Archive for the ‘Iraq’ Category

1st ID headquarters to return from Iraq – Manhattan Mercury (subscription)

More than 300 soldiers with the 1st Infantry Division headquarters will return from Iraq and Kuwait this month starting with a group of more than 180 set to return at 4 a.m. on Friday to Fort Riley.

A group of about 500 soldiers deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, in October. Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin led the deployment after replacing Maj. Gen. Wayne Grigsby as commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley.

The unit worked in a coalition with 23 countries and with other U.S. military branches to support Iraqi troops with intelligence information, logistics, supplies and communication, in the effort to liberate Mosul from Islamic State control.

Since the unit deployed, 1.8 million people were liberated in Mosul, which had been under ISIS control since June 2014. More than 350,000 children have returned to school, 320 schools have reopened and 195,000 internally displaced persons have returned to their homes.

The initial 500 soldiers included rotational forces that deployed to and have already left Iraq and Kuwait, said Jason Roberts, a 1st Infantry Division spokesman. The remaining 300 soldiers will return by the end of July.

The unit is the third division returning to Fort Riley this year. More than 800 soldiers with the 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, returned from Afghanistan in April.

Almost 4,000 soldiers of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, recently returned from the Republic of Korea starting in May.

The entire 1st Infantry Division is expected to be on post for Victory Week, an annual celebration that starts Aug. 21 and features live music and entertainment for military families and the surrounding community.

In another Friday ceremony, Col. John M. Cyrulik will relinquish command to Col. Chris Black after two years in command of the 1st Combat Aviation Brigade at 10 a.m. on the Cavalry Parade Field.

Cyrulik is slated to become the commandant at Citadel Military College in Charleston, South Carolina.

Black comes from Duke University where he served as a fellow in National Security, Strategy and Policy.

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1st ID headquarters to return from Iraq - Manhattan Mercury (subscription)

Hobby Lobby to Return Ancient Artifacts Believed Stolen From Iraq – Wall Street Journal (subscription)


Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Hobby Lobby to Return Ancient Artifacts Believed Stolen From Iraq
Wall Street Journal (subscription)
There was one problem: The items appeared to have been stolen from Iraq, federal authorities alleged, then smuggled into the U.S. from the United Arab Emirates and Israel, bearing labels identifying them as ceramic tiles and Tiles (Sample)..

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Hobby Lobby to Return Ancient Artifacts Believed Stolen From Iraq - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Tony Blair may have had doubts about Iraq, but he made a decision and stood by it. That’s leadership – Telegraph.co.uk

When the sales of a classic movie start to fade, the trick pulled by DVD and Blu-Ray manufacturers is to issue a brand new version. Previously unseen deleted scenes, a blooper reel, archived and rarely-seen interviews with the production team theyre all added to a remastered version of the original movie and sold as the definitive version to eager and gullible fans.

This morning I wondered if Sir John Chilcot was perhaps attempting a similar marketing approach to his report into the causes of the Iraq war.

Are sales of his 12-volume opus perhaps flagging, now that the initial excitement of publication day is finally waning? Perhaps Sir John feels understandably frustrated that he was forced to produce his conclusions at a far faster pace than he would have liked, rushing to print a mere seven years after his inquiry was set up.

For to mark the first anniversary of the publication date,...

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Tony Blair may have had doubts about Iraq, but he made a decision and stood by it. That's leadership - Telegraph.co.uk

Iraq slows advance on last IS pocket in Mosul packed with civilians – Reuters

MOSUL/ERBIL, Iraq Iraqi forces slowed their advance on Tuesday through the last streets in Mosul controlled by Islamic State where militants and civilians are packed in densely together, a commander said.

While Iraqi commanders predicted final victory in Mosul this week, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced they had begun an assault on Islamic State's Syrian redoubt in the Old City of Raqqa.

The Iraqi military has pushed insurgents into a shrinking rectangle no more than 300 by 500 meters beside the Tigris river in Mosul; but the resistance has been fierce.

The Rapid Response Division, an elite Interior Ministry unit, called in air strikes just 50 meters away from their targets, and the fighting got close enough at one point for the militants to toss a hand grenade at the troops.

It was from the pulpit of Mosul's medieval Grand al-Nuri Mosque that, three years ago, leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a "caliphate" over parts of Iraq and Syria. Forces retook the mosque on Thursday, prompting Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to declare an end to the group's "state of falsehood".

The number of Islamic State militants fighting in Mosul, by far the biggest city it has ever controlled, has dwindled from thousands at the start of the U.S.-backed offensive more than eight months ago to a couple of hundred now, according to the Iraqi military.

A commander from the Rapid Response Division estimated more than 10,000 civilians remained trapped inside the area under militant control, including people brought from other areas as human shields.

They are trapped with little food, water or medicine amid the Old City's maze of narrow alleyways, according to residents who have managed to escape.

"The presence of civilians has affected the troops' advance a lot. The directions from the commander-in-chief of the armed forces are to advance slowly to preserve civilians' lives and this is what we are doing," the officer said on state TV without being named.

"The area is small but the advance today is very good, relatively."

He said the progress had also been slowed by a high number of improvised explosives planted in streets and buildings.

A U.S.-led international coalition is providing air and ground support to the offensive, which Iraq's army and counter-terrorism service are also fighting in a multi-pronged attack.

TERRITORY SINKING FAST

With Mosul gone, the group's territory in Iraq will be limited to a few areas west and south of the city where some tens of thousands of civilians live.

In neighboring Syria, a U.S-backed coalition force said it had fired on two small sections of the historic Rafiqah Wall in the Old City of Raqqa, allowing them to overcome Islamic State defenses.

"The portions targeted were 25-metre sections and will help preserve the remainder of the overall 2,500-meter wall," the coalition said in a statement.

Iraqi authorities are planning a week of nationwide celebrations, to mark the end of the offensive, and Abadi is expected to visit Mosul to formally declare victory.

With its territory shrinking fast, Islamic State has been stepping up suicide attacks in the parts of Mosul taken by Iraqi forces and elsewhere, including a camp for displaced people west of Baghdad on Sunday.

Thousands of people have already fled the Old City this week, joining about 900,000 others, about half the city's pre-war population, who have been displaced over months of grinding warfare.

Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding near the Iraq-Syrian border, according to U.S. and Iraqi military sources.

The group has moved its remaining command and control structures to Mayadin, in eastern Syria, U.S. intelligence sources have said, without indicating if Baghdadi was also hiding in the same area.

Baghdadi has often been reported killed or wounded. Russia said on June 17 its forces might have killed him in an air strike in Syria. But Washington says it has no information to corroborate such reports and Iraqi officials are also skeptical.

(Writing by Stephen Kalin; editing by Ralph Boulton)

BERLIN Germany should brace for further attacks given growing numbers of potential Islamist militants, top security officials warned on Tuesday, vowing to step up efforts to prosecute, convict and deport suspects.

MOSUL/BEIRUT Western-backed forces edged into the final redoubts of the two capitals of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, hampered by fierce resistance from the militants and the presence of human shields.

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Iraq slows advance on last IS pocket in Mosul packed with civilians - Reuters

Iraq – ETC Situation Report #43 Reporting period 26/05/2017 to 30/06/2017 – Reliefweb

Highlights

The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) extended its Internet connectivity services to the affected community in the CDO Community Centre in Arbat camp. This is the ETCs second Services for Communities (S4C) project in Iraq.

The ETC conducted a mission to Athbah, 15km from west Mosul, to install CMOSS-compliant radio equipment for staff in the new IHP overnight camp within Athbah field hospital compound.

A total of 87 humanitarians have registered to access ETC Internet connectivity services in Domiz and Arbat camps since the beginning of 2017.

More than 1,411 vouchers have been used by the affected population at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Youth Centre and Internet cafe in Domiz camp since the project started in June 2016. This was the ETCs first S4C project.

The ETC is in the process of receiving US$1.47 million from the Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund (IHPF), led by the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) and managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), to provide services until the end of May 2018.

Situation Overview

People continue to flee Mosul under difficult circumstances, which are exacerbated by high temperatures. Many people living in Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)-controlled areas are food insecure and have not had access to safe drinking water and medicines for weeks or months. Humanitarians continue to respond to the extremely fast outflows of people, but the pace and scale of displacement is stretching response capacities. In the past weeks, mass displacement of civilians continues in western Mosul. Since the start of the Mosul operation in October 2016, 678,177 Iraqis have been displaced.

Humanitarian and protection needs remain severe. Where possible, humanitarian partners, including the ETC, are planning to conduct more assessment missions in newly-accessible priority sites to determine needs on the ground.

The ETC is planning to conduct needs assessment missions in the priority camps identified to determine communications needs of humanitarians and later, affected communities.

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Iraq - ETC Situation Report #43 Reporting period 26/05/2017 to 30/06/2017 - Reliefweb