Mediaboss Marketing

A boy carried belongings through rubble as he fled fighting between Iraqi special forces and Islamic State militants in western Mosul, Iraq, on Monday.

HAMAM AL-ALIL, Iraq During a visit south of Mosul on Monday, a senior US official praised territorial gains against the Islamic State group in Iraq, but local officials cautioned more aid is needed to rebuild following victories against the extremists.

The Mosul fight is approaching its final stages, Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the global coalition against the Islamic State, said during a meeting with Iraqi military and civilian officials at a water treatment plant near the town of Hamam al-Alil.

Advertisement

The world is now seeing that (Iraqi) soldiers are completely destroying Daesh, McGurk said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group that is also referred to as ISIS and ISIL. He described the fight to retake Mosul, which was launched nearly seven months ago, as one of the most difficult urban battles since World War II.

But the men who had gathered to receive McGurk and US Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman were dressed in suits, not fatigues, and they had come asking for aid, not weapons and training.

Get Today's Headlines in your inbox:

The day's top stories delivered every morning.

With the fight against ISIS in Iraq about to enter its fourth year, more than half of the territory the extremists once held is now under government control, but with those advances has come greater demand for reconstruction money.

The US military footprint in Iraq has steadily grown in the buildup to and throughout the Mosul operation, but US funds for humanitarian relief and stabilization remain a fraction of defense spending in this fight.

We are looking for more support as the west side of the city will be liberated soon, Major General Muhammed al-Shimary with Nineveh Operations Command told McGurk after thanking him for US assistance in the fight so far.

Advertisement

McGurk said the water treatment plant that now provides water to more than 100,000 people in Nineveh is symbolic of this entire effort that weve embarked upon to defeat Daesh.

Here in Nineveh we have hundreds of projects like this funded by our coalition, he said, adding that a similar list of reconstruction projects was being drawn up for the rebel-held Syrian city of Raqqa as US-led coalition forces surround it ahead of a long-anticipated operation to retake it.

But overall, US contributions to Iraqi reconstruction are unlikely to meet the countrys needs. Iraq continues to struggle with an economic crisis and the central government has called on the international community to provide the bulk of the funds.

Last year under the Obama administration, McGurk emphasized the need for a balance between speed and sustainability in the fight against the Islamic State.

Before you launch a major operation you have to have in place who is going to hold the city, who is going to govern the city, he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during testimony in June 2016.

However, President Trump has pledged to accelerate the military fight. While the White House has yet to release an official overhaul of the fight, since taking office Trump has handed greater decision-making power regarding troop levels in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan to the Pentagon.

Additionally, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has emphasized the limited role the United States will play in reconstruction in Iraq and Syria.

As a coalition we are not in the business of nation-building or reconstruction, Tillerson said during a meeting of foreign ministers in Washington in March. Instead, he said the United States would equip war torn communities to take the lead in rebuilding their institutions and returning to stability.

As of March 31, the Pentagon has spent $12.5 billion on the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria with daily costs averaging $13 million since the operation was launched in 2014.

Read the original:
US trumpets Mosul gains, but Iraq says more aid needed - The Boston Globe

Adding to the growing civilian death toll caused by US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, the US overnight attacked the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal, along the key Iraqi border crossing, killing at least 30 civilians in the process.

The US carried out the strikes at 3:00 am, targeting a series of apartment buildings in the towns residential area. Unsurprisingly, the apartments were full of sleeping civilians, and also unsurprisingly, blowing up the apartments killed a lot of them.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, ISIS is believed to have been using some of the apartments in the targeted area. There is, however, no sign that the apartments the US bombed contained any of the ISIS fighters in question.

This is the latest in a growing number of US strikes around Syria which have killed civilians, with reports of at least 87 civilians killed in the last five days from US and coalition strikes.

Abu Kamal is a hugely important strategic holding of ISIS, though its value has dropped somewhat since they lost most of their territory in Iraqs Anbar Province. Still, it is along the main highway connecting Syrias Deir Ezzor and Iraq, and has been contested by US-backed rebels intermittently, albeit unsuccessfully.

Original post:
US Airstrike Kills at Least 30 Syrian Civilians Near Iraq Border - Antiwar.com

KXAN.com

From Iraq to Leander: A flag to honor fallen peace officers KXAN.com In 2009, Carson returned to Iraq and visited Camp Wetherbee, named for Darrell Wetherbee, an international police officer killed by sniper fire there. Carson saw many commonalities between his family and Wetherbee, who was both a Marine and a Maine ... and more »

Continue reading here:
From Iraq to Leander: A flag to honor fallen peace officers - KXAN.com

David Burge , El Paso Times Published 2:02 p.m. MT May 14, 2017 | Updated 6:38 p.m. MT May 14, 2017

Lt. Col. Mike Bandy and CSM Marcus Alford talk about 1AD headquarters' upcoming deployment to Iraq. Wochit

Soldiers with the 1st Armored Division practice the key skill of breaking down and moving their battlefield command post during the Warfighter exercise in February. This exercise was part of the train-up for Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion as it got ready to deploy to Iraq.(Photo: DAVID BURGE/EL PASO TIMES)Buy Photo

After months of training, soldiers from the 1st Armored Divisions headquarters are ready to deploy and get on with their new mission.

About 400 soldiers from the divisions Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, with a small contingent fromDivision Artillery, will deploy to Iraq in June.

The team will include Fort Bliss and 1st Armored Division commanding general Maj. Gen. Robert Pat White and division Command Sgt. Maj. Danny Day.

Related:Taking care of families part of Iraq deployment plan

Soldiers have been training really hard for the past year, said 1st Lt. Carlos Valenica, the executive officer for Headquarters Support Company with HHBN, as the headquarters battalion is more often called.

So finally being able to enact that training in a real-world scenario, I think a lot of soldiers are very excited to get out the door, said Valencia, from Austin, Texas.

White will lead what is called the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command in Iraq. In that role, the 1st Armored Division will be responsible for mission command over coalition forces who are training, advising and assisting Iraqi security forces in their fight against the Islamic State and other threats.

The deployment is expected to last nine months.

In February, 1st Armored Division soldiers, including those from Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, practiced moving their battlefield headquarters during the Warfighter exercise.(Photo: DAVID BURGE/EL PASO TIMES)

Division headquarters around the Army regularly deploy, but this is the first time that the 1st Armored Division headquarters has deployed since it moved to Fort Bliss from Germany in 2011, said Lt. Col. Mike Bandy, the commander of HHBN.

These Fort Bliss soldiers will take over the mission command role from the 1st Infantry Division headquarters from Fort Riley, Kan., and will officially start the mission in July.

The Gladiators, as the headquarters battalion is nicknamed, contain a diverse array of soldiers who specialize in military intelligence, supply, maintenance, human resources and signal support, among other functions.

The battalion will bring representatives from all those different specialty areas and will provide a wide range logistical support so White and his staff can conduct mission command while in Iraq, Bandy said.

Since Bandy took command of HHBN on Jan. 19, the battalion has been working nonstop to prepare for this deployment, he said.

The battalion took part in the large-scale Warfighter exercise in February and recently completed a mission readiness exercise called Iron Gauntlet that mimicked what it will experience in Iraq, Bandy said.

A Look Back:Competition tests skills as medics, soldiers

Before coming to Fort Bliss, Bandy, a Green Beret, served as the operations officer for Special Operations Joint Task Force-Iraq, when he was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Bandy served a six-month deployment in Iraq lasting until July 2016. So, he is quite familiar with the mission set and conditions on the ground there.

Soldiers from the 1st Armored Division headquarters and the division's Sustainment Brigade both participated in the recent Warfighter exercise in preparation for upcoming deployments.(Photo: DAVID BURGE/EL PASO TIMES)

One of the challenges the battalion will face is it will operate with smaller teams in several locations while deployed, said Maj. Tam Dam, the battalion operations officer from San Jose, Calif.

The challenge is maintaining communication when we are down range, Dam said. We already have a plan in place. Thinking through those kinds of things will probably reduce a lot of the friction when you go down range.

Battalion Command Sgt. Maj. Marcus Alford, of Dillon, S.C., said HHBN is absolutely ready for its Iraq mission.

I think the soldiers want the opportunity to get out and show that they are trained and prepared for this, Alford said.

Any mission America calls us to do is important, Alford added. We will get out there and continue moving forward with the Iraqis in their development.

David Burge may be reached at 546-6126; dburge@elpasotimes.com; @dburge1962 on Twitter.

Read or Share this story: http://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/military/ft-bliss/2017/05/14/1ad-hq-ready-get-out-door-iraq-mission-fort-bliss/101472436/

Read the original here:
1AD HQ ready to 'get out door' on Iraq mission - El Paso Times

One of the bodies, partially charred, lies face down; by his chest is webbing where he had kept magazines for an automatic rifle. The other, with long matted hair, faces the Humvee's bullet-pocked windshield. His ragged pants are pulled down around his knees, a piece of green and yellow electric wire loosely wound around his ankles.

Two Iraqi soldiers step in front of the Humvee. Raising his phone, one takes a selfie of the two in front of their trophy. For a moment, they flash a smile.

We are just about one hundred meters from the most forward line of the Iraqi Army's Ninth Armoured division. In the background, there is the steady thud of mortar and artillery fire. Helicopters circle overhead, occasionally flying further into the city, noses down. A line of black smoke shooting out in front signals a rocket has been fired.

ISIS renamed 17th Tammouz to "Fatah," harking back to the lightning conquests of the early Islamic empire that spread the realm from the Atlantic to the borders of the Indian subcontinent.

It was just a few years ago that one of the mottos of ISIS was "the Islamic state is here to stay and will expand." And for a brief moment it seemed they were unstoppable. That now seems like ancient history.

"Da'ish is now calling 17th Tammouz 'wadi ath-thabat,'" the "valley of resolve", says Lieutenant Colonel Abu Fatima (not his real name -- he wasn't authorized to speak to the media).

There, he says, they will make their last stand in Mosul -- not, as many expect, in west Mosul's Old City, where on July 4, 2014, the self-declared "caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his first and only appearance.

From a bullet- and shell-pocked glass-littered three-story building, once a photography shop overlooking 17th Tammouz, Lt. Col. Abu Fatima and his men have a panoramic view. 17th Tammouz rises gently up a hill before them. A thick cloud of black smoke billows into the sky. It's a densely packed neighborhood of small houses. While small arms fire rattles constantly, there is no movement in the empty streets and alleyways.

Lt. Col. Abu Fatima, from the Baghdad district of Adhamiya, has been speaking by phone with residents inside. "They're almost completely out of food. They're eating grass," he says. "Tragic" is how he describes their plight.

A hundred meters further south is the final line of Iraqi forces. There, a young officer in a crisp uniform who declines to give his name says they've spotted a family in a building on the edge of 17th Tammouz. "They want to get to us but they're afraid of being shot by ISIS snipers," he says.

"Yesterday, the snipers shot a woman who tried to flee," chimes in one of his men.

We duck into a building across the street to try to see the family. "Watch out for the snipers," a soldier accompanying us says as we duck down to run across the roof and take cover behind a wall. The soldiers have knocked holes in the breezeblocks to keep an eye on movements in 17th Tammouz, and occasionally to fire at anything that moves.

"They keep running back and forth between the houses and a white truck out there," says one of the soldiers, peering through the hole with binoculars. Loud bangs echo from the floor below as the soldiers fire across the field into 17th Tammouz.

CNN camerawoman Mary Rogers has put her camera up to another hole, filming the void before her. A loud crack, and the wall shakes. Through her viewfinder she sees a puff of white powder where the round hit just inches away.

Moments later, shots ring out from below as the soldiers respond.

And then, quiet. We bid the soldiers farewell, crouch and run off the roof, down the stairs and back into the rubble-strewn street.

A group of five women in black, two teenage boys, four children and a baby are huddled by a wall. They've just crossed over from ISIS territory.

"We left early this morning after taking cover for days in the bathroom," says Sina, holding a child in her arms. "Our menfolk told us, 'Go! Go!' We said we can't because of the shelling, but then we put our faith in God and we left." She declined to give her full name out of fear for her safety.

The baby in her arms is her 11-month old granddaughter, Hajar, Arabic for the Biblical Hagar. In Arabic, hajar means to move, to migrate.

"We moved four times in the last three years because of the fighting around Mosul," says Sina, nodding to the little girl.

Retired policeman Abu Said (he asked we not use his real name, fearing for the safety of relatives still inside ISIS-controlled territory) didn't flee the fighting. As the fighting reached his neighborhood of Mushairfa, he and his family huddled under the stairs.

We ran into him as he was leading troops around the area, showing them houses that ISIS members occupied.

He recounted his ordeals under ISIS. "They told my son, your father is a kafir, an infidel, because I worked for the Iraqi government. That dog, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said anyone who worked for the government is an infidel. Of course, I'm a Muslim. I pray, I fear God, but in their minds I'm a kafir."

For almost three years, since June 2014, he prepared for the day Iraqi forces returned to Mosul. "I gathered information, I watched them. I wrote down their names. I kept an eye on what they were doing."

"This is the day of reckoning," he tells me, pointing the soldiers to another house. Inside, they rifle through cupboards and drawers.

Among the toys, plastic cars and trucks on the floor are a crumpled uniform and an empty ammunition box. In the adjacent room, they find medical kits, complete with condoms, and a homemade plastic placard with a likeness of the black banner of ISIS.

Abu Said smiles.

Read more:
On the frontline of ISIS' last stand in Iraq - CNN