[Centraal] Irak en IS #127 #FreeAssyria

twitter:

SumerRising twitterde op maandag 16-03-2015 om 22:15:08 #Iraq; Kurdish fighters (likely #peshmerga) abuse a man and then knock him out http://t.co/4SZd5lUEDT #Twitterkurds http://t.co/9YssrWWwK2 reageer retweet

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Iran has deployed advanced rockets and missiles to Iraq to help fight the Islamic State in Tikrit, a significant escalation of firepower and another sign of Iran’s growing influence in Iraq.

U.S. intelligence agencies detected the deployments in the past few weeks as Iraq was marshaling a force of 30,000 troops — two-thirds of them Shiite militias largely trained and equipped by Iran, according to three U.S. officials. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence reports on Iran.

Iran has not yet launched any of the weapons, but U.S. officials fear the rockets and missiles could further inflame sectarian tensions and cause civilian casualties because they are not precision guided. Their deployment is another dilemma for the Obama administration as it trains and equips the Iraqi military and security services to help defeat the Islamic State, but unlike Iran is unwilling to commit fighters and advisers who could join Iraqi forces in the field.

One senior U.S. military official who tracks classified intelligence reports said Iran had deployed Fajr-5 artillery rockets and Fateh-110 missiles and their launchers. Another senior U.S. military official who also monitors sensitive government reports on Iran said the deployed weapons were similar to the Fajr-5 rockets and Fateh-110 missiles but were slightly different. The official offered no other details. The CIA declined to comment.

Either way, U.S. officials agreed that the Iranian missiles introduced a new level of advanced weaponry to the battlefield in Iraq, even as some experts questioned their usefulness at this stage in the battle for Tikrit. But the Fajr-5 rockets are the same weapons Hamas has fired against Israel. Hezbollah and the Syrian army have also been using Iranian rockets and missiles, military specialists said.

The second senior U.S. military official said the Iranian missiles are “not a big deal at this point,” but then added, “My concern, as with artillery and other nonprecise weapons, is collateral damage if they employ them.”

Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 3, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, alluded to the deployment of the rockets and missiles when he said, “This is the most overt conduct of Iranian support, in the form of artillery and other things.”

Dempsey also said that while the involvement of Iranian-backed Shiites in Tikrit could be “a positive thing,” he voiced concerns that “it will only be a problem if it results in sectarianism.”

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The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has said it is “necessary to destroy all the churches of the region,” following Kuwait’s moves to ban their construction.
Speaking to a delegation in Kuwait, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, stressed that since the tiny Gulf state was a part of the Arabian Peninsula, it was necessary to destroy all of the churches in the country, Arabic media have reported.
Saudi Arabia’s top cleric made the comment in view of an age-old rule that only Islam can be practiced in the region.
The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia is the highest official of religious law in the Sunni Muslim kingdom. He is also the head of the Supreme Council of Ulema (Islamic scholars) and of the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Issuing of Fatwas.
A Kuwaiti parliamentarian said last month he wanted to ban the construction of churches and non-Islamic places of worship in the Gulf state.
MP Osama Al-Munawer announced on Twitter he planned to submit a draft law calling for the removal of all churches in the country. He later clarified that existing churches should remain but the construction of new non-Islamic places of worship should be banned.

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Op dinsdag 17 maart 2015 16:04 schreef reza1 het volgende:
Destroy all churches in Gulf, says Saudi Grand Mufti

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Op dinsdag 17 maart 2015 15:32 schreef reza1 het volgende:
Iran deploys advanced rockets to help Iraq fight Islamic State

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Op dinsdag 17 maart 2015 13:05 schreef Atak het volgende:

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Dus? Dat maakt het alleen maar erger. Dit gebeurt vast wel vaker en wij sturen wapens naar die apenbende

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Op dinsdag 17 maart 2015 15:25 schreef reza1 het volgende:

twitter:

SumerRising twitterde op maandag 16-03-2015 om 22:15:08 #Iraq; Kurdish fighters (likely #peshmerga) abuse a man and then knock him out http://t.co/4SZd5lUEDT #Twitterkurds http://t.co/9YssrWWwK2 reageer retweet

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c0f_1422315361

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on February 26, 2015 documenting abuses by the Kurdish security forces against Arab villages in Iraq’s Ninewa province. The group documented cases of limiting movement of Arabs, destroying homes, and warrantless arrests. The press has sporadically reported some of these stories before, but this paper was the most thorough. These examples all showed how the Islamic State has caused deep feelings of mistrust between ethnosectarian groups in Iraq that will take years to overcome.


Kurdish forces have limited the freedom of movement of Arabs in Ninewa governorate. After several districts in Ninewa were freed of the Islamic State the peshmerga and Asayesh did not allow displaced Arabs to return to their homes. This happened in places like Makhmour city to the southeast of Mosul. The stated reason was that it was not safe. At the same time, Kurdish citizens were allowed into many of those same areas. In other cases there were four districts where Arabs had not fled during the fighting and they were cordoned off by the Kurdish security forces. This covered roughly 40 villages with around 20,000 people. The residents of these towns could not leave and could not go to work if they were outside of these zones. Again Kurds could move in and out of these places. Human Rights Watch met with Kurd officials in December 2014 to question them about these policies. The government representatives said that they could discriminate against Arabs who worked with IS. On another occasion a spokesman for the Peshmerga Ministry said it would take time before Arabs could move freely in Ninewa because there was so much animosity against them because of the insurgency. In both cases it appeared that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was enforcing collective punishment upon Arabs in these districts. While some locals obviously did welcome the insurgents when they took over the region, it is likely impossible to determine exactly who those people were across such a wide width of territory. Not only that even Arabs who fled in the face of IS are being persecuted as well by not being allowed back to their homes. Finally, if this was due to security concerns then why were Kurds being allowed into and out of these areas?

Kurdish forces have been accused of destroying Arab homes. There were various cases of this discovered throughout the Makhmour and Zummar districts, the latter of which is to the northwest of Mosul. Some were burned, some bulldozed, and some blown up. Some had pro-Kurdish and anti-Arab graffiti sprayed painted across them. Local officials, the Asayesh and the Peshmerga Ministry blamed the IS, fighting and Coalition air strikes for the damage. Human Rights Watch did find examples of that such as in Rwala in Makhmour where IS had wrecked houses. In other towns however, such as Qaraj and Gwar suspicions were raised because Arab homes were destroyed while Kurdish ones were untouched. Kurdish and Arab residents said that Kurdish forces destroyed some homes of people they believed worked with IS. In Zummar three Kurds witnessed peshmerga burning and blowing up homes after it recaptured the area from the militants, and in Bardiya houses had been set fire to and bulldozed. This was motivated by the fear that the homes were booby-trapped or because they believed the owners were IS supporters. In Makhmour Kurds told Human Rights Watch that Kurdish civilians burned some Arab homes for the same reason. There was no telling whether any of these homes actually belonged to IS backers or not. Rather it showed the deep seated desire for revenge that the group has generated in the forces fighting it. Both the peshmerga and civilians wanted to strike back at the group and killing its fighters was not enough. They wanted to expel anyone they suspected of being associated with the group as well, and destroying their homes was the best way to achieve that.

Human Rights Watch found cases of warrantless arrests and the abuse of prisoners. In five villages of Makhmour 70 Arabs had been taken away from August 2014 to January 2015 by the Kurdish security forces. By the end of January 2015 63 of them were still being detained with no charges being filed against them. They were also not being allowed to talk with their families. There were fears that they might be mistreated as well. Human Rights Watch found seven videos posted from June to December 2014 that appeared to show Peshmerga and Asayesh members abusing captives such as using electric shock and threats. Other human rights groups have documented torture, beatings, warrantless arrests and prisoners being held incommunicado before by the KRG. Kurdistan like the rest of Iraq has a flawed justice system that lacks due process, and has a long history of abuse.

Human Rights Watch was not the first to note these types of actions by the Kurds. There have been several news stories on the same topics in Ninewa and other provinces, but they have not been as comprehensive. For example, Amnesty International’s Donatella Rovera went to Barzanke, Ninewa in the winter of 2014, and found all the houses destroyed there. Some of that was done by IS, but the peshmerga might have been involved as well. Some local Kurds said they wrecked houses because they believed they belonged to IS supporters, and stated that they didn’t want any Arabs back either. In December, a commander from the Khorasani Brigade accused peshmerga of bulldozing Arab homes in Diyala’s Jalawla to prevent them from returning. Niqash, Al Mada and Al Monitor reported similar stories in Jalawla and Ninewa. Again, the main motivation for these incidents was revenge against people accused of supporting the Islamic State.

The need for security and the desire for retribution appeared to drive most of the Kurdish actions in Ninewa, but there was another issue at play as well. First, the Kurds did need to make sure the areas they had re-captured were safe. Precautionary measures needed to be taken to protect against booby trapped houses and sleeper cells hiding amongst the displaced as these have both been tactics employed by the Islamic State. Then again, the thirst for revenge and the mistrust of Arabs in general were also major factors. Many people were accused of being IS supporters, but how much of that was based upon real evidence of simply lumping all Arabs together as being pro-insurgent? Finally, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would like to annex these areas in Ninewa, and pushing out Arabs from some of these regions would serve that purpose. The KRG has claimed many of these areas were cleared of Kurds by Saddam Hussein and then Arabized by the government. Having Arabs leave would ensure the Kurdishness of these disputed territories. Whatever the case may be the demographics of many of these villages in Ninewa are being changed in the aftermath of the Islamic State. The group has caused such deep divisions it might take a generation to overcome all the damage it has done to Iraqi society.

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Op woensdag 18 maart 2015 06:43 schreef reza1 het volgende:
Human Rights Watch Report On Kurdish Abuses In Northern Iraq

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http://musingsoniraq.blog(...)-on-kurdish.html?m=1

Walgelijk die door Iran gesteunde soennitische Peshmerga terroristen

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Op woensdag 18 maart 2015 07:05 schreef PizzaMizza het volgende:

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DIe is zo oud en heb je al 2x gepost

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Op woensdag 18 maart 2015 06:22 schreef PizzaMizza het volgende:
Shiietische militias branden een ISIS-strijder's baard eraf met een aansteker en dwingen hem vervuild water te drinken

De aanvallen van die lui worden steed erger.

ا�راد الحشد الشعبي يحرقون لحية مواطن معتقل لديهم ويعتدون عليه بالضرب لإجباره على شرب مياه قذرة

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Op woensdag 18 maart 2015 07:14 schreef reza1 het volgende:
Plane drops of ammunition helping to reinforce ISIS – reports
The Islamic State is getting outside help, with plane drops providing ammunition for the terrorist organization, according to an RT Arabic report. Iraqi government soldiers also say this is a recurring theme and the group is as strong as ever.

“Not long ago we saw three planes, which flew towards this area,” said a soldier loyal to the Iraqi government. “Everyone saw them. One was big and it was flanked by two smaller ones. Boxes were dropped from the plane around 500 meters from the Al-Jarash area of the city. Three hours later, ISIS started attacking us. Our ammunition had finished… there’s hadn’t,” he added.
http://rt.com/news/241573-isis-plane-drop-ammunition/

twitter:

Iraqism twitterde op woensdag 18-03-2015 om 07:36:36 Iraqi Air Force drop leaflets over #Mosul urging citizens to prepare for their liberation from #ISIS. #Iraq http://t.co/D0VL29LTdR reageer retweet

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While the United States has invested trillions of dollars and thousands of lives since 2003 to bring Iraq into its orbit, today it is Iran that appears to have achieved that goal, albeit with far less costs in terms of money and lives, observers and analysts of Iraqi affairs agree.

There appears to be no better demonstration of Iran’s success in having firmly established its hegemony across Iraq than in the current operation to retake the Sunni-dominated province of Salahuddin in central Iraq. The operation to push out Islamic State (IS) militants from Tikrit and its surrounding areas in Salahuddin is being carried out by a ragtag force of Shiite Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs), the Iraqi army and some local Sunni tribes.

The largest military campaign so far against IS, the Salahuddin operation has been noted for the heavy involvement of Iranian military advisers and the conspicuous absence of the US military. While the United States has in the past aided similar operations by the Iraqi military and PMUs in areas such as Amerli and Baiji, no US warplanes are now dropping bombs in Salahuddin.

“The Iranians have checkmated the Americans, and I think the Americans now understand this,” Hayder al-Khoei, an Iraq expert at the London-based Chatham House, told Al-Monitor. “What’s interesting about the Salahuddin operation is that the Iraqis and the Iranians are proving to Americans: We don't need your airstrikes.”

When IS swept large parts of northern and central Iraq in June, the jihadist group appeared unstoppable. During a forum last week in Sulaimaniyah, a city in Iraqi Kurdistan, Brett McGurk, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran, admitted that a few days after IS’ onslaught in mid-June, his government's assessment was that Baghdad might fall within 72 hours.

“Iran proved, despite its difficult economic conditions, that it is prepared … and stood by us in any way it could to defend our country and our Islam and common beliefs, and by that I don’t mean the Shiite sect but the genuine human values that govern in this region,” said Hussein al-Shahristani, Iraq’s minister of higher education and a powerful Shiite politician, during the forum. “Iraqis will not forget this favor.”

Iraqi leaders say Iran has provided around $10 billion worth of weaponry to their forces. Iranian military advisers have also not been shy to advertise their role in the battle to retake the key city of Tikrit, the hometown of their former No. 1 enemy, former leader Saddam Hussein.

Gen. Qasem Soleimani, head of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's (IRGC) elite Quds Force, has made no secret of his pivotal role on the front lines of Salahuddin. He is said to have been deeply involved in planning and executing the current battle.

Many of the major Shiite armed groups such as the Badr Brigades, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Hezbollah are known to have been founded, trained and funded by the IRGC. It’s these forces that play the critical role in pushing back IS jihadists, according to media reports.

US military officials have expressed their concerns over Iran’s strong role in Salahuddin, fearing this could further alienate Sunni Arabs and Washington's efforts to get them onboard to fight against IS. Amid all this, many observers are asking whether the United States was even invited to join the Salahuddin campaign.

“The Iranians and their Iraqi proxies wanted to demonstrate their power and that they can fight in any battlefield, whether it is in the … mixed sectarian areas or in Sunni-only areas such as the Tigris River Valley [in Salahuddin],” Michael Knights, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy specialized in the military affairs of Iraq and Iran, told Al-Monitor.

The US absence in the Salahuddin theater comes despite Washington’s attempts to coordinate the “liberation” of Sunni areas from IS. A date was even announced by Pentagon officials for an operation to retake Mosul from IS. But by conducting the Salahuddin operation, Shiite paramilitary groups and their Iranian backers sent a message of their own.

“[Iran and Shiite forces] are the most significant partners to the Iraqi state. They planned this operation to ensure they would get [to Tikrit] first, before the Americans,” Knights added. “It’s a big propaganda victory for the PMUs.”

Knights said that the operation was initially planned without Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's involvement. Official Iraqi army units were added only later, when Abadi got wind of the planning for the operation. Around 20,000 Shiite forces and 3,000 Iraqi soldiers are taking part in the Salahuddin assault, according to top US Gen. Martin Dempsey.

If the operation succeeds, most of the credit will go to PMU leaders such as Hadi al-Ameri and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Quds Force Cmdr. Soleimani, Knights said.

The emergence of IS appears to have further consolidated Iranian clout in Iraq, as Iran's generals and sponsored militias have taken the lead in fighting off IS in areas the jihadist group seized from the Iraqi army last summer.

Even though many believe much of the US arms assistance for Iraq ends up in the hands of the pro-Iranian Shiite paramilitary groups, these forces make little secret of their disdain for the United States, often peddling conspiracies that the United States and other countries deliver military aid to IS.

While Iran has jockeyed for influence in Iraq since 2003, the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in late 2011 paved the way for a stronger Iranian role in Iraq. The Syrian crisis next door brought Tehran and Baghdad even closer together as both sides shared an interest in saving President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and preventing the rise of a Sunni-dominated order there.

Now, as Iraq continues to slide even further into Iran’s hemisphere of influence, many in Washington are questioning US arms deliveries to Baghdad. Concerns about military aid to Iraq have been amplified due to gross human rights violations committed by Shiite PMUs and Iraqi troops.

Kenneth Pollack, an expert on Middle East politics and military affairs with the Washington-based Brookings Institution, believes the United States should continue a strong relationship with Baghdad.

“I think the Americans drawing back will be the worst thing to do. That will drive the government in Baghdad even more deeply into the arms of the Iranians,” Pollack told Al-Monitor. “If Iraq is going to move to a place where Iran has less influence, it’s going to take a long time.”

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IraqLiveUpdate twitterde op woensdag 18-03-2015 om 18:35:31 Reports: Iranian doctors and nurses provide medical support to Iraqi forces and volunteers at the frontlines reageer retweet

twitter:

IraqLiveUpdate twitterde op woensdag 18-03-2015 om 13:03:59 9000 Sunni fighters join PMU volunteers in #Iraq's #TikritOp, ex security chief Sammaraei said on @AlArabiya #Tikrit http://t.co/Ko3rPOIZMT reageer retweet

twitter:

IraqLiveUpdate twitterde op dinsdag 17-03-2015 om 21:48:40 Son of Iraqi Kurdistan MP splashes $650,000 on a 'fun night' Teenager Idris son of Nechirvan Barzanihttp://t.co/CMOhIN8hBX reageer retweet