By Simon Kent. US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said that, if requested the Iraqi army can benefit from US ground attack helicopters and embedded military advisers in the final stages of the fight for Ramadi. The Iraqi army have recently made significant advances into the center of the town, (pictured above) which is the capital […]
By John Lee. Coalition airstrikes have failed to interrupt the oil industry in areas controlled by the Islamic State group (IS, ISIS, ISIL), reports the Financial Times. IS is running what the article describes as “a sprawling operation almost akin to a state oil company that has grown in size and expertise despite international attempts […]
By Robert Tollast. The BBC's Orla Guerin has filed a report from Anbar after spending time with a Sheikh from the Albu Issa tribe. The report relays another example of a growing number of complaints from anti-ISIL Sheikhs in the strategic province. Many Sheikhs assert that the government is not giving them enough funds and […]
By Simon Kent. As of today, personnel from the German army will be training fighters from the Yazidi ethnic minority in northern Iraq. The Yazidi's (pictured: Yazidi religious symbol) are an ancient religion from Northern Iraq and shot to global attention in June last year, when they became the target of a genocidal attack by the "Islamic State." […]
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 Anne-Laure Barbosa at Edinburgh International On 25 October, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited the newly-liberated town of Jurf al-Sakhar, south of Baghdad, taking advantage of a rare opportunity to consolidate the legitimacy of the Iraqi government in their fight against ISIS. These fresh territorial gains, which also include parts of Nineveh and Kirkuk, followed sustained […]
