NB: Please note that I am not mentioning/addressing the Israeli Palestinian conflict in these SITREPs. I expect very little to change there in terms of (im)Balance of Power, unless Hezballah decides to step in (unlikely for now). The suffering of the people there, is endless.
Correction: In yesterday’s SITREP I referred to Tom Malinowski as the US Ambassador to Bahrain. He is not, he is the US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, a diplomat only. Thank you anonymous for pointing this out.
8th July: Tom Malinowski on being deported “Seems #Bahrain government decision not about me but about undermining dialogue.”
9th July: Fifty three bodies are found in a Shia neighbourhood of Baghdad. the dead were shot in the chest and head and are believed to be Sunni men suspected of being militants, killed and dumped arbitrarily
9th July: Maliki on TV: “We will never be silent about Irbil being a headquarters for the terrorist operations of [the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant], and Baathists and al-Qaeda.”
9th July: Massoud Barzani says that the Kurds are no longer liable to Iraq’s constitution
9th July: Milliyet newspaper in Turkey reports that Daash fighters are using over 1000 vehicles stolen in Turkey within Syria
9th July: Daash fighter to a released Turkish truck driver “Order came from upper ones and we have to release you.”
9th July: Daash claims that the watch worn by Baghdadi is neither a Rolex nor an omega but one that tells “prayer time.” Why not wear a sun dial? It will be so in keeping with their thinking.
9th July: Daash claims responsibility for suicide bomb attacks in Baghdad
9th July: Trucks transporting goods to Iraq have been stopped by Truck Unions in Jordan out of safety concerns
9th July: Sheikh Hatem al-Suleiman, head of the Dulaim tribe in Ramadi: “Maliki is more dangerous than Daash.” On being asked about the composition of the rebels “First they are the sons of true tribes and their affiliates, including many armed factions. For example the Islamic Army, the Naqshbandi Army, police officers who defected and stood alongside their people, and former experienced army officers who train and lead attacks and military operations.”
9th July: The Kurds claim to have killed 200 Daash fighters in Northern Iraq in regions bordering Turkey
9th July: the Peshmergas have warned the government in Baghdad of any further air raids or attacks on Tuz Khurmatu that they control. The government has stated that recent air raids were a mistake and were meant to target Suleiman Beg which is held by rebels
9th July: The arms bazaars in Kurdish areas are seeing a fall in the prices of firearms. This is on account of a higher demand for American made weapons such as the M16, M4, and M60 that the Iraqi army abandoned and fled
9th July: The provincial council of Najaf bans the sale of Saudi merchandise. Merchants have been given a time extension before the ban comes into effect to sell off existing stock
9th July: The Iraqi government tells the UN that it is unable to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons as the Muthanna chemical complex has been taken over by rebel fighters on the 11th of June and remains outside government control
9th July: Three car bombs explode in Hilla, Babel province killing 3 civilians and injuring 8 civilians and 3 security personnel
9th July: Abu Usama al-Musrati, Baghdadi’s appointed Emir of Sa’diya district is killed in an IED attack on his convoy in Diyala along with two of his bodyguards/assistants. It is unclear if this is the same incident reported earlier on the 5th.
9th July: A rebel sniper kills a policeman and injures another in the north east of Baqouba
9th July: Abbas Al Khafaji the commander of federal police forces in Babel is injured when rebel fighters attack his patrol
9th July: Rebel/Daash fighters burn 1000s of acres of farmland cultivated with crops of melons and watermelons in northern Diyala
9th July: Atta’s/Government claims for the day:
Sukhoi fighters bombed rebel/Daash positions in Babel killing 28
Anti terrorism units of the government in coordination with army aviation bomb Daash/rebel positions in Salah-il-Din province
Related news:
9th July: The Houthi Shias in Yemen have done a Daash for Amran. In overnight fighting that saw the top commander of a military base in Amran killed, the Houthis have seized prisoners, arms, and heavy equipment. A civil conflict is expected to start afresh with Saudi Arabia expected to intervene militarily.
9th July: Qatari intelligence operatives are arrested in the UAE
9th July: Syria’s opposition National Coalition replaces Ahmed al Jabra with Hadi Al Bahra in Turkey. Mr Bahra has spent most of his life in Saudi Arabia, an added qualification for any future Syrian President
9th July: Military reports in Syria suggest that most rebel leaders in Aleppo are fleeing to Turkey
9th July: A little known but active and vicious terrorist group in Karachi, Pakistan, the Tehreek e Khilafat has pledged allegiance to Baghdadi’s DI
Further reading:
The politburo of DI of Daash: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10956193/Revealed-the-Islamic-State-cabinet-from-finance-minister-to-suicide-bomb-deployer.html
Club Orlov has a good post up on Ukraine.
“9th July: The Kurds claim to have killed 200 Daash fighters in Northern Iraq in regions bordering Turkey”
Most likely this refers to northern Syria in Kobane canton, not northern Iraq. See: Assault on Kobane
Anon, thanks for the Orlov link – VERY interesting concept: that Putin would decide to let Ukraine just blow apart and show to the world, but especially his own people, exactly what the US and NATO are good for – disaster and nothing else.
Your comment doesn’t really belong with this SitRep, so I thought I’d highlight it and maybe someone can carry it to a Ukraine post.
@CE
Thank you, you are right. I will make the correction in tomorrow’s SITREP. 3000 mortars rounds! And for the Kurds to fight back is brave to say the least. Guess its fight or die.
Will add a detailed report in tomorrow’s SITREP
Mindfriedo
Dear Mindfriedo,
Thank you for your updates.
I thought this pointwas interesting – could it be a false flag?
“Fifty three bodies are found in a Shia neighbourhood of Baghdad. the dead were shot in the chest and head and are believed to be Sunni men suspected of being militants, killed and dumped arbitrarily”
It smells of USG/CIA/NATO style. Shot in the head – always seems to be modus operendai. Just happens to be a Shia neighbourhood and “believed” to be Sunni….hmmm…..
Rgds,
Veritas
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/07/09/under-surveillance/
I think the most important news today is the apparent alignment or negotiations between the Islamic State and the Kurds, this is a huge and possibly game changing development. Maliki is furious and will soon be spotted looking at estates in the south of France.
The Empire used the Mujahideen to fight the Russians and now they’ve created ISIL to fight the Shia and eventually the Russians in the Caucasus. The Empire is hoping ISIL destroys Al-Qaeda
“Why not wear a sun dial? It will be so in keeping with their thinking.” :D
вот так
In a famous Sherlock Holmes short story, Silver Blaze, Holmes got the key to the murder in this dialog:
Scotland Yard detective: Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?
Holmes: To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.
Gregory: The dog did nothing in the night-time.
Holmes: That was the curious incident.
Holmes concluded that the murderer must have been known to the family, hence the watch dog recognized him and kept silent.
The “curious incident” in the latest saga from Iraq is obvious. Why didn’t President Obama send bombers to Iraq. He has the power. He clearly has the track record. He had to know that WMD (chemical weapons were within reach of the ISIL pirates. AND he was invited to step in by Iraq.
Why didn’t the aggressor in chief act?
The fact that the president “did nothing” is the tell, the central clue to motivation. Clearly, the administration policy in Iraq is served by the discord, the fragmentation, the declaration of an independent Kurdish state. What more proof do we need?
The other silent dog in this saga is Congress. The Republicans went non linear about the Benghazi murders. That wasn’t about policy. It concerned execution. ISIL is about policy and no one in the White House and just a few feint voices on the Hill are heard.
Reap the wind, so the whirlwind.
Hezbollah: ISIS an American trademark
no comment needed.