Sunday, August 3, 2014

August 2nd Iraq SITREP by Mindfriedo

1st Aug: UN figures for fatalities in Iraq in July: 1,737 Iraqis killed, 1,978 injured
1st Aug: The Iraqi Air force attacks gatherings of Daash/rebel fighters in Jurf Al Sakhar, North West of Musayib in Babil province south of Baghdad. The attacks result in 200 militants being killed.
1st Aug: Daash rebel attack Peshmerga positions to the north of Mosul. The attack was on an oil terminal and dam. The check post of Zumar was also attacked. Fourteen Peshmergas were reported killed in the fighting.
1st Aug: Daash launches an assault on the town of Jurf al-Sakhr, south of Baghdad. The attack started with a mortar barrage and led to the deaths of 11 Iraqi Soldiers and 12 fighters belonging to the Asaib Ahl al Haq. Another 7 soldiers were injured when the Iraqi army counter attacked.
1st Aug: A fire broke out on an oil pipeline in Bajwan village in Kirkuk. The fire was brought quickly under control.
2nd Aug: Daash/rebels have appropriated salaries that were paid to government staff in Nineveh province by the Federal Government. Displaced employees of the government are now requesting that their salaries be paid to them in their new locations where they can be/were engaged in providing other services. The government had earlier decided to hold salaries in areas where it has lost ground till after the end of the conflict.
2nd Aug: Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the former speaker of Iraq warns of the consequences of delays in forming a national unity government. He has asked all political blocks to work together.
2nd Aug: Peshmerga forces amass and launch a multi pronged attack on Daash held territory west and north west of Mosul: Zammar and Rabia. Peshmerga forces used heavy weaponry, tanks and mortar launchers. Over 90 Daash/rebel fighters are believed dead and another 45 captured.
Peshmerga forces are reporting that the Daash captives were under the influence of drugs.
2nd Aug: The Iraqi army launches an artillery strike near Haditha in Anbar. The strike was based on intelligence inputs and resulted in the death of Omar Adel al-Ani, Ali Tariq Dallah Ali, and Omar Abdul Razak al-Rawi. The army reported the deaths of Mahdi Ahmed al-Rawi, Khaled Hassan al-Rawi, Yassin Najeh al-Rawi, Amin Hilal al-Rawi, and Muhammad Muslim al-Rawi in Anbar as well. All eight men are being described as the “most dangerous” men.
2nd Aug: Daash has doubled its personnel manning checkpoints in Mosul. This has been in response to increasing attacks on Daash members in Mosul. Eight to 25 Daash militants are believed to have been killed in recent weeks. The attacks seem to have intensified after the destruction of Shrines in Mosul.
2nd Aug: Daash carries out an assault on Hamrin, 50 km north of Baqouba in Diyala, and beheads 17 volunteer militia fighters. The executed men belonged to the Chosen Brigade.
2nd Aug: The Zarkosh clan in the north of Baqouba, Diyala has formed militias to fight against Daash/rebel fighters. The clan has assisted the security forces in attacking Daash in Hamrin and Imam Wees, killed 30 Daash fighters and cleared the roads leading up to these areas. The Zarkosh clan is Kurdish.
2nd Aug: Daash and allied rebels launch another offensive on Jalawala but are forced to withdraw by its Peshmerga defenders. Daash fighters withdrew to al-Wehda and al-Tajneed suburbs in the south of the city that they now control.
2nd Aug: Three gifts from Daash to the women of Mosul:
Niqaab: Hijab of any other kind, other than the one that covers even the face and consists of unshapely apparel, has been banned by Daash. Women are being forced to wear the all encumbering veil. During the Eid holiday, women accompanying their families not following the diktat of Daash were prevented to enter amusement parks and forests on the outskirts of Mosul. Makeup is also banned and women are being asked to wash their faces before entering Public Buildings.
Female Circumcision: Daash is denying rumors that they had made it mandatory for women to undergo circumcision. The women of Mosul have never been known to follow this practice.
List of Eligible Widows: Cases of forced marriages have been reported where Daash fighters have forcibly married girls that were denied to them earlier. Daash has used mosques in Mosul to compile a list of women whose husbands have died in the recent fighting. These lists are to help Daash fighters take additional wives. Welcome to Saudi Ar…
2nd Aug: The Kurdish Change Bloc headed by the Hoshyar Abdullah is calling on Fuad Masum, President of Iraq, to use his powers in more than just a nominal role. Abdullah claims that the powers of the President are executive and not ceremonial.
2nd Aug: Iran has denied claims that 200 of its elite “Advisors” have entered Iraqi Kurdistan. Regional press was reporting that the fighters/advisors entered the region under an agreement with Jalal Talibani, former President and head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
2nd Aug: Jordan has decided to suspend its flights to Iraq till the improvement of the security situation and till after it has consulted with its ally the United States.
2nd Aug: A car bomb explodes in the south of Tikrit and injures 14 civilians
2nd Aug: Daash has been burying its dead in Rbidha village, Eastern Tikrit. Locals witnessed Daash driving the corpses to the location.
2nd Aug: Government claims for the day:
13 Daash fighters killed in north eastern Baqouba. The militants that included foreign fighters were killed in Jibal Sidoor area of Muqdadiya
The Iraqi Air Force attacks 8 vehicles belonging to Daash/rebel fighters in Himreen, Diyala and kills 15 of them
The Iraqi Air Force strikes Daash/rebels in Anbar, destroys four pieces of heavy equipment, destroyed 7 vehicles and kills 60. The air strikes took place in Haditha district.

Related News:
30th July to 2nd Aug: The DI of Daash is facing an uprising of its own. The Shaitat tribe in Eastern Syria has attacked and dislodged Daash fighters from Abu Hamam, Kashkiyeh and Ghranij villages in Deir Ezzor Eastern Syria. Clashes are continuing on the outskirts of al-Bukamal, al-Tayyana and al-Mayadeen towns in Deir Ezzor province. The set back has dislodged Daash from Syria’s Oil Rich regions.
The clashes started when Daash fighters detained seven members of the Shaitat tribe and claimed they were being held for being traitors. The Shaitat tribe had an agreement with Daash that its members were not to be harmed in exchange for neutrality.
1st-2nd Aug: Syrian Soldiers along with Hezbollah fighters kill over 50 Jihadists in the Qalamoun region of Syria.
2nd Aug: Two Lebanese Army soldiers are killed when trying to prevent Jihadists from entering Lebanon in the Lebanese city of Ersal.
Armed fighters were earlier preparing to confront reinforced army troops who had earlier arrested a Nusra Front Commander. Abu Ahmad Jomaa was the commander detained.
2nd Aug: Iran plans to build the largest gas complex in Bushehr, Iran
2nd Aug: Syrian news agency, SANA, is reporting gains against rebels
http://www.sana.sy/en/?p=8726

Further Reading:
Links that provide excellent information on Walid Jumblatt and the Druze in Syria, Lebanon and Israel and their conflicting loyalties:
http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/15162
http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/5157
http://www.globalresearch.ca/hezbollah-fighting-in-syria-to-defend-lebanon-from-bloodbath/5340688
Questions being raised about the true nature of Daash:
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/why-isn%E2%80%99t-islamic-state-fighting-israel