IRAQ - Fight on Islamic State: News #1

Thanks

"Last week, close watchers of the many-sided war in Iraq and Syria learned from an apparently inadvertent Russian state television disclosure that Russia has upped the ante in its eight-week-old war in Syria, apparently adding ground-based artillery to the array of attack jets, strategic bombers, and helicopter gunships that have been pounding Islamic State terrorists and U.S.-backed rebels alike in the country.

Without fanfare, the U.S.-led coalition has escalated its involvement in the conflict in a similar way in recent weeks, adding artillery raids of its own to the steady thrum of air strikes against the Islamic State. In the U.S. case, the weapons involved are long-range, satellite-guided rockets, not howitzers, and the targets are in Iraq, not Syria.



Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Steve Warren first acknowledged the use of the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS—a staple of U.S. operations in Afghanistan—during a briefing last month. Since then, Inherent Resolve press releases have noted the use of rocket artillery on eight more days, most recently Sunday, when “rocket artillery” accounted for an unspecified number of 19 coalition strikes in Iraq. The deployment of HIMARS marks a little-noticed escalation in a U.S.-led war effort, although one, unlike missions by commandos, that poses little risk to U.S. personnel. Coalition spokespeople told the Washington Post that HIMARS has fired more than 400 rockets since midsummer, when the rocket strikes began. According to the coalition spokespeople, the unit operating the rocket systems is deployed from Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, where the only HIMARS unit is the 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery."

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/11/24/how-the-u-s-campaign-in-iraq-has-escalated-with-a-new-weapon-rocket-artillery/

PS video is just a reference its not an actual combat video

"The Czech Ministry of Defence delivered a large quantity of military supplies to the Iraqi Armed Forces and the Kurdish fighters. The shipment was part of the country’s support in the fight against the Islamic State and will continue in the near future. The cargo was transported with the assistance of USAF’s and RAF’s transport aircraft, which flew many round trips between the Pardubice airport in the Czech Republic and Baghdad airport in Iraq. Ten million machine-gun cartridges and 5,000 hand grenades were handed over to the Iraqi Government officials.



As per the agreement signed with the Iraqi officials, part of the military equipment was handed-over to the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq, who have proven to be a valuable ally of the coalition against the Islamic State. According to the Deputy Defence Minister Jakub Landovsky, Czech Republic’s support will continue indefinitely. More deliveries will follow soon, including machine-gun cartridges, anti-tank weapons, hand grenades and other. Furthermore, if an agreement with the Iraqi side is reached, possibly by the end of the year, 6,000 Type 58 rifles would be shipped as well."

Source: http://www.armyrecognition.com/november_2015_global_defense_security_news_uk/czech_mod_delivered_equipment_to_iraqis_and_kurds_42611152.html

From today.

^^ the sniper @ 2:05

The ones filming are saying "This marksman was involved in Baiji operation, he was shot in his stomach and the bullet is still inside his body". Meanwhile American politicians come with the excuses 'Iraqis are not motivated', whilst they slept and did nothing when IS attacked Ramadi several times, US chief of staff called Ramadi unimportant before it fell.

The quicker Iraq replaces US with Russia as an allie the better.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/news/153025/

Iraqi Army spokesperson wrote:Operation in Ramadi going well, Russian aviation stirkes on IS in Syria have to a degree halted their ability to mobilize troops from Raqqa to Anbar.

Mashallah!

senator john mccain is in baghdad meeting with the Iraqi minister of defence.

http://mod.mil.iq/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1861

trying to salvage the relationship with Iraq and block Uncle Vlad?

and this is reuters "take" on it...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/29/us-mideast-crisis-usa-military-idUSKBN0TI0US20151129#QJLRKW7tDTgvLme0.97

yea. send a sunni arab army to Iraq. That's going to happen.

I expected this problem, USA will want to use Anbar especially to train 'FSA' for the Syria war. They will use the whole Sunni Arab bullshit, attempts to bring Saudi/Turk/Egypt Sunnis to Iraq to build some sort of Sunni army. Basically Mccain and Graham ask Iraq to support the FSA terrorists even if that means Iraq will have more trouble with terrorists.

This makes it important the Russia, Syria and Iran speed up the offensive in Palmyra and push in Eastern Syria as well so that IA can reach SAA on each others border before the next US president comes.

Oh well shameless idiots like him are the norm in US politics.

"U.S. military pilots who have returned from the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq are confirming that they were blocked from dropping 75 percent of their ordnance on terror targets because they could not get clearance to launch a strike, according to a leading member of Congress. Strikes against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) targets are often blocked due to an Obama administration policy to prevent civilian deaths and collateral damage, according to Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The policy is being blamed for allowing Islamic State militants to gain strength across Iraq and continue waging terrorist strikes throughout the region and beyond, according to Royce and former military leaders who spoke Wednesday about flaws in the U.S. campaign to combat the Islamic State.

“You went 12 full months while ISIS was on the march without the U.S. using that air power and now as the pilots come back to talk to us they say three-quarters of our ordnance we can’t drop, we can’t get clearance even when we have a clear target in front of us,” Royce said. “I don’t understand this strategy at all because this is what has allowed ISIS the advantage and ability to recruit.” When asked to address Royce’s statement, a Pentagon official defended the Obama administration’s policy and said that the military is furiously working to prevent civilian casualties. “The bottom line is that we will not stoop to the level of our enemy and put civilians more in harm’s way than absolutely necessary,” the official told the Washington Free Beacon, explaining that the military often conducts flights “and don’t strike anything.” “The fact that aircraft go on missions and don’t strike anything is not out of the norm,” the official said. “Despite U.S. strikes being the most precise in the history of warfare, conducting strike operations in the heavily populated areas where ISIL hides certainly presents challenges. We are fighting an enemy who goes out of their way to put civilians at risk. However, our pilots understand the need for the tactical patience in this environment. This fight against ISIL is not the kind of fight from previous decades.”

Jack Keane, a retired four-star U.S. general, agreed with Royce’s assessment of the administration’s policy and blamed President Barack Obama for issuing orders that severely constrain the U.S. military from combatting terror forces. “This has been an absurdity from the beginning,” Keane said in response to questions from Royce. “The president personally made a statement that has driven air power from the inception.” “When we agreed we were going to do airpower and the military said, this is how it would work, he [Obama] said, ‘No, I do not want any civilian casualties,’” Keane explained. “And the response was, ‘But there’s always some civilian casualties. We have the best capability in the world to protect from civilians casualties.’” However, Obama’s response was, “No, you don’t understand. I want no civilian casualties. Zero,’” Keane continued. “So that has driven our so-called rules of engagement to a degree we have never had in any previous air campaign from desert storm to the present.” This is likely the reason that U.S. pilots are being told to back down when Islamic State targets are in site, Keane said, citing statistics published earlier this year by U.S. Central Command showing that pilots return from sorties in Iraq with about 75 percent of their ordnance unexpended.

“Believe me,” Keane added, “the French are in there not using the restrictions we have imposed on our pilots.” And the same goes for Russians, he said, adding, “They don’t care at all about civilians.” The French have been selecting their own targets since beginning to launch strikes on the Islamic State earlier this week, according to a second Pentagon source who spoke to the Free Beacon earlier this week about the strikes. France dropped at least 20 bombs on key Islamic State targets within two days after the terror attacks in Paris that killed 129. French strikes have killed at least 33 Islamic State militants in the past several days. In the case of the initial French strikes, the “targets were nominated by the French whose strikes against them were supported by the coalition” fighting the Islamic State, the official explained. Any coalition member can nominate a potential target. “Once a target is validated, great care is taken—from analysis of available intelligence to selection of the appropriate weapon to meet mission requirements—to minimize the risk of collateral damage, particularly any potential harm to non-combatants,” the official said.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 22,000 munitions were dropped on Islamic State targets during more than 8,000 sorties, according to information provided to the Free Beacon by the Defense Department. Some experts questioned whether the administration is handing off portions of the battle to other nations. “The French airstrikes have been billed as a significant uptick in the battle against the Islamic State; preliminary data indicate that this is not the case,” said Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism expert at the U.S. Treasury Department. “It appears that the U.S. is simply allowing France to strike many of the targets that would usually be reserved for the U.S. and some of its coalition allies. In other words, this appears to be a redistribution of daily targets in the ongoing campaign, and not a significant change.” These strikes have forced the Islamic State to evacuate at least 20 to 25 percent of the territories it held one year ago in both Iraq and Syria, according to the Pentagon.

Attacks have focused on the Islamic State’s “staging areas, fighting position, and key leaders,” as well as its “oil distribution chain,” according to the Pentagon. Meanwhile, a poll released Thursday found that at least 70 percent of American support an expanded fight against the Islamic State, including sending U.S. troops to the region."

Source: http://freebeacon.com/national-security/us-pilots-confirm-obama-admin-blocks-75-percent-of-isis-strikes/

This is their new LAME excuse for supporting Terrorism.. "not targeting civilians"

After Russia exposed Americans Fraud of not bombing thousands of Oil trucks sending oil
to Turkey ,then suddenly they began to bomb them too.. and changed its policy. This is pure
Terrorism what Americans are doing. Their precision weapons could very well target only
oil trucks..but dont do it. If fact Russian planes discovered near the border of IRAQ,,in syria border ,americans were bombing Ghost towns that there was never any war or fighting there..
Empty houses.. that said 75% of the bomb not dropped and the 25% they bomb are empty houses.

It clearly looks Americans now wants to move the front line against Syria to the border
of IRAQ..and from there strike Syria. Somewhere i read.. the US military did not wanted
IRAQ to clear western iraq.. because it was going to be used by them..

US will face the major defeat in History on any conflict or war.. because their terrorist will be defeated.. since they are not clear what to do ,or how to do it..and merely testing Russia
to see how far they can push. IRAQ needs to close the border to Jordan so no terrorist can be supplied in IRAQ from any place.

PKK destroys ISIS unit in Sinjar area, captures ordnance, including what they claim to be Qatar army provided Steyr rifle, tho i bet on Saudi Arabia myself.

Militarov wrote:



PKK destroys ISIS unit in Sinjar area, captures ordnance, including what they claim to be Qatar army provided Steyr rifle, tho i bet on Saudi Arabia myself.

Possibly Tunisian Stocks coming off Libyan trail.

What is worrying is the Bulgarian PKM and What looks like Bulgarian MG1 (PKM). Someone got to slap those Bulgarians some reason in.

KoTeMoRe wrote:

Militarov wrote:

PKK destroys ISIS unit in Sinjar area, captures ordnance, including what they claim to be Qatar army provided Steyr rifle, tho i bet on Saudi Arabia myself.

Possibly Tunisian Stocks coming off Libyan trail.

What is worrying is the Bulgarian PKM and What looks like Bulgarian MG1 (PKM). Someone got to slap those Bulgarians some reason in.

Could be, tho Saudis are not unlikely source either.

Bulgarian firearms aint rare they could have been taken originally from Syrian army stocks, since they did not really take care much about from whom they buy especially not firearms.

Skylark 1 drone crashed? near Mosul.

Interesting new developments.. apparently IRAQ popular forces
that are pro Government? Will be fighting AMericans if they dare to invade
their nation.

Iraqi popular forces have pledged to combat any US troops deployed to the conflict-hit Western Asian country.

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/12/01/439936/Iraq-US-Daesh-Kataib-Hezbollah-Badr-movemnt


Hopefully Russia will arm them with lethal weapons and manpads ,logistics and precision weapons to return the favor US for what their support to terrorist in Syria against Russian and Syrian forces.

it looks like Pentagon goals is to create a safe zone in IRAQ border near Syria .. for their "moderate terrorist" and from there not only launch attacks against government forces
backed by US coalition airforce..but also block the air transit bridge that Russia created using IRAN ,IRAQ airspace to send supplies to its airforce in Syria .

Is a good move made no mistake.. It will make more difficult for americans to create a
safe zone anywhere backed by air defenses to block Russia from bombing ISIS.

It's unlikely to escalate to that point, the US can say what it wants but if it goes against the Iraqi government they know Abadi can invite Russia in, unlike a few months before when they thought they still owned Iraq.

Militarov wrote:

KoTeMoRe wrote:

Militarov wrote:

PKK destroys ISIS unit in Sinjar area, captures ordnance, including what they claim to be Qatar army provided Steyr rifle, tho i bet on Saudi Arabia myself.

Possibly Tunisian Stocks coming off Libyan trail.

What is worrying is the Bulgarian PKM and What looks like Bulgarian MG1 (PKM). Someone got to slap those Bulgarians some reason in.

Could be, tho Saudis are not unlikely source either.

Bulgarian firearms aint rare they could have been taken originally from Syrian army stocks, since they did not really take care much about from whom they buy especially not firearms.

For the PKM (Warsaw Pact era) no problem, although that shiny bakelite stock doesn't really scream Syrian storage. But the black one (MG1) that's not from Syrian stocks, not chance in hell. That's 2006-2007 production and thus straight out of Bulgarian stocks or some Petro-whorehouse (possibly Saudi) military.


For the Steyr, you could possibly be right, it's an original stg77 muzzle with bayonet lug. Tunisia has mostly 84 A2 muzzle with bayonet lug. I've seem some with original STG77 (no bayonet lug) which were indeed 100% Saudi.

SF Yanks keep out, or we kill you! My highlights, don't think both sides see it the same way.

Iraqi Shiite militias vowed to fight any US Special Forces sent to carry out operations in Iraq, after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced the deployment of some troops there.

"In full coordination with the government of Iraq, we're deploying a specialized expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and to put even more pressure on ISIL (Daesh)," Carter announced on Tuesday. "These special operators will over time be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture ISIL (Daesh) leaders."

However, Iraqi President Haider al-Abadi responded to the announcement by praising the performance of Iraq's own special forces against Daesh, and said there was no need for foreign ground combat forces in Iraqi territory. "The Iraqi government stresses that any military operation or presence of any foreign force, special or not, in any place in Iraq cannot be done without its approval and coordination with it," said al-Abadi on Wednesday.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151203/1031196490/shiite-militia-fight-us-troops.html#ixzz3tH6fI9XP

US Hindering Iraqi Popular Forces’ Operation to Liberate Ramadi

Commanders of the Iraqi popular forces have claimed the US is hindering the start of the final phase of the operation to regain control of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, seized by Daesh (ISIL).

"The US bargains and pressures on the Baghdad government have prevented accomplishment of the Ramadi liberation operation," Abu Yousef al-Khazali, a commander of Seyed al-Shohada battalion, told FARS News.

"The US has long been seeking to force the government to stop using the popular forces in military operations against ISIL, especially in the liberation operations conducted in different Iraqi regions," he added.

A representative of Iraq’s popular forces also told FARS News that the US interference has distorted plans to free Ramadi.

A commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces complained that US meddling has hindered their victory over the Takfiri terrorist group and prevented them from taking control over the strategic cities of Ramadi and Fallujah.

Commander of Imam Khamenei Battalion Haidar al-Hosseini al-Ardavi accused the US of taking maximum efforts to prevent mop-up operations by the popular forces in the province of Anbar. According to him, the meddling will also affect the advances by the Iraqi forces against terrorists in other provinces.

In September, an Iraqi analyst said that the US was using tribesmen in Anbar to pressure the government to keep the popular forces away from the battlefield in the region.

Spokesperson of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry Ahmad Jamal announced in September that Baghdad had rejected Washington’s demand to deploy US ground forces to Iraq to fight Daesh.

In September, the Iraqi popular forces also voiced their opposition to a partnership with US forces in fighting the terrorists in Anbar.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151204/1031228867/us-iraqi-forces-ramadi.html#ixzz3tLT4BISk

This has been posted in the Syria thread. The turks apparently deployed troops with tanks in (or around) Mosul, Iraq. Remember this town is under daesh rats control. They talk about "training" (yeah right), who are they "training"? Also according to turkish MSM troops have been deployed there since two years ago, is this correct, and did they got iraqi government permission for that, and for this deployment? Would appreciate some insight from our iraqi members regarding the situation here.

''Iraq Demands End of Turkish ‘Invasion’ Near Mosul''

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151205/1031279993/iraq-demands-end-turkish-invasion.html

Have the boy bring me my popcorn!!!