The US said it killed IS's No. 2 man Haji Mutazz in a drone strike outside of Mosul. This is the 3rd time Mutazz has said to have been killed by the Americans however. Read the full story here.
I just collected together 10 different experts and got their opinions on how they believe the war against the Islamic State is going. That includes Ahmed Ali of the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani, J.M. Berger of the Brookings Institution, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Dr. Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Aron Lund of Syria in Crisis, Alex Mello of Horizon Client Access, Douglas Ollivant of the New America Foundation, Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi of the Middle East Forum, Craig Whiteside of the Naval War College, and Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Here's a link to the article.
The US said it killed IS's No. 2 man Haji Mutazz in a drone strike outside of Mosul. This is the 3rd time Mutazz has said to have been killed by the Americans however. Read the full story here.
Published new security report for 3rd wk Aug 2015 in Iraq. IS car bomb campaign continues into 2nd month. During 3rd wk IS launched a whopping 153 VBIEDs! Read the whole report here.
Just published new security report for 4th week of August in Iraq. Massive car bomb campaign continues. Govt offensive in Anbar gets disjointed as forces head west increasing manpower shortages. Pesh move into southern Kirkuk province. Continued back and forth fighting for Baiji in Salahaddin which IS has used as a diversionary target successfully drawing Baghdad's attention away from Anbar. Read the full report here.
Some might be interested in this new article I just published. It's an interview with an Iraqi who worked for the security services under Saddam as a torturer. Explains how the country was victimized by Baath rule. Here's a link.
New U.N. committee found torture and secret prisons still alive and well under Abadi administration. Specifically mentioned secret facility at Muthanna Airbase in Baghdad, which was discovered in 2010. Maliki said he would close it, but it apparently never was. Read the full article here.
Monthly review of violence in Iraq is up now. Stats and charts on Iraq in August 2015. Here's a link.
New security report for Iraq just published. Violence has remained largely unchanged for last month. Attacks casualties and battles in Anbar and Salahaddin all pretty much the same. Here's a link.
Cold War Weaponry and Modern Military Hardware: Inside the ISIS Arsenal
Cold War Weaponry and Modern Military Hardware: Inside the ISIS Arsenal
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Just did an analysis of IS car bomb campaign in Baghdad. Apparent that IS not only has car bomb bases in rural areas of Baghdad province but networks that extend into northern Babil, Diyala and southern Salahaddin. Read the full report here.
Just published my weekly security report for 2nd week of Sep in Iraq. Number of attacks and casualties have remained relatively stable for last month. Read the report here.
Did a summary of the new Human Rights Watch report that detailed Hashd and Sunni volunteers destroying homes in the Tikrit area after it was cleared in March 2015. Desire for revenge for IS's Camp Speicher massacre that occurred in Tikrit after city was taken in June 2014 and belief that locals were IS sympathizers led to destruction. Read the article here.
Just did analysis of Islamic State car bombs in Anbar. Points to several car bomb factories in center and western Anbar plus use of bases in Salahaddin & Babil to hit province which has seen 2nd most car bombs since new campaign started in July. Read the details here.
New weekly security report for 3rd week of Sep in Iraq just published. Anbar and Salahaddin offensives continued to show mixed results. In Anbar joint forces stuck clearing some towns over and over. Propaganda in Baiji so thick can't tell whether any progress being made there. Otherwise violence relatively stable in Iraq for last 5 weeks. Read report here.
Iraq Agrees to Share Intelligence on ISIS With Russia, Syria and Iran
Iraq Agrees to Share Intelligence on ISIS With Russia, Syria and Iran
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Generation ISIS: The Western Millennials Stocking the Terror Army
Generation ISIS: The Western Millennials Stocking the Terror Army
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Just did analysis of recent car bomb campaign in Salahaddin which has seen most VBIEDs since June. 44% of all car bombs in Iraq have gone off in that province. Locations of attacks also show likely VBIED bases. Here's a link.
Kurds have started a new offensive into southern Kirkuk province into Daquq district. Captured almost 3 dozen villages but have destroyed homes, looted, and not allowed locals return at the same time. Use usual claims that areas are not safe with explosives, and that they area afraid of IS infiltrators. Kurds are also only concerned with conquering the disputed areas which they want to annex and reversing the Arabization policy of Saddam by changing the demographics in their favor. Read more here.
Just published my weekly security report for Iraq. 4th wk of Sep had lowest casualty figures of any week in Iraq in 2015. Eid holiday meant increased security but many Iraqi papers went on vacation so drop probably due to under reporting than real improvement. Anbar op is treading water. Turkey bombed and killed more PKK fighters in Kurdistan. Kurds moved into southern Kirkuk province where they are forcibly displacing local Sunni Arabs. Fight for Baiji continues and IS car bombs picked up again as new campaign goes into third month. Read all the details here and check out the charts as well.
In Sep a Shiite armed group calling itself the Death Squads kidnapped 18 Turkish workers in Baghdad. They're demands were all foreign such as ending foreign fighters going through Turkey, ending Kurdish oil exports via Turkey, and ending the siege of two Shiite towns in Syria by rebels. The workers were eventually freed and the papers said it was because their demands were met. At the same time the Idlib U.N. backed ceasefire was announced which ended the siege of the two Shiite towns the Death Squads mentioned. Coincidence or was the kidnapping meant to get Turkey's final ok on the peace deal? Read more here.
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