Sunday, July 20, 2014

July 20th Iraq SITREP by Mindfriedo: Exodus

20th July: The Iraqi Security Forces have opened up another from against Daash and are now making a push westwards towards Fallujah. The army claims that “98% of Ramadi is now clear of terrorists.”
20th July: Maliki calls on the world to unite against Daash after the exodus of Christians in Mosul. He claims that the “true face” of the rebels is apparent and that there are genuine rebels, just fanatics. He has called the exodus of Christians a destruction of Iraq’s century’s history.
20th July: Maysan province in the south and east of Iraq (Shia territory) has expressed its willingness to accommodate the displaced Christians of Mosul
20th July: Iraqi President Jalal Talibani is back in Iraq
20th July: Daash launched a mortar attack on the civilian neighborhood of Al-Askari in South Kirkuk, wounding 9 women and children
20th July: Micro Civil war: An open war is starting between Daash and the Naqshabandi army in Saadia district of Diyala province. Daash had earlier targeted a meeting of Naqshabandi fighters using an IED killing three and wounding four. A former Ba’athist general, Jamal Ghanawi, was killed in the bombing. The Naqshabandi army is reportedly forming assassination/death squads to target the local Daash leadership.
A Saudi commander of Daash in Saadia, Diyala, Abu Faris Al-Aoaini, is killed in a road side bomb attack
20th July: Massoud Barzani tells Al Jazeera that the Kurds have no choice but to declare independence. The future of Iraq is too uncertain. “And his life is probably too short.”
20th July: Daash fighters steal wheat from Tikrit (500 tons) and drive it to Syria. They have also kidnapped a police officer.
20th July: Erbil police has denied that any car bombs had entered the city. Rumours had spread earlier when Facebook users had listed the make and license numbers of cars that were going to be used.
20th July: Maliki (current Prime Minister) has held a meeting with Ibrahim al-Jaafari (former Prime Minister) regarding the choosing of the future Prime Minister and government formation.
20th July: Arshad Salhi, head of the Turkoman Front, has told Kurdish news sources that his community is the most affected by the upheaval in Iraq and has blamed this on a conspiracy by unnamed politicians. He has also requested the President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, to accommodate displaced members of the Turkoman Community.
20th July: Containing Blowback: Saudi Arabia is planning to counter through its Ministry of Islamic Guidance the message being preached by Daash. Friday sermons and Imams of Mosques will be required to point to the youth the error of Daash’s thinking and ways.
20th July: Khodair al- Khuzai, the Vice President of Iraqi Kurdistan, has met with Maliki to discuss security and political developments in Iraq.
20th July: The Price of Faith: US$450 is what it costs to remain a Christian in Daash administered Mosul city. The other options are conversion or exile. Meanwhile the UN has pledged to help Christians displaced by Daash.
20th July: Daash has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s bombings in Baghdad
20th July: Iran has stopped sending fuel trucks into Iraq unless and until the Iraqi Government can guarantee the safety of Iranian citizens in Iraq. As of now Iraq cannot guarantee the safety of its own citizens.
20th July: Tribal forces allied to the government in al-Dhuluiya, Diyala nab three foreign fighters/terrorists
20th July: The offices of the Sharqiya Satellite Channel in Mosul have been seized by Daash
20th July: Atta’s/Government claims for the day:
25 Daash/rebel fighters are killed in Mosul in government airstrikes
11 Daash fighters are killed in Baqouba

Related:
20th July: China and India are the largest buyers of Iranian Crude Oil. Together they buy 65% of Iranian exports
20th July: The main Shia block in Bahrain is expected to be suspended for three months
20th July: The BBC improves its headlines “Gaza suffers deadliest single day.”

Short Analysis, Iraqi Militias are now Iranian policy in Iraq:
The deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, Amir-Abdollahian, stated that “Iraq’s armed and popular forces will defend every inch of the Iraqi territory with full fervor and based on religious duty.”
The experience of fighting Islamic Jihadists through popular militias and National Guard units in Syria is going to be applied to Iraq.
On the 29th of June, Iran’s IRGC General Massoud Jazayeri told Iranian television “it is ready to provide them with our successful experiments in popular all-around defense, the same winning strategy used in Syria to put the terrorists on the defensive... This same strategy is now taking shape in Iraq – mobilizing masses of all ethnic groups. ” (http://www.jamestown.org/regions/middleeast/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=42602&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=675&cHash=b95d0771324a61c8f574b7d61f965aa0#.U8v5O-OSwhs)
Hopefully, the Christians of Iraq can also be used as a proxy force by Tehran to fight Daash and its allied rebels in Iraq. The Christians can defend their town and villages with the government’s support. And any crazy policies of Daash can be shot down with $4.50 bullets, instead of 450 green backs. Something similar has already happened in Syria, with Syrian Christians fighting Islamists alongside the Syrian government.

Short Analysis two:
If anyone suspects of how smart the Iranians are, please read this article:
http://defense-update.com/analysis/lebanon_war_1.htm
This excerpt is of particular interest:
American and Israeli electronic warfare experts, who visited the combat zone, have concluded that Iran had probably decided to use the Lebanon conflict as the testing ground for its military, intelligence and electronic capabilities in preparation for a future clash with the United States and Israel in a potential anti-nuclear conflict.
We all know that the United States and Israel test better and more effective military equipment in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, and other conflict zones. But here the Iranians are doing the same. This may seem fascinating to you and me, but must be scary for these other two.

Further Reading:
Daash is finding appeal in East Asia
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/07/islamic-state-support-spreads-into-asia-201471392121686815.html