An Update On ISIS Activities

September 30, 2016

September 30, 2016

Kurdish Displaced Families in Afrin (Hawar)

Kurdish Displaced Families in Afrin (Hawar)

Today’s Major Developments

DOD announces expanded operation at Al-Asad air base for Mosul campaign. []

Iraq Minister of Oil wants higher OPEC production ceiling than Saudis & Iran favor. []

Anbar tribal leader alleges investigators taking bribes to release Daesh suspects. []

Fighting continues in different parts of northern Ramadi. []

France starts Mosul airstrikes from aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle. []

Daesh closes all Mosul schools for lack of money. []

Coalition unleashes several airstrikes in Nineveh Plain area. []

Doctors Without Borders says Jordan’s border closing is killing people. []

Atheel Nujaifi announces his (non-patriotic) options for Ninewa’s future. []

 

REPORTS FROM IRAQ

 

NATIONAL NEWS

Prime Minister Abadi says in a press conference he didn’t want ministers to be voted out by the CoR in “this quick way.” He says he is working on filling the vacant positions in the cabinet because he is not “Superman” and can’t be acting minister for all those ministries. [Mada]

DaeshDaily comment. This seems like a jab against Maliki who made himself the Acting Minister of Defense and of Interior when he was a Prime Minister.

 

Thousands of people demonstrated in Baghdad and several other governorates demanding more reforms and changes in the Elections Law, including restoring the independence of the Independent High Electoral Commission, which was compromised by Al-Maliki. Some demonstrators also believe the electoral system, even though a proportional representation system, favors the big political parties unfairly. [Mada] [Rudaw]

DaeshDaily comment. There is not much talk about the next election with so much attention on Mosul, but a normal schedule would put the next provincial elections in early 2017 and national elections in early 2018. These will be the first elections since Daesh showed up in Mosul, and will follow some really bad times. Both elections are likely to be consequential and to bring a lot of changes.

 

Iraq’s new Minister of Oil, Jabar Ali Al-Luaibi, at an OPEC conference, played a more assertive role than Iraq had played in the past and made news. Al-Luaibi reportedly told his Saudi and Iranian counterparts, Khalid al-Falih and Bijan Zanganeh, in a closed-door gathering in Algiers that “it is an OPEC meeting for all ministers.” For years, debates in the OPEC conference room were dominated by clashes between top producer Saudi Arabia and arch-rival Iran. Iraq overtook Iran as OPEC’s second-largest producer several years ago but kept its OPEC presence fairly low-profile.

Immediately at issue is the proposed re-establishment of a production ceiling, which was abandoned a year ago because Saudi Arabia refused to go along with it. Other OPEC countries want a ceiling, to help OPEC manage a vastly oversupplied market and prop up prices that produce revenues well below the budget needs of almost every oil-producing country.

The Saudis and Iranians surprisingly agreed on 32.5 million barrels per day. Luaibi favors a ceiling but thinks 32.5 million is too low and would have an especially negative impact on Iraq because of its high production. Apparently his position has pleased neither Saudi Arabia nor Iran. [Reuters]

 

The U.S. military will expand its operations at the Al-Asad air base near Haditha as part of its preparations for the Mosul campaign.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Wednesday plans to deploy an additional 615 American troops to Iraq over the next several weeks. Al-Asad was a major hub for U.S. Marines throughout the Iraq war. It will soon get more personnel and the installation of new technology that can support night operations, a Defense Department official said. The U.S. will set up a new “instrument landing system,” which will cover the airfield with radio signals that help pilots to land safely in conditions when they cannot see the runway, such as at night or in bad weather, the official said. The equipment can be deployed on short notice. [MilitaryTimes]

 

The Coalition says it conducted 7 airstrikes on Daesh targets in Iraq, in or near Mosul (3) and Tal Afar (1); Bashir (1) in Kirkuk; and Ramadi (1) and Al-Qa’im (1). [InherentResolve]

 

Good Read

An article by Ray Salvatore Jennings about hot to plan from recovery responses and the ways to promote stability in Mosul after the liberation.

A long-awaited campaign to reclaim Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul from ISIS is now just weeks away. Yet those that think the liberation of the city will set the course for stability and reconciliation in the country should think again. For most Iraqis, ISIS is a two-year problem inside of decades of grievance and social conflict that birthed the extremist group in the first place. In the contest of power that is northwestern Iraq, too many Iraqis feel that what will follow moves to reclaim Mosul will be “uglier than Da’esh”, to use the local term for the Islamic State. This is why.” [Full Article]

 

BAGHDAD

Security-related incidents reported

Baghdad Operations Command says it captured a Daesh terrorist who participated in the Speicher Massacre, at a checkpoint in Baghdad. [Ghad]

 

North (Tarmiya, Taji, etc.)

An MoI source says one person was killed and five wounded when a sticky IED exploded under a small bus in Husseiniya. [Mada]

The JOC says Iraqi forces destroyed an IED in Tarmiya. [Etejah]

Iraqi Army 45th brigade found an IED and other explosives in the Um Najem area. [BOC Facebook Page]

 

East (Sadr City, New Baghdad, etc.)

A police captain says four people were killed and eight wounded when 2 IEDs exploded in Sadr City. [Anadolu]

 

Southeast (Mada’in, etc.)

An MoI source says an MoI major was shot and killed in his civilian vehicle in the Jurf Al-Naddaf area. [Mada]

An MoI source says one person was killed and six wounded when an IED exploded near a commercial area in Satih village in Mada’in. [Mada]

Iraqi Army 45th brigade found 9 IEDs, 2 explosives vests, and other explosives and ammunition in the Jisr Diyala area. [BOC Facebook Page]

 

South (Dora, Yusufiyah, Mahmudiya, etc.)

Iraqi Army 25th brigade found an explosives cache in the Sadr Al-Yusufiyah area and another cache in the Sayyed Abdullah area. [BOC Facebook Page]

 

Southwest (Rasheed, etc.)

An MoI source says two pole were killed and six wounded when an IED exploded near a private electricity generator in Suwaib. [Mada]

The Military Intelligence Service captured a vehicle loaded with 4 explosives vests in an auto shop and captured the terrorists, in Saidiya. [MoD Website]

 

West (Ghazaliya, Abu Ghraib, etc.)

An MoI source says two people were killed and seven wounded when an IED exploded near a popular market in Khan Dhari village in Abu Ghraib. [Mada]

Baghdad Operations Command says it captured a woman wanted on terrorism charges in Ameriya and confiscated printed and electronic jihadi materials. [Ghad]

 

Total Baghdad incidents reported:   13    (Includes only incidents reported)

 

ANBAR

Falluja

A security source says a policeman was killed when an IED he was trying to defuse exploded on him in the Falahat area just west of Falluja city. [Mada]

 

The JOC says Iraqi forces destroyed 86 IEDs and defused 3 booby-trapped houses in different parts of Falluja District. [Etejah]

 

The Anbar Operations Command says Iraqi forces found a booby-trapped house in the Halabsa area. [Etejah]

 

Ramadi

A tribal leader says many Daesh terrorists who were captured by Iraqi forces are being released after paying large amounts of money to investigative officers. He says some of them were released because their victims had no legal representation, and some of them were released after government officials claimed the suspects worked as “sources” for Iraqi forces. Another tribal leader says some terrorists paid up to one million US dollars in order to be released, and they usually depended on corrupt lawyers as intermediaries. A member of the Anbar Provincial Council says some of the terrorists have personal relationships with their investigators. [Mada]

 

The Joint Operations Command (JOC) says Iraqi forces killed 35 Daesh terrorists and destroyed a booby-trapped house, 2 motorcycles, and 65 IEDs in the Albu Dhiab area. [Etejah]

 

Anbar Operations Command says Iraqi forces continued operations to clear the Albu Dhiab area, killing 13 terrorists and capturing 1, and destroying 2 booby-trapped houses, a motorcycle, 3 vehicles, and 15 IEDs. It also says Coalition planes targeted Daesh in the Albu Dhiab and Albu Ali Al Jassem areas, killing 13 terrorists including a sniper hiding in a mosque. [Etejah]

 

The JOC says Iraqi forces destroyed 2 IEDs in Jazeera Khaldiya. [Etejah]

 

Daesh issues a video of destroying an Iraqi Army tank with a guided missile in the Jaraishi subdistrict north of Ramadi. [A3maq]

 

A security source says security units captured a Daesh notable commander in a search in Hay Al-Tameem in southwest Ramadi city. [Maalomah]

 

Daesh publishes photos of destroying an Iraqi Army armored vehicle with a guided missile near Zaidan factory north of Ramadi. [DawaAlhaq]

DaeshDaily comment. Daesh reported this event yesterday. This is happening more often these days. It is either a new trend for Daesh (reporting a story then publishing photos or videos about it later) to give an impression of more attacks, or Daesh is facing difficulties with its media materials.

 

Hit/Haditha

A Tribal PMF commander says Iraqi forces killed 7 Daesh terrorists and found a Daesh field hospital, a vehicle bomb and IED factory, 22 IEDs and 14 Katyusha rockets in the Safaqiya area. [Etejah]

 

The Mayor of Haditha says Iraqi forces stopped a Daesh attack on the western part of the District. He also says one civilian was killed and two wounded by a Daesh shelling on a market in the city. [Buratha]

 

The JOC says Iraqi Army 7th division killed 2 Daesh terrorists and destroyed 3 IEDs in the Suhaila area in Hit District. [Etejah]

 

Rutba/Western Anbar

The IWMC says the IAF targeted Daesh in the Albu Hardan area in Al-Rummana subdistrict in Al-Qa’im, destroying an explosives storehouse. [Mawazin]

 

SALAHUDDIN

Shirqat

The JOC says Salahuddin Operations Command EOD defused 46 IEDs and cleared 49 houses in Shirqat District. [Etejah]

 

Coalition planes targeted a Daesh suicide terrorist and vehicle bombs gathering in Nouri Saeed village in Shirqat district. [MoD Website]

 

Daesh says a group of its terrorists attacked an Iraqi Army barracks south of Shirqat, killing five soldiers and wounding others, and destroying an SUV. Daesh also says its terrorists burned down the barracks before returning safely. [Top4Top]

Daesh publishes photos of the attack. [DawaAlhaq]

 

Daesh says it damaged an Iraqi Army BMP armored vehicle with an IED near Tilul Al-Baj. [A3maq]

 

DIYALA

Muqdadiya/Abu Saida

A member of the Diyala provincial council says Daesh blew up 3 houses that belonged to displaced families in Chalabi village 25 km (15.5 miles) northeast of Baquba. He says tens of families have left the village in the past few weeks because of Daesh threats. [Sumaria]

 

Northern Diyala (Kifri, Khanaqin, etc.)

A security source says an Iraqi Army unit destroyed 2 IEDs planted near a fuel station in Udhaim. [Sumaria]

 

KIRKUK

Hawija

A local source says Daesh closed the main entrances of Hawija city after its car rigging official and 2 of his brothers disappeared. The source says Daesh raided the houses of the 2 men and found them empty. [Sumaria]

 

A security source says a woman and her two daughters were killed by a Daesh IED when they were trying to escape Hawija. [Sumaria]

 

A Peshmerga commander says his troops captured 6 Daesh terrorists who were trying to sneak out of Hawija with displaced families near the Tal Al-Ward area. [BasNews]

DaeshDaily comment. There seems to be a pattern here. Many Daesh terrorists have been caught recently trying to flee Hawija.

 

The IWMC says Coalition planes killed 6 Daesh terrorists and destroyed 2 excavators in the Hawija area. [Ghad]

 

Southwest

A PMF faction says that, in coordination with the Peshmerga and Coalition planes, it destroyed a Daesh bulldozer near Bashir village and killed several terrorists. [Harbi]

DaeshDaily comment. In other words, this was a Coalition airstrike.

 

NINEWA

Mosul

Mosul campaign

Eight French warplanes conducted the first French airstrikes targeting Daesh sites in Mosul since the arrival of the carrier Charles de Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean, according to a statement issued by the French Defense Ministry. [Mada] [AYN] According to Agence France Presse, 24 planes participated in the attack. [Mada]

The French Minister of Defense, Jean-Yves Le Drian, told reporters at a naval shipyard in northwestern France. “The battle for Mosul has not started yet. (The operations today) are the extension of our support for the coalition,” “There will soon be the main attack.” [Reuters]

 

Coalition planes targeted a Daesh center during a gathering of Daesh members in the Intisar neighborhood in west Mosul, a Ninewa source said. Daesh closed the roads leading to the center after the emergency vehicles arrived. There was no word as to the number of casualties in the strike. [Mada]

 

Unidentified planes reportedly targeted two Daesh vehicles near the Al-Masarif neighborhood in Mosul and another near the Muthanna Intersection, killing those inside the vehicles. [PressIraq]

 

Coalition planes targeted Daesh terrorists trying to plant IEDs on the road between Mosul and the town of Badoush to the west. [MoD Website]

 

A Daesh Saudi terrorist, in Mosul, tells ARA, in response to the Coalition spokesman’s statement yesterday, that the Mosul battle will be unlike any other battle. He says Daesh has more than 7,000 fighters in the city and the number might increase if an attack starts. He says all food supplies are available in Mosul. A local journalist says Daesh warned its terrorists in the Nineveh Plains area not to flee or retreat to Mosul in the case of an Iraqi Army attack. [ARA]

 

A local source says Daesh cut off the ears of 25 of its fighters, including a French and a Chinese, because they fled battles. [Sumaria]

DaeshDaily comment. The Baathists cut off the ears of thousands of young men who didn’t join the military service in the 1990s.

 

Conditions in Mosul

Daesh executed three civilians from Mosul including the poet “Qusay Al-Samir,” who was executed by a boy trained by Daesh. [Mawsleya]

 

Daesh buried an estimated 13 activists from Mosul alive after forcing them to dig their own graves, at a site west of the city between Mosul and Tal Afar, according to a local source. [Sumaria]

 

Daesh used explosives to destroy the homes of three Iraqi Army officers in central Mosul on Friday, according to a PUK official. [Mada]

 

Checkpoints are proliferating as Daesh attempts to tighten its grip on residents in advance of the anticipated operation to eject it from Mosul. [Mawsleya]

 

Daesh closed three mosques in Mosul and temporarily forbade the Friday prayers to be held in them after finding pieces of paper inside with anti-Daesh writing, according a local source. Daesh reportedly also detained the mosques’ preachers and those who work inside. [Sumaria]

 

Daesh has been conducting raids on homes in Mosul searching for mobile phones and satellite dishes, threatening those found with the devices in their possession with execution or whiplashing, according to a report citing “PMF intelligence.” [PressIraq]

 

A local source says Daesh released thousands of teachers in Mosul and closed all schools because of its inability to pay their salaries. [Sumaria]

DaeshDaily comment. If true, it is a huge blow to Daesh’s propaganda. The Iraqi government used to pay the teachers, and other government employees, in Mosul. Daesh let that happen, and cut some of that money for itself. Now, it seems the caliphate is not able to pay these people without the money of the infidels in Baghdad or without the money it used to steal from oilfields.

 

Daesh’s “Al-Bayan” station is apparently broadcasting Islamic songs (anashid) with military themes in an effort to raise morale among Daesh members in Mosul, local sources say. [Mawsleya]

 

Daesh has brought a “large quantity” of foodstuffs to Mosul’s markets for sale, according to Mosul sources. Daesh is also spreading the rumor that reports of a coming assault on Mosul are just lies designed to undermine Daesh’s morale. [Mawsleya]

 

Daesh is reportedly bringing a contingent of women hisbah officers from Syria to Mosul for disciplinary purposes after an altercation reportedly erupted between a Daesh hisbah officer and three women in central Mosul. [Mawsleya]

 

Shura/Hammam Alil

The JOC says Coalition planes destroyed a Daesh vehicle bomb factory in a school in Tal Wa’i village in Shura, in addition to 2 vehicles.  [Etejah]

 

Daesh publishes 2 photos of changing its flag in Hammam Al-Alil. [JustPaste]

 

Qayara

Iraqi Army 15th division artillery targeted a Daesh gathering of 70 terrorists and 25 vehicles in Al-Hawd village in Qayara subdistrict. [MoD Website]

 

The IWMC says Coalition planes destroyed 5 Daesh supply lines west of Qayara. [Ghad]

 

Iraqi forces found a weapons and ammunition cache in Jada’a village. [MoD Website]

 

Nineveh Plain

Unidentified warplanes reportedly targeted a Daesh position in Kanye Shirin in Tel Keif. [PressIraq]

 

Coalition planes reportedly destroyed an excavator that had been rigged with explosives by Daesh in Bartella, Hamdaniya, according to Ninewa Operations Command. [Mawsleya]

 

The IWMC says Coalition planes launched airstrikes on 2 areas in Khorsabad in Tel Keif, killing 22 terrorists and destroying 4 military positions and a weapons storehouse; 2 airstrikes on Qaraqosh in Hamdaniya; a Bashiqa air attack that destroyed 13 positions, and killed 23 Daesh terrorists; two airstrikes on Bartella in Hamdaniya that killed 12 terrorists and destroyed 2 buildings, and two more on Tel Keif that killed 4 terrorists. [Ghad]

 

Northwest (Tal Afar, Sinjar)

Unidentified warplanes reportedly targeted Daesh positions in Wailiya in Tal Afar [PressIraq]

 

The JOC says Coalition planes killed 26 Daesh terrorists and destroyed a vehicle in Tal Abta. [Etejah]

 

KURDISTAN

The Suleimaniya Police say they defused an IED that was planted under a civilian car in Suleimaniya city center. [Baghdadia]

 

SOUTHERN IRAQ

Kerbala

The Kerbala Police Chief says his troops captured a man from Bashiqa wanted on terrorism charges at a checkpoint between Kerbala and Hilla. He says the suspect was trying to enter Kerbala and he admitted committing several terrorism crimes in the city earlier. [Etejah]

 

REPORTS FROM TURKEY

 

According to Duygu Güvenç of Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper, a ‘top-ranking official’ has said:

 

  • Ankara proposed to a delegation headed by US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken that visited last week that Arab forces within the Syrian Democratic Forces, with the YPG excluded (and he said that 85-90% the SDF was made up of ‘PYD/YPG terrorists’), should work together with the FSA, this grouping should form a “joint administration” in Manbij, and joint action should be taken with these Arabs in any future Raqqa operation.

 

  • With reference to leader of the opposition Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s claim that it would take seven-eight years for Turkey to disentangle itself from the Euphrates Shield operation, “It will take as long as it needs.”

 

  • Some 200 PYD members remain in Manbij, despite their withdrawal being a ‘red line’ for Ankara.

 

  • Repeated losses of tanks have slowed down Turkey’s advance in the Euphrates Shield operation. Al-Bab is included among Ankara’s targets in the operation, while the US’s target is Dabiq rather than Al-Bab. The US has not objected to an operation targeting Al-Bab, but there is no need for this to be done in a hurry.

 

  • There was a de-facto no fly zone for regime aircraft in the Jarabulus area and the Russians only conduct surveillance flights there.

 

  • Following the breakdown of the ceasefire brokered by Russia and the US, Ankara and Teheran are working towards a new ceasefire process.

 

  • Ankara wishes for its forces stationed in Bashiqa to have a role in the Mosul operation, despite Baghdad’s objections. [Cumhuriyet]

DaeshDaily comment. We thank our friend in Turkey for this report.

 

REPORTS FROM SYRIA

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) says 338 people, including 106 children, have been killed in eastern Aleppo in the past few weeks. [ARA]

WHO is calling on belligerents in Syria to allow for the immediate and safe evacuation of the sick and wounded from all areas affected by the conflict, including eastern Aleppo. It is also calling for a halt of attacks on health care workers and facilities.

“The situation is heart-rending and enraging,” says WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. “With the relentless attacks on health workers and hospitals, the handful of doctors still alive cannot possibly cope. Hospital beds are too few, equipment has been destroyed, and essential medicines, including anesthetics, are running out. Many patients needing emergency trauma care are children. ”

More than 270 000 people are trapped in east Aleppo with dwindling supplies of food, water and fuel. Humanitarian organizations have not been allowed to deliver aid, including medical supplies from WHO since the besiegement of the city on 7 July. Within the past week, over 840 people have been injured, almost a third of them children, while the health facilities that would treat them are crumbling and understaffed. Fewer than 30 doctors remain in the east side of the city, and only 6 partially-functional hospitals are in service. [WHO]

A medical source says twenty-four people, including women and children, were killed by airstrikes in residential areas in east Aleppo today. [EnabBaladi]

 

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is establishing an internal U.N. Board of Inquiry to investigate the attack on a joint U.N.-Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy on Sept. 19 that killed at least 20 people, many of them aid workers. [ARA]

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says thirteen people, including five children, were killed by an opposition group’s shelling on Aleppo city. [SyriaHR]

 

A Russian newspaper says Russia has decided to increase the number of its bombers and attack planes in Syria. [SyriaHR]

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will hold a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday to discuss separating Syria’s moderate opposition from the group formerly known as the Nusra Front, Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying.

Lavrov said a ceasefire deal on Syria that Russia agreed to with the United States was still working, the agencies reported. [Reuters]

DaeshDaily comment. Maybe he means it’s still in place. If it’s working that would be news to everyone else.

 

The Coalition says it conducted 17 airstrikes on Daesh targets in Syria, in or near Mare’ (5), Manbij (3), Wahshiyah (1), Raqqa (3), and Deir Ez-Zor (4), and 1 airstrike that disabled the bridge near Albu Kamal. [InherentResolve]

 

Northeast (Hasaka, Raqqa)

Hasaka

A local source says Daesh intensified its security and deployed hisbah terrorists in Markada town, starting an unusual search. The source says the reason may have to do with some Daesh leaders who have fled the town. [ARA]

 

Northwest (Aleppo, Idlib)

Jarabulus

The PYD backed Hawar says Turkey-supported opposition groups are looting the houses of Kurdish families. It also says that people are leaving their houses, especially in Kurdish villages and towns, in large numbers. [Hawar]

 

Azaz

An opposition commander says Turkey-supported opposition groups continued their advances toward Akhtarin from the southwest, capturing Tal Jabin in Azaz and Ayasha village near Al-Ra’i in Al-Bab and killing or wounding several Daesh terrorists, capturing 2, and destroying 2 vehicles. Turkish Army artillery intensified their attacks on Daesh on Akhtarin and surrounding areas. [ARA]

He also says that opposition groups captured Awiliya village and are 3 km away from Akhtarin, and destroyed a vehicle bomb. He says Coalition planes launched more than 13 airstrikes on Daesh in the area. [ARA]

 

The Turkish military says it attacked 99 Daesh targets with heavy artillery and rockets in the Azaz-Al Ra’i area. It also says Turkish planes destroyed 6 Daesh buildings while Coalition planes targeted Daesh with 7 airstrikes in the area. [Qasioun]

 

Daesh targeted the Kurdish village of Um Hawsh with 4 mortars. [Hawar]

 

Afrin

2,500 displaced people, mostly Kurds, arrived today in Afrin from Jarabulus, Kaabiya, and Al-Bab, in addition to people from Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zor. [Hawar]

 

Manbij

A local source says Coalition planes killed a Daesh emir and 7 other terrorists in an airstrike on Sheikh Nasser village northwest of Manbij. [Hawar]

 

A video of a tunnel used by Daesh leaders in Manbij for meetings.  [Rudaw]

 

Aleppo

Turkey backed opposition groups targeted Hay Sheikh Maqsoud in Aleppo with tens of mortars and locally made rockets (video). The shelling is still ongoing. [Hawar]

 

Other Northwest Syria

A video of an infant saved from under a destroyed building after an airstrike in Idlib. [Rudaw]

 

Central and West (Homs, Hama, etc.)

Syrian planes destroyed 2 Daesh headquarters near Arak Oilfield and several vehicles near Sha’er Oilfield and the Huwaisis area east of Homs. [SyriaNow]

 

Daesh issues a video of Syrian troops retreating after battles in the Huwaisis area. [DawaAlhaq]

 

East (Deir Ez-Zor)

A local activist says Russian planes targeted local markets in Basira city east of Deir Ez-Zor, killing more than fifteen people and wounding tens. He also says planes targeted Buqris and Shahil towns, in addition to Sinaa neighborhood in Deir Ez-Zor. [ARA]

 

Heavy battles erupted between the Syrian Army and Daesh near Jufra town close to Deir Ez-Zor Military Airport. Daesh targeted Joura and Qusour areas in Deir Ez-Zor city with mortars, wounding several civilians. [Qasioun]

 

Daesh publishes a video of targeting Syrian Army positions in Deir Ez-Zor city with 2 rockets. [A3maq]

 

The SOHR says Coalition planes destroyed Tarif Bridge on the road between Deir Ez-Zor and Raqqa. [SyriaHR]

Media sources say Coalition planes destroyed Salhiya Bridge in Albu Kamal. [EnabBaladi]

 

South (Rif Damashq, Suwayda, Daraa, etc.)

Warplanes targeted several residential areas in Rif Damashq, killing nineteen people, including seven children. [Dorar]

 

At least 59 war-wounded Syrians, including 11 children between three and 14, have been denied medical evacuation into Jordan in the past three months, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Thursday.

Six of the Syrians denied access to Jordan subsequently died, said MSF, which compiled this information with the help of its partners inside Syria. All of those denied entry into Jordan required urgent medical evacuation from Daraa governorate in southern Syria, to MSF’s emergency surgical project in Ramtha hospital in northwest Jordan, which is located just three miles from the border.

A deadly car bomb attack at the Jordanian-Syrian border on June 21, 2016 prompted Jordan to completely close its borders with Syria. The closing of the border has exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation for Syrians. As intense fighting continues, the actual number of people in need of immediate medical evacuation could be much higher, said MSF. At least four hospitals MSF supports in southern Syria have completely stopped referring patients to Jordan, as they know they will just be denied entry. [ReliefWeb]

 

Daesh says 65 opposition group SUVs carrying armed men and heavy machine guns went from Jordan toward east Qalamoun. Daesh says its terrorists clashed with the opposition convoys in the Hamad desert for hours and destroyed 1 SUV. [A3maq]

 

OTHER MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA REPORTS

 

North Africa

Egypt

A medical source says a 17-year old man was wounded when armed men shot at him in the Akoura area, in Sheikh Zuweid. [VetoGate]

 

Libya

Northeast

Libyan planes targeted terrorist positions in Qanfouda today. [Libya24]

 

An LNA Special Forces soldiers died in the hospital from wounds he sustained in the Qawarsha area fighting a few days ago. [Libya24]

 

Central coast

AFRICOM says it has conducted 176 airstrikes on Daesh in Sirte since it started military operations on August 1st. [Libya24]

 

The GNA Military spokesman says Daesh is trapped in less than 1 sq km in Sirte. He says Daesh terrorists are suffering from hunger because of the GNA siege. [Wasat]

 

A security source says a Daesh Libyan terrorist was captured while he was planting IEDs near the Khamsin Gate, 50 km (31 miles) west of Sirte. The source says there are also Daesh terrorists barricading in hills south of Sirte. [Wasat]

 

Other countries

Yemen

Daesh publishes photos of assassinating a Yemeni security officer using a silenced gun in the Mansoura area in Aden. [GooglePlus]

 

West Africa

Tens of thousands of people are dying of hunger in parts of West Africa where Boko Haram terrorists are active, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the region told a news conference on Friday.

About 65,000 people are in a “catastrophe” or “phase 5” situation, according to a food security assessment by the IPC, the recognized classification system on declaring famines.

Phase 5 applies when, even with humanitarian assistance, “starvation, death and destitution” are evident. [Reuters]

 

Great Britain

The Central Criminal Court in London says 4 men, including 2 Iraqi Kurds, who were attempting to conduct terrorist attacks in Birmingham and Stoke city, were arrested. It also says they were planning to travel to Syria after the attacks. [Rudaw]

 

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

Pro-Saudi tweeters have responded to the anti-Saudi hashtag “JASTA_IRAQ” (which we reported yesterday) with a new hashtag (in Arabic) “Terrorism is an American product, not Saudi,” [Twitter] with images and videos ranging from criticism of US military action worldwide, to video of Donald Trump’s claim that Hillary Clinton and President Obama “created ISIS.” [Twitter] See for example this tweet from an account called (in Arabic) “Death to Iran” showing images of a US bombing in Vietnam and the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib. [Twitter]

 

A pro-PMF Twitter feed says the PMFs will rid the world of “American Wahhabism,” saying “Death to Israel and Death to Saudi Arabia.” [Twitter]

 

Salahuddin

Two videos from PMFs fighting Daesh in gun battles at the Allas oilfield near Tikrit. One video purportedly shows Iraqi airstrikes on Daesh [YouTube][YouTube]

 

Ninewa

In a post on his Facebook page, former Ninewa Governor Atheel Al-Nujaifi argues that there are three possible “projects” for Ninewa after the defeat of Daesh in the province: 1) The “project of no-project” i.e. no plan for the future, 2) The breakdown of Ninewa governorate into its component communities within the Iraqi central system, each possibly with its own governorate, and 3) (his preferred project) the creation of a Ninewa federal region, with smaller governorates for the different identity groups within it. [Faceboook]

 

Video report shows opening of the road between Qayara and Baghdad. [MawsleyaFB]

 

DAESH MEDIA

 

Daesh issues a propaganda video about its operations in the Ninewa area. [YouTube]

 

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