Second Largest City in Iraq
Mosul becomes the second major city in Iraq to fall to ISIL. Since January, they have controlled Fallujah. They also have control over parts of Ramadi. ISIL has now established itself in Anbar and Nineveh provinces and is within threatening distance to western Baghdad.
UPDATE: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked the country's parliament to declare a state of emergency after ISIL militants captured Mosul. Reports from the city indicate that police and armed forces have abandoned their posts, leaving ISIL in complete control of Mosul and its surrounding areas.
Map: BBC
25 comments:
ISIS seems to be most dangerous of the "Terrorist" "jihadist" groups in Syria and Iraq, while fighting both other "jihadist" groups, Kurdish groups, Iraq and Assad governments, and still able to plan and execute military actions successfully. Sooner this groups is defeated, sooner the region can return to some sort of Normalcy and peace.
Iraq's only problem right now is malikis alliance with Iran. They need to elect a pro western diplomat
Normalcy and peace like in Iran where people are scared to breathe the wrong way less they be arrested?
Yeah obviously !!! since close to 10 years of western occupation, abuses, large scale bombings , secret torture camps and prisons, black armies of unaccountable PMCs, systematic destruction of every major piece of infrastructure, mass exodus, a million death, the ongoing deadly sectarian strife we witness to this day and article, and the establishment of anti-Shia sunni Al Qaeda stronholds on their soil considering Iran their prime target before even Israel or the US, didn't suffice to convince them. Still, the answer would be to be even more "pro-Western" than they already are. And despite currently doing every effort against the very same groups (out of interest ,granted, but that's not the point here) in neighboring Syria while other "Pro-Western" Gulf monarchies instead support them actively through billions of petrodollars, it must be the problem. Man, now I know : You're officially a genius.
No, he probably meant the Iraqi paradise that pro-McCain Iranians still seem to envy so much every day. They probably think that the US didn't bomb it hard enough and/or occupy their country long enough. Sure If they did it would have certainly been Iran's turn to be transformed into such a citadel of welfare and progress we see today. Silly us doubting that ! While Iran has its many dire internal problems, it does not make it any worse than such a completely disfigured joke of a Somalized state lookalike that Iraq has become today thanks to the wonders of Democracy export business. I can't believe a few people still can't figure out what is and what isn't a viable solution to a nation's future and must still be dreaming of American Alpha Strikes over Tehran every night to reach Freedom and Liberty.... wake the hell up and open your eyes, that would be about time don't you think ?
Every country in the middle east associates with Iran is in turmoil.
Iraq should not have cores him into office when it could have chosen a competent western minded leader.
I am just amazed how this militants can take over Iraq's second largest city just like that, I can't believe it. This is a danger alarm from Iran, Turkey, Syria and the Kurds. If this group gets the time to establish itself then they can create huge problems for that region. For one time I think Iranians, Turks, Syrians and Kurds should fight this group in an unified effort. I also believe this group is a big danger to all Christians living in Mosul, they will not respect them.
Such an intelligence failure for the Iraqi army to miss a huge militia attack until the city is fully occupied.
Anon 2:12
Agreed. No one should wish for his country to be violated like Iraq. My country was at least intact during Saddam's days, despite his dictatorial ways. He was the only one who could keep the country from fragmenting. After the 1991 war Iraq was no longer a military threat in the region. The US and UK did not have to attack Iraq, since the Iraqi military had already been weakened considerably. The UN sanctions that were imposed on Iraq shortly after the war made it impossible for the leadership to rebuild the armed forces, however those very same sanctions negatively impacted the lives of ordinary people too. If the citizens of Iraq had been given the option to choose between living under Saddam and the continuation of sanctions or have a destructive war waged against them and then have sanctions lifted...i think they would go for the former alternative. Now Iran and Saudi Arabia has engaged each other half-way, in Iraq, fighting by proxy which in turn severly affects the lifes of peacefull Iraqis.
WOW :-)
Anon 12:54
You are correct. What has happened up to recent times belong to history. We must move on. The GCC and Iran need to quit meddling in Iraq, now that would go a long way in helping the Iraqi nation as a whole.
4:09 PM,
Yes and become just another pro-western, moddle-eastern paradise huh ? just as every country associated with the Western world is a better place to live right ? Saudi Arabia is a good place to live, for instance, a renowned truth worldwide. Oh yes, and there is Egypt, going from one pro-US military despot to the other, one botched revolution at a time, with a Muslim Brotherhood mob leader in between ?
By your logic Iran is more of a criminal to Iraq's past and present demise than western state meddling, manipulating and using its many dictators to do their bidding since the early 80s ? ok , still being a genius I see.
You mean what happens in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for ordinary citizens and foreign workers alike in day by day life are much better representatives of a progressive and functional secular state allowing every single of their citizen to live under a fair rule right ? I mean they happen since to host one of biggest concentration of western influence, presence and political power in the whole world , how could it go wrong in any way. The good guys in the White House are in charge, after all.
Basrawi,
I'm surprised of your reaction considering what you recalled above yourself about every abuse perpetrated by western policies that destroyed so many innocent Iraqi lives over the past couple decades, and yet you think in turn they should look even more westwards to thank the very perpetrators of their nation's clinical death and ongoing coma as we speak through their Sunni proxies ? Indeed, fully agreed, Iran and the GCC have no place in Iraq no matter what they think they are doing, since just as the US and their Vatican-sized embassy they have no business staying here in such lavish citadels.
Also, "Moving on" is a good philosophy no matter if applied to a person or a people, but does it include adhering to such assertion as to align and obey even more wholeheartedly to western patrons, "axis of the good that do no harm nor meddling to any of their weaker allies ?" how about quitting this region for a second and moving on to the many Latin american dictatorships put in power, financed and then fully supported by the same "good western countries" the guy brags about ? how about gauging their genuine interest for welfare by looking back at the ones responsible for the early destruction of the Iranian parliamentary democracy in 53 ? how about not being so binary, black & white in our logical reasoning and start looking at history the way it happened and not the way we would like to contemplate it for a change ?
@Anonymous June 10, 2014 at 1:12 PM:
I am not sure how confronting and removing ISIS can be such a controversial subject...After all who wants to live under conditions where selling Cigarettes can result your head dismemberment or worse be on cross for three days w/o water as ISIS have committed similar crimes against Syrians in Eastern Syria.
So Egypt, Libya are associated with Iran, How?
AnonymousJune 10, 2014 at 12:54 PM,
how about we hope that they finally elect a pro-Iraq diplomat and not some puppet in the hands of either the House of Saud, the IRGC or the White House ?
Solution : Let's quit current Saudi/Iranian influence, perform a clever U-turn and become pro-western instead, and forget about every achieving self-governance, and live happily ever after. At least according to some on this page, that's would be the universal solution to every issue in the ME. Not that it hasn't been tried already with its flurry of ongoing examples of glory as we speak.
The US attacks a Nation on false grounds -leaves behind instability -only cares for oil AND A MARKET FOR ITS ARMS!,.
Both sides deserves each other. Both sides are as bad as each other. They are demonstrating "the religion of peace".
Seriously? After Kurds show independent oil sale they have their major city under attack and Karkuk threatened? Do you believe Maleki didn't know about it?This the only way he can get back Kurdish area. Iran will let it worsen and then help Maleki.
You can add Turkey, the US and some European countries to the mix and I will agree on the rest 100% with you. "Religion of Peace" indeed. Applies to political Islam at least as much as Neo-evangelism or sionism. They all deserve each other on the battlefield. All equal scum of the earth.
In which planet do you live in? After Mosul, six other cities, including Tikrit, fell to ISIL in less than 24 hours, and the ISIL is positioned to cut the major highway from Baghdad to Mosul and control the oil pipeline to Turkey.
Forget about conspiracy theory. The Iraqi military simply gave up defending Mosul and surrounding cities on Tuesday and the ISIL's threat has become even more serious today. Let's hope and pray that the army could put up a defense against the ISIL in the coming days.
control yourself Nader, Control yourself!! Nowhere in my text I said only a particular city fell or any statistics and it is not conspiracy. Maleki already new the danger and he deliberately didn't act fast.Both Maleki and the masters in Iran already know The ISIL threat is not something they can not handle but they want to use it to take back Kurdistan autonomy. There are so many benefits for
Iran and the Maleki in this and their plan for the region and I think this time the ISIL sponsors have fallen into a big trap. An obvious thing like this is not called conspiracy theory and those who don't get it simply don't know politics of the region. It is something to gather news and something to understand the trend!
The discussion here was not about controlling ourselves; don't even know what you mean by that. My advice was to forget about conspiracy theories, like what you were suggesting that the sad events in Iraq in the past 48 hours were pre-planned by Maliki against the Kurds. I found the claim fantastic!
Let's hope the Iraqi military can re-organize and stop ISIL's advance.
You lost the temper while replying. Sad events for sure but that has nothing to do with the reasons behind the scene. It can be pre-planned or it can be an opportunity the regime did seek.The chess players in the region know what the capacity of every force in the region is and those do not care of the suffering of few thousands for a greater goal. In my opinion
1) ISIL will be eliminated and by next few weeks Iran will be asked to help 2) Iran and Maleki will gain upper hand by providing the security and undermining pishmargs 3) Once again ISIL resources will be defeated and blackmailed for their influence 4) This will secure a deal over Syria as well.
Now you can say it is conspiracy or not. Things don't happen in the region with so much correlation unless something has a hand in it.
Good, at least some one has figured out what will happen in the region and in what order!
I would on this point agree more with Nader, even if I understand the points zeino71 are raising. The reason is that Mosul never was fully managed or controlled by the Kurds and they actually left it after a while due to all security problems and focused on other cities like Arbil which was more secure and could be developed economically. The Kurds in Mosul actually disliked that decision by the Autonomous Government of Kurdistan and asked the central government for help instead. At that time the Maliki government decided to put more efforts closer to Syrian border rather than Mosul which was not in good shape but which was not either under big threat, as they assumed. That assumption and prioritization might have been wrong but it might also be a strategy because right now these militant groups have no corridor back to Syria as Iraqi Army has sealed the main routes pretty well. They will have hard time moving north as Kurds and also believe me or not Turks are cooperating to stop them (which is quite unique). Rumors are also indicating Iran has dispatched additional units over the night to its border area with Iraq closest to the conflict, special forces from Nohed 23 airborne division have reportedly been seen "landing in the area" whatever that term indicates. So mainly the militants can cause lots of trouble in the middle of Iraq, but they are also heavily cut from their main traditional logistic routes where they got arms and ammunition. With a UN condemnation and global unified front, most probably airstrikes will be allowed to take place against the militants and these will mainly be conducted by NATO (i.e. Turkey).
Going back to what zeino said, this is indeed in the interest of Maliki, Iran and Syria but also due to crisis Kurds and Turkey as both Maliki and Kurds knew fighting these militants need massive resources which are beyond their current potential (need help from abroad) and Syria and Iran have managed to ensure this militia force doesn't get back to Syria where they could cause major problems for Assad.
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