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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
Australia to airlift weapons
The Royal Australian Air Force will deliver weapons to Kurdish fighters battling ISIS. Abbott says the decision to join Canada, Italy, the U.S., France and Britain is made to address a worsening ‘humanitarian crisis.’
Australia will join international partners to help the [anti-IS] forces in Iraq
The RAAF will provide C-130J Hercules and C-17A Globemaster aircraft. It has previously limited its air operations to humanitarian drops.
Starts airstrikes, aid drops in northern town
The U.S. begins airstrikes and humanitarian drops in the northern town of Amerli, backing up a combined local force of Iraqi military, Shiite militia and Kurdish peshmerga fighters that is seeking to break the ISIS siege of the town and free 15,000 trapped Shiite Turkmen. Australia, France and the UK also participate in the aid drop. Rear Admiral John Kirby says operations will be limited in scope and duration, as required to protect civilians trapped in Amerli.
Operation to free northern town
The Iraqi Army, Shiite militias and Kurdish peshmerga launch operations to free the northern town of Amerli, where 15,000 minority Shia Turkmen have been under siege by ISIS for two months. The combined forces are reported to be mounting an assault on two fronts in the Salahuddin Kurdish area, with peshmerga fighters said to be west of Tuz Khurmatu, just north of Amerli, and Iraqi army units and Shia militia are approaching Amerli from the south. The Iraqi Air Force is providing some cover on the southern approach. The operation is reported to have two objectives: to break the siege of Amerli and to reopen the main highway leading north from Baghdad.
Military options focus on Iraq
Obama says that while he has asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey for ‘a range of options’ for confronting ISIS, military plans are currently limited to protecting U.S. personnel in Iraq and do not extend to action in Syria. To reporters:
Our core priority right now is just to make sure our folks are safe
Airstrikes kill 31 militants
Syrian fighter jets unleash more than two dozen airstrikes on the ISIS stronghold city of Raqqa, killing at least 31 militants and wounding dozens more. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 26 strikes hit ISIS-controlled buildings, including the military court and bases in the city. Sources say that at least six civilians are killed and 10 injured in the bombing campaign, which has now lasted five days. Raqqa resident:
About 30 percent of the strikes hit the Islamic State positions, the rest hit civilian areas
Army retakes Lebanese town
The Lebanese military enters the border town of Arsal and redeploys in security checkpoints following the withdrawal of militants affiliated with ISIS and Al Qaeda branch the Al-Nusra Front who held the town for five days. Thirty-five military vehicles, including two tanks, drive through the northeastern town in the afternoon, heading for the Aqabat al-Mebyaah Army post in Wadi al-Hosn, overtaken on the first day of fighting, as well as Sayadeye and other posts.