Thursday, June 30, 2016

The State of the War Against ISIS in Iraq

An article by Doug Burton of the Washington Free Beacon gives us some insight into what's happening in the war against ISIS in Iraq.

Fallujah has already been largely liberated by Iraqi forces and Mosul is next on the agenda, but meanwhile ISIS is being harassed by Mosul residents fed up with the ISIS fighters who've taken over their city, but worse for ISIS is the plummeting morale of their troops:
There are also reports of firefights within the ISIS police force as tension mounts and morale for the ISIS soldiers plummets. According to a Friday report by the Iraqi newspaper Mada, seven Daesh terrorists were killed in internal clashes between Daesh’s Islamic rules police, the hisbah, and security members.

ISIS executed four of its top commanders in a public square in Mosul on Wednesday, according to multiple sources, including Bas News, a Kurdish news site. The commanders reportedly were convicted by a Sharia Court for high treason on June 22nd and hanged in Mosul the same day, according to media reports. The executions follow the hanging or beheading of 21 ISIS commanders since April and the executions of scores of ISIS fighters charged with desertion or collaborating with Iraqi Army agents.

The Mosul incidents happened as major battles were underway in the northwestern tip of Saladin Province 140 miles north of Baghdad. The Iraqi Army’s elite counter-terrorism units are pressing into the city of Shirqat, an ISIS stronghold. They are supported by the 4,000-man 92nd Brigade, an armored unit including tanks and infantry composed of predominately Turkmen volunteers from Tel Afar, according to Dr. Ali Al Bayati of the Turkmen Rescue Foundation.
There's more at the link. When the occupying force is killing its own leaders it's a good sign that things are spiraling out of control.

To make matters worse for ISIS there was a report out today that a large convoy of trucks transporting ISIS fighters near Fallujah were caught by U.S. and Iraqi air forces, and 250 of the terrorists were killed. There's gun cam video of the attack at the link.

Coincidentally, the aid workers mentioned by reporter Martha Raddatz in the video were affiliated with Preemptive Love, the organization I wrote about on June 6. You can read their account of how close they came to being killed by the airstrikes here.