Iraq Kurd chief hails advances in anti-jihadist battle
Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani hailed advances by peshmerga fighters against the Islamic State group Sunday as they battled the jihadists for a northern town with the backing of US-led...
By: AFP news agency
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Iraq Kurd chief hails advances in anti-jihadist battle - Video
Iraq says Jordan to begin training Iraqi troops soon
http://americancontractor.com Iraq says Jordan to begin training Iraqi troops soon AMMAN: Jordan will begin training the first group of army troops from neighbouring Iraq in the next few...
By: American Contractor
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Iraq says Jordan to begin training Iraqi troops soon - Video
Sinjar Mountain, Iraq and Washington US-led air forces attacked Islamic State targets on Sunday with 13 air strikes in Iraq and three in Syria, the US military said. The bombing in Iraq has helped Kurdish forces roll-back advances by the self-styled Islamic State, which led to a stunning victory for the Kurds yesterday.
One of the Iraq strikes were near Sinjar in the north of the country, which destroyed Islamic State buildings, tactical units and vehicles, while other Iraqi cities targeted included Tal Afar and Mosul in the north, Baiji in the center of the country, and Ramadi, the capital of the western Anbar Province, according to the Combined Joint Task Force.
The strikes in Syria over the weekend were focused around the contested city of Kobani near the Turkish border. There were five air strikes near Kobani on Saturday followed by the three on Sunday.
In Iraq, US and partner nations conducted eight air strikes on Saturday, including near Tal Afar, Ar Rutba, Mosul and Baiji, the task force said.
Yesterday, Iraqi Kurdish fighters flashed victory signs as they swept across the northern side of Sinjar mountain, two days after breaking through to free hundreds of Yazidis trapped there for months by Islamic State fighters.
A Reuters correspondent, who arrived on the mountain late Saturday, witnessed Kurdish and Yazidi fighters celebrating their gains after launching their offensive on Wednesday with heavy US air support.
The Iraqi Kurdish flag fluttered, with its yellow sun, and celebratory gunfire rang out. Little children cheered "Barzani's party," in reference to the Kurdish region's president, Massoud Barzani.
"We have been surrounded the last three months. We were living off of raw wheat and barley," said Yazidi fighter Haso Mishko Haso.
It was the plight of those trapped on the mountain, together with Islamic State's advance towards the Kurdish capital Arbil, that prompted US President Barack Obama to order air strikes against IS in Iraq in August. Thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority were killed or captured by the militants.
Since then, Kurdish peshmerga forces in northern Iraq have regained most of the ground they had lost. But the war grinds on, as a weakened Iraqi army and Shiite militia volunteers battle back and forth with Islamic State across central and western Iraq. The United States is also carrying out air strikes on IS in Syria.
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US planes hit 'Islamic State' in Iraq, Syria after big ...
Washington A former aide to General David Petraeus warns that as the Pentagon prepares to send another 1,500 US troops to Iraq to help destroy the Islamic State fighters, there may be an even greater danger that forces face: Iranian-backed Shiite militias.
The power of these militias has been growing throughout the country this year after Iraqi security forces were unable to prevail and in some cases shed their uniforms and ran while battling Islamic State fighters.
The Shiite militias are well-trained, in many cases by Iranian military commanders, and battle-tested. During the height of the Iraq war, these militias were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US troops.
While the Islamic State is a potent military foe, it has comparatively little support from Iraqis. But Shiite militias play upon the worst fears of Iraq's Sunni and Kurdish minorities that the Shiite majority is ruthlessly consolidating power. Indeed, some analysts say Iraqi Sunnis tolerate the Islamic State because it is seen as a counterweight to the Shiite militias.
In that way, Shiite militias could present a thornier problem to the future of a unified Iraq than does the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS.
Back in 2007, when I was serving with Petraeus, I mentioned to him that although Al Qaeda in Iraq was the wolf closest to the shed, in the long run Shiite militias could be more dangerous to Iraqi sovereignty, says retired Colonel Peter Mansoor.
Not much has changed Al Qaeda in Iraq has been replaced by ISIS as the wolf closest to the shed, says Dr. Mansoor, who is now an associate professor of military history at Ohio State University.
This is a view seconded by a number of seasoned Iraq analysts.
As significant as is the threat from the Islamic State and it is very significant the threat posed by Shiite militias may well prove to be the long-term threat to Iraq, says a former senior US commander in Iraq, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
This is because the Islamic State has nowhere near the roots, numbers, nor attraction to the Sunni population of Iraq that Al Qaeda in Iraq did at the start of the surge of US forces into Iraq in early 2007, the former commander explains.
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Worse than Islamic State? Concerns rise about Iraq's Shiite militias.
Iraqs cabinet approved a smaller 2015 spending plan than the government expected because of the collapse in oil, which provides most government revenue.
The budget, based on a $60 a barrel price for oil, stands at 123 trillion dinars ($103 billion), Saad Al-Hadithi, spokesman for the office of the prime minister, said by phone yesterday. The budget deficit was set at 23 trillion dinars and total revenue at 99.8 trillion dinars, including oil revenue of 84 trillion dinars, Obaid Mahal, deputy secretary general of the cabinet, said. The 2015 budget had initially been set at 141 trillion dinars, and was 138.4 trillion dinars in 2013.
The reason behind the cut in the budget is because of the oil price drop, and curbing unnecessary spending, Mudher Mohammed Saleh, economic adviser to Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi, said.
Iraq, home to the worlds fifth-largest crude reserves, is engulfed in an armed conflict since Islamist State militants took over major cities and energy facilities in June. Global crude prices dropped about 45 percent this year because of an oversupply and slower growth in demand amid the largest U.S. oil production in at least three decades.
The operational budget is 78 trillion dinars and the rest is investment budget, Faris Yousif Jajo, minister of technology, said. The cut in the investment budget covered all ministries for investment projects including oil, he said, without providing details.
Parliament speaker Saleem Al-Jibouri called for an extraordinary session at 11 a.m. local time on Dec. 26 to discuss the budget, according to state-sponsored Iraqiya television. Ahmed Mahjoub, media adviser to the parliament speaker, confirmed the session by phone.
Iraqs oil exports in the 2015 budget were set at 3.3 million barrels a day, Mahal said. Its production accounted for 10 percent of OPECs output in November at 3.35 million barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Iraq has been building its oil infrastructure and surpassed Iran to become the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 2012. The government may have to scale back its plan to boost production in the next five years because of the drop in oil prices and the cost of fighting the militants, Iraqs Deputy Prime Minister Rowsch Shaways said on Dec. 17.
Iraqs previous government failed to adopt a state budget for 2014 because of political disputes mainly with the semi-autonomous Kurdish enclave in the north of the country, aggravated by the drop in oil prices. The Kurds share in the 2015 spending plan was kept unchanged from previous budgets at 17 percent, according to Mahal.
To contact the reporter on this story: Khalid Al-Ansary in Baghdad at kalansary@bloomberg.net
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Iraq Cabinet Approves Lower Spending Plan on Oils Drop