Mediaboss Marketing

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.

Go here to read the rest:
Military Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq - Department of Defense

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.

Read more from the original source:
Iraq retakes Mosul airport; 'ISIS is now trapped,' US envoy says - fox6now.com

New York Times

Jim Mattis to Baghdad: 'We're Not in Iraq to Seize Anybody's Oil' New York Times BAGHDAD Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, on the first visit by a senior Trump administration official to Iraq, worked on Monday to repair breaches of trust with Iraq's leaders caused by his boss just as the two sides began a major offensive to oust the ... Iraq Is a Huge Opportunity for TrumpWall Street Journal (subscription) Trump's defense chief, in Iraq, says: We're not here for your oilCNBC Defense Chief Contradicts Trump on Iraq and OilNewsweek Washington Post -Chicago Tribune all 385 news articles »

Read more here:
Jim Mattis to Baghdad: 'We're Not in Iraq to Seize Anybody's Oil' - New York Times

ISIS is on the path to poverty, according to a new joint study, Caliphate in Decline: An Estimate of Islamic States Financial Fortunes, from the London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Ernst & Young.

The terror group is apparently suffering from financial difficulties, to put it mildly. Facts and figures show that over the last two years, revenues for ISIS have fallen by more than 50 percent.

Still, study authors have concluded that its not yet time to breathe easy about the groups dismantling.

The decline in revenues may not have an immediate effect on the groups ability to carry out terrorist attacks outside its territory, the study said, Breitbart reported. While hurting Islamic State finances puts pressure on the organization and its state-building project, wider efforts will continue to be necessary to ultimately defeat it.

The authors also point to the fact ISIS is continually recruiting, and reaching out to other sources of potential income.

Read Isis Rising: Prelude to a neo-Ottoman Caliphate to find out what the terror camp leaders really want to do.

One looming possibility?

Afghanistan.

The countrys rich with opium, and ISIS could tap further into that drug trade, which includes the derivative heroin, to bolster its income. In fact, some estimates say ISIS can derive up to $50 billion annually from sales of Afghan-tied opium and heroin.

From the report, as cited by Breitbart:

The groups most significant sources of revenue are closely tied to its territory. They are: (1) taxes and fees; (2) oil; and (3) looting, confiscations, and fines. We have found no hard evidence that foreign donations continue to be significant. Similarly, revenues from the sale of antiquities and kidnap for ransom, while difficult to quantify, are unlikely to have been major sources of income.

There are no signs yet that the group has created significant new funding streams that would make up for recent losses. With current trends continuing, the Islamic States business model will soon fail, the study continued.

The study authors say the reason ISIS is currently facing financial trouble is that members constantly rely too heavily on the populations and territories they take over as sources of money.

According to figures provided by the Global Coalition, by November 2016 Islamic State had lost 62 percent of its mid-2014 peak territory in Iraq, and 30 per cent in Syria. From a revenue perspective, this means fewer people and businesses to tax and less control over natural resources such as oil fields, the report stated. There are good reasons to believe that Islamic State revenues will further decline. In particular, capturing Mosul, the caliphates commercial capital, will have a significant detrimental effect on Islamic State finances.

Read Isis Rising: Prelude to a neo-Ottoman Caliphate to find out what the terror camp leaders really want to do.

More:
ISIS 'poised to go broke in Iraq, Syria' - WND.com

Baghdad (ICRC) As fighting intensifies around the Iraqi city of Mosul, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is increasing its presence in the field, in order to respond swiftly to new humanitarian needs. Two additional surgical teams are in the process of being deployed to hospitals receiving wounded from the front lines, while stocks of food and other essentials are ready to be distributed to people displaced by violence.

"When people start to flee the western side of Mosul, we are expecting that many will arrive in bad shape. Supply routes have been cut from that side of the city and people have been facing shortages of food, water, fuel, and medicine. We can only imagine the state people will be in," said the ICRC's field coordinator in Erbil, Dany Merhy. The western side of the city is densely populated, and the ICRC is extremely worried about the safety and welfare of hundreds of thousands there who chose to stay or are currently unable to leave.

The ICRC is sending additional medical staff surgeons, trauma nurses, anaesthetists to hospitals receiving wounded from the front lines, to ensure medical facilities can cope with rising demands for emergency treatment and care. This deployment is being supported by Red Cross National Societies from Finland, Norway and Germany. An ICRC surgical team has already been working at Sheikhan hospital near Mosul since October 2016.

"All sides must do everything in their power to protect civilians who stay in Mosul, just as they must ensure safe passage for those who leave the city," said the ICRC's head of delegation in Iraq, Katharina Ritz. "They must also do their utmost to minimize the damage to civilian homes as well as to infrastructure essential for their survival and, given the extensive damage they cause, avoid the use of explosive weapons in populated areas."

Since the start of the Mosul offensive, the ICRC has provided food, clean water and essential relief items to over 130,000 people. It has set-up operating theatres and provided war-wounded kits and other medical supplies to health structures that can help treat more than 280,000 patients. The ICRC has also helped train emergency staff.

For further information, please contact:

Sara Alzawqari (English/Arabic), ICRC Baghdad, tel: +964 790 191 69 27Iolanda Jaquemet, ICRC Geneva, + 41 79 447 37 26

Read the original here:
Iraq: the ICRC steps up its humanitarian response around Mosul - ICRC (press release)