October 27, 2017
Displaced People from Al-Qa’im (Sumaria)
TODAY’S MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
Iraq
Daesh Daily source reports Barzani stepping down on November 1. [..]
Al-Abadi orders halt to military movements in disputed areas. [..]
Debate continues on freeze vs. cancelation of KRG referendum. [..]
Human Rights Watch says executions by Iraqi troops not being investigated. [..]
Government & tribal forces move closer to Al-Qa’im. [..]
Syria
UN investigators confirm Syrian government to blame for chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun. [..]
Syrian Army, Russians still battling Daesh, Tahrir Al-Sham in Hama. [..]
REPORTS FROM IRAQ
NATIONAL NEWS
A Daesh Daily source in Erbil has been told that Masoud Barzani plans to step down from his leadership position on November 1. It appears that the President position will be left vacant and government leadership consolidated under Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, Masoud’s nephew. This story has yet to be confirmed, but two days ago we reported a similar story, that he was planning to resign by the end of the month.
Developments in GOI-KRG clash
Iraqi PM Haider Al-Abadi ordered a 24-hour halt on military movements in disputed areas as well as at border crossings “immediately” in order to allow a joint technical team to distribute forces on the international border and in disputed areas [Sumaria]
Friday, the Kurdish Parliament’s Security Council expressed hope that Al-Abadi’s decision to stop the Iraqi military activity in disputed areas would be the “beginning” of a dialogue between Baghdad and Erbil. The Security Council also reiterated that the KRG does not favor a confrontation with Baghdad. However, the head of the Security Council, Nadhem Herki, said that while the Peshmerga forces do not want to confront the Iraqi Army, the confrontation has been imposed on them. [Sumaria]
Friday, Coalition spokesman Ryan Dillon denied a ceasefire agreement was reached between Baghdad and Erbil, hours after the Coalition press office made such an announcement. [Sumaria]
Friday, the KRG said there are ongoing diplomatic efforts to set a date to begin the Iraqi-Kurdish dialogue, according to KRG Spokesman Kifah Mahmoud’s statement to Russian Sputnik.
At an earlier time, Mahmoud had announced that the KRG would be ready to begin the talks with Baghdad as soon as Prime Minister Abadi returned from his visit to Turkey and Iran. [Sumaria]
Friday, the federal government reiterated its position calling for the cancellation of the referendum’s results, asking Erbil to respect the Federal Court’s decisions. Federal government spokesman Saad Al-Hadithi said the KRG’s proposal to freeze the referendum’s results gives legitimacy to the referendum and allows Erbil to return to it in the future. Kurdistan Islamic Group CoR representative, Zana Rostai, said the decision to cancel the referendum’s results is up to the Federal Court, and it is not within Barzani’s authority. [IraqPress]
The federal government is determined to enforce the law and constitution in all districts, including the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said on Thursday in response to the request of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to accept the Kurdish offer to “freeze the referendum. ” [Anadolu] [Arabi21]
Friday, the Kurdish leader who heads the new Party for Democracy and Justice, Barham Salih, reiterated that the federal government should have the ultimate decision whether to freeze or cancel the referendum. Salih said the referendum was a mistake which the KRG insisted on holding in spite of federal government, regional, and international rejection. He added that the solution lies in respecting the rights of Arabs and Kurds in accordance with the constitution. Salih also said the KRG suffers from several problems, including corruption and nepotism. [Buratha]
State Department and alleged Iranian influence
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert expressed Washington’s continued support for a stop to the fighting and concern about the Iranian influence in the region, which Washington describes as “destabilizing.” [Rudaw]
The Iraq Foreign Ministry expressed surprise at Nauert’s statement yesterday describing the deputy chairman of the PMF, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, as a terrorist. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said “we confirm that the PMF is inseparable part of the Iraqi forces and are under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, and they have fought bravely alongside our forces. Al-Muhandis has made great sacrifices in the battle of Iraq against terrorism. . . . We call on the US State Department to review these statements as contrary to reality.” [BasNews]
Friday, PMF spokesman, Ahmad Al-Asadi, said the PMF considers the US’ description of its Vice President Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis as a “terrorist” a direct threat against the PMF and that it will hold the US responsible if he is harmed. The PMF called on the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to respond to Washington, as Al-Muhandis has an official government title as the PMF CoR representative. [Sumaria]
Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammadi-Golpayegani, head of the office of Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, confirmed that Khamenei’s instructions to General Qasem Soleimani ended with Kirkuk’s liberation. The Iraqi government denies any Iranian role in the security forces’ redeployment in disputed areas, including Kirkuk, whereas the KRG claims that Iranian leaders, including Soleimani, have “engineered these plans.” [Rudaw]
DaeshDaily comment. As we commented before on the KRG charges, the purpose of this tack by KRG leaders is to gain sympathy in Washington and elsewhere by making the KRG seem like a victim of Iranian aggression, which is a way of avoiding the admission that it is in fact a victim of its leaders’ foolish decisions.
Other news
Farhan Haq, Deputy General for the UN Secretary General said the 175,000 people have been displaced since mid-October due to the ongoing clashes. [Rudaw]
DaeshDaily comment. Not to seem insensitive, but we suspect some of those people are not really displaced but chose to leave for Kurdistan after the central government took control of their areas of residence. In short, the motive was in many cases political. People’s neighborhoods were not destroyed. It may be worth noting that the people shown on news programs as leaving were driving away in cars.
Thursday, Human Rights Watch reported that international observers discovered an execution location in West Mosul. The report comes after allegations of executions of Daesh fighters by government troops in Old Mosul and the surrounding area. There are documented accounts of Iraqi forces killing men fleeing Mosul in the final phase of the war against Daesh.
HRW says that despite repeated promises to investigate security forces’ violations, PM Haider Al-Abadi has not provided any evidence that the Iraqi authorities have detained any troops responsible for the torturing and killing of Iraqi civilians during the conflict. According to Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East director at HRW, “while PM Haider Al-Abadi celebrates victory in Mosul, he is ignoring the flooding evidence of his troops committing war crimes in the city he promised to liberate, and this victory will be short-lived if he does not take concrete steps to end the heinous violations by his forces.” The HRW had also published a report about abuse of Mosul civilians in July. [Karemlash] [HRW]
DaeshDaily comment. There were reports of prisoner abuse and even executions by Iraqi troops, and they all need to be investigated properly. One problem with HRW reports in general has been the appearance of bias. They have also seemed less interested in Daesh crimes and more focused on the people who fought Daesh.
Daesh-planted IEDs and mines in residential areas continue to be a problem that threatens the people who return to their liberated homes in northern and western Iraq. According to local police and government reports, at least 300 civilians have been killed this year by Daesh remnants in liberated areas. However, explosive devices are not the only danger; tribal differences pose a threat as well, especially between tribes that did and did not support Daesh before the area’s liberation, often resulting in murders, house demolitions, and confiscation of private property. [AlAraby]
The Coalition says it conducted airstrikes on Daesh targets in Iraq, 2 near Al-Qa’im and 2 near Rawa. [InherentResolve]
BAGHDAD (no reports)
Security-related incidents reported
ANBAR
Anah
Rawa
Friday, the West Anbar Liberation Operations Command announced the liberation of 3 villages south of the Euphrates River. The villages are: Al-Awani, North Jabab, and Zella. The Iraqi forces killed 25 terrorists and destroyed 4 vehicles and 2 booby-trapped vehicles. [Baghdadia] [Harbi]
Friday, the Al-Gharbiya PMF Commander Jamal Shihab Al-Mahlawi announced that his forces took control of the liberated areas of Jabab and Al-Hasa in west Rawa. [Sumaria]
Daesh says it destroyed an Iraqi forces’ Humvee and a bulldozer and damaged another Humvee with rockets in the Jabab area, about 20 miles east of Al-Qa’im. [A3maq]
Friday, a security source reported that Daesh targeted a security personnel gathering in west Rawa with a booby-trapped car carrying children, killing 4 soldiers and wounding 7. The source did not reveal the number of children inside the car. [Baghdadia]
Al-Qa’im
Friday, a high ranking military source in the Jazeera Ops Command reported that units from the 8th brigade killed 25 Daesh terrorists, following clashes in the T1 area. [Sumaria] Friday, Iraqi Army 8th brigade Commander, General Abdulhussein Sawadi, confirmed that the Iraqi Army and Al-Jughaifi Tribal PMFs continue advancing towards Al-Qa’im. He added that Daesh has incurred losses in life and equipment. [Sumaria]
Friday, West Anbar Liberation Ops announced that the liberation operation forces seized the Al-Qa’im cement factory. [Sumaria]
In a statement, the joint forces announced the Iraqi Army and the PMF arrested Ahmad Jabbar Khalaf, a wanted Daesh leader, near the Saad Air Base. [Forat]
According to the West Anbar Liberation Ops Commander, the 26th brigade units (Al-Abbas Combat Division) of the PMF liberated a 43 km length of the Al-Qa’im–Akashat road and cleared a 301 km2 area. The Al-Abbas Combat Division destroyed 3 booby-trapped vehicles and 100 IEDs. Iraqi forces also seized the Daesh communications center, the Al-Qa’im stone supplier, and Al-Qa’im Rest Area 70. [Sumaria] [Harbi]
Friday, a security source in Anbar reported that security forces destroyed a booby-trapped vehicle in south Al-Qa’im, where there were violent clashes between Daesh and the PMFs. The vehicle was driven by a suicide bomber and was headed to the city center. [Sumaria]
PMF Press announced the liberation of the 70 Water Station from Daesh control in Al-Qa’im. [Mawazin]
Friday morning, the PMF, backed by the IAA and IAF, announced the launch of the second phase of the Al-Qa’im and Rawa Liberation Operations. [PUKMedia]
Daesh Daily comment. We have noticed elsewhere that PMFs like to tout their accomplishments, which is why they issue their own news reports. It is sometimes hard to determine what actually happened from these reports, but sometimes less hard to determine that the story is not as important as it is made to seem. In this case, a PMF organization, which is not authorized to speak for the government, announces that the second phase of the liberation campaign has begun. We don’t know what that means and don’t see Friday’s events as an obvious point for moving from undefined Phase 1 to undefined Phase 2.
Rutba
Daesh says it conducted a suicide attack on PMF units near Akashat, on the Iraq-Syria border near Al-Qa’im. [A3maq]
SALAHUDDIN
Samarra
Friday, Samarra Operations Commander, Imad Al-Zuheiri stated that a suicide bomber named Thabet Hamad Khalifa Al-Abbasi” was killed in the Al-Sumoum village area in northwest Samarra. [Sumaria]
Southern Salahuddin (Balad, Dujail)
Daesh says it destroyed an Iraqi Army fuel tanker truck with an IED near Ishaqi on Thursday. [A3maq]
DIYALA (no reports)
KIRKUK
Kirkuk/Dibis
Friday, dozens of Altun Kupri residents protested in Kirkuk, calling on the federal troops to intervene to stop the Peshmerga’s shelling of the area, which has led dozens of families to flee. [Sumaria]
Friday, a security source in Kirkuk reported the discovery of 2 bodies belonging to a man and his wife who were beheaded in their home in the Al-Hurriya neighborhood in eastern Kirkuk. [Sumaria]
Hawija (Riyadh, Al-Zab, etc.)
The IWMC announced on Friday that the remains of 50 members of the Army and Police who had been executed were found in a mass grave in Hawija. [Ghad]
NINEWA
Nineveh Plain (Hamdaniya, Tel Keif, etc.)
Friday, PUK spokesman Ghayath Sorachi said the clashes between the federal forces and the Peshmerga in the Nineveh Plain have temporarily stopped. Sorachi said the Coalition began negotiations between Erbil and Baghdad for a ceasefire and for a peaceful solution. [Forat]
Tal Afar
Friday, Ninewa CoR representative, Abdulrahman Al-Lowaizi, revealed the “real reasons why the Kurdish forces are ‘dying to’ defend north Zummar and Rabi’a.” Al-Lowaizi said that an oil pipeline was built in that area in coordination between the Barzani family and terrorist organizations, including the PKK, to smuggle Syrian oil. Al-Lowaizi says the Barzani family members dominate the Kurdistan Region’s governmental, financial, and security sectors. They also control decision-making by controlling commercial institutions, telecommunications, the Asayesh, Al-Zeravani military police, and the Peshmerga, which makes them a “caste” family. According to Al-Lowaizi several other families have followed their example and tried to take over provinces, including Ninewa. Al-Lowaizi cites European and German media outlets as reporting that the German weapons provided to the Peshmerga have reached the black market. [Sumaria]
The federal forces gave the Peshmerga “hours” to withdraw from its locations in Faysh Khabur. An unnamed security official told Agence France Presse that the shooting has mostly stopped, but there are “bursts” every now and then. He explained that Syrian oil is being bought by PKK and YPG (People’s Protection Units) members in Faysh Khabur, as there are no nearby crossings to smuggle oil from Syria to Turkey. [Buratha]
Southern Ninewa
Hatra
Friday evening (8:00 pm) the PMF reported that the Ansar Al-Marji’ya brigade outside Hatra received over 100 families fleeing from Al-Qa’im and Rawa. The brigade facilitated their entrance to nearby villages and offered them medical and food assistance. [Harbi]
KURDISTAN
The Office of the Deputy Chairman of the Kurdistan Regional Parliament, Jafar Iminki said on Friday that the real reason for postponing the regular session of the fourth Parliament is due to his unstable health. The session which was supposed to be held on Saturday was postponed on Friday without specifying a date for the next meeting. [Sumaria]
REPORTS FROM SYRIA
United Nations investigators, on Thursday, blamed the Khan Sheikhoun sarin gas massacre on the Syrian government. “The panel is confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhoun on April 4th 2017,” the report, seen by reporters for Agence France Presse. [Qasioun]
DaeshDaily comment. This is the chemical attack that triggered the US retaliatory attack on the nearby Syrian air base.
Friday, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson accused Russia of trying to hide the use of sarin gas by the Syrian government, saying “Russia has repeatedly attempted to disrupt efforts to get to the truth of the Khan Sheikhoun attack. . . . Russia has consistently chosen to cover up for Assad. . . . This behavior can only undermine the global consensus against the use of chemical weapons.” [Reuters] [Dorar]
Britain’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, said Britain is holding intensive consultations with Washington and other capitals to seek a Security Council resolution in order to hold the Syrian government accountable for its use of chemical weapons in this incident 7 months ago. [Anadolu]
Russia’s mission to the United Nations said on Friday that Russia will study the new report carefully. The report addresses the use of the chemical weapons in Um Hawsh as well as Khan Sheikhoun. [SyriaNow]
Sputnik quoted Coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon as saying that the Coalition has discovered and destroyed chemical weapons in Daesh-controlled territory in Syria and Iraq. [SyriaNow] [Sputnik]
The Coalition says it conducted 6 airstrikes on Daesh targets in Syria, 5 in or near Deir Ez-Zor and 1 near Albu Kamal. [InherentResolve]
Northeast (Hasaka, Raqqa)
Raqqa
Raqqa city
Thursday, a number of civilians were injured when the SDF opened fire on them to break up a demonstration, held by the locals of Al-Mashlab neighborhood in eastern Raqqa, demanding that they be allowed to return to their homes. [EnabBaladi]
A prominent commander in the SDF Council confirmed that the residents of Al-Mashlab neighborhood will be allowed to return to their homes once the process of dismantling the mines in their neighborhoods and within the city is completed. “The shooting that happened on Thursday the 26th of October in Al-Mashlab neighborhood will not happen again, and the shooters will be held accountable,” he added. [SyriaHR]
Northwest (Aleppo, Idlib)
Afrin/Azaz/Al-Bab/ Manbij/Jarabulus
Hawar reports “the Turkish army, stationed in Samaan Castle, is now targeting the villages of Afrin District with mortar shells,” while the YPG is responding in kind to the sources of shelling. [ROJ] [Hawar]
Thursday evening, according to military sources, Hawar news reported that the Turkish army attacked many areas in Afrin with heavy weapons, but the YPG responded to the attacks. [Hawar]
Hawar news reports 5 foreign Daesh leaders surrendered themselves, along with their families and weapons, to the YAT (SDF Anti-Terror Units). [Hawar]
Central and West (Homs, Hama, etc.)
Hama
Qasioun reports that the Syrian forces took over the Al-Jawla area in eastern rural Hama, crossing the Daesh-controlled areas without any clashes. [Qasioun]
Qasioun reports that the Syrian forces have been targeting the villages of Sarha, Um Mayal, Al-Rahjan and Al-Janina, east of Hama, with heavy artillery shelling and rocket launchers, resulting in a large wave of displacement. [Qasioun]
Daesh attacked Tahrir Al-Sham in Sarha. 4 members of Tahrir Al-Sham and 8 Daesh fighters were killed. [SyriaHR]
Qasioun reports that the Russian Air force launched several airstrikes on the villages and towns of Al-Hamra District, east of Hama. [Qasioun]
SOHR documented more than 310 Russian airstrikes in six days on more than 20 Tahrir Al-Sham-controlled villages in the northeastern rural areas of Hama. [SyriaHR]
Friday, Abu Malik Al-Shami, a security official in Tahrir Al-Sham, said that 24 Daesh members have recently surrendered themselves to Tahrir Al-Sham in Hama, amid reports that some Daesh members are planning to defect from Daesh’s ranks. [Dorar]
Homs
Yarub Al-Dali, a media activist, reports that three civilians were killed and more than 11 others were injured, on Thursday evening, due to the Syrian forces’ targeting of Rastan city with mortar shelling and heavy machine guns, allegedly violating the truce agreement in northern Homs. [ZamanAlWasl]
SOHR reported clashes broke out between the Syrian forces and Daesh over the past few hours of the night in the Al-Mahta area, and in the vicinities of Talbiseh and Um Sharshouh, cities in the northern rural areas of Homs, killing an officer. There are confirmed reports of deaths suffered by a number of members of the Syrian forces. [SyriaHR]
East (Deir Ez-Zor)
Deir Ez-Zor
Qasioun reports that the Syrian forces declared their control over Hawijat Al-Saqar on the Euphrates and the Sina’a neighborhood in Deir Ez-Zor city, after battles with Daesh, adding that a number of Daesh members were killed and wounded.
Syrian forces captured the entire city of Maadan, in eastern Raqqa province on the southern bank of the Euphrates just over the Deir Ez-Zor border. [Qasioun] Syria has been working for some time to get control of this area, which, though in Raqqa, was not in the SDF area of responsibility.
Daesh says it attacked Syrian Army positions west of the T2 Station, killing or wounding “many” soldiers, destroying a rocket launcher, and damaging a tank and a 57mm cannon. [ICDNOct27]
Later on, Daesh says it destroyed a second tank with a rocket near the station. [A3maq]
Daesh issues videos of targeting a Syrian Army tank, cannon, and a heavy machine gun with rockets near the station. [A3maq]
Mayadin
Qasioun reports the SDF has come into a direct contact line with the Syrian forces near Al-Quriya town, east of Deir Ez-Zor, in an attempt by the two sides to control it, after the SDF captured Dhiban village. [Qasioun]
A military source says the Syrian forces destroyed several booby traps in Mahkan town on the way to Albu Kamal. The source says there are violent clashes between the Syrian forces and Daesh in a number of neighborhoods in Mahkan, located south of Mayadin. [Jaml]
Albu Kamal
SOHR reported that the Syrian forces, under the cover of airstrikes, intensified their attacks on the Daesh-controlled areas in the western and southwestern rural areas of Albu Kamal, Daesh’s last stronghold in Syria. [SyriaHR]
OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA REPORTS
Neighboring countries
Bahrain
Friday, 1 policeman was killed, and 8 people were wounded in a bomb explosion on the Khalifa Ibn Salman Road in western Manama. A terrorist group targeted a bus with a locally-made bomb, which they detonated at a distance. [Rudaw]
North Africa
Egypt
According to an Egyptian security source, the official Egyptian news agency reported that 12 gunmen were killed on Friday in clashes with Egyptian security forces on El-Wahat Road in New Valley province. [Anadolu]
Tunisia
Thursday, the National Guard’s Search and Inspection team in Sidi Bouzid dismantled a cell of 8 members, including 5 women, all pledging allegiance to Daesh. [Tunisien]
REPORTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
Kyrgyzstan
Daesh says one of its “soldiers” stabbed a police officer to death in Bishkek on Thursday. [A3maq]
DaeshDaily comment. This is the first reported Daesh attack in Kyrgyzstan.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Video
Iraqi aircrafts destroy 2 Daesh camps near the Syrian border. [Twitter]
