Tag Archives | Coalition

NATO Enhances Training Mission in Iraq

By John Lee. The coronavirus pandemic dominated a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels last week, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. "We addressed a number of issues, including our missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and our support for Georgia and Ukraine, but our response to the COVID-19 was at the top of our agenda," […]

European Forces Withdraw from Iraq

By John Lee. European countries including France, Spain and the Netherlands have reportedly announced the temporary withdrawal of troops from the anti-Islamic State (IS) coalition and NATO Training Mission in Iraq. According to Janes 360, the withdrawals follow an announcement by Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) that it had ceased training Iraqi […]

At Qayyarah, Iraqi Troops Just 30 Miles from Mosul

By Simon Kent. Battling through an apocalyptic landscape of black smoke from burning oil, (fighters from the self declared Islamic State hoped this would hinder air strikes) Iraqi soldiers have reached the center of Qayyarah. Snipers held up the advance, before soldiers were able to capture a government compound. Qayyarah is just 60 km south […]

ISIS Struggling After Massive Casualties

By Simon Kent.  Outgoing US commander Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland has given a press conference on the state of the self declared Islamic State and the coming campaign to retake Mosul from group. At the conference, he noted that "the enemy is in retreat on all fronts.” The General noted that 30,000 airstrikes had hit […]

Canada Plans Field Hospital for Mosul Battle

By John Lee. Canadian Minister of Defence Harjit Sajjan has announced that Canada will establish and staff a field hospital (or military hospital) as a part of its contribution to the forthcoming battle for Mosul, expected some time over the coming winter. Sajjan noted, "As part of our ongoing commitment, Canada will soon deploy up […]

ISIS in Iraq Hit by 21 Coalition Air Strikes

By Simon Kent. One of the problems the so called Islamic State have encountered recently is the transition from being a terrorist group to a terrorist army. Of course, an army has far more targets to hit from the air and ISIS continually discover this the hard way. According to the most recent statement from […]

Assessing the War on ISIS

By Mona Alami for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The Islamic State’s control over large swaths of land in Iraq and Syria is slowly diminishing, as it is being aggressively pummeled by local and international forces, such as Kurdish and Iraqi […]

US General: "Conventional" War Can Defeat ISIS

By Simon Kent. US General Sean McFarland, remembered by historians of the Iraq war for stabilizing the restive town of Tal Afar, has returned to lead the mission against ISIS in Iraq. In an interview with the BBC, the general explained how ISIS were a different enemy to their predecessors that the US faced in […]

Heavy Coalition Air Strikes in Ramadi

By Simon Kent. Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve have released their latest press statement on the most recent air strikes in Iraq and Syria against ISIS, whom they refer to here as ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The recent reports of strikes suggest that the so called "Islamic […]

US Kills ISIS "Finance Chief"

By Simon Kent. The US air force has eliminated Abu Saleh, the financial coordinator of ISIS (also known as Daesh) in an air strike at the end of November. US military spokesman Col. Steve Warren announced the strike, noting that Abu Saleh was "a legacy al Qaeda member." The strike was one of a series […]

Iraqi Forces Close to Ramadi Victory

By Simon Kent. Iraqi forces in Anbar province's capital city of Ramadi are close to victory, several publications report. According to The Wall St. Journal, Iraqi sources on the ground say that US air strikes were critical in the latest advances and most of the city's districts are now once again under government control. At this point, […]

Nine Coalition Strikes Hit ISIS in Iraq

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, […]