Iraq: Out of the desert into Mosul (closed)

[OUTLAW 09]

There's 'chatter' of a broad #Lattakia offensive by #JN and other factions. Are there any details available?

pic.twitter.com/4xdjbGb0zo

[OUTLAW 09]

#Inkhil, the "city of angels", gets further destroyed with dozens killed in the last 24 hours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rSEYw-_XWY …
pic.twitter.com/JpHgurQAJC

[OUTLAW 09]

I answered your question about supposed lack of manpower by the regime already two posts ago.

It's solved through renewed influx of IRGC-recruited units.

Propaganda by side, but the three IRGC- and two Hezbollah brigades spear-heading the offensive into Aleppo, the two NDF units in Dayr az-Zawr, and four IRGC units running the show in Eastern Ghouta are not staffed by 'Shi'a child soldiers'. Call them 'criminal gangs recruited in Iranian prisons', or whatever else if you like/prefer/must call them that way: that would be closer to truth.

Especially Eastern Ghouta is a complex battlefield in densely built-up urban areas, separated by orchards, walls etc. It's another 'bocage' there and one can monitor deployment of corresponding - and increasingly sophisticated - tactics developed by the IRGC for this purpose since 2013, supported by complex and specialized pieces of machinery; anything but supposed 'child soldiers'.

And BTW: I would say that 25-30 years after the Iran-Iraq War, it's about the time to realize that all the (Iraqi launched) stories about 'human-wave attacks', 'plastic keys to heaven' and similar were of the similar quality like this about 'child soldiers' now.

so there is no manpower shortage?--come on get real and there are no "child soldiers" and there are no human wave attacks due to the lack of fuel for the Assad armor-? and yet you criticize others----

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...33b_story.html

[JWing]

Baathist Naqshibandi which is the 2nd largest insurgent group in Iraq has lost out to the Islamic State in most cities it had large and powerful presence in before the summer offensive. http://www.aymennjawad.org/2014/12/t...uation-in-iraq

[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.