ISIS Attacks on Baghdad Continue

Battle for Baghdad has Begun

The Battle for Baghdad has Begun

180,000 people flee Western Iraq as the Islamic State inches ever closer to Baghdad. TIME Magazine reports that the Sunni jihadist group has largely consolidated control over western Iraq as terrified civilians flee its advance.

Iraqi security forces evacuated another military base in restive Anbar province on Monday in the face of an offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS)….

The battle for Baghdad has begun, and should it fall, the consequences will be staggering. Patrick Poole lays out the 5 key implications if Baghdad falls to ISIS:

Reports that ISIS has surrounded Baghdad and is quickly closing in on the Baghdad International Airport (armed with MANPADS, no less) are troubling. Baghdad itself has been...

Read the whole entry 

ISIS Near Baghdad - Iraq Forces Crumble

Despite airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, Islamic State militants are in a position to wreak havoc on Baghdad after making gains in nearby territories, adding to the sense of siege in the Iraqi capital.

Yet some military experts believe that the terror group, who now control a large territory along the border of Iraq and Syria, won’t be able to defeat the forces now massed around the capital.

However their new position does give them the ability to wreak terror in Iraq's biggest city, with its suicide attacks and other assaults further eroding confidence in Iraq's nascent federal government and its troops, whose soldiers already fled the Islamic State group's initial lightning advance in June.

"It's not plausible at this point to envision ISIL taking control of Baghdad, but they can make Baghdad so miserable that it would threaten the legitimacy of the central government," Richard Brennan, an Iraq expert with RAND Corporation and former Department of Defense policymake told The Associated Press.

http://goo.gl/cdzElS

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Exclusive – Vicar of Baghdad: ISIS Cells Already in Baghdad

Because of the imminent danger, Canon Andrew White was ordered to leave Baghdad. He says ISIS has planted cells that are already operating there.

Mon, October 6, 2014

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Islamic State militants

The Vicar of Baghdad, Andrew White, has fled Iraq on the orders of his superior, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who felt it was too dangerous to stay in the city with the Islamic State (ISIS) closing in.  

“ISIS has plants in Baghdad. That's why the archbishop wanted us gone. The other day, they discovered 150 bodies of people who had been shot. Nobody knows who did it, but we know that ISIS is already operating in Baghdad,” said White in an exclusive interview with the Clarion Project.

White spoke to Clarion about the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq, the fate of the kidnapped Christian and Yazidi women and children, and the prospects for the future.

http://goo.gl/X5xpmr

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Islamic State withstands bombing campaign, plots Baghdad invasion

Robert Spencer Oct 5, 2014 at 11:37pm Islamic State of Iraq and Syria 43 Comments

The airstrikes haven’t stopped the Islamic State. What a surprise. “Islamic State withstands bombing campaign, plots Baghdad invasion,” by Rowan Scarborough, The Washington Times, October 5, 2014:

The Islamic State holds just about the same number of towns in Iraq today as it did two months ago, when the U.S. began a bombing campaign to whittle down the terrorist army and support Iraqi ground troops trying to retake territory.

More troubling, analysts say, is that the Islamic State, also known by the acronyms ISIS and ISIL, is ramping up what appear to be operations designed to one day invade Baghdad.

Its objective is to take the international airport and begin conquering the capital, section by section. The Islamic State is continuing its urban attacks with car bombs, some of which have been detonated by foreign suicide bombers.

http://jihadwatch.org/

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ISIS TAKES ABU GHRAIB – Within Artillery Range of Baghdad Airport

ISIS has taken complete control of Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad.

(Wikimedia)

The Islamists are now within artillery range of Baghdad.
The News Tribune reported:

Islamic State militants have taken control of key cities in Iraq’s western province of Anbar and have begun to besiege one of the country’s largest military bases in a weeklong offensive that’s brought them within artillery range of Baghdad.

The Islamic State and its tribal allies have dominated Anbar since a surprise offensive last December, but this week’s push was particularly worrisome, because for the first time this year Islamist insurgents were reported to have become a major presence in Abu Ghraib, the last Anbar town on the outskirts of the capital.

“Daash is openly operating inside Abu Ghraib,” according to an Iraqi soldier, who used a common Arabic term for the Islamic State. “I was at the 10th Division base there two days ago, and the soldiers cannot leave or patrol,” he said, asking that he be identified only as Hossam because Iraqi soldiers are barred from speaking with foreign reporters. “Daash controls the streets.”

Hundreds of miles to the west, Islamic State forces continued their push into the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobane, where it appeared unlikely that Turkey would intervene to stop the advance. Kurdish officials from the town said the Turkish government had yet to respond to their pleas for weapons, and reports from the Turkish-Syrian border said there was no evidence Turkey was preparing to take action…

GateWayPundit

ISIS Within 1 Mile of Baghdad, Escape Routes Closed

"They said it could never happen and now it almost has." said a spokesman for a Baghdad aid group, who says the Iraqi army is unprepared to battle ISIS.

Thu, October 2, 2014

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• ISIS Within 1 Mile of Baghdad, Escape Routes Closed
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Islamic State (ISIS) fighters are only one mile away from Baghdad, Iraq's capital, according a spokesman for the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, a Christian aid group.

"They said it could never happen and now it almost has. Obama says he overestimated what the Iraqi Army could do. Well, you only need to be here a very short while to know they can do very, very little,"said the spokesman.

In an interview (see video below), Canon Andrew White, a veteran of Baghdad and leader of the foundation, said that the U.S. airstrikes had proven to be ineffective against the Islamic State and that, unfortunately, they had merely killed civilians. Ground troops are needed, he said to defeat the Islamic State.

Canon himself has been provided with over 30 security guards –some of them soldiers from the Iraqi Army -- due to the danger that he faces.  When asked if he had faith in the Iraqi army, Canon laughed.

He explained, “I’m laughing because I said to one of my soldier guards today, ‘If ISIS were coming towards you, what would you do?’ He said, ‘I would take off my uniform.’ [I asked,] ‘Why are you in the army then? Why are you a soldier? What are you doing? Aren’t you protecting us?’ He said, ‘No, I’m in it because I need the money.’”

When asked if people are planning to flee the city, Canon said, “The problem is there isn’t much opportunity. If you go by car, you go by the central part of the [country], which is now under ISIS control. If you try to fly out, that isn’t easy because, for example, the first flight that I can get is on Monday.

http://goo.gl/Xtp8ED

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Thu, October 2, 2014

Al Qaeda-Iraq forces advance on Baghdad military air base. US ponders air strike ahead of Iran and Russia

DEBKAfile  Exclusive Report  July 4, 2014, 10:03 PM (IDT)

Al Qaeda Iraq (IS) and its Sunni tribal allies are advancing on the al-Muthanna military air base at Baghdad international airport, according to the latest intelligence dated Friday, July 4. Three columns, of 1,000-1,500 fighters each, are descending on their target from the north and the west in US-made armored Humvees and APCs taken booty from the Iraqi army.

The air field is situated 16 km west of central Baghdad. The Islamist State’s military planners, many of whom were officers in Saddam Hussein’s army - the president ousted in 2003 by the US invasion of Iraq – have calculated that there was no need at this stage to conquer the Iraqi capital.

Seizing the military air field will afford them control of Baghdad air space and provide a forward base for bombing forays in different quarters of the city. The Islamists count on support in the Sunni suburbs of West Baghad.

http://goo.gl/BS1K1S

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Iraq PM Marlarky Welcome Assad forces to the battle with ISIS

Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Malaiki, confirmed in an interview with the BBC that Syria had indeed carried out an airstrike on their side of the frontier against ISIL at the border town of Al-Qaim (opposite Al-Bukamel, see above), here:
The Syrian state media, SANA, is for some reason denying that its Air Force had anything to do with the Iraqi airstrike, which some unconfirmed reports say has killed 57 and injured 132.

“Nightmare scenario”: ISIS encircling Baghdad

Robert Spencer Jun 25, 2014 at 2:42pm Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria 8 Comments

“Thousands of young men from the south have flocked to Baghdad to bolster the flagging army, and many observers have assumed that the flow of southern militiamen would help stem an ISIS advance that’s captured much of northern and central Iraq in the weeks since the city of Mosul fell under ISIS control June 10.” However, that doesn’t seem to be happening. Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that Iran will sit idly by and allow its Shi’ite client government in Iraq to fall without a fight.

“Islamist fighters reportedly attempting to encircle Baghdad,” by Mitchell Prothero, McClatchy, June 25, 2014 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

IRBIL, Iraq — Iraq’s dire situation has gone from bad dream to nightmare in two weeks of fighting that have seen Sunni Muslim gunmen assert control over a growing area, including, Kurdish officials said Tuesday, at least two towns that lie on a crucial supply route linking Baghdad, the capital, with the mostly Shiite Muslim south.

http://goo.gl/NM0lVp 

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Iraq's central government suffers mortal blow

By Fawaz A GergesLondon School of Economics

Demonstrators shout slogans in support of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in Mosul

Continue reading the main story

Regardless of whether the Iraqi government in Baghdad rolls back the recent military advances by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), the central authority has suffered a mortal blow.

ISIS's takeover of most of the so-called Sunni Triangle, as well as Mosul, the second largest city with almost two million people, hammers a deadly nail in the coffin of the post-Saddam Hussein nation-building project.

Fragile Iraqi institutions now lie in tatters.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27883157

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Clashes on approaches to Baghdad

insurgents who have made major advances in the past week.

Parts of the city of Baquba - just 60km (37 miles) from Baghdad - were briefly taken over by the rebels.

Reports say 44 prisoners were killed during fighting at a police station in the city.http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27838034

Jihadist militants are strengthening their grip on northern and eastern areas of Iraq as they continue to press south to Baghdad.

Iraqi government forces have clashed with Sunni rebels, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) - an al-Qaeda breakaway - after they took control of a number of cities in a rapid advance.

ISIS militants in Syria and Iraqhttp://goo.gl/CsNRDZ
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After posting sickening beheading video of Iraqi policeman, ISIS boast of slaughtering 1,700 soldiers

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Image of officer's decapitated head tweeted with sickening message: 'This is our ball. It's made of skin #WorldCup'

Battle lines drawn as Iraqi forces gather at base just 20 miles outside Baghdad after militants seize two more towns

More than 20 UK nationals thought to be trapped in territories where Islamists are carrying out summary executions

Al Qaeda-inspired militants stage jubilant parade of American Humvee patrol cars seized from collapsing Iraqi army

Masked fighters wave the black flag of the Islamic State and flash the 'V' sign while shouting 'towards Baghdad!'

Insurgents have also captured two helicopters, 15 tanks and armoured cars that used to belong to U.S. military

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Shock and awe: An ISIS propaganda video shows militants blindfolding a Sunni police major in his home before cutting off his head

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Propaganda warfare: The aim of the video is to terrorise Sunnis in Iraq's army and police forces and deepen their already low morale

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2656905/ISIS-jihadists-seize-two-towns-bear-Baghdad-U-S-tanks-helicopters-stolen-fleeing-western-trained-Iraqi-forces.html#ixzz34XG48cxL
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Islamic Terrorists Near Baghdad as Obama fiddles

The Obama administration delivered a message Friday to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as Al Qaeda-inspired militants took control of more cities on their march toward Baghdad, reportedly leaving a trail of decapitated government forces in their wake:

"Come together." 

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Secretary of State John Kerry delivered the message, putting the onus on the Maliki government to "put sectarian differences aside and to come together in unity to begin to be more representative and inclusive." 

http://goo.gl/GTQX4a

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Iraqi air base being evacuated Americans flee

AP

Officials say three planeloads of Americans are being evacuated from a major Iraqi air base in Sunni territory north of Baghdad to escape potential threats from a fast-moving insurgency. 

A current U.S. official and a former senior Obama administration official say that means the American training mission at the air field in Balad has been grounded indefinitely.

Twelve U.S. personnel who were stationed at Balad were the first to be evacuated. Several hundred American contractors are still waiting to leave. 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/12/americans-being-evacuated-from-iraqi-air-base/

Image operationworld.org