Mosul Archives

ISIS seen as liberators by some Sunnis in Mosul

June 12, 2014 by administrator

DAHUK, Iraq — The Kurdistan Region of Iraq is dealing with an influx of Iraqi refugees following the take-over of Mosul and Tikrit by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).

Dindar Zebari, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) assistant head of the Department of Foreign Relations, announced in a press conference that approximately 500,000 refugees arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan, with about 180,000 refugees in Dahuk and 100,000 in Erbil. The KRG will build three camps near the entry checkpoints of Erbil and Dahuk.

On June 11, the Kurdish security forces took over the Rabia border crossing, replacing Iraqi soldiers who fled, and have mobilized along Kirkuk and disputed areas.

Tiswa Mahmud, an Iraqi citizen from the countryside of Mosul, told Al-Monitor how she fled.

“I slept with my son in the hospital, which was bombed. The Iraqi army surrounded the hospital. We did not have food or water for days. I do not know who shot us. After this, we fled to Dahuk,” she said.

Omar Abdulsami, a member of the Iraqi army and a Kurd, told Al-Monitor they fought ISIS close to a hospital. “But when a car bomb exploded, we fled, and left our positions,” he said.

According to Abdulsami, the Iraqi army could have defended Mosul, if they stood their ground.

“If just 300 soldiers defended Mosul, we could defend all of Mosul. But in the Iraqi army, only the Kurds fought. Even off-duty Kurdish soldiers helped us. The police even helped Daash [ISIS] against the Iraqi army and gave their cars. I blame this on [Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki and his friends.”

Yunis Ibrahim, a member of the Kurdish Zerevani forces, said that at one point there was an accidental skirmish between ISIS, Kurdish forces and the Iraqi army, which wanted to open the road to flee Mosul.

Some civilians who fled Mosul suggest that the Iraqi army — with soldiers mostly from provinces in southern Iraq — is weak because they are not well-liked in Mosul.

Al-Monitor witnessed Iraqi soldiers on June 1 randomly firing shots in the air in the streets of Mosul, and stopping and harassing the local population.

The inhabitants of Mosul see the Iraqi army as a Shiite occupation army from Baghdad, and some civilians welcomed ISIS when they entered Mosul and removed all Iraqi army checkpoints.

Athil al-Nujaifi, governor of Ninevah province, has reportedly lobbied for local police to replace the Iraqi army in Mosul, but Baghdad maintained its military presence, which is deeply unpopular with many residents.

Sunni Arabs and Kurds from Mosul, especially, had no good words for the Iraqi army’s deputy chief, Abboud Qanbar, and the head of the Ninevah Operations Command, Mahdi al-Ghrawi, suggesting they had arrested innocent civilians and were involved in corruption.

“The Iraqi army oppressed the people, they stole their money,” said Ali Ahmed, a driver, who was shot while fleeing Mosul.

According to Ahmed, the local population in Mosul welcomed ISIS. “The people in Mosul do not like Daash, or Maliki, but they now feel better under Daash, and water and electricity returned.”

Ahmed al-Ghadra, 74, a former resident of Mosul, told Al-Monitor the army mistreated him. “The Arab Iraqi people want Maliki to go to prison. He is a traitor. Fourteen Daash members come, and the whole Iraqi army flees. The people of Mosul do not want the Iraqi army in Mosul. I’m an old man, and they stopped me for one hour at a checkpoint, using bad language.”

More witnesses confirm that ISIS treated the civilian population well, and told them that they would only punish those who work with Maliki. Basma Mohammed told Al-Monitor that the situation was horrible in Mosul. “We had no water, no food in Mosul, but now everything is back. They [ISIS] told the people to go back to Mosul.”

Dr. Omar al-Faris, from Mosul, who works in the Dahuk emergency hospital, told Al-Monitor that the population welcomed ISIS because they removed all the checkpoints. “Before, it took two hours to get somewhere. Now the civilians are free to move. All of them are happy that the Iraqi army left.”

Mohammed Saad Ali from Mosul, whose son was hurt in the crossfire, told Al-Monitor he is not hopeful about the future. “I do not think the Iraqi army can get Mosul back again. For 10 years there was no stability. It is in the hands of God.”

Wladimir van Wilgenburg is a columnist for Al-Monitor and a political analyst specializing in Kurdish politics. He has written extensively for Jamestown Foundation publications and other journals, such as the Near East Quarterly and the World Affairs Journal. On Twitter: @vvanwilgenburg

Islamists attack St. Etchmiadzin Church in Mosul

June 12, 2014 by administrator

The jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has attacked the St. Etchmiadzin Church in Mosul, Iraq, religious leader of the Armenian community of Dohuk, Rev. Fr. Masis Shahinyan told Lradou.com.

According to preliminary reports, fire broke out near the church.

Sources at the Armenian Prelacy in Iraq said that 65 Armenian families and a priest in Mosul were forced out of the city after Islamist militants raided the city and took control of Iraq’s second largest city.

Insurgents raised black flags over parts of the city on Tuesday, as soldiers fled their posts after Sunni extremists took the city after four days of heavy fighting against Iraqi forces.

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Is ISIL terrorist takeover of Mosul another Turkish false flag operation?

June 11, 2014 by administrator

To understand Turkish False-Flag operation, have a look at the map that Turkish schools book show until year 2012.

In addition to Bulgaria, the materials claim entire Armenia, some regions of Iraq, the Greek parts of Cyprus, and some regions in Georgia as Turkish territory,

The turkish new paper hurriyet daily report: The fall of Mosul could revitalize an open wound in the collective memory of the Turkish state as well. The War of Independence, which brought the change of Turkey’s regime from a monarchy to republic in 1923, saw Iraq left under British mandate by an agreement on June 5, 1926, almost 88 years ago this week. The young republic lead by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was intimidated by a Kurdish rebellion in 1925, which they suspected that it was manipulated by Britain, and Ankara – with all its resources exhausted by the war – could not risk another conflict. The “Mosul problem” has always been considered one of the sources of the chronic Kurdish problem by the Turkish establishment.

Source of the map: novinite.com

Islamists force 150,000 to flee Mosul

June 10, 2014 by administrator

Iraq crisis:

More than 150,000 people have been forced to flee Iraq’s second city of Mosul after Islamist militants effectively took control of it.
Troops were among those fleeing as hundreds of jihadists from the ISIS group overran it and much of the surrounding province of Nineveh.
Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki responded by asking parliament to declare a state of emergency to grant him greater powers.
The US said the development showed ISIS is a threat to the entire region.
US State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the situation in Mosul was “extremely serious” and that the US supported “a strong, co-ordinated response to push back against this aggression”.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “gravely concerned” at the situation.
He encouraged the Iraqi government and the Kurdish regional government to cooperate in restoring security to region.

Analysis Michael Knights, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
If ISIS were to develop firm control of the city they would have replicated their success in seizing an administrative and economic capital in Syria’s Raqqa province.
In fact, a consolidated ISIS caliphate in western Mosul – with a population of over a million people – would be a far greater success than anything the movement has achieved in Syria and would send shock waves throughout the region.
For this reason we can expect hard fighting to follow as the Iraqi government uses every resource at its disposal – military forces, new local militias, air power, Iranian-backed Shia volunteers from southern militias, the Kurdish Peshmerga plus US intelligence and logistical support.

The battle for Mosul is shaping up to be a critical test of the political and military vitality of the Iraqi state.

Probably only a political-military solution supported by all of Iraq’s factions can restore the situation but it is too soon to gauge whether the Iraqi government recognises this reality.

65 Armenian Families Forced Out of Mosul amid Extremist Takeover (Video)

June 10, 2014 by administrator

BEIRUT—According to sources at the Armenian Prelacy in Iraq, 65 Armenian families and a priest in Mosul were forced out of the city after Islamist militants raided the city and took control of Iraq’s second largest city, reported the Aztag Daily newspaper.

Insurgents raised black flags over parts of the city on Tuesday, as soldiers fled their posts after Sunni extremists known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took the city after four days of heavy fighting against Iraqi forces.

“When the battle got tough in the city of Mosul, the troops dropped their weapons and abandoned their posts, making it an easy prey for the terrorists,” Osama Nuajaifi, the speaker of Iraq’s parliament who hails from Mosul, said during a news conference in Baghdad, according to Time Magazine. “Everything is fallen. It’s a crisis. Having these terrorist groups control a city in the heart of Iraq threatens not only Iraq but the entire region.”

According to Time.com, terrified residents were streaming out of the city—the International Organization for Migration reports 500,000 people have left their homes since Saturday—and there were reports that water and electricity were cut off. On its Twitter account, ISIS gloated about seizing arms and vehicles abandoned by the city’s supposed defenders. Elsewhere in the country, its fighters have been spotted driving Humvees captured from government forces in previous encounters.

The situation was dire in more ways than one. Besides its symbolic importance as Iraq’s second-largest city—and the historic home of the country’s oil industry—Mosul has crucial strategic significance. It sits near both Turkey and the largely autonomous Kurdish zone of northern Iraq, but most importantly functions as Iraq’s most prominent doorway to Syria, where ISIS emerged as one of the main rebel forces arrayed against Syrian President Bashar Assad, reported Time.

Despite warnings from analysts that the insurrection was at heart a political problem that might only be worsened by a heavy-handed military response, al-Maliki announced his government had created a Crisis Unit and was preparing a counter-offensive that, according to one report, would include civilian volunteers armed by his government. Nuajaifi, the parliament speaker, warned: “They will re

Iraq militants control second city of Mosul

June 10, 2014 by administrator

Iraq’s prime minister has asked parliament to declare a state of emergency, after Islamist militants effectively took control of Mosul, the BBC reported.

Nouri Maliki acknowledged “vital areas” of the northern city had been seized.

Overnight, hundreds of men armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns seized the Nineveh provincial government’s offices in Mosul.

They also destroyed several police stations before overrunning the airport and army’s operations headquarters.

Elsewhere, a double bomb attack in the central town of Baqouba killed at least 20 people, police and medics said. The blasts, targeting a funeral procession in the capital of Diyala province, also wounded 28 people.

In the past week, the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and its allies have carried out major attacks on cities and towns in western and northern Iraq, killing scores of people.

Second bomb attack on Turkey’s Mosul envoy

May 26, 2014 by administrator

TODAYSZAMAN.COM WITH WIRES/ ISTANBUL report,

A convoy of the Turkish consul general was hit by a remote controlled bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul late on Saturday in the second such incident targeting Consul General Öztürk Yılmaz since he took office last July. No causalities were reported.

The diplomatic convoy of four vehicles was attacked on its way to the northern Iraqi city of Arbil when a remote controlled bomb detonated as the cars passed by the eastern city of Mosul. The bomb caused considerable material damage to one of the vehicles in the convoy but no one was killed or injured in the attack. Consul General Öztürk and his aides are reportedly
in good condition. The Turkish diplomat continued to make his way to Arbil under heavy security measures.

The Iraqi authorities are reportedly investigating the attack. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack and no one has claimed responsibility.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Foreign Ministry noted that there have been four attacks against the Turkish Consulate in Mosul in the last two years. It also underlined that its embassy in Baghdad and its Basra consulate were recently the target of attacks, expressing concern that the perpetrators of the attacks have not yet been identified.

The Foreign Ministry said Turkey expects the Iraqi authorities to shed light on the incident by conducting a thorough investigation as soon as possible and taking all measures to ensure the security of diplomatic missions in the country.

A bomb attack hit Öztürk’s convoy early September 2013 which also left no causalities. In December 2004, an attack on a Turkish diplomatic convoy also in Mosul killed five Turkish security guards.

Car bomb at liquor store in northern Iraq kills 12

Another car bomb exploded outside a liquor store in northern Iraq overnight, killing at least 12 civilians, a senior police officer said Sunday.

The blast struck the northern oil-rich and ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, deputy police chief Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef said. Youssef said the blast in the western al-Wasiti neighborhood wounded 29.

Kirkuk is located 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad. Militants often target night clubs, liquor stores and brothels. They want to impose a strict interpretation of Islam in Iraq.

The attack comes as Iraq’s Shiite-led government is struggling to contain a surge in sectarian violence unseen since the country was pushed to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007 after the US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. According to the United Nations, 8,868 people were killed in Iraq last year.

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Iraq, Turkey’s Mosul consul’s convoy attacked

May 25, 2014 by administrator

MOSUL – Anadolu Agency

The attack came amid a period of renewed violence in recent months in the country. This file photo shows a member of the Iraqi security forces standing guard at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad May 23. REUTERS Photo

A convoy carrying Turkey’s consul to Mosul, Öztürk Yılmaz, was targeted by a bomb late May 24.

The convoy was en route to Arbil when a remote-controlled roadside bomb was detonated in the Maliye district to the east of the flashpoint city, three kilometers from the consulate building.

No casualties were reported, but armored vehicles in the convoy were damaged.

Security officials said the attackers had targeted Yılmaz’s car but the bomb struck the car in front, damaging only the windows of the car carrying the Turkish consul general.

The head of Mosul police said an investigation was underway to find the attackers. Yılmaz’s convoy was attacked before, in September 2013. No casualties were reported in that attack.

The Foreign Ministry has released a statement on the attack, saying that officials at the Consulate General of Mosul had been attacked four times in the last two years.

“[Our] Baghdad Embassy and Consulate General in Basra were also targeted. It is worrying that none of the perpetrators of the attacks have been captured yet,” the statement said.

The ministry asked Iraqi officials to investigate the attack, to find those responsible, and to take all necessary measures to protect Turkish representative offices.

May/25/2014