ISIS update 12/29/2015..Iraqi PM vows to free country from ISIL in 2016
Battle of Ramadi
Iraqi forces continue to push ISIL from Ramadi
Situation Uncertain: US aid money to flow into Iraq after Ramadi liberated
IRAQI COMMANDER CLAIMS U.S. SECRETLY EVACUATED TOP lSlS LEADERS FROM RAMADI
Iraqi PM vows to free country from ISIL in 2016
Top Iranian commander hails liberation of Ramadi
Iraqi Golden Division clearing Ramadi urban areas from ISIS
International Military Review – Syria-Iraq battlespace, Dec. 29, 2015
Syria War: Heavy Fightings
Aftermath of triple bombing attack in Homs
Daraa after violent attack – start launching counter attack
Syrian army regains control of key city of Daraa
Syrian Military Report 29 Dec 2015 Destroyed Military technics of Jabhat al nusra
Caught On Tape: Russia Unleashes Massive Bombing Raid On Militant Convoy
There’s been some debate over the last two months about whether the concerted effort on Moscow’s part to release hundreds upon hundreds of MoD clips depicting airstrikes in Syria on the way to embarrassing Washington paints an accurate picture of what’s really going on.
That is, if one simply compares the Russian footage to what we know or have seen with regard to America’s 15-month air campaign against Islamic State, it would be easy to conclude that the US simply hasn’t been trying very hard – or at least not compared to The Kremlin.
While that’s probably an accurate assessment, it’s not always easy to tell what exactly the Russians are hitting when it comes to the targets being vaporized in the videos (although it’s pretty clear in the clips depicting strikes on oil tankers) and the US contends that one reason The Pentagon has been cautious is that Washington is concerned with civilian casualties, especially as it relates to the drivers in the crude truck convoys. For those who follow the US’s exploits in the Mid-East that’s a hard pill to swallow given what we know about collateral damage in drone strikes and given what happened in October in Kunduz, but the point is, taking Moscow at its word when Russia’s intent is quite clearly to make a mockery of the West’s efforts is just as dangerous as taking Washington at its word when The White House swears the US is doing everything in its power to fight terror.
All of that said, there’s also been what certainly feels like a marked increase in the number of independently released videos since Russia began bombing rebel and extremist targets. That is, in addition to what Moscow has released on social media, there have been dozens upon dozens of videos shot from the ground which depict either Russian airstrikes themselves or the aftermath. Although it’s not always easy to discern what precisely is going on in the amateur footage, there almost unquestionably seem to be more videos from on the ground cameramen then there were prior to the Russian intervention which in turn suggests that when it comes to the war on terror, Moscow, not Washington, is clearly taking the lead.
Hundreds of militants being evacuated from three Syrian villages
Captured terrorist reveals Turkey-ISIL links
Erdogan Says Assad “Mercilessly Killed 400,000 People”, Accuses Opposition Of “Treason”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is no fan-o’-Kurds, so to speak. Well, unless the Kurds you’re talking about are assisting in a lucrative business that involves the trafficking of illicit crude from Iraq to the port of Ceyhan.
Back in June, AKP lost its absolute majority in parliament after the pro-Kurdish HDP put on a surprisingly strong showing at the ballot box. We won’t recount the entire series of events that unfolded thereafter here as we’ve covered the story extensively, but suffice to say the democratic election outcome wasn’t allowed to stand because it imperiled Erdogan’s bid to transition the country to an executive presidency. In short, Erdogan blamed HDP and took it out on the PKK with whom he reignited a long simmering conflict on the way to scoring a better outcome at redo elections in November.
The opposition in Turkey is acutely aware of the fact that Erdogan is essentially running a thinly disguised autocracy and dissident voices are getting louder even as Ankara tries to suppress them with brutality and threats of imprisonment.
Over the weekend, HDP co-chairman Selahattin Demirtas said that Turkey’s largest ethnic minority had to decide whether to live in autonomy or “under one man’s tyranny”. Needless to say, the “one man” in question wasn’t pleased and on Tuesday the President called the remarks treasonous. On Monday, prosecutors in Diyarbakir and Ankara opened an investigation into six people including Demirtas.
“Where do you get the right to talk about establishing a state in east and southeast regions within Turkey’s unitary structure? Such a thing won’t be allowed by the national will or the security forces,” Erdogan fumed, speaking in Istanbul before flying to Riyadh to discuss Syria and other matters of mutual interest with the Saudis. “These operations will continue until terrorism is completely eradicated in our country,” he continued.
Of course by “the national will,” Erdogan means his “will” and by “until terrorism is completely eradicated” he means “until the PKK is completely eradicated.”
The Ministry of Justice will likely seek to have Demirtas’ parliamentary immunity lifted so he can be prosecuted. “Kurdish rebels have tried to create de facto autonomous areas in southeast cities, leading to urban warfare with government troops,” Bloomberg notes, adding that “Kurdish political and civil groups met over the weekend in Diyarbakir, where Demirtas called for an end to the fighting and urged a government declaration of Kurdish self-rule, including the establishment of autonomous security and police forces.”
……………….Of course calling for autonomy might not have been Demirtas’ only “crime.” “Leaders of Turkey’s legal and avowedly nonviolent Kurdish political parties are seeking support from Russia, which is embroiled in a feud with Ankara over the shootdown of a Russian jet last month along the Turkey-Syria border,” WSJ continues. “Selahattin Demirtas, head of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, held talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.”
Speaking of Russia, Erdogan also took the opportunity to lash out at Moscow on Tuesday for supporting who Ankara says is a mass murderer. “You cannot go anywhere by supporting a regime that has mercilessly killed 400,000 innocent people with conventional and chemical weapons,” Erdogan said, in comments clearly directed at The Kremlin. The President also lambasted “countries” for supporting the Kurdish YPG which, not coincidentally, has proven to be the most effective force fighting Islamic State in Syria with the possible exception of Hezbollah. Erdogan equates the YPG with the PKK. In other words, they’re “terrorists,” even though they’ve been fighting “the terrorists” for years.
“This is the time when the masks have been taken off and the real faces exposed,” Erdogan concluded.
Indeed.
Water Cannons & Tear Gas: Police clash with protesters in Turkey
Another Major Blow to ISIL; Syrian Army Takes Two Towns in Homs
Foreign Planes Dropping Military Aid for ISIL in Kirkuk
Syrian Forces Win Back 2 More Villages Near Lattakia’s Border with Turkey
Al-Baqdadi’s Office Chief Killed in Mosul
Syrian Army Declares Liberation of Strategic Maheen Mountains Southeast of Homs
ISIL’s Financial Minister Captured in Ramadi
Yemeni Forces Capture Scores of Saudi-Led Coalition Troops near Ma’rib
ISIL Suffers Major Casualties
Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2015/12/isis-update-12292015iraqi-pm-vows-to.html
