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ISIS Says British Militant Carried Out Suicide Attack in Iraq New York Times LONDON They called him Abu Zakariya al-Britani the surname means the Briton and they say he blew himself up on Monday in an attack at a village southwest of Mosul, Iraq. The claim, in a communiqu from the Islamic State, immediately revived ... Iraq suicide bomber was former detainee at Guantanamo BayUPI.com Isis bomber Jamal al-Harith: from Manchester to Iraq via GuantnamoThe Guardian British suicide bomber in Iraq had won compensation for Guantanamo stayReuters New York Post -KCRA Sacramento -The Times (subscription) all 364 news articles »

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ISIS Says British Militant Carried Out Suicide Attack in Iraq - New York Times

BAGHDAD Senior U.S. military officials want to elevate talks with Russia aboutair operations over Iraq and Syria, an effort that is meant to protect pilots from collisions but complicated by concerns at the Pentagonthat doing so will make itlook like Washington and Moscow have begun to collaborate on the battlefield.

The talks, known as deconfliction, began in 2015 after the Russian military deployed forces to Khmeimim Air Base, a military installation along Syrias Mediterranean coastline that has been used to launch airstrikes against opposition forces in Syria in support of PresidentBashar al-Assads regime. Russias arrival in Syria complicated U.S.-led operations against the Islamic State military group in Syria, which began a year earlier.

An agreement signed between Washington and Moscow in fall 2015 called for the use of specific communication frequencies and the establishment of a phone hotline in which a U.S. colonel in Qatar and a Russian counterpart in Syria deconflict operations regularly but do not share intelligence. When there are points of contention between the two militaries, though, the existing arrangement has not left many options for U.S. officers, said Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, the top Air Force commander in the Middle East.

Our perspective has been that there needs to be another layer that allows us to have a more senior-level discussion, and weve got to work through where that layer is, Harrigian told reporters in Baghdad this week, suggesting that adding a U.S. general with somewhere between one and three stars and a Russian counterpart would be helpful.

[New anti-Islamic State plan could change U.S. strategy in Syria]

Harrigian said that U.S. aircraft on occasion get out of the way of Russian jets. This was especially true a few months ago when both countries werelaunching airstrikes regularly near the Syrian city of Palmyra, he said. Such decisions could be hampering the overall operation, however.

In essence, we had some conflicting operational desires that ultimately we ended up working our way through over time because we were never able to elevate this discussion, Harrigian said. Did we miss targets? I cant say that for sure, but I would tell you that optimally we would have gone after that in a different manner.

U.S. military officials also have advocated upgrading the technology used to communicate with the Russians, which up until now has consisted of little more than a commercial phone line, said Air Force Col. John Thomas, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. Doing so, he said, would boost the safety of flight operations, and thats certainly a big reason for considering making the communication more robust.

The discussions are complicated by legislation passed in 2014 after Moscows military bloody intervention into Ukraine and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. With few exceptions, the law banned military-to-military cooperation between the United States and Russia unless Russian forces withdraw from Ukraine. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis can make an exception on issues where he considers it in U.S. interests, but is not ready to do so anytime soon, according to two people familiar with his thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

During a Feb. 16 visit to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels, Mattis said that the conditions are not right presently for the U.S. and Russian militaries to work together and that Moscow would have to prove itself first.

We are not in a position right now to collaborate on a military level, but our political leaders will engage and try to find common ground or a way forward so that Russia, living up to its commitment, can return to a partnership of sorts here with NATO, Mattis said.

Senior U.S. military officials and the Obama administration last year discussed establishing a new, higher-level channel for communicating with Russia about Syria that could have involved three-star generals, but Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter opted not to make a change before leaving office, according to people who were aware of discussions at the time and spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak candidly.

The individuals said that one of the concerns was potentiallycreating the appearance that Russia and the United States were carving up sections of Syrian airspace for their differing missions, effectively collaborating. Another was that senior U.S. military officials already could consult senior civilian officials at the Pentagon in cases where they ran into any difficulty with the Russians.

Elissa Slotkin, one former senior defense official involved in the discussions at the time, said that until the Trump administration makes policy decisions about how it wants to interact with Russia in regard to Syria, it would be unwise to increase interaction between the U.S. and Russian militaries any more than needed to keep pilots safe. She said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis might address the issue in a plan hehas been directed to deliver to Trump by the end of the month on how to accelerate the war against the Islamic State, she said.

Concerns about a potential collision in the air have persisted as U.S., Russian, Syrian and Turkish aircraft increasingly converge on the same areas of Syria, like the city of al-Bab. Pilots who have recently flown combat sorties over Iraq and Syria said that existing ways of deconflicting dont always work well and Russian pilots sometimes do not respond to radio communications.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Corcoran, commander of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing that flies combat missions against the Islamic State, said that the military has opted to fly advanced F-22 Raptors above U.S. aircraft in a stack formation in part because their sensors can better keep track of other aircraft. At times, he said, information gathered in the F-22 has been used to shift other U.S. planes to make room for an incoming Russian aircraft.

In October, U.S. military officials were particularly alarmed by an incident over Syria in which a Russian jet passed within a half-mile of a coalition E-3 Sentry, better known as an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) plane. The encounter was close enough to knock out the radar on the AWACS, Corcoran said.

Operations have improved since then, Corcoran said, but he said hed still welcome additional dialogue. Russian jets not only encounter American aircraft over Syria, he said, but over the Iraqi city of Mosul and surrounding areas, as Russian jets travel to Syria from southern Russia after crossing south down the Caspian Sea and west over Iran.

I think it would be helpful, Corcoran said of elevating talks. Its never a bad thing to have [military-to-military]ties. How many times during the Cold War did we say that having them stopped bad things from happening? We all have our objectives, but we have to talk.

Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford was open to elevating deconfliction talks to higher levels of the military, individuals familiar with previous discussions said. He met Feb. 16 with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Valeriy Gerasimov, in Baku, Azerbaijan, marking their first face-to-face meeting since Russias intervention in Ukraine in 2014.

A spokesman for Dunford, Navy Capt. Greg Hicks, said that the U.S. military continues to ensure the safety of flights over Syria and concerns are met through existing communication channels but declined to characterize Dunfords talks with the Russian general.

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US generals want elevated talks with Russia about Iraq and Syria operations because of aerial collision fears - Washington Post

Iraq - When they return to their home communities, Iraqis displaced by the current crisis face a host of challenges, including the destruction of infrastructure, housing and property. Access to basic services, availability of drinking water, food, health care, shelter and livelihood opportunities are all ongoing sources of concern.

During community assessments in areas retaken from ISIL, IOM staff have met many returned Iraqis whose homes are damaged. They are often staying with their relatives or neighbours, and some are living in tents next to their homes.

Due to the hardship and expense of displacement and return, the cost of home repair may be prohibitive for many families. Damage often includes burned rooms, destroyed roofs, and no access to water.

In response to these needs, IOM is rehabilitating homes for vulnerable Iraqi returnee families with support from the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). This is enabling families to safely and sustainably move back into their homes.

The project provides repairs for damaged or partially destroyed homes, the rehabilitation of a minimum of one room, the replacement of doors and windows and installation of basic water and sanitation facilities. Families are selected and prioritized based on the state of their home and vulnerability, with special consideration for female-headed households.

The current phase of the project began in December 2016 and includes a total of 200 houses in Salah al-Din and Diyala, which are 40 percent complete. Locations in Salah al-Din include Tikrit City, Al Alam, and Dour. Assistance for returnee families to rehabilitate damaged homes will also be provided in Al-Qayara. The previous phase of the OFDA project in 2016 included the rehabilitation of 400 homes in the same two governorates, benefitting 2,800 individuals.

Marwa and her nine children, granddaughter and daughter-in-law were displaced from Aledhaym sub- district in Diyala governorate in June 2014.

Prior to displacement our lives were excellent and stable. Our region had prosperous agriculture; our family cultivated wheat and watermelon. We fled because of the arrival of armed groups and clashes between them and the army. We fled in our small car. We brought blankets, a few clothes, our ID cards documents and enough food for two days, she said.

We rented houses during our displacement, but we were forced to move from one house to another. These houses were unfinished and lacked doors and windows. We sold our car to have money to pay for our basic needs, including food, clothing and housing.

It was not until September 2016 that we felt it was safe to return to our village. We found our house was burned, but we stayed because we did not have any other options. We no longer have the tools for agriculture, so my eldest son is planning to open a shop near our home. He is currently just working as a labourer when there are opportunities. My other children have not yet had an opportunity to return to their studies. We were not able to afford the renovations, but now IOM has renovated our bathroom and living room. The new space will keep us safe, she added.

IOM Iraq Chief of Mission Thomas Lothar Weiss said: As returns increase in Iraq, it is necessary to expand strategies and funding to assist returnees; shelter provision is a main priority. IOM is pleased to support thousands of Iraqi families with shelter support in cooperation with the Government of Iraq and our donors to promote and support sustainable long-term return.

The OFDA-funded project also includes shelter upgrades to assist displaced families living in unfinished buildings, schools, religious buildings, and other critical shelter arrangements. In 2016 more than 700 families in Baghdad, Najaf, Kerbala, Babylon, Qadissiya and Wassit governorates benefitted from these emergency rehabilitation works and upgrades, carried out by contractors and IOM staff. The 2017 phase of the project will assist more than 600 families in critical shelter arrangements.

Methods for these upgrades are compiled in IOM Iraq Missions recent publication, Rehabilitating, Repairing and Upgrading Critical Shelters and Damaged Houses. Click here to download the booklet.

Drawing from hands-on experience on the ground, the booklet presents shelter guidelines that aim to offer step-by-step guidance in repairing and upgrading critical shelters and damaged houses. The information is directed at the humanitarian aid community, IDP community members, and camp technical working committees.

The text provides guidelines for upgrades often needed for critical shelters, including internal wall partitions, roof repair and electrical safety. Rehabilitation guidelines for damaged houses includes: ceiling floor and wall repair, plastering and painting, and electrical rewiring.

As one of the largest shelter partners in Iraq, in 2016 IOM assisted more than 10,000 Iraqi families with shelter support including emergency sealing-off kits, emergency shelter kits, home rehabilitation and repair of critical shelter arrangements and homes.

Amid continued displacement from Mosul operations and the ongoing displacement of more than 3 million Iraqis across the country, thousands of Iraqis are choosing to return home. The latest IOM Iraq Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) dataset identified over 3 million displaced Iraqis and more than 1.5 million returnees from the period of January 2014 to mid-February 2017.

Return figures across Iraq governorates, as tracked by DTM (by number of individuals), are: Anbar (702,700), Salah al-Din (375,000), Diyala (202,100), Ninewa (186,300), Baghdad (31,000), Erbil (29,000) and Kirkuk (3,400). These figures, covering returns through 16 February, represent an increase since the previous DTM dataset (returns through 2 February) of more than 32,700 individuals in Anbar governorate, 17,800 individuals in Ninewa, and 800 individuals in Diyala.

More than 161,000 Iraqis continue to be displaced as a result of Mosul military operations, which began on 17 October. In total nearly 224,000 individuals have been displaced by Mosul military operations; more than 62,000 have returned to their areas of origin. Of the currently displaced, the majority (more than 150,000) are currently within Ninewa governorate.

The DTM Emergency Tracking figures on displacement from Mosul operations are available at: http://iraqdtm.iom.int/EmergencyTracking.aspx.

The latest full DTM report and data set on displacement and returns across Iraq are available on the DTM website: http://iraqdtm.iom.int

Please click to download the latest:

DTM Factsheet #17 (Feb. 23): https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/file/IOM_Iraq-DTM-...

DTM Snapshot (Feb. 23): https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/file/IOM_Iraq-DTM-...

DTM Mosul Corridor IDP Analysis (Feb. 20): https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/file/IOM_Iraq-DTM-...

For further information, please contact IOM Iraq. Sandra Black, Email: sblack@iom.int, Tel. +964 751 234 2550 or Hala Jaber, Email: hjaberbent@iom.int, Tel. +964 751 740 1654

Originally posted here:
IOM Rehabilitates Homes for Returning Iraqis; Publishes Shelter Rehabilitation Guidelines - Reliefweb

Iraqi forces have regained control of the airport in Mosul, part of a months-long operation to push ISIS militants from the key city.

The airport largely destroyed by ISIS forces is now fully under Iraqi Federal Police control, said Col. Abdel Amir Mohamed, commander of the Rapid Response Unit of the Federal Police.

Brett McGurk, the US envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition, congratulated Iraq for the victory.

Congratulations to Iraqi forces for completing complex maneuver ops to secure #Mosul airport from #ISIS terrorists, he tweeted. #ISIS is now trapped.

Iraqi forces launched a new bid to retake the western parts of the city on Sunday after declaring in late January that the east had been liberated.

Latest developments

Joint Operations Command says forces killed many ISIS militants and defused 60 IEDs on Thursday Iraqi forces have faced ISIS suicide car bombs and improvised explosive devices. Counter-terrorism forces have stormed the al-Ghazlani military base west of the airport. There has been heavy fighting between Iraqi forces and ISIS at Mosuls main electrical power station. Residents say ISIS is searching homes for cell phones. Residents from eastern Mosul, under Iraqi control, send letters of support to the residents in the west.

Federal police and rapid response forces, backed by drones and heavy artillery, advanced from several positions to storm the airport, Lt. Gen. Raid Shakir Jaudat said in a statement earlier Thursday. ISIS has held the airport since 2014 and has largely destroyed its infrastructure.

Sources have told CNN in recent months that ISIS has sabotaged the airstrip there to prevent its use.

The airport is on a large area of land in that city that is a symbolically important target for Iraqi forces. The area is an access point into the city from the southwest of the country. Taking it puts Iraqi forces in control of an area on the rivers west bank for the first time.

Forces took the airport in a few hours and appear to be moving swiftly, taking back control of two villages Yarmouk and Tal al-Rayan near the airport and the al-Ghazlani military camp.

They have also taken control of an ISIS weapons storage warehouse, former ISIS headquarters and the barracks at al-Ghazlani, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul, a spokesperson for the Iraqi operation told CNN.

On top of that, the Joint Operations Command center reported that forces destroyed many ISIS vehicles, defused 60 improvised explosive devices and killed many ISIS militants on Thursday.

But the push to take western Mosul is expected to take some time the east of the city took more than three months to take from ISIS control.

A city split

A resident of western Mosul told CNN that groups of ISIS fighters had been searching homes in one neighborhood near the rivers bank Thursday morning, looking for cell phones and residents using them. ISIS forbids the use of cell phones and has executed residents in the past for using them.

ISIS frequently accuses residents of passing information to Iraqi security forces, and metes out harsh punishment to people caught using phones.

The east and west is divided by the Tigris River, and US-led coalition airstrikes have damaged all five bridges connecting the two sides in an effort to contain the militants in the west.

Residents of eastern Mosul have written letters of solidarity that the Iraqi Air Force dropped over western neighborhoods Wednesday.

CNN went aboard an Air Force plane and met two residents of the east who had written some of the letters. One, Ghassan Mohammed Saadoun, said that he had received similar reassuring letters from other Iraqis when the east was being liberated.

He said ISIS had tried to confiscate those letters.

I have lived that experience and seen these letters and leaflets, but ISIS tried to prevent us from seeing them as much as they can. When that happened, the children of ISIS went out into the streets and collected these letters early in the morning hours so no one could read them, he said.

One of the letters read: Do not be afraid of the security forces they are coming to protect and to liberate you from injustice. Collaborate with them and dont be afraid of them. They are your sons. We wish you safety and security.

Another read: We ask Allah to ease the pain that you are in. We pray to Allah to protect you. We ask you to please stay indoors for your safety when security forces arrive in your areas. Allah bless you our people.

Rights groups fear high death toll

Iraqi commanders say the battle for western Mosul will be the toughest fight yet against ISIS. Over the past two years, the militant group has dedicated much of its defensive preparation to the western part of the city.

The city has networks of alleys that are impassable by military vehicles. Human rights organizations fear that the use of heavy weaponry in the narrow streets of the old city where an estimated 650,000 civilians are still trapped would probably result in very high human toll.

Meanwhile, US troops operating around Mosul have been in exchanges of fire with ISIS, and some have been wounded in the last six to eight weeks as they have pushed closer to key frontlines, military officials acknowledged Tuesday.

A US defense official confirmed some had been injured on the battlefield but declined to give numbers, saying that the injured had been evacuated from the battlefield.

The offensive to retake Mosul began in October in an extraordinary union of Iraqi troops and militia representing minority ethnic and religious groups that have often stood on opposing sides in Iraqs history.

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Iraq retakes Mosul airport; 'ISIS is now trapped,' US envoy says - fox6now.com

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Feb. 23, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterdays strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Coalition military forces conducted 24 strikes consisting of 32 engagements against ISIS targets in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed four oil refinement stills and a vehicle.

-- Near Bab, four strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed a vehicle-borne bomb.

-- Near Shadaddi, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed four fighting positions and an ISIS headquarters.

-- Near Raqqa, seven strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and an ISIS staging area and destroyed three pump jacks, a command-and-control node, a fighting position and a tactical vehicle.

-- Near Tanf, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two tactical vehicles.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes destroyed seven oil separation tanks, and oil wellhead, an oil tanker truck and an oil inlet manifold.

-- Near Palmyra, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed four tactical vehicles.

-- Near Tamakh, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a tactical vehicle.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted 14 strikes consisting of 62 engagements against ISIS targets in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraqs government:

-- Near Beiji, three strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units; destroyed a tactical vehicle and a heavy machine gun; and suppressed a mortar team.

-- Near Mosul, five strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units; destroyed three mortar systems, two ISIS-held buildings, two vehicle-bomb factories, a supply cache, a fighting position, a front-end loader, an excavator, a dump truck, a generator trailer, a weapons cache and a vehicle; damaged 15 supply routes and three tunnels; and suppressed 17 mortar teams and an artillery team.

-- Near Qayyarah, a strike destroyed a weapons cache.

-- Near Rawah, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed three ISIS-held building and a vehicle.

-- Near Tal Afar, four strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and an ISIS staging area and destroyed two weapons caches, a vehicle-borne bomb, a front-end loader, an improvised-bomb factory and an ISIS-held building.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect. For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

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Military Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq - Department of Defense