26th June: Another 50 US advisors arrive in Baghdad taking the tally up to 180, of the legendary 300 promised. Hope they don’t face the same fate as the Spartans.
26th June: Main backers of the Sunni insurgency meet with their Godfather in Paris: http://jordantimes.com/jordan-takes-part-in-four-way-meeting-on-iraq-syria-in-paris
27th June: The Iraqi government releases a video showing Baiji refinery in government hands. Army spokesperson Qassim Atta: “ISIL militants who tried to approach the Baiji refinery were crushed. We assure that the refinery has become a graveyard for ISIL coward terrorists.”
27th June: The Iraqi government is trying to wrest control of Tikrit. Airborne commando raids were carried out on Tikrit University on Thursday. Low flying helicopters carrying elite forces landed in a stadium opposite the university. One was reportedly shot down by insurgents.
27th June: Sunni residents of Tikrit claim that there are no militants in Tikrit. Daash had taken Tikrit on the 11th and 12th of June and executed 190 Shia army recruits. Daash militants are reported to have fled towards Kirkuk in anticipation of government strikes.
27th June: The government claims to have gained control of Alam district in Western district (I’m not familiar with Tikrit but the only Alam district seems to be east of the city on the other side of the river)
27th June: The government forces have gained control of the main highway from Tikrit to Samarra. Spiker military base is also now in government hands.
27th June: Daash claims responsibility for the suicide bombing that took place in Beirut yesterday.
27th June: Iran denies repatriating 130 fighter aircraft to Iraq. The Iranian spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, said “The news has been denied by the Iraqi authorities, and we have nothing to add about these unfounded allegations but to deny them.”
27th June: Maliki has ordered military aircraft from the Russians which he expects will be delivered in two to three days. It remains a mystery who will fly these planes, Iraqis, Syrians, Russians, Iranians, US Advisors. Regarding the purchase of US aircraft Maliki stated “I’ll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract [with the US]”.
27th June: Sistani has asked in his Friday sermon that key government ministries be decided before parliamentarians meet on Tuesday. His statement reads “What is required of the political blocs is to agree on the three presidencies within the remaining days to this date.”
27th June: The government of Baghdad is citing a human rights group that is claiming human right violations and genocide in the Shia village of Bashir. Daash fighters (a coalition of Sunni Tribes, Ba’athist, and disenfranchised Sunnis along with foreign fighters if people wish to call them) entered the village on the outskirts of Kirkuk on the 12th and 13th of June. There they are reported to have recorded the raping of women, crucifying those they killed, and beheading children.
27th June: Kerry clarifies that the US did not ask for an emergency government. Maliki had earlier dismissed any national emergency unity government. Iyad Allawi had made the call earlier for an emergency government.
27th June: Militia members from local provinces have arrived at a crossing in Nukhaib west of Karbala to hold it against Daash infiltration of the south of Iraq. They fear Daash getting through from Anbar province.
Further reading:
Baghdad’s Fifth Column:
This is an interesting article by the Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/20/baghdad-sunni-fighters-we-are-ready-for-zero-hour
It talks about Sunni young men in Baghdad waiting for Daash’s advance on the capital to begin. They claim to have sleeper cells waiting to join the insurgency.
I wanted to cover these topics today, but will write about them tomorrow as a short analysis
Forget what to call ISIS or ISIL, Who to call Daash?
Are the Sunnis tougher than the Shia?
Iraqi Towns, their size and taking/holding them
So we’ve got Syrian jets attacking ISIL and Russia providing planes for the Iraqi government.
What would Sherlock Holmes say about the passive behavior of the Obama administration?
I would say that President Obama’s stated concern about civilian casualties is out of character given Libya, Syria, and Ukraine.
“Forget what to call ISIS or ISIL, Who to call Daash?”
How about Israel’s Yinon Plan Expeditionary Force?
Thanks for the report.
Baghdad’s Fifth Column:
This is an interesting article by the Guardian, baghdad-sunni-fighters-we-are-ready-for-zero-hour”
Why would Sunni fighters allied with “jihadists” be talking with the Jewish-Israeli Guardian? Isn’t that like WW2 Yugoslavian partisans telling “Lord Ha Ha” their plans to rise up against the nazis in an occupied city?
Sounds too much like staged propaganda, especially since it’s the bum bandits at the zionazi Guardian making the claims.
Caleb Maupin on the strategic interests in Iraq:
The leaders of the US do not want to replace Maliki with a leader who is more trustworthy and accountable, who can finish off ISIS and build a peaceful and stable Iraq. The billionaires who run the US wish to replace Maliki with IEDs, snipers, kidnappings, beheadings, and warlords battling each other for power. They are funding and arming the Iraqi government, and ensuring that Saudi money continues to fund ISIS, so the killing can escalate.
More crucially, there is one prevailing pattern when it comes to targetting “enemies”:
All the countries that are currently being targeted by the United States for attack have one common factor: independent economic development.
Venezuela is led by Bolivarian Socialists. Cuba, China, and People’s Korea are led by Communists. Syria and the Russian Federation are secular governments led by nationalists. Iran’s government is a deeply religious Islamic Republic.
But all of these governments have dared develop independent economics. They have strived to build up their own economies, and to compete with Wall Street and London in the global markets, and regardless of their wishes, they have been declared to be enemies of the United States.
ISIS and Wall Street’s Plan for Sectarian War – NEO
B.