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22 Aug, 2015

Rouhani inaugurates ‘The Conqueror’

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Iran’s President Rouhani inaugurates Fateh-313, alias “The Conqueror,” a short-range solid fuel short-range missile. The missile is newer version of Fateh-110 and has both a faster launch capability, and a longer range, with the ability to hit military targets within a 500 kilometer range.

12 Jul, 2014

Volunteers sent to help troops

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4,00o volunteers are dispatched to help bolster the troops fighting the Sunni militants in Ramadi, a small city west of Baghdad. Gen. Rasheed Flayeh, the commander of operations in Anbar province, says 2,500 of the reinforcements arrived yesterday in Ramadi, and the rest are expected to arrive today. The majority of the volunteers are Shiites answering a call from the country’s top Shiite cleric asking for help in defending the country from the militants who have already seized control of much of northern and western Iraq.

11 Jul, 2014

Kurdish foreign minister removed

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Iraqi officials report Kurdish Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has been removed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. This occurred as Kurds launched a boycott following comments made by  al-Maliki linking ISIS extremists and Baathists to the Kurdish Regional Government in Irbil. The Kurds strongly dispute al-Maliki’s allegations, claiming he wants to scapegoat the Kurds for his failures in northern Iraq and divert attention from how ISIS militants have poured into Iraq and waged warfare against the government.

10 Jul, 2014

Kurds boycott Cabinet meetings

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Iraq’s Kurds say they will ask politicians to stay away from Cabinet meetings.  They are asking Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down and blame him for not stopping the Sunni militant offensive that is sweeping through the country. Deputy Prime Minister Roz Nouri Shawez, the highest level Kurdish official in the government:

Such statements are meant to hide the big security fiasco by blaming others, and we announce our boycott of Cabinet meetings.

8 Jul, 2014

Iranian planes delivered

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Warplanes delivered recently to Baghdad appear to be from Iran. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), photo analysis shows that the planes are likely the same ones used in the first Gulf War. Video released by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense reveals serial numbers assigned to Iranian SU-25s.  The video also shows that attempts were made to cover up the old markings on the plane, like the Iranian roundels on the side of the air intakes and a large proportion of the tail fin normally occupied by a full serial number, the Iranian flag and the IRGC insignia. The group of planes is said to be in much better condition than the recent delivery of planes from Russia. Used by Russia in its 1980s war in Afghanistan, the Su-25 was described at the time by a U.S. Marine report as “ideal” for war in the rugged terrain of the Middle East. Iraqi military used Su-25 jets extensively during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

5 Jul, 2014

Indian nurses arrive home

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After being trapped for more than a week in Tikrit, an area that had been seized by Sunni militant forces, the group of 46 nurses arrives home to India. It is not yet clear if they were abducted or trapped and unable to leave the area.  One of the nurses says:

They didn’t do anything, they didn’t disturb us and they didn’t harm anyone. They didn’t touch even. They talked nicely.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi video

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A video showing someone who is thought to be the leader of the Islamic State extremist group delivering a sermon at a mosque in Mosul is posted online.  Al-Baghdadi is rarely seen in public, with only a few photographs of him in existence.  Although the video appears on a site that is connected to the group, there has been no official verification of whether or not he is the one in the video.

4 Jul, 2014

Trapped nurses fly home

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An Indian official says that the Indian nurses who are stranded in Iraq will be flying home to India this week.  The 46 nurses, who were stranded at a hospital in the city of Tikrit, which was captured by Sunni militants last month, were moved to Mosul earlier this week.  Oommen Chandy, Chief Minister of Kerala state in India, says the nurses will return home on a special aircraft arranged by the Indian government:

We are thankful to the government of India.

Al-Maliki won’t withdraw from PM race

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Hours after a lawmaker had said al-Maliki agreed not to run for another term as the country’s prime minister, al-Maliki announces he will not withdraw his name from the candidacy.  On a state-run TV station broadcast, he says:

I will never back down nominating myself as prime minister.  No one has the right to place any conditions.

Airstrikes target ISIS

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Government airstrikes kill at least 30 insurgents who are trying to gain control of the Beiji oil refinery.  A government plane targeted eight vehicles that were attacking government forces at the facility yesterday.  The militants have taken control of Qaim, which controls a border crossing with Syria, last month during their blitz across Iraq, and now control a vast stretch of territory straddling Iraq and Syria.

3 Jul, 2014

Kidnapped drivers released

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Turkey’s foreign minister says 32 drivers believed to have been kidnapped by ISIS militants last month are released in Iraq.  The drivers were on their way to the airport in northern Iraq to board a flight back to Turkey when they went missing.  Additionally, in June, the militants raided the Turkish Consulate in Mosul and abducted many staff members.  There are still 40 staff members missing.

1 Jul, 2014

Parliament delays session

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After 90 members of parliament failed to return after a 30-minute break, Iraq’s new parliament postpones its first session due to a lack of quorum.  The speaker of the Parliament says:

We are going to postpone because of an urgent matter.

He did not reveal what the matter is or what happened.

30 Jun, 2014

300 US troops deployed

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The Pentagon announces that the US has increased its presence in Iraq.  Over the past few days, 200 troops arrived in the area to provide additional security for the US Embassy, the Baghdad airport and other locations. A written statement from Pentagon spokesman,  Rear Adm. John Kirby says the deployment includes:

a detachment of helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, which will bolster airfield and travel route security.

The newly deployed troops are an addition to 300 U.S. advisers who will help train Iraq’s security forces.  They will bring the total of American forces in Iraq to about 800 troops.

29 Jun, 2014

Russian fighter jets arrive

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Five Russian Sukhoi fighter jets arrive in Iraq, the first of 25 planes to be delivered to Iraq under an agreement between the two countries.  When attempts to get fighter jets from the US failed, the country turned to Russia and Belarus for help. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki believes militant advances could have been stopped if fighter jets had been deployed:

 God willing, within one week, this force will be effective and will destroy the terrorists’ dens.

In response, a State Department spokeswoman tells CNN:

This kind of blame of others on the outside is quite frankly part of what’s gotten Iraq into the situation it’s in today. It’s helped create the crisis. When we left Iraq, we gave the Iraqis the ability to create a better future. And unfortunately, leaders across the spectrum didn’t step up and take the opportunity. They blamed others and didn’t bring the country together.

28 Jun, 2014

Reclaims Tikrit

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Both state media and a local tribal leader are reporting that Iraq security forces have reclaimed Tikrit from Sunni militants. Sheikh Khamis al-Joubouri, a key tribal leader in Tikrit, tells CNN that  Iraqi security forces, along with special forces and fighters from local tribes, entered the city and gained control. Sabah Numan, a Counter Terrorism Unit spokesman, tells CNN  that 120 militants have been killed and 20 vehicles destroyed in the large-scale operation that began this morning. Numan says:

We are mainly busy defusing booby-trapped houses and cars on the main roads leading into Tikrit.

27 Jun, 2014

Saudi forces on high alert

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SPA, the state-run news agency, reports King Abdullah has ordered that “all necessary measures” be taken to protect Saudi Arabia against terror threats:

Anticipating (that) the terrorist organizations or others might carry out actions that might disturb the security of the homeland, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques has ordered taking all necessary measures to protect the gains of the homeland and its territories in addition to the security and stability of the Saudi people.

A Saudi official, who is not authorized to speak with the media, says:

Saudi Arabia shares a long border with Iraq and the government is aware that ISIS is very close to Iraq’s border with Jordan, and is also aware ISIS has been very public about its intention to attempt to attack Saudi Arabia.

Needs fighter jets

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Maliki tells the  BBC that if Iraq had fighter jets in the air ISIS  advances could have been avoided. Iraq has been trying to secure fighter jets from the United States for some time.  The country is now asking Russia to supply them with fighter jets.

I’ll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract with the United States.

Sunni detainees executed

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In a recent report, Amnesty International states there is evidence showing a pattern of “extra judicial executions” of Sunni detainees by government forces and Shiite militias in the northern Iraqi cities of Tal Afar, Mosul and Baquba.  Senior crisis response adviser, Donatella Rovera says:

Reports of multiple incidents where Sunni detainees have been killed in cold blood while in the custody of Iraqi forces are deeply alarming.  The killings suggest a worrying pattern of reprisal attacks against Sunnis in retaliation for ISIS gains.

25 Jun, 2014

Takes control of oil fields

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Sunni militants in Iraq take control of several oil fields.  The militants launched a dawn raid on the Beiji refinery, which along with a nearby power plant supplies Iraq with approximately one-third of its fuel and one-tenth of its electricity.  A Western diplomat tells Britain’s Daily Telegraph:

We have used the word crisis about Iraq before, but this is the real thing. Iraq’s political leaders now mostly realize the problems. But has it translated into action yet? It has not.

2014

Officials: Iraq warned of ISIS theat

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Iraq received warnings about the “growing threat” from Sunni militants in Iraq as early as the beginning of 2014. US intelligence agencies say:

During the past year, the intelligence community has provided strategic warning of Iraq’s deteriorating security situation. We routinely highlighted (ISIS’) growing threat in Iraq, the increasing difficulties Iraq’s security forced faced in combating (ISIS), and the political strains that were contributing to Iraq’s declining stability…We knew exactly what strategy they were going to use, we knew the military planners.

Aside from the warnings from US intelligence agencies, both The Telegraph and Daily Beast are claiming Kurdish sources did warn American and British officials that ISIS was gaining strength and was ready to advance, but it “fell on deaf ears.”