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[shinobi602]

This has been going on since Monday but I didn't see a thread on it and thought some might like to discuss it somewhere here. Anbar is basically a hive's nest of ISIS scum. Fallujah is the first target, which had some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting during the Iraq war.

Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62X8eKQ7SEQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMCVXnBah3Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjywF8lsYWg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUmzw27WpE4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz6oZHpLy9E

July 14

BAGHDAD: Iraq's army and allied paramilitaries attacked ISIS positions around Ramadi Tuesday in their latest push to recapture the Anbar capital from the jihadis, commanders said. The authorities announced a major offensive to "liberate Anbar" Monday, hours after the U.S.-led coalition launched a record number of airstrikes near Ramadi.

"The Iraqi army and the Hashed al-Shaabi are pounding IS (ISIS) positions with rockets and mortar rounds east, west and south of Ramadi," a senior army officer said.Ramadi is the capital of Anbar, a vast Sunni province which is largely under ISIS control. It is traversed by the Euphrates and stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the outskirts of Baghdad.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Mi...-iraq-forces-pounding-isis-around-ramadi.ashx



July 13

Iraqi troops backed by mainly Shia militias have launched offensive to recapture the Anbar province from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a military statement broadcast on state television said.

The announcement of the offensive comes two months after ISIL seized Anbar's capital, Ramadi, extending their control over the Sunni Muslim province west of Baghdad.

"At 5 o'clock this morning operations to liberate Anbar were launched," said a joint military command statement read out on state television. It said the offensive was being carried out by the army, mainly Shia militia known as Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) units, special forces, police and local Sunni Muslim tribal fighters.

The statement gave no other details, but military officers and Hashid Shaabi commanders have said the initial target will be the city of Falluja, about 50 km west of Baghdad.

Coalition airstrikes

Hadi al-Ameri, commander of the largest Shia force, the Badr Organisation, told Iraqi television on Sunday he expected the main assault on Falluja to take place after the Eid holiday at the end of Ramadan, later this week.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from the capital, Baghdad, said the offensive involves at least 5,000 troops.

"We are hearing the province will be surrounded on three sides going up to the border with Syria. They have announced operations like this one in the past particularly in Ramadi when it was taken by ISIL forces in mid-May. And that's a battle that's still ongoing," Khan said.

"It is likely that this operation will concentrate on the second city in Anbar province, Fallujah, and move further west. While this is going on, we have also heard coalition airstrikes have hit an ISIL media and radio station in Anbar province," Khan added. Residents in Fallujah and Ramadi reported heavy bombardment of their cities early on Monday. Security sources said ISIL fighters also fired rockets and launched several vehicle bombs against army positions.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/iraq-launches-offensive-retake-anbar-isil-150713084742187.html

 

[Sajjaja]

I swear there have been a bunch of offensives but I haven't seen any results yet. Maybe I'm not paying attention.

 

[The Albatross]

I swear there have been a bunch of offensives but I haven't seen any results yet. Maybe I'm not paying attention.

Isis suffered a string of setbacks throughout early 2015, mostly to Iraqi and Kurdish forces. In remote regions they've continued a path of destruction, but reportedly their loss of the town of Tal Abyad in mid-June was their biggest loss since their rise to prominence.

Aymenn Al Tamimi, an expert at the Middle East Forum research group, agreed, describing Tal Abyad’s fall to the Kurds as “the most significant loss for ISIL in Syria yet”.

Tal Abyad was a key entry point for foreign fighters and supplies into ISIL-held territory in Syria and for exports of black market oil from extremist-held fields in eastern Syria.

Kurdish YPG forces and their Syrian rebel allies launched a two-pronged attack on the frontier town on June 11, backed by air strikes by the US-led coalition fighting ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

The anti-ISIL forces encircled the town from the south-west and south-east before capturing the border crossing just north of it on Monday.

By early Tuesday, these forces had seized full control of Tal Abyad, the UK-based Observatory and Kurdish sources said.

“ISIL withdrew without much fight yesterday ... It was an easy win,” said Ahmed Seyxo, a spokesman for the YPG-linked Democratic Union Party.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition praised its cooperation with Kurdish forces, noting that five strikes had been carried out near Tal Abyad on Monday.

 

[RodanCeros]

I hope they have a plan in place beyond rockets and mortars. I don't have confidence the Iraqis can maintain the street to street fighting that will be necessary to win Fallujah, unless they completely disregard collateral damage and level half the city first.

 

[Chariot]

I swear there have been a bunch of offensives but I haven't seen any results yet. Maybe I'm not paying attention.

That's probably because ISIS controlled area is huge. Syria is weakend by the civil war and iraq by the US occupation, so their punches aren't that hard. I think the islamic tribes are the ones putting up the best fight.

 

[CraigerGamer]

Is this just an excuse for the Shia to wipe out more Sunnis?

 

[ReAxion]

A hive is a nest.

 

[geardo]

I would rather them avoid the bloodshed and just split up the country based on sectarian divides. Unfortunately, ISIS will never stop trying to push into Baghdad, so something like that is unfeasible. I also have little faith in the Iraqi army to actually win any ground without massive help from Iran and the US because they just plain suck.

This is why we don't invade countries people.

 

[Buba Big Guns]

Is this just an excuse for the Shia to wipe out more Sunnis?

Although atrocities have been committed by Shia militias for sure, it is no where even close to how Shias have been getting fucked in general in the ME/Pakistan.

 

[CraigerGamer]

Although atrocities have been committed by Shia militias for sure, it is no where even close to how Shias have been getting fucked in general in the ME/Pakistan.

Of course. My question is really about....so, Shia have driven Sunnis pretty much from Eastern (I think its eastern) Baghdad and the Sunni's are having to resettle further and further to the west. Its why ISIS was able to take over that part of Iraq so easily. Is this attack just an excuse for Shia to continue to push Sunni's out of the area instead of attacking just the ISIS threat?

 

[Walpurgis]

I can't believe that people actually live there. Can you imagine waking up and stepping outside of your house to this just rolling by?

 

[Chariot]

I can't believe that people actually live there. Can you imagine waking up and stepping outside of your house to this just rolling by?

This area is not the only one in the world where you could step out of the house and have such a sight. Lot's of countries in terrible countries in the world. It's easy to forget when you live in a stable and developed country.

 

[Joni]

It will work as well as all the other offensives. It will go nice for a while and then they'll lose ground again. It always seem like there is absolutely no coordination which is a huge advantage for ISIS. Iraq attacks so they go regroup in Syria, Syria attacks they go regroup in Iraq. It won't be solved unless you get Syria, Kurds, Iraq, Iran and the Western alliance to launch offensives at the same time over all countries in the region.

 

[injurai]

Is the US occupation in Iraq now only limited to the "enduring bases?"

I'm guessing the US wants to be hands off in terms of any new conflicts.

 

[Damerman]

Is this just an excuse for the Shia to wipe out more Sunnis?

I hope ur not defending the sunnis with this question.
Edit: matter of fact, what is the point of this question?

 

[juicyfruitas]

lol at the Toyota Camry in that battle armada pic

 

[Zultan]

It will work as well as all the other offensives. It will go nice for a while and then they'll lose ground again. It always seem like there is absolutely no coordination which is a huge advantage for ISIS. Iraq attacks so they go regroup in Syria, Syria attacks they go regroup in Iraq. It won't be solved unless you get Syria, Kurds, Iraq, Iran and the Western alliance to launch offensives at the same time over all countries in the region.

Most of the anti-ISIS fighters are involved right now. The Kurds have fought to the outskirts of Raqqa, ISIS's "capital", just in the last couple of weeks. Tal Abyad fell to the Kurds a few weeks back.

Syria themselves are marching towards Palmyria (I know I spelled this wrong).

And Iraq just launched their Anbar campaign offensives against Fallujah and Ramadi.

As for the US coalition, they bombed the shit out of Raqqa about a week ago to stop ISIS attacks on the Kurds north of Raqqa. I believe this was the first major air bombing of Raqqa in the war by the US coalition.

And the US coalition dropped 29 bombs on Ramadi about two days ago in preparation for the Anbar offensive.

The two months of coordination by Iraq, so far, seems to have been a good decision. Better to wait for victory than rush to defeat.

ISIS is fighting a multi-front war it cannot win and it has no defenses at all against our air strikes.

 

[Netherscourge]

lol at the Toyota Camry in that battle armada pic

Better fuel mileage than an APC.

 

[Acorn]

Really hope the iraqi army is up to this, they haven't exactly inspired confidence since handover.

 

[Hyperactivity]

Really hope the iraqi army is up to this, they haven't exactly inspired confidence since handover.

Majority of those "Iraqi army running away" stories happened in areas where there was a mix of inside commanders helping ISIS and sunni troops not as enthused (I guess you could say) about working in the Iraqi army.

Actually, I find the whole joke to be really offensive, because you insult the people who have been making constant progress against ISIS

And people just dismiss it saying "lol Iraqi army, only kurdish forces get anything done"

It's disrespectful to all the combatants out there fighting against ISIS

 

[Joni]

Most of the anti-ISIS fighters are involved right now. The Kurds have fought to the outskirts of Raqqa, ISIS's "capital", just in the last couple of weeks. Tal Abyad fell to the Kurds a few weeks back.

Syria themselves are marching towards Palmyria (I know I spelled this wrong).

And Iraq just launched their Anbar campaign offensives against Fallujah and Ramadi.

As for the US coalition, they bombed the shit out of Raqqa about a week ago to stop ISIS attacks on the Kurds north of Raqqa. I believe this was the first major air bombing of Raqqa in the war by the US coalition.

And the US coalition dropped 29 bombs on Ramadi about two days ago in preparation for the Anbar offensive.

The two months of coordination by Iraq, so far, seems to have been a good decision. Better to wait for victory than rush to defeat.

ISIS is fighting a multi-front war it cannot win and it has no defenses at all against our air strikes.

They have lost Tal Abyad, but they have already reclaimed parts of it. They might lose Palmyra, but they have entered Kobane and Al-Hasakah. There are quite a bit of fronts with attacks at the same time but there is no timing or coordination to it. It is the problem when you have all these forces fighting ISIS which have no trust in each other. They're as likely to attack each other as ISIS. As for the airstrikes, the US doesn't really know if they are effective, the Kurds don't think they're effective, independent experts are mixed on it. And the longer it goes on, the more clout ISIS might get with other groups in Egypt, Lybia and Nigeria.

 

[Walpurgis]

I hope ur not defending the sunnis with this question.
Edit: matter of fact, what is the point of this question?

I think the ISIS issue is complicated and apart of the cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. SA is on the Sunni side and Iran is on the Shia side. Both wish to increase their influence over the region by forcing people to convert to their form of Islam.

In Iraq, there were issues between Sunni and Shia. I believe the Sunni were in power with the Shia unhappy until the Americans came and placed the Shia in power leaving the Sunnis unhappy. With ISIS massacring Shia in Iraq (as well as Sunni), the Shia militia fighters might be angry and could kill Sunni civilians like how the Russians killed German civilians in Berlin (ISIS being the Nazis in this case). I think that is what he means. I don't know enough about how their army is organised or enough about this topic to say if that will happen.

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

I would rather them avoid the bloodshed and just split up the country based on sectarian divides. .

I have wondered why this too. An India/Pakistan situation in the Middle East sounds better than the current Iraq one. Maybe are too separated/mixed within the geography of
Iraq for this to work? Also, who would determine what group got what land?

 

[Dai101]

Better fuel mileage than an APC.

And more way more reliability too.

 

[Azih]

Fallujah... that place is cursed.. and after this will be haunted. So sad.

Walpurgis, mostly true but:

Both wish to increase their influence over the region by forcing people to convert to their form of Islam.

Nope. There's no 'conversion' happening. The increase of influence is by getting your friends into power and maybe pushing the other people out. In behaviour this is way more of an ethnic/tribal situation than religious though ISIS does love it's religious imagery. Shia <-> Sunni conversion isn't really a thing.

 

[andycapps]

Godspeed. Hope they get a lot done this time.

 

[SlickShoesRUCrazy]

No mercy.

 

[CraigerGamer]

I hope ur not defending the sunnis with this question.
Edit: matter of fact, what is the point of this question?

I'm not. I'm curious if this is the next step in the Shia manifest destiny of Iraq? That's as best as i can describe it.

 

[Zultan]

Another thought. When ISIS took Ramadi, they freed their comrades from prison. I don't think they should be taking prisoners in this campaign. May sound harsh, but it's the only way to make sure they don't terrorize again.

Edit - Their leader was himself a prisoner. Had he been executed instead of released, things in Iraq and Syria would be a lot better now.

 

[geardo]

I have wondered why this too. An India/Pakistan situation in the Middle East sounds better than the current Iraq one. Maybe are too separated/mixed within the geography of
Iraq for this to work? Also, who would determine what group got what land?

In some areas, such as Baghdad, they are somewhat integrated I believe. But they became much more segregated following the sectarian violence of '06 and '07. Generally though, the Sunnis live in the western Anbar province and parts of Baghdad, the Shiites live in the southern provinces like Maysan as well as parts of Baghdad (Sadr City is Shia), and the Kurds live north of Mosul.

As to who would be best at determining how the land could hypothetically get divided, your guess is as good as mine. There would need to be a negotiation consisting of delegates from all of the groups for it to hold any weight with the people of that land imo.

In any event, it's a moot point, as I don't think ISIS would be at any point ready to play nice. They want a caliphate.

Another thought. When ISIS took Ramadi, they freed their comrades from prison. I don't think they should be taking prisoners in this campaign. May sound harsh, but it's the only way to make sure they don't terrorize again.

Edit - Their leader was himself a prisoner. Had he been executed instead of released, things in Iraq and Syria would be a lot better now.

What you're proposing here is immoral, plain and simple. "Take no prisoners" implies that it is okay to kill wounded or detained enemy soldiers after they no longer present a threat. What's the point of fighting if you're stooping to the level of your enemy?

 

[Nikodemos]

What you're proposing here is immoral, plain and simple. "Take no prisoners" implies that it is okay to kill wounded or detained enemy soldiers after they no longer present a threat. What's the point of fighting if you're stooping to the level of your enemy?

On the contrary, it makes perfect sense, from a cynical p.o.v.

See, the problem with IS is that whenever they catch wind that some of their 'comrades' have been captured, they trot out some unfortunate bastard and put on a torture-porn show with the self-professed purpose of having those prisoners liberated. Of course, we know the poor fucker invariably ends up killed gruesomely (remember the Syrian AF pilot they burned alive?) so by summarily executing any captured IS fighters, you deny them the opportunity to display their vile fetishes to the world.

 

[RustyNails]

I am slacking off on updating the official ISIS OT due to it being ramadan and all however here's the link: http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1001219

 

[Walpurgis]

Fallujah... that place is cursed.. and after this will be haunted. So sad.

Walpurgis, mostly true but:

Nope. There's no 'conversion' happening. The increase of influence is by getting your friends into power and maybe pushing the other people out. In behaviour this is way more of an ethnic/tribal situation than religious though ISIS does love it's religious imagery. Shia <-> Sunni conversion isn't really a thing.

I guess I've never heard of it happening but I assumed it to be the case since I imagined that is what ISIS was doing in Iraq.

 

[Azih]

I guess I've never heard of it happening but I assumed it to be the case since I imagined that is what ISIS was doing in Iraq.

Nah it's pretty much ethnic cleansing. Drive the 'wrong' people out. They do the same to Shias that they did to the Yazidis.