By Simon Kent. Following on from France's recent escalation of bombing against the so called "Islamic State" in Syria, the UK appears to have followed suit with a similar escalation in Iraq. According to a UK Ministry of Defence briefing reported in The Huffington Post, British jets from the Royal Air Force killed at least 30 militants […]
By Simon Kent. The US Department of Defence have announced 9 Coalition air strikes in Iraq, normally indicative of 24hrs of activity, in addition to several strikes launched against ISIS in Syria. The recent strikes indicate a wave of ISIS activity on the northern fronts where the Kurdish Peshmerga are battling ISIS, and at Baiji, […]
By Robert Tollast. According to a report in Asharq al Awsat, later re-reported in Britain's Daily Mail and The Times of Israel, 160 US combat troops have been sent to the base of Al Assad in Anbar province. Al Assad is a vast military complex in dangerous, contested territory west of Ramadi, and according to reports, the troops […]
By Simon Kent. The US Department of Defence has announced that a further 18 air strikes have hit ISIS in Iraq in the past 24 hrs. While it is hard to assess the significance of the recent strikes in the wider campaign, a couple of the announced aerial attacks stand out, possibly indicative of the […]
By Robert Tollast. The US Department of Defence has reported 11 air strikes in Iraq, usually indicative of 24-48 hrs of activity. Coalition aircraft normally conduct air strikes along three fronts in Iraq, the Euphrates front, which cuts across western Iraq to Syria and covers the western flank of Baghdad, and includes the ISIS occupied […]
By Simon Kent. Iraq's long awaited delivery of F-16 fighter bombers have now made their combat debut, The Guardian reports. The jets made 15 sorties in Salahaddin, a key front north of Baghdad where the Baiji oil refinery and nearby town are still contested battle zones. The Guardian report suggests that with Coalition strikes hitting ISIS on […]
By Robert Tollast. US and Coalition air strikes may be marginally increasing the area of terrain covered in the campaign so far, according to attack data released by the US Department of Defence in the past 24 hours. Critics of the strikes note how they are few in number compared to comparable air campaigns against […]
By John Lee. Members of the so called "Islamic State" have targeted up to 170 men near Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk, AFP reports. The men have been kidnapped in response to the alleged burning of an ISIL flag in two villages outside the city. While ISIL have been known to severely punish dissenters, other reports have […]
By John Lee. The Christmas and the New Year period brought no respite for fighters of the so called "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria, with some 100 strikes targeting the group in their key command and control sites including Raqqa in Syria, and Mosul and Fallujah in Iraq. US Defence officials also reported other […]
By John Lee. As Kurdish Peshmerga forces have continued their advance, capturing Batana mountain near Zumar, along with recent gains in Makhmur, they have announced ISIL is following a "scorched earth" policy. An official from Iraq's North Oil Company recently confirmed that after ISIL retreated from the Ain Zalah oil field, they set fire to […]
