Iraq: Out of the desert into Mosul (closed)

[JWing]

Just wrote article on the 5th reported loss for Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force member in Iraq. Was shot by an IS sniper in Balad, Salahaddin although Iran is claiming it was in Samarra defending the Askari shrine there because that's part of Tehran's propaganda line. Read more here.

[OUTLAW 09]

Just wrote article on the 5th reported loss for Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force member in Iraq. Was shot by an IS sniper in Balad, Salahaddin although Iran is claiming it was in Samarra defending the Askari shrine there because that's part of Tehran's propaganda line. Read more here.

New #ISIS release shows them using #TOW ATGMs in #Syria, source yet unknown http://justpaste.it/al-qariatin
pic.twitter.com/WnymlGLYCQ

ISIS claim killing of IRGC Brig. Gen. Hamid Taghavi in Iraq
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Mid...r-in-iraq.ashx …

Killed in Samarra, site of Askari shrine.

[JWing]

Just wrote a new piece on the history of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, League of the Righteous. Began as a breakaway Sadr faction and has now considered a nationalist group that is defending Iraq from the insurgents today. Read about the transformation here.

[JWing]

Just published my new security report for the 4th week of December in Iraq. Attacks and casualties were up due to intense fighting in Anbar and a mass grave being discovered in Diyala. ISF, militias and tribes also freed Dhuluiya and other sections of Balad district in Salahaddin province. Read more here.

[JWing]

I've been trying to cover some of the militias that are now operating in Iraq. Today came out with an article about the Khorasani Brigade. It's one of the newer militias that went from fighting in Syria to Iraq. Is now carrying out sectarian cleansing of Sunnis in Salahaddin and Diyala while arguing with Kurds over the disputed territories. Shows how militias might help to defeat the militias but could lead to longer term problems for Iraq. Read more here.

[davidbfpo]

This thread has run since June 2014, when Mosul fell to ISIS & others. It has 56k views and 1,132 posts. It is appropriate as 2015 has arrived that it be closed and a new thread started.

The new thread, is called 'Iraq 2015: nowt is simple in this conflict' and due to the overlap with the Syrian civil war should be read alongside the 2015 Syrian thread.