Iraq in Crisis- Merged Superthread

[CougarKing]

Not really surprising that Sunni ex-Iraqi Army officers would join ISIS when the Iraqi government is still predominantly run by the Shia even after Maliki is not the leader anymore.

Reuters

Islamic State can draw on veteran jihadists, ex-Iraq army officers for leadership
Mon Oct 12, 2015 10:00am EDT

By Michael Georgy and Mariam Karouny

CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, one of the world's most wanted men, is counting on veteran jihadis and former Iraqi army officers who form the core of the militant movement to take over if he is killed.

New questions arose over Islamic State's leadership structure and who might succeed Baghdadi after Iraq's military said on Sunday air strikes had hit a convoy carrying him, though Iraqi security officials later denied this.

Baghdadi, who rarely appears in public and delivers few audio speeches, makes the vast majority of decisions, including which of the group's enemies should be killed.

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[CougarKing]

Is it really that strange to find Russian MGs on a US vehicle? Weren't there stranger combinations dating all the way from the Second World War? (e.g. the Soviet-era Su85i tank destroyer, made out of a captured chassis of German Panzer III tanks after Stalingrad)

Defense News

Iraqi Forces Add Russian Guns to US Tanks for ISIL Fight
By Barbara Opall-Rome, Joe Gould and Awad Mustafa3:31 p.m. EDT October 15, 2015
New Alliances Breed Hybrid Hardware, Challenge US End-Use Monitoring Regime

TEL AVIV, Israel — Earlier this month, Shia militiamen in Iraq dropped off an American-supplied Abrams tank at a US-supported repair facility where workers were surprised to find an attached Russian machine gun plus Iranian ammo, Defense News has learned.

The MIA1 main battle tank — one of 146 frontline tanks the US sold to Baghdad — was transported through the Green Zone to a US-supported Iraqi service facility at al-Muthanna that was established as part of the Pentagon’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

The tank was equipped with a Russian .50-caliber machine gun and Iranian-stamped 12.75-mm ammunition, according to a source at the facility.

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[Eye In The Sky]

Not sure how much they care about brand loyalty...

 

[tomahawk6]

Iraqi SF with US SF mounted a hostage rescue mission that freed 70 IS prisoners.Sadly one US SF soldier was killed in the operation.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-special-forces-reportedly-mounted-131628681.html

 

[Eye In The Sky]

RIP

 

[jollyjacktar]

RIP. 

 

[tomahawk6]

A bit of an update.The US SF were none other than Delta operators.Nothing but the best of our best.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-commandos-made-last-minute-212229479.html

 

[tomahawk6]

A video of the raid taken from inside the prison after the defenses had been breached.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNvs0dvtoc0

 

[The Bread Guy]

What could possibly go wrong here?

• "The presence of Turkish troops near the Islamic State-held city of Mosul in northern Iraq is a "violation" of international law, Iraq's president said Saturday ...."
• "Iraq calls Turkish troop presence in the north a ‘hostile act’ and calls on the soldiers to withdraw"
• "The head of Iraq's parliamentary committee on security and defense, Hakim al-Zamili, in an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, said that Baghdad could turn to Moscow for help after Turkey had allegedly breached Iraq’s sovereignty ...."

 

[CougarKing]

"Friendly fire" ?

Canadian Press

Pentagon chief: US strike that killed Iraqi soldiers seems to be 'mistake' involving 2 sides
[The Canadian Press]
Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press
The Canadian Press
December 19, 2015

The American airstrike that may have killed a number of Iraqi soldiers on Friday seems to be "a mistake that involved both sides," U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday. Iraq pledged to punish those responsible.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to the USS Kearsarge in the Persian Gulf, Carter said the incident near the western Iraqi city of Fallujah was "regrettable." He called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to express condolences.

"These kinds of things happen when you're fighting side by side as we are," Carter said. He said the airstrike Friday "has all the indications of being a mistake of the kind that can happen on a dynamic battlefield."

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[CougarKing]

Iraqi forces increasing in effectiveness? Or only a symbolic victory at best?

BBC

Iraq forces in 'full control' of central Ramadi

    28 December 2015


Iraqi officials say the army is now in "full control" of central Ramadi, where so-called Islamic State (IS) has been resisting an army offensive.

A former government compound, where IS fighters had been holding out, has been retaken, Iraqi security sources say.

However there were still "pockets of resistance" in parts of the city, the provincial governor's spokesman said.

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[Eye In The Sky]

Taking ground back is a sign isn't just a symbolic anything IMO.  FIBUA is a long hard fight.

 

[tomahawk6]

As always its the political battle that has yet to be fought if Iraq is to keep its gains.The shia will have to bury the hatchet and accomodate the sunni's or there will never be peace.

 

[CougarKing]

A potential 70-foot high flood coming... 

Reuters

U.S. warns citizens to be ready to leave Iraq if Mosul dam collapses

Reuters
February 29, 2016

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States warned its citizens to be ready to leave Iraq in the event of what it has said could be a catastrophic collapse of the country's largest hydro-electric dam near Mosul.

Iraqi officials have sought to play down the risk but Washington urged its citizens to make contingency plans now.

A U.S. security message cited estimates that Mosul, which is northern Iraq's largest city and under control of Islamic State insurgents, could be inundated by as much as 70 feet (21 meters) of water within hours of the breach.

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[CougarKing]

Mangustas to see action against ISIS soon?

Aviationist

Italy deploys Helicopter Force (including AW-129 Mangusta attack choppers) to Iraq
Mar 03 2016 -
By David Cenciotti
NH-90 and AW-129 helicopters to be deployed to Erbil “very soon.”

The Italian Army is going to deploy a Helicopter Force made of four NH-90 multirole choppers and four AW-129 Mangusta attack helicopters to Iraq, “very soon” the Italian MoD announced on Mar. 2, 2016.

The helicopters, along with 130 military, will be based at Erbil, in the northern part of the country, and their primary mission will be Personnel Recovery and CSAR (Combat SAR) missions. However, they are likely to be there to protect the Italian team working on repairing the Mosul Dam too: on the same day the Italian MoD announced the deployment of the helicopters, the Iraqi government signed an agreement with the Italian Trevi company (worth 273 million Euro) to repair the Mosul damn, located 130 km to the northwest of Erbil.

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[CougarKing]

The Turks keeping tabs on the Iraqi Kurds:

Aviationist

Is a Turkish UAV currently operating inside the Iraqi airspace?
Mar 13 2016

By David Cenciotti
What might be an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is circling over the border between Turkey and Iraq.

Increasingly, military aircraft as well as UAVs can be tracked online thanks to the emissions of their Mode-S ADS-B-capable transponders.

In fact, these aircraft do not broadcast their ADS-B data but their position can be determined by means of Multilateration (MLAT).

MLAT (used by Flightradar24.com) uses Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA): by measuring the difference in time to receive the signal from aircraft from four different receivers, the aircraft can be geolocated and followed even if it does not transmit ADS-B data.

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Meanwhile more British troops are coming to train Iraqis:

Defense News

Britain Sends More Troops To Train Iraqis Fighting ISIS
Agence France-Presse 11:02 a.m. EDT March 13, 2016


LONDON — Britain said Saturday it was sending more troops to Iraq to bolster its mission training up the armed forces taking on the Islamic State jihadist group.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said a further 30 troops would be deployed to provide training in logistics and bridge-building, as well as specialist medical staff.

The move would take the total number of British personnel on training missions inside Iraq to 300.

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[CougarKing]

Another John Walker Lindh?

Associated Press

Iraqi general: Palestinian-American member of IS surrenders
[The Canadian Press]
Balint Szlanko, The Associated Press

March 14, 2016

IRBIL, Iraq - A Palestinian-American member of the Islamic State group gave himself up to Iraqi Kurdish forces in the country's north on Monday, an Iraqi Kurdish general said, a rare instance of a voluntary surrender of a militant fighting with the extremist group in Iraq.

The man had been "lurking near the peshmerga lines" since late Sunday night, according to Maj. Gen. Feisal Helkani of the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces, which are playing key role — along with the Iraqi military — in battling the extremist IS group.

Helkani said his troops first tried to shoot the man, assuming he was a would-be suicide bomber.


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[jollyjacktar]

Another John Walker Lindh?

Associated Press

Marksmanship training needs to be done it seems.  Tsk tsk tsk.

 

[Edward Campbell]

BGen Dave Anderson to command Canadians and coalition team in Iraq: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canadian-to-command-coalition-team-working-with-iraqi-security-before-isil-battle

 

[Journeyman]

BGen Dave Anderson ....

Well, at least he got the first line....then it's all "Hi, I'm Steve..."    ;D