January 4, 2018
Hawija
TODAY’S MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
Iraq
IOM counts 3.2 million displaced Iraqi returned, 2.6 million still displaced. [..]
Iraqi units kill at least 51 Daesh in Hawija “purge” campaign. [..]
Gorran leader says Kurds now have more faith in Al-Abadi than the KRG. [..]
Iraqi intelligence announces arrest of perpetrators of deadly Nasiriya attack. [..]
Syria
Daesh mines still killing many civilians in Raqqa. [..]
Syrian forces take five more southern Idlib villages from Tahrir Al-Sham. [..]
53 civilians reported killed in one week of Syrian airstrikes in Damascus area.[..]
Afghanistan
Daesh stages deadly suicide attack on police officers in Afghanistan. [..]
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
NATIONAL NEWS
Anti-Daesh Campaign
A security source says Iraqi security forces have launched several raids and search operations aimed at pursuing Daesh cells in the cities of Kirkuk, Mosul, and Diyala. The source added that “the region has recently seen significant activity of Daesh elements and security forces have intelligence on where these cells are located and are working to flush them out.” [Baghdadia]
Sumaria News reports that British Minister of Defence Gavin Williamson arrived in Baghdad for an official visit on Thursday. A source who asked not to be named says Williamson discussed with Iraqi officials and Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi the relations between the two countries and the security and political situation in Iraq and the Middle East in general. [Sumaria]
Foreign Affairs magazine published an editorial warning that just because Daesh is defeated, that does not mean that the world is safe from extremist groups. The article said that Salafist jihadis constitute about 35% of the major armed groups in Iraq, 50% of the armed groups in Somalia, and 70% of the armed groups in Syria. [SkyPress] [ForeignAffairs]
Reconstruction
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as of the end of December 2017, 3.2 million displaced Iraqis had returned to their homes while 2.6 million are still displaced. More than 1 million people have returned to Anbar Province where the last battle against Daesh took place. Among the returnees, “about a third say they found their homes completely or largely destroyed. 60% found their homes “moderately damaged” according to IOM spokeswoman Sandra Black. [Xendan]
Election
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday “I pledge my support to the Iraqi government to urge it to disarm militias that are not linked to the government.” Macron added that the Iraqi government must be helped “to hold free elections and restore calm to the country.” [BasNews]
Thursday, Head of Independent Electoral Commission Maan Al-Hitawi said that the PMFs have no right to participate in the special voting in the upcoming elections, along with other security forces. “All the PMF voters have the right to participate in the public voting, and thus, they cannot be allowed to participate in the special voting for there is no data about the PMF members,” Maan said. [BasNews]
Iraq-KRG Issues
Thursday, a leader in the Gorran (Change) Movement, Saber Ismail, said that the Kurdish people have much more confidence in Al-Abadi’s government than in the KRG, pointing out that “the Kurdish people have fully realized that Baghdad is the capital of all Iraqis and political forces.” “The Kurdish powers are fully aware that without holding a dialogue with Baghdad, the Kurdistan region will not be financially, administratively and politically settled,” he added. [Buratha]
The office of Iraqi PM Al-Abadi announced that Al-Abadi received a delegation comprising a number of Kurdish parties on Thursday. Al-Abadi stressed that the central government is continuing to secure the salaries of the Kurdistan employees, stressing that he wants to maintain the unity of Iraq while ensuring its ethnic and sectarian diversity. [Sumaria]
KRG PM Nechirvan Barzani met with US Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman on Thursday. A statement from the Barzani’s office says the two sides discussed the situation in the Kurdistan Region and the need to secure the financial amounts owed to the Kurdistan Region in the budget while maintaining stability after the tensions between Baghdad and Erbil. They also discussed preparations for the elections and steps to reform the Kurdistan Regional Government. [Sumaria]
Nechirvan Barzani said on Thursday that Turkey could play a positive role in solving problems between the KRG and the central government. Barzani received new Turkish Consul Hakan Karajai in Erbil and indicated that Karajai stressed the development of relations between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region and Turkey’s readiness to exert efforts to solve the problems between Erbil and Baghdad. [Sumaria]
DaeshDaily comment. It says something about Barzani’s desperation to find support against Baghdad that he is now appealing to the Turks, who were among those most hostile to the independence referendum.
BAGHDAD
Security-related incidents reported
The General Directorate of Intelligence and Security announced the arrest of a man wanted on terrorism charges in Baghdad. [Baghdadia]
ANBAR
Al-Qa’im
A security source in Anbar Province said on Thursday that a Border Guard officer was wounded in an IED explosion on the Al-Qa’im-Syria border. [Sumaria]
Thursday, according to the PMF website, military engineering teams dismantled the communications towers in Al-Qa’im District in the effort to restore the towers to actual service. “The troops set up a field hospital to provide medical services to fighters and civilians in the Province,” the official PMF website added. [Baghdadia]
The General Staff of the 13th brigade announced on Thursday that “the brigade forces have secured the return of 5,000 displaced families to Al-Qa’im District.”[IraqPress]
SALAHUDDIN
Baiji
Daesh says it killed a PMF fighter, wounded others, and damaged a vehicle in clashes in the Makhoul Mountains area. [A3maq]
DIYALA
An official in Diyala Province said on Thursday that the first steps are being taken to withdraw the army from city centers and hand over security responsibility to the police. [Sumaria]
Baquba/Southeast Diyala
Thursday, according to Dijla Ops Commander Mizhar Al-Azzawi, Dijla Ops units killed 13 terrorists and wounded 1 other in a security operation in northeast Baquba, finding explosives belts with the terrorists. [Baghdadia]
The General Directorate of Intelligence and Security announced that a security unit found a pile of hardware in Baquba that terrorists were planning to use as explosives. [Baghdadia]
Northern Diyala (Kifri, Khanaqin, Khalis north)
Thursday, the Security Committee in the Diyala Provincial Council announced that Special Operations Intelligence in the Counterterrorism Apparatus killed Daesh’s “Governor of Diyala” in the Himrin Hills. [Sumaria]
KIRKUK
The Military Information Cell announced on Thursday that the Kirkuk Operations completed the inspection of 30 villages in several areas of Kirkuk. [Sumaria]
Hawija (Riyadh, Al-Zab, etc.)
Thursday, a member of the Hawija Provincial Council said security forces killed more than 40 Daesh terrorists and arrested 10 during the first day of the “purge of Hawija District.” [Sumaria]
Ali Al-Hamdani, leader of the PMF, announced the end of the first phase of the purge of Hawija and surrounding areas in the western part of Kirkuk.[AIN]
A DaeshDaily source says a joint PMF and Tribal PMF force, disguised as Daesh fighters, ambushed and killed 11 Daesh terrorists and confiscated 2 vehicles in Halat village, in Riyadh subdistrict.
A security source said that security units began raids and search operations for Daesh terrorist cells in Kirkuk Province in the areas of Hawija, Rashad, and Kirkuk city.[Baghdadia]
NINEWA
Mosul
According to local sources, Daesh leader Abu Omar was arrested in Mosul. Omar is known as a barbarically brutal figure and enjoyed causing panic among the residents in Mosul when Daesh had control of the city.[Ghad]
Southern Ninewa
Qayara/Hatra
The PMF announced it killed 4 Daesh terrorists in Imam village on Thursday in western Qayara. [Ghad]
A DaeshDaily source says PMF units stopped a Daesh attack on Qayara’s Ihjala village. The source says that as the Daesh members were fleeing, a citizen shot at them, killing 2 terrorists, an Iraqi and a Moroccan. The source sent a photo of the dead Iraqi terrorist.
A DaeshDaily source says four PMF fighters were killed in a Daesh ambush in Al-Sakhri village, south of Hatra.
WesternNinewa
Baaj
Daesh says it killed or wounded Iraqi Border Guard members, including an officer, with 2 IEDs in the Tal Safouk area. [A3maq]
SOUTHERN IRAQ
Dhi Qar
The Falcon Intelligence Cell (Al-Suqour) reported on Thursday the arrest of the planners and executors of the terrorist attack in Nasiriya which took place on September 14, 2017. [Mawazin]
Najaf
Thursday, a security source says border guards on the Iraqi-Saudi border found a tunnel heading in the direction of Najaf with “entrances, exits, and rooms.” [Sumaria]
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
NATIONAL NEWS
Al-Arabiya News reported on Thursday that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard withdrew a number of its members from Syria to return to Iran to help suppress the protests there, which have been ongoing for 8 days. [Dorar]
In response to a question about whether the PYD should participate in the Syrian Dialogue Conference in Sochi, Russia, Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for Turkey’s President, said that a terrorist organization cannot represent the Syrian people. “They are not Syrian Kurds,” Kalin said, “Turkey is well aware how injustice has been exercised to expand the territory it (the PYD) controls.” Kalan accused western media of ignoring PYD abuses because “its practices are part of a US plan that is currently being implemented.” [Anadolu]
Northeast (Hasaka, Raqqa)
Raqqa
Raqqa city & district
Syrian activists documented the deaths of 83 civilians last month from mines left behind by Daesh in Raqqa Province. [EnabBaladi]
West Raqqa (Tabaqa, etc.)
According to the Coalition, a Coalition team worked with Syrian partners and erected a steel bridge in record time on December 27, 2017 near Hawi Al-Hawa village west of Raqqa. Commanding General James Jarrad says the bridge will help the Raqqa Internal Security Force to provide better security for the people of Raqqa and will facilitate humanitarian relief and assistance efforts in Raqqa. [CentCom]
Northwest
Aleppo/Idlib
Thursday, Qasioun reported that Syrian forces, backed by intensive artillery shelling, captured Idlib’s southern villages of Um Saharij (Hama), Maar Hattat, Rasm Al-Abd, Labidah and Fahil Jallas, after battles with Tahrir Al-Sham. [Qasioun] [SyriaHR]
Thursday, Qasioun reported that 5 civilians were killed, and more than 10 others, including women and children, were wounded in Russian airstrikes on Al-Tuqan city in rural eastern Idlib, according to medical sources. [Qasioun]
Central and West (Homs, Hama, etc.)
Latakia
Thursday, Sputnik reported that air defense forces at the Russian Khmeimim airbase destroyed two drones, used by the Nusra Front to attack different residential locations in Jableh and Mhardeh cities in Latakia. [SyriaNow]
East (Deir Ez-Zor)
Mayadin
Thursday, Hawar reported that the SDF captured Al-Jadila and Ilyas villages, 23 kilometers southwest of Mayadin, following violent clashes with Daesh, killing 11 Daesh members. [Hawar]
DaeshDaily comment. It is noteworthy but unexplained that the SDF is still fighting in Albu Kamal while government troops seem to have stopped fighting.
Albu Kamal
A DaeshDaily source says Coalition planes killed Sabah Hassan Sanbar Al-Ahmadi, AKA Abu Omar Al-Shayeb, a senior Daesh leader, in an airstrike near Albu Kamal, in addition to several other terrorists. The source says Ahmadi, originally from Mosul, was one of the first Iraqis to join Al-Qaeda, and was appointed the general security commander of the “caliphate.”
Daesh published photos of targeting SDF positions near Al-Bahra village (near Hajin) with mortars. [ICDNJan3]
South
Damascus/Rif Damashq
SOHR reports the first week of the violent attack by Tahrir Al-Sham and the Ahrar Al-Sham militia against the Syrian forces on the outskirts of Harasta city has ended. The region has seen intensive bombardment, causing extensive destruction of infrastructure and causing the death and injury of dozens of civilians. 53 citizens have been killed during this bombardment in Eastern Ghouta since Friday December 29, 2017, according to SOHR. [SyriaHR]
Thursday, according to police sources, a woman and a girl were killed and 24 civilians were injured when Syrian opposition militias shelled the Al-Emarah neighborhood in Damascus city and Harasta in Rif Damashq. [SyriaNow]
Thursday, SOHR reported that the Syrian opposition militia Jaish Al-Islam launched an attack on the Syrian forces’ positions in Al-Nashabiyah town in Rif Damashq, killing at least 14 members of the Syrian forces. A number of Jaish Al-Islam’s members were also killed and wounded. [SyriaHR]
Thursday, SOHR reported that 4 civilians, including a woman and a female child, were wounded by Syrian forces shelling of thee town of Masraba in Eastern Ghouta. Meanwhile, the Syrian forces reportedly targeted the Rif Damashq cities of Hamouriya, Arbin, Douma and Harasta with rocket and artillery shelling and airstrikes. [SyriaHR]
Daraa
Wednesday evening, Dorar reported that Syrian opposition militias foiled a surprise attack by Daesh’s affiliate, Jaish Khaled, on their positions near Al-Sheikh Saad town in rural western Daraa, killing and wounding many members of Jaish Khaled. [Dorar] [ZamanAlWasl]
OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA REPORTS
North Africa
Egypt
Daesh sources say a policeman and two other persons were killed in an ambush on the International Road, west of Arish. [ICDNJan4]
A new Daesh propaganda video released on Wednesday says that the Egyptian wing of Daesh has declared war on Hamas for allowing Trump to declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The video shows the execution of a man who Daesh claims worked with Hamas’s armed wing. [Newsweek] [ICDNJan4]
Tunisia
Wednesday, the Tunisian National Unit for Research on Terrorist Crimes of the National Guard in El-Aouina dismantled a Takfiri cell consisting of 9 operatives in Sousse Province. [Tunisien]
REPORTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
ASIA
Afghanistan
Thursday, officials and eyewitnesses confirmed that a suicide attack targeted police officers who were handling a protest. Daesh has claimed responsibility. The Police Department says 5 officers were killed and 11 were wounded. [BBC] [Ghad]
Afghanistan’s TOLOnews channel quoted the Ministry of Health and the Kabul Police as confirming that at least 15 people were killed and 20 injured in Thursday evening’s suicide attack on Afghan Police forces in Kabul. [Anadolu]
