Iraqi paramilitary forces destroy 12 IS hideouts south & west of Mosul
Nineveh (IraqiNews) al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces (paramilitary forces) announced, on Monday, destroying 12 hideouts belonging to the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group, south and west of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, within operation "Will of Victory".
The security forces said in a press statement, "Troops of al-Hashd al-Shaabi in Nineveh managed to destroy5 hideouts belonging to the Islamic State in Badush Mountains, northeast of Mosul, while destroyed 7 others south of the city.
It is noteworthy that today, al-Hashd al-Shaabi and army forces launched the third phase of operation "Will of Victory", to search and secure areas located north of Jalula and Mukdadiyah in Diyala, in addition to areas south of Nineveh.
Last month, Joint Operations Command announced launching the second phase of operation "Will of Victory", yesterday, to boost stability in the areas north of Baghdad, in addition to the vicinity of the provinces of Diyala, Salahuddin and Anbar.
Six Islamic State terrorists killed in air raid in Iraq’s Nineveh
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi authorities announced on Monday that six members of the Islamic State militant group were killed Monday in an
...
KABOOM!...
in Nineveh province.
In a blurb carried by the privately-owned Alsumaria News TV channel, the Iraqi Security Media Cell said that the air raid was launched based on intelligence information to eliminate IS remnants in Nineveh province.
No further details were given about the operation but security forces used to target Islamic State gatherings since the collapse of the terrorist group’s territorial influence in Iraq in November 2017.
Mosul protesters oppose Hashd withdrawal from Nineveh Plain[Rudaw] Protesters blocked the Mosul-Erbil road on Monday to oppose the removal of a Hashd al-Shaabi unit, in a sign of the difficulties Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi faces in reining in the militia.
Footage of pro-Hashd protesters clashing with security forces in Bazwaia in east Mosul has emerged on social media.
“The Iraqi Prime Minister issued an order that forces all Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias to leave the Nineveh Plain and be stationed outside of it,” Sirwan Rozhbayani, deputy governor of Mosul province, told Rudaw English on Monday.
“The protesters are mainly Hashd al-Shaabi fighters themselves, and the aim of the protests is to show Iraqi PM Abdul-Mahdi that people in Mosul want Hashd to stay inside the city,” he added.
Though Baghdad has yet to publish a response to the protests, Nineveh governor Mansour Marid denounced the violent escalation of protests that led to the “cutting off of roads that connect provinces” in a Monday statement, urging protestors to adhere to the law.
In a similar vein, Nineveh Provincial Council member Aseel Shaheen Agha rejected the “rebellion against authority and law” in a statement on Monday.
Under pressure to curb the independence of Iran-affiliated groups after a spate of rocket attacks against US military and economic targets in Iraq, Abdul-Mahdi ordered the July 31 withdrawal of all informal Hashd al-Shaabi units from Mosul and the Nineveh Plain, as part of a package of reforms to integrate Hashd into Iraq’s defense apparatus.
However, Hashd commander and National Security Advisor Falih al-Fayadh requested an extension of two months to finalize the new structure, according to an official letter published a day before the deadline. Baghdad wants Hashd forces to withdraw from urban areas, and for federal police to take over responsibility for the area’s security.
Having failed to withdraw by July 31, a subsequent deadline for Hashd units to pull out from the Nineveh Plain was set for 8 a.m. local time on August 5.
Monday’s protests opposed the removal of Brigade 30, a Hashd unit primarily composed of ethnically Shabak residents of eastern Mosul, who are predominantly Shiite.
Qusai Abbas, a Shabak MP with links to Brigade 30, told Iraqi news outlet al-Ahad that protests had initially been peaceful before infiltrators joined the protests to attack the Army.
The brigade has caused particular controversy, with leader Waad Qado, also known as Abu Jaafar al-Shabaki, recently sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for alleged corruption and human rights abuses. Qado was accused of extracting money from the mixed Christian-Shabak town of Bartella on the Nineveh Plain “through extortion, illegal arrests and kidnappings”.
Formally incorporated into Iraq’s armed forces following a 2016 parliamentary bill, Hashd al-Shaabi is officially under the command of Abdul-Mahdi and Fayyadh. The almost entirely Shiite paramilitias were formed in 2014 following a fatwa (religious decree) by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shiite religious authority in Iraq as the Islamic State group (ISIS) advanced on Baghdad.
Reacting to Monday's protest, Rihan Hana, a Christian MP in the Iraqi parliament, said that Brigade 30 needed to leave the Nineveh Plains and be replaced by the Iraqi Army.
“The implementation of law in Nineveh Plains is essential for peaceful co-existence,” she added.
Hashd units are currently participating in the third phase of operation “Will of Victory”, targeting active ISIS remnants and sleeper cells around Diyala. Brigade 30 claimed to have cleared six villages to the south of Mosul from ISIS presence on Monday.