Tweets - Monday night
Iranian paper reports that Obama's letter to Iran's supreme leader means US has reached dead end in Iraq http://almon.co/29q7 @IranNewsNow
UPDATE (1 of 2) - Leading Iraqi TV Al-Ghadeer confirms list of ISIS killed in airstrikes by #IraqAirForce #PT
http://www.alghadeer.tv/news/detail/20227/ …
UPDATE (2 of 2) - Leading Iraqi TV Al-Etejah confirm the list of ISIS killed in airstrikes by #IraqAirForce #PT
http://aletejah.tv.iq/index.php/permalink/34942.html …
#US warplanes have conducted 13 airstrikes against the #ISIS in the last three days, #CENTCOM said in a statement.
Remember this?! #USA Destroying #Syria’s Oil Infrastructure Under Guise of Fighting #ISIS http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2014/november/03/us-destroying-syria-s-oil-infrastructure-under-guise-of-fighting-isis/ …
The @joshua_landis proposal is not a new thing. West has been dreaming for long to establish it in #Syria & #Iraq 1/2
Tweets - Monday Morning !
Syrian government official says #Saudi blocked open cooperation with US against the Islamic State - @TheSyriaPulse http://almon.co/29lv
Acid Jordi retweeted
Mete Sohtaoğlu
Heavy clashes between #YPG/#Peshmerga forces against #ISIS terrorists reported inside the #Kobane canton. http://fb.me/3xUBdkXUG
#US-led coalition conducted several airstrikes on East and West of #Kobane earlier today, targeting #ISIS terrorists. http://fb.me/1HYJAVTzx
Mark retweeted
Syrian rebels seize vehicles and ammunition at #Brigade112 near #Nawa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlowx6mpwk0 …
Breakthrough in Daraa.
(1/2) “A new dawn has risen…with the establishment of a state for Muslims," according to audio purportedly from Egypt's Beit al-Maqdis
(2/2) "The banner of unification has been raised, and sharia law implemented,” from reported Beit al-Maqdis audio pledging allegiance to IS.
Iraqi Government Claims IS Leader Al-Baghdadi Wounded - #BasNews - http://www.basnews.com/en/News/Details/Iraqi-Government-Claims-IS-Leader-Al-Baghdadi-Wounded--/42014 …
Turkmens Ask #Baghdad Government for Weapons - #BasNews - http://www.basnews.com/en/News/Details/Turkmens-Ask-Baghdad-Government-for-Weapons/41972 …
Coalition Jets Bombard #Kobani - #BasNews - http://www.basnews.com/en/News/Details/Coalition-Jets-Bombard-Kobani/42007 …
Iraqi Oil Minister to Visit #Erbil This Week - #BasNews - http://www.basnews.com/en/News/Details/Iraqi-Oil-Minister-to-Visit-Erbil-This-Week/41961 …
Memlik Pasha retweeted
Jund al-Aqsa claim to have discovered body of their founder, Abu Abdul Aziz al-Qatari, in an SRF “mass grave”. #Syria
Anti War Reports ..........
At least 202 people were killed and eight were wounded. Among the wounded is Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The nature of his injuries remains unknown. No major attacks took place against civilians on Sunday, leading to the low number of injuries. However, another massive execution of Albu Nimr tribe members was reported.
Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Abadi has confirmed that an airstrike near Mosul on Friday night injured Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and killed his deputy. A spokesman for ISIS/DAASH reported the injuries.
Although Islamic State militants have been run out of Jurf al-Sakhar, it was at agreat cost. Much of the town itself is in ruins or booby-trapped. Also, Shi’ite militiamen are accused of setting fires to "militant homes"; however, those homes belong to local Iraqis before the takeover. Some of those locals also accuse militiamen of bombing and killing them. It is not the first time the militiamen have been accused of rights violations and war crimes. Right after the victory, militiamen allegedly killedmany prisoners.
UNESCO is warning that the Islamic State militants are undertaking the "cultural cleansing" of minority groups from Iraq and compared the activity to "Nazi methods." Antiquities dealers and Interpol are also addressing the loss of artifacts that may net the militants as much as $200 million a year in foreign markets.
In Tikrit, a mosque memorializing the tomb of Saddam Hussein‘s father wasdestroyed by militants. The graves of several former officials were destroyed as well.
Militants responded to the loss of a dozen villages near Hit yesterday, by executing 70 members of the Albu Nimr tribe on Sunday.
The bodies of two prominent officials were discovered in Iskandariya. One belonged to a Babil provincial council member, the other to a judge. Both had been kidnapped two or three months earlier, but it is unclear how long they were tortured before being shot.
In Baghdad, a dumped body was found. Three militants were killed.
Gunmen killed three shepherds in Abu Saida.
Gunmen in Daquq tried to assassinate the local security chief but killed his bodyguard instead.
Militants arrested 18 policemen in Qayara.
The battle for Baiji continues with Iraq forces having taken about 50 percent of the town back. Ten militants were killed. Security forces killed an ISIS leader.
Kirkuk security officials have arrested a number of people sneaking into Kirkuk, whom they believe to be militant deserters. Some arrived with bullet wounds or other issues.
Forty militants were killed in an airstrike on Mount Makhoul.
Airstrikes in Muqdadiya left 26 militants dead.
In Mosul, 16 militants were killed in an airstrike, then another 20 in later strikes. Four doctors were taken from a hospital.
Security forces killed nine militants in Baiji.
Airstrikes in Hardaniya left eight militants dead and seven wounded.
Seven militants were killed and five were wounded in an airstrike in Sinjar.
Fierce clashes took place between Peshmerga and militant forces in Taza.
Obama: Troop Deployments to Iraq Signal ‘New Phase’ in War
Insists Troops Won't Be in Combat
by Jason Ditz, November 09, 2014
Speaking today on his plan to double the number of US ground troops in Iraq, President Barack Obama said the deployment signals a “new phase” in the ongoing war against ISIS.
“Phase one was getting an Iraqi government that was inclusive and credible – and we now have done that,” Obama insisted, saying it was now time to go on the offensive against ISIS.
Despite this, and despite Pentagon officials saying the new ground troops would bedeployed to the front lines in Iraq’s Anbar Province, Obama maintained that the troops still won’t be going into combat.
Despite the pretense, the deployment of ground troops into Anbar all but ensures that they will be in the line of fire of ISIS forces, and will as such be directly involved in combat against them.
It seems the administration is trying to tell two distinct stories about the new war, sticking to his pledges of not having ground combat in public statements, while trying to assure the incoming Congressional hawks that major escalation of the war is indeed in the offing.
Where this leaves those troops remains to be seen, but it is hard to imagine that the 3,000 ground troops that will be in Iraq at the end of the current round of escalation are anything close to the endgame, and that more, perhaps dramatically more, are coming.
Lack of Intel Limits Effectiveness of US Airstrikes on ISIS
Only One in Four Warplanes Sees Anything to Bomb
by Jason Ditz, November 09, 2014
Three months into the US air war in Iraq and Syria, the attacks are still as haphazard as they’ve ever been, with warplanes heading out with no intelligence on what they’re out to get, or specific targets.
Rather, the planes are just told to overfly ISIS territory looking for “attacks of opportunity,” which is to say bombing anything that looks like it might be conceivably ISIS-related.
Even with a loose definition of ISIS-related that has seen warplanes bombing grain silos and any convoy of more than a couple cars, only about one in four sorties actually runs into anything to bomb.
Despite US claims that the bombings have done major damage to ISIS, including a weekend sortie that reportedly killed 50 ISIS members, British military leaders warn that there even in the best case scenario that those slain actually were ISIS leaders, the group will quickly recover.
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