Da’esh/Iraq – Progress continues across the battle space in Iraq’s fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant extremists, the U.S. Central Command spokesman said today (28 Aug 15), noting that ISIL is prioritizing resources as they continue to lose fighters and leaders at a high rate. Air Force Col. Patrick Ryder told Pentagon reporters by teleconference that the ongoing fight against ISIL remains difficult and is expected to take a while to defeat it. “The Iraqis are dealing with some tough challenges in certain areas but they also continue to do a lot of the right things,” Ryder said. Centcom has confirmed the death of ISIL operative Junaid Hussain, a British citizen who was killed by a U.S. airstrike on the 24 Aug 15 in the ISIL stronghold of Raqqah, Syria, the colonel said. “[Hussain] was involved in recruiting ISIL sympathizers in the West to carry out lone-wolf style attacks,” Ryder said, describing Hussain as very dangerous. “He had significant technical skills and expressed a strong desire to kill Americans … He no longer poses a threat,” he said. Ryder noted that Hussain also was responsible for releasing personally identifiable information of about 1,300 U.S. military and government employees, and he “specifically sought” to direct violence against U.S. service members and government employees. “We have taken a significant threat off the battlefield and have made it very clear [to] ISIL leadership we are going to target them … just as we’re targeting their communications nodes, logistics nodes and military equipment,” he said. “Coalition forces conducted 39 airstrikes this week near Tuz, which is south of Kirkuk city and east of Beiji, in support of Kurdish-Peshmerga ground operations,” Ryder said. “The airstrikes destroyed 135 ISIL fighting positions and enabled the Peshmerga to retake close to a dozen villages and roughly 250-square kilometers of territory,” he said. “As the Peshmerga advance, they’re resetting and strengthening their forward line of troops.” The isolation phase in Ramadi continues as coalition forces provide air support to Iraqi security forces in retaking the city, and its 11 airstrikes last week largely targeted enemy personnel, Ryder said. Iraqi security forces have “made some gains in clearing routes and closing in on the city, but it remains a challenging fight and the Iraqis will have need to keep pressing the attack,” he noted. Beiji and its oil refinery continue to be a center of fighting between Iraqi security forces and ISIL forces, and the area remains contested, Ryder said. The coalition’s 14 airstrikes the past week in the area have taken a “significant number of ISIL fighters and more than a dozen vehicles out of the fight,” he added. While Iraqi forces hold on to their portion of the complex, ISIL has taken back some ground -- but the extremists are “paying a very heavy price for it,” Ryder noted. “Our goal is to keep the pressure on ISIL while we enable the efforts of the indigenous ground forces in Iraq and Syria,” he said.
Da’esh/Iraq – The IS killed two senior Iraqi generals in a coordinated suicide assault on a military headquarters in Anbar province. Six suicide bombers, including a German and a Tajik, executed the deadly attack it was reported on the 27 Aug 15. The Islamic State claimed credit for killing Major General Abdel Rahman Abu Raghif, the deputy commander for the Anbar Operations command, and Brigadier Safin Abdel Majid, the commander of the 10th Iraqi Army Division, in an assault on “the main headquarters where the operations are managed,” according to a statement that was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. The base is located in the Al Tarrah area near Lake Thar Thar, which is north of Ramadi, according to the jihadist group. The Iraqi military is attempting to wrest control of Ramadi, Fallujah, and other cities and towns that fell to the Islamic State between January 2014 and the end of May 2015. The suicide assault was carried out “in revenge for our brother Abu Radhi al-Ansari (emir of the rural sector of al-Khaldiya),” the Islamic State said. It was executed by six fighters, who were identified as “Abu Hamza al-Ghazawi, Abu al-Darda’ al-Tunisi, Abu Muqatil al-Almani, Abu Muhammad al-Jazrawi, Abu al-Farouq al-Shami, and Abu Anas al-Tajiki.” The nom de guerres indicate that the fighters were from Germany, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, and Syria. The jihadists used “four explosives-laden vehicles and two DShK-mounted vehicles” in their attack.
Bahrain – An explosion in Bahrain has killed one police officer and wounded seven other people, among them a child it was reported by the country's interior ministry on the 28 Aug 15. The attack occurred west of the capital, Manama, in a predominantly Shia village called Karanah. In Jul 15, a bombing killed two police officers in Sitra, south of Manama. Police investigators later said five suspects were arrested for that Sitra attack, with Major-General Tariq al-Hasan, the police chief, saying the men were connected to Iran's Revolutionary Guard as well as the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah group. Also in Jul 15, Bahraini authorities declared they had foiled an attempt to smuggle weapons from Iran. Hammadi, the information minister, said the explosives used in Friday's attack in Karanah were "very similar" to that seized by authorities last month which "came from Iran".
Kuwait – Hezbollah is a page that Kuwait wanted to fold in history, but the seizure and confiscation of an arsenal of weapons in Kuwait last week by citizens who admitted to belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon was a very awkward incident, both to people in power and many of the businessmen, politicians and even some activists here it was reported in the Kuwaiti Times on the 19 Aug 15. Timing is certainly bad, and speculations behind the objectives of this cell were endless. It was a slap on the Kuwaiti cheek by citizens raising alarm toward the subject of dual loyalty! When the Ministry of Interior (MOI) published the seized weapons, public opinion was clearly split. Some have denounced and condemned the act pointing an explicit accusation at Iran, their parties and agents and on those involved citizens of dual loyalty for they had collected arms for a very subversive reason against their own homeland. Some have tried to justify the act and even defend the Lebanese Hezbollah. Others claimed that it was an attempt to involve Lebanese Hezbollah without evidence! Also, you will not be surprised to witness a denial made by the arrested citizens and expats for any involvement with Hezbollah or others. This is a very thorny issue for Kuwait for several reasons. A lot of statements and activities were tracked down of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Kuwait since the eighties and it can only be described as suspicious in front of the tolerant and decent Kuwaiti position! But the arrest on the cell here has fuelled the opinion over the affiliation to Hezbollah. Hezbollah has a direct link to Iran and Syria as the role played inside Lebanon is indeed influential in the forty policy in the entire Middle East and we should not be so naive to imagine that Hezbollah is just a Lebanese party like many others. The repercussions of this issue are worth worrying. The past is justified based on the present, as they say. This large quantity of weapons, which was said to be enough to equip an army was not prepared for nothing. That is impossible. Investigations on such cases should never be closed. Kuwait is a small country and has a strategic location and depth under the tense regional condition, so it is but natural any political party attempt to sketch out a blueprint for the future. But the question remains is how to deal with the situation without prejudice to the Kuwaiti government relations with Lebanon Association? The imperative thing here is not in the mere arrest of citizens who hide weapons, but how to put an end to the intervention of the pro-Iranian political parties in the Gulf states whether in Kuwait or other states and those who support them, whether citizens or expatriates and limit the power and resources of these cells and their members at home and abroad to impair everyone regardless of their influence and positions, and this is not an easy task at all. (Article written for the Kuwaiti Times by Muna Al-Fuzai)
Syria – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group is suspected of having used mustard gas against civilians in Syria's northern Aleppo province a report claimed on the 24 Aug 15. A medical group reported that those injured after at least 50 mortar shells were fired at residential areas of the town of Marea on the 21 Aug 15 were exhibiting symptoms of chemical exposure. Local sources told the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), a non-profit humanitarian organisation, that ISIL fighters engaged in clashes with rebels had carried out the attack. SAMS said one of its field hospitals in Aleppo received injured civilians with symptoms including respiratory irritation, wheezing, coughing, irritation and redness of the eyes and mucous membranes, skin irritation, and severe itching. Roughly 30 civilians developed skin blisters, with doctors identifying the cause to be mustard gas, SAMS reported. No deaths have been reported as of yet. Mustard gas, also known as sulphur mustard, is a chemical compound which has been used as a chemical weapon during World War I. The targeting of civilians and the use of mustard gas are violations of international humanitarian law as per the Geneva Convention and Chemical Weapons Convention. SAMS said its volunteers had taken samples from patient blood, clothing, and hair from the shelling site to be assessed. The US previously accused ISIL of using mustard gas in July against Kurdish forces in northern Syria, in addition to two attacks in August against Iraqi Kurdish forces.