Article on what will become of the Hashd after the war with IS. Many of the pro-Iran factions want to go into politics, be like Hezbollah or Iranian Revolutionary Guard, no surprise as those are their patrons. Here's a link.
Printable View
Article on what will become of the Hashd after the war with IS. Many of the pro-Iran factions want to go into politics, be like Hezbollah or Iranian Revolutionary Guard, no surprise as those are their patrons. Here's a link.
What the article failed to bring up is the fact that the Kurds are not moving from their dug in positions. They have taken most of the disputed areas in northern Iraq and have no real interest to do anything else.
In response to the question, what the Kurds are thinking of is future fights with the Hashd over some of those disputed areas like the Khanaqin district in Diyala and Tuz Kharmatu in Salahaddin after the war with IS is over.
New security report for 2nd week of April is out. Violence remained high in Iraq. Iraqi forces continued march through Anbar. New ops in Kirkuk and Ninewa. IS appears to be doing a mini-spring offensive, although not as big as previous years. Here's a link.
Weekly security report for Apr 15-21 2016 in Iraq out. Attacks went down after 2 months of increases. Iraqi forces still churning through Anbar. IS counter attacking in Kirkuk & Ninewa. IS has reinfiltrated into Tikrit & Baiji in Salahaddin after they were freed. Feared spring offensive by IS may not have materialized. Read all the details here.
Ramadi was freed in Feb 2016. Same month political and religious leaders in Anbar started encouraging displaced to return even though it had not been cleared of IEDs. After over 100 casualties the Iraqi forces stopped people going back and now leaders are blaming each other over what happened. Read the full story here.
3 years ago this month the Iraqi insurgency re-emerged after its nadir following the US Surge. The Baathist Naqshibandi ran the Hawija protest site in southern Kirkuk & hoped to provoke a confrontation with the Maliki govt that could be used to turn people to armed struggle. Maliki obliged when he sent the ISF to break up the camp. Afterward all the old militant groups picked up attacks and violence never went down and culminated in fall of Mosul and Tikrit a little over a year later in 2014. Here's a link.
Weekly security report for Iraqi just published. Surge in attacks 4th week of April plus renewed terrorist attacks point to a possible spring offensive by IS. Read the full report here.
Iraq complained about Syria supporting the insurgency and the Baath party all the way up to 2012 when Syria's own war had gotten underway. Here's a link to the article.
Assafir, quoting Khaled al-Quaysi, says IS's advances north of Mosul aren't part of its distraction tactics but a shift to offensive tactics.
Assafir focuses on the developments north of Mosul; Reuters focuses on the ones south of Mosul. Naturally different conclusions.
Different, interesting takes on the situation near Mosul:
Assafir
http://assafir.com/Article/1/491423 …
Dia al-Asadi of al-Ahrar bloc: Muqtada Sadr won't face pressure in Iran even if he stays there for 'half a century'.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/mobile/news/
How might the Sadrist movement be a positive force in the Iraqi political scene? Read @renadmansour & @mdc48cam:
In dysfunctional Iraq, calls for change gather pace
Hassan Hassan
May 1, 2016 Updated: May 1, 2016 05:00 PM
http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/co...ther-pace#full
Review of violence in Iraq in April 2016. Attacks have been creeping up in 2016 compared to end of 2015. In part due to counterattacks to govt offensives in Anbar Ninewa & Kirkuk. Also due to new attacks by IS in Baghdad Diyala and south. Here's a link.
IS in midst of Spring bombing campaign. 2 car bombs in Muthanna first of May yesterday's bombing in Baghdad highlight group's networks and ability to deliver bombs throughout country. Here's a link to article.
Iraq is in the middle of the annual spring offensive by the Islamic State as seen by the number and types of attacks. Read the full report here.
Islamic State's annual spring offensive in Iraq continuing with more mass casualty bombings. Read the full weekly security report here.
Baghdad is facing a new IS bombing campaign. Is in part inspired by group's loss of territory in Iraq so reverting to more insurgent and terrorist tactics. Is also annual spring offensive that has gone on since 2004. Read more details here.
Long awaited Fallujah op started. Mix of special forces army federal police Anbar tribal fighters and Hashd. US supporting offensive if Hashd stay on perimeter. Only matter of time until city falls. Question is what will happen afterward. For more here's an article link.
Islamic State's annual spring offensive continued into 3rd week of May. Although attacks down casualties remained high due to some large bombings. Read the article here.
Little historical article I wrote about the first battle of Fallujah which took place in 1941 during WW2 between a pro-Axis Iraqi govt and the British. Here's a link.
Joel,
A good reminder of how history can appear to repeat itself. The British inter-war experience in Iraq was far from pleasant; one unit was massacred, a Manchester Regiment battalion IIRC earlier than this battle.
One feature needs to be pointed out. Your refer to the 'levies', as the loyalty of local forces is now a "hot" topic, as is inter-communal strife.
In the inter-war period when the British used air control in Iraq, their bases needed to be defended and a locally recruited force, the iraq Levies, was formed:Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_LeviesQuote:
After Iraq became a British Mandate, the force became a minority manned force of mostly, Iraqi Turkmen, Kurds and Assyrians who lived in the north of the country while the nascent Iraqi Army was manned by Arabs. Eventually it became mostly Assyrian manned and British officered force while it was used mostly for the guarding of the RAF bases in Iraq....The Assyrians were prized for their discipline, loyalty, bravery and fighting skills by the British.
Thanks for the link on the levies.