Hindustani78
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M 224 Mortar system for a fire mission to assist Iraqi army 9th division in Al Tarab Iraq , March 18 2017
Iraq's war against IS terrorism | Updates and Discussions
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Hindustani78
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http://www.militarytimes.com/articl...ul-islamic-state-iraqi-counter-terror-service
U.S. military advisers in Mosul have begun wearing black uniforms similar to those preferred by Iraq's most elite troops, an attempt by the Americans to blend in as they move about the front lines in what's become an arduous block-by-block fight with Islamic State fighters who remain entrenched there.
Multiple images of black-clad troops have been shared on social media in recent weeks. And while it's common for U.S. special operations personnel to wear their partners' military uniforms, this development is unique.
In Mosul, where the Iraqi-led campaign has worn on for five months, it demonstrates just how close to the action some Americans have moved since President Trump challenged the Pentagon to bring more force to bear on ISIS. At the same time, it highlights seldom discussed tactics used by Navy SEALs and other clandestine units at the forefront of the war on terrorism.
In one of the images shared on Twitter this month, an unidentified U.S. service member is seen at the trigger of a MK13 sniper rifle, scanning for targets off in the distance. Beneath his body armor, he wears a long-sleeve black blouse like those issued by the Iraqi Counter Terror Service, which has taken a lead role in the effort to liberate Mosul. The operator's vest and helmet bear two brightly colored American flag patches.
US Marines reposition their M-777 Howitzer in Al-Taqaddum, Iraq.Cpl. Robert Medina/US Marine Corps
M-777 Howitzer. Firing 155-millimeter shells, these cannons can have a range up to 25 miles with special GPS-guided munitions.
Here's a look at the deadly weapon that the Marines are hitting ISIS with.
Solomon2
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‘We Were Never Brothers’: Iraq’s Divisions May Be Irreconcilable
Liberating Mosul won’t bring the country together, and the Kurds want complete separation.
Iraqi Kurds celebrate the Noruz spring festival in Akra, 500 kilometers north of Baghdad, March 20. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
By AZIZ AHMAD
March 26, 2017 4:11 p.m. ET
Erbil, Iraq
‘I swear by God we are not brothers,” the Sunni Arab sheik shouted from the audience in response to a conservative Shiite lawmaker’s plea for brotherhood. The occasion was a conference last summer at the American University of Kurdistan, in Duhok. It was the two men’s first encounter since the fall of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, to Islamic State in June 2014.
Conference organizers had hoped for reconciliation, but there was little sign of it. “We were never brothers,” the sheik said. “We’ve always been afraid of each other.” His candor drew nods from the Sunni men seated in front rows. The speakers and audience members condemned one another as failures and exchanged blame for the army’s flight, for embracing Islamic State, and for perpetrating massacres.
Sectarian distrust—a problem that has plagued Iraq for much of its modern history and has been amplified since Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003—was laid bare that day. A country that should have been brought together under the adversity of Islamic State’s rampage seemed to be further apart than ever, with divisions extending far beyond Mosul.
Almost a year later, a fragile coalition of Kurdish, Arab and American forces is slowly advancing in Islamic State’s primary stronghold in Mosul. But retaking the city will not unify Iraq. The current Shiite-led political discourse in Baghdad is synonymous with the denial of rights to minorities, including Kurds. Conversely, in Mosul a Sunni Arab majority marginalizes minorities, who in turn accuse Sunnis of supporting ISIS.
Sinjar, west of Mosul, is a case in point. When I visited last year I saw no sign of peaceful coexistence. The local security chief, a Yazidi, told me that Sunni Arabs from his village, Kojo, had joined ISIS’s brutal terror against the Yazidis, a religious minority. Men from the al-Metuta tribe helped kill “hundreds,” he said, including 68 members of his own family. “Of course I remember them,” he said. “Those Arab men had a hand in the honor of our women. It’s not possible to live together again.”
In meetings with Iraqi officials and community leaders, I’ve seen how Islamic State’s campaign has aggravated animosity across tribal, ethnic and religious lines. Without a political track to address tensions between Sunnis and Shiites or Kurds and Arabs, the day-after scenario remains perilous.
Addressing the problems begins by restoring trust. For Mosul, Baghdad is already on the wrong foot. The offensive against ISIS includes a coalition of Shiite militias, despite strong protests from Mosul’s predominantly Sunni provincial council. The new formula must tackle minorities’ fears of marginalization by granting local autonomy, including to Christians persecuted by ISIS militants, and by implementing laws already in place to give Sunnis a stake and isolate extremists.
We Kurds can help. We make up a third of the province’s population. For over a year, our Peshmerga fighters were poised for an assault on Mosul, but our persistent calls for a political agreement were ignored. An agreement during the military campaign is still necessary to prevent intercommunal conflict.
Such an agreement should outline a path toward governance and offer more than a Shiite-centric alternative. In parallel, there must be an effort to demobilize Shiite militias formed in the aftermath of the war by engaging the Iraqi Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, for a religious decree. It should also call for the groups’ withdrawal from areas liberated by the Peshmerga.
Baghdad should not impose solutions. It should instead lead talks with Turkey and Iran to defuse regional tensions that intersect in Mosul. Iraq’s problem with Turkey can be solved by ending Baghdad’s payments to the anti-Ankara Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as PKK, in Sinjar and demanding the group’s withdrawal, in line with calls from local officials and the provincial council.
More broadly, once the fight is over, there needs to be a political reckoning by Kurds and Arabs about how the Iraqi state can go forward. It’s too late to salvage the post-2003 project; the country has segregated itself into armed enclaves. The Kurdish people suffered a litany of abuses, including genocide, under successive Sunni regimes. More recently, despite a shared history, the Shiite-led government reneged on promises for partnership and revenue sharing. It suspended Kurdistan’s budget and prevents us still from buying weapons. Given that experience, Kurdish loyalty to an Iraqi identity remains nonexistent.
For us, complete separation is the only alternative. Our pursuit of independence is about charting a better course from Iraq’s conceptual failure. The path forward should begin from a simple truth: Iraq has already fallen apart, and the country will be better off realigned on the parties’ own terms.
A central goal for the U.S. should be to empower the Kurdistan Region. We are a stable, longstanding U.S. ally amid a sea of unrest. We’ve proved to be a valuable partner in the war on terrorism and share common values and a commitment to democracy.
The advance on Mosul represents the turn of a chapter that transcends Iraq’s three-year war. It represents a moment of reckoning and an opportunity to consolidate the Kurdistan Region on terms that will de-escalate conflict and safeguard its peoples.
Mr. Ahmad is an assistant to the chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council.
Liberating Mosul won’t bring the country together, and the Kurds want complete separation.
Iraqi Kurds celebrate the Noruz spring festival in Akra, 500 kilometers north of Baghdad, March 20. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
By AZIZ AHMAD
March 26, 2017 4:11 p.m. ET
Erbil, Iraq
‘I swear by God we are not brothers,” the Sunni Arab sheik shouted from the audience in response to a conservative Shiite lawmaker’s plea for brotherhood. The occasion was a conference last summer at the American University of Kurdistan, in Duhok. It was the two men’s first encounter since the fall of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, to Islamic State in June 2014.
Conference organizers had hoped for reconciliation, but there was little sign of it. “We were never brothers,” the sheik said. “We’ve always been afraid of each other.” His candor drew nods from the Sunni men seated in front rows. The speakers and audience members condemned one another as failures and exchanged blame for the army’s flight, for embracing Islamic State, and for perpetrating massacres.
Sectarian distrust—a problem that has plagued Iraq for much of its modern history and has been amplified since Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003—was laid bare that day. A country that should have been brought together under the adversity of Islamic State’s rampage seemed to be further apart than ever, with divisions extending far beyond Mosul.
Almost a year later, a fragile coalition of Kurdish, Arab and American forces is slowly advancing in Islamic State’s primary stronghold in Mosul. But retaking the city will not unify Iraq. The current Shiite-led political discourse in Baghdad is synonymous with the denial of rights to minorities, including Kurds. Conversely, in Mosul a Sunni Arab majority marginalizes minorities, who in turn accuse Sunnis of supporting ISIS.
Sinjar, west of Mosul, is a case in point. When I visited last year I saw no sign of peaceful coexistence. The local security chief, a Yazidi, told me that Sunni Arabs from his village, Kojo, had joined ISIS’s brutal terror against the Yazidis, a religious minority. Men from the al-Metuta tribe helped kill “hundreds,” he said, including 68 members of his own family. “Of course I remember them,” he said. “Those Arab men had a hand in the honor of our women. It’s not possible to live together again.”
In meetings with Iraqi officials and community leaders, I’ve seen how Islamic State’s campaign has aggravated animosity across tribal, ethnic and religious lines. Without a political track to address tensions between Sunnis and Shiites or Kurds and Arabs, the day-after scenario remains perilous.
Addressing the problems begins by restoring trust. For Mosul, Baghdad is already on the wrong foot. The offensive against ISIS includes a coalition of Shiite militias, despite strong protests from Mosul’s predominantly Sunni provincial council. The new formula must tackle minorities’ fears of marginalization by granting local autonomy, including to Christians persecuted by ISIS militants, and by implementing laws already in place to give Sunnis a stake and isolate extremists.
We Kurds can help. We make up a third of the province’s population. For over a year, our Peshmerga fighters were poised for an assault on Mosul, but our persistent calls for a political agreement were ignored. An agreement during the military campaign is still necessary to prevent intercommunal conflict.
Such an agreement should outline a path toward governance and offer more than a Shiite-centric alternative. In parallel, there must be an effort to demobilize Shiite militias formed in the aftermath of the war by engaging the Iraqi Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, for a religious decree. It should also call for the groups’ withdrawal from areas liberated by the Peshmerga.
Baghdad should not impose solutions. It should instead lead talks with Turkey and Iran to defuse regional tensions that intersect in Mosul. Iraq’s problem with Turkey can be solved by ending Baghdad’s payments to the anti-Ankara Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as PKK, in Sinjar and demanding the group’s withdrawal, in line with calls from local officials and the provincial council.
More broadly, once the fight is over, there needs to be a political reckoning by Kurds and Arabs about how the Iraqi state can go forward. It’s too late to salvage the post-2003 project; the country has segregated itself into armed enclaves. The Kurdish people suffered a litany of abuses, including genocide, under successive Sunni regimes. More recently, despite a shared history, the Shiite-led government reneged on promises for partnership and revenue sharing. It suspended Kurdistan’s budget and prevents us still from buying weapons. Given that experience, Kurdish loyalty to an Iraqi identity remains nonexistent.
For us, complete separation is the only alternative. Our pursuit of independence is about charting a better course from Iraq’s conceptual failure. The path forward should begin from a simple truth: Iraq has already fallen apart, and the country will be better off realigned on the parties’ own terms.
A central goal for the U.S. should be to empower the Kurdistan Region. We are a stable, longstanding U.S. ally amid a sea of unrest. We’ve proved to be a valuable partner in the war on terrorism and share common values and a commitment to democracy.
The advance on Mosul represents the turn of a chapter that transcends Iraq’s three-year war. It represents a moment of reckoning and an opportunity to consolidate the Kurdistan Region on terms that will de-escalate conflict and safeguard its peoples.
Mr. Ahmad is an assistant to the chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council.
Hindustani78
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According to Sputnik
"But that too didn't help much," the journalist wrote. "According to various sources, between 30 and 47 Abrams have been lost from last autumn to the present in northern Iraq" in the ongoing campaign against Daesh.
Town of Bartella , east of Mosul Iraq 27 December 2017
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201703271051988598-usa-sends-more-troops-iraq-syria/
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Two companies of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division will be deployed to either Iraq or Syria, Fox News said citing an unnamed defense official.
According to the media, the final decision on where exactly the troops will be deployed will be made by commander of the US-led coalition Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend.
The Pentagon is expected to provide more details regarding the deployment later on Monday, the media added.
Earlier in March, US Department of Defense spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis said that the US military can bring in additional troops to Syria for short periods of time without exceeding the existing formal cap of some 500 servicemen on the ground.
"But that too didn't help much," the journalist wrote. "According to various sources, between 30 and 47 Abrams have been lost from last autumn to the present in northern Iraq" in the ongoing campaign against Daesh.
Town of Bartella , east of Mosul Iraq 27 December 2017
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201703271051988598-usa-sends-more-troops-iraq-syria/
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Two companies of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division will be deployed to either Iraq or Syria, Fox News said citing an unnamed defense official.
According to the media, the final decision on where exactly the troops will be deployed will be made by commander of the US-led coalition Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend.
The Pentagon is expected to provide more details regarding the deployment later on Monday, the media added.
Earlier in March, US Department of Defense spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis said that the US military can bring in additional troops to Syria for short periods of time without exceeding the existing formal cap of some 500 servicemen on the ground.
Hindustani78
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MOSUL (Reuters) - Iraqi special forces and police fought Islamic State militants to edge closer to the al-Nuri mosque in western Mosul on Wednesday, tightening their control around the landmark site in the battle to recapture Iraq's second city, military commanders said.
The close-quarters fighting is focused on the Old City surrounding the mosque where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate nearly three years ago across territory controlled by the group in both Iraq and Syria.
An Iraqi air force helicopter fires missiles against ISIS militants during a battle in Mosul, March 17, 2017. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
"Federal police forces have imposed full control over the Qadheeb al-Ban area and the al-Malab sports stadium in the western wing of Old Mosul and are besieging militants around the al-Nuri mosque," federal police chief Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat said in a statement.
Rapid Response elite interior ministry troops were advancing on the edge of the Old City, clambering over garden walls. Islamic State responded with rocket fire, streaking the sky with white smoke plumes.
"There are teams going into the Old City since yesterday," said Rapid Response official Abd al-Amir.
Iraqi troops shot down at least one suspected Islamic State drone. The militants have been using small commercial models to spy and drop munitions on Iraqi military positions.
With the battle entering the densely populated areas of western Mosul, civilian casualties are becoming more of a risk. The United Nations says several hundred civilians have been killed in the last month, and residents say Islamic State militants are using them as human shields.
Iraqi military command has said one line of investigation is whether Islamic State rigged explosives that ultimately caused the blast that destroyed buildings. Iraqi military said there was no indication the building was hit directly by the strike.
The close-quarters fighting is focused on the Old City surrounding the mosque where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate nearly three years ago across territory controlled by the group in both Iraq and Syria.
An Iraqi air force helicopter fires missiles against ISIS militants during a battle in Mosul, March 17, 2017. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
"Federal police forces have imposed full control over the Qadheeb al-Ban area and the al-Malab sports stadium in the western wing of Old Mosul and are besieging militants around the al-Nuri mosque," federal police chief Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat said in a statement.
Rapid Response elite interior ministry troops were advancing on the edge of the Old City, clambering over garden walls. Islamic State responded with rocket fire, streaking the sky with white smoke plumes.
"There are teams going into the Old City since yesterday," said Rapid Response official Abd al-Amir.
Iraqi troops shot down at least one suspected Islamic State drone. The militants have been using small commercial models to spy and drop munitions on Iraqi military positions.
With the battle entering the densely populated areas of western Mosul, civilian casualties are becoming more of a risk. The United Nations says several hundred civilians have been killed in the last month, and residents say Islamic State militants are using them as human shields.
Iraqi military command has said one line of investigation is whether Islamic State rigged explosives that ultimately caused the blast that destroyed buildings. Iraqi military said there was no indication the building was hit directly by the strike.
OldTwilight
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Here we see result of Erdogan and Turks grand political plan ...
Hindustani78
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Federal police fire towards Islamic State positions in the old city during fighting on the western side of Mosul, Iraq.
Hindustani78
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...-commnand-has-been-killed/article17758177.ece
Ayad al-Jumaili, the man believed to be the deputy of Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed, Iraqi State TV said on Saturday, citing Iraq’s military intelligence.
The TV announced Jumaili’s killing in an on-screen news flash, giving no further details.
Ayad al-Jumaili, the man believed to be the deputy of Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed, Iraqi State TV said on Saturday, citing Iraq’s military intelligence.
The TV announced Jumaili’s killing in an on-screen news flash, giving no further details.
Hindustani78
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http://www.arabnews.com/node/1077551/middle-east
BAGHDAD: A government statement says Iraqi fighter jets have carried out airstrikes against the Daesh group outside Mosul, killing more than 100 militants.
Saturday’s statement says the strikes hit three Daesh targets in Baaj, a remote northwestern town near the Syrian border, and killed between 150-200 militants. It said the militants had crossed over from Syria, suggesting that Daesh still enjoys free movement across the borders.
The statement didn’t say when the strikes happened and officials were not available to offer more details. It could not be immediately verified.
Airstrikes by Iraqi Air Force and US-led international coalition have been vital to the months-long operation to retake Mosul from Daesh. In January, Iraqi authorities declared eastern Mosul “fully liberated.” Fighting is underway to recapture the city’s western side.
Hindustani78
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http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/16-civilians-found-dead-in-mosuls-old-city/786091
Sixteen civilian bodies were found in the Old City of Mosul amid a major offensive to oust Daesh militants from the northern Iraqi city, according to a local police officer.
"The bodies had gunshot wounds," Rapid Response Forces officer, lieutenant Karim al-Nuaimi, told Anadolu Agency on Sunday.
He said the civilians were likely killed after attempting to flee Daesh-held areas in western Mosul.
In a related development, Daesh militants shot dead two civilians while trying to flee Bab Laksh area in western Mosul to government-held areas in the city, military officer Khalid Ali said.
In February, Iraqi ground forces -- backed by U.S.-led coalition air power -- began fresh operations aimed at ousting Daesh militants from western Mosul, the terrorist group’s last bastion in northern Iraq.
The offensive is part of a wider campaign launched last October to retake the entire city, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.
TheCamelGuy
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isis releases pics, they shot a man who was given water by the army.
Hindustani78
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Marine Corps General Joe Dunford , Chairman of the Joint Staff meets with the members of the coalition at a forward operating base near Qayyarah west , Iraq April 4 2017
Iraqi forces adjust Mortor launchers
Iraqi forces adjust Mortor launchers
TheCamelGuy
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near syrian border town akashat and its airport got taken from isis
TheCamelGuy
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attack helicopter lost over mosul with both pilots died in crash over the old district. Old district seems to be a tough battlefront, densely populated with narrow streets, most terrorists remain in that part of Mosul.
Hindustani78
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Two Iraqi military pilots were killed Thursday when their helicopter was shot down over eastern Mosul, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said in a statement.
"The [army-affiliated] Joint Operations Command is mourning two of its air force pilots,” the statement read.
It added that the pair had been killed while providing air support to Iraqi federal police units fighting Daesh militants in western Mosul.
The ill-fated helicopter, the statement continued, "took hostile fire before going down in the battlefield”.
Army Major Ahmed Humaid told Anadolu Agency that the stricken aircraft had crashed in eastern Mosul’s Al-Mohandessin district, which Iraqi forces wrested from Daesh in January.
The helicopter had been striking Daesh targets in western Mosul when it was struck by enemy fire, he added, going on to note that Iraqi security forces had since cordoned off the crash site.
"The [army-affiliated] Joint Operations Command is mourning two of its air force pilots,” the statement read.
It added that the pair had been killed while providing air support to Iraqi federal police units fighting Daesh militants in western Mosul.
The ill-fated helicopter, the statement continued, "took hostile fire before going down in the battlefield”.
Army Major Ahmed Humaid told Anadolu Agency that the stricken aircraft had crashed in eastern Mosul’s Al-Mohandessin district, which Iraqi forces wrested from Daesh in January.
The helicopter had been striking Daesh targets in western Mosul when it was struck by enemy fire, he added, going on to note that Iraqi security forces had since cordoned off the crash site.
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