Eight ISIS senior figures were killed in an airstrike while meeting in a town in western Iraq. Residents of the town and hospital sources reported that the self-proclaimed leader of the ISIS caliphate in Iraq and Syria, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was not among them.
On Sunday, Iraq’s air force led a strike that hit the meeting and the convoy that was bringing Baghdadi to the meeting. After being struck, the convoy drove away with the leader in an unknown condition. So far, Baghdadi has survived a year of U.S.-led airstrikes.
A Twitter account used by the Islamic State said that the “rumors” of an airstrike hitting Baghdadi’s convoy were false. The account then issued another statement saying that if Baghdadi was injured or killed, his self-proclaimed caliphate would survive.
“Do you think we would leave the State of the caliphate and abandon it, oh vile world?,” asked one of his followers. “This is the religion of God, it rose on the skulls of heroes and martyrs and every time one of them is martyred we rise.”
Currently there are still very mixed reports about the condition of Baghdadi. Russian news outlets have stated that Baghdadi was injured and hospitalized in Al-Qa’im, an Iraqi town near the Syrian border. However, Iraqi military officials told Reuters that it’s a very distinct possibility that Baghdadi wasn’t in the convoy at all.
Twice in the past year, Iraqi officials have claimed that Baghdadi was injured in airstrikes. Each time, Baghdadi posted audio recordings on social media days after the airstrikes.
American troops are back on the ground in Iraq.
Around 300 soldiers from the 5-73 Squadron of the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army are now on the ground at an old Iraqi military base north of Baghdad. Many of the troops are now in their fourth or later deployment to the region.
The troops are back for the first time since 2011.
Military officials say the troops are there officially to train the Iraqi Army again in the manner they did before leaving the country the first time. Many of the American troops told reporters they were shocked at the condition of the Iraqi military upon their return.
“It’s pretty incredible,” Lt. Col. John Schwemmer said. “I was kind of surprised. What training did they have after we left?”
However, one Iraqi military official has told the Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed news service the troops are there to fight with them.
“The new forces’ mission does not appear to be training the Iraqi army or the tribes fighting with me. We expect that they will provide direct support in the upcoming battle to retake Ramadi,” the official said.
Mahmoud Hussein Al-Alwani, leader of a clan in Anbar fighting ISIS, stated a similar view.
“The American fighting force’s arrival to Anbar gives a major military momentum to combat troops, because this force is armed better and has better experience fighting battles in cities,” he said.
The Iraqi government has begun to document the persecution of Christians in areas that are under the control of the Islamic terrorist group ISIS.
The revelation from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki comes one day after the terrorists told Christians in their territory to pay a tax, convert to Islam or be killed.
“What is being done by the Daesh terrorist gang against our Christian citizens in Ninevah province, and their aggression against the churches and houses of worship in the areas under their control reveals beyond any doubt the extremist criminal and terrorist nature of this group,” al-Maliki said in a statement. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
“Those people, through their crimes, are revealing their true identity and the false allegations made here and there about the existence of revolutionaries among their ranks.”
The news that the Iraqi government is tracking the abuse of Christians was welcomed by Christian persecution watchdog groups such as Open Doors.
“This is a positive first step, by which the government acknowledges that something is wrong with the way Christians are being treated in Iraq and that this needs to change. It is the first time that the government is officially investigating this, after decades of discrimination and abuse,” Henriette Kats, persecution analyst for Open Doors, stated to reporters.
“The establishment of the Islamic State (ISIS) in June 2014 has brought about a further radicalization of Iraqi society, a development that has been ongoing since the US invasion in 2003. Corruption plays an important role in the persecution of Christians as can be seen in the ransoms demanded and the illegal taking of Christian-owned houses and land.”
Iraq is listed third on Open Doors’ list of nations that persecute Christians.
An out-of-season sandstorm has struck the Middle East causing thousands to have medical issues and reducing visibility in region.
The Times of Israel called the storm “a brownish-yellow fog throughout the country.” The storm has been working across Israel and into Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. Meteorologists say the storm will be followed by an intense heat wave that will last through the weekend.
Health officials through the region are telling residents to stay inside to avoid breathing problems. Schools were either closed to keep children inside to avoid the fine particulates in the air.
The head of a major hospital in Damascus told reporters that over 1,200 people had been treated for breathing problems. At least 100 of the victims were children.
“It is unbelievable. This must be some test,” said Mansour, a Damascus resident, who gave only his first name told the Associated Press. “It’s hot. Temperatures are high and above that we have this dusty weather! It is something beyond reasonable. Enough please!”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that some villages such as al-Mayadeen were so short of medical supplies that they ran out of oxygen canisters and had to turn away victims of the storm.
A group of masked terrorists kidnapped 14 Turkish construction workers from a site in Baghdad early Wednesday.
Iraqi and Turkish officials say the gunmen stormed the complex around 3 a.m. when the workers were sleeping. They specifically targeted the Turkish workers and separated them from the others before forcing them into SUVs.
“The Iraqi authorities for the time being do not have information on how the incident occurred or who captured them,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters.
The gunmen were reportedly wearing military uniforms.
Local officials told Time that it’s likely the kidnappings were revenge because of Turkey recently agreeing to allow the U.S. to use their bases for drone strikes against ISIS.
The workers had almost finished construction on a sports complex that includes a 30,000 seat soccer stadium.
Pentagon officials have confirmed that they are investigating reports of Islamic terrorist group ISIS using chemical weapons against Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq.
The officials were quick to emphasize that it was likely a small amount and in a weak concentration, but it still would confirm the terrorists have found at least one cache of Syrian chemical weapons.
A senior U.S. official said that after a barrage fired at a Peshmerga unit last week, there were “wounds consistent with a blister-producing agent.”
“We continue to monitor these reports closely, and would further stress that any use of chemicals or biological material as a weapon is completely inconsistent with international standards and norms regarding such capabilities,” Alistair Baskey, spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, said in a statement.
Peshmerga Brig. Gen. Sirwan Barzani told CNN they suspect the agent used was mustard gas because some troops also suffered breathing difficulties beyond the skin blistering.
ISIS had been previously accused by monitoring groups of using chlorine based chemical weapons against Kurdish forces.
“We continue to take these and all allegations of chemical weapons use very seriously. As in previous instances of alleged ISIL use of chemicals as weapons, we are aware of the reports and are seeking additional information. We continue to monitor these reports closely, and would further stress that use of any chemicals or biological material as a weapon is completely inconsistent with international standards and norms regarding such capabilities,” Blake Narendra, a spokesperson for the State Department’s Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Bureau, told reporters.
Mustard gas is only deadly in large quantities but can cause painful burns and blisters that could render an enemy immobile from pain.
President Obama has ordered 450 more U.S. troops to Iraq, saying that they will not engage ISIS but train the Iraqi army.
The move by the White House will also including sending weapons to Sunni tribes and the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters that are operating under the Iraqi command structure. An administration official said the hope is that a new “Sunni uprising” will take place against the terrorists.
The order comes after President Obama admitted last week ahead of the G7 conference that the U.S. did not have a cohesive plan to stop the Islamic terrorists.
The additional troops will be based at Taqaddum military base in Anbar province.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey told reporters the President asked military leaders to “take a look at what we’ve learned over the last eight months in the train-and-equip program and make recommendations to him on whether there are capabilities that we may want to provide to the Iraqis to actually make them more capable.”
Great Britain said they would be sending an additional 125 troops to help in training.
Currently, there are approximately 3,050 U.S. forces in Iraq. The majority support Iraqi security forces, about 450 train Iraqi troops, and roughly 200 fill advising and assisting roles.
The Islamic terrorist group ISIS is reducing the water flowing into Iraq’s Anbar province as the government is trying to retake land from the terrorists.
The tactic is not new to Middle East conflicts. ISIS had previously restricted water flowing through the ISIS controlled town of Fallujah but reopened locks after residents complained about the lack of water.
Anbar Provincial Council Member Taha Abdul-Ghani told the Associated Press the terrorists are blocking water at a dam on the Euphrates river that will dry up irrigation system and water treatment plans for the government and tribes that are opposed to ISIS. Other areas to the south and central areas of the country would be provided water from the Tigris River.
The United Nations quickly condemned the terrorist’s actions.
“The use of water as a tool of war is to be condemned in no uncertain terms,” the spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters. “These kinds of reports are disturbing, to say the least.”
He said the U.N. would work to bring water to the impacted residents of the region.
Military experts say the withdrawl of water also lowers the level of the river to where terrorists would be able to walk across, allowing for attacks in locations that previously had been impeded by the water.
Residents of Habbaniya, Husaybah and Khalidiyah have been fleeing out of fear of an assault by the terrorists.
President Obama has admitted there were flaws in his plans to subdue the Islamic extremist group ISIS in Iraq.
The President insisted, however, that despite the flaws the U.S. is not losing in the battle against ISIS.
“I don’t think we’re losing,” Obama told The Atlantic in an interview days after the fall of Ramadi.
“There’s no doubt there was a tactical setback, although Ramadi had been vulnerable for a very long time, primarily because these are not Iraqi security forces that we have trained or reinforced.They have been there essentially for a year without sufficient reinforcements, and the number of ISIL [ISIS] that have come into the city now are relatively small compared to what happened in [the Iraqi city of] Mosul.”
Members of Congress have been critical of the President and his plans for not using ground troops in Iraq to stop the terrorists.
Senator John McCain of Arizona said the fall of Ramadi to the terrorists was “one of the most disgraceful episodes in American history.”
In a stunning reversal of recent fortune, the Islamic terrorist group ISIS has finally captured the Iraqi city of Ramadi.
Ramadi, only 70 miles from the country’s capital city of Baghdad, is the largest city in Western Iraq. It is also the regional capital for the Anbar province and is a major area for Sunni muslims.
The takeover of the town was confirmed by Ramadi Mayor Dalaf al-Kubaisy. He said that anti-terrorist forces were driven out to the east of the city.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the advance by the terrorists but said that the battle for the city was far from over.
“It is possible to see the kind of attack we have in Ramadi, but I am absolutely confident in the days ahead that will be reversed,” Kerry said on Monday during a visit to Seoul, CNN reported. “Large numbers of Daesh were killed in the last few days, and will be in the next days because that seems to be the only thing they understand.”
Local officials say the terrorists have been carrying out mass murders and burning bodies in the streets. At least 250 civilians have been murdered by the terrorists in two days. Many of those executed are supporters of the current government and leadership.
The United Nations says that in the last month over 110,000 residents have fled the city in advance of the terrorists.
