May 18, 2018
Iraqi Elections
MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
Iraq
Official election results confirm Sadr alliance’s first-place finish. [..]
Allegations of election irregularities continue. [..]
Daesh attack kills 4 Border Guard officers on Syria border. [..]
Turkish Army targets PKK locations in northern Iraqi Kurdistan. [..]
Syria
UN official cites growing civilian casualties in fighting south of Damascus. [..]
11 Iran Revolutionary Guard members killed by mysterious Hama explosion. [..]
Daesh claims it has killed 900 Syrian troops in fighting south of Damascus. [..]
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
NATIONAL NEWS
Election/New Government
Election
Late-breaking development. The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) transmitted its official election results for the Council of Representatives, showing the number of seats won by each political alliance and other entity that managed to do so. It was too late to write a full report, but shown below are the numbers of seats won by each alliance party.
There is no change from the preliminary results issued earlier for the top three alliances. The Sadr-led Sa’irun alliance finished first with 54 seats; the Al-Fath “Conquest” alliance won 47; Prime Minister Al-Abadi’s “Victory” alliance won 42. (This shows that the story yesterday about a later count bringing the Victory alliance into second place was a “plant,” as we sort of suspected.) These three alliances were followed at some distance by Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (24), Ammar Al-Hakim’s Wisdom Movement (19), Al-Maliki’s Rule of Law alliance (17), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (16), the Osama Nujaifi-led Al-Qarar (Iraqi Decision) alliance (14); and the Allawi-led Wataniya (National Forces) alliance (12). 20 seats were won by parties running only in their own province.
Here are the numbers of seats won, by order of finish.
Sa’irun (Sadr alliance) 54
Fath Al-Mubin (Conquest-Al-Amiri) 47
Nasr (Victory-Al-Abadi) 42
KDP 24
Al-Hikma (Wisdom—Hakim) 19
Rule of Law (Al-Maliki) 17
PUK 16
Al-Qarar (Decision—Osama Nujaifi) 14
Al-Wataniya (National Forces—Allawi) 12
Anbar Is Our Identity (Gov. Al-Halbusi) 6
Gorran 4
New Generation 4
Castle of the Masses (Salahuddin) 3
Ninewa Is Our Identity 3
Arab Alliance (Kirkuk) 3
Turkmen Front (Kirkuk) 3
Kafa’at 2
Irada 2
Bayareq Al-Khair (Baghdad) 2
Aberoun (Anbar) 2
Democracy and Justice (Salih) 1
Kurdistan Islamic Union 1
Kurdistan Islamic Group 1
These seat allocations total 282 and so are not the final totals. There are 329 seats in the Council of Representatives. There are several seats guaranteed to small minorities and other adjustments to be made under the proportional representation system, which will change some of the seat numbers, probably in favor of the alliances who got the larger numbers of votes, but would not change the order of finish. [Sumaria]
Meanwhile, the issue over the election process continued to generate controversy.
Four different candidates from 3 different alliances said on Friday that votes for them had been “stolen” and that their voters had been treated unjustly, and threatened demonstrations if the Electoral Commission did not conduct a recount. Candidates Zuheir Kazem Marhoun Al-Kariti from the Victory alliance, Sattar Al-Ardawi and Yahya Al-Kaabi from the Al-Fath (Conquest) alliance, and Ayhab Al-Wazzani from the Tamadun alliance held a joint press conference in Karbala at which they accused the Electoral Commission of enabling “vote theft” and fraud. Al-Kariti claimed that more than 30% of votes were declared invalid due to mechanical or electronic problems, and called for a recount. [Sumaria]
The Board of Commissioners for the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said on Friday that the relevant electoral law (No. 45, amended 2013) requires the Commission to use electronic counting and sorting machines to speed up results, and that the Commission is committed to doing so. A statement issued by the Board added that parties objecting to the election results should submit electoral complaints through the Commission, and that the Commission is the sole authority for resolving complaints, although the decisions of the Board of Commissioners may be appealed in the federal Court of Appeals. [BasNews]
An MP in the Rule of Law alliance, Awatif Naima, said on Friday that the Electoral Commission had gotten itself into a “quagmire” in front of the Iraqi people and the UN, and said that the electoral process had “failed” for several reasons, the first of which was fraud. In a statement, Naima said that the UN would “issue a decision after investigating the evidence that had been presented to them.” She went on to say that the Commission had failed to comply with warnings by the UN electoral support team issued on April 30, 2018 (12 days before the election) regarding the failure of multiple electronic systems used by the election machines, designed by the [South Korean] company Miro, which she called a “fake” company that the Electoral Commission had contracted with for millions of dollars. [Sumaria]
New Government
Muqtada Al-Sadr wrote on Friday that the victory of his alliance in the CoR elections had “upset a lot [of people]” while adding that the alliance was going to work for reform and would not give up. He made the remarks on his personal Twitter account after meeting with Wisdom alliance leader Ammar Al-Hakim. [Sumaria]
Abd Al-Hadi Al-Saadawi, an MP in the Rule of Law alliance, said on Friday that there were “high-level” understandings with the Al-Fath (Conquest) and Wisdom alliances to form a government. In an interview with Sumaria, he went on to say that Rule of Law had some agreements with other Sunni and Kurdish parties, and that there were “simple understandings” with Victory. Al-Saadawi said that Rule of Law had no “red lines” against forming a government with any party, provided that party “believes in a political majority.” He added that Al-Abadi abandoning his desire to be PM would make it easier for him to be in a coalition to form the new government, and that if Al-Abadi insisted on a second term as PM, he believed that all the other alliances would protest and reject this. [Sumaria]
Muqtada Al-Sadr received a group of ambassadors from neighboring countries and said that the principle of Iraq’s foreign relations was that “neighboring countries are friends, not enemies.” Al-Sadr’s office released a press statement on Friday saying that the ambassadors invited were Fatih Yildiz of Turkey, Muntaser Zu’bi for Jordan, Abdulaziz Al-Shammari for Saudi Arabia, Sattam Jad’an Al-Dandh for Syria, and Salem Al-Zamanan for Kuwait. Al-Sadr’s additional statements addressed his hope that the month of Ramadan would bring the Islamic and Arab countries further together. [Sumaria]
Foreign policy
General Joseph Votel, US Commander in the Middle East [i.e. CENTCOM], said in a press statement that Washington still had confidence in the Iraqi Army and that their relationship would not be harmed by the recent CoR elections. In a telephone interview with Agence France Press, he said that Iraqi soldiers, like US soldiers, were removed from politics, and that the US continued to have strong relations with them. Muqtada Al-Sadr had called for US troops to leave Iraq after the defeat of Daesh last year. [Rudaw]
Anti-Daesh campaign
The Coalition says it conducted 7 airstrikes on Daesh locations in Iraq between May 11 and May 17, in or near Hawija (2), Kirkuk (1), Qayara (1), Al-Qa’im (2), and Rawa (1). [InherentResolve]
In memoriam
Ayad Futayyih Al-Rawi, former Chief of Staff for the Al-Quds [Jerusalem] volunteer Army under Saddam Hussein, died on Friday of a stroke. Rudaw reported that “informed sources” had told them that he died in Yarmouk Hospital. He was 76 and serving a life sentence in the Baghdad military prison. He was arrested on June 4, 2003 and sentenced in 2008 for his role in putting down the 1991 uprisings. [Rudaw]
BAGHDAD
Security-related incidents reported
East (Sadr City, New Baghdad, etc.)
A police source said on Friday that 2 civilians had been injured in an attack with a hand grenade. The source said in an interview that unidentified armed men had thrown the grenade at a group of shops near Roundabout 83 in the Talibiya area, wounding 2 passers-by. [Sumaria]
West (Ghazaliya, Abu Ghraib, etc.)
Baghdad Ops Command announced that it had found explosives left behind by Daesh on Friday. The Command said in a statement that 7 IEDs and 21 shells and caps of various types had been found in a search by security units. The search covered the areas of Albu Hawsa (spelling approximate) in north Baghdad and Al-Nasr wa Al-Salam village in Abu Ghraib. [Ghad]
ANBAR
Rutba
A DaeshDaily source says four Border Guard members, including an officer, were killed and three others wounded in a Daesh attack near the Al-Waleed border crossing on the Syria border near Jordan.
SALAHUDDIN
Baiji
The Directorate of Internal Affairs for the Energy Police announced on Friday that they had found a factory used to manufacture IEDs in Salahuddin. In a statement, the Directorate said its intelligence personnel had found the factory near the Baiji thermal power station. The area had been closed off with yellow security tape and had posted warnings, presumably to deter investigation. [Ghad]
Tikrit
A local official in Diyala Province said on Friday that the Mtaibija area was again becoming a center for Daesh in Iraqi. The head of a local council, Mohammed Dayfan Al-Obeidi, made the remarks in an interview with Sumaria, adding that villages nearby have become a security threat to the “liberated” areas, and that the matter needed to be addressed by the security establishment. Al-Mtaibija is on the Salahuddin side of the border with northern Diyala. [Sumaria]
DaeshDaily comment. What else is new? The vaguely defined Mtaibija area has been identified often as a center of Daesh activity. Typically the area becomes a focus of military attention for a while and some Daesh members are killed or apprehended and attention to it fades. But it always comes back again. The whole border area of Salahuddin and northern Diyala is one of the major and unresolved security problem areas in Iraq. The Daesh activity centered in this area primarily affects northwest Diyala
DIYALA
Northern Diyala (Kifri, Khanaqin, Khalis north)
On Friday, security personnel found a cache of military hardware in a village in Diyala Province. The spokesman for the Center for Security Information, General Yahya, gave a statement saying that units under Diyala Ops Command had found the cache in the village of Albu Bakr, and that it contained 7 damaged 155mm rockets, 6 anti-armor grenades, and bomb-making materials. He added that security units under Anbar Ops Command had also found and detonated 3 IEDs without incident. [Etejah]
A “local source” in Diyala Province said that a young man had been killed and his father wounded by an IED. The source said in an interview that the IED had been placed on a farm road outside of Khanaqin, and exploded when a vehicle passed by. [Sumaria]
Daesh says it killed a Shi’i, wounded another, and destroyed their vehicle with an IED in Ali Sabahi village, west of Khanaqin. [Telegram]
Another “local source” in Diyala Province said on Friday that security personnel had found the body of a Daesh fighter on farmland in the Khanaqin subdistrict. The source, who asked not to be named, said that preliminary information indicated that the Daesh fighter had been killed a few days ago during a search operation by security personnel. [Sumaria]
KIRKUK
Kirkuk/Dibis
Daesh publishes a photo of one of its Iraqi terrorists, claiming he was killed in the Kirkuk area. [ICDNMay18]
Hawija (Riyadh, Al-Zab, etc.)
Federal Police Chief Raed Shaker Jawdat said on Friday that tunnels, safehouses, weapons, and explosives had been found around Kirkuk and Hawija. In a statement, Jawdat said that units from the 6th Division of the Federal Police had tracked down Daesh fighters hiding in the Samarra desert, and destroyed 3 tunnels and 2 safehouses, as well as seizing weapons, a silencer, military and medical equipment, explosive materials, and mobile phones. A separate group from the 1st Division found 35 explosives detonators, 3 anti-armor missile launchers, and 80 12.7mm bullets while inspecting the Dhi Qar complex in Kirkuk. He added that units from another squad had found rockets and 2 IEDs while searching the fishing area in Hawija District. [Etejah]
Southwest (Daquq, Rashad, Taza, etc.)
A security source in Kirkuk said on Friday that a civilian had been killed by an IED in Daquq District. The source, who asked not to be named, said in an interview that the IED was placed by the side of the road near the village of Zanqar, next to Daquq city, and that it exploded while a civilian car was passing by, killing the driver. [Sumaria]
NINEWA
Nineveh Plain (Hamdaniya, Tel Keif, etc.)
The Center for Security Information announced on Friday that 4 wanted Daesh fighters had been arrested in the Tel Keif area. In a statement, the Center said that the Police Directorate of Tel Keif, under Ninewa Police Command, had made the arrests, and that 1 of the 4 was also wanted in Khaldiya. [Sumaria]
Mosul (No reports)
Southern Ninewa (No reports)
Western Ninewa (No reports)
SOUTHERN IRAQ
The General Customs Authority (a government institution affiliated with the Ministry of Finance) announced on Friday that it had stopped an attempt to bring 450 kilograms of a drug “believed to be heroin” into Iraq through the port of Umm Qasr. In a statement on its site, the Authority said that in cooperation with intelligence units, it had seized the drugs in northern Umm Qasr, hidden inside a shipping container. The container was loaded with bananas and had been shipped from the Emirates by the transport company Maersk Marine. [BasNews]
The Center for Security Information announced on Friday that a terrorist had been arrested in the Numaniya area of Wasit Province. Center spokesman General Yahya credited detachments from the Directorate of Military Intelligence with the arrest. [Sumaria]
KURDISTAN NEWS
DAHUK
The Turkish Army announced on Friday that it had destroyed 12 targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) within the Kurdistan Region. The Chief of Staff for the Turkish Army said in a statement that raids on Thursday and Friday on PKK “strongholds” in several border areas had resulted in the destruction of the targets, which included safehouses and weapons caches used by PKK fighters. [BasNews]
DaeshDaily comment. We can’t tell from the story whether the “border areas” are in Dahuk or Erbil or both. The PKK has personnel stationed in both as well as in Suleimaniya. [..]
The Turkish Armed Forces said on Friday that 23 PKK “terrorists” had been killed in their operations in “Northern Iraq” [i.e. Kurdistan Region] between May 10 and 17. The statement was issued by the Chief of Staff, who claimed that the PKK were using the region to enter Turkey. [Sumaria]
DaeshDaily comment. This is exactly the issue. The PKK is using remote border villages in Iraqi Kurdistan as staging areas for attacks across the border into Turkey and kill Turkish soldiers and police. The Kurds have been unwilling to deal with this, and the Iraqi government has not been in position to deal with it, so the Turks have been allowed to police the area themselves.
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
NATIONAL NEWS
United Nations
On Friday, the UN expressed its concern about the safety of civilians in the Yarmouk camp and around the Al-Hajar Al-Aswad area. Farhan Haq, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, noted these concerns at a press conference at UN HQ in New York. Haq said that thousands were still trapped by the fighting in those areas, which has resulted in deaths, injuries, and displacement among civilians, largely Palestinian refugees. Haq pointed out that the bombing of residential areas in Damascus the day before had killed 2 people and wounded 22 others, and said that since April 13 about 130 shells have been fired on residential areas of Damascus, killing 16 civilians in total and wounding 160 others. [Anadolu]
Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Syrian regime President Bashar Al-Assad in Sochi on Thursday. He stated that all foreign forces must be removed from Syria through a political process. [Qasioun]
Foreign policy
United States
Heather Nauert, US State Department Spokeswoman, made a statement on Thursday that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has reported that the regime used chlorine in the subdistrict of Saraqib in Idlib Governorate on February 4, and she condemned the attack. [Dorar]
In a statement made by the US envoy to the UN, Kelley Eckels Currie, the US threatened to stop Iran from establishing military bases inside Syria in coordination with Hezbollah. She stated that the attacks on Israel are an indication of Iran’s true motive in Syria. [Dorar]
France
France has frozen the assets of 3 individuals and 9 companies suspected of assisting in the development of chemical weapons in Syria. The French Minister of Finance and Foreign Minister say the move is intended to punish those suspected of supporting the Syrian Scientific Studies Research Center. [Qasioun]
Anti-Daesh campaign
The Coalition says that between May 11 and May 17, it conducted 59 airstrikes on Daesh locations in Syria, 52 near Albu Kamal and 7 near Shaddadi. [InherentResolve]
DaeshDaily comment. If you compare these numbers to those in the companion story under the Iraq National News, you can see that the Coalition effort is now almost entirely focused on Syria.
Northwest (No reports)
Northeast
Hasaka
Daesh publishes photos of the results of a Coalition airstrike on Al-Ruwaiha village (spelling approximate), in the Tal Al-Jayer area. The photos don’t show human casualties. [ICDNMay18]
A DaeshDaily source says Iraqi PMFs shelled and rocketed the Tal Al-Jayer, Dashisha, and Al-Manakh areas across the border, but indiscriminately, forcing many people to leave their houses.
Central and West
Hama
A DaeshDaily source says 11 Iran Revolutionary Guard members were killed and others wounded in an explosion at the Hama airport.
Syrian government media reported on Friday that there were several consecutive explosions at the Hama airport. At least 4 explosions were reported on the outskirts of Hama city, and pictures circulated of smoke above the sites of the explosions. A Russian security source cited a [Syrian] security source as saying that a fire broke out at one of the munitions depots at Hama airport. The source added that efforts to both fight the fire and determine its origin were underway, and that there were no figures to date on casualties or damage. [Qasioun]
East (Deir Ez-Zor) (No reports)
South
Damascus/Rif Damashq
Daesh says it attacked Syrian Army positions near Yarmouk camp, killing 11 soldiers, wounding others, and damaging a tank. It also says it destroyed 2 BMP armored vehicles and damaged a tank in the Al-Hajar Al-Aswad area. [ICDNMay18]
Later on, Daesh says it killed 50 Syrian soldiers in battles in the Yarmouk camp and Al-Hajar Al-Aswad areas. [Telegram]
Daesh’s A3maq says that after 28 days of continuous battles south of Damascus, 900 government forces soldiers were killed and 37 vehicles damaged or destroyed. It says that Russian and Syrian planes conducted around 100 airstrikes every day, in addition to continuous heavy shelling by government forces, causing large destruction especially in Yarmouk camp, where 80% of the area was destroyed. [ICDNMay18]
On Thursday, Daesh launched an attack on positions of the regime and its allied militias in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad and Yarmouk Camp, resulting in 28 regime casualties. [Qasioun]
Daesh media announced on Friday that more than 30 regime soldiers were killed and others injured in an attack on regime positions in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad Friday morning. [Qasioun]
OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA REPORTS
Neighboring countries
Yemen
Daesh publishes 2 photos of defusing an IED planted by Houthis in the Qifa area. [ICDNMay18]
REPORTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
U.S./EUROPE
France
Friday, the French Interior Minister announced a foiled plot of two brothers of Egyptian origin to use an explosive or poisonous device (with ricin) in France. One of the brothers admitted to planning the attack. [ZamanAlwasl]
DAESH MEDIA
Daesh published the 132nd issue of its Naba’ magazine. It republishes reports about its attacks in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and France, and adds an infographic about its attacks in Iraq during the elections. It says it conducted 40 attacks (including IED, mortars, snipers, etc.), killing or wounding 72 people in 6 provinces. [ICDNMay17]
