February 26, 2019
Yazidi Children Freed in Al-Baghouz (Ezidi24 Feb 26)
MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
Iraq
Salahuddin PC Chairman ousted by Council. [..]
Daesh cell alleged responsible for recent Qayara killings arrested. [..]
Syria
UN estimates 9,000 civilians evacuated from Deir Ez-Zor in past 4 days. [..]
Report says “many” Daesh-held Yazidi women freed in Al-Baghouz. [..]
SOHR reports prisoners for food deals between SDF, Daesh in Albu Kamal. [..]
Other countries
United States: Trump-Kim meeting about to start in Vietnam. [..]
Iran: Rouhani refuses to accept Zarif’s resignation. [..]
Yemen: UN donor conference in Geneva raises 2.6 billion for Yemen relief. [..]
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
NATIONAL NEWS
Anti-Daesh campaign
Abbas Sarout, a member of the CoR’s Security and Defense Committee, said on Monday that the government was avoiding using PMF groups to clear the western Anbar desert for fear of conflict between US and PMF troops. Sarout claimed that the PMF was capable of clearing the area, and said that such an operation was necessary, as he said that Wadi Horan, near Rutba city, currently contains more than 2,000 Daesh fighters. [Maalomah]
Sadrist leader Hakim Al-Zamili said on Tuesday that there were about 2,000 Daesh fighters remaining in Iraq, and that some political actors were using them to intimidate Iraqis after some called for the removal of the US presence in Iraq. He said that Iraqi security forces accepted 280 Daesh terrorists from the SDF. It handed the terrorists over to the “Falcons” intelligence cell for investigation. He said that some recent examples of Daesh activity were the kidnapping of over 35 civilians who attempted to harvest desert truffles, the killing of a shepherd in Hawija, and the killing of a fisherman in Salahuddin. [Sumaria]
Repatriation
On Tuesday, PM Adel Abd Ul-Mahdi told Sumaria that Iraq would accept 250 Daesh members, but will not accept Daesh members with foreign nationalities. He said the families will be dealt with based on whether they were forced into contact with Daesh, or were willing supporters. [Sumaria]
As reported by Sumaria, an Arab paper wrote that several countries are pressing Iraq to receive 400-600 Daesh fighters of various nationalities to try them in Iraq according to Iraqi laws. Western countries in particular are reportedly pressing for this. Daesh fighters who would be tried include French, German, British, Canadian, and other nationalities, in addition to those from Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, and Egypt. The source says that Iraqi political leaders are against accepting non-Iraqi fighters, out of fear of a prison scenario similar to Abu Ghraib in 2013 or Badoush in 2014. Turkey is opposed to trying the fighters in Syria, as it does not recognize the SDF as a legal force, while European countries don’t seem willing to receive them. [Sumaria]
The Russian TV channel RT said that the SDF is holding about 1,000 Iraqi Daesh prisoners, quoting Iraqi intelligence sources. These will be handed over to Iraq in groups, the channel said. [Qasioun] [Sumaria]
The Russian Ambassador to Iraq, Maksim Maksimov, said on Tuesday that 64 Russian women and 58 Russian children from Daesh families were being held in Iraqi jails. Maksimov added that there were other detained citizens from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan. He said that the Russian Foreign Ministry was taking steps to repatriate the children of Russian-nationality Daesh fighters sentenced in Iraq. [Mada] [Buratha]
BAGHDAD
No reports
ANBAR
PMF Ops Command announced on Tuesday morning that East Anbar Ops Command, under the PMF, launched a search across Anbar for Daesh cells. It was assisted by the 7th Brigade, 27th Brigade, and the 2nd Intelligence Brigade. [Baghdadia]
Falluja
A local source in Anbar said there are Daesh cells targeting mukhtars and civilians in Nuaimiya, 3 miles south of Falluja. The source said that they recently killed 2 mukhtars and several workers. The source also said that the area had no police centers or emergency police forces, only troops from the recently assigned 10th Division. [Sumaria]
A security source said 3 civilians were killed and 3 wounded by an IED in Nuaimiya, south of Falluja. The IED targeted a vehicle carrying workers. [Sumaria]
Ramadi
The Directorate of Military Intelligence said on Tuesday that its 10th Division had dissolved a 3-person Daesh cell in Albu Assaf. [Ghad]
Rutba
A security source said that an aerial landing by the “tactical” Anbar Police Battalion in the desert resulted in the arrest of 4 Daesh fighters. The operation took place in Wadi Al-Ghadhaf, in the desert between Rutba and Nukhaib. [Sumaria] [Baghdadia]
The Commander of the “tactical” Anbar Police Battalion said that the operation, with the help of 6 Army helicopters, resulted in arresting 4 fighters and destroying a Daesh camp, 5 watch towers, 4 motorcycles and 3 Daesh tunnels. [BasNews] [BasNews]
A leader in the Al-Abbas Combat Division PMF group said it is tracking Daesh fighters who are targeting civilians in Nukhaib, to free civilian hostages. The Al-Abbas Combat Division leader said PMF units are in the northwestern desert of Nukhaib, where civilians visit to collect mushrooms and go sightseeing. [Rudaw]
Hashim Al-Garaawi, Deputy Governor of Najaf, says that one of the hostages recently taken by Daesh, who was from Najaf Province, managed to kill his Daesh captor after taking his gun. The former hostage then fled to the Rutba desert, where he reached Army units after several days of walking. [Sumaria]
SALAHUDDIN
Shirqat
Daesh said it killed a tribal PMF fighter and wounded two others on Sunday in an attack on Al-Naml village. [ICDNFeb26-Telegram]
Daesh said on Tuesday it killed or wounded tribal PMF fighters and damaged their vehicle with an IED in Shaqra village, north of Shirqat city. [ICDNFeb26-Telegram]
Tikrit
Ahmed Al-Karim, the Chairman of the Salahuddin Provincial Council, was removed as head of the Council on Monday in a “political coup,” as a majority of the Council voted to replace Al-Karim with Deputy Chairman ‘Adai Thanon. This took place while Al-Karim and several other MPs from the Council were absent. Observers alleged that this was related to a visit from the Iranian Ambassador to Iraq, Iraj Masjedi, to Samarra a week ago, and to political feuds between Al-Karim and Salahuddin CoR member Ahmed Al-Jubouri. [Mada]
DIYALA
Northern Diyala (Khanaqin)
A security source said on Tuesday that security personnel and Peshmerga foiled a Daesh attack on Yousef Bek village, in Khanaqin. The source said that 1 Peshmerga soldier had been wounded and that the security personnel had inflicted “heavy” casualties on Daesh. [Sumaria]
KIRKUK
No report
NINEWA
Mosul city
Daesh said on Tuesday it killed two Iraqi soldiers, wounded another, and destroyed their vehicle with a sticky IED in the market of the Al-Qahera neighborhood in the northeast corner of Mosul. [ICDNFeb26-Telegram]
Daesh said it destroyed two Iraqi Army vehicles and damaged another on Tuesday when it set off a parked motorcycle bomb near a military building at the Al-Masarif intersection in northeast Mosul. [ICDNFeb26-Telegram]
Mosul District
South (Qayara)
The PMF media office said in a statement that the 44th PMF Brigade had arrested the terrorist cell responsible for the killing of several women and children 8 days ago in Al-Thaya village in Qayara subdistrict. The statement said that the terrorist cell was composed of 6 Daesh members. [PressIraq] [Sumaria]
West (Hamidat/Muhalabiya)
A security source said on Tuesday that the day before, an armed group had killed 1 civilian and abducted another in Al-Mulawtha, northwest of Mosul city. The source said that security personnel had opened an investigation into the incident. [Sumaria]
Daesh’s version said that it had killed a “PMF intelligence member” and severely wounded another on Monday when it raided a house in the Al-Mulawtha area. [ICDNFeb26-Telegram]
KURDISTAN NEWS
No reports
REPORTS FROM TURKEY
No reports
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
NATIONAL NEWS
United Nations
UN OCHA said on Monday that over 9,000 civilians had been evacuated from Daesh-held areas in Deir Ez-Zor in the previous 72 hours. 6,000 of them were transferred to the Al-Hawl refugee and IDP camp in Hasaka. 99% of them are women or children. [EnabBaladi]
Anti-Daesh campaign
A Daesh prisoner said he was handed over by Turkey to Daesh in exchange for the return of 49 Turkish diplomats held by Daesh. They were thus not recovered through an intelligence operation, as Erdogan previously said. The man, of Uzbek nationality, was arrested in Turkey because his residency permit expired, not because of his Daesh affiliation. He says he was one of 200 Daesh members transferred in cars to the border with Iraq in exchange for 49 diplomats who had been captured by Daesh but were unharmed. He was arrested by the SDF in 2018. [Hawar]
Rudaw said that on Monday, “many” Yazidis were freed from Daesh in Al-Baghouz and went to Hasaka. Returning them home to Sinjar is under discussion. A female child who had been captured by Daesh said that they used to beat her, and armed men told her that the “people of paradise” wear black. [Rudaw]
On Tuesday, Rudaw said that another 2 female Yazidi children, 10 and 15 years old, were freed from Al-Baghouz. [Rudaw]
Northwest
No reports
Northeast
No reports
Central and West
No reports
East (Deir Ez-Zor)
Albu Kamal District
The SOHR reported that a deal was reached between Daesh and the SDF, for 3 SDF POWs to be released in exchange for allowing 2 trucks carrying foodstuffs into the Daesh-held portion of Al-Baghouz. This is not the first deal of its kind, as a similar deal was conducted on February 17, when 10 prisoners were exchanged for food. The SOHR also said that 45 trucks carrying 2,200 civilians, including families of Daesh members, left the area towards SDF-held areas. [SyriaHR]
South
No reports
OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA REPORTS
Neighboring countries
Iran
The Iranian state channel Press TV said on Tuesday that President Rouhani had refused to accept Mohammad Javad Zarif’s resignation as Foreign Minister. Zarif submitted his resignation on Monday after he was cut out of a Tehran meeting with Bashar Al-Assad. [WaPo]
President Rouhani gave a speech on Iranian TV praising Zarif’s performance as Foreign Minister, and reportedly dispatched officials to convince him not to quit. [WSJ]
DaeshDaily comment: As we surmised in last night’s issue, the Al-Assad invitation came from the Revolutionary Guards side of the government, not from Rouhani. It now appears that even Rouhani was unaware of the visit until Al-Assad was already on his way. Zarif, who holds a US Ph.D., has been working under enormous pressure for several reasons, including the renewed US sanctions, and the Al-Assad incident may have seemed like the last straw. However, Rouhani is under pressures of his own and needs Zarif in the government for his own political reasons.
Yemen
On Tuesday, UN World Food Program officials gained entry to the Red Sea Mills, where they had stored 51,000 tons of grain since last September. They announced that the grain stores were largely intact, alleviating fears that they would spoil in storage.
In Geneva, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that 24 million Yemenis, about 4/5 of Yemen’s population, were in need of some form of aid or protection. He was speaking at a donor conference, at which the UN aimed to raise $4 billion for aid to Yemen this year. Donors pledged $2.6 billion, with more than half coming from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. [NYT]
President Trump said on Monday that Danny Burch, a US citizen who was kidnapped 18 months ago in Sana’a, had been freed and reunited with his family. Trump credited the UAE with supporting Burch’s release, but did not otherwise say how Burch was freed. [NYT]
North Africa
Libya
Faiz Al-Sarraj, leader of the Libyan Presidential Council, and Khalifa Haftar, the leader of the forces controlling the east of the country, are expected to meet Mustafa Sanaalah, the Director of the Libyan National Company, in Abu Dhabi. A solution to the crisis over the Sharara oil field will be discussed. [Anadolu]
A security source in Sirte said on Wednesday that military personnel had arrested Ibrahim Mohammed Saleh Al-Qaziri, a Daesh member, at his family’s home in Sirte. The source said that Al-Qaziri had been responsible for broadcasting the Daesh radio station “Al-Tawheed” in 2015 and 2016. [Wasat]
REPORTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
UNITED STATES
President Trump arrived in Vietnam to meet with North Korean President Kim Jong-Un. The meeting is aimed at discussing North Korean nuclear weapons and improving economic relations. The North Korean President arrived by train via China earlier. [Anadolu]
AFRICA
Somalia
Daesh said on Tuesday it shot and killed a bodyguard of the Puntland Police Chief in Bosaso city. [ICDNFeb26-Telegram]
Nigeria
Daesh said it killed or wounded Nigerian soldiers on Monday when it attacked a military position in Manati town, in Borno State. [ICDNFeb26-Telegram]
Daesh said it killed three Nigerian soldiers, wounded others, and stole weapons and ammunition on Monday when it ambushed Army vehicles in Cross, a town northeast of Maiduguri city, in Borno State. [ICDNFeb26-Telegram]
ASIA
Afghanistan
Military sources said that Taliban commander Qari Sahid was killed in an airstrike in Sayidabad District, Wardak Province, in central Afghanistan. Sahid was reportedly responsible for coordinating “high-profile” attacks in Kabul. [Khaama]
The National Directorate of Security said that a joint operation had seized a Taliban drug stockpile in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan. The statement said that 550 pounds of “narcotics” were seized, as well as 30 military uniforms. [Khaama]
Daesh said on Tuesday it killed an Afghan policeman, wounded another, and damaged their vehicle with an IED in Jalalabad city. [ICDNFeb26-Telegram]
India/Pakistan
A spokesman for the Pakistani military said on Tuesday that Indian Air Force jets crossing the Line of Control (LoC) had bombed an area near Muzzafarabad, in the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir. Earlier reports (cited here) had quoted the spokesman as saying that the Indian Air Force bombed an area in Balakot in Pakistan about 60 km (37 miles) from the LoC. [Khaama]
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