November 27, 2017
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TODAY’S MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
Iraq
Daesh stages terrorist attack in southeast Baghdad. [..]
Gunmen assassinate military officer who raised Iraqi flag over Kirkuk Provincial Council building. [..]
GOI trying to pressure IDPs out of Anbar IDP camps and Kurdistan exile. [..]
Iraqi military launches major campaign to remove Daesh pockets in vast Anbar-Salahuddin desert area. [..]
Daesh stages terrorist attack in Mandali area in SE Diyala. [..]
President Masoum proposes implementation of Article 140 as solution in Kirkuk. [..]
Foreign Affairs reveals motive for anti-Daesh informant network in Mosul: revenge. [..]
Turkey
Erdogan celebrates a Trump concession on arming SDF. US version different. [..]
Syria
UN-sponsored Geneva conference starts today. Not clear if Syria will show up. [..]
Syrian opposition appoints unified delegation for Geneva talks. [..]
Russia postpones its Sochi conference again. [..]
Israel threatens Assad with military intervention if he allows Iranian military presence in Syria. [..]
Syrian Army attacks residential area near Damascus with guided missiles. [..]
Egypt
Attack on North Sinai mosque kills 305 people; Daesh says it’s not responsible. [..]
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
NATIONAL NEWS
Monday, the Coalition Commander, Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk, said that Iraqi forces fought Daesh on behalf of the world, with support from the Coalition. Funk also said that there are Daesh members hiding among IDPs. In the same press conference, at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Funk denied that there are 12 U.S. military bases in Iraq, and says Washington has no intention of establishing bases in Iraq. He added that the U.S. would like to stay in Iraq until the situation is stabilized and that the Coalition will be providing training support to the Army and police. [Baghdadia]
Funk stated that 97% of Iraqi land has been liberated from Daesh and nearly 4.5 million Iraqis have been freed, but said Daesh still poses a threat. [Sumaria]
DaeshDaily comment. The remaining 3% of Daesh territory is apparently in obscure desert locations, which Iraq has now moved to clean up. See stories below under Anbar.
Agnès S. Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that after the abatement of Daesh’s military threats, Iraq has entered a complex and fragile transitional phase which presents an opportunity to be liberated from the past. She added that old tensions may surface if they remain unresolved. Callamard said that the Iraqi people faced unimaginable suffering due to Daesh, and achieving justice for the victims requires investigating its possible crimes against humanity. [Ghad]
At a commencement speech at the University of Baghdad on Monday, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi warned of what he called “intellectual terrorism” following the defeat of Daesh in Iraq. Noting that “residents from all Iraqi provinces made sacrifices in order to eradicate terrorism,” Al-Abadi said that “the terrorists harmed the Islamic religion and we are now facing intellectual terrorism.” He noted that the “government’s role in combatting corruption transcends state regulatory bodies, and the battle against the ‘corruption mafia with financial means and media’ is tougher than the battle with Daesh.” [Sumaria]
Kurdish representatives in the CoR reportedly suspect there is a spy among them who provided the central government with information on 15 Kurdish representatives who participated in the Kurdistan referendum. PUK leader Ariz Abdallah confirmed that “Arab CoR representatives are saying they received information from our own members.” [Rudaw]
Monday, a CoR representative reported that the participation of Kurdish CoR representatives in the Kurdistan referendum came after a deal “behind the scenes.” [Sumaria]
DaeshDaily sources say that Iraqi forces are emptying displacement camps in several areas in Anbar forcefully, based on orders from the Council of Ministers. The sources say some of these families are accused of being Daesh members and they are facing hostilities when returning. Many of the families are trying to relocate in other areas.
DaeshDaily sources also say the government has stopped making the monthly payments for displaced people living in Kurdistan, apparently to encourage them to return home.
A Washington Post article published on November 26th highlighted the threat of Daesh women returning from Syria and Iraq to their countries of origin. The article tells a story of a woman called “Zarah” who was smuggled out of Syria to Turkey then to Morocco, her home country, where “she vowed that her children would someday reclaim the Islamist paradise she believes was stolen from her family.” Washington Post quotes her saying “We will bring up strong sons and daughters and tell them about the life in the caliphate.” [SkyPress] [WashingtonPost]
The Coalition conducted 3 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on November 23rd and 26th near Mosul (1) and Baaj (1), and near Al-Shaddadi (1) in Syria. [CentCom]
BAGHDAD
Security-related incidents reported
Northwest (Kadhimiya, etc.)
Monday, a security source reported the assassination of Captain Ahmed Salah Hanoun Al-Jarrah who raised the Iraqi flag on the Kirkuk Provincial Council building. Gunmen shot him at the entrance of his house in Hurriya in northwest Baghdad. [Buratha]
North (Tarmiya, Taji, etc.)
Daesh says its snipers killed an Iraqi soldier in Tarmiya. [DMNNov27]
Southeast (Mada’in, etc.)
On Monday, Daesh staged a terrorist attack on unarmed civilians in Nahrawan, in rural southeast Baghdad. Initial reports said 30 people were killed or wounded. [Forat]. A police source later reported that the final death toll due to the attack and suicide bombing in Nahrawan was 17 in addition to 28 wounded. [Sumaria]`
Monday, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) announced that two suicide attackers shot civilians in the Nahrawan area. One of the attackers was killed and the second one blew himself up. [Sumaria] Security units killed another suicide attacker in the Al-Shammari area in Nahrawan, according to a security source. [Ghad] A police source reported that security units were searching the Nahrawan area for assailants disguised in military uniforms. [Sumaria]
According to a Forat reporter, a gang of 4 terrorists attacked the Nahrawan area, including one suicide attacker who blew himself up in the attack, on Monday evening. The residents of the area killed 2 of the attackers. 5 residents were killed in the exchange and over 25 were wounded. [Forat]
There were also other incidents in Nahrawan, perhaps connected to the larger attack.
Sunday, a police source reported that one person was killed and six were wounded in an IED explosion near a street market in Nahrawan. [Sumaria]
Monday, a security source reported that 11 people were killed or wounded in a suicide attack on a house in Nahrawan. [Ghad]
Monday, a police source says Iraqi forces imposed a curfew in the Nahrawan area. [Sumaria]
Monday, a security source reported the injury of 3 civilians in an IED explosion near a shopping area in Jisr Diyala in southeast Baghdad. [Baghdadia] [Ghad]
Total Baghdad incidents reported: 6 (Includes only incidents reported)
Total IED incidents reported: 2
ANBAR
Monday, the IWMC stated that the Iraqi Army Air (IAA) carried out the most violent airstrikes in three years on Daesh positions in the desert areas connecting Anbar with Ninewa and Salahuddin, leading to the destruction of a number of secret tunnels and weapons and ammunition depots. [IraqPress]
According to a security source, the tracking operations to clear the desert are almost complete. [Etejah]
Saturday, Lieutenant General Abdulameer Yarallah reported that 36 villages were cleared and that 4 vehicles, 6 motorcycles, and 4 booby-trapped vehicles were destroyed in the second phase of the final military operation. He added that over 250 IEDs and a vehicle–rigging workshop were destroyed, and several terrorists were killed. [SotIraq] Saturday, the Army reported that 45 villages were liberated in the second phase of the final military operation. [SotIraq] Hours after the launch of the desert clearing operation, General Yarallah reported that 77 villages were liberated. [SotIraq]
DaeshDaily comment. The area in question is the vast desert area north of the Euphrates and extending into desert areas in Salahuddin, which extend far to the west to be north of Anbar, and next to southern Ninewa. Iraqi forces have assumed general control of this area, but today’s developments show that there has been a larger Daesh presence in this desert area than was previously acknowledged. We continue to get reports of Daesh units operating in this area.
Monday, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) confirmed that its Psychological Operations radio called on the residents of the northern Euphrates and Jazeera desert areas to raise the white flag on the roofs of houses and to take the safe paths marked by the military command. The radio messages also issued stern warnings to Daesh members to surrender or to face definite death. [Baghdadia] According to the MoD statement, many of the residents cooperated with the Psychology Operations’ calls, as many of them stated they trusted the instructions and the Iraqi military command leading the battles. [Etejah]
Falluja
Monday afternoon, Qarma subdistrict council member Aref Al-Shaalan announced the death of a woman and the wounding of her husband and daughter in an explosion of their bomb-rigged house in Albu Taya village in east Qarma. Al-Shaalan added that the explosion happened as the family was cleaning the house. [Sumaria] [Sumaria]
Hit/Haditha
Monday, the Military Intelligence Services announced the discovery of a Daesh ammunition depot in Hay Al-Bakr in Hit. The depot included 110 mortar shells (120 mm), 51 cannons, and 2 gallons of C4 (20 liters each). [Baghdadia]
Anah (including Rawa)
Sunday, Commander of the Northern Euphrates and Jazeera Clearing Operations, the same General
Yarallah announced that 4 villages in north Rawa with a total area of 740 km2 were cleared. [Sumaria]
Monday, Yarallah announced the completion of the first stage of the second phase of the operations. Yarallah stated that units from the Army, IFP, and PMF, with support from the IAA, succeeded in clearing villages and areas in the southern Hatra region (Ninewa) and northern Rawa. Yarallah added that 175 villages were cleared in addition to 5 bridges and crossings. Several terrorists were killed, and much of their equipment was damaged. [Mawsleya]
DaeshDaily comment. This report seems to combine the general’s information from the report above with the results of military action north of Rawa, showing that both initiatives are part of one operation.
Rutba
Monday, General Yahya Rasul, spokesman of the Joint Operations Command, told Agence France-Presse that JOC units have cleared 50% of the 29,000 km2 desert area. He added that the first page of the second phase of the clearing operations has ended, and JOC units will continue to clear desert areas, including Wadi Horan. Rasul added that “Wadi Horan is a deep valley which reaches the Syrian border, and the mission is to destroy all of the hideouts and depots in the desert until the western Iraqi border with Syria is secured.” The Iraqi forces, supported by the PMF, began military operations to clear the western desert of Daesh four days ago. [Baghdadia]
DaeshDaily comment. This appears to be related to but separate from the operation north of the Euphrates.
Daesh issued a propaganda video about battles against PMFs in the desert between Iraq and Syria. [ICDNNov26]
SALAHUDDIN (No reports)
DIYALA
Monday, the Diyala Police Command announced the arrest of 15 wanted suspects on terrorist and criminal charges in various areas of the province. The Command also reported finding an explosives depot in the province. [Sumaria]
Baquba/Southeast Diyala
Daesh says it killed a Military Intelligence Service member with a sticky IED under his vehicle in Baquba. [DMNNov27]
Daesh says it killed six Iraqi soldiers by detonating an IED on their patrol in the Al-Waqf area east of Baquba. [DMNNov27]
Muqdadiya/Abu Saida/Central Diyala
Monday, Chairman of the Muqdadiya District Council, Adnan Al-Tamimi, said that 50% of terrorist activity in Diyala originates from Muqdadiya’s farms, which contain permanent hidden guesthouses set up after 2003. [Sumaria]
Northern Diyala (Kifri, Khanaqin, Khalis north)
Monday, Chairman of the Al-Udhaim Local Council, Mohammed Daifan Al-Abidi, reported that over the past 24 hours Daesh members have been getting out of their underground hideouts in Mtaibija. He added that the situation there has been quiet for a few weeks and speculates that Daesh “may be up to something.” He called for eradicating Daesh’s presence in the area because it poses a security threat to three provinces (Salahuddin, Kirkuk, and Diyala) due to its location. He added that security units and tribal PMFs are on alert. [Sumaria]
Daesh says its snipers killed an Iraqi soldier in Udhaim. [DMNNov27]
Monday, the Diyala Police Command announced that EOD units defused a remotely-operated IED made from a gas cylinder filled with ammonia nitrates on the Mubarak Al-Farhan village road. [Baghdadia]
Southern Diyala (Balad Ruz, Mandali)
According to eyewitnesses from Al-Nida tribe, on Sunday midnight a group of about 30 Daesh terrorists in 3 pickup trucks and motorcycles shot at Iraqi Army positions with machine guns and medium weapons and detonated 3 IEDs. Eyewitnesses reported that the gunfire exchange lasted for over 3 hours. [Dijlah]
Monday, the Diyala Police Command announced that a joint force from the Mandali Police, the Army, and PMF carried out a security operation in the Al-Nida and Wadi Al-Hadid areas. The search led to the capture of an explosives depot containing 2 mobile devices, a machine gun, 2 mortar shells, 5 bags of C4, and other materials used for explosives such as suicide belt. Also found was an Iraqi nationality document and a research document buried in a plastic container. [Sumaria]
Daesh says it attacked a PMF military position near the Iranian border in the Al-Nida area with light and mid-sized weapons, killing or wounding several fighters and destroying several vehicles. It also says it killed three more fighters and destroyed 2 vehicles with 2 IEDs in the same area. [ICDNNov27]
Monday, Mandali council member Haider Al-Mandalawi announced that unknown assailants attacked a joint security post on the east side of Mandali. The attack was conducted with 2 IEDs and direct gunshots late Sunday evening, to which the joint security units responded. [Sumaria]
Daesh says it blew up the houses of a Diyala Provincial Council member and an Iraqi Army colonel in the Shahraban and Mandali areas. [DMNNov27]
KIRKUK
Kirkuk/Dibis
Monday, after a meeting with Kirkuk Governor Rakan Al-Jubouri, President Fuad Masoum said in a press conference that the Kirkuk Provincial Council will carry on with its duties until the upcoming elections. He added that choosing a governor is the duty of the council. Masoum noted that Article 140 of the constitution must be implemented. Article 140 sets forth a roadmap to resolve the dispute regarding disputed territory over three phases, which should have been executed in 2007 but later on Iraqi politicians claimed the article had expired. The first phase concerns normalization and canceling the policies of the former system; the second concerns a census; and the third concerns a public referendum. [BasNews]
DaeshDaily comment. Article 140 has failed totally to resolve the disputed areas issue, partly because the Kurdish interpretation of it has been impossible for Iraqi politicians to accept.
Tuesday, Iraqi President Fuad Masoum said no one has the right to appoint a governor of Kirkuk except the Kirkuk Provincial Council, which will continue its functions until elections are held. [ROJ]
Deputy of the Turkmen Bloc Jasim Mohammed Jaafar said on Monday that President Fuad Masoum is “unable” to find a solution to the issue in Kirkuk as he is Kurdish and therefore is too biased to find a compromise in Kirkuk. Jaafar says the Prime Minister should be the one to find a solution, as he is a neutral party and does not have any special interest in Kirkuk or other disputed areas. [Sumaria]
Monday, Kirkuk Operations Commander Major-General Ali Fadel Imran announced that a security operation to track Daesh members who escaped north Hawija towards Al-Zab led to the killing of 2 Daesh terrorists and the arrest of 8 others involved in forging official seals and documents in Kirkuk, and 5 others were arrested on charges of selling and promoting the use of drugs in Kirkuk. [Sumaria]
Hawija (Riyadh, Al-Zab, etc.)
Monday, the IWMC reported that the death of a Daesh member called “Abu Hafsa” in Khirbat Aziz village who was planning attacks on civilians in Hawija. [IraqPress]
Daesh says it killed two PMF fighters in clashes near Batma village, east of Hawija. [DMNNov27]
NINEWA
Mosul
A DaeshDaily source said on Sunday that Daesh terrorists shot and killed two policemen, who were having breakfast in a restaurant in the Nabi Younis Market in east Mosul, using silenced guns. The source says security units captured several people after the incident.
Monday, Civil Defense Lieutenant Zaid Ibrahim announced that 95% of the civilian bodies in East and West (including Old) Mosul have been removed. Ibrahim added that a search operation for civilian bodies is underway in the Al-Baraka area in Old Mosul and surrounding neighborhoods. [Ghad]
On November 22, Foreign Affairs published a report about the Mosul informants who cooperated with the military forces while Daesh controlled the city. The report details the ways in which the residents, mostly seeking revenge for their dead relatives, collected and reported information about Daesh, such as where they hid their phones, and reports how some women flirted with Daesh members to obtain information. [BaghdadNews] [ForeignAffairs]
Monday, the Ninewa Operations Command announced that three Daesh members surrendered themselves to the Ninewa Operations Command. They will be tried through the court system in Mosul. [Etejah]
Southern Ninewa
Hatra
A DaeshDaily source said on Sunday that Nujaba’ Movement fighters who came from Syria forced PMF units at the Geneva Military Airport west of Hatra to leave, and occupied their positions without giving any reasons.
KURDISTAN NEWS
ERBIL/DAHUK
Monday, KDP Leader Masoud Barzani announced his support for a dialogue between the KRG and the central government in Baghdad. He called on the central government not to propose more “impossible conditions.” [Sumaria]
Monday, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani held the Iraqi forces responsible for the violence in Tuz Khurmatu, reiterating the KRG’s willingness to hold a serious dialogue with Baghdad to resolve outstanding disputes. Barzani said Kurdistan demands the formation of a committee to investigate the “major catastrophe” against civilians in Tuz Khurmatu and other disputed areas. [BasNews]
DaeshDaily comment. The more the Kurdish leaders call for dialogue, the clearer it becomes that dialogue is not the point.
Monday, PM Barzani reiterated that the KRG respects the Federal Court’s decision regarding its rejection of the referendum, at the same time calling on the Federal Court to “cancel the repercussions of the referendum” caused by decisions of the CoR and the Iraqi government to punish the Kurdistan residents. He confirmed that the KRG lost 50% of its oil revenues after the Iraqi government took control of Kirkuk and other areas. [Sumaria]
PM Barzani reiterated that the KRG does not oppose the presence of federal government representatives to monitor the management of border crossings and airports, noting that the KRG is willing to cooperate with Baghdad in this regard. Barzani added that “Baghdad has yet to demonstrate willingness to meet with the KRG regarding the handover of border crossings and airports, and we only hear from the media.” He added that “the Iraqi constitution clearly defines the KRG and Baghdad’s duties regarding the borders and crossings,” where all employees are Iraqi citizens. [Sumaria]
Monday, Kurdistan Islamic Group leader Shwan Rabar reiterated that Baghdad is working to impose its constitutional authority and is in no hurry to engage in dialogue with the KRG, as Baghdad now has the “upper hand.” [Buratha]
SULEIMANIYA/HALABJA
Monday, eyewitnesses reported artillery shelling in the Athos Mountains in eastern Suleimaniya in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on the border with Iran. It is not known if the bombing was Iranian or Turkish. [Sumaria]
REPORTS FROM TURKEY
The US Department of Defense confirmed that its partnership with the SDF, which was formed out of the YPG, will continue, saying that the US sent arms to groups in Syria to carry out specific and clear military duties. This announcement came shortly after the announcement of Turkish officials that “US President Donald Trump promised his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, by telephone, to stop supporting the Kurdish YPG.” The Turkish Foreign Minister Mouloud Gausshog said “Turkey is satisfied and grateful to the American President for his new position and Ankara hopes to see Washington’s position in practice.” [Rudaw]
Monday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the US plans to stop providing military equipment to the groups fighting Daesh in Iraq and Syria, but that does not mean that Washington will stop all support for these groups. [RaiMedia]
Monday, Turkey called on the United States to fulfill its promise and stop supplying the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria with weapons. “The United States would deceive the world if it did not stop supplying the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia with weapons,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said in an interview with Channel 24, describing the recent telephone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Donald Trump as a “turning point.” [Dorar]
DaeshDaily comment. A humble message to the President, based on observations over an extended period of time: Don’t ever let Erdogan be the interpreter of what you said in any conversations with him.
According to a report by Erk Acarer for the BirGun newspaper the Turkish government had knowledge of the planners and bombers of Daesh terrorist attacks 2 months before the 2015 Suruç Massacre and 5 months before the October 10th Ankara Massacre, in which 109 people died, and the suspects’ phones had been tapped by the government. Nevertheless, the Turkish government failed to prevent these attacks. [Cumhuriyet]
In August, 2012, Edremit Türe a Turkish national Daesh fighter returned from Syria to Turkey for treatment in a private Turkish hospital, where surveillance footage captured him on camera. However, Türe was then able to re-enter Syria unhindered later that year. [Cumhuriyet]
The Turkish government has indicted 16 people in Turkey on charges of being Daesh members after they opened a theological school in Ankara and taught Daesh’s radical interpretation of jihad to young children. [Cumhuriyet]
DaeshDaily comment. We thank our friend in Turkey for translating and sending the three reports above.
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
NATIONAL NEWS
Geneva conference
UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said on Monday that the upcoming Geneva negotiations on Syria will focus on the implementation of resolution 2254 on a new constitution for Syria “and free and transparent elections under the auspices of the UN, with participation of all Syrians, including refugees, of course” according to Mistura. [Anadolu]
Mistura said “the Syrian regime has not yet confirmed its participation” in the 8th round of the Geneva negotiations which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday. During a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a few days ago, the Syrian opposition formed a unified delegation to participate in the Geneva negotiations. [Anadolu]
Monday the Syrian government delegation postponed their travel to Geneva for the 8th round of UN sponsored peace talks scheduled to resume on Tuesday. [Dorar]
Monday, De Mistura, confirmed that he will not accept any pre-conditions from parties planning to attend the negotiations in Geneva. De Mistura noted at the Security Council session in New York that in the Sochi conference President Bashar Al-Assad showed commitment to engage in negotiations in Geneva and to constitutional reform within the anticipated political process. [Rudaw]
Following a scheduled meeting with a delegation from the anti-government High Negotiations Committee headed by Nasr Al-Hariri and his vice president Jamal Suleiman in Geneva on Monday, US Acting Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield will participate in the meeting of high-level officials of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members with hopes of creating a proposal for the eighth round of Geneva’s UN-brokered talks on Syria on Nov. 28, according to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper. [EnabBaladi]
Sochi conference
Meanwhile, Russia announced another postponement of the Syrian National Dialogue Conference, to next February. [EnabBaladi]
Iranian spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the Islamic Shura Council of Iran, Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, expressed surprise at the parties that have been invited to the Syrian Dialogue Conference in Sochi, Russia, saying “when a dialogue is said to be Syrian-Syrian, it means the government, the people, and the unarmed opposition – not terrorists who destroyed Syria.” Hosseini added that “the armed opposition should have no role in government or sovereignty.” [Dorar]
DaeshDaily comment. As far as we know, the killing of the “unarmed opposition” by the Assad regime led to the formation of the “armed opposition.”
Israeli warning
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad that Israel would intervene militarily in the Syrian civil war if Assad gave formal permission to Iran to establish a military presence in Syria, Israeli TV reported on Sunday night. [Dorar]
Other reports
Moscow and Damascus are discussing the idea of introducing peacekeeping forces in the de-escalation zones in Syria, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik on Monday. Concerning the potential participants in this mission, the same source said “we believe that the deployment of any international peacekeepers into the territory of any sovereign state should be approved by the legitimate government of that UN member state, in this case Syria. So, all these issues must be agreed on with the Syrian government in Damascus.” [Dorar]
Tahrir Al-Sham arrested a number of its former Jordanian leaders after reports that they intended to form a branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria. [Arabi21]
The Coalition conducted 9 airstrikes in Syria between November 23rd and 26th, near Albu Kamal. [CentCom]
Northeast (Hasaka, Raqqa) (No reports)
Northwest
Aleppo/Idlib
Tahrir Al-Sham affiliated news announced on Monday that Tahrir Al-Sham killed and captured a number of members of the Syrian forces as the Syrian forces attempted to advance south of Aleppo. [Dorar]
Monday, SOHR reported the Syrian forces targeted Aleppo’s southern villages of Siyala, Hawairi, Rumaila, Hijara and Rashidiya with several airstrikes and artillery shelling, without any reports of human losses. Meanwhile, violent clashes are still ongoing between the Syrian forces and Tahrir Al-Sham in Hijara village in rural southern Aleppo, amid reports of casualties on both sides. [SyriaHR]
Central and West (Homs, Hama, etc.)
Hama
SOHR reports violent clashes between Tahrir Al-Sham and Daesh in northeastern rural Hama where Daesh was able to capture 20 villages between November 20th and 21st. [SyriaHR]
SOHR also reports violent clashes between the Syrian forces and Tahrir Al-Sham in northeastern rural Hama. [SyriaHR]
Monday, Tahrir Al-Sham recaptured three villages that Daesh had recently captured along with 17 other villages in the region, Enab Baladi’s correspondent in rural Hama said, adding that the Russian aircraft have been launching intensified airstrikes on the Syrian opposition-held positions in eastern Hama, while the Syrian forces are trying to advance towards Hama’s eastern village of Al-Mustariha. [EnabBaladi]
Monday, the Syrian forces recaptured the Mustariha village in rural northeastern Hama, after eliminating Tahrir Al-Sham’s last groups there, killing a number of terrorists, including an Afghani terrorist called “Abu Mua’az,” according to a SANA correspondent in Hama. [SyriaNow]
East (Deir Ez-Zor)
Deir Ez-Zor
Daesh publishes photos of targeting government forces near the Al-Ward oilfield with Katyushas. [ICDNNov27]
Mayadin
SOHR reports clashes on the west bank of the Euphrates River between the Syrian forces and Daesh. The Syrian forces captured Al-Ashara town and fighting is ongoing in the town of Al-Quriya. [SyriaHR]
Daesh says it destroyed 2 Syrian Army tanks with rockets east of Mayadin city. [DMNNov27]
Albu Kamal
In a statement posted on its official accounts Monday, the SDF said it has advanced to within 9 km of Albu Kamal city, as part of its ongoing battles with Daesh on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. [EnabBaladi]
According to Iranian media, Quds Force commander General Qassem Soleimani was wounded on the battle front in Syria and received treatment for his wounds. Iranian channel Al-Alam reported that Soleimani was overseeing the operations in Albu Kamal in order to challenge the US and reach the city before the SDF. [BasNews]
South
Damascus/Rif Damashq
Monday, 18 civilians were killed in an airstrike by Syrian forces on residential neighborhoods in the eastern Ghouta area. [Anadolu]
Monday, 9 civilians were killed and dozens, including women, were wounded when the Syrian forces targeted Eastern Ghouta’s popular markets and residential areas with several guided missiles, according to field sources. [Dorar] [EnabBaladi]
In a report published on Monday entitled: “The Barbarian Bombardment and Siege on Eastern Ghouta Practically Invalidates the Upcoming Geneva Round,” SOHR says that the killing and destruction have never stopped as the Syrian-Russian alliance forces continued to target civilians and vital civilian facilities in Eastern Ghouta, despite announcing it as a “de-escalation” zone. It also says that it has documented the killing of 146 civilians, including 37 children, in less than two weeks. [EnabBaladi]
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday that it has proposed a cease-fire in eastern Ghouta from November 28-29. [Dorar]
Daesh says its snipers killed a Syrian soldier in Hay Al-Tadhamun. [DMNNov27]
OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA REPORTS
North Africa
Egypt
According to a local Telegram account, members of Daesh’s “Sinai State” were recorded, in an intercepted wireless call, taking credit for Friday’s mosque attack in Arish, Egypt. The account published the recordings, but Arabi21 says it couldn’t confirm their authenticity. [Arabi21]
Friday, militants detonated a bomb inside a crowded Sufi mosque in Arish in Sinai, Egypt then sprayed the panicked crowed with gunfire, killing 305 people and wounding 128 others. Daesh has a history of targeting Coptic Christian churches in Egypt; however this is the first Islamist attack on a mosque in Egypt. Sufis Muslims practice a mystical form of Islam that is deemed heretical by Daesh and other Sunni extremists. [NYTimes]
The Directorate of Health Affairs in North Sinai published a list of the names of the 305 victims of Friday’s attack. The government has not disclosed the number of people who were injured in the attack. [Anadolu]
The Sinai Peninsula has been the focus of armed clashes between the Egyptian Army and police forces of one hand and armed militants on the other for the past 4 years. After Friday’s attack, which was the deadliest attack in Egypt’s modern history, Egyptian authorities have now given the green light to the tribes in Sinai to help eliminate the armed organizations in the region. [Anadolu]
A Daesh-linked group, called War and Media, issued a video claiming that Daesh was not responsible for the terrorist attack in Arish. The video, that used automated English reader, claimed the only the Egyptian government benefit from the attack because the government wants to incite people against Daesh. It also says that a large number of the “martyrs” belong to the Sawarka tribe, which has many Daesh members in it. [YouTube]
DaeshDaily comment. Daesh’s “official” media, including Naba’ magazine, didn’t mention anything about the attack. Daesh had issued previously several articles threatening Sufis in Sinai, and showed the beheading of Sheikh Sulaiman Abu Haraz, a 97-year-old Sufi Sheikh. It was reported that people in the mosque were preparing to have a ceremony for the Sheikh.
Daesh says it attacked on Saturday Egyptian Army units near the Isolation Area near the border with Gaza with light weapons, killing or wounding soldiers. Daesh also says it destroyed an Egyptian Army Humvee and a bulldozer with 2 IEDs, killing or wounding the soldiers inside. [ICDNNov26]
Here Daesh says it damaged an Egyptian Army tank and another bulldozer in the area. It says Egyptian forces were trying to destroy “houses of Muslims” in the area. [DMNNov27]
Daesh says it captured and then killed an Egyptian Army “spy” in an unspecified area in Sinai. [DMNNov27]
An article published by the Financial Times on Sunday said that the attack on the Sufi mosque in Sinai reinforced the Egyptian fears of Daesh bringing the Sunni-Shia strife from Iraq to Sunni-majority Egypt. It also mentioned that the massacre committed against Sufis raises questions about the effectiveness of the military campaign by President Al-Sisi against Daesh. The article details the attack carried out by 25-30 assailants who killed 305 people in the deadliest attack in modern Egyptian history. [Mawazin] [FT]
Monday, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawki Allam, confirmed that the punishment of the executers of the massacre in the Al-Rawda mosque on Friday is “death and crucifixion.” He said the attackers “are completely far from Islamic religion and its correct concepts, and the doctrine they follow does not represent the true religion; it is a corrupt doctrine.” [Sumaria]
Libya/Tunisia
Commander of the military police in Sirte city, Libya, Mohammad Al-Zadama says that armed forces have arrived in eastern Sirte to monitor the situation in anticipation of the spread of Daesh terrorists. Al-Zadama stressed that the region is under control. [AfriGate]
REPORTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
U.S./EUROPE
Daesh social media accounts have been recently circulating video messages threatening to attack the U.S. and Europe during the Christmas season. The most recent Daesh poster shows Santa Claus standing amid a crowd in Times Square with a box full of dynamite, according to the Daily Mail. The image has the words “We meet at Christmas in New York… Soon.” The terrorists are also reportedly using encrypted communication channels to share posters showing images of London and Paris during Christmas with similar messages in English, French, and German. [Watan] [DailyMail]
