By Simon Kent. An improvised explosive device has killed at least 9 people and injured many more in the town of Yusifiyah, about 20km south of Baghdad. The town used to be part of what was once called the "triangle of death" along with nearby Mahmudiyah and Iskandariyah, and was once the scene of almost […]
By Simon Kent. Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi faces new political pressure over the payment of salaries for the 100,000 strong Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Shaabi, as they are known in Iraq. The Hashd al-Shaabi were formed last summer after a call from the holy figure Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, to defend […]
By Simon Kent. Kurdish Peshmerga forces in newly liberated Sinjar, the Yazidi majority town en route to Mosul, have discovered an ISIS tunnel complex of fighting positions. The Wall Street Journal has documented the find in a photo essay report. Tunnel complexes have previously been used by ISIS in the battle of Jurf al Sakhar last year, […]
By Simon Kent. A wave of US aircraft, including A-10 bombers which can fire thousands of exploding canon shells per minute, have destroyed 116 ISIS fuel tankers near the Iraqi border in Syria. The operation at Albu Kamal (the Iraqi side of the border is Al Qaim), code named Tidal Wave II, targeted a gathering […]
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. Kurdish and Yezidi forces made the grim discovery of a mass grave over the weekend, containing the remains of up to 70 women near the town of Sinjar. Sinjar, a key town on the approach to ISIS occupied Mosul, is home to many of the Yazidi community and was recently recaptured in a […]
By Simon Kent. Iraqi army forces, supported by pro-government Sunni tribes and US air strikes, have advanced into central Ramadi according to officials quoted in UPI. The reported capture of the train station in the centre of the town would mark the culmination of a series of "shaping operations" to cut off ISIS from their […]
By Robert Tollast. At least 23 people have been killed and 60 wounded in two separate suicide vest attacks in Baghdad, the BBC reports. The attacks took place in the early morning rush hour traffic and targeted checkpoints, normally an attempt to cause casualties in the backlog of traffic. Alternatively it could be a sign that there […]
By Simon Kent. ISIS have launched two suicide attacks in Anbar province, killing 13 Iraqi army soldiers and allied Sunni tribesmen, Fox News reports, citing anonymous Iraqi military sources. The attack was launched on an outpost near Ramadi and appears typical of ISIS' efforts to hinder progress re-taking the city, which has been encircled by Sunni tribal […]
By Simon Kent. The Royal Air Force has launched a total of 300 sorties against the self proclaimed "Islamic State," according to a report on the strikes released by the UK's Ministry of Defence. In military parlance, a "sortie" is a mission where bombs are dropped, as opposed to a mission which may not find […]
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 Robert Tollast. The following opinions are the authors only, and do not necessarily represent the views of Iraq Business News. This article examines Iraq’s localised and national level attempts to foster pan sectarian cooperation against ISIL, looked at in the context of previous counterinsurgency campaigns fought by Britain and the US. “Our fighting against […]
