region:western iraq

Sic Semper Tyrannis : Two new US bases in western Iraq.
▻https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2018/12/httpswwwalmasdarnewscomarticleus-builds-two-military-bases-alon

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c72e153ef022ad38400e2200c-600wi#.jpg

The generals’ club is probably at work in this, seeking to limit the effect of Trump’s order for US forces to withdraw from Syria.

The one in roumana sub-district is the location from which US Army 155mm artillery is firing in support of continuing SDF attacks against the hajin pocket in the SE corner of Syria. There will be US Army GBs with the SDF adjusting these fires. IMO those GBs will be left in Syria to do what only they do best, keep the locals in the fight. This base will be useful as a forward staging point for any raids that SOF forces might want to make into Syria (kill Baghdadi, etc.)

The other base is at rutbah and is positioned astride the highway from al-tanf in Syria. In this position it will continue to obstruct the Damascus-Baghdad-Iran main ground route. 

These two facilities will surely be supported and supplied from the al-asad air bast which Trump visited. pl

#Syrie #Etats-Unis #Irak

S’il te plaît, envahissez mon pays : How to Salvage Syria
▻http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/07/how-to--syria.html

Based on months of interviews with Syrian opposition figures, ISIS defectors, Sunni Arab tribesmen, U.S. military sources, and intelligence officials, we believe it necessary, as part of this plan, to keep small but effective U.S. garrisons indefinitely in eastern and northeastern Syria and western Iraq.

Destroying Syria to Create Sunnistan
▻http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/09/destroying-syria-to-create-sunnistan

Commentaires par l’ultra-gauche US d’un édito assez fracassant de John Bolton, ex ambass de Bush en Irak si ma mémoire est bonne... En gros, l’idée de redessiner la carte du Moyen-Orient est toujours là, avec des forces « sunnites » pour remplacer celles de l’Etat islamique.... On en parle aussi dans la presse arabe, là ▻http://www.raialyoum.com/?p=358192 par exemple .

The message the US military is sending with these lethal attacks is that it wants to control the air-space over east Syria where it plans to remove ISIS and establish a de facto Sunni state consistent with its scheme to break Syria and Iraq into smaller cantons governed by local warlords, Islamic fanatics, and US puppets. A great deal has been written about this topic already, so we won’t spend too much time on it here. A recent op-ed in the New York Times by neocon John Bolton sums up the basic concept which appears to be supported by virtually the entire US political establishment. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“Today’s reality is that Iraq and Syria as we have known them are gone. ….. Rather than striving to recreate the post-World War I map, Washington should recognize the new geopolitics. The best alternative to the Islamic State in northeastern Syria and western Iraq is a new, independent Sunni state….

This Sunni state proposal differs sharply from the vision of the Russian-Iranian axis and its proxies (Hezbollah, Mr. Assad and Tehran-backed Baghdad). Their aim of restoring Iraqi and Syrian governments to their former borders is a goal fundamentally contrary to American, Israeli and friendly Arab state interests….

The new “Sunni-stan” may not be Switzerland. This is not a democracy initiative, but cold power politics. It is consistent with the strategic objective of obliterating the Islamic State that we share with our allies, and it is achievable.” (“John Bolton: To Defeat ISIS, Create a Sunni State“, New York Times)

Like we said, the Bolton piece is just one of many articles and policy papers that support the partitioning of Iraq and Syria and the redrawing of the map of the Middle East. ISIS, which is largely an invention of western Intel agencies and their Gulf counterparts, is a critical component in this overall plan.

Saudi-led naval blockade leaves 20m Yemenis facing humanitarian disaster | World news | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/05/saudi-led-naval-blockade-worsens-yemen-humanitarian-disaster

http://media.guim.co.uk/6aa1c1e6d0b20844edb3f847ba3d3b55de03013d/0_290_2953_1772/2953.jpg

Riad avait été remercié (sic) d’avance par l’ONU pour sa générosité (sic)

Despite western and UN entreaties, Riyadh has also failed to disburse any of the $274m it promised in funding for humanitarian relief. According to UN estimates due to be released next week 78% of the population is in need of emergency aid, an increase of 4 million over the past three months.

#mascarade #crimes_légalisés #Saoud #Yemen

If Shi’ite militias beat Islamic State in Tikrit, Iraq will still lose
▻http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/03/30/if-shiite-militias-beat-islamic-state-in-tikrit-iraq-will-still-lose

ere is a new Iraqi paradox: whatever progress the Shi’ite Muslim-dominated Baghdad government makes against jihadi insurgents occupying large swathes of north-western Iraq, it is simultaneously undermining what is left of the Iraqi state, whose frailty and malfunctions created the environment in which jihadism was able to surge in the first place.

The dereliction of the Iraqi state was already powerfully illustrated by the takeover of one-third of Iraq, including the city of Mosul, by Islamic State (also known as ISIL or ISIS) in June 2014. Security forces proved rotten to the core despite a decade of training and expansion. Local Sunni Arab elites were revealed to have turned their backs on their constituencies in favor of a corrupt, corrosive relationship with authorities in Baghdad. Power struggles in the capital often deteriorated into sectarian fear-mongering.

Iran op-ed asks Soleimani to defend Kobani - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/10/iranians-ask-soleimani-defend-kobani.html

One op-ed by conservative Iranian news website Khabar Online has asked Soleimani to help defend Kobani. As commander of the Quds Force, Soleimani has been heavily involved in advising the Iraqi forces and militias since IS took over large parts of western Iraq this summer. Pictures of him alongside Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdish forces in various Iraqi cities have become common as Iran has not hidden its presence there.

The op-ed cited reports that Soleimani and Iran were involved in liberating the Iraqi town of Amerli and had supplied arms to Kurdish forces in Iraq to fight IS. It read that “the weight of resistance in the region” was on his shoulders.

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/10/iranians-ask-soleimani-defend-kobani.html#ixzz3GrQXDJAC

Despite Airstrikes, #ISIS Appears to Hold Its Ground in Iraq
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/world/middleeast/isis-iraq-airstrikes.html

... even with the backing of Western air power, the broad battle lines have remained roughly static, with the Sunni Arab-dominated areas in western Iraq still largely hostile territory for the government forces.

A week ago, for example, a force of about 800 soldiers found themselves stranded at Camp Saqlawiya in Anbar, cut off from the rest of the army behind Islamic State lines without food, water, fuel or, eventually, ammunition, according to soldiers who escaped. Finally, on Sunday, an army tank unit based in Ramadi, outside of Anbar, made its way through a road mined with improvised explosive devices to within 500 yards of the base, said a soldier in the group who gave his name as Abu Moussa.

Seeing the rescuers, the soldiers inside the base opened the gates and ran out, he said. But groups of Islamic State fighters suddenly poured out of neighboring buildings and surged forward in pick-up trucks with heavy-weapon mounts. At least two armed vehicles rigged with bombs made it into the base and exploded.

The tanks retreated, Abu Moussa said, crushing bodies of dead soldiers underneath them. “I have not seen such fire and blood for 10 years” in the military, he said. “It is a disaster.”

#Irak #désastre

#ISIS says behind #Baghdad bombing that killed 33
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/isis-says-behind-baghdad-bombing-killed-33

Islamic State militants claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an overnight suicide bombing in Baghdad which killed 33 people, one of the deadliest recent attacks in the Iraqi capital. The hardline Islamist group which has led an offensive through northern and western #Iraq said the explosion in Kadhimiya, site of a major Shia shrine, was carried out by a fighter it named as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Tunisi (the Tunisian). Officials initially put the death toll from the bomb at 23, but hospital and morgue officials said on Wednesday morning it had risen to 33, with more than 50 wounded. read more

Two car bombs kill six in #Baghdad
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/two-car-bombs-kill-six-baghdad

Two car bombs struck Baghdad on Monday, killing six people and wounding a dozen others, police and medical sources said. The explosions occurred as the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki battles jihadi insurgents who have taken over large parts of northern and western #Iraq and threatened the capital. The first bomb exploded in the central district of Alawi, killing three people and wounding six. The second struck in the western neighborhood of Bayaa, also killing three people. (Reuters)

#Nuri_al-Maliki

#Iraq PM accuses Kurds of providing cover for militants in Erbil
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraq-pm-accuses-kurds-providing-cover-militants-erbil

Iraqi Prime Minister #Nouri_al-Maliki said on Wednesday the Kurdish-controlled city of Erbil was becoming an operations base for the #Islamic_State militant group that seized swathes of northern and western Iraq last month. Maliki is under pressure as militants, led by the #al-Qaeda offshoot Islamic State, hold large parts of the north and west of the country and have threatened to march on the capital. “We will never be silent about Erbil becoming a base for the operations of the Islamic State and Baathists and al-Qaeda and the terrorists,” Maliki said in his weekly televised address. read more

#Kurdistan

#Iraq's Kurdish leader calls for #independence vote
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraqs-kurdish-leader-calls-independence-vote

The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish north asked the region’s parliament on Thursday to prepare the way for a referendum on independence, according to lawmakers who attended the closed session. Iraq’s five million Kurds, who have ruled themselves within Iraq in relative peace since the 1990s, have expanded their territory by up to 40 percent in recent weeks as Sunni Islamist militants seized vast stretches of western and northern Iraq. read more

#Kurdish_Autonomous_Region #Massoud_Barzani

#Baghdad attacks kill nine
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/baghdad-attacks-kill-nine

Attacks and shelling in Baghdad and northern and western #Iraq killed nine people on Monday, officials said, as electoral authorities counted ballot papers from last week’s general election. The bloodshed is the latest in a protracted surge in unrest that the government has blamed on external factors such as the civil war in neighbouring Syria. Analysts and diplomats, however, say it is at least partly due to anger in the minority Sunni Arab community over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities. read more

#2014_Elections #Terrorism #Top_News

Deadly clashes shake #Iraq's #Anbar province
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/deadly-clashes-shake-iraqs-anbar-province

Ongoing clashes between anti-government fighters and soldiers near a militant-held city on Baghdad’s doorstep have killed at least three people wounded dozens more, officials said Friday. The latest unrest erupted Thursday night in Anbar province, a mostly desert region in western Iraq along the Syrian border, where security forces have failed for months to evict insurgents from key territory. Army forces began shelling the region of Zoba, which lies just south of Fallujah, local officials said, sparking clashes with militants. read more

#Top_News

U.S. Sends Arms to Aid Iraq Fight With Extremists - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/26/world/middleeast/us-sends-arms-to-aid-iraq-fight-with-extremists.html

The United States is quietly rushing dozens of Hellfire missiles and low-tech surveillance drones to Iraq to help government forces combat an explosion of violence by a Qaeda-backed insurgency that is gaining territory in both western Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Le cadeau de Noël de l’Oncle Sam à l’Irak : des missiles et des drones (de surveillance, pour le moment).

AGM-114 Hellfire - Wikipédia
▻http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-114_Hellfire

Le AGM-114 Hellfire (hellfire signifie en anglais « feu de l’enfer ») est un missile antichar à guidage laser semi-actif, ou à guidage radar (de type tire et oublie) en fonction des versions. Il est fabriqué par l’entreprise de défense américaine Lockheed Martin. Il est principalement utilisé sur les hélicoptères, notamment sur l’AH-64 Apache, mais également sur des drones tels que les MQ-1 Predator et MQ-9 Reaper. Très polyvalent, il peut être employé contre tout type de véhicule, mais aussi contre des bâtiments. Sa portée relativement longue permet au lanceur de rester à l’abri, voire invisible.

La pression monte pour livrer des drones armés

Iraq’s foreign minister has floated the idea of having American-operated, armed Predator or Reaper drones respond to the expanding militant network. But Mr. Maliki, who is positioning himself to run for a third term as prime minister and who is sensitive to nationalist sentiment at home, has not formally requested such intervention.

The idea of carrying out such drone attacks, which might prompt the question of whether the Obama administration succeeded in bringing the Iraq war to what the president has called a “responsible end,” also appears to have no support in the White House.

“We have not received a formal request for U.S.-operated armed drones operating over Iraq, nor are we planning to divert armed I.S.R. over Iraq,” said Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, referring to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. For now, the new lethal aid from the United States, which Iraq is buying, includes a shipment of 75 Hellfire missiles, delivered to Iraq last week. The weapons are strapped beneath the wings of small Cessna turboprop planes, and fired at militant camps with the C.I.A. secretly providing targeting assistance.

In addition, 10 ScanEagle reconnaissance drones are expected to be delivered to Iraq by March. They are smaller cousins of the larger, more capable Predators that used to fly over Iraq.

American intelligence and counterterrorism officials say they have effectively mapped the locations and origins of the Qaeda network in Iraq and are sharing this information with the Iraqis.

Administration officials said the aid was significant because the Iraqis had virtually run out of Hellfire missiles. The Iraqi military, with no air force to speak of and limited reconnaissance of its own, has a very limited ability to locate and quickly strike Qaeda militants as they maneuver in western and northern Iraq. The combination of American-supplied Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, tactical drones and intelligence, supplied by the United States, is intended to augment that limited Iraqi ability.

The Obama administration has given three sensor-laden Aerostat balloons to the Iraqi government, provided three additional reconnaissance helicopters to the Iraqi military and is planning to send 48 Raven reconnaissance drones before the end of 2014. And the United States is planning to deliver next fall the first of the F-16 fighters Iraq has bought.

The lack of armed drones, some experts assert, will hamper efforts to dismantle the Qaeda threat in Iraq over the coming weeks and months.

D’ailleurs, les experts trouvent que ce n’est pas normal qu’il n’y ait pas de frappes de drone là-bas…

“The real requirement today is for a long-range, high-endurance armed drone capability,” added Mr. Knights, who frequently travels to Iraq. “There is one place in the world where Al Qaeda can run a major affiliate without fear of a U.S. drone or air attack, and that is in Iraq and Syria.”

Et si les États-Unis trainent les pieds, la Russie est prête à prendre la relève…

Frustrated by the United States’ reluctance to sell Apaches, the Iraqis have turned to Russia, which delivered four MI-35 attack helicopters last month and planned to provide more than two dozen more.

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Pour Human Rights Watch, ce n’est pas forcément une bonne idée…
Dispatches : New Weapons Won’t Address Iraq’s Deeper Problems | Human Rights Watch
▻http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/12/26/dispatches-new-weapons-won-t-address-iraq-s-deeper-problems

So the United States has delivered 75 Hellfire missiles to Iraq, The New York Times reported, to help Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki fight Al-Qaeda’s regional affiliate, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The US has already sent Iraq reconnaissance helicopters, and plans to deliver more aerial drones and F-16 fighter planes in 2014, the article said. The Hellfire air-to-ground missiles and reconnaissance drones, along with US intelligence, are meant to “augment limited Iraqi ability”to locate and strike Al-Qaeda militants, the article said.

The US focus on new weapons seems to be missing the point about the security problems facing Iraq. There’s little evidence that Iraq’s failure to improve security in the country stems from a lack of weapons, but rather from its short-sighted approach to corruption and sectarian politics, and a counterterrorism strategy that targets Sunni Iraqis amounting to collective punishment.