Quote of the Day, Castro on Israel: I think that a new and disgusting form of fascism is emerging with considerable force at this moment in human history

4th Aug: Red Crescent is reporting the detention of 100 Christian and Yazidi families by Daash at Tal Afar airport on Monday. The men were executed while the women and children were sent off to be sold as slaves.
4th Aug: Nuri al Maliki asks the Iraqi Air Force to back the Peshmerga Forces in Sinjar and Zammar. The Iraqi Air Force starts bombing Daash positions.
4th Aug: President of Iraqi Kurdistan orders the Peshmergas to hit Daash with full force and for the Peshmergas to go on the offensive.
4th Aug: Attrition: The Iraqi Air Force bombs a Daash convoy to the south of Sinjar, in Baa’j, West of Mosul, Nineveh. The convoy consisted of over 60 vehicles, many of which were destroyed.
4th Aug: Iraq’s white Elephants: The first of the 36 ordered F16s is expected to arrive in Iraq at the end of the week.
5th Aug: On Cue: The Iraqi Air Force carries out airstrikes on Daash fighters in Sinjar. Over 2oo Daash fighters are reported killed and 150 injured. The airstrikes are in coordination with the Iraqi Directive of Intelligence.
5th Aug: The Kurds launch a counter attack on Sinjar and Zammar. They are now in control of large parts of Sinjar. Their counter offensive was started after the Iraqi Air force bombed Daash positions. Peshmerga forces are back in control of Zammar and Rabia.
5th Aug: Deception: The Kurds find fleeing Daash fighters wearing Peshmerga Uniforms in Sinjar and Zammar. The Daash fighters had shaved off their beards and were using Kurdish Peshmerga insignia on their vehicles
5th Aug: IMPORTANT/ATTENTION: Gunmen dressed as US Commandoes storm a Daash prison in Saadia, Diyala. The “US Troops” are armed with silenced weapons and kill four guards and injure another three that are guarding the prison and destroy two Daash vehicles. They free 17 prisoners believed to be important security personnel, government officials, and their families.
5th Aug: Qobad Talabani, the Vice President of Iraqi Kurdistan visits Yazidi refugees in Dohuk, north of Mosul.
5th Aug: Daash fighters attack Ouja and burn the grave site of Iraq’s bloody dictator and one time American ally Saddam Hussain. They were resisted by the Iraqi Army and loyal militias.
5th Aug: The Kurds are requesting for international humanitarian and military aid. Kurdish controlled territory is overwhelmed by refugees. The Peshmergas are in need of military assistance. Kurdish politicians are requesting the UN for aid.
5th Aug: Khaled al-Obeidi, a Sunni politician from the National Union Forces (A coalition of mostly Sunni Iraqi Parties) calls on the Iraqi Armed Forces to work closely with Kurdish Forces on the ground to try and avoid collateral civilian casualties. In a recent airstrike in Sinjar the Iraqi Air force bombed a mosque where arrested policemen were being held by Daash.
5th Aug: The Iraqi parliament meets and discusses the refuge problem in Iraq.
5th Aug: The Yazidi refugees in the mountains north of Sinjar are reporting the deaths of 120 children and 60 elderly refugees. The deaths are on account of harsh conditions and a lack of food and water. The Yazidis are referring to their plight as a “Second Karbala.” The Iraqi army is now planning to airdrop supplies to the mountains.
5th Aug: The Peshmergas are now reported to be fighting Daash on the outskirts of Mosul. The Iraqi army has inched closer to Mosul. The army is now in full control of Al Shirqat to the north west of Hawija.
5th Aug: Iraqi Securit Forces arrest 8 wanted individuals (including one woman) in Thi Qar, while police in Najaf arrest three (including one woman).
5th Aug: A car bomb goes off in Kirkuk province, casualties are yet unconfirmed; another car bomb explodes in Karbala, casualties remain unascertained. Two Civilians are killed and 5 injured in Jalawla when an IED explodes. A suicide bomber attacks a café in central Jalawla and kills three civilians and injures 6.
5th Aug: Government Claims for the day:
Airstrikes by the Iraqi Air Force kill 2 and injure 10 Daash fighters in Sinjar
20 Terrorists, including two suicide bombers, are killed by security forces in Taji, north of Baghdad

Related:
4th Aug: The Grant Mufti of Saudi Arabia, blind since 18, issues a Fatwa against Palestinian Solidarity Marches. Abdul Aziz Al Ash-Sheikh “are just useless demagogic actions, that won’t help Palestinians.” “Demagoguery does not work. It is just an exaggeration.”
4th Aug: Abu Hassan al-Filastini, Daash’s Emir in Qalamoun is killed in clashes on Monday. He is reported to have been fatally wounded in army shelling on Sunday.
5th Aug: 40 Nurses from India who were trapped in Tikrit have returned to their homes in India. Meanwhile, two men are arrested in southern India for posing in a group photograph wearing Daash (ISIS) T shirts. The photograph features 26 men wearing pro Daash t Shirts.
5th Aug: Saudi money on both sides. The Lebanese military requests France to speed up the delivery of weapons that Saudi had paid for as fighting in Ersal intensifies. France has delayed the delivery of these weapons.
Two Lebanese soldiers are reported killed, both brutally.
While Hezbollah has backed the Lebanese army no such political backing has been forthcoming from Lebanon’s Future Movement. Their masters in Saudi Arabia are also silent. The Cease fire referred to as a “humanitarian truce” being brokered by the “Association for Muslim Scholars” has so far failed.
5th Aug: Sunni Cleric Sheikh Abu Taqiyeh in Ersal blames Hassan Nasrallah and the Hezbollah for continued fighting and the failure to broker a cease fire.
The Takfiri militants in Ersal and their Ulema are trying to broker a cease fire to try and prevent them from losing their foot hold in Lebanon. The Hezbollah is unlikely to allow them breathing space as not fighting them now, will imperil Lebanon’s future.
5th Aug: Takfiri terrorists in Ersal are executing civilians trying to flee and those suspected of being informants.

Further reading:
Recommended by Hezbollah’s Al Manar:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-brings-its-war-to-lebanon–and-it-could-be-a-key-part-of-a-masterplan-9648009.html
Fleeing for Survival:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/iraqi-yazidis-if-move-they-will-kill-us-20148513656188206.html