The Iraqi Migration and Displacement Ministry said Sunday that the number of refugees escaping battles between government troops and Islamic State militants in western Mosul has soared to more than 57000 since operations started last month to clear western Mosul from militants.“The ministry is prepared to receive 100.000 refugees from the western side of Mosul at its camps”, al-Jaff stated.
The state-run Anadolu Agency has reported that in anti-ISIL operations were caught 957 militants. In an operation in the province of Bursa were caught 13 militants linked with the attack on a nightclub in the 1st of January. in Gaziantep were detained four suspects who were planning deadly attacks. Turkish jets have continued to bomb ISIL targets, neutralizing many militants.
The number of civilians who have fled western Mosul since the start of security operations to retake the region from the Islamic State has soared further to 26000, the Iraqi government said. The Ministry of Migration and Displacement said Wednesday that the number is of those who fled the western section of Mosul since operations launched in February 19th. The United Nations and Iraqi refugee bodies have warned that battles in western Mosul could displace at least 250.000 out of 750.000 estimated to be trapped under IS control in western Mosul.
Following the unprecedented exodus of Coptic citizens from the North Sinai city of Al-Arish due to militants’ threats, the army official spokesperson said in a Facebook statement that forces managed on Monday to kill six militants and arrest 18 suspects in North Sinai in a sweeping operation. According to the statement, the operation targeted terrorists’ stationing points, which led to the discovery of two explosives-storages. “As a continuation to the armed efforts in eliminating terrorists’ stationing points, army forces located in North Sinai managed to kill six militants, arrest 18 suspects, discover two explosives’ storages, and destroy eight improvised explosive devices [IEDs]”, the statement read. Despite these efforts, the wave of violence and militant activity are on the rise. On Sunday, militants, who threatened to punish those who are not accompanied by a male relative, stopped a bus of female teachers in Rafah. The militants told the female teachers that not wearing a veil while going to their workplace and without the accompaniment of a male relative is considered a kind of apostasy. Meanwhile, other anonymous militants—believed to be members of Sinai Province—brought a civilian—suspected to be an informant for the army—to the village of El Hosynat, west of Rafah, and brutally killed him. Since February, seven Copts have been killed in Al-Arish, five of which have been shot and two have been burnt to death. In the latest incident, the corpses of two Coptic citizens have been found thrown behind a state-run language school. Last week, under the name of the “Islamic State in Egypt” and with the headline of “Fight All Infidels”, the IS-affiliated group released a new video, issuing fierce threats against the Coptic citizens of Egypt, accusing them of insulting Islam, and threatening to carry out more attacks against them.
Under the name of Islamic State in Egypt and with the headline of “Fight All Infidels”, the so-called Islamic State (IS) group released a new video, issuing fierce threats against the Coptic citizens of Egypt and accusing them of insulting Islam, threatening to carry out more attacks against them.The perpetrator, who appeared under the name of Abo Abdullah Al Masry urged IS affiliated militants in different parts of the world to liberate the detained Muslims in Egypt and said that they [IS] would reach Cairo soon. In response to the IS video, the Observatory for Extremist and Takfiri Thoughts, affiliated with the Dar Al-Ifta, issued a statement on Monday that carried commentary and analysis of the content of the IS video. The Observatory’s role is to monitor extremist views and provide a counter-narrative. The Observatory noted that the released video is aiming to create sectarian strife between Egyptian Muslims and Coptic citizens by distorting the meaning of Qur’anic verses and by portraying the relationship between Muslims and Copts as based on conflict and bloodshed. “The most prominent observation of the IS-released video is the absence of the name ‘Sinai Province’ and that it instead uses Islamic State in Egypt; this step only aims to give the impression that ‘Sinai Province’ group’s operations exceed Sinai Peninsula and they had reached Cairo, especially following the Cairo Church attack that is considered a turning point in the IS terrorist work in Egypt”, the report read. “The IS group aims to put Egyptian Muslim citizens in opposition to the Egyptian state by alleging that the government is only protecting Coptic citizens and securing their churches while it allegedly demolishes mosques, burns the Qur’an, and kills Muslims”, the Observatory’s statement continued.
An Islamic State group official was shot dead on Wednesday in the restive Bekaa border town of Arsal. Three gunmen riding a motorcycle shot dead Syrian national Ahed al-Jawwash, aka Abu Adham al-Hamawi, one of IS’ security officials in Arsal. The agency said his body was found in Arsal’s al-Sabil Square before being transferred to the town’s al-Rahma hospital. IS militants and others from the rival jihadist group Fateh al-Sham Front, previously known as al-Nusra Front, are entrenched in Arsal’s outskirts and in mountainous areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border. The Lebanese army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian forces have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border.
Turkey-backed rebels have largely taken control of Syria’s al-Bab from Islamic State militants, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday, but a war monitoring group said the jihadists still controlled most of the town. “Al-Bab has been largely taken under control. Our aim is to prevent the opening of corridors from territories controlled by terrorist organizations to Turkey,” Yildirim said in a speech to lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament. However, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants remained in control of the northern Syrian town.
Sixty-four civilians were killed and eight were injured in 24 U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria over the past year, the U.S. military said Wednesday, based on newly completed investigations. The cases announced on Wednesday include strikes from last November through September. And they range from one or two civilians killed to a March strike near Mosul, Iraq, that killed 10 civilians. The latest report, however, doesn’t include two air attacks in Syria in recent months that may have each killed dozens.