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The defeat in Sirte would damage Daesh

BreakingNews @en di

After six months of heavy fighting, Libyan forces have advanced so deep into the strategic city of Sirte that they can pick out the Tunisian and Egyptian accents of their Daesh enemies as they trade insults over the frontline. Victory is imminent on this remote front of the war against Daesh, with the last few militants staging a last stand in a small area of just one square kilometre (0.4 square mile), US and Libyan officials say. But the battle has been long and hard, and holds lessons for US backed forces trying to force Daesh out of the much larger Iraqi city of Mosul more than 2,500 km (1,500 miles) away. “We faced unbelievable resistance. They won’t leave their posts even when houses are collapsing on them,” said Osama Issa, a 37-year-old businessman fighting with Libyan forces in Ghiza, the last neighbourhood of Sirte that Daesh holds. “They know they will die anyway so they fight well.” Defeat in Sirte will damage Daesh’s ability to show it is expanding globally and deprive it of a foothold outside Iraq and Syria. Losing it and Mosul in quick succession would dent its morale and possibly its ability to recruit followers.

Peshmerga leaders will not enter Mosul, leaving the job to the Iraqi army

The International Rescue Committee said it had spoken to residents inside the besieged city, who had been stockpiling white cloths to wave in surrender when anti-Isis forces eventually enter the city. The IRC also said the old and infirm were struggling to breathe properly in Mosul because of the toxic smoke of oil fires. Peshmerga leaders have said they will not enter Mosul, leaving that role to the Iraqi army, which is anxious to use the campaign as a nation-building moment, two years after it too fled the area.

“They can have Mosul,” said one Peshmerga officer, three miles behind the front. “We don’t want it. All we want is the Kurdish land that Saddam took from us. After that, we can build a real country.”

EU security expert: Europe must prepare for jihadist fleeing Mosul

BreakingNews @en di

Europe must be prepared for an influx of Islamic State militants if Iraqi forces retake control of Mosul, the EU’s security commissioner has warned. Thousands of Europeans have gone to Iraq and Syria over the past two years to fight with Isis, but the Islamist extremists have suffered a string of defeats in recent months in both countries. Those defeats have prompted some of its fighters to begin returning to the continent, but about 2,500 European fighters remain in the conflict zones, King told the German newspaper Die Welt.

Mission to retake Mosul begins. Gen. Townsend: "All troops are Iraqis"

Asia @en di
Following months of preparation, the Allies’ operation to retake Mosul from the grip of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) was finally launched on the very early hours of last monday. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi released an official announcement to government-dependent television station Al Iraqiya immediately after the last troops of the international coalition had been deployed to the outskirts of the second largest city in Iraq.
Whilst the Kurdish Peshmerga forces are stationed to the north and east of Mosul, with the goal of obstructing possible escape routes for IS’ militants, the Iraqi and international ground troops will advance from all sides besides the northern, also helped by local tribal fighters on the western front. The coalition headquarters is just south of the city: it will provide intel on the conflict and very precise indications on which targets the US-led airstrikes should hit inside Mosul.
The commander of the Joint Task Force Operation “Inherent Resolve”, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commented on the prospects of the battle and the role of the international coalition in support to the Iraqi forces, in a statement released by the U.S. Department of Defense. Townsend affirmed that the operation to regain control of Mosul will likely continue for weeks and possibly longer. But it comes after more than two years of ISIL oppression in Mosul, “during which they committed horrible atrocities [and] brutalized the people” after declaring the city to be one of their twin capitals, the general said in the statement. The coalition can’t predict how long it will take for the ISF to retake the city, “but we know they will succeed — just as they did in Beiji, in Ramadi, in Fallujah and, more recently in Qayyarah and Sharqat.” The OIR coalition will provide “air support, artillery, intelligence, advisors and forward air controllers,” Townsend said in the statement, adding that the supporting forces “will continue to use precision to accurately attack the enemy and to minimize any impact on innocent civilians.”
 
Townsend also addressed the very controvertial topic of the nationalities amongst the ground troops: “To be clear, the thousands of ground combat forces who will liberate Mosul are all Iraqis,” Townsend said in the statement”. Meanwhile, the start of the conflict has raised serious humanitarian concerns among many international organisations, such as the UN and UNICEF, and NGOs.
Federico Trastulli

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi spotted inside Mosul

Defence/Far East di

Two huge pieces of news emerged from Iraq midway through last week, as the mission to free the surrounding areas of Mosul began to unfold.

First off, on the 20th of September a source within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Iraq revealed to Iraqi broadcast company Al-Sumaria that IS’ current leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been spotted inside the city of Mosul just a few days earlier.
Al-Baghdadi was reportedly seen in public gatherings and while driving a white car in the streets of Mosul, escorted by four armed men. According to international sources, IS’ most prominent figure reached the Iraqi capital city of the self-proclaimed “caliphate” to try and diminish discontent within the residents of the area, allegedly caused by the imminent offensive for the liberation of Mosul of the government forces and their allies.
Experts are still trying to understand whether the photograph provided to Al-Sumaria network, which portraits al-Baghdadi meeting people in a mosque or at a market, is authentic or not – and if it was actually taken in the recent past. Meanwhile, the government source asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
The latest news on IS chemical weapons are equally worrying. The Pentagon held a press conference on Thursday and stated that laboratory tests and in-depth analysis carried out immediately after IS’ attack on Qayyara military base (which occurred two days earlier) confirmed the use of so-called “mustard gas”. This is a very powerful chemical weapon firstly exploited during World War I, which contains yprite.
Despite IS certainly hit with chemical weapons in the past, the US Department of Defense confirmation of the use of mustard gas is the first one coming from a very reliable and influential source, and it raised concerns among the international community.
Federico Trastulli

Operation Inherent Resolve, all Progress Degrading ISIL in Syria, Iraq

Americas/Asia @en/Defence di

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2016 — Coalition forces, along with partners on the ground in Iraq and Syria, are furthering gains in countering the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman said today.

The coalition is continuing to carry out strikes against the “breadth and depth of [ISIL’s] formations in both Iraq and Syria,” according to Army Col. Christopher Garver, who spoke to Pentagon reporters via teleconference from a military installation in the Middle East.

“The coalition continues to maintain momentum achieved due to the progress made over the last year by the Iraqi security forces and our partner forces in Syria,” he said.

Since June 13, the coalition has conducted 10 strikes against foreign fighter facilities, including meeting, training and weapons storage facilities in both Iraq and Syria, Garver said.

“These strikes against foreign fighter facilitation networks degrade [ISIL’s] ability to reconstitute its combat power with fresh foreign fighters,” he said.

Garver said partnered forces on the ground in Iraq and Syria continue to demonstrate momentum against ISIL.

Progress in Manbij

The Syrian Arab Coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces have made progress in the Syrian city of Manbij in recent days, Garver said. There are gains toward the center of the city and on the eastern and southern flanks of Manbij, he said.

“We’ve also seen several hundred civilians fleeing Manbij make it safely out of the city and through the SAC lines,” he said. “This remains a very tough and deliberate fight, as the SAC clears the city house by house and room by room, while working to avoid civilian casualties.”

The coalition has conducted a total of 602 strikes in support of the Manbij operation, Garver said. The coalition believes more than half the city has been recovered at this time, he added.

Investigation of Civilian Casualties

The coalition has looked into three separate allegations of civilian casualties in reported strikes around Manbij, Garver said.

A strike that occurred July 19 is under formal investigation, as well as a strike that occurred July 28 northwest of Manbij, he said.

The coalition has determined reports of civilian casualties from an alleged strike on July 23 in a village east of Manbij has been deemed not credible enough to warrant further information, Garver said. The coalition did not conduct any strikes in that geographic area, he added.

Push to Isolate Mosul, Other Gains in Iraq

The push for the key city of Mosul continues, Garver said, with a tough fight expected for the city. The first step in the Iraqi plan, he pointed out, is to isolate the city and prevent movements in and out of the area.

ISIL is weakening inside Mosul, the largest ISIL-held city in Iraq, Garver said. The coalition is no longer seeing convoys of foreign fighters coming through Syria and then dividing up between Iraq and Syria, he said.

In northern Mosul, the coalition conducted an Aug. 1 strike against a former Saddam Hussein-era palace, he said. The strike was conducted by coalition aircraft from several contributing nations, according to Garver.

“The destruction of this facility will degrade [ISIL’s] ability to support, house and train foreign fighters as they flow into northern Iraq,” he said.

Elsewhere in Iraq, Iraqi security forces continue operations north of the Euphrates River to clear ISIL pockets in towns and neighborhoods north of the river, Garver said. Units from the 8th and 10th Iraqi army divisions are conducting those clearance operations, with support from the coalition, he said.

In the past 72 hours, the coalition has conducted six strikes along the Euphrates in support of Iraqi Security Forces, Garver said.

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Alessandro Conte
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