Iraq's war against IS terrorism | Updates and Discussions

[Hindustani78]

Air Base Qayara . October 28 2016 .

 

[T-55]

 

[Hindustani78]

An Iraqi special forces soldier peeks through a hole in a door as his unit gets ready to search a compound in Gogjali, an eastern district of Mosul, Iraq.

 

[Hindustani78]

Reuters / Wednesday, November 02, 2016
Iraqi Christian soldiers look at a fake military vehicle made of wood used by the Islamic State militants, in Qaraqosh, near Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

My prayers for the armed forces of Iraq......death to Daesh and those who support them

 

[Hindustani78]

Reuters / Wednesday, November 02, 2016
Iraqi priests hold the first mass at the Grand Immaculate Church since it was recaptured from Islamic State in Qaraqosh, near Mosul, Iraq. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani

 

[f1000n]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-shirqat-idUSKBN12Z0OB


Iraqi special forces recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul on Friday, a military statement said, expanding the army's foothold in the Islamic State stronghold a day after its leader told his jihadist followers there could be no retreat.

An officer in the elite Counter Terrorism Service said CTS troops launched a major operation against the militants, who are now almost surrounded in their last major urban redoubt in Iraq.

CTS special forces took over the neighborhoods of Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama, the statement said, inflicting heavy losses on the militant fighters and raising the Iraqi flag over buildings.

 

[GiannKall]

I see Baghdad and Kurds do what Saddam did playing the how well we treat christians card

 

[Alshawi1234]

ICTF Enter mosul from the east. Take several neighborhoods only one day after Baghdadis speech was released.

https://twitter.com/x/status/794475709095874561

 

[Alshawi1234]

Federal police preparing to storm Hamam Al Aleel on the southern frint after liberating nearby villages and hilltops. Last major district before reaching southern outskirts of Mosul, 16km from mosul airport.

PMF cuts the main Mosul Raqqa road. Side roads are still open for IS movement.

First stage of PMF has been wrapped up. Second stage to start soon. 15Km to tel afar air base. Objective will most likely be to createa buffer zone and use it to storm Tel afar to finally purge it out of IS terrorists and their supporters.

 

[Hindustani78]

People watch as safety workers try to extinguish fire from a burning oil field in Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq.

People watch as safety workers try to extinguish fire from a burning oil field in Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://zeenews.india.com/news/world...tricts-seized-from-islamic-state_1946324.html
Last Updated: Friday, November 4, 2016 - 15:01

Baghdad: Iraqi special forces recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul on Friday, a military statement said, expanding the Army`s foothold in the Islamic State stronghold a day after its leader told his jihadist followers there could be no retreat.

An officer in the elite Counter Terrorism Service said CTS troops had launched a major operation against the militants, who are now almost surrounded in their last major urban stronghold in Iraq.

CTS special forces took over the neighbourhoods of Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama, the statement said, inflicting heavy losses on the militant fighters and raising the Iraqi flag over buildings.

One special forces officer told Reuters on Thursday the CTS units may try to push all the way to the Tigris river, which runs through the centre of Mosul.

Iraqi television footage from the east of the city showed heavy palls of grey smoke rising into the sky.

Iraqi regular troops and special forces, Shi`ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by US-led air strikes launched a campaign nearly three weeks ago to retake Mosul.

Winning back the city would crush the Iraqi half of a crossborder caliphate declared by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from a Mosul mosque two years ago.

Islamic State also holds large parts of neighbouring Syria, but Mosul is by far the largest city under control of the ultra-hardline militants in either country, and the campaign to retake it is the most complex in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein and unleashed a decade of turmoil.

In a rare speech released on Thursday Baghdadi - whose whereabouts are unknown - said there could be no retreat in a "total war" against the forces arrayed against Islamic State, telling fighters they must remain loyal to their commanders.

Mosul is still home to nearly 1.5 million people, who risk being caught up in brutal urban warfare. The United Nations has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis and a refugee exodus, although Iraqi officials say Islamic State is holding the civilian population as human shields.

The United Nations says 21,000 people have been displaced since the start of the Mosul campaign. That figure excludes the thousands of people from outlying villages forced to head back into Mosul by retreating Islamic State fighters who used them as human shields.

Mosul residents, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said Islamic State fighters were deploying artillery and rocket launchers in and near residential areas.

Some were hidden in trees near the Wahda district in the south, while others were deployed on the rooftops of houses taken over by the militants in the Ghizlani district close to Mosul airport, they said.

"We saw Daesh (Islamic State) fighters installing a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun alongside a rocket launchpad, and mortars as well," one Mosul resident said.

People in the southern and eastern neighbourhoods reported on Thursday night that barrages of artillery shells and rockets being launched from their districts towards the advancing troops had shaken their houses.

As well as the Islamic State resistance in Mosul itself, the militants have launched a series of diversionary attacks across the country since the start of the offensive.

In the town of Shirqat, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Mosul, militants stormed a mosque and several houses early on Friday, a local police officer said, killing seven soldiers and fighters from the Shi`ite Popular Mobilisation force.

The insurgents crossed from the eastern side of the Tigris river into the town at 3 a.m., taking over al-Baaja mosque and spreading out into alleyways. Security forces declared a curfew and said reinforcements from the Popular Mobilisation, or Hashid Shaabi, forces were being sent to the town.

Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have closed in on Mosul from the north, from the eastern Nineveh plains and up the River Tigris from the south.

The Hashid Shaabi forces of mainly Shi`ite militias joined the campaign on Saturday, launching an offensive to cut off any supply or escape to the west.


A Hashid spokesman said they had made progress but had not completely closed off the western flank, and their fighters had seen some cars leaving Mosul on Thursday.

Reuters

First Published: Friday, November 4, 2016 - 15:01

 

[mike2000 is back]

An Iraqi special forces soldier stands atop a Humvee in the village of Bazwaya, some 8 km from the center of Mosul, Iraq, on Monday.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...y-limits-is-fires-missiles/article9291211.ece

Troops have entered Gogjali, a neighborhood inside Mosul’s city limits, and were only 800 meters (yards) from the more central Karama district, according to Maj. Gen. Sami al-Aridi of the Iraqi special forces.

“The special forces have stormed in,” he said. “Daesh is fighting back and have set up concrete blast walls to block off the Karama neighborhood and our troops’ advance,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. Bombs have been laid along the road into the city, he added.

Yet entering Mosul could be the start of a grueling and slow operation for the troops, as they will be forced to engage in difficult, house-to-house fighting in urban areas. The operation is expected to take weeks, if not months. The special forces troops remain some 8 km from the center of the city, Iraq’s second-largest.

The morning’s action opened up with artillery, tank and machine gun fire on IS positions on the edge of the Gogjali neighborhood, with the extremists responding with guided anti-tank missiles and small arms to block the advance. Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition supporting the operation added to the fire hitting the district.

From the nearby village of Bazwaya, smoke could be seen rising from buildings on the city’s edge, where shells and bombs were landing. The IS fighters quickly lit special fires to produce dark smoke in order to obscure the aerial view of the city.

Inside the village, white flags still hung from some buildings, put up a day earlier by residents eager to show they wouldn’t resist Iraqi forces’ advance. Some residents stood outside their homes, and children raised their hands with V—for—victory signs.

The families, estimated to number in the hundreds, will be evacuated from the village to a displaced persons camp, according to Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the Iraqi special forces.

For over two weeks, Iraqi forces and their Kurdish allies, Sunni tribesmen and Shia militias have been converging on Mosul from all directions to drive IS from the city.

Iraqi forces have made uneven progress in closing in on the city. Advances have been slower to the south, with government troops still 35 km away. To the north are Kurdish forces and Iraqi army units, and Shia militias are sweeping toward the western approach in an attempt to cut off a final IS escape route.

The Shia forces, Iran-backed troops known as the Popular Mobilization Units, are not supposed to enter Mosul, given concerns that the battle for the Sunni-majority city could aggravate sectarian tensions.

Just behind the eastern front line, the army’s ninth division has moved toward Mosul on the path cleared by the special forces, and was now approximately 5 km from its eastern outskirts.

The U.S. military estimates IS has 3,000—5,000 fighters in Mosul and another 1,500—2,500 in its outer defensive belt. The total includes about 1,000 foreign fighters. They stand against an anti-IS force that including army units, militarized police, special forces and Kurdish fighters totals over 40,000 men.

As the Mosul offensive has pressed on, bombings have continued in the capital, Baghdad, part of sustained IS efforts to destabilize the country. Dozens have been killed since the push on Mosul started in apparent retaliation attacks, mostly claimed by IS.

Also Tuesday, Kurdish authorities detained a Japanese freelance journalist covering the fighting. Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said in Tokyo that “we are aware that he is currently being detained” and that Japan is trying to determine why.

Japan’s Kyodo News agency says that journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka was reporting on the battle to recapture the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group. Kyodo reported he is being held by the Kurdish militia known as the peshmerga.

Wow....Isis has barely 5000fighters there while opposing side has over 40,000fighters coupled with U S/U.K and COALITION massive airpower. That's a big imbalance of Power. Should be able to crush ISIS in no time.

 

[HAIDER]

Wow....Isis has barely 5000fighters there while opposing side has over 40,000fighters coupled with U S/U.K and COALITION massive airpower. That's a big imbalance of Power. Should be able to crush ISIS in no time.

avoiding collateral damage ...

 

[Alshawi1234]

Another day, another victory.

iraqi forces launch offensive to capture Hamal Al Aleel. Reach town centre. Fighting still ongoing in some areas.