Northern town retaken
Iraqi Kurdish forces and armed Shia volunteers recapture the northern famring town of Sulaiman Bek, killing Mussab Mamoud, the ISIS leader in the town, and military wing commander Mazen Zaki along with more than 20 other fighters. General Abdul Amir al-Zaidi, head of the Dijala Operations command:
The town of Suleiman Bek has been liberated from Islamic State by the Iraqi Army and Peshmerga as well as local volunteers including the Peace Brigade, Badr Corps and Asaib Ahel-al-Haq
Cargo plane comes under fire
ISIS militants fire on a Royal Australian Air Force Hercules C-130 cargo plane with small arms and heavy machineguns during an airdrop over the Shiite Turkmen town of Amerli in northern Iraq. With the drop taking place at night, the rebels fire by noise rather than sight as the darkened planes flew below 300 meters to make the delivery of 15 bundles of water, biscuits and hygiene packs. U.S. fighter jets flying top cover respond with maximum force after being guided in by a high-flying U.S. Air Force J-Star spy plane.
Germany to arm Kurds
German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen announces the country will ship enough armour-piercing missiles, assault rifles and other military equipment to equip a 4,000-strong brigade of Kurdish fighters by the end of September. The weapons will be delivered in tranches and include 8,000 G36 assault rifles, the same number of G3 rifles, 30 Milan anti-tank missile systems equipped with 500 missiles, and five Dingo armoured cars as well as other arms and ammunition.
Not least because of the number of foreign fighters, it threatens our security in Germany and Europe.
Airstrikes
Assad regime airstrikes on an ISIS-operated training camp and bakery in Raqqa kill 25 people. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says militants and civilians are among the casualties. ISIS operates a variety of assets in Raqqa – the capital of the self-styled Islamic State’s caliphate – including courts, a central bank and an administrative system.
Mountain recaptured
Kurdish peshmerga forces recapture Mount Zartak from ISIS with assistance from U.S. airstrikes. The mountain is in a strategic location, overlooking a plain that stretches to the ISIS-held city of Mosul. The city is key to the group’s expansion of territory in the north of the country. Kurdish commander Gene Aziz Oweisi:
For the Iraqis it’s important too because it’s a step towards taking back Mosul.
Airstrikes kill 53
Airstrikes by the Syrian military targeting ISIS in its stronghold city of Raqa kill at least 53 people. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman:
We have documented the deaths of 31 civilians, among them five women and three children, in Raqa and its surroundings.
Another 15 militants are confirmed dead in a string of eight air strikes, as well as seven other unidentified people. Eight of the civilian victims are from one family.
Airstrikes push militants back from dam
A total of five airstrikes by U.S. forces succeed in pushing ISIS militants back from an assault on the Haditha dam in Anbar province. The militants had sought to seize the water supply in order to expand their control in the province and gain a strategic staging point for assaults elsewhere in the country. Pro-government paramilitary leader Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha:
They were very accurate. There was no collateral damage … If Islamic State had gained control of the dam, many areas of Iraq would have been seriously threatened, even Baghdad
The Pentagon says the strikes destroyed four ISIS Humvees, four armed vehicles – two of which were carrying antiaircraft artillery – a fighting position, one command post and a defensive fighting position. All aircraft left the strike areas safely.
To expand airstrikes
The U.S. government is considering a major expansion of airstrikes in Iraq to target ISIS’s logistics hubs and supply lines in operations intended to help the new government retake lost territory. The air campaign has so far been confined to categories such as protecting U.S. personnel in the northern city of Erbil, humanitarian relief operations and defending key infrastructure from ISIS. Obama plans to greenlight ‘sovereignty strikes’ intended to support operations by Iraqi security forces, Kurdish defense fighters and other groups fighting against ISIS. A defense official:
The strikes would support Iraqi forces on the ground and help them take back territory. It opens the aperture.
Officials say the recent strikes aimed at supporting pro-government forces around the Haditha dam – which bring the total number of airstrikes conducted to 143 – are part of the expanded remit for U.S. air power, which is being conducted in line with a growing list of requests from Baghdad as the U.S. seeks to support the new government in diminishing sectarian tensions.
Sources: Prepared for Syria strikes
Obama is prepared to expand airstrikes to Syria in order to combat ISIS and does not believe that he needs approval from Congress, people who participated in talks on the issue say. They say Obama discussed his plans at a White House dinner with a bipartisan group of foreign policy experts and said he has authorization that striking the group on both sides of the Iraqi border to protect U.S. national security. Center for a New American Security CEO and former undersecretary of defense Michèle Flournoy:
This is not an organization that respects international boundaries. You cannot leave them with a safe haven. . . . I expect him to be very candid.
…essentially operating in a virtual safe haven in Syria. That’s a dangerous situation.
Authorizes $25 million aid
Obama authorizes $25 million in immediate military aid to the Iraqi government, including the Kurdistan Regional Government, to help with military education and training. A White House memorandum says the funds are intended…
…to aid their efforts to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Military bases planned
The UK is planning to set up or expand three military bases in the Middle East to respond to the threat of ISIS. An infantry battalion may be based in the United Arab Emirates while a training post in Oman could be used, and the Royal Navy is believed to hope that the port in Bahrain could be increased in size to accommodate more sailors and bigger warships. Defence source:
You could see an infantry battalion based in al-Minhad, being able to train alongside the Emirates
Military ops near Tikrit
Iraqi Army troops force ISIS to retreat northwards from areas south of Tikrit city, located 150 miles northwest of Baghdad, killing ‘tens’ of ISIS militants in heavy clashes in the area. The military is planning to launch further operations from the area. Salauhddin Governorate Council president Ahmed al-Karim:
The security forces have set up a camp in al-Daluiya south of Tikrit and will head north from al-Jabour area in north of Daluiya to start an extensive military operation against ISIS fighters.
UK, Germany: No air strikes
A day after President Obama tells American that the US will be joined by “a broad coalition of partners,” Britain and Germany announce they will not be participating in airstrikes against ISIS. British foreign secretary Philip Hammond says Parliament decided against participating in airstrikes in 2013, and it won’t be “revisiting” the matter. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his country would not participate either.
To be quite clear, we have not been asked to do so and neither will we do so.
To deploy troops, aircraft
Abbott announces that Australia will deploy 400 air force personnel and 200 special forces troops to the United Arab Emirates where they will be based at a U.S. facility in preparation for possible military operations against ISIS. Eight Super Hornet jets, an EWAC (Early Warning and Control) plane and a tanker aircraft for aerial refueling will be deployed. He tells reporters in the Northern Territory capital city Darwin that the government considers the deployment ‘prudent and proportionate’, but that there there are ‘obviously further decisions to be taken’ before Australian forces commit to combat action.
I have to warn the Australian people that should this preparation and deployment extend into combat operations, that this could go on for quite some time
No air strikes
Cameron resists calls for the UK to join the U.S. in conducting airstrikes on ISIS. With the threat posed by ISIS to UK citizens underscored by the group’s execution of Haines, Cameron says the nation will stick with its approach of diplomatic pressure, supporting U.S. action and helping Iraqi and local Kurdish authorities. Televised statement:
As this strategy intensifies, we are ready to take whatever steps are necessary to deal with this threat and keep our country safe. Step by step, we must drive back, dismantle, and ultimately destroy ISIL (IS) and what it stands for. We will do so in a calm, deliberate way, but with an iron determination.
European Kurds take up arms
Kurds who live in Europe are leaving their homes and taking up arms against ISIS by joining the Peshmerga, a militia force in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Deputy Chairman of the Kurdish community in Germany, Mehmet Tanriverdi, knows of dozens of Kurds who are leaving Germany and other European countries to combat against ISIS. One potential participant is just a phone call away to leave his quiet life in Denmark in order to combat the “psychopaths” of the Islamic State. Pirani:
I feel so helpless here. I am ready to die for the Kurdish cause.
Expands air campaign
Less than a week after President Obama pledged a multi-step campaign to degrade and destroy IS militants, U.S. attack and fighter aircraft are used Sunday and Monday beyond humanitarian missions and protecting U.S. personnel. Two airstrikes target ISIS positions in Sinjar to the north and southwest of Baghdad in support of Iraqi offensive operations. The number of air strikes has now risen to 162 since early August.
Approves Syrian airstrikes
Defense Secretary Hagel tells the Senate that he has approved a plan to conduct ‘targeted actions against [ISIS] safe havens in Syria.’
General Dempsey and I have both reviewed and approved the Cent Com plan.
This includes striking infrastructure. He says the U.S. has carried out more than 160 airstrikes so far, which have ‘disrupted’ ISIS.
Local forces to fight ISIS
Hagel says that the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria will depend on local opposition:
The best counterweight against Isil are local forces
U.S. troops will not engage the group directly:
American forces will not have a combat mission.
He says U.S. forces in Iraq will operate out of Baghdad and Irbil, for a total of about 1,600 troops. will support Iraqi and Kurdish forces. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has agreed to host training grounds for more than 5,000 Syrian opposition forces, who will be given small arms, vehicles and communications equipment and training:
We would be prepared to provide increasingly [sophisticated] types of assistance.
The U.S. will select the Syrian opposition carefully:
A rigorous vetting process would be critical to the success of this program. There will always be risks. But we believe that risk is justified.
Half Iraqi army not ready
Half of the potential military prowess in Iraq is not capable of effectively teaming up with the United States. The other half requires rebuilding efforts consisting of additional training and equipment. Dempsey is hoping this force is made ready with intelligence, air surveillance and tactical air power, along with advisers to assist. Dempsey:
This is about training them in protected locations and then enabling them…
Dempsey also explains that a large US military force, also known as boots on the ground, cannot fix the problem of the Islamic State taking over large swaths of land. He says the key is to form an Iraqi government that unites the Kurdish and Sunni populations as equal partners. Dempsey:
I’m telling you, if that doesn’t happen then it’s time for Plan B.
The general further explains why even US air power cannot ultimately stop ISIS. Dempsey:
What we’ve seen so far is, a lot of the black flags have come down, a lot of the convoys have dispersed, a lot of the (fighter) assembly areas have been moved into urban areas. This will be a campaign of adaptation.