Sir john Posted August 14, 2014 Posted August 14, 2014 US breaks siege on Iraqi mountain, defense officials say US defense department officials said late Wednesday that United States airstrikes and Kurdish fighters had broken the Islamic militants' siege of Mount Sinjar, allowing thousands of the Yazidis trapped there to escape. An initial report from about a dozen Marines and Special Operations forces who arrived on Tuesday and spent 24 hours on the northern Iraqi mountain said that "the situation is much more manageable," a senior Defense official said in an interview. US defense secretary Chuck Hagel, speaking to reporters Wednesday night at Andrews Air Force Base, Md, said it was "far less likely now" that the United States would undertake a rescue mission because the assessment team reported far fewer Yazidis on the mountain than expected, and that those still there were in relatively good condition. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, credited American airstrikes and humanitarian airdrops as well as efforts of the Kurdish pesh merga fighters in allowing "thousands of Yazidis to evacuate from the mountain each night over the last several days" and to escape the militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Administration officials said that several thousand Yazidis remained on the mountain, not the tens of thousands who originally were there. Some of the people on Mount Sinjar indicated to American forces that they considered the mountain to be a place of refuge and a home and did not want to leave, a second United States official said. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue. The Yazidis are a religious minority who are regarded as apostates by the Islamic militants. Admiral Kirby said "the team has assessed that there are far fewer Yazidis on Mount Sinjar than previously feared, in part because of the success of the humanitarian airdrops." The latest twist came just hours after Benjamin J. Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, told reporters on Martha's Vineyard, where President Obama is vacationing, that the president was likely to receive recommendations about how to mount a rescue operation in the next several days. He said those recommendations could have included the use of American ground troops. But Rhodes made those comments as the secret team of Marines and Special Operations forces were already on Mount Sinjar, in the middle of a 24-hour trip to talk to the displaced people and pesh merga fighters. Earlier on Wednesday, France, Britain and Germany all said they would increase their efforts to aid the people stranded on the mountain — where reports indicated that the Yazidis were baking in the heat and near starvation — and to fight the ISIS militants. France, which opposed the Iraq invasion in 2003, said it would send arms to Kurdish fighters to help alleviate what it called a "catastrophic situation." Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, who had been under pressure to take more action, said his government would continue the humanitarian aid it had been providing but would now also ship munitions from Eastern Europe to the Kurdish forces. Germany, which also did not support the United States invasion a decade ago, said it would send nonlethal aid — heavy trucks, bulletproof vests, bedding and tents — to the Kurds. Steffen Seibert, a government spokesman, called the ISIS fighters "bloodthirsty extremists" and said their advances were "something which offends us all." The German foreign ministry's spokesman, Martin Schafer, said ISIS was "an existential threat to refugees, the state of Iraq and the whole region." For Obama, who has been reluctant to commit additional American ground troops to Iraq, the report was hugely welcome news. Obama had maintained — even when announcing that he had authorized airstrikes to help break the siege — that he would not be sending American combat troops to the country they left in 2011. But as reports from Mount Sinjar became increasingly dire, amid video images of the suffering Yazidis, the president found himself weighing a host of options for mounting a rescue operation. The leading option before the siege was broken was to rescue the Yazidis with a combination of ground troops — mostly Kurdish pesh merga, but with help from American Special Operations forces and Marines. The United States was also discussing using airlifts that could include V-22 Ospreys, which are hybrid aircraft that can take off and land like helicopters but have the speed and range of propeller planes. But both of those options came with a host of complications, including increased risks that ISIS militants could attack the Ospreys, which could result in casualties to both American pilots and evacuees. Some Iraqi and Kurdish helicopters had managed to carry a few dozen refugees to safety, but officials said the aircraft had frequently been fired upon by ISIS fighters. A corridor of escape on the ground — which would have been guarded primarily by pesh merga fighters and backed by some American troops — brought its own set of problems, defense department officials said. The most direct route off the mountain is south, with the goal of reaching territory still held by the Iraqi government in Baghdad. But that route would have taken the rescue forces and the Yazidis through areas controlled by ISIS, increasing the potential for combat and casualties. Passing through ISIS-held areas, one senior military official warned, would also allow the militants to blend into the escaping Yazidis, making it more difficult to target them for American airstrikes. But the more viable route — going through Syria, which is believed to be the route taken by thousands of people who had already escaped Mount Sinjar — raised its own problems. That option required the use of American airstrikes, and American troops could not directly help in that effort. The United States is at odds with President Bashar al-Assad and has considered arming rebels in their fight against the Syrian government. The speed with which the Obama administration announced that the siege had been broken may cause some consternation overseas, given the increasingly dire descriptions from aid agencies about the crisis on Mount Sinjar. The United Nations on Wednesday announced its highest level of emergency for the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.
gs Posted August 14, 2014 Posted August 14, 2014 I wish they target some heat of Saudi Arabia so that the mullahs back off from funding and arming those nutters
Midfielder Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 ISIS is a threat to all civilized world and the only thing they understand is some bombs delivered from drones. I am glad president Obama is trying to exterminate these roaches.
Texy Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 Feckin pigs kidnapped hundreds of Yazidi women for sex slaves after killing all the men in the village. And the crazy thing is that they have a lot of local support to carry out these atrocities. Non-Muslims are pretty much eradicated from all these places along with thousand year old cultures and historical remains.
diga Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 A pair of little girls play in front of a painting depicting the lighting of holy fire during a visit to the Yazidi temple in Lalesh http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2722800/Haunting-photos-offer-glimpse-Iraqs-tragic-Yazidi-people-months-ISIS-onslaught.html
Brainfade Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 Is this a unilateral move by the US or is NATO/EU/UN helping to defeat ISIS?
gs Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 A pair of little girls play in front of a painting depicting the lighting of holy fire during a visit to the Yazidi temple in Lalesh http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2722800/Haunting-photos-offer-glimpse-Iraqs-tragic-Yazidi-people-months-ISIS-onslaught.html Is the woman in the painting wearing a saree and lighting the traditional Indian lamp?!?
BeautifulGame Posted August 18, 2014 Author Posted August 18, 2014 Feckin pigs kidnapped hundreds of Yazidi women for sex slaves after killing all the men in the village. And the crazy thing is that they have a lot of local support to carry out these atrocities. Non-Muslims are pretty much eradicated from all these places along with thousand year old cultures and historical remains. An arch bishop interviewed by Guardian said that people who were living as close neighbors turned on the Christians the moment ISIS arrived in the towns . Those Muslims who were neighbors till then started looting murdering and raping the innocent Christians who so far they treated as friends . Truly sickening
Number Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 An arch bishop interviewed by Guardian said that people who were living as close neighbors turned on the Christians the moment ISIS arrived in the towns . Those Muslims who were neighbors till then started looting murdering and raping the innocent Christians who so far they treated as friends . Truly sickening Same story as Kashmiri Pandits.
Midfielder Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 the religion of peace..... I said the same thing and Raghav got me banned for 2 weeks. Please be careful.
gattaca Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 Is the woman in the painting wearing a saree and lighting the traditional Indian lamp?!? I noticed the same thing. I found this. They might have similarities but they are not same I think. http://kiranasis.blogspot.com/2014/08/yazidi-and-hindu-similarity.html
G_B_ Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 I said the same thing and Raghav got me banned for 2 weeks. Please be careful. you got banned by raghav? seriously who made him a mod. Supporting AAP in itself has to be some sort of red flag in itself.
FischerTal Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 you got banned by raghav? seriously who made him a mod. Supporting AAP in itself has to be some sort of red flag in itself. expect all BJP supporters to get year long ban
G_B_ Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 good thing i am more of a sena and sangh supporter :D
Midfielder Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 you got banned by raghav? seriously who made him a mod. Supporting AAP in itself has to be some sort of red flag in itself. He complained to the mods and no body warned me but banned me after his complaint. he can spout all crap and there is no ramification but i got banned. I am independent and have no political affiliation. It so happens I think BJP was right on this issue.
Raghav_12 Posted August 19, 2014 Posted August 19, 2014 We will drown all of you in blood, Islamic State tells US in video message http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-we-will-drown-all-of-you-in-blood-islamic-state-tells-us-in-video-message-2011865 The Islamic State militant group that has seized large parts of Iraq and drawn the first American air strikes since the end of the occupation in 2011 has warned the United States it will attack Americans "in any place" if the raids hit its militants. The video, which shows a photograph of an American who was beheaded during the US occupation of Iraq and victims of snipers, featured a statement which said in English "we will drown all of you in blood". US airstrikes in northern Iraq have helped Kurdish fighters take back some territory captured by Islamic State militants, who have threatened to march on Baghdad. The latest advance by the Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot, sent tens of thousands of members of the Yazidi ethnic minority and Christians fleeing for their lives and alarmed the Baghdad government and its Western allies. Unlike al-Qaeda, Islamic State has so far focused on seizing land in Iraq and Syria for its self-proclaimed caliphate, not spectacular attacks on Western targets. US President Barack Obama said at a news conference on Monday that the Islamic State posed a threat to Iraq and the entire region. Some positive movement since Americans started their strikes. ISIS militants have been pushed back from some strategic locations.
Sir john Posted August 19, 2014 Posted August 19, 2014 Kurdish, Iraqi forces in control of Mosul dam Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Iraqi counterterrorism forces have pushed Islamic State militants out of Mosul dam, state television reported on Monday. The television station quoted Lieutenant-General Qasim Atta, a military spokesman, as saying the forces were backed by a joint air patrol. He did not give details. An independent verification was not immediately possible. A Twitter account belonging to a media organisation that supports the Islamic State said the dam was still under the group's full control. On Sunday, a Mosul dam engineer who has been in close contact with Islamic State militants holding the dam said they had been placing roadside bombs along roads leading in and out of the complex in anticipation of an assault. The latest northern Iraq offensive by Islamic State militants has rattled the Baghdad government and its Western allies, prompting the United States to mount the first airstrikes in the country since it withdrew in 2011.
Sir john Posted August 19, 2014 Posted August 19, 2014 US carries out 15 air strikes near Iraq dam: Military US warplanes and drones carried out 15 air strikes on Monday against Islamic State militants battling for control of a major dam in northern Iraq, the military said. Fighter jets, bombers and unmanned planes destroyed nine Islamic State positions and eight vehicles around the Mosul dam, where insurgents are fighting Kurdish forces, US Central Command said. The US military launched a wave of air strikes in northern Iraq just over a week ago with the stated aim of protecting a group of Yazidi minority refugees and preventing an IS advance on the city of Arbil. President Barack Obama said last week that the siege of the Yazidi civilians has been broken, but strikes have only intensified as US-backed Kurdish and Iraqi forces try to secure the key dam. "Since August 8, US Central Command has conducted a total of 68 airstrikes in Iraq. Of those 68 strikes, 35 have been in support of Iraqi forces near the Mosul Dam," the statement said. Monday's barrage destroyed nine IS fighting positions and a checkpoint, six armed trucks, an armored vehicle, a mobile anti-aircraft gun and a patch of ground booby-trapped with improvised explosives. Central Command said the strikes had been conducted under the authority of Obama's order to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the fight against IS militants and to protect US personnel and facilities.
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