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| Iraq | |
| Iraq launches Anbar assault to oust Islamic State | |
| 2015-07-14 | |
| [Dhaka Tribune] Iraqi troops and Shi'ite Moslem militia forces attacked Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... fighters on several fronts in the country's largest province yesterday, saying the battle to drive the hardline forces of Evil out of Anbar was under way. A front man for the joint operations command said the offensive, which began at dawn, brought together the army, mainly Shi'ite Hashid Shaabi militias, special forces, police and local Sunni Moslem tribal fighters. Military sources in Anbar said they met fierce resistance from the myrmidons, who deployed five suicide boom-mobiles and fired rockets to repel their advance on the city of Falluja, about 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad. There were also reports of fighting around the placid provincial capital Ramadi, captured by Islamic State two months ago. Islamic State's capture of Ramadi two months ago marked the biggest defeat for the Baghdad government since the forces of Evil swept through the north of the country last June and declared a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq. Until Ramadi's fall, Iraqi troops and Hashid Shaabi forces, backed by US-led air strikes, had been pushing Islamic State back, recapturing the eastern province of Diyala and former leader Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, with the target of retaking djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Although Ramadi remains the strategic target, military sources and Shi'ite militia leaders have said the initial focus will be on Falluja, which fell to IS 18 months ago. A US-led coalition of Western and Arab air forces has been bombing Islamic State positions across Iraq, supporting Baghdad's ground forces and its poorly equipped air force. Iraq has sought to redress its own lack of air power by purchasing F-16 fighter jets from the United States, but deliveries of the 36 aircraft were delayed because of security concerns after the Islamic State offensive last summer. Yesterday, a first batch of four F-16s landed at Balad air base north of Baghdad, an Iraqi air force officer said. It was not clear whether the planes would take an immediate role in the operations in Anbar.
The jets Iraq ordered are F-16IQ Block 52s, which are considered downgrades from the advanced F-16C/D Block 52. This is seen as part of the US policy of avoiding selling the Iraqi government sophisticated jets capable of using advanced air-to-ground weapons and air-to-air missiles in order to alleviate the fears of regional US allies. | |
| Posted by:Fred |