August
20th Iraq SITREP by Mindfriedo: Resilient Daash
Quote
of the Day, German Development Minister Gerd Muller: Who is
financing these forces? I think it is Qatar
Thought
of the day: Murder will out
19th
Aug: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights states that Daash has
more than 50000 fighters in Syria and another 30000 in Iraq. It has
recruited 6000 fighters in the last month alone and of these 1000 are
foreign fighters.
Daash's
strength in Syria is expected to grow as more and more fighters from
rival rebel groups join its ranks and it's supporters abroad make it
to the shores of its crazy Caliphate.
20th
Aug: Iraqi Shia Marja from Kadhmain, Hussein Ismail al-Sadr replies
to queries by Shia believers that the protection of the lives,
property and well being of the Yazidis is a humanitarian and
religious obligation irrespective of the fact that they are not
people of the book. He stated that the doors of Kadhmiya are open to
those displaced and calls the persecution by Daash as unIslamic.
20th
Aug: The Iraqi army is drawing up plans to dislodge Daash fighters
from their siege of Amerli in Salah Al Din province. The plan
involves opening up of a road link to Amerli by bombing Daash
positions with airstrikes. Daash has laid siege for Amerli after it
was unable to invade and occupy the area.
20th
Aug: Peshmerga advances towards Rabia, 95 km north west of Mosul, has
led to an exodus of Sunni Arab families that are heading towards the
Syrian border. A similar exodus took place when the Peshmergas
approached Wana, 25 km north west of Mosul. The Sunni Arab refugees
are heading toward the west or Daash held territory as opposed to
towards Kurdistan in anticipation of heavy fighting that is expected.
20th
Aug: Outgoing Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki instructs The officials
responsible to make sure that displaced people from Amerli are
supplied with food rations, refugee accommodation, medical supplies
and other compensation. Those that need medical treatment abroad can
have their travel facilitated.
20th
Aug: Ibrahim Mohammed, a leader within the Democratic Party of
Kurdistan (KDP) in Kirkuk is assassinated at his residence by
unidentified gunmen.
20th
Aug: 25000 Iraqis are travelling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj/pilgrimage.
20th
Aug: After brutally executing Foley, Daash warns Obama that the fate
of another American Stephen Gul Sutlov, depends on Obama's future
course of action.
Cali
Foley, sister of slain journalist asks for people to respect their
families' privacy in their hour of grief. YouTube remove the video of
the scribes brutal execution.
20th
Aug: Kurdish Parliamentarians return to their government posts in
Baghdad. The Kurds had withdrawn on the 8th of August following
comments made by Nouri Al Maliki that the Kurds were harbouring
Daash. Kurdish politician Hoshiyar Zabari has also returned as
Foreign Minister after Maliki called on all sides to help the new
administration.
20th
Aug: The Iraqi Air Force carries out air strikes on Daash positions
in Anbar, Salah Id Din, and Babil provinces. 35 Daash fighters are
reported killed and 11 vehicles destroyed.
Related:
20th
Aug: Armed Houthi rebels enter Sanaa and set up protest camps. Armed
Houthi rebels have set up checkpoints around their camps and are
demanding that the government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi
resign over increasing prices, in particular those of fuel.
Short
Analysis: What has been the outcome of Daash's advance for Iraq's
different sects and players?
Daash's
advance has primarily resulted in the ethnic cleansing/division of
Iraq. Iraq now resembles Baghdad after its sectarian violence of
2006. The Shias in the north can never return and will be resettled
in the South. The Kurds will also head to their enclave and almost
all Sunni Iraqis will leave areas where Shias and Kurds dominate.
The
return of communities is next to impossible. There is no force that
can guarantee the protection of Iraq's ethnic groups in places where
they are either a minority or surrounded by other communities.
The
Kurds have been the clear winners so far. Politically, militarily,
and territorially. They can now bargain for confessions like never
before. They will likely gain economic autonomy and will continue to
pump oil through Turkey. Their armed forces will grow stronger and
their relations with the rest of the world will improve at the cost
of Iraq. Their move away from their demand of independence has been a
calculated one. They gain more by staying than by leaving. They can
always leave when Iraq is collapsing or disintegrating in the future;
a very real and foreseeable outcome now that the country is
segregated. And they can build their strength by then.
The
Shia militias have gained/will gain power in the south like never
before and through them Iran's influence will grow. The Iraqi state
owes its survival to militias and volunteers that answered Sistani's
general call to arms. Most militia fighters will join different
branches of the Iraqi Armed forces and will become a state within a
state. The recent dependence of the Iraqi state on the Shia militias
will make it even harder for any measures to be taken to curtail
their growing power. An exception has been Moqtada Sadr's militia
that has lost ground because of its aversion to sectarian violence.
The
power of the militias will be a contentious issue and Sunni Arab
politicians will press on the next government to act against
sectarian forces. And this will probably be one of the reasons why
any future government will dither and fall or at least stop
functioning effectively.
The
Sunni Arabs will now start to fight Daash in their territory. If they
leave the fight for the Iraqi government, most of Anbar will resemble
most of Syria. The invasive Shia Iraqi Army will not have affinity
for local architecture and will not try to fight door to door. They
will prefer bombing it all and protecting themselves.
Also for most
Sunnis the dilemma of acting against Daash that claims to be
championing their interests will be similar to the dilemma of the
Iraqi government if it had to fight Shia militias. Their future for
now seems bleak. They don't face suicide bombings or car bombs, but
they do face air strikes and artillery in the near future.
The
absolute losers so far have been the minorities that have no internal
or immediate strength/backing: the Christians and the Yazidis and the
Shabaqs. Most of these sects will either now abandon Iraq or live on
the margins of the Kurdish state.
The
Peshmergas whose name translates to those that rush towards
death/face death/stay in front of death or any other mythical
characteristic abandoned their positions in Sinjar and fled the
onslaught of Daash leaving the locals to fend/face death for
themselves. These locals had asked to leave but the Peshmergas,
comfortable in the assumption that Daash was fighting Baghdad, had
promised to fight and protect them. A betrayal less dastardly than
the US betrayal of both the Shias and the Kurds during the first Gulf
War because America's betrayal was calculated while that of the Kurds
was out of self preservation.
The
simple reason why the Shias fight better in the south and the Kurds
better in the north against Daash is because they belong there. The
Iraqi Shia army had no real motivation to stay and fight in Mosul and
compared to the Kurds, they were completely demoralised by the
corruption of their higher ups. The Kurds on the other hand were
willing to die for their homeland. Sinjar was not their homeland.
Daash
has also achieved something unique. It has brought out the most
vicious aspects of Saudis/Qatari/UAE brand of Islam and forced even
these countries to introspect. It has distinguished for most
intelligent Muslims the big line dividing Shia Islam and Sunni Islam,
the thin one dividing Orthodox Sunni Islam and Salafism (it is not
that the difference is minor, but the shifting from one belief system
to the other has been an easy one for most Sunnis; for instance it is
easier for a Sunni to change his views to that of a Salafi than for
him to even consider the Jafari school of thought) and the blurred
thin line between Wahabbism and Takfir.
American Journalist Slain by America's ISIS Mercenaries? Irony or Hollywood Production?
Tony
Cartalucci
US-Saudi-Israeli
ISIS mercenaries allegedly saw off the head of an American
journalist, James Wright Foley. The video appears to be a production
out of the same studios producing them during the Iraq conflict, with
a man totally covered up and speaking with a "quasi-British as a
second language" accent. The actual beheading is blurred and cut
short after only seconds of what may or may not be actual murder.
Then a blurred image of a "body" with what may or may not
be a head placed upon the torso is shown...
Since
the ISIS is a creation of the West, and is half Hollywood production
itself, half actual nightmare, we can't be certain of the veracity of
ANYTHING being reported on it by the Western media. They are
CERTAINLY slaughtering real Syrians and Iraqis, and have been for
years with NATO cash, arms, and covert support. More likely however,
is that the killing of this American - alleged or real - was a stunt
designed to further distance ISIS from its actual handlers - the US,
KSA, Israel, and NATO.
Luckily
for the West, the general public apparently is still swayed easily
enough by token airstrikes, geopolitical manipulation, and false
flags to believe the West has no culpability for the atrocities being
committed by a mercenary army they openly created over the last 7
years.
Here,
once again, is my piece for years ago, about the creation of an Al
Qaeda mercenary army BY the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel...
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