Mediaboss Marketing

Half a dozen units of Islamic State group fighters holed up in western Mosul began their morning radio checks at just after 4 a.m. It was still dark and Iraqi forces deployed a few blocks away were listening in as they prepared an advance on the city's al-Rifai neighborhood.

"Thirty, what's new? ... 120, do you read me? What's up?" the IS radio operator said, using Iraqi slag.

About 40 minutes later the first U.S.-led coalition airstrike hit as Iraqi forces pushed across a main road and began clearing the neighborhood's narrow streets.

"We're seeing at least two squirters at the impact site," a member of the coalition force radioed back to the Iraqi troops in Australian-accented English, using a slang term for badly wounded IS fighters. Moments later the extremists were calling for doctors over their own radio network.

Over the next 12 hours, more than 10 coalition airstrikes hit al-Rifai's eastern edge. Most targeted small teams of two or three IS fighters manning sniper rifles or machine guns so Iraq's special forces units could advance on the ground.

Military operations like the one in al-Rifai this week are accelerating in Mosul as part of a drive to retake the handful of districts still under IS control before the holy month of Ramadan begins at the end of May. And despite recent allegations of increased civilian casualties, advances on the ground continue to be backed by heavy airstrikes and artillery.

Launched in mid-February, the fight for Mosul's western sector has been marked by some of the most difficult fighting and catastrophic destruction yet in Iraq's war against IS. The brutality of the operation was highlighted by a single incident just a month into the operation a U.S. airstrike on March 17 that killed more than 100 people sheltering in a home, according to residents and other witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press.

By contrast, Mosul's eastern half was retaken in 100 days of fighting. While front lines stalled at times, the area was less densely populated, neighborhoods were more modern with wider streets allowing tanks and other armored vehicles greater freedom of movement and the area was never under siege, allowing many IS fighters to flee westward.

The number of civilians reportedly killed in coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria spiked to 1,800 in March, more than three times the number reported a month earlier, according to Airwars, a London-based group that tracks civilian deaths from coalition airstrikes. Official figures from the Pentagon, which is slower in confirming deaths, are far lower: It said last month that it has confirmed coalition airstrikes killed at least 352 civilians in Iraq and Syria combined since the campaign against IS started in 2014.

The March 17 incident sparked outrage in Iraq and beyond. The U.N. called on Iraq to conduct "an urgent review of tactics to ensure that the impact on civilians is reduced to an absolute minimum."

The Pentagon is still investigating the incident but Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, said the munitions used by the U.S. that day should not have taken the entire building down, suggesting that militants may have deliberately gathered civilians there and planted other explosives.

An Iraqi officer overseeing the Mosul operation said that after the March 17 strike, he received orders to no longer target buildings with munitions. Instead airstrikes were directed to the streets and gardens beside IS locations. But the order lasted only a few days. Now, as Iraq's army, special forces and militarized federal police push to clear the last vestiges of western Mosul held by IS, the volume of airstrikes is the same as when the mission to retake western Mosul first began, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

A few blocks from the front-line advance, Faisa Muhammed, her children and grandchildren huddled Tuesday on the ground floor of their home. Car bombs, airstrikes and mortar attacks had already broken every window in their house. Their street had been declared liberated the day before but the fight was still so close that the force of nearby explosions filled their living room with dust and blew open the curtains they had pulled closed over the shattered window frames.

Muhammed said two airstrikes hit on either side of her home over the past week. One killed a single IS fighter in a neighboring garden and another killed a three-member sniper team on the roof of another house.

"If we hear only 10 explosions in a day, that's very little," she said as her grandchildren sat quietly even as the walls around them shook. When the whine of a mortar sounded overhead everyone mechanically plugged their ears with their fingers. Soldiers took cover in her garden when a nearby airstrike sent rubble raining down on the street outside.

"This has become normal for the children," Muhammed said.

Just over eight square kilometers (three square miles) of western Mosul remains under IS control, but within that area is the Old City congested, densely populated terrain that is expected to present some of the most difficult fighting and greatest danger to civilians.

The renewed push to drive IS out of the remaining pockets still under its control was launched just over two weeks ago and since then Iraqi forces have retaken more than 30 square kilometers (12 square miles), according to the U.S.-led coalition, forcing thousands to flee. Some 500,000 people have fled western Mosul since February and the United Nations warned another 200,000 may be forced to flee as the operation continues.

U.N. humanitarian coordinator Lise Grande called the numbers "overwhelming."

Iraqi special forces Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said he hopes to complete the Mosul operation before Ramadan begins around May 27 in order to get resources to the hundreds of thousands of civilians believed to be besieged in IS-held Mosul.

"It is very important to reach them very quickly," he said, adding that a victory before the holy month would "bring joy to the residents of Mosul and the troops."

Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad and Mouhammad Nouman in Mosul contributed to this report

Excerpt from:
Airstrikes fuel Mosul gains as Iraq pushes for quick victory - ABC News

Iraq's Sunni minority is pushing for a greater say in power once the Islamic State group is defeated, reflecting growing sentiment that the country's government must be more inclusive to prevent extremism from gaining ground once again.

But so far, there's little momentum. Many Shiite politicians are wary, and the Sunni leadership is divided and disorganized. On the ground, tensions are further stoked because Shiite militias and Kurdish fighters control some mainly Sunni areas recaptured from IS militants and are resistant to withdrawing.

The danger is that Iraq will miss the chance to break the sectarian cycle that has fueled extremism for more than a decade.

Sunni resentment over disenfranchisement and the rise of Shiite power after the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein fueled an insurgency and gave a foothold to al-Qaida. The U.S. military, backed by Sunni tribal fighters, largely crushed al-Qaida. But Sunni bitterness over continued discrimination by Shiites helped in the subsequent rise of the Islamic State group. Each time, the rise of militants only deepened Shiite suspicions that the Sunnis cannot be trusted.

U.S. officials backing Baghdad in the fight against IS have warned repeatedly that the same could happen again now unless the government is made more inclusive.

A prominent Sunni lawmaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, said Iraq could fall apart unless a "historic compromise" is reached.

"Such compromise is a must, otherwise Iraq will be gone," the former parliament speaker told The Associated Press.

He and some Sunni factions put together a working paper outlining their stance for talks on a new system, calling for negotiations over dramatic changes to the constitution.

Shiite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has called repeatedly for unity after the defeat of IS, and Shiite politicians say they recognize the need for more inclusiveness.

"We have big concerns for the post-Daesh period," said Shiite lawmaker Ali al-Alaq, using an Arabic acronym for IS. He says proper distribution of resources and rebuilding of state institutions are key to keeping the country together.

He pointed to a referendum on independence that the Kurdish autonomous region aims to hold later this year. "We are concerned that Sunnis could demand the same," he said.

But any real talks are on hold while fighting still rages over the Islamic State group's last main urban bastion, Mosul.

And already there are fault lines over numerous issues.

SECURITY

The Sunni working paper calls for steps to address their complaints that crackdowns on militants have unfairly hurt their community. It demands a halt to "random arrests," the freeing of detainees not convicted of crimes and eventually a review of anti-terrorism laws.

Shiite politicians have long resisted those demands, pushing for a tougher fight against terrorism. Shiites estimated at up to 60 percent of the population of more than 36 million often suspect the Sunni minority of secret sympathies with militants and of aiming to regain power. Sunni Arabs dominated the ruling Baath Party and leadership positions during the rule of Saddam, a Sunni himself who brutally suppressed Shiites.

Long term, many Sunnis want provincial governors to have greater control over security forces on their soil, ensuring that Sunnis are patrolling Sunni regions.

Khalaf al-Hadidi, a provincial council member in Nineveh, the mainly Sunni province where Mosul is located, said local security forces need to be given a "bigger role in protecting the province. These (local) forces must be under the governor's control instead of many parties from outside the province."

But Shiite-led governments have long distrusted local Sunni security forces, at times refusing to arm or pay them. The collapse of mainly Sunni police forces in the face of the IS blitz of 2014 only reinforced Shiite fears that Sunnis would not act against militants.

MILITIAS

Intertwined with Sunni security demands is their deep opposition to Shiite militias, which have a major role in the fight against IS but are also accused of abuses against Sunnis. The working paper calls for the disbanding of the Hashd, the government-backed umbrella group of militias, most of them Shiite.

Far from agreeing to disband, however, the militias are pushing for greater official recognition of their power.

Shiite militias and Kurdish fighters hold significant parts of Nineveh province and other mainly Sunni areas. The Federal Police, an overwhelmingly Shiite force, is also fighting in Mosul alongside the military. Sunnis want those forces to leave quickly.

But a senior Shiite politician Ali Adeeb, head of the State of Law coalition in parliament said those forces cannot leave Mosul until there is "certainty that Daesh ideology will not return ... We are worried this ideology will come back and Daesh will come back to regain control."

DECENTRALIZATION

A main Sunni call is for greater authority and resources to be handed down to the provinces, giving Sunnis more say in areas they dominate.

A major issue would be how to distribute government funds. Sunnis have long complained that Shiite-majority areas get favored in budget spending, infrastructure development and directing of investments. That question will become particularly acute after IS's fall because billions of dollars are needed to rebuild Sunni cities destroyed in the fight against the militants and already there is grumbling that no plan has been put together for reconstruction.

The working paper also calls for significant reforms to ensure Sunnis have a voice in the central government. It demands an end to the system of divvying up government posts that effectively turns ministries into fiefdoms of political factions, particularly Shiite ones.

But that could meet resistance from Shiite parties with entrenched interests. Shiites also say their election victories carried by their demographic majority give them the right to set up ruling coalitions.

In the eyes of some Shiites, Sunni complaints over Shiite domination only fuel sectarianism. In comments Tuesday, senior Shiite politician Amar Hakeem warned against agendas that "pit communities, religions and sects against each other."

"One of the cracks through which Daesh entered was by playing with the social fabric and claiming to protect one community," he said, according to Iraqi press reports.

THE KURDS

Iraq faces another possible conflict over the Kurds. The Kurdish autonomous region in the north has repeatedly called for a referendum on full independence from Iraq. Now, Kurdish leadership says such a vote could happen as early as September.

That is potentially more explosive because the Kurds seized extensive areas outside their self-rule zone during fighting with IS. Most notably, they hold the oil-rich central province of Kirkuk, which they have long claimed as their own but has significant Sunni Arab and ethnic Turkmen communities.

SUNNI DIVISIONS

Not all Sunni factions have signed onto the working paper. Since Saddam's fall in 2003, Iraq's Sunni Arabs have been wracked by divisions and lack a strong political party to press their case in Baghdad.

If a compromise is not reached with Baghdad, it could strengthen calls for Sunnis to demand outright autonomy like the Kurds. So far, that holds limited appeal among Sunnis because their provinces lack resources and would likely be squeezed out of oil wealth.

Still, Atheel al-Nujaifi, the former Nineveh governor, is one of a few calling for a self-rule region. He says the priority is the liberate Mosul, then try talks with Baghdad. But failing that, Mosul residents have the right to create their own region.

"We will still need Baghdad only to protect the borders," he said.

Associated Press writer Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.

More here:
Sunnis seek greater say in post-IS Iraq but face resistance - ABC News

Clutching their rifles, the soldiers raced across the exposed rooftop, then crouched behind a wall that shielded them from the bullets of an invisible enemy hiding in the maze of Mosul's Hay al Aiqtisadiiyn neighbourhood.

Gas masks lay scattered on the ground or dangled from the belts of the soldiers, indicating that the battle for the Iraqi city has taken another turn for the worse even as victory draws close.

After seven months of fighting, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) is hemmed into a ever shrinking pocket on the west bank of the Tigris river.

Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, spokesman for Iraq's Joint Operations Command, on Tuesday told a news conference in Baghdad that the jihadists now control just over 10 per cent of the west Mosul.

Facing defeat, Isil has become increasingly ruthless in its attempts to slow its opponents' progress. Since April, the terror group has...

See the original post:
Iraq troops face Isil chemical attacks in final battle for Mosul - Telegraph.co.uk

(Beirut) The Iraqi army and other local security forces have forced over 300 displaced families to return to west Mosul neighborhoods still under risk of attack by the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), Human Rights Watch said today. The families, who had fled to the Hammam al-Alil and Hajj Ali camps for displaced people, are severely short of water, food, electricity, and medical assistance.

Wadi Hajjar neighborhood in west Mosul. Many families who had fled were forced to return there.

Displaced residents, camp staff in Hammam al-Alil, and three federal police officers said that families were returned to certain west Mosul neighborhoods to make room for newly displaced people from more recently retaken neighborhoods of west Mosul. But aid workers involved in camp management and United Nations assessments of camp capacity indicated that the camps still have space for new arrivals.

People from western Mosul fled some of the worst fighting there and finally found safety, only to be forced back to areas still under ISIS fire, saidLama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. These families should not be forcibly returned to unsafe areas and areas that lack adequate water, food, electricity, or health facilities.

The UN Guiding Principles on internal displacement state that all internally displaced people should be able to choose where they live and have the right to be protected against forcible return to any place where their life, safety, liberty, or health would be at risk.

Human Rights Watch visited the Mansour and Wadi Hajjar neighborhoods of west Mosul on May 15, 2017, and spoke with some of the families. Three people from Wadi Hajjar said they had fled the fighting there for camps in Hammam al-Alil, 30 kilometers south of west Mosul, between one and two months ago. They said that at around 1 p.m. on May 9, camp staff came to their tents and said they had to leave because the camp was full, and new arrivals were on the way from other west Mosul neighborhoods that had more recently been retaken. Some families were given up to two hours to leave, while others were ordered to leave immediately, without being able to gather their belongings.

A camp resident talks to a member of the Iraqi forces after his arrival at Hammam al-Alil camp south of west Mosul, Iraq May 10, 2017.

The west Mosul residents who were forcibly returned and spoke to Human Rights Watch said they had not wanted to return because of the lack of adequate food, water, and health facilities.

A staff member at the same camp in Hammam al-Alil said that an army commander called the camp manager on May 9, and said the camp had two hours to round up all the families from Wadi Hajjar, Tal Rumman, and Mansour neighborhoods. The staff started going tent by tent in Section A to deliver the instructions.

The families were not ready, and most did not want to go, the staff member said. In the end, it was totally indiscriminate who got to stay because we had not made it to their tent in time, and who was forced to leave. We only got through a small number of the tents when at least 30 army trucks came and took at least 300 families.

One man said Iraqi army officers loaded him into a truck with three families and drove them to Baghdad Circle, the southern entry point to the city, just over two kilometers from the front line, without giving them any choice in where they were taken.

The families walked back to their neighborhoods or shared taxis. One woman from Wadi Hajjar who could not afford a taxi said she walked back with her four young children, the youngest 3 months old. Her home was destroyed during the fighting and her husband was executed by ISIS, she said. I have no water and cannot find milk here for my baby, she said. She was living in an abandoned apartment in the area and was afraid her baby would die because she couldnt get milk.

On May 10, the camp staff member said, staff rounded up more families, but stopped when they got word that the mayor of the town of Hammam al-Alil had ordered the returns halted.

An international staff member said that the mayor issued an order on May 9, after hearing about the forcible returns, and that some of the families who had been forced out heard about it from friends or relatives in the camp and returned to the camp. But the staff member was concerned that their ration cards might not have been returned to them. The mayor told Human Rights Watch all the returns had been voluntary, and that only 67 families had ultimately remained in west Mosul.

However, two people from Wadi Hajjar, who said they had lived in the same camp, said that at about 7 a.m. on May 14, camp management came to their tent and told them they had two hours to get ready to leave. They both protested but were told they had no choice. They said the army loaded up about 30 families from Wadi Hajjar, Mansour, and Wadi al-Ayn onto several trucks and drove them to Baghdad Circle. One said he returned to his home in Wadi Hajjar to find that an ISIS mortar had blasted through his roof. Neighbors told him it had happened 10 days earlier.

Another man from Wadi Hajjar who had spent a month and a half in a camp in Hajj Ali, a village about 70 kilometers south of Mosul, said that on May 10, a local sheikh arrived at the camp with several guards in two vehicles. When residents gathered around, the sheikh said: Those of you from liberated neighborhoods have to go back home. The man said he was concerned about having to go back, but left three days later, sharing a taxi with 10 other people back to Wadi Hajjar.

Dozens of the returned families from Wadi Hajjar and Mansour said that they had limited electricity and water. Many said they could not afford to buy enough food for their families from the local markets, where prices remain elevated.

Abu Omar, the mayor of Wadi Hajjar, said that one hospital in the area has recently reopened, but has yet to offer more than the most basic medical services. An aid worker traveling into west Mosul told Human Rights Watch they only knew of one other clinic in the five neighborhoods that was operational.

People who had returned to Wadi Hajjar said that ISIS mortar attacks had hit the neighborhood as recently as May 5, and that they feared ISIS grenade attacks delivered by drone. Security reports from the International NGO Safety Organisation said that the Mansour neighborhood was hit with an ISIS mortar attack as recently as May 12. The front line is currently between one and three kilometers from the neighborhoods where people returned.

As of May 16, UN data showed that there were at least 7,000 plots in various camps available for new arrivals and two international aid workers told Human Rights Watch that organizations have identified multiple sites for potential new camps. They said that one new camp opened at about the same time as the first forcible returns and that another is to open in late May. They said that at least one camp was ready to receive displaced people but was sitting empty at the order of local authorities.

In addition, at least 38 percent of displaced people were seeking refuge in host communities, not camps, with that number rapidly rising in recent weeks to up to 80 percent of the new arrivals. However, aid workers said, Iraqi authorities have been hesitant to look beyond the camps in their planning to try to meet the needs of people seeking refuge elsewhere.

The armed forces have an obligation to protect civilians, but they are instead putting civilians in danger by sending them back into unsafe areas, Fakih said. All returns should be safe, dignified, voluntary, and informed.

More:
Iraq: Families Who Fled Mosul Forced Back - Human Rights Watch

Washington Times

Middle East peace can be achieved by shift to Iraq Washington Times Attempts to rehabilitate the Iranian revolutionary regime into a normal state have failed. Release of the regime's frozen funds, via the nuclear-weapons agreement, have allowed Iran to use that money to support militias and mercenaries in Iraq, Syria ... Iraq's outspoken Shia cleric Sadr urges Saudi-Iran 'serious dialogue'The New Arab This is the aim of Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia and it isn't good for Shia communitiesThe Independent all 542 news articles »

See the article here:
Middle East peace can be achieved by shift to Iraq - Washington Times