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US
jets conduct new rounds of airstrikes in Iraq near Erbil
US
military aircraft conducted at least three rounds of airstrikes
against Islamic State positions in Iraq on Friday. This time there
are reports of IS militant casualties, CBS News reported.
RT,
8
August, 2014
time
there are reports of IS militant casualties, CBS News reported.
All
of the bombings occurred around Erbil, the capital city of the
autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, including on a target northwest
the city, CNN reported. The first strike took place Friday morning,
when US
jets bombed IS positions in
the northern part of the country.
The
second strike was conducted with a US military drone, which likely
fired a Hellfire missile, CNN’s Barbara Starr reported. Hellfires
are known for their precision during bombings. That attack was on a
mortar position. Militants left the scene, and when they returned,
they were attacked by a different US asset.
Reuters / U.S. Air Force photo by
Senior Airman Julianne Showalter / Handout / Files
About
an hour later, a more comprehensive strike occurred, when four F/A-18
naval jets attacked a stationary convoy of seven IS vehicles, as well
as a different mortar position. A total of eight bombs, likely
500-lbs, GPS-guided bombs that are the “weapon of choice” for
attacking mobile targets and avoiding civilian casualties, Starr
said.
The
jets are likely flying combat air patrols and attacking targets as
they see them, CNN’s Pentagon reporter added.
US
Vice President Joe Biden spoke via telephone with Iraqi President
Fuad Masum on Friday and addressed the American strikes in northern
Iraq, as well as the need for Iraq to build a new government.
"The
Vice President emphasized the threat ISIL presented to all Iraqis and
affirmed the US commitment to support Iraq and all of its citizens -
from north to south - as they work to defend the country against this
international threat," the
White House said in a statement.
Rear
Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told CBS that
it wasn’t clear how many Islamic State jihadists might have been
killed in the strike.
In
the Friday morning strike, two F/A-18 aircraft took off from the
aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush in the Persian Gulf. They dropped
500-pound laser-guided bombs on a mobile artillery piece that was
shelling the Peshmerga (armed Kurdish fighters) near Erbil, Kirby
said. US personnel, including an American consulate, are based in the
city.
During
the Friday afternoon press briefing, White House press secretary Josh
Earnest said the US would conduct strikes to protect American
personnel, prevent humanitarian crises, or to help unite Iraqi
security forces against the ISIS insurgents.
The
order to carry out the strikes came from the US Central Command
commander after President Barack Obama authorized the use of force on
Thursday, Kirby said.
“Today,
America is coming to help,” the
president said in his Thursday announcement, noting that although the
United States “cannot
and should not” intervene
every time there’s a crisis in the world, it must act when innocent
people are facing violence on a horrific scale.
"I
therefore authorized targeted airstrikes, if necessary, to help
forces in Iraq as they fight to break the siege at Mount Sinjar and
protect the civilians trapped there," Obama
said. "We
can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of
genocide."
Obama
said the military will be used to help protect Christians and
Yazidis, an ethnic Kurdish minority in northern Iraq.
The
US has also begun dropping relief supplies to the refugees. Around
40,000 Yazidis - members of the Kurdish community whose religious
beliefs are a mix of ancient Zoroastrianism, Islam, and Christianity
-sought
refuge on
Mount Sinjar last weekend after Islamic State fighters continued
their march toward the Kurdish power center of Erbil.
Baghdad
has also sent helicopters to drop supplies to people on the mountain,
though the amounts were limited.
Barack
Obama sends bombers into Iraq
The
US has sent aircraft to bomb fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant (Isis) in a desperate attempt to stop their advance on
the Kurdish capital, Erbil
Patrick
Cockburn
8
August, 2014
The
US intervention comes after the surprise defeat of Kurdish
Peshmerga forces by Isis, which has captured a quarter of Iraq and a
third of Syria in the past two months.
Britain
said it would provide technical assistance to the US, but last night
refused to rule out joining air strikes in future if the bloodshed
worsened.
The
US air strikes, the first at 1.45pm local time, were authorised by
President Barack Obama to protect Christians and to avert “a
potential act of genocide” against tens of thousands of Yazidis, an
ancient sect denounced by Isis as “polytheists”. Many Yazidis
have taken refuge on a mountain in Sinjar to escape massacre and are
receiving relief supplies dropped by US aircraft.
The
air strikes came as the Iraqi government said hundreds of Yazidi
women had been taken captive by the Islamic militants.
Kamil
Amin, spokesman for the Human Rights Ministry, said: “We think the
terrorists by now consider them slaves and they have vicious plans
for them. We think these women are going to be used in demeaning ways
by those terrorists to satisfy their animalistic urges in a way that
contradicts all the human and Islamic values.”
The
Isis offensive has shown the Peshmerga, the fighting forces of the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), to be weaker than expected. They
offered little effective resistance in Sinjar and failed to protect
Christian towns in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital.
In a humiliating series of reverses, they retreated back to Kalak, a
town on the Greater Zaab river which is the last defensible position
on the road to Erbil.
In
the first US attacks last night, F-18 jets dropped 500lb laser-guided
bombs on mobile artillery firing in support of advancing Isis forces
that were half an hour’s drive from the city. Shortly afterwards,
four jets attacked a convoy and mortar position and a drone aircraft
also fired at a mortar emplacement, the Pentagon said.
The
US will, however, have to do more than launch limited air strikes if
Isis is to be stopped. Since the self-styled “Islamic State”
captured Mosul on 10 June, it has taken most of northern and western
Iraq and last month scored a series of victories in eastern Syria
against the Syrian army and Syrian rebel groups.
The
Kurds have lost the Mosul dam on the Tigris river, enabling Isis to
control the flow of water and electricity from a hydroelectric power
station. Isis could blow the dam, sending a 65ft-high wall of water
down the Tigris Valley, but is unlikely to do so because territory it
already holds would be worst affected.
The
Kurds did not expect to be targeted by Isis at this time, believing
that it was fully engaged in Syria and further south against the
Iraqi army.
The
Peshmerga were over-extended after the KRG had expanded its territory
by 40 per cent via an opportunistic land-grab following the fall of
Mosul, when it took districts long disputed with the Arabs. This left
the KRG with a 600-mile-long frontier to defend against Isis, with
the Peshmerga, whose high military reputation is based on battles
against Saddam Hussein a quarter of a century ago.
“The
Peshmerga didn’t have the military equipment to face Isis,” says
Professor Gareth Stansfield, an expert on Kurdish and Iraqi affairs
at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at Exeter University.
“They basically use Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled-grenade
launchers.”
Over
the past two months Isis has captured weapons including tanks,
artillery, heavy machine guns and hundreds of US Humvees. Professor
Stansfield says the Arab population of the disputed territories has
become more anti-Kurdish since the KRG took over. Powerful Sunni
tribes sympathise with Isis in a bid to drive the Kurds out, even
putting the oil city of Kirkuk at risk. The professor emphasises that
if Kalak falls there will be little between Isis and Erbil airport.
The
long Kurdish front line is too thinly held to repel attacks.
Likewise, the Iraqi army further south has failed to rally since its
rout in Mosul and Tikrit two months ago. Its one counter-attack to
try to retake Tikrit on 15 July was ambushed and beaten back with
heavy losses.
Shia
militia rushed to the front line when Isis first reached Baghdad,
summoned by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential Shia
cleric. But many have since returned home, disillusioned by the
government’s failure to provide them with training, weapons and
food.
Isis
may not directly assault Baghdad, but it has been increasing its hold
on Sunni villages and towns to the south of the capital, an area
known during the American occupation as “the Triangle of Death”.
This
would enable Isis to cut roads between the capital and the Shia
provinces of the south. It could probably take over Sunni enclaves
such as Abu Ghraib, Amariya, Khadra and Dora in the west.
The
military crisis is matched by a political crisis in Baghdad. Despite
military defeat and a well-established reputation for incompetence
and corruption, Nouri al-Maliki is still clinging on as Iraq’s
Prime Minister.
Grand
Ayatollah Sistani yesterday made his clearest call yet for Mr Maliki
to go, his weekly sermon, read out by an aide, saying that
politicians who cling to power “are making a grave mistake”.
Mr
Maliki has been laying down conditions for his departure, such as: no
prosecutions for corruption, officials he has appointed to stay in
office, and personal protection. A former minister commented that it
is “surreal” how Iraqi politicians have debated the future
leadership of Iraq while half the country has been conquered by Isis.
‘The
Jihadis Return: Isis and the New Sunni Uprising’, by Patrick
Cockburn, is published by OR Books and is available at
www.orbooks.com
Banned
flights over Iraq
As
US jets were flying over Iraq yesterday, the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) said it was prohibiting US airlines and other
commercial carriers from flying over the country.
The
FAA notice to pilots said its action was prompted by the “potentially
hazardous situation created by fighting between militants … and
Iraqi security forces and their allies”. The ban applies to all
US-registered planes, except those operated by foreign carriers, and
to FAA-licensed pilots. There is an exception for flights operated
with US government permission and for emergency situations.
The
FAA had previously limited flights over Iraq to altitudes no lower
than 30,000ft. The FAA ban comes just three weeks after a Malaysia
Airlines plane with nearly 300 people on board was shot down over
eastern Ukraine.
Turkish
Airlines also said it had suspended flights to the Iraqi city of
Erbil yesterday until further notice, for security reasons. Qantas
has suspended flights over Iraq, following similar actions by
Lufthansa, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and Air France
US Airstrikes Caught On Tape; ISIS Retaliates By Capturing Hundreds Of Yazidi Women
8
August, 2014
As
the following clip shows, the explosions from two F-18s dropping
500lb bombs were large and Iraq officials stated that 45
ISIS fighters were killed (and 60 injured).
While The
Islamic State's response was to demand blood for US intervention,
it appears they went domestic first. As AP reports, Iraqi
official says hundreds of Yazidi women taken captive by Islamic State
militants.
Clip showing US Airstrikes...
And
the retaliation was fast...
BREAKING:
Iraqi official says hundreds of Yazidi women taken captive by Islamic
State militants.
— The
Associated Press (@AP) August
8, 2014
As
AP reports,
The
spokesman for Iraq's human rights ministry says hundreds of women
from the Yazidi religious minority have been taken captive by
militants from the Islamic State group.
Kamil
Amin says the women are
below the age of 35 and some are being held in schools in Iraq's
second largest city, Mosul. He
said the ministry learned of the captives from their families.
Tens
of thousands of Yazidis fled when the Islamic State group earlier
this month captured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, near the
Syrian border. Amin's comments were the first Iraqi government
confirmation that some women were being held by the group. The
Yazidis practice an ancient religion that the Sunni Muslim radicals
consider heretical.
Finally
we thought it worth sharing the desperate spin that analysts are
putting on this as a bearish signal for oil...
"In
essence we find U.S. air
strikes more bearish than bullish for oil as the act finally draws a
line not to cross for IS and re-enforces both the stability in south
Iraq and in Kurdistan,"
said Oliver Jakob, an analyst at Switzerland-based Petromatrix, in a
note to traders.
Good
luck with that.
*
* *
Update:
US has launched another round of airstrikes:
JUST
IN: U.S. military warplanes launched another round of airstrikes on
an ISIS target northwest of Erbil, U.S. officials tell NBC News
— NBC
Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) August
8, 2014
FAA Bans All US Flights Over "Potentially Hazardous" Iraq Airpsace
The Federal
Aviation Administration just
issued a notice-to-airmen (NOTAM) restricting all
US operatorsfrom
flying in the airspace above Iraq due to the hazardous situation
created by the armed conflict.
!FDC
4/1621 ZZZ SECURITY …IRAQ … POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SITUATION—IRAQ
AIRSPACE
DUE
TO THE POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SITUATION CREATED BY THE ARMED CONFLICT
BETWEEN MILITANTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ISLAMIC STATE IN IRAQ AND THE
LEVANT AND IRAQI SECURITY FORCES AND THEIR ALLIES, ALL FLIGHT
OPERATIONS IN THE BAGHDAD FLIGHT INFORMATION REGION (ORBB) BY
THE PERSONS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH A BELOW ARE PROHIBITED UNTIL
FURTHER ADVISED.
A.
APPLICABILITY. THIS NOTAM APPLIES TO: ALL
U.S. AIR CARRIERS AND COMMERCIAL OPERATORS;
ALL PERSONS EXERCISING THE PRIVILEGES OF AN AIRMAN CERTIFICATE ISSUED
BY THE FAA, EXCEPT SUCH PERSONS OPERATING U.S.-REGISTERED AIRCRAFT
FOR A FOREIGN AIR CARRIER; AND ALL OPERATORS OF AIRCRAFT REGISTERED
IN THE UNITED STATES, EXCEPT WHERE THE OPERATOR OF SUCH AIRCRAFT IS A
FOREIGN AIR CARRIER.
B.
PERMITTED OPERATIONS. THIS NOTAM DOES NOT PROHIBIT PERSONS DESCRIBED
IN PARAGRAPH A FROM CONDUCTING FLIGHT OPERATIONS WITHIN THE BAGHDAD
FLIGHT INFORMATION REGION (ORBB) WHEN SUCH OPERATIONS ARE AUTHORIZED
EITHER BY ANOTHER AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT WITH THE
APPROVAL OF THE FAA OR BY A DEVIATION, EXEMPTION, OR OTHER
AUTHORIZATION ISSUED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR. OPERATORS SHOULD
CALL THE FAA WASHINGTON OPERATIONS CENTER AT 202-267-3333 FOR FAA
AUTHORIZATION OF OPERATIONS.
C.
EMERGENCY SITUATIONS. IN AN EMERGENCY THAT REQUIRES IMMEDIATE
DECISION AND ACTION FOR THE SAFETY OF THE FLIGHT, THE PILOT IN
COMMAND OF AN AIRCRAFT MAY DEVIATE FROM THIS NOTAM TO THE EXTENT
REQUIRED BY THAT EMERGENCY.
THE
PROHIBITION ON OPERATIONS IN THE AIRSPACE SPECIFIED IN THIS NOTAM AND
THE ASSOCIATED JUSTIFICATION FOR THIS SPECIAL NOTICE WILL BE
RE-EVALUATED BY 31 DEC 2014.
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