IRAQI GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES ANTI-ISIS OPERATION WEST OF KIRKUK. 4 VILLAGES LIBERATED

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Commander of PMU Operations Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis

On Thursday morning, the Iraqi Army and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) launched a joint effort to liberate the area of Hawija from ISIS terrorists.

According to the PMU media wing, the army and the PMU already liberated the villages of Kinaous, Hamid Sitayr, Shiyaleh Al-Imam and Taweenah located northeast of Sharqat.

Sarqat is located northwest of the ISIS stronghold of Hawija – the main target of the operation.

Hawija is located in Kirkuk province, west of the provinical cappital – Kirkuk city. Kirkuk is now mostly controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga forces, a military force of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Some Kurdish sources speculate that the army and the PMU use the anti-ISIS operation as a pretext to deploy additional forces in the area of Kirkuk.

The KRG seeks to include non-Kurdish Kirkuk city into as well as some oil-rich areas that are not a formal part of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region into a Kurdish independent state that may appear in northern Iraq as a result of the independence referendum scheduled for September 25.

Click to see the full-size map

Comments

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif

ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Search This Blog