October 30, 2015
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
Among today’s major developments:
Daesh stages beheadings of four Peshmerga prisoners in Hawija.
Al-Abadi’s party, Islamic Dawa, reaffirms its support for his reforms.
Rain limits military activities.
ANBAR
A video of the Anbar displaced families camps after the rain. [Rudaw]
Falluja
Iraqi airpower destroyed a Daesh location in Falluja city. [IWMC Report]
Baghdad Operations Command troops killed 5 Daesh fighters and wounded 3 and destroyed 4 vehicles and 22 IEDs in Qarma in addition to killing 6 other fighters in Subaihat in Qarma. [IWMC Report]
A local PMF commander says Iraqi forces stopped a Daesh attack on Kbaishat in Qarma, killing 14 Daesh fighters, including 3 wearing explosives vests, and destroying 4 vehicles, and forced Daesh to retreat to Qarma center. He says Daesh is using the bad weather to make advances in the area. [Mada]
DaeshDaily comment. The official military success stories keep coming from Qarma, but the implication of Daesh retreating to Qarma center is that they still control parts of it after all these government victories.
Ramadi
The Chairman of the security committee in Khaldiya says Daesh shelled Khaldiya and Habbaniya with dozens of mortars. Daesh hasn’t stopped their occasional shelling and rocketing of the two cities, which has gone on for months now. [Mada]
A Joint Operations Command (JOC) source says a Rapid Intervention unit stopped a Daesh attack on East Hsaiba, killing several Daesh fighters and destroying a vehicle and a weapons cache. [Mada]
The Anbar Operations Commander says military operations in Ramadi District stopped because of the bad weather and will resume next week. [Maalomah]
An IFP commander says the Daesh leader in Albu Assaf, northwest of Ramadi, was killed with 4 of his associates. He didn’t say how they were killed. [Sumaria]
A pro-Daesh video from inside Ramadi city. [YouTube]
Daesh publishes photos of destroying an Iraqi Abrams tank with a rocket south of Ramadi. [JustPaste]
Hit/Haditha
The Jazeera Operations Commander says his troops destroyed 29 IEDs, 3 rockets and a vehicle carrying a machine gun, and defused 4 booby-trapped houses east of Baghdadi. [Baghdadia]
The Jazeera Operations Commander says his troops launched a military operation on Al-Omairiya in Baghdadi, killing 7 Daesh members and defusing 6 booby-trapped houses. [Mada]
SALAHUDDIN
Baiji
The IAA destroyed a Daesh hideout in Makhoul Mountains, killing many fighters, while Iraqi troops recaptured a tower and a building taken earlier by Daesh, killing many Daesh members and destroying weapons and equipment. [IWMC Report]
Two videos of Iraqi forces in the Makhoul Mountains. [YouTube] [YouTube]
A video of Shia PMFs blowing up the Al-Fattah Sunni mosque in Baiji. The PMFs said earlier the mosque was booby-trapped by Daesh. [Rudaw]
DaeshDaily comment. The video isn’t clear on whether the motive is anti-Daesh or sectarian. Daesh has used many mosques for military operations. Whatever the motive, blowing up people’s mosques can only undermine the anti-Daesh campaign.
Samarra
A Samarra Operations Command source says Iraqi forces cleared the Samarra Silo, killing 17 Daesh men and destroying several vehicle bombs. An Iraqi lieutenant and 3 soldiers were killed and 5 soldiers wounded in the operation. The source also says Iraqi forces supported by artillery and the IAA are advancing to Sharif Abbas and the Strategic Line areas west of Samarra. [Mada]
IAA helicopters targeted Daesh fighters withdrawing from the Samarra Silo towards the Strategic Line, killing many of them and destroying 3 vehicles, 2 of them vehicle bombs. IFP troops destroyed another vehicle bomb near the Silo. [IWMC Report]
IFP troops destroyed 2 vehicle bombs approaching Iraqi forces in Mkaishifa, northwest of Samarra. [IWMC Report]
Daesh publishes photos and a video from the fights west of Samarra. [JustPaste] [JustPaste] [A3maq]
Daesh publishes photos and video of the battles near the Samarra Dam. [JustPaste] [A3maq]
Daesh publishes photos of its terrorists who were killed while attacking Iraqi forces west of Samarra (a Tunisian, an Iraqi, a Tajik, a Yemeni and a Bahraini). [MRKZGulf] [MRKZGulf] [MRKZGulf] [MRKZGulf] [MRKZGulf] [MRKZGulf] [MRKZGulf]
Daesh publishes photos of shelling Iraqi forces in Samarra with Grad rockets. [MRKZGulf] [MRKZGulf] [MRKZGulf] [MRKZGulf]
Two videos of Saraya Al-Salam militiamen in Al-Huwaish in west Samarra. [YouTube] [YouTube]
BAGHDAD
The Dawa Party issues a statement supporting Prime Minister Abadi’s reforms. [Mada]
DaeshDaily comment. This is potentially important, as some inside the Dawa Party and the State of Law bloc have been threatening in recent days to withdraw support for the reforms, which has seriously undermined the Prime Minister.
Demonstrations continued in Baghdad and several other Iraqi cities, though the numbers have been dwindling. [IraqPress]
Wathiq Al-Battat, the Commander of Al-Mukhtar Army, in an exclusive statement for Fars, the Iranian news agency, claims responsibility for the rocket attack yesterday on the Mujahidin Khalq at Camp Liberty. [Fars]
DaeshDaily comment. In this story, absolutely nothing is as it seems. It is a fictional account of a tragedy that is unfortunately real.
The Mujahidin e-Khalq (MEK) is an Iranian group that supported the overthrow of the Shah but held progressive ideas and soon fell out with the new Iranian regime, fought with Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War, and advocates the overthrow of the regime though it now renounces violence. Understandably, it is hated by Iran. It was given a safe haven in Diyala while the US military was there, but that became unsafe due to Iranian and Iraqi pressure, and the group was eventually moved to Camp Liberty on the Baghdad airport property for its own safety. Based on an understanding among the UN, US, and Iraq, it is supposed to be protected there. Yesterday’s deadly attack is in complete violation of that understanding. That’s the real tragedy.
From a friend of Daesh Daily, here is the story behind the fictional account. “Al-Mukhtar Army” is the same organization that claimed a previous attack on the Mujahidin e-Khalq at Camp Liberty, and its “commander” Wathiq Al-Battat issued a statement then, too. But the Mukhtar Army does not exist, except possibly as an occasional entity created to attack Mujahidin e-Khalq. After the previous rocket attack, Battat was arrested but then released because authorities concluded he could not possibly have had anything to do with it.
It gets even more interesting. Battat may not exist anymore either. Daesh said it killed Battat at the end of last year. So this statement to Fars was apparently issued by a dead guy claiming credit for a fictional army!
It begs explanation as to why this apparently non-existent guy gave his story only to an Iranian news agency. Or maybe no explanation is needed. And maybe the real explanation of who carried out the attack on Camp Liberty is not so hard to figure out. They can’t admit that, of course, which maybe explains the real-life existence of the non-existent Mukhtar Army.
What is harder to figure out is why the Iraqi government has not at least denounced this attack.
By contrast, the Sunni coalition in the CoR has issued a statement condemning the attack on Camp Liberty and asking the government to protect the Iranian refugees there. [Sumaria]
A security source says a displaced woman and her child were killed and 3 others wounded when the shelter they lived in collapsed because of the rain in Yusufiyah in south Baghdad. [BaghdadTimes]
Baghdad Operations Command troops found 12 IEDs and other explosives in Meshahda in north Baghdad. [IWMC Report]
According to security sources:
- Two civilians were killed and 7 wounded when an IED exploded near a popular market in Saba’ Al-Bor in north Baghdad. [Mada]
- A woman was killed and 3 wounded when an IED exploded in front of a residential building in Bataween in downtown Baghdad. [Mada]
- A civilian was killed and 8 wounded when an IED exploded in Saidiya in southwest Baghdad. [Mada]
- Three civilians were wounded when an IED exploded on their vehicle in Arab Jabour in south Baghdad. [Sumaria]
The Coalition conducted 10 sorties over Ramadi, Mosul, Sinjar and Baiji, destroying 64 targets and 7 gatherings. [IWMC Report]
DIYALA
Baquba
Daesh says it detonated an IED near the houses of a Sunni PMF in Al-Qatoun, causing damage to the house. [JustPaste]
Muqdadiya/Abu Saida
A security source says 2 mortar shells fell near a Shia shrine in Little Abu Saida village without causing any casualties. [Sumaria]
A local source says unknown armed men shot and killed a PMF fighter as he drove through Abu Jasra village on the road between Muqdadiya and Baquba. [Sumaria]
DaeshDaily comment. Many reports recently confirmed that Daesh is occupying a lot of orchards in Muqdadiya.
Elsewhere in Diyala
Daesh says it destroyed a PMF vehicle with an IED in Balad Ruz, killing 4 PMF fighters. [JustPaste]
KIRKUK
Daesh publishes a video about the American airborne operation and beheads 4 Peshmerga fighters in the same part of the prison. One of the terrorists in the video appears to be the British terrorist “Jihadi John,” associated with previous beheadings, speaking in English and addressing President Obama. [HademAswar]
A local source says Daesh is transporting oil on more than 30 oil tankers every day from oil fields it controls southwest of Kirkuk, driving them through Hawija and Mosul, and selling the oil in Syria. [Sumaria]
DaeshDaily comment. We wonder who is collaborating with Daesh to make this possible, in both countries.
A security source says 2 men wanted on terrorism charges were arrested at a checkpoint in south Kirkuk. [Ghad]
NINEWA
Mosul
A security source says 11 Daesh members were killed or wounded in a Coalition airstrike on the police station and the mayoralty building in Qayara, 60 km (37 miles) south of Mosul. [Mada]
A PUK official says Daesh executed 25 men and 5 women in Mosul, accusing them of communicating with Iraqi security forces. He also says Coalition airplanes bombed Daesh in 2 villages in Kasik, in Tal Afar, killing or wounding many fighters. [PUKMedia]
Northwest Ninewa
A Ninewa Police source says Daesh executed a former police captain and a municipal council member in Wana in Tal Afar. [BasNews]
Kata’eb Al-Mosul destroyed a Daesh vehicle in Ashiq in Tal Afar District with an IED, killing or wounding four Daesh members. [KM Facebook Page]
Other Governorates
KURDISTAN
President Barzani met in Erbil on Thursday with General Lloyd Austin, the CentCom Commander, and Ambassador Jones. The KRG says they discussed the war against Daesh. [BasNews]
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
Northern Syria
A 14 years old boy says he ran away from Raqqa because Daesh is forcing compulsory military service on males aged 14-30. [Hawar]
Northwestern Syria
A Jabha Shamiya commander says Daesh launched a large attack on the JS in Mare’ but the JS stopped the attack. He says 7 Daesh fighters were killed and many wounded while 3 JS fighters were killed. [ARA]
Daesh publishes photos and a video of the results of the bombing on Al-Bab. [JustPaste] [A3maq]
Daesh publishes photos of the results of the bombing on Tadif. [JustPaste]
Daesh publishes photos of the results of the bombing on Maslama in east Aleppo. [JustPaste]
Daesh publishes photos of the results of the bombing on Manbij. [JustPaste]
REPORTS FROM TURKEY
Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (RSS), an anti-Daesh Syrian journalist group, says one of its activists and his friend were found beheaded in their house in Urfa, Turkey. [RSS Facebook Page]
DaeshDaily. Several Daesh Twitter accounts said the two men were killed by Daesh. Daesh previously killed the father of the founder of the RSS and several of its members.
Daesh publishes a video message to the people of Turkey. [Archive]
Turkish security forces referred the cases of 30 Daesh suspects, out of 33 arrested, to the general attorney office. [Anadolu]
REPORTS FROM OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Lebanon. In a video with a truly stomach-turning story, a young man from Tripoli, Lebanon joined Daesh in Raqqa, Syria and brought his two sisters. He then tricked his father into coming to Raqqa to get his daughters back. After he arrived, the son made blasphemy accusations against him to Daesh, and Daesh publicly executed the father in front of his son and daughters. Daesh published a photo of the beheading. We mentioned the incident when it happened. The rest of the story came later. [MTV]
Egypt. Medical sources say 3 policemen and 4 civilians were wounded when an IED exploded on a police armored vehicle in Arish. [Youm7]
Libya. Daesh publishes photos of the battles in Derna. [JustPaste]
Local sources say Daesh is gradually appearing in Ajdabiya and has started assassinating and kidnapping people in the city, sometimes using sticker IEDs. [AkhbarLibya24] [AfriGate]
Eyewitnesses say unknown airplanes bombed Daesh locations in south and west Sirte. The Libyan government didn’t claim responsibility for the airstrikes. [AfriGate]
A member of the security committee in Sirte rejects the reports and says no one is targeting Daesh in Sirte because the Libyan authorities and the international community just abandoned the city to Daesh. [Erem]
SOCIAL MEDIA SOURCES
Facebook Page of the Day
Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently page
Daesh Twitter Accounts of the Day
https://twitter.com/UnUnUnU___79
https://twitter.com/abdllmalekasat
