Sunday, August 31, 2014

Iraq Updates ( August 31 , 2014 ) ...... Items of note on the Regional War - focus on Iraq state of play ( Political , Battlefield ) , Islamic State items of note.....


Tweets.....




 · 8m
sold women for $1,000, hundreds given to fighters as war trophy.




 · 20m
Shiites Want to Give Oil Ministry Position to - -




 · 32m
Best news from in a while. ISIS siege on Amerli has been broken by ISF & allied militias via


 · 2h
Authorities Attempt to Free Peshmerga Held by IS - -



 · 15h
Russian Mi-28 Night Hunter helicopters delivered to via




 · 18h
If Sunni bloc wants 40% of posts, Kurds are also entitled to demand 40% & the Shia may as well demand 120% of posts. Then what?




 · 18h
New Iraq gov't negotiation between Sunni bloc & Shia bloc break downs as Sunni bloc wants 40% of posts, Shia bloc says that's impossible.


 · 18h
Interview With Yazidi Princess: No Future For Yazidis In Iraq






Anti War....


Fight for Turkmen Town Unfolding As 200 Are Killed across Iraq
by , August 30, 2014
Updated at 10:28 p.m. EDT, August 30, 2014
At least 200 people were killed and 65 were wounded across Iraq. Most of the dead were militants and their numbers could be much higher as U.S. airstrikes continued. Also, a long awaited battle to help Amerli is already in the works, and dozens of militants have been killed just outside of town.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented that at least 27Yazidi women have been sold to Islamic State militants for the purpose of marriage. Around 300 women were kidnapped when the militants attacked the Yazidis in recent weeks. Apparently, the militants are rejecting any attempts by outsiders to buy the women back.
Christians who have fled the town of Qara Qosh are reporting the kidnapping of young women and children by the Islamic State. A toddler and several girls were made to remain behind as the militants forced the last residents to leave.
The siege of Amerli may be drawing to an end. Thousands of militiamen have joinedmilitary personnel to liberate the city. At least 20 people have died in Amerli during the last two months as Islamic State militants have kept residents trapped. At least 59 militants were killed in villages surrounding the city. U.S., Australian, French and British forces airdropped supplies.
The fighters are also concentrating on Suleiman Bek, where 10 militants were killedin an airstrike. Many others were harmed in airstrikes.
A suicide bomber attacked an army checkpoint in Yusufiya, where he killed 11 people and wounded 24 more, both soldiers and civilians.
Two soldiers were killed and five others were wounded when a roadside bomb blew up in Latifiya.
One civilian was killed and four more were wounded during a mortar attack on Tuz Khormato.
In Muqdadiya, five civilians were wounded in a blast at a market.
A blast in Kirkuk wounded two civilians.
Two Arab tribal leaders were kidnapped in Zab.
In Falluja, clashes took place near the Ibrahim bin Ali Bridge.
Security forces killed 20 militants in Ramadi.
Eleven militants were killed and five were wounded during a U.S. airstrike in Zumer.
Six militants were killed in Tirkit during clashes. Fourteen more were killed in airstrikes.
In Mosul, gunmen from the al-Ahrar Brigades killed five militants.
Near Haditha, four militants were killed.
Airstrikes in Alam killed a number of militants.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/08/29/pentagon-has-spent-an-average-of-7-5-million-per-day-in-iraq-for-last-three-months/?


The U.S. has launched at least 110 airstrikes in Iraq since Aug. 8, U.S. military official say, and it now has hundreds of military advisers and other personnel on the ground there to assist Iraq in its fight against Islamist extremists.
How much is that costing U.S. taxpayers? An average of $7.5 million per day since mid-June, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said Friday. After more than three weeks of airstrikes and humanitarian operations in Iraq, that likely easily exceeds $600 million.
Kirby’s comments mark the first time that a U.S. official has attached a price tag to the U.S. military mission in Iraq since President Obamaauthorized it to expand Aug. 7. Airstrikes began the following day, and it is now rare for a day to go by without U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, announcing at least one strike.
Kirby said that $7.5 million average includes the cost of operations in Iraq since mid-June, well in advance of Obama escalating operations there in August. The figure is based on figures through Aug. 26, Kirby said.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/world/middleeast/isis-displaying-a-deft-command-of-varied-media.html?_r=0

The extremists who have seized large parts ofSyria and Iraq have riveted the world’s attention with their military prowess and unrestrained brutality. But Western intelligence services are also worried about their extraordinary command of seemingly less lethal weapons: state-of-the-art videos, ground images shot from drones and multilingual Twitter messages.
ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, is using every contemporary mode of messaging to recruit fighters, intimidate enemies and promote its claim to have established a caliphate, a unified Muslim state run according to a strict interpretation of Islamic law. If its bigotry and beheadings seem to come from a distant century, its use of media is up to the moment.




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