Thursday, September 4, 2014

Iraq / Syria Regional War Updates ( September 4 , 2014 ) Iran's IRGC and US / German Special Forces on the ground in Iraq ? As said before , Mission sprint in Iraq and who knows what might be going on in Syria already ? News of the day and tweets of note ....


Evening tweets....


 Retweeted by Al-Monitor
 · 2h
Syria, West explore cooperation to fight Islamic State



 Retweeted by Al-Monitor
 · 4h
Islamic State war bill may also target Assad


 Retweeted by Al-Monitor
 · 1h
State Dept. Official said tone of this is too negative,



 Retweeted by Al-Monitor
 · 12h
's exports to -controlled parts of have increased by 57% -




 Retweeted by Memlik Pasha
 · 6h
Read ISW's latest Iraq Situation Report here:




 · 8h
US Centcom says 3 airstrikes carried out Wednesday & Thursday on targets near . Total US Airstrikes in since Aug. 8: 127



 · 4h
US: Terrorist could get Syria chemical weapons





http://news.antiwar.com/2014/09/03/irans-iraq-policy-shifts-as-isis-expands/

Iran’s Iraq Policy Shifts as ISIS Expands

Quds Force Chief on the Ground in Amerli

by Jason Ditz, September 03, 2014
While publicly they both are constantly condemning one another, Iran and the United States have had extremely similar policies with respect to Iraq in recent years. And as the US changed their policy toward Iraq earlier this year, Iran followed suit.
Like the US, Iran was long a fan of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and as the losses to ISIS mounted, they cut him lose at roughly the same time. With fears of having a border with ISIS looming large, Iran has been eager to back whoever in Iraq would be an alternative, even arming the Kurdish Peshmerga.
Iran’s also been picking up its own military involvement on the ground in Iraq, though they’ve tried to keep the details a little less public than the Obama Administration has.
Images have emerged showing Iran’s Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the head of their Quds Force, on the ground in Amerli, during the recapture of the Turkomen town by Peshmerga and Shi’ite militias.
How much role the Quds Force played in the battle is still uncertain, but with the US giving air support in the attack on ISIS forces near Amerli, this is the closest to a joint US-Iranian operation yet, a trend which is likely to grow, even as US officials continue to rule out any direct coordination with Iran.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/02/are-american-troops-already-fighting-on-the-front-lines-in-iraq.html

****

At around 10 a.m., the Peshmerga halted our movement. Fearing that the situation was changing rapidly, we asked the Kurdish security element accompanying us what was happening. “We don’t know,” they said, “we just got information that you cannot move forward.” Repeated calls were met with the same firm statement that we could not move forward.
Stuck out in the open with no clear sense of what was occurring in the battle that required us to be stopped, we made contact with high-level Peshmerga ministries, both in Erbil and on the ground in Zumar. “Yes, we want to let you in, but we can’t,” said one high-level Kurdish government official. “We have visitors, you’ll see them,” he stated. As we tried to decipher his cryptic response our answer came: multiple armored Toyotas swept down the mountain, passing within feet of us. The Toyotas were packed with what appeared to be bearded Western Special Operations Forces. I watched the trucks pass and saw for myself the crews inside them. They didn’t wear any identifying insignia but they were visibly Western and appeared to match all the visual characteristics of American special operations soldiers.
Contacts in the Kurdish intelligence service and Peshmerga leadership confirmed what we saw. “Yes,” one commander replied to our questions. “German and American forces are on the ground here. “They are helping to support us in the attack.”
***

Kurdish officials told The Daily Beast a different story. Ranking members of the Kurdish military and intelligence service said that one team of U.S. Special Operations was on the ground in Zumar along with several German counterparts, working in conjunction with Peshmerga units. According to the Kurdish sources, U.S. and German special operations teams had taken up positions in Zumar that allowed them to coordinate with U.S. aircraft.
If American troops were active in the fighting in Zumar, as they appeared to be on Monday, and as Kurdish officials stated, it would mark a significant break with U.S. official policy. Even as President Obama has avoided getting the military more involved in Iraq, the mission has gradually expanded. U.S. airstrikes began as a policy to break the siege on Yazidis and prevent ISIS from attacking Americans in Erbil but have grown to “support Iraqi security forces and Kurdish defense forces” in their fight against ISIS.
***




Morning tweets.....


 · 1h
Remarkable. USAF flew cover for IRGC in Amerli while arch foe, Gen. Qassem Suleimani, was there


seriously by NATO allies."





 · 3h
Iraq Mess 03-14 RT : Iraq Govt 2014: Sunni Arab (20%) demanding 40%,Sunni Kurds (15%) seeking 25%,and Shia (65%) left with 35%











 · 4h
More than 100 Americans are fighting alongside militants in the and there may be many more.



 · 14h
Hearing that PM designate Abadi has refused to accept Sadrist MP Araji as deputy PM.








 Retweeted by Alexblx
 · 23h
opposition leader says ISIS controls 40% of country, 80% of oil resources








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