It's incredible that Russia is the good guy in this scenario and there's a complete media blackout on this. This is like some war criminal type ish. What the hell is going on Barack?
The Battle for Mosul
- Thread starter Trajan
- Start date
Trajan
Veteran
He's backing a sunni arab force to retake Mosul. Shia govt/Shia militias would be unacceptable to Mosul residents. Kurds would be unacceptable to Turkey and Baghdad.
TheDarkskinnedDrake
All Star
Probably going to end up like Aleppo
The Fukin Prophecy
RIP Champ
fukk whats acceptable to Turkey...That piece of shyt Erdogan has no say whatsoever in the future of an Iraqi city...The Iraqi's don't want his help, he needs to get the fukk out...
That said I do agree that the Iraqi government aligning themselves with Iranian backed Shia militias for this operation is an enormous problem...That sectarian rift is why the city fell into the hands of Sunni extremists in the first place...
The Iraqi government has to turn the city over to be governed by Sunnis...They cannot repeat the same mistake Maliki made by putting a Shia nutjob in charge of a Sunni city otherwise all this bloodshed will be for nothing...
That Shia general should have been tried for war crimes
Trajan
Veteran
Turkey borders Northern Iraq and has strategic objectives there. That's how all countries operate from Russia with Ukraine to Saudi Arabia with Yemen. We have to be realistic. They are not about to let Kurds consolidate their gains. There is no such thing as ''Iraqis'' not wanting his help. You have Shias in Baghdad, Kurds in the North and Sunnis in Anbar and elsewhere. Clearly some sunnis would prefer a Turkish backed Sunni force taking over the city than what they see as Kurds or Shias occupying their city.
I agree with the rest of your post.
Trajan
Veteran
They're really trying to murk Baghdadi 
Reports of mass executions in Mosul as IS crushes second rebellion in a week
Reports of mass executions in Mosul as IS crushes second rebellion in a week
Reports of mass executions in Mosul as IS crushes second rebellion in a week
Reports of mass executions in Mosul as IS crushes second rebellion in a week
M of A - ISIS Moves To Syria Where Erdogan Still Aims For Aleppo
The Iraqi army started a large operation to liberate Mosul from Islamic State jihadists. But the forces, in total some 40,000, are still several dozen kilometers away from the city limits. They will have to capture several towns and villages and pass many IED obstacles before coming near to the center and house to house fighting. It might take many month to eliminated the last stay-behind ISIS cells in Mosul.
About one million civilians live in Mosul. Many, many more than in east-Aleppo. Many of them were sympathetic with the new overlords when ISIS stormed in two years ago. French, American, Kurdish, Iraqi and Turkish artillery are pounding them now. Airstrikes attack even the smallest fighting position. When the city will be conquered it will likely be destroyed. The imminent fight over Mosul might be the reason why John Kerry dialed down his hypocritical howling over east-Aleppo in Syria which is under attack from Syrian and Russian forces.
The attack on Mosul proceeds on three axes. From the north Kurdish Peshmerga under U.S. special force advisors lead the fighting. Iraqi forces attack from the east and south. The way to the west, towards Syria, is open. The intend of the U.S. is to let ISIS fighters, several thousand of them, flee to Deir Ezzor and Raqqa in Syria. They are needed there to further destroy the Syrian state.
We pointed out here that this move will create the "Salafist principality" the U.S. and its allies have striven to install in east-Syria since 2012. The "mistake" of the U.S. bombing of Syrian army positions in Deir Ezzor was in support of that plan. Other commentators finally catch up with that conclusion.
The Turks are openly talking about such an escape plan for ISIS in Mosul. The Turkish news agency Anadolu published this "sensitive" operations plan. Point 4 says:
bigger
Two points in the Turkish plan will not come true.
The U.S. hopes that the influx of ISIS fighters into Syria will keep the Russians and Iranians trapped in the "quagmire" Obama prescribed and finally destroy the Syrian state. It seems to have mostly given up on other plans. The U.S. military now acknowledges that fighting the Russian air defense in Syria would be a real challenge:
"It’s not like we’ve had any shoot at an F-35,” the official said of the next-generation U.S. fighter jet. “We’re not sure if any of our aircraft can defeat the S-300.”
There is a "no-fly zone" over west-Syria and it is the Russians who control it. All U.S. and Turkish talk about such a zone is moot. The Obama administration has for now also given up on other plans. The recent National Security Council meeting deferred on further decisions:
Consideration of other alternatives, including the shipment of arms to U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in Syria, and an increase in the quantity and quality of weapons supplied to opposition fighters in Aleppo and elsewhere, were deferred until later, officials said. U.S. military action to stop Syrian and Russian bombing of civilians was even further down the list of possibilities.
The only U.S. "hope" for its Syria plans is now the facilitation of another ISIS influx. That and the CIA coordinated actions of its allies. The Saudis Foreign Ministerannounced that his country will increase weapons flow to its al-Qaeda proxies in Syria. The "rebels" are still receiving TOW anti-tank missiles and other heavy weapons.
Turkish proxy forces, some Syrians, some "Turkmen" from Chechnya and elsewhere, have taken Dabiq from ISIS. The village is said to become a focal point of a future apocalyptic Christian-Muslim battle. A lot of "western" commentators pointed to that as a reason why ISIS would fight for it. But that battle is only predicted for the period after the return of the Mahdi which has not been announced. The current ideological value of Dabiq is therefore low and, like in Jarablus, ISIS cooperated well and moved out before the Turkish proxies moved in.
The Russians had allowed Turkey to enter Syria only within a limit of some 15 kilometers south of the Turkish border. Heavy artillery would have to stay on the Turkish side. The sole original purpose of the Turkish invasion was to prevent a Kurdish corridor from the eastern Kurdish areas in Syria to Afrin in the west. Such a corridor would have limited ISIS access to Turkey.
The Kurdish corridor has been prevented and ISIS access to Turkish controlled areas and Turkey itself is as open as ever. The Turkish military sees this as sufficient for its aims:
Taking control of Dabiq had eliminated the threat to Turkey from rockets fired by the jihadists, the Turkish Armed Forces said in a written statement.
bigger
The Turkish military wants to halt the operation. But Erdogan and his proxies forces want to go further south and west to attack the Syrian army encirclement of east-Aleppo:
President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Sunday Dabiq's liberation was a "strategic and symbolic victory" against Islamic State.
He told Reuters it was important strategically that the Turkey-backed forces continue their advance toward the Islamic State stronghold of al-Bab.
To move to al-Bab Turkish artillery, with its units relying on conscripts, would have to move south of the Turkish-Syrian border. Any attack on them by the Syrian or Russian forces would thus become legal. Kurdish guerilla would be a constant threat. This explains the new split between the Turkish military and political forces. It will be interesting to watch how that dispute develops.
For Thursday the Russian command announced a unilateral temporary ceasefire in east-Aleppo to let the Jihadis move out. British and other special forces, said to be embedded with al-Qaeda, will be happy for the chance to leave.
In Iraq some Shia militia are moving towards Tal Afar to cut of the ISIS path to the west. Russia promised to take political and military measures should it detect an ISIS move. In east-Syria the Russian and Syrian air-forces, Hizbullah and more Shia militia from Iraq are now preparing surprises for the expected ISIS influx from Mosul. How much can they risk when the U.S. provides further air-support for the ISIS move?
The Iraqi army started a large operation to liberate Mosul from Islamic State jihadists. But the forces, in total some 40,000, are still several dozen kilometers away from the city limits. They will have to capture several towns and villages and pass many IED obstacles before coming near to the center and house to house fighting. It might take many month to eliminated the last stay-behind ISIS cells in Mosul.
About one million civilians live in Mosul. Many, many more than in east-Aleppo. Many of them were sympathetic with the new overlords when ISIS stormed in two years ago. French, American, Kurdish, Iraqi and Turkish artillery are pounding them now. Airstrikes attack even the smallest fighting position. When the city will be conquered it will likely be destroyed. The imminent fight over Mosul might be the reason why John Kerry dialed down his hypocritical howling over east-Aleppo in Syria which is under attack from Syrian and Russian forces.
The attack on Mosul proceeds on three axes. From the north Kurdish Peshmerga under U.S. special force advisors lead the fighting. Iraqi forces attack from the east and south. The way to the west, towards Syria, is open. The intend of the U.S. is to let ISIS fighters, several thousand of them, flee to Deir Ezzor and Raqqa in Syria. They are needed there to further destroy the Syrian state.
We pointed out here that this move will create the "Salafist principality" the U.S. and its allies have striven to install in east-Syria since 2012. The "mistake" of the U.S. bombing of Syrian army positions in Deir Ezzor was in support of that plan. Other commentators finally catch up with that conclusion.
The Turks are openly talking about such an escape plan for ISIS in Mosul. The Turkish news agency Anadolu published this "sensitive" operations plan. Point 4 says:
bigger
Two points in the Turkish plan will not come true.
- The Iraqi government has ordered that no Turkish troops take part in the Mosul operation and will designate them as enemies should they try.
- The Sunni "Nineveh Guard", trained by Turkey, paid by the Saudis and led by the former Anbar governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, will also be excluded.
The U.S. hopes that the influx of ISIS fighters into Syria will keep the Russians and Iranians trapped in the "quagmire" Obama prescribed and finally destroy the Syrian state. It seems to have mostly given up on other plans. The U.S. military now acknowledges that fighting the Russian air defense in Syria would be a real challenge:
"It’s not like we’ve had any shoot at an F-35,” the official said of the next-generation U.S. fighter jet. “We’re not sure if any of our aircraft can defeat the S-300.”
There is a "no-fly zone" over west-Syria and it is the Russians who control it. All U.S. and Turkish talk about such a zone is moot. The Obama administration has for now also given up on other plans. The recent National Security Council meeting deferred on further decisions:
Consideration of other alternatives, including the shipment of arms to U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in Syria, and an increase in the quantity and quality of weapons supplied to opposition fighters in Aleppo and elsewhere, were deferred until later, officials said. U.S. military action to stop Syrian and Russian bombing of civilians was even further down the list of possibilities.
The only U.S. "hope" for its Syria plans is now the facilitation of another ISIS influx. That and the CIA coordinated actions of its allies. The Saudis Foreign Ministerannounced that his country will increase weapons flow to its al-Qaeda proxies in Syria. The "rebels" are still receiving TOW anti-tank missiles and other heavy weapons.
Turkish proxy forces, some Syrians, some "Turkmen" from Chechnya and elsewhere, have taken Dabiq from ISIS. The village is said to become a focal point of a future apocalyptic Christian-Muslim battle. A lot of "western" commentators pointed to that as a reason why ISIS would fight for it. But that battle is only predicted for the period after the return of the Mahdi which has not been announced. The current ideological value of Dabiq is therefore low and, like in Jarablus, ISIS cooperated well and moved out before the Turkish proxies moved in.
The Russians had allowed Turkey to enter Syria only within a limit of some 15 kilometers south of the Turkish border. Heavy artillery would have to stay on the Turkish side. The sole original purpose of the Turkish invasion was to prevent a Kurdish corridor from the eastern Kurdish areas in Syria to Afrin in the west. Such a corridor would have limited ISIS access to Turkey.
The Kurdish corridor has been prevented and ISIS access to Turkish controlled areas and Turkey itself is as open as ever. The Turkish military sees this as sufficient for its aims:
Taking control of Dabiq had eliminated the threat to Turkey from rockets fired by the jihadists, the Turkish Armed Forces said in a written statement.
bigger
The Turkish military wants to halt the operation. But Erdogan and his proxies forces want to go further south and west to attack the Syrian army encirclement of east-Aleppo:
President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Sunday Dabiq's liberation was a "strategic and symbolic victory" against Islamic State.
He told Reuters it was important strategically that the Turkey-backed forces continue their advance toward the Islamic State stronghold of al-Bab.
To move to al-Bab Turkish artillery, with its units relying on conscripts, would have to move south of the Turkish-Syrian border. Any attack on them by the Syrian or Russian forces would thus become legal. Kurdish guerilla would be a constant threat. This explains the new split between the Turkish military and political forces. It will be interesting to watch how that dispute develops.
For Thursday the Russian command announced a unilateral temporary ceasefire in east-Aleppo to let the Jihadis move out. British and other special forces, said to be embedded with al-Qaeda, will be happy for the chance to leave.
In Iraq some Shia militia are moving towards Tal Afar to cut of the ISIS path to the west. Russia promised to take political and military measures should it detect an ISIS move. In east-Syria the Russian and Syrian air-forces, Hizbullah and more Shia militia from Iraq are now preparing surprises for the expected ISIS influx from Mosul. How much can they risk when the U.S. provides further air-support for the ISIS move?
A new twist, according to Iranian's Farsnews
"Al-Baghdadi had been severely wounded in the Al-Anbar battle in Western Iraq last month, and his wounds were so lethal that he could not at all move freely," a local Iraqi source told the Arabic service of the Russian Sputnik news agency on Tuesday.
The source said despite long treatment in Mosul, the general health conditions of the ISIL leader deteriorated due to "a deep abdominal cut, damage to his liver and crippling wounds in his left limb.
...Al-Baghdad lost his life in the town of Al-Be'aaj some 100km (60 miles) West of Mosul near the border with Syria..., but his death is concealed....."
Farsnews
"Al-Baghdadi had been severely wounded in the Al-Anbar battle in Western Iraq last month, and his wounds were so lethal that he could not at all move freely," a local Iraqi source told the Arabic service of the Russian Sputnik news agency on Tuesday.
The source said despite long treatment in Mosul, the general health conditions of the ISIL leader deteriorated due to "a deep abdominal cut, damage to his liver and crippling wounds in his left limb.
...Al-Baghdad lost his life in the town of Al-Be'aaj some 100km (60 miles) West of Mosul near the border with Syria..., but his death is concealed....."
Farsnews
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
both sides have been saying this for years.
You'd think after all the bombs dropped there wouldn't be life left at all in Syria or Iraq
Russian military builds new runway in east Syria as ISIS flees Mosul
"HOMS, SYRIA (10:00 P.M.) - The Russian Air Force has built a new runway at the T-4 Military Airport in eastern Homs after reports of several Islamic State fighters fleeing the large Iraqi city of Mosul for Syria.
Prior to the Islamic State's massive counter-offensive in the Al-Sha'er region of east Homs, the Russian Air Force was actively using the T-4 Military Airport as a command center to advise the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the area.
However, due to the increased security risks near the T-4 Airport, the Russian military advisors moved their command post to Palmyra and most of their aircraft to the Hmaymim Airport in west Latakia.
With ISIS fleeing Mosul for eastern Syria, the Russian Air Force has made the decision to beef up their air presence around the Deir Ezzor Governorate in anticipation for this influx of terrorists."
______________________
Russia to Take New Political, Military Decisions if ISIS Redeployed to Eastern Syria
Russia to Take New Political, Military Decisions if ISIS Militants Redeployed to Eastern Syria
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warns that his country could take "political and military" decisions if ISIS terrorists were redeployed to eastern Syria after being granted a safe passage from Mosul.
“As far as I know, the city is not fully encircled. I hope it’s because they simply couldn’t do it, not because they wouldn’t do it. But this corridor poses a risk that ISIS [Daesh] fighters could flee from Mosul and go to Syria,” Lavrov said on Tuesday.
“We will be evaluating the situation and take decisions of both political and military nature if this happens,” he added. “I hope the US-led coalition, which is actively engaged in the operation to take Mosul, will take it into account.”
Iraqi government troops, together with Sunni fighters and Shia forces from Popular Mobilization Units, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, are involved in a massive offensive to liberate Mosul, the last major Daesh stronghold in Iraq.
The Iraqi premier announced the start of the operations to liberate Mosul from ISIS terrorists on Sunday. The city fell to the Takfiri Daesh terrorists in June 2014 shortly after they unleashed a campaign of terror and destruction in the northern and western parts of Iraq.
Earlier, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying that the US and Saudi Arabia had agreed to grant ISIS terrorists free passage from Iraq’s Mosul on the condition that they relocated to the eastern regions of Syria.
The source said the plan aimed "to discredit the success of the Russian Air Force. And, of course, it’s an attempt to undermine Syrian President (Bashar) al-Assad.”
Russia has been conducting airstrikes against Daesh and other terrorist groups in Syria since September 30 upon a request from the government of President Assad. Since then, it has killed hundreds of terrorists, Press TV reported.
"HOMS, SYRIA (10:00 P.M.) - The Russian Air Force has built a new runway at the T-4 Military Airport in eastern Homs after reports of several Islamic State fighters fleeing the large Iraqi city of Mosul for Syria.
Prior to the Islamic State's massive counter-offensive in the Al-Sha'er region of east Homs, the Russian Air Force was actively using the T-4 Military Airport as a command center to advise the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the area.
However, due to the increased security risks near the T-4 Airport, the Russian military advisors moved their command post to Palmyra and most of their aircraft to the Hmaymim Airport in west Latakia.
With ISIS fleeing Mosul for eastern Syria, the Russian Air Force has made the decision to beef up their air presence around the Deir Ezzor Governorate in anticipation for this influx of terrorists."
______________________
Russia to Take New Political, Military Decisions if ISIS Redeployed to Eastern Syria
Russia to Take New Political, Military Decisions if ISIS Militants Redeployed to Eastern Syria
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warns that his country could take "political and military" decisions if ISIS terrorists were redeployed to eastern Syria after being granted a safe passage from Mosul.
“As far as I know, the city is not fully encircled. I hope it’s because they simply couldn’t do it, not because they wouldn’t do it. But this corridor poses a risk that ISIS [Daesh] fighters could flee from Mosul and go to Syria,” Lavrov said on Tuesday.
“We will be evaluating the situation and take decisions of both political and military nature if this happens,” he added. “I hope the US-led coalition, which is actively engaged in the operation to take Mosul, will take it into account.”
Iraqi government troops, together with Sunni fighters and Shia forces from Popular Mobilization Units, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, are involved in a massive offensive to liberate Mosul, the last major Daesh stronghold in Iraq.
The Iraqi premier announced the start of the operations to liberate Mosul from ISIS terrorists on Sunday. The city fell to the Takfiri Daesh terrorists in June 2014 shortly after they unleashed a campaign of terror and destruction in the northern and western parts of Iraq.
Earlier, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying that the US and Saudi Arabia had agreed to grant ISIS terrorists free passage from Iraq’s Mosul on the condition that they relocated to the eastern regions of Syria.
The source said the plan aimed "to discredit the success of the Russian Air Force. And, of course, it’s an attempt to undermine Syrian President (Bashar) al-Assad.”
Russia has been conducting airstrikes against Daesh and other terrorist groups in Syria since September 30 upon a request from the government of President Assad. Since then, it has killed hundreds of terrorists, Press TV reported.
Trajan
Veteran
But there are also reports that there was an assassination attempt on his life recently led by ISIS Police in Mosul.
