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Iraq sets conditions to exempt Jordanian products from fee hikes Jordan Times Jordan has requested Iraq to exempt Jordan from the 30 per cent customs duties imposed on imports from all countries during the meeting of Jordanian-Iraqi joint committee, as the two neighbours are bracing for a new era after the expected reopening of ... and more »

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Iraq sets conditions to exempt Jordanian products from fee hikes - Jordan Times

Some of the best news to come from the Middle East in a long time is the recent and long-overdue improvement in relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It started in February, when Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir visited Baghdadthe first such visit since 1990and continued with a number of subsequent contacts, including a meeting between Iraqi Interior Minister Qasim al-Araji and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) on July 19. Most striking of all was when Iraqs Shiite firebrand cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, traveled to Riyadh for high level talks on improving bilateral ties with the Saudis on July 31.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia July 30, 2017. Reuters

As an Iraqi leader, Sadr has typically taken a hard nationalistand sometimes even Shiite chauvinistline. And although his relationship with Tehran is complicated owing to his independent power base and occasional appeal to a sense of Iraqi patriotism, he has been a critical Iranian ally for most of the post-Saddam Hussein era. His militia, Saraya al-Salam, continues to receive extensive support from Irans Revolutionary Guard. For all those reasons, his meeting with the Saudis, Irans traditional Arab Sunni nemesis, was a surprise, to say the least.

Although still at an early stage, these meetings have raised the possibility of Saudi willingness to support war-ravaged Iraq, ease commerce and communications between the two countries, and re-open the massive pipelines that run through the Kingdom from Iraq to the Red Seabuilt during the Iran-Iraq War but closed after Saddams 1990 invasion of Kuwait. They also raise the prospect of meaningful Sunni political participation in post-ISIS Iraq.

From the perspective of the United States (and Iraq), this can only be good news. Washington has been trying in vain since 2003 to convince the Saudis and other Gulf states that they have a vital role to play in Iraqs stability and geopolitical realignment, and that dissing the Iraqis would simply drive the countrys Shiites into the arms of the Iranians and its Sunnis into the arms of terrorist groups like al Qaeda and the Islamic State (or ISIS).

For the past 14 years, the Kingdom has kept its distance, believing that Iraq was already lost to the Iraniansand that if it werent, it was the United States job to fix the problems it created with its invasion. But MBS has been willing to reassess old policies and compete in areas where the Kingdom has previously ceded the field. Some have criticized the new approach as being occasionally too muscular, particularly in the case of Yemen. Yet this opening to Shiite leaders in Iraq suggests that the Saudis are also capable of playing a subtler political game and reaching across the sectarian divide when required.

Iraq could be a major beneficiary of such a shift, and that would be enormously helpful to U.S. efforts to stabilize the country in the wake of ISIS imminent defeat. The Saudis can play an important role in preventing their northern neighbor from sliding back into civil war for a third time. Their influence with Iraqs Sunni leaders and the tribes from the otherwise restive Anbar Province could help facilitate a political settlement that results in a more representative government in Baghdad.

Saudi Arabias opening to the Iraqis is also significant, not only for bilateral relations, but for reintegrating Iraq into its broader Arab environment. Following Sadrs landmark meeting with the Saudi crown prince, he was invited to the United Arab Emirates, where State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash announced a new era of engagement between Iraq and Arab Gulf countries. Reading the diplomatic tea leaves, four Arab foreign ministers have visited Baghdad this month.

The psychological and political dimensions of this are of equal importance. Although many Iraqi Shiites have some degree of trust that Iran will support them when no one else will, most dont like the overbearing nature of Iranian influence and would like to see it diminished. In the past, however, whenever a moderate Shiite leader tried to forge a path apart from Iran, he found it impossible to replace Tehrans largesse and protection. Neither the United States nor the deeply suspicious Sunni Arab states would help, forcing the moderate leader to turn back to Iran.

Saudi Arabias more forward leaning posture could give Iraqi Sunnis confidence to bargain with the Shiites in Baghdad. Knowing that they have a powerful neighbors support, they could be more willing to compromise. It should also make them more confident that Shiite hardliners wont be able to ignore their legitimate demands in areas such as political representation and economic benefits. It could also help them meet the needs of their community after the ravages inflicted by ISIS.

Ultimately, Iraqis dont want to become Saudi dependents eitherand they are terrified that Iraq could become the designated battlefield for the next Saudi-Iranian proxy warbut the country would love to be able to rely on another powerful regional state to restore balance to its foreign policy. Improved relations with Saudi Arabia before Iraqs 2018 parliamentary elections could make it easier for Iraqis to support more moderate candidates who could help bridge the sectarian divide, rather than the radicals who have torn the country apart.

The hard part for the United States will be to resist the temptation to assume that a bigger Saudi role in Iraq will allow for a smaller U.S. role. But as important as a better relationship with Saudi Arabia would be for Iraq, Riyadh still cannot replace Washington. Indeed, Saudi support should be seen as enabling the United States to do the things that only it can do: helping the Iraqis reach a new national reconciliation and power-sharing agreement among Sunnis and Shiites, assisting in finding a permanent solution for the status of Iraqi Kurdistan, and diluting Irans excessive influence in a strategically important Arab state.

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How Saudi Arabia is stepping up in Iraq - American Enterprise Institute

"ISIS is on the run and they have been shown to be unable to stand up to our team, have not retaken one inch of ground," he told reporters during a briefing in Bagdhad.

"A year ago the liberation of Mosul was just some ideas and lines in paper, the liberation of Raqqa was not even that," said Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force in Iraq.

"This week saw the start of Tal Afar after the hard-won victory in Mosul. We've seen our Iraqi partners quickly refit and transition their force into a new defensive in Tal Afar. In Syria we're in our third month to defeat ISIS. Daesh's defeat is inevitable. They are surrounded and cut off but their cruelty continues to shine through as they hide among women and children," he said.

In response to a question regarding civil casualties in the military campaign against ISIS, Mattis said there was "no military in the world's history that has paid more attention to limiting civilian casualties. Precision gave us options that we've never had before."

Two Syrian monitoring groups claimed Tuesday that at least 37 civilians were killed as a result of airstrikes by the US-led coalition in Raqqa Monday night.

Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a network of local activists, said coalition airstrikes killed 37 civilians in the neighborhood of al-Sakhani.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number at 42, saying the airstrikes hit the al-Sakhani and Badu neighborhoods.

Syrian state media said Tuesday the coalition airstrikes killed 78 civilians in Raqqa in the previous 24 hours.

"The Coalition takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and assesses all credible allegations of possible civilian casualties. However, the recent allegations by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights lack specificity and detail making it very difficult to properly assess," the public affairs office of the Coalition Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve said in reply to CNN questions.

"An enemy that hides behind women and children are showing who are the people violating every standard of decency and fills us with conviction [for] what we have to do about this enemy," said Mattis.

"I've seen people fleeing to ISF (Iraqi security forces) and feeling safe when they get to them. That alone is more telling than anything there, you see people risking their lives getting from one side to another. We are the good guys and the innocent people in the battlefield know the difference."

After briefing journalists, Mattis and Townsend left for the Kurdish-controlled Iraqi city of Erbil, where they were to meet with the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Masoud Barzani.

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Mattis: ISIS is on the run - CNN

ISIS no longer has the ability to orchestrate major terror attacks from its bases in Iraq and Syria, military commanders said today.

Maj Gen Rupert Jones, the deputy commander of the international coalition against ISIS, said the jihadi forces were too busy fighting for their lives to be able to plot outrages in Western cities.

He said the gains by the Iraqi Security Forces meant Daesh - the alternative name for the Islamic State - were on the path to defeat in Iraq and Syria.

The big directive attacks, those are really difficult to orchestrate right now form Iraq and Syria.

Your ability to orchestrate those sort of attacks at reach is very significantly suppressed, he said.

The recent attacks in Barcelona and Manchester were "self motivated", he suggested.

Maj Gen Jones also said the number of foreign fighters joining ISIS had slowed to a trickle.

He said those who had joined the terrorist organisation in Iraq and Syria now faced the choice of surrender or die.

Daesh are on the path to defeat. Thats really, really clear. Our partners have momentum,

We are there to liberate towns and cities from Daesh and from a Western point of view to make sure that organisation cannot direct and formerly export terror into the West.

If you are fighter in Raqqa right now do you think you are plotting to attack Birmingham or Brussels? I would wager not. What you are doing is fighting for your life, he said.

Maj Gen Jones said the leader of the ISIS forces Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had gone to ground and the bulk of his key staff were now dead.

He said the followers of al-Baghdadi would be feeling deserted and fighting for ISIS would have lost its appeal.

Do you feel led by al-Baghdadi? I would wager not. You feel deserted. Baghdadi has gone underground because thats the only way he can survive.

What about his lieutenants? The bulk of his lieutanants are dead. So do you feel part of a brand, an organisation in the ascendancy? I would say not, he said.

Maj Gen Jones, who is stepping down as the commander of the Global Coalition, also dismissed claims that Donald Trumps plans for a troop surge in Afghanistan would affect the operations in the Middle East.

Have we got the resources we need? Yes we have. If we needed more resources we would put forward a case. Do we worry we are suddenly going to become the poor cousin to Afghanistan? No. We are happy we have got the resources we need, he said.

He praised the Iraqi Security Forces for recapturing Mosul and liberating four million Iraqis from the tyrannical rule of Daesh.

Make no mistake, the momentum is clearly with the Iraqi Security forces they have the intent and capability to complete the military defeat of Daesh in Iraq.

The facts since the dark the days of 2014 speak for themselves: 40,000 sq kms have been liberated in Iraq, thats basically the size of Switzerland.

The Iraqi Security Forces have prevailed in the toughest urban battle since the Second World War. As a result about four million people in Iraq are able to live their lives free from Daeshs tyrannical rule.

Daesh are losing on all fronts and our partners have irresistible momentum, he said.

Maj Gen Jones said the foreign fighters who had joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria were now trapped.

From the high point back in 2014 when there were thousands of foreign fighters flowing into Iraq and Syria that has slowed to an absolute trickle.

Firstly, Daesh is not a particularly attractive proposition anymore, the lie has been exposed.

Thing two, a huge amount of work has been done across the Coalition to limit the ability of fighters to move into Iraq and Syria, border controls and alike, not least with our Nato ally Turkey,

It is equally hard to move back out. We dont see great evidence of fighters leaving places like Mosul and Raqqa and heading out north through Turkey towards Europe. Thats remarkably difficult to do.

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Military chief says ISIS too weak to plot terror attacks from Iraq - Mirror.co.uk

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis/ AP Photo/ Alex Brandon

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis/ AP Photo/ Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON Expelled from their main stronghold in northern Iraq, Islamic State militants are now trapped in a military vise that will squeeze them on both sides of the Syria-Iraq border, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said.

Mattis arrived in the Iraqi capital on an unannounced visit Tuesday just hours after President Donald Trump outlined a fresh approach to the stalemated war in Afghanistan. Trump also has vowed to take a more aggressive, effective approach against IS in Iraq and Syria, but he has yet to unveil a strategy for that conflict that differs greatly from his predecessors.

In Baghdad, Mattis was meeting with senior Iraqi government leaders and with U.S. commanders. He also planned to meet in Irbil with Massoud Barzani, leader of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region that has helped fight IS. Mattis told reporters before departing from neighboring Jordan that the so-called Middle Euphrates River Valley roughly from the western Iraqi city of al-Qaim to the eastern Syrian city of Der el-Zour will be liberated in time, as IS gets hit from both ends of the valley that bisects Iraq and Syria.

You see, ISIS is now caught in-between converging forces, he said, using an alternative acronym for the militant group that burst into western and northern Iraq in 2014 from Syria and held sway for more than two years. So ISISs days are certainly numbered, but its not over yet and its not going to be over any time soon.

Mattis referred to this area as ISISs last stand.

Unlike the war in Afghanistan, Iraq offers a more positive narrative for the White House, at least for now. Having enabled Iraqi government forces to reclaim the Islamic States prized possession of Mosul in July, the U.S. military effort is showing tangible progress and the Pentagon can credibly assert that momentum is on Iraqs side.

The ranking U.S. Air Force officer in Iraq, Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Croft, said that over the past couple of months IS has lost much of its ability to command and control its forces.

Its less coordinated than it was before, he said. It appears more fractured flimsy is the word I would use.

Brett McGurk, the administrations special envoy to the counter-IS coalition, credits the Trump administration for having accelerated gains against the militants. He said Monday that about one-third of all territory regained in Iraq and Syria since 2014 has been retaken in the last six or seven months.

I think thats quite significant and partially due to the fact were moving faster, more effectively, as a result of Trumps delegation of battlefield authorities to commanders in the field, McGurk said. He said this has really made a difference on the ground. I have seen that with my own eyes.

It seems likely that in coming months Trump may be in position to declare a victory of sorts in Iraq as IS fighters are marginalized and they lose their claim to be running a caliphate inside Iraqs borders. Syria, on the other hand, is a murkier problem, even as IS loses ground there against U.S.-supported local fighters and Russian-backed Syrian government forces.

The U.S. role in Iraq parallels Afghanistan in some ways, starting with the basic tenet of enabling local government forces to fight rather than having U.S. troops do the fighting for them. That is unlikely to change in either country. Also, although the Taliban is the main opposition force in Afghanistan, an Islamic State affiliate has emerged there, too. In both countries, U.S. airpower is playing an important role in support of local forces, and in both countries the Pentagon is trying to facilitate the development of potent local air forces.

In Iraq, the political outlook is clouded by the same sectarian and ethnic division between Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions that have repeatedly undercut, and in some cases reversed, security gains following the toppling of Saddam Husseins regime in 2003.

An immediate worry is a Kurdish independence referendum to be held Sept. 25, which, if successful, could upset a delicate political balance in Iraq and enflame tensions with Turkey, whose own Kurdish population has fought an insurgency against the central government for decades. McGurk reiterated U.S. opposition to holding the Iraqi Kurdish referendum.

We believe these issues should be resolved through dialogue under the constitutional framework, and that a referendum at this time would be really potentially catastrophic to the counter-ISIS campaign, McGurk told reporters in a joint appearance with Mattis before they flew to Iraq.

With the Iraqi militarys campaign to retake the northern city of Tal Afar now under way, Mattis has refused to predict victory. He says generals and senior officials should just go silent when troops are entering battle.

Id prefer just to let the reality come home. Theres nothing to be gained by forecasting something thats fundamentally unpredictable, he told reporters traveling with him over the weekend.

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Mattis: IS militants caught in Iraq-Syria military vise - wreg.com