February 1, 2018
Ghouta
MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
Iraq
2,500,000 Iraqi IDPs have returned to their home areas. [..]
Kurds’ agitation continues over KRG share of 2018 budget. [..]
Daesh assassinates retired Army general in Daquq. [..]
Iraqi security arrests 15-member Daesh forgery cell. [..]
Turks claim to have killed 49 PKK in northern Kurdistan airstrikes. [..]
Syria
US officials accuse Syria of developing new chemical weapons. [..]
Syria asks UN to curtail Turkey’s invasion of Afrin. [..]
UN official slams Syria, Russia for escalation in Idlib, Eastern Ghouta. [..]
Turkey and allied militias make significant gains in northern Afrin. [..]
Syria claims to have captured 20 more villages in southern Idlib. [..]
Opposition militias, Israel both attack Daesh affiliate in southern Syria. [..]
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
NATIONAL NEWS
Anti-Daesh Campaign
Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi attended the victory celebration Thursday organized by the Iraqi Federal Police (IFP) and its affiliates. Al-Abadi said that the government’s challenges following the elimination of terrorism lie in protecting the security of Iraq’s cities and civilians from terrorist cells. [Sumaria]
Thursday, spokesman Sabah Al-Nu’man announced that the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) handed over its foreign Daesh detainees to the Ministry of Justice to stand trial. Al-Nu’man said in a press statement that “those who were handed over committed terrorist acts inside Iraq; therefore they will stand trial according to Iraqi law.” There are 9 women among the detainees, including French and Germans, in addition to men with European citizenship. [Baghdadia]
Thursday, MoD spokesman Saad Ma’en told the press that the MoD will carry out a large-scale security operation across all Iraqi regions. He also said that “anyone who writes death threats on the walls of houses will be treated as a terrorist.” [Sumaria]
UNAMI announced on Thursday that 115 Iraqi civilians were killed and 250 were injured in violence and armed conflict that took place in Iraq last month. Baghdad was the most affected governorate, with 90 civilian deaths and 233 wounded. In Diyala there were 8 civilian deaths and 15 wounded, and in Ninewa 13 civilians were killed and 7 wounded. [BasNews] [Rudaw]
Thursday, the Joint Operations Command announced the completion of the War Media Cell’s mission as of the final declaration of victory over Daesh in Iraq. The statement commended the efforts of the War Media Cell and announced that the Security Media Center has been formed to provide the media with security information and facilitate their work. [AIN]
DaeshDaily comment. We offer our blessings to the IWMC for all its stories repeated in Daesh Daily, but we confess that we found them frustrating in some ways, and as the anti-Daesh struggle reached its later stages, they seemed to disappear. Hopefully the Security Media Center will restore the central coordination of media stories on military and security matters.
Reconstruction
Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper reported from an unnamed Iraqi minister that there are 9 western countries that are hesitant to participate in the Kuwait donor conference, including states in the Coalition. 80 countries were officially invited to attend; 32 have not responded, and 9 requested guarantees against marginalization and ostracism by other attendees. The source added that an Asian state that funded a project to rehabilitate a hospital in Anbar in 2007 has declined to attend the Kuwait conference, as the hospital it funded was destroyed in the battles between the US and Al-Qaeda. [Sumaria]
DaeshDaily comment. Maybe we can all relate to the reasons why some aren’t coming. We are all invited at times to events where we will be expected to donate some money. Whether we attend is dependent on whether we (a) have money to donate; (b) feel strongly about helping if we do; and (c) won’t have our contributions marginalized when it turns out that we gave less than other people.
The Ministry of Migration and Displacement reported that the regular meeting of the Higher Committee to Rescue and Shelter IDPs, chaired by Jassem Mohammed Al-Jaff and attended by the governors of
Anbar and Ninewa, discussed the situation of IDP families, and of the families that have returned to their original areas; the stability of liberated areas; and coordinating the efforts of all responsible ministries to return IDPs to normal life. The ministry’s statement said that 2.5 million IDPs have returned to liberated areas. [Xendan]
Election
Thursday, UNAMI representative Jan Kubis announced that he met with Sadrist leader Muqtada Al-Sadr and discussed commitment to holding the elections on schedule, the preparations leading up to them, and the reform project. Kubis said UNAMI is committed to holding the elections on time and will help the IHEC and the government to achieve that. [Sumaria]
Thursday, London-based Al-Arab newspaper reported that Iran is encouraging a number of its allies in Iraq to form the widest possible Shia alliance in order to eliminate the prospect of a second term for Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, with Badr Secretary General Hadi Al-Amiri in mind as an alternative. The newspaper reported from “high level political sources” that Al-Amiri will receive full Iranian backing after the elections in May, and that Al-Amiri received “an explicit promise” from the National Wisdom Movement leader Ammar Al-Hakim to back him for Prime Minister. [BasNews]
Iraq-KRG Issues
Thursday, the KRG announced that the federal government’s delegation has recently visited the Kurdistan Region, and the two sides have reached an initial agreement consisting of 6 points, pending Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi’s approval, according to KRG spokesman Safeen Dizayee. He added that the official date to re-open the Kurdistan Region’s airport has not been set. [Sumaria]
Kurdish CoR blocs met with Iraqi PM Haider Al-Abadi on the issue of the 2018 federal budget and discussed proportions and amounts to be allocated to the Peshmerga forces, the benefits of farmers in the Kurdistan Region, and a number of other outstanding issues between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. A KDP CoR member, Bariwan Khailani said “the meeting with Al-Abadi ended without reaching any agreement we can discuss.” [BasNews]
Thursday, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said that the 17% allocated to the Kurdistan Region in previous years is a “mere political agreement.” He stated that the Peshmerga’s share in the budget was not changed. He also said that the allocations in Iraq are insufficient for all Iraqis, not just the Kurds. [Sumaria]
Thursday, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi went to the CoR again to resume discussions on the federal budget for 2018. Kurdish blocs had announced their intention to boycott the CoR sessions on the federal budget if their concerns are not taken into consideration, emphasizing the allocation of 17% of the budget to the Kurdistan Region, and to deal with the Kurdistan Region as one entity as opposed to multiple governorates. [BasNews]
DaeshDaily comment. Given the way the KDP has treated Gorran and other Kurdish parties, trusting the KRG to fairly distribute all the money from Baghdad sounds like a truly absurd demand. Moreover, the record of past years shows that the two major traditional parties (KDP, PUK) have spent vast sums from the KRG treasury for their parties’ purposes while managing not to report the amounts.
Thursday, Vice President Nouri Al-Maliki’s office stated that Al-Maliki met with Pavel Jalal Talabani, son of the former Iraq President, to discuss the overall political and security situation in the region as well as the latest local and regional developments. Al-Maliki reiterated the importance of resolving outstanding issues between Erbil and Baghdad in accordance with the constitution and working to unify the efforts to face the challenges facing Iraq. [Sumaria]
BAGHDAD
Security-related incidents reported
West (Ghazaliya, Abu Ghraib, etc.)
Thursday, the Military Intelligence Services announced the arrest of 2 wanted terrorists in Baghdad. One was cornered in his house in Al-Jami’a neighborhood in west Baghdad, and the statement clarified that he had escaped from the Kubaisa- Bab Al-Sur area in Anbar. The second one was hiding among civilians in the Arab Jaloub area in Abu Ghraib. [Baghdadia]
ANBAR
Hit/Haditha
Thursday, a local source in Anbar reported that a policeman died from his wounds caused by the US airstrikes on Al-Baghdadi, raising the number of victims to nine. [Sumaria]
Thursday, a security source in Anbar revealed that the US forces are still deployed in the Khasfa area of Haditha, Wadi Horan, and the deserts of Rawa and Al-Qa’im. [BasNews]
Rutba
Thursday, a security source in Anbar reported that a border guard was killed and four others wounded in an IED explosion near the Al-Walid border crossing from Daesh’s remnants. [Sumaria]
SALAHUDDIN
Baiji
A DaeshDaily source says a PMF logistics official and another PMF member were killed when an IED exploded on their pickup vehicle in the Makhoul Mountains area. The source says the pickup was loaded with weapons and ammunition.
DIYALA
Baquba/Southeast Diyala
Thursday, the Diyala Police announced that Hibhib police patrols arrested 3 suspects on criminal and terrorist charges. [Baghdadia]
Northern Diyala (Kifri, Khanaqin, Khalis north)
Thursday, a local source reported there is an “influential politician” in Salahuddin who deals with Daesh and facilitates the terrorist group’s sale of stolen sheep from Diyala and Salahuddin. He says that hundreds of sheep were stolen in recent weeks. Allegedly, the politician transports them via the Udhaim area, going around Albu Bakr village. [Ghad]
A DaeshDaily source says a PMF Press media team member was killed and three others wounded when their vehicle was hit by a Daesh rocket near the Udhaim Dam.
Thursday, the Military Intelligence Service announced the arrest of 4 terrorists in Udhaim. [Baghdadia]
KIRKUK
Hawija (Riyadh, Al-Zab, etc.)
A security source said that on Thursday two members of the Tribal PMF were killed in an armed attack at a Tribal PMF checkpoint in Al-Theban village. [Sumaria]
Wednesday evening, the PMF’s 2nd brigade and IFP units killed 3 Daesh members and destroyed Daesh tunnels in a pre-emptive operation in Hawija’s villages, according to the PMF media. [PressIraq]
IFP commander Ra’ed Shaker Jawdat announced that search operations in Al-Zab Al-Kebir and in the Qayara subdistrict of Mosul District led to the death of one terrorist and the destruction of a sleeper cell guesthouse that contained various kinds of ammunition. [Baghdadia]
Daesh says it destroyed a PMF vehicle with an IED near Al-Salmani village, southwest of Riyadh, on Tuesday, wounding one fighter. [ICDNFeb1]
Daesh says it detonated a booby-trapped house on a PMF patrol in Kawaz village, east of Hawija, on Tuesday, killing three fighters. [ICDNFeb1]
Southwest (Daquq, Rashad, etc.)
A security source in Kirkuk Governorate reported that Daesh units killed retired Iraqi Army Maj. Gen. Anwar Al-Danuk Al-Abidi in the Tal Khadija village in Rashad on Wednesday. [Forat]
Former Ninewa Governor Atheel Al-Nujaifi said that the assassination of Maj. Gen. Al-Abidi constitutes a launch of “the first phase of a new Daesh plan” which targets Sunnis. He predicts that such operations will take place in the outskirts of Kirkuk, Diyala, Mosul, and south of Mosul. Al-Nujaifi said that Daesh is calling this phase “Sayd Al-Ghirban” (the hunting of crows), which is the first of four phases it is planning to carry out. He said the Iraqi government must direct its anti-terrorism policies towards reinforcing national unity before terrorism prevails again. [Shafaaq]
DaeshDaily comment. People say the darnedest things! There is hardly anyone else in Iraq who has undermined Iraqi unity more than Mr. Nujaifi, a known separatist and ally of the Turks, who brought Turkish troops into Ninewa who are still there.
Daesh says it killed a PMF member in Tal Khadija village, west of Rashad, on Wednesday. [ICDNFeb1]
NINEWA
Mosul
Thursday, Ninewa PC member Husam Al-Abbar revealed that National Security Service captured a 15-member Daesh gang that forges documents for Daesh in Mosul. He added that security units are working to capture former Daesh members, based on intelligence data from Mosul residents in some instances. He added that the bodies of Daesh members still remain in Old Mosul in addition to war remnants. [Ghad]
Western Ninewa
Baaj
Thursday, Iraqi forces arrested the Daesh “Minister of Oil,” Abdulghani Dhirgham Abdulsamad, in the Baaj desert near the Iraqi-Syrian border as he was trying to escape to Syria, according to Ninewa Ops Commander Najm Al-Jubouri. [Buratha]
A DaeshDaily source says PMFs stopped a Daesh attack near the Tal Safouk area, killing 8 terrorists. The source says four PMF fighters were killed in the attack.
SOUTHERN IRAQ
Najaf
Thursday, Sadrist leader Muqtada Al-Sadr and National Wisdom Movement leader Ammar Al-Hakim met in Al-Hakim’s office in Najaf. [Sumaria]
Babel
Babel representative Adnan Al-Janabi says that “not one IDP from Jurf Al-Sakhar has returned.” By contrast, the official spokesman of the Hezbollah brigades, the main faction in Jurf Al-Sakhar, says 85% of its IDPs have returned. Al-Janabi added that the IDPs have not been allowed to return due to “excuses about mines and explosives, which were not there to begin with.” He also questioned how Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi is going to hold the elections while he is still obligated to return the IDPs, based on the amendments to the CoR elections law, which obliges the executive authorities to return IDPs as a condition for holding the elections. [Rudaw]
KURDISTAN NEWS
The Iraqi government has ordered that Kurdish communication companies stop their landline services without giving a warning or grace period, according to Fatih Ismail Ahmed, Nawroz Telecom spokesman. Ahmed added that this decision will have a great impact on the communications sector. [BasNews]
ERBIL
The US Consulate in Erbil announced that it will award $25,000 for new services projects that serve the Kurdistan Region. [BasNews]
Turkish airstrikes. According to Anadolu, the Turkish Army announced the deaths of 49 PKK fighters in separate airstrikes on PKK locations in Qandil, Al-Zab, and Avashin. [Sumaria]
REPORTS FROM TURKEY
Wednesday, a 27-year old Daesh commander called Hussein Bin Ali Bousaha, also known as “Abu Salman Al-Tounsi,” was detained by the Kurdish forces in northern Syria. He was in charge of selling sheep and petroleum in Deir Ez-Zor. During questioning he revealed the details of an alleged deal between Turkey and Daesh that allowed 360 foreign fighters to enter Syria through Turkey in return for releasing Turkish diplomats in the Mosul Consulate who were detained when Daesh took over the city in 2014. [Forat]
Thursday, NTV reported that an explosion occurred in the heating room of the tax department in Ankara. [Sumaria]
After a meeting with the Iraqi Planning Minister Salman Ali Al-Jumaili in Ankara, Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said that Turkey supports the opening of the two border crossings of Faysh Khabur and Ovakoy with Iraq, confirming that “Turkey does not support any authority, except the Iraqi Federal government, to implement taxes and standards.” “We believe that the Iraqi Federal government has the only authority over all the goods entering Iraq through the Iraqi customs gates,” he added. [Anadolu]
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
NATIONAL NEWS
Chemical weapons. US officials accused the Syrian government of developing new and more sophisticated chemical weapons. President Donald Trump is “not ruling out further military action” to deter the Syrian government from developing new chemical weapons or as a way of punishing President Bashar Al-Assad, according to US officials. [WashingtonPost] [Anadolu]
Afrin. On January 25th, Dana W. White, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, reiterated that “Turkey is an ally and we’re going to work with them, but this current offensive is a distraction and we have to focus as allies on the mission at hand and that’s defeating ISIS.” [Rudaw]
Thursday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry called on the UN Secretary General and Security Council to put a limit to the Turkish attack on Afrin, adding that Turkey is violating resolutions 2170 and 2178. [BasNews]
United Nations. Thursday, the United Nations called on the Syrian government, Russia and Iran to stop escalation in Idlib and the Eastern Ghouta, stressing the need to declare a “humanitarian truce.” At a news conference in Geneva on Thursday, Jan Egeland, adviser to the UN special envoy for Syria, said that the Syrian government’s approval of aid convoys has reached its lowest level since 2015.”Through December and January, there has not been a single convoy of lifesaving relief, medical supplies or food to any besieged areas. That is the worst we have experienced since 2015. We have not had a medical evacuation since the end of December,” Egeland added. [EnabBaladi][ Anadolu]
Political future. Thursday, the Syrian government announced that it welcomes the Sochi conference’s results, clarifying that the political process in Syria can only start and continue with Syrian leadership, without foreign intervention, according to a Syrian official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [Rudaw]
Northwest
Afrin
SOHR reports clashes between the YPG and Turkish forces in the Shankila area in Bulbul subdistrict northwest of Afrin and in Khalil village in Sheikh Hadid subdistrict in western rural Afrin. [SyriaHR]
SOHR reports that in the last 24 hours, the Kurdish forces in Afrin have killed 1 Turkish soldier and 14 Turkey-allied militia fighters. [SyriaHR]
Wednesday, the Turkish army and its allied militias captured Mount Ain Al-Batman in the northwestern Rajo subdistrict. [Qasioun]
Thursday, the Turkish army and its allied Syrian factions captured the center of the Bulbul subdistrict as well as several other locations in Bulbul. [Anadolu] [Qasioun] Thursday, Turkey-allied Syrian opposition militias captured Ali Qar and Zarah villages in Bulbul subdistrict in northern Afrin, following battles with the YPG. [Qasioun]
Thursday, pro-PYD Hawar reported that the YPG destroyed a Turkish military vehicle in Qurna village in Bulbul, killing its crew. It claims that at least 20 Turkish soldiers were killed during “clearing operations” in Zarah. [Hawar]
In a statement to Anadolu on Thursday, an FSA officer said that the Free Syrian Army killed two PYD soldiers and captured two others inside a 50-meter-long tunnel recently discovered in Qastal Jando village in Shara subdistrict just east of Bulbul. [Anadolu]
Wednesday, Qasioun reported that the Turkish army targeted the YPG positions in Dermak Mountain in Afrin with aerial and artillery shelling. Likewise, Turkish planes carried out several airstrikes on the YPG positions in Al-Thuq, Bashamra and Basofan in the Shirawa subdistrict in eastern Afrin. [Qasioun]
Thursday, a Turkish civilian was injured when a rocket fired by the YPG from Syria’s Afrin hit Turkey’s border province of Kilis. [Anadolu]
DaeshDaily comment. Turkish media duly record any rockets and artillery fire that land in Turkey, generally leaving the implication that these are unprovoked attacks. They somehow don’t manage to report all the fire coming across the border from Turkey that kills soldiers and civilians in Syria.
In response to questions about a PKK attack on civilians in Kilis Turkey from the Afrin region of Syria, Kenneth McKenzie, spokesman for the US General Staff, said “we condemn any attack on Turkey,” adding, “I do not know about this specific attack, but of course we condemn the attacks of the PKK against Turkey and we are working with Turkey to limit the impact of this threat.” [Anadolu]
DaeshDaily comment. Did he actually condemn attacks on Turkey but not attacks on Afrin?
Azaz
Thursday, according to the SDF media center, the YPG targeted a Turkish military point and a convoy in Kaljibrin, in Azaz, with 17 missiles. Likewise, the YPG targeted two Turkish tanks in Mare’. [Hawar]
A DaeshDaily source says opposition militia units captured 22 Iraqi Daesh members near Mare’, as they were trying to flee to Turkey.
Northeast
Hasaka
Daesh says it shot and killed a PYD Asayish member near Shaddadi on Wednesday. [A3maq]
Central and West
Aleppo/Idlib
SOHR reports clashes between the Syrian forces and opposition militias in the area between Abu Al-Dhuhur and Saraqib. [SyriaHR]
Thursday, Qasioun reported that the Syrian forces captured Idlib’s southeastern villages of Abian, Jubb Zreiq, Abu Khanadiq Janoubi, Mazra’at Al-Aw, Al-Husseiniya, Tal Sultan, Misidah, Tal Khartah, Jabal Al-Tawil, Tal Kalba and Tal Al-Touqan, putting the Syrian forces around 16 km (10 miles) from Saraqib city in eastern Idlib. [Qasioun]
According to a SANA correspondent in Aleppo, the Syrian forces captured the villages of Wasita Sharqiya, Wasita Gharbiya, Al-Tuwim, Tal Jina, Al-Ananah, Tal Fakhar, Tal Aqarib, Umm Al-Karamil, Tal Al-Hasan, and Tal Atshana, following clashes with Tahrir Al-Sham and its allied Syrian opposition factions. As a result, several members of Tahrir Al-Sham and its allies were reportedly killed and wounded. [SyriaNow]
Hama
SOHR reports fierce clashes between the Syrian forces and Daesh in northeastern rural Hama. [SyriaHR]
Thursday, Dorar reports that the Syrian forces seized new villages in eastern rural Hama after Daesh fighters withdrew. [Dorar]
East (Deir Ez-Zor)
Albu Kamal
Wednesday, according to Russian media sources, Daesh carried out an attack on the Syrian forces’ positions near Albu Kamal. The chief of staff of the 67th Syrian armored brigade, General Khalil Mahfouz was reportedly killed during the attack. [Qasioun]
Daesh publishes photos of targeting a Syrian Army military position with a rocket in Al-Abbas village, north of Albu Kamal. [ICDNFeb1]
Daesh says it killed an SDF fighter and wounded another with a rocket near Al-Bahra village. [ICDNFeb1]
Daesh says it killed nine SDF fighters with IEDs near Gharanij on Tuesday. [A3maq]
Daesh publishes photos of targeting SDF positions near Gharanij with BMP shells. [ICDNFeb1]
Daesh publishes photos of an attack on SDF positions northeast of Abu Hassan village. [ICDNFeb1]
Daesh says a group of its terrorists destroyed an SDF military position in the attack before returning safely. [ICDNFeb1]
South
Damascus/Rif Damashq
Daesh publishes photos of a military training camp for young boys in the Damascus area. [ICDNFeb1]
Daraa/Quneitra
In a joint statement by the “People of the Land” and “Repelling the Aggressors” operation rooms, the Syrian opposition militias operating in western Daraa announced the launch of a new campaign, code-named “The Conquerors,” against the Daesh affiliate “Jaish Khaled ibn Al-Waleed” in order to drive it out of the Yarmouk Basin area in western rural Daraa. Meanwhile, the Israeli army, stationed in Tal Al-Furs in the Golan Heights, targeted Jaish Khaled’s positions in the strategically important village of Tal Al-Jumo’ in the Yarmouk Basin area with 4 rockets. [Qasioun][Dorar]
OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA REPORTS
North Africa
Egypt
A security source says a policeman was killed and another wounded during an ambush when terrorists in a 4-wheel-drive car launched an attack on their position in southern Arish. The police turned back the attack, forcing the terrorists to flee. [ElWatan]
Daesh says its snipers killed an Egyptian soldier south of Arish. [ICDNFeb1]
Morocco
Thursday, a statement from the Morocco MoD announced that Moroccan security authorities captured a terrorist cell of 7 members, which was active between the cities of Tangier and Meknes and was planning to join a Daesh branch. The MoD added that the security operation led to the capture of weapons, books, and writings that glorify extremist ideology, as well as electronic equipment. [Watan]
REPORTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
U.S./EUROPE
United States
Reuters reported that “a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled on Wednesday that Twitter Inc. is not liable to families of two U.S. government contractors killed in an Islamic State attack in Jordan for having failed to block that group from using its accounts and messaging services.” [Mawazin] [Reuters]
Germany
Head of the German security agency, BFV, Hans-Georg Maassen, said the German government must revise its laws that restrict the surveillance of minors, as “brainwashed” children of Daesh fighters who returned to Germany may carry out attacks. [Mawazin] [Reuters]
ASIA
Afghanistan
Daesh says it shot and killed an Afghan Intelligence officer in Jalalabad on Wednesday. [ICDNFeb1]
DAESH MEDIA
Daesh publishes the 117th issue of its Naba’ magazine. It includes reports about its attacks in Iraq, Syria, and other countries, and an infographic about its attack on Save the Children in Afghanistan. In a short article, Daesh explained why the US policy of depending on local partners, in Iraq and Afghanistan, “failed.” [ICDNFeb1]
