Sunday, June 15, 2014

Live Updates on Advance of ISIS in Iraq.

Kurdish Female Force Ready To Battle Militants






ISIS in Numbers:
Some sources believe that the group is formed of 5,500 foreign fighters that is its backbone, as well as 2,000 Syrians from the northern part of the country and about 15,000 people, performing "secondary roles".
There is also a special unit, consisting of 250 militants. They are almost all foreigners (mostly immigrants from Russia's North Caucasus), called the Jeish Muhajirin va al-Ansar (JMA), headed by an ethnic Chechen, Abu Umar Al-Shishani
Iran says no need to negotiate with Washington over Iraq crisis.
 Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on June 16 that his country has not held any talks with the United States over the situation in Iraq.
"There is no need to hold any such talks as well," Amir-Abdollahian said, Iran's ISNA News Agency reported.
"Iraqi nation and the country's army are fully capable of handling the crisis," he explained.
He went no to note that Iran is facing no threat along its western borders. However, he added that the country has takes the necessary measures to act against any such threat.
A top American senator, Lindsey Graham, on June 15 called on the US administration to seek Iran's help to prevent what he sees as a possible collapse of the Iraqi government.
He also said that Washington will need Iran's involvement to help maintain the Iraqi government from takeover by al-Qaeda-inspired militants.






From Uskowi On Iran:   News of potential US-Iran cooperation in dealing with the Iraq crisis:

From the Wall Street Journal:

The radical Sunni militia that has plunged Iraq into chaos bragged that it had executed hundreds of Shiite Iraqi soldiers, even as the Obama administration said it is preparing to open direct talks with Iran on how the two longtime foes can counter the insurgents.
The US-Iran dialogue, which is expected to begin this week, will mark the latest in a rapid move toward rapprochement between Washington and Tehran over the past year. It also comes as the US and other world powers try to reach an agreement with Iran by late July to curb its nuclear program.
The US and Iran have publicly committed in recent days to provide military support if requested to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and help his government repel an offensive the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, has launched against Baghdad and other major Iraqi cities over the past week.
COMMENTARY: This is potentially big news for both countries that have a stake in the stabilization of Iraq and the combatting of Al-Qaeda and Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorism. Former Bush Administration officials have an important post at "Going to Tehran" relating to potential U.S.-cooperation in Iraq. Their prescription includes the following:

Calls for Washington to engineer Maliki’s replacement by some allegedly preferable alternative are wrong-headed: Maliki’s list clearly won this year’s parliamentary elections, and there is no alternative figure around whom a (mythical) new “consensus” could form. (Question for those charging that Maliki should have been more “inclusive”: how can any Iraqi prime minister be “inclusive” toward an insurgency with literally thousands of externally supported foreign fighters?)
It is also imperative that U.S. policymakers rethink—and rebalance—their Middle East diplomatic strategy, in at least three critical respects. First, Washington needs to acknowledge the mistaken premises of its Syria policy—that Assad has lost the support of most Syrians and can be overthrown by externally-supported oppositionists—and recognize that ending the anti-Assad insurgency is essential to cutting off ISIS’s base in northeastern Syria.
Second, Washington needs to accept Tehran as an essential player in containing and rolling back ISIS’s multifaceted challenge and—as we have been advocating inside and outside government for over a decade—embed that acceptance in a broader realignment of U.S.-Iranian relations. It is crucial, though, that America engage Iran over ISIS politically—not, as some suggest, by U.S. warplanes covering Iranian foot soldiers in Iraq. (Most responsible officials and politicians in Tehran appear too smart to fall for such a “trap,” which would also play into al-Qa’ida’s grand strategy.)
Third, Washington must finally confront Saudi Arabia over its longstanding support for jihadi militants as a policy tool. Riyadh’s resort to this tool has proven serially damaging for U.S. interests; time has come for U.S. leaders to make clear to Saudi counterparts that their tolerance for it is at an end.
COMMENTARY: The rollback of Jihadist forces in Iraq and Syria will require military force. The United States possesses a tactical airpower capability second to none. It also possesses recent ties to ISF. For its part, Iran is currently directing a significant part of the war in Syria, and has ties to Syria's military and militias as well as Iraq's. Politically, Iran's ties to the Damascus and Baghdad governments are well founded. Thus mutual cooperation between the U.S. and Iran should provide the same level of success as that achieved during the build-up and initial phase of Operation Enduring Freedom. In fact, it offers something of a military and diplomatic blueprint.

Readers are encouraged to read the Leverett's policy advocacy piece in FULL.


"Going for Kurdish independence?" - Iraqi Kurdish regional government PM visits Iran.
The prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Nechirvan Barzani arrived in Tehran on June 16 to discuss the latest developments in Iraq.

Barzani is scheduled to meet with senior Iranian officials including Ali Shmakhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.The two sides will hold consultations on the security situation in Iraq.

Following the increasing tension Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Ground Force Brigadier General Kioumars Heidari said on June 15 that the Iran's armed forces are completely prepared to take military actions against the ISIL, if the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei orders.

On June 14, Iran's president Hassan Rouhani said that the country is ready to assist Iraq in the fight against "terrorists" within international law if Iraq wants it.






Iraq crisis: Iraqi military targets Isis captured territory in airstrikes










Marines Deployed Back To Iraq To Fight ISIS. 
A Marine FAST (Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Teams) team has been deployed to Baghdad to help evacuate the U.S. Embassy. A strike on Baghdad is expected soon, and ISIS is about to have one hell of surprise when the run into Marines instead of unarmed civilians for a change.

Hmmm....My guess Surgery to implant bombs for wannabe suicide bombers now within their financial means.


Hmmm.....'Unconfirmed reports'...is that me? :) 

 Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) has refuted claims that militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were trained by Turkish soldiers who were later detained by Iraqi security forces in Iraq, calling the claims “baseless.”
Iraq on the brink of sectarian war, says Obama's BFF Turkey's PM Erdogan. 
The ongoing fighting in Iraq could evolve into a sectarian war, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, Anadolu Agency reported. His comments on Sunday in the Turkish city of Trabzon came a week after Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants made rapid advances in Iraq. Erdogan told journalists: "This has gone far beyond an encounter with forces affiliated with ISIL. "Under current circumstances it can evolve into a sectarian conflict, or maybe even a sectarian war." Vigilante groups formed Heavy fighting has also been reported in Tel Afar in Iraq, where Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants have stepped up attacks using mortar shells. Turkmen tribesmen, who constitute the majority in the city, formed vigilante groups in the city after ISIL forces seized the provincial capital, Mosul. Erdogan said: "We cannot underestimate the developments in Tal Afar. "As you all know, it is a Turkmen majority city. Half of our Turkmen brothers are Sunni Muslims, the other half are Shia Muslims."

Referring to 80 Turkish nationals abducted by ISIL fighters on Tuesday and Wednesday, Erdogan said: "Our first priority is to bring our citizens to the homeland safe and sound."He said the government had activated all channels to ensure Turkish citizens return.Hmmm....'Channels'? See tweet below.







Nineveh Governor: Turkish Consul General was Warned to Leave Mosul. 
"I was in constant contact with the Turkish consul general and explained the situation in Mosul to him," Najafi said on Sunday. Najafi reiterated that during the telephone conversations he had asked the Turkish consul general to completely evacuate the consulate building and leave the city. Turkey has long been suspected of close ties with the ISIL. Ankara has been supporting anti-government militants, including the ISIL, in Syria in the last three years.




Hmmmm...... ISIS Threatens to Invade Jordan, 'Slaughter' King Abdullah......'You don't say?


In the same period, 28 M-1 tanks were damaged and five tanks sustained full armor penetration by antitank guided missiles. ISIS, the administration official added, appears to have acquired Russian antitank weapons in Syria. A significant number of M-1 tanks have been hobbled by maintenance issues, the official said.Hmmmm.......it couldn't be US anti tank weapons could it? 




US preparing for direct dialogue with Iran over ISIS threat in Iraq – report 
Follow RT's live updates on the situation in Iraq
A series of explosions has hit Iraq's capital city of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people and injuring 30 others, AP reports, citing local police and medics. The first explosion struck a lively Baghdad street, claiming the lives of 10 and wounding another 20. The second explosion hit at dusk in the city center, killing two and injuring five. The third blast went off in Baghdad’s suburbs, killing at least three people and injuring seven others.













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