mahmudiya in south Baghdad, killing two people and wounding six others. [Mada]
- In Abu Ghraib in western Baghdad Governorate, a sticker IED exploded under a taxi carrying three soldiers, killing the driver and one soldier and wounding the other two. [Baghdadia]
- Unknown armed men abducted a foodstuffs dealer in front of his shop in the Al-Jami’a area of west Baghdad. [Maalomah]
Coalition planes conducted six sorties, on Mosul, Sinjar and Shirqat, killing 14 terrorists and destroying 5 locations, 3 mortars and a heavy machine gun. [IWMC Report]
DIYALA
Baquba
Police in Diyala arrested several men on terrorism charges. The men had been reportedly using a truck as a mobile explosives storehouse. [Baghdadia]
Northern Diyala
An IED exploded on a gathering site for day laborers looking for casual work in Qara Tapa, a Diyala police source said. [Maalomah]
KIRKUK
Daesh says it captured the Peshmerga barracks in Kawaz Arab village in Hawija District and blew them up (photos). [Dump] [JustPaste]
Two people wanted on terrorism charges were arrested in a village 15 km (9 miles) west of Kirkuk, a Kirkuk police source says. [Mada]
NINEWA
Sinjar
Daesh remains a threat to Sinjar city from areas it still holds, a PUK official has said. Holding territory just eight kilometers south of the newly recaptured city, the group can still shell the city. The PUK official called for operations to free these predominantly Yazidi areas. [Sumaria]
A Yazidi CoR member says there are 5,830 Yazidis still missing since Daesh captured parts of Ninewa last year. [Xendan]
An official of HPK (a PKK group) says HPK troops participated in liberating Sinjar but no one gave them credit for it. He says they have engaged in many military battles since Daesh took over Sinjar and have suffered many casualties. [Rudaw]
DaeshDaily comment. This story is one more angle to the complicated politics of the struggle against Daesh. Any credit given to a PKK group would (1) antagonize the leadership of Turkey; and (2) undermine the KRG’s message that it liberated Sinjar single-handedly. No credit will come from either of those capitals. The YPG has gotten US military support in Syria in part by downplaying its known affiliation with the PKK, which, however, is a US-designated terrorist organization. No credit for the PKK will come from Washington either. The YPG has also had a presence in Sinjar that went largely unnoticed until Daesh was defeated, but to a lesser extent so did the PKK. Both helped the Yazidis get some of their homeland back, but there is no one left to give them credit, with the important exception of the Yazidis.
Mosul
Hundreds of Daesh members and their families arrived in Mosul after fleeing Raqqa, traveling through al-Qa’im in western Anbar. The organization granted them homes that had been confiscated from Christians, Shabaks, and other religious minorities in the area. [Maalomah]
A security source says Iraqi planes dropped millions of leaflets on Mosul and other cities in Ninewa asking citizens to cooperate with Iraqi forces and to listen to a specific radio station that provides instructions. [Buratha]
Coalition planes conducted heavy airstrikes on a Daesh encampment in the Ghabat area just north of Mosul, destroying heavy weapons and military vehicles, a source in Ninewa says, as well as a second attack targeting a Daesh convoy west of Mosul, killing several of its members including an explosives expert with an unspecified European nationality. [Mada]
A Peshmerga source says Daesh was gathering its troops to attack the Kurdish forces in Wanaki west of Mosul, but the Coalition launched heavy airstrikes on Daesh in the area and foiled the attempt. [Rudaw]
Peshmerga fighters stopped a heavy Daesh attack near Bashiqa, killing many Daesh attackers and destroying a vehicle bomb, the Bashiqa subdistrict manager announced. [Mada]
Kata’eb Al-Mosul says it detonated an IED on a Daesh vehicle on the road between Tal Abta and Baaj killing 3 Daesh Hisbah members. [KM Facebook Page]
Unknown armed men shot dead a Saudi Daesh leader known as Abu Alaa in Shura, south of Mosul. [Maalomah]
Daesh publishes photos of the kindergartens in Mosul. [JustPaste]
DaeshDaily comment. These photos terrify us more than any gruesome photos Daesh publishes.
Other Governorates
KURDISTAN
Gorran and the PUK meet to discuss the political crisis in Kurdistan. Gorran says it is ready to negotiate with the KDP after its officials are allowed to go back to their positions in the KRG government. [Rudaw]
The KRG issues a statement saying Vice President Biden called President Barzani and congratulated him on the victory in Sinjar. [BasNews]
SOUTHERN IRAQ
Thirteen men were arrested on terrorism charges in Dhi Qar Governorate, a security source says. The detainees reportedly included former Baath party members and several followers of the radical Shia cleric Mahmoud Al-Sarkhi. [Mada]
DaeshDaily comment. Sarkhi is a relatively young cleric who appeared suddenly after 2003, claiming to be the Supreme Marji’ and challenging all major clerics in Najaf. The vast majority of Iraqi Shia think he’s a Baathist clone supported by Sunni countries in the region. He does have a few thousand devoted followers who staged the first attack against the Coalition in Kerbala in 2003. They also made several attacks against the Iraqi government, which finally decided to raid Sarkhi’s offices, where they found IED factories and tons of weapons and explosives.
Sarkhi criticized Sistani’s fatwa against Daesh and claims that what’s happening now in Anbar is peaceful resistance against the government. He has close ties with the pro-Daesh Association of Muslim Scholars. Ironically, many Iraqi Daesh supporters, who in general think all Shia are heretics, like him and consider him the real Shia leader!
The former director of the Sunni waqf endowments in the southern governorates has made allegations that the current waqf director and several past directors have used their positions to provide funds and shelter to individuals involved in terrorism. The former director alleges that Iraqi security sources have ample evidence of this from documents showing the link between the waqf director and terrorist activities, and provided documents to support his accusations. [Sumaria]
The Wasit Police Commander says his forces arrested a “dangerous” terrorist responsible for many attacks in Suwaira. [Ghad]
REPORTS FROM TURKEY
The Turkish Army says it killed a Daesh member and arrested 21 others while they were trying to cross the border from Syria to Turkey. [Rudaw]
DaeshDaily comment. The Turkish Army wouldn’t have shot them if they were moving in the opposite direction.
Turkish media sources says Turkish authorities arrested 8 people in Istanbul airport suspected of being Daesh members. [BasNews]
The Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister says Turkey has plans to eradicate Daesh on Turkish borders and it will start military operations in the coming days. [BasNews]
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
Northeast
The YPG says the Turkish army shelled their positions in Tal Abyad and east Kobane yesterday. [BasNews]
Local activists say more than 40 Daesh members were killed and many others wounded in the French and other airstrikes on Raqqa over the last three days. [ARA]
Daesh publishes a video of the civilian casualties of the bombing on north Raqqa. [A3maq]
Northwest
Daesh says one of its suicide terrorists attacked Syrian troops near the Kowaires airbase, killing or wounding many soldiers and destroying a tank. [Dump] [Dump]
Daesh publishes photos of the “normal life” in Qibasin city in Aleppo. [JustPaste]
Local activists say a young man from Manbij shot and killed a Tunisian Daesh sharia judge and two other terrorists and wounded others before killing himself. The Tunisian terrorist had issued an order to behead the young man’s brother. [BasNews]
Daesh publishes photos of children it “educates” in Manbij. [JustPaste]
Central and West
Daesh says it destroyed a Syrian Army tank and an armored vehicle in Dowa in Homs (photos). [Dump] [JustPaste]
East
Daesh says 4 people were killed, including children, and 9 wounded in Russian airstrikes on Albu Kamal near the Iraqi border. Daesh published photos of the results of the bombing. [JustPaste] [JustPaste]
Daesh shelled civilian houses in areas under Syrian Army control in Deir Ez-Zor while Syrian planes conducted 6 airstrikes on Daesh areas. [ARA]
REPORTS FROM OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Daesh publishes the 12th issue of its Dabiq magazine, called the “Just Terror”. The issue contains photos of the alleged bomb used in the Russian airplane in Egypt. Daesh says the bomb was smuggled into the airplane inside a soda can. The issue also says Daesh executed its Norwegian and Chinese prisoners. [MuslimsNews]
Daesh publishes two more videos about the Paris attacks and threatens to conduct more attacks. [Archive] [Archive]
Daesh audio newsletter for today in English. [Archive]
Lebanon. Daesh says it shelled a Shia village in Baalbek with a Katyusha rocket. [JustPaste]
Several sources say Real Madrid star Christiano Ronaldo has sent a personal invitation to a Lebanese child who was orphaned and wounded in the deadly Daesh bombing attack earlier this week in south Beirut. Social media users took up the boy’s case after it became known that the child, whose parents perished in the attack, harbored the dream of meeting Ronaldo in person. (#CristianoMeetHaidar). Ronaldo apparently took notice of the hashtag campaign and has invited the boy to Spain to meet him. [Twitter]
Libya. An Egyptian diplomat anticipates an Egyptian-Russian intervention in Libya soon. [AfriGate]
Tunisia. The Tunisian Ministry of Interior spokesman says the seven Daesh members arrested recently used to run more than 30 websites to glorify Daesh and attract recruits. [Tunisien]
Tunisian authorities publish a photo of a wanted terrorist who is wearing an explosives vest and ask people to report him. [AfriGate]
Afghanistan. Daesh publishes photos of one of its training camps in Afghanistan. [JustPaste]
SOCIAL MEDIA SOURCES
Facebook Page of the Day
Syria Media page
Daesh Twitter Accounts of the Day
https://twitter.com/ghareeb_001
https://twitter.com/e3030media
https://twitter.com/zFUZjJ83NX7Nyro
