Friday, September 5, 2014

September 5th Iraq SITREP by Mindfriedo: Infighting begins...

Short Analysis:
I put this on top because I feel it is very, very important. It talks about the escape of a Shia recruit from Daash in Tikrit during the Spykar base massacre by playing dead. His captors are merciless takfiris, who don't think twice about killing the Shia.
The beginning of his account is depressing and tragic, but what he talks about later is nothing short of amazing and touching. Sunni families give this Shia boy shelter, fear for their lives and guide him to another Sunni Tribe. There they help him hide, feed him, provide him with fake identification, and secure him to the north. They have done this for a number of Shia men, running an Underground Railroad.
These are honourable people, honourable Arabs, honourable Muslims, honourable Sunnis, honourable Iraqis. These are the people who will build Iraq and who are, in my opinion, loved by God:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/a-great-will-to-live-how-one-man-survived-an-islamic-state-massacre-586566?pfrom=home-topstories

4th Sep: Hadi Al Ameri, Minister of Transport in the earlier Iraqi Government and head of the Badr Organization that had mobilised its forces to fight Daash, states that the Peshmergas are not a constitutional entity, and that they need to withdraw from all areas that are disputed between Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. He states that he will work with the Iraqi Army to make sure that Baghdad controls these areas including Kirkuk.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has stated that it will not withdraw from any of its positions nor that it had any plans to do so.
4th Sep: A car bombing in the north of Baghdad, Kadhimiya suburb, kills 9 people and leaves 45 others injured.
A second car bombing hits Baghdad's Sadoun Street killing one and injuring 10
4th Sep: A car bombing in Ramadi targets Iraqi troops, kills one soldier and injured two. It was a suicide car bombing targeting an Iraqi army armoured personnel carrier.
4th Sep: A car bomb in Kirkuk goes off outside a shop selling alcohol; casualties unknown.
4th Sep: Syrian national and assistant to Baghdadi, Abu Hajer, is killed in a government air strike in Mosul.
4th Sep: Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO States that it will consider any request for assistance made by Iraq.
4th Sep: Interpol picks up a wanted individual in Erbil Iraqi Kurdistan. The individual is wanted for drug trafficking.
4th Sep: The Iraqi Ministry of Justice announces plans to extend amnesty to prisoners that had escaped Badush prison in Mosul. The prison had been stormed by Daash. Many prisoners are reported to be turning themselves in.
4th Sep: Ashti Hawrami, Minster of Natural Resources in Iraqi Kurdistan, States that the damaged caused to Baiji refinery by Daash fighters will take over a year to fix.
4th Sep: Iraq and BP sign a fresh deal over the Rumaila Gas Fields. The production of the giant fields is expected to fall to 2.1 million bpd from the current 2.85 bpd.
4th Sep: Profiting from Misery: Turkey announces that it has received more than 10 million barrels of crude oil from Kurdistan.
4th Sep: Ibrahim Al Jaafari, President of the National Alliance, is tipped to become the next Vice President of Iraq.
5th Sep: Al Manar is reporting an attempted deal where Israel tried to pay a 10 million USD ransom for Steven Sotloff:
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=169321&cid=41&fromval=1&frid=41&seccatid=101&s1=0
5th Sep: Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's Outgoing Foreign Minister, clarifies that there are no Iranian troops in Iraq.
5th Sep: Daash executes three women in Mosul
5th Sep: A car bomb outside Speicher Base targeting a military convoy kills 3 soldiers and injures 9 others
5th Sep: The Iraqi Army is preparing a major push for Northern Mosul
5th Sep: A mortar attack on Northern Baghdad leaves 2 dead and 5 injured
5th Sep: A loosing Daash, loosing its appeal: Indian authorities return 4 engineering students/dropouts who planned to travel to Iraq and fight for Daash to their families. The students claim they were influenced by propaganda online.

Related:
5th Sep: Al Nusra Front releases a video showing captured Lebanese soldiers being made to denounce Hizballah:
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/nusra-releases-video-lebanese-abductees-denouncing-hezbollah
5th Sep: Who won in Syria? Bashar Al Assad. The West only talks to/respects winners:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/syria-us-islamic-state-cooperation-terror-assad-italy.html

Further Reading:
Interesting:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2014/09/turkey-usa-iraq-syria-isis-fuller.html