Fallujah

Rampant corruption among Iraq’s security forces and law enforcement officials is making it possible for Islamic State jihadists to return to areas it once controlled as it loses territory in Mosul, reports the Washington Post (WaPo).

The battle to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from jihadists could unleash a massive humanitarian crisis, potentially pushing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes as winter sets in.

Contents: Iraq begins battle to recapture Mosul from ISIS; Sectarian violence may interfere with recapture of Mosul

Contents: ISIS losing territory in Iraq and Syria; Pyrrhic victory over ISIS could create a ‘terrorist diaspora’

Iraqi forces recaptured a northern air base from the Islamic State group on Saturday, a victory hailed by the prime minister as a key step ahead of the long-awaited operation to retake the northern city of Mosul.

The advertisement on the Telegram app is as chilling as it is incongruous: A girl for sale is “Virgin. Beautiful. 12 years old…. Her price has reached $12,500 and she will be sold soon.”

The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) reportedly boiled alive seven of its own jihadists Monday as punishment for deserting an Iraqi battlefield.

Contents: Iraq declares 3 days of national mourning after massive Baghdad bombing; Iraq orders police to stop using bogus ‘bomb detectors’; Former ambassador Jim Moriarty describes the dancing people of Bangladesh

On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry described the Iranian presence in Iraq as “helpful” in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/Daesh), although he admitted there were some “challenges” to the relationship.

Iraqi forces on Sunday recaptured the last district of Falluja held by Islamic State militants and the commander of the operation declared the battle over following a month of fighting.

An American commander is contradicting the claim by Iraqi military leaders that the city of Fallujah has been “liberated” from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS), claiming, instead, that only one-third of the city has been cleared of an ISIS presence, and the rest is littered with traps and bombs for incoming soldiers.

An “unprecedented tidal wave” of 30,000 people fleeing Fallujah over the weekend has left Iraqi authorities overwhelmed and struggling to accommodate them in makeshift camps around the city.

FALLUJAH, Iraq — The sound of gunfire and explosions echoed through Fallujah’s streets Saturday as security forces battled to oust the remaining militants a day after Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State in the city.

The Saudi government is reportedly displeased by “charities” in the kingdom raising funds for the “children of Fallujah” — that is, Sunni Muslims, caught in the crossfire as Iran-backed Shiite militias battle the Islamic State in Iraq.

U.S.-backed fighters in Syria converged from three sides on an Islamic State stronghold near the Turkish border Thursday, while Iraqi special forces pushed deeper into Fallujah, one of the last bastions of the militant group in western Iraq.

From the deck of the USS Harry Truman, CNN reports that “a new dramatic tempo” for airstrikes against the Islamic State has been set, with planes taking off and landing every few minutes, and crews working around the clock to keep them in the air.

Iraqis are once again paying for political ambitions and miscalculations made on their behalf by foreign and domestic governments. After the pullout of the U.S. that led to the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS), the Iraqi government hasn’t pulled it together to fight the enemy it was left with. The ongoing battle for Fallujah to rid it of ISIS underscores this need.

Shiite militias in Iraq, many of them backed by state sponsor of terror Iran, have been accused of torturing “hundreds” of Sunni civilians captured during the ongoing battle to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).

Iraqi forces secured the southern edge of the Islamic State group stronghold of Fallujah on Sunday, two weeks after the launch of an operation to recapture the city, the Iraqi special forces commander overseeing the operation said.

JAFFA, Israel – The Syrian army reportedly reached the edge of the Raqqa region on Saturday, coming within the vicinity of the self-styled capital of the Islamic State’s “caliphate” for the first time since 2014.

Saudi Arabia’s official daily Okaz published an article attacking the U.S. for allowing the “great terrorist Satan” Maj. Gen Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force – the covert external wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – to attack the Islamic-State-controlled city of Fallujah in Iraq.

BAGHDAD—Iraqi special forces on Fallujah’s southern outskirts have halted offensive operations against Islamic State on that front, army and police officials said Thursday, as authorities struggled over how to evacuate and protect civilians being held as human shields by the extremist group.

JAFFA, Israel – The intense campaign to liberate the Iraqi city of Fallujah from the grip of the Islamic State organization has led to a sectarian war on social media, including among Sunni and Shiite opinion makers.

British soldiers working to dislodge the Islamic State from Libya are using loud Bollywood music — the percussion-heavy genre popularized by Indian films — to annoy and disorient the enemy, according to multiple reports.

At a press conference in Stockholm on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif testily informed an “arrogant” Saudi Arabia that Iran will not be pulling out of Iraq any time soon, and he blamed the Saudis for inflaming the Sunni-Shiite tensions they have blamed on Iran’s presence.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces halted an assault to free Fallujah from Islamic State control Wednesday for fear of causing the deaths of civilians held hostage in the city, including an estimated 20,000 children.

At least 20,000 children remain inside Fallujah, facing food and water shortages in addition to the extreme violence that has erupted as Iraqi forces, backed by the U.S. military and Iran-allied Shiite militias, fight to retake the Iraqi city from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), reveals a component of the United Nations.

Contents: Death of Afghan Taliban leader exposes Iran-Taliban links; 50,000 civilians in danger as Iraq tries to liberate Fallujah from ISIS

Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists are using “several hundred families” in Fallujah as “human shields” as they engage in bloody battles with Iraqi troops, backed by the United States and Iran-allied Shiite militias, for control over the strategic city, reports the United Nations Refugee Agency.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The participation of Iran-allied Shiite militias in the U.S-backed operation to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) is testament to the Islamic Republic’s growing and troubling influence in Iraq, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) told Breitbart News.

ISIS is fighting back Tuesday after its stronghold, Falluja, was surrounded by Iraqi forces.

Kurdish and Arab forces – including U.S.-backed Iraqi troops, Shiite militias linked to Iran, Peshmerga troops, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – have launched offensives targeting three major Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, described the Iranian military presence in Iraq as “unacceptable” during a press conference on Sunday.

The Rudaw news service reports that provincial authorities in Erbil expect up to 900,000 refugees to flee the war zones of Fallujah and Mosul into Iraqi Kurdistan, but the central government in Baghdad has been slow to coordinate with the Kurds.

The photo-based social media application Instagram appeared to shut down an account tied to Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani on Wednesday, hours after the account posted photos of the general in Fallujah, Iraq. The account is once again functional, after Iranian state media published a tirade condemning Instagram for allowing Sunni terrorists to use its site.

Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s Qods Force – the dirty-tricks unit Iran deploys to destabilize foreign governments, involved in terrorist attacks against American soldiers during the occupation of Iraq – has been sighted near the besieged city of Fallujah, as the battle to eject the Islamic State heats up.