A Very heartfelt thank you for the Saker who allows for these SITREPs to be posted, and for him always fighting the good fight. May God continue to guide him. I will try to post the SITREPs more frequently.
16th Aug: Kurdish authorities plan to rearm their forces with modern and heavy equipment.
16th Aug: Mohammad Ali al-Hakim, Iraq’s Foreign Minister to the UN asks the nations of the world to collectively designate Daash as a terrorist entity and collectively work against it.
16th Aug: American planes begin softening Daash targets around Mosul Dam for what will be a joint Iraqi-Peshmerga land assault to try and recapture the Dam from Daash. Daash is believed to have not bombed the dam and released its waters as it would have flooded areas controlled by it.
The dam is in need of constant maintenance and is expected to have been damaged severely during the short time that Daash has held it.
16th Aug: Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister arrives in Baghdad to coordinate delivery of humanitarian aid. He is expected to visit Iraqi Kurdistan as well.
16th Aug: Three members believed to belong to Shia militias are killed and 10 injured in a road side bombing in the south of Samarra.
16th Aug: The Iraqi Air force bombs of convoy of 30 vehicles belonging to Daash/rebel fighters near Mosul Dam
16th Aug: Iraqi Air strikes target a meeting of Daash rebels in qaim, western Anbar and reportedly kill the following senior Daash leaders: Abu Mohammed al-Shami, Abu Fatima Moroccan, Sami Mahlawi , Abu Anas al-Samarrai, Omar al-Shishani , Ahmed Awad and Abu Mohammed al-Adnani
Another air strike Jurk al-Sakher, north of Babil kills 22 Daash rebels including seven foreign fighters
16th Aug: Malik al-Arak, a leader within Daash is killed in a targeted rocket attack carried out by the Iraqi Security forces in Latifiya, Southern Baghdad. Two of his fellow Daash terrorists were also killed.
17th Aug: Peshmerga forces continue their adavce towards Mosul Dam aided by American air power. Kurdish forces are engaged in Baqofa and Babera areas and progressing towards progressing towards Tilkaif , al-Qwesat and Wank.
The Peshmergas have also received advanced weapons from Western Countries to fight Daash. Peshmerga forces are also preparing to assault the Sinjar region and regain terrertory they had earlier fled from.
17th Aug: CENTCOM announces that it has carried out 9 air strikes near Mosul Dam and near Erbil that “destroyed or damaged four armored personnel carriers , seven armored vehicles , Humvee and an armored vehicle.” The air strikes were carried out by manned aircraft and drones.
17th Aug: A major assault on Dhuluiya town, Salah id Din, by Daash fighters is foiled by the local police force and pro government/anti Daash tribal fighters. Three policemen are injured and 12 Daash fighters are reported killed.
17th Aug: Daash fighters are reportedly regrouping in Tikrit and are digging in, in anticipation of an Iraqi army assault
17th Aug: The National Alliance and its Prime Ministerial Candidate name a negotiating committee that will meet with other political blocs and speed up government formation. The State of the Law Coalition reiterates that Haider Al Abadi will negotiate government formation with other blocs and will consider demands that are within Iraq’s constitution and reject/not consider demands that go against the constitution.
17th Aug: The five main Kurdish political parties form a joint negotiating team to discuss government formation in Baghdad.
17th Aug: Kisho Amo Selo, a survivor from the Kojo massacre/genocide states that after a ten day siege where they were expected to convert to Islam Daash entered the town and killed hundreds of young Yazidi men and boys and took 500 women and girls to Tal Afar.
17th Aug: Ghayeb Sarhan Sahlab, a leader within Daash, is killed in air strikes in Salah al Din Province.
17th Aug: The Iraqi Security Forces are claiming to have retaken a refinery in Haditha with the help of the Air Force.
17th Aug: Daash’s leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi is targeted in a US drone strike on the Iraqi Syrian border on his way to Raqqa but survives.
18th Aug: Kurdish politicians are referring to the appointment of Haider Al Abadi as the Prime Minister designate as a golden opportunity for Iraq. All three ethnic groups can now sit down together and
18th Aug: In an unexpected manner, Daash releases 300 Yazidi refugees from Sinjar and allows them to head to mount Sinjar.
18th Aug: Daash executes Abu Jafar Naqshbandi, a former army officer and a leader within the “Naqshabandi Order”, along with his brother in Jalawla for refusing to follow Daash orders.
18th Aug: Despite a near total collapse of resistance, Peshmerga forces are advancing cautiously towards Tilkaif city south of Mosul Dam. Those that rush towards death are wary of car bombs and booby traps.
19th Aug: American air power breaks the back of Daash near Mosul Dam, paving the way for Peshmerga forces to take over the complex. Daash had earlier brought in a Libyan national engineer to manage the Dam. Daash decided to withdraw its forces that were being hit by accurate and sustained bombardment. However, Daash has booby trapped and left traps for advancing Peshmerga forces in houses, government buildings, and even bodies of dead Daash fighters.
The Daash forces began to crumble on the 17th of August. They more or less abandoned the areas of Tilkaif, Khorsapad, Bashiqa and Bartalah and fled to Mosul city.
19th Aug: The UN has decided to deliver relief supplies to half a million Iraqi refugees. The aid will include tents, food and water, and basic medication. Most aid will be shipped in through Turkey and Jordan; the same directions that Daash entered from.
19th Aug: The south of Iraq is floating in oil. Russia’s Lukoil has shipped an oil tanker from the West Qurna 2 oil field that is estimated to hold 13 billion barrels of oil. The Greedy Empire will not let the Shia South rest or prosper.
19th Aug: The Iraqi army has cleansed two areas north of Baghdad: al-Thaar and Tal Tasa of Daash presence.
19th Aug: Shia Militias a Long way to go: The Iraqi Army launches an assault on Tikrit early this morning. The army was being backed by Shia militias/volunteer fighters and local tribal fighters. Fierce resistance by Daash forces the army to withdraw after suffering one fatality and 5 injured. The army lost its positions in the south of Tikrit and had to withdraw further south. A lack of effective air cover is being cited as one of the reasons of the failed assault.
The Iraqi army is claiming that the leaders within Daash have now fled Tikrit. Daash forces have withdrawn from Al Alam district east of Tikrit. Daash has also thoroughly mined and booby trapped (by planting IEDs along the main roads in Tikrit) most of the city’s main roads.
19th Aug: Abu Mohammed al- Adnani, spokesperson for Daash and Saeed Arif of the Al Nusra front are put on the US sanctions list; a farcical list that includes Iranians and Russians.
Meanwhile, the United States has confirmed that Daash is using American armored personnel carriers that are installed with Israeli made modifications. The vehicles that are designed to survive the blast from IEDs and mines and sustain assaults from small arms fire are being used by Daash to fight the Kurds and other rebel groups in Syria. Daash is also using American made artillery.
Obama has asked the Iraqis to form a unity government and not grow complacent now that the US is bombing Daash fighters. The US has carried out 68 air strikes since the 8th of August primarily aimed at helping the Kurds in the north.
19th Aug: Wasit in the south of Iraq has received 21000 refugees from Mosul. Most are believed to be Shia.
19th Aug: All love for the Kurds: Sweden issues a statement that it backs Iraqi Kurdistan in its fight against terrorism and its support of refugees. Massoud Barzani welcomes Sweden’s stance and stresses that the Kurds need better and more weapons to fight “terrorism.”
19th Aug: The UK showers its affections: Stewart Rory, the head of the defense committee of the British Parliament meets with Massoud Barzani and conveys the greetings of David Cameroon.
19th Aug: Ibrahim al-Jaafari of the Shia national Alliance meets with Saleh al-Mutlaq of the Sunni al-Arabiya party meet to discuss government formation and the status of refugees in Iraq.
19th Aug: Three flags belonging to Daash are found hanging on poles and lamp posts in Dhi Qar district, south east of Najaf.
19th Aug: Government claims for the day:
33 Daash fighters are killed in airstrikes in Babil
22 Daash fighters are killed in an artillery strike by the Iraqi Army on their positions in Fallujah
19th Aug: US claims for the day:
17 Daash fighters are killed in airstrikes north of Mosul
Related:
18th Aug: A video has emerged showing a Japanese man being held by Daash terrorists in Syria and him being beaten up by his captors. May God protect him.
19th Aug: Daash commander Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi is killed by the Syrian army in Qalamoun. He is believed to be responsible for several car bomb and suicide attacks in Lebanon.
The Daily Star is reporting that it was the Hezbollah that carried out a sophisticated assassination of the man responsible for many attacks against Lebanon’s Shia areas:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Aug-20/267790-hezbollah-kills-jihadist-who-trained-suicide-bombers.ashx#axzz3AsXnxtq9
19th Aug: Containing blowback: Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, blind since age 18, calls Al Qaida and Daash as Enemies No 1 of Islam.
19th Aug: Jebran Bassil, the Lebanese Foreign Minister states that Iraqi refugees are not welcome in Lebanon and that they should remain in Iraq
19th Aug: Daash releases a live video of it executing US journalist James Foley. May God Curse the oppressors (Daash).
Daash has released a video that threatens Americas everywhere for attacking it in Iraq.
Further Reading:
The Un-Islamic teachings of Daash:
“let the patients die, it is not important, what matters is your veil.” http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/isis-militants-threaten-mosul%E2%80%99s-female-doctors
Obama’s “long-term strategy” to escape from neocon plans
http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2014/08/obamas-long-term-strategy-to-escape.html
This is the third time you have reported the death of Abu Omar. How many lives does this cat have?
“19th Aug: Abu Mohammed al- Adnani, spokesperson for Daash and Saeed Arif of the Al Nusra front are put on the US sanctions list; a farcical list that includes Iranians and Russians.
Meanwhile, the United States has confirmed that Daash is using American armored personnel carriers that are installed with Israeli made modifications. The vehicles that are designed to survive the blast from IEDs and mines and sustain assaults from small arms fire are being used by Daash to fight the Kurds and other rebel groups in Syria. Daash is also using American made artillery.
Obama has asked the Iraqis to form a unity government and not grow complacent now that the US is bombing Daash fighters. The US has carried out 68 air strikes since the 8th of August primarily aimed at helping the Kurds in the north.”
How did they get these vehicles and weapons I’m wondering?
Thanks for the sitrep, Mindfriedo.
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What a timely update. Thanks so much.
The Mosul Dam is a real threat. RT ran a story calling it a “weapon of mass destruction” waiting to collapse. Wonder how we could be there all these years and not attend to it?
If the dam collapses, that’s it for Daash, plain and simple. What a total waste of resources and lives, it’s a true shame what’s going on.
Since ISIS had a falling out with the Saddam Baathist’s led by Ibraaheem Al-Douri, they have lost their initiative and fallen into a pattern of rear-guard actions as their gains are slowly lost. While this has not slowed the merciless slaughter, it does indicate that whatever it was originally designed to be, ISIS is nothing but an embarrassment to those who originally formed it.
In the mean time the Kurds expand the area under their control (to the benefit of their American sponsors and the Israeli consumers of their oil).
At the same time the aid that the Iraqi government has been promised dribbles in with little or no real effect on the skill or strength of the Iraqi army.
Yet the Kurds are receiving weapons directly from France, England, Germany and the US.
It would seem that project to build a viable Kurdistan is back in gear.
What’s with these letter changing alphabet armies anyway? They change their names more often than a Hollywood starlet.
Hi Saker
Just to let you know Peshmerga doesn’t mean those that rush towards death. It means those that face death or those that are in front of death. Pesh literally just means in front of and merga means killing.
Regarding the Kurds I think that they are to some extent cooling off regarding independence. The former crescendo of Kurdish nationalism was basically due to Maliki turning into another Saddam. IMHO Russia could have worked to avoid the current situation and goten the Kurds under their belt if they had paid some attention to mediating. The kurds have always had an excellent relationship with russia, being one of their only true friends and an extensive history of friendly relations, and are very much aware of US betrayal and attempts to block their soverignitiy. There was even an open outcry about it in one of the papers.
From what i understand Russia doesn’t want to anger turkey, however as it stands now Turkey is the primary supporter of Kudish independence. I think it’s definitly in Russias interest to attempt to form clloser relations with Turkey, albeit cautiously. I do see Erdogan as somthing of an idealist that could be swayed towards the BRICS as they ahve alot more in common with them as an emerging power and are thoroughly rejected by the EU.
I think if Russia had placed more of it’s Eggs in the Kurdish basket, rather than these treacherous Iranians and incompetent shias, then it would be
in a dramatically better position right now. As it stands the KRG is the number one threat to Russia gas hegemony as it provides a politically stable source of natural gas that would compete with Russias supplies.
As for the selling of the oil to Israel, please do not hold that against them, this is a move out of desperation due to Malikis oppressive rule and the cutting off of funds to the KRG.
Judging from my writing you can probably guess where i’m from ^^.
The purported beheading video of the American journalist is a slick pay-ops presentation. The mise-en-scene is sophisticated, and reminiscent of similar atrocity videos from a decade ago such as Nicholas Berg. As such, the ultimate sponsorship of ISIS or Daash must be assumed to be associated with those previous events.
After the Kurds kill the ISIS with there new fancy weapons, I wonder whether they will turn it against the Iraqi’s govt for their independence.
Minor correction:
“19th Aug: The UK showers its affections: Stewart Rory, the head of the defense committee of the British Parliament meets with Massoud Barzani and conveys the greetings of David Cameroon.”
The person is Rory Stewart. He is possibly SIS. His father was a high ranking officer and Rory Stewart conceded that his own career path might “give the appearance” that he worked for MI6. He is Bilderberger and married to a US former NGO executive. That is to say, he is perfect for the job.
This entire daash thing is a joke! Already hundreds of APC are destroyed but they sure dont seem to have any problems assaulting well defending positions and over running them. Both in syria and Iraq. Considering they number less than 5000, anyone think that kind of numbers can sustain a 3 front war? They are also over running position of other syrian rebels. Over all they are fighting a front consisting of around 100,000 people on the other side and trashing it. Just to hold the dam would require hundreds of fighters. What about all the business activities? Selling women and collecting the cash aint a penny any operation.. Loading trucks with 500,000 barrels of oil a day and pumping gas to everyone aint as easy as filling balloons and letting them fly..
And here is the kicker, every day, 100’s of daash fighters are killed! Okay so thats not a problem.. But the logistical problems of trying to import their replacements from near (not so much) and far must be huge! Its a good thing they dont have to pay the families of those killed but the fighters must still get paid.. The food, ammo, lodging, comfort women, fuel, planning, executions.. Heck even the US has more than the number of soldiers who just do things like get the toilet paper to the front. There is a lot more going on what these reports show. We never see any blown up APC’s,. Although we do see a lot of heads of poles and women for sale signs..
So now the Kurds get modern heavy weapons? The turks never have a problem with this.. Heck they even let Daash set up command posts in Turkey.. The kurds are supposed to use these new heavy weapons to fight daash… Who must now number like 2000 if the 100 dead a day for the last months are taken into account even with expedited immigration control at Ankara!
maybe the new US logistical computer system does work! It never worked for integrating into the marines, navy, army and airforce but it must work miracles for just a single command structure..
@IndianaJohn: “What’s with these letter changing alphabet armies anyway? They change their names more often than a Hollywood starlet.”
Cute IndianaJohn ~:)
I liked the Goddess ISIS.
Best regards,
Mohamed.
U.N. Security Council Blacklists ISIS Militants
“The United Nations Security Council took aim at Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria on Friday, blacklisting six people including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) spokesman and threatening sanctions against those who finance, recruit or supply weapons to the insurgents.
The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution that aims to weaken ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing Nusra Front, Reuters reported.
Best regards,
Mohamed
“16th Aug: Iraqi Air strikes target a meeting of Daash rebels in qaim, western Anbar and reportedly kill the following senior Daash leaders: […], Omar al-Shishani , […]”
Uh…. OK, but you already reported his death over a week ago — “7th Aug: Fighting between Peshmergas and Daash around Mosul Dam has resulted in the death of Chechen Daash Commander Abu Omar al-Shishani also known as Tarkhan Batirhvili. […]” (http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.se/2014/08/august-12th-iraq-sitrep-by-mindfriedo.html)
Sorry if I sound sarcastic, but it’s because I wasted hours scouring the internet after your previous report. I had been off the internet for a while and was happily surprised to see Omar gone — except of course that not a single other site had anything about it, not even the ones wasting time reporting the daily minutiae of jihadi doings. It would be great if it were true this time, but the guy’s been reported killed several times over the last year or so and always pops up again.
(don’t feel like linking my google+, sorry)
@Alien Tech: This entire daash thing is a joke! Already hundreds of APC are destroyed but they sure dont seem to have any problems assaulting well defending positions and over running them. Both in syria and Iraq. Considering they number less than 5000, anyone think that kind of numbers can sustain a 3 front war?
Dearest Alien Tech,
Excellent Observation!
The Daash is illusion and so is Ukraine War. George Orwell comes to mind.
Best regards,
Mohamed.
Splitting up Iraq is the main aim of the current Western intervention in that country, and has nothing whatsoever to do with Humanitarian concerns. This is particularly true with regards to the Kurds.The Kurds are being armed not so much to fight ISIS, but to allow them to accumulate the requisite quantity and types of weaponry that will ensure that they can split from Iraq and defend against any attempts to bring them back into the fold. This has been an important strategic goal of the Israelis for years- to the extent that the US and the EU are supporting this project, it has to be viewed in light of the fact that these entities are essentially proxies through which Tel-A-Viv operates in furtherance of its objectives . It will allow Israel to have a base from which to hatch plots and pursue nefarious acts in close proximity to Iran and others while simultaneously removing Iraq from its list of viable enemies. Who do you think connived to separate South Sudan from Sudan proper? South Sudan is a virtual Zionist colony.
Russia and China should harbor no illusions because they are in the cross-hairs of the Anglo-Zionists as much as Iran.
A little by little more truth emerges.. So it is not under 5000 but 50,000…. Majority of countries on the planet dont have an army of that size! And this is from a so called moderate Syrian opposition support group. How much would it cost to support an army of 50,000? its a lot more than $5 bil for sure…. And now European intelligence is saying Ukraine is getting more than just advisors seeing the professionalism in some of their offensives. Which means direct special ops support with units on the ground.. We saw the clusterpuk on MH17 even with advisors. as we saw in Iraq and Syria, You need cohesive interlinked professional soldiers for offensives. Coordinate with other groups, artilery, aircraft, intelligence, all of which require high levels of discipline and knowledge which conscripts just don’t have time to develop. Syrian and Iraqi army units with years on the ground never learnt it and are mostly only good for checkpoints.
The number of ISIL Takfiri militants fighting against the Syrian government amounts to more than 50,000, says a UK-based NGO.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that the terrorists managed to recruit 6,000 militants in the past month alone.
The observatory’s director, Rami Abdel Rahman, said there were at least 20,000 non-Syrians among the terrorists.
Most of the militants had entered via Turkey, Abdel Rahman said, adding that other recruits joined the ISIL from foreign-backed opposition groups, including 200 from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front that initially cooperated with ISIL.
Dear Mohamed,
Please elaborate in length about Ukrainian War “being an illusion”?
Thx in advance!