The battle to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State has entered its second day, with the Iraqi government reporting that 20 villages surrounding the regional capital have been liberated, but the gates of the metropolis itself remain far from participating militias.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — American troops, including some who are embedded with advancing forces, are “in harm’s way” as they collaborate with troops from Iraq, the Kurdish Peshmerga, and Iran-linked Shiite militias in the fight to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), according to the Pentagon.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made clear he wants Turkey to play a significant role in the liberation of Mosul, Iraq, from the Islamic State (ISIS). The Iraqi government has rejected Turkey’s advances, however, and while Erdogan waits for an opportunity to participate in that offensive, he has begun discussing similar military activity against ISIS “capital,” Raqqa, Syria.
Europe faces a new influx of Islamic State jihadists if Iraqi forces retake the group’s stronghold Mosul, officials and analysts warned Tuesday, adding to fears on a continent battered by a string of Islamist attacks.
Contents: Turkey and Iraq in dispute over Turkish participation in Mosul operation; Turkey views the Mosul operation as a security threat to Turkey; ISIS may be given a chance to escape to Syria
More is riding on the battle for Mosul than the recapture of the Islamic State group’s main stronghold in northern Iraq. Also on the line is the Obama administration’s theory that the extremists can be defeated in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere without American ground troops doing the fighting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking from India at an economic summit for developing countries, denied charges of Russian skulduggery in the U.S. presidential election, accused America of “spying on everyone and eavesdropping on everyone,” and warned Western powers to “do everything to minimize civilian casualties” in the battle for Mosul.
The government of Iraq announced at 2AM local time Monday that the initiative to eradicate the Islamic State from Mosul, the nation’s second largest city, has begun.
The battle to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from jihadists could unleash a massive humanitarian crisis, potentially pushing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes as winter sets in.
Contents: Iraq begins battle to recapture Mosul from ISIS; Sectarian violence may interfere with recapture of Mosul
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Sunday that operations to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group were key to defeating the jihadist group.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of military operations to liberate the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants on Monday, launching the country on its toughest battle since American troops left nearly five years ago.
The news of an impending military initiative to liberate Mosul, Iraq from the Islamic State reportedly led a high-ranking jihadist commander to attempt a mutiny against the terrorist organization, one that failed and left dozens of jihadists dead.
The United Nations says it bracing for the world’s biggest and most complex humanitarian effort in the upcoming battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul, which could make up to 1 million people homeless and see civilians used as human shields or even gassed.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted on Tuesday that Turkey’s infantry will participate in the liberation of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Islamic State, despite repeated demands by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that Turkey stay out of his country.
The armed forces of Iraq will directly attack their Turkish counterparts if the government of Turkey decides to deploy more troops to fight the Islamic State within that country, Iraqi officials have reportedly said, following blistering statements from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Iraqi Shiite militia fighters are “pouring into Syria to reinforce the Assad regime’s siege of Aleppo, further complicating the tangled web of alliances the U.S. relies on to fight Islamic State, which can turn an ally on one side of the border into an enemy on the other.”
The Iraqi television network Al Sumaria is reporting that the Islamic State has issued a fatwa against breeding cats indoors, a surprising move, given the pivotal role kittens have played in Islamic State propaganda, as well as the high regard for the species in the Quran.
Wednesday found the governments of Turkey and Iraq summoning each others’ ambassadors for acrimonious exchanges over Turkish troops stationed near Mosul, as the battle to liberate that city from ISIS approaches.
Iraq and Turkey on Wednesday were summoning their respective ambassadors in an increasingly acrimonious dispute between the two neighbours ahead of a planned operation to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from jihadists.
Contents: France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle begins assault on ISIS in Mosul; UN says Mosul could be ‘largest man-made disaster in many years’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration is getting ready to deploy an additional 615 U.S. troops to assist Iraqi forces in retaking Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), bringing the overall number of American service members in the country to 5,262.
Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists are “dead set” on using chemical weapons and are likely to try to use them in an attack as U.S.-backed Iraqi troops advance on Mosul, which is considered the terrorist group’s last major stronghold in Iraq, warned the Pentagon.
Contents: ISIS losing territory in Iraq and Syria; Pyrrhic victory over ISIS could create a ‘terrorist diaspora’
The Islamic State group could use mustard gas against an Iraqi offensive to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, the US Defense Department said Monday.
The prime minister of Iraq, while addressing world leaders at the United Nations Assembly’s annual general debate, suggested that the U.S.-backed Iraqi military will liberate Iraq from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) “by the end of the year.”
According to a report from Iraqi News, the Islamic State staged the public execution of six youths from a “resistance faction” in Mosul by handcuffing them and then killing them with a welding machine, before a large crowd of onlookers.
The highest-ranking military officer in the U.S. confirmed that the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) used a potentially deadly “sulfur-mustard blister agent” to target a base in northern Iraq that houses American troops. This marks the first recorded chemical attack on the United States since the jihadist group conquered swaths of Iraq in 2014.
Contents: Turkey’s Erdogan blames the EU for reneging on the refugee deal; With Turkey ‘left alone,’ Erdogan announces refugee plan conflicting with US plans; A major new flood of refugees starting to flee from Mosul in Iraq
Several Arab and Western espionage agencies have set up a joint situation room to trace thousands of Islamic State fighters who went missing in Syria, Iraq and Libya, an Arab intelligence official told Breitbart Jerusalem.
Despite the Islamic State group’s loss of territory, the Islamic extremists will continue to pose serious national security problems for the United States and Europe in coming years, the directors of the FBI and CIA said Thursday.
Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists reportedly tied nine young men to iron poles in Mosul before hacking them in half with a chainsaw.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The top commander of America’s military efforts against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq and Syria has predicted that the U.S.-backed Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are “on track” to recapture the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, considered to be the jihadist group’s largest remaining stronghold in the country, “by the end of the year.”
Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the official spokesman for the Islamic State (IS) group who gained notoriety for his frequent calls for jihad, has been killed in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, the militant group’s media outlet announced Tuesday.
JAFFA, Israel – The Islamic State terrorist organization this past Saturday reportedly executed four men, including two of its own, on suspicion of homosexuality.
The Islamic State continues to think up horrifying new methods to execute captives, deserters, and accused spies. In the latest atrocity, six accused spies were reportedly publicly executed in an Iraqi town by dipping them into vats of boiling tar.
Tensions within the Islamic State’s ranks appear to have boiled over at a training camp in Iraq, where an exasperated “foreign jihadi leader” opened fire on his own disobedient troops, sparking a gun battle that killed two and wounded 20 more.
Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako, head of Iraq’s largest Christian community, decried the commander of the Christian Assyrian Army, known as Dwekh Nawsha, for shedding tears for U.S. troops killed in Iraq, suggesting the Americans do not deserve to be commended for their sacrifice.
On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that the Pentagon would investigate claims by human-rights organizations – including the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Amnesty International, and the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces – that American airstrikes have killed over 100 civilians since June. Some estimates say the death toll could be closer to double that number.
Nearly all the pieces have fallen into place for the U.S.-backed Iraqi forces to make a push to recapture Mosul, the de facto Iraqi capital of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) that has been described as the jihadist group’s last remaining stronghold in the country, declared a top Obama administration official.
