Kurdish Forces break IS siege of Mt Sinjar

[Pakistani E]

Take no prisoners, IS is a cancer that needs surgical removal. Keep going Peshmerga, I'm praying for your success in liberating your national homeland.

 

[damm1t]

The Turks are not going to like this. Another major defeat for Turkey and its ally but a major victory for the rest of the world. It's going to be the gates of Vienna all over again for these people..,

Pathetic anti-Turks, never stop amuse me... Those are the Turks who let peshmerga cross the border from Turkish soil on the way help kurds in Kobane... Where your arsepain comes from?

 

[manlion]

A glimmer of hope in the fight against Isil
The siege of Mount Sinjar has been lifted. But the war against Isil will take much longer to win

The relief of the Islamic State’s siege of Mount Sinjar by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters will have brought a rare moment of cheer to the thousands of Yazidis trapped in inhospitable mountain terrain since the summer. The Yazidis worship the Malak Taus, or Peacock Angel, whom they regard as supreme among the seven angels who they believe have ruled the universe since its creation by God. Many will now be giving thanks to their guardian for delivering them from their suffering.

This ancient people have certainly endured a terrible 2014, with hundreds, if not thousands, being massacred at the hands of Islamic State (Isil) militants. At the height of the siege in August, an estimated 40,000 Yazidis and other Iraqis, including members of minority Christian sects, were besieged, and their plight was one of the key factors that prompted the Western powers, including Britain, to launch military action.

A glimmer of hope in the fight against Isil - Telegraph

 

[SALMAN F]

Fake news
The kurds with the air support they the best thing they could do is take over some hills

 

[manlion]

Most Shingal Yezidis believe that the main reason for the fall of the town was that its officials were not Yezidi, and therefore were not desperate to defend the city.

“The (future) administration and security of Shingal will be handed over to Yezidis,” Mirani vowed.

“Thousands of Yezidis have joined the Peshmerga forces as volunteers. We have formed a brigade for Yezidis, its members are fighting in the frontlines right now. They are all trained and they can protect the security of Yezidi areas,” Mirani said.

“We currently have a thousand trained police officers that can be used for the protection of recently freed areas,” he concluded.

KDP official: Yezidis will be in charge of Shingal administratio

 

[Lux de Veritas]

Have the Kurds cut the ISIL/Daesh State in Two, Blocking Supply Lines? | Informed Comment

Al-Mada newspaper in Baghdad had an interesting article in the aftermath of the fall of Shinjar to the Iraqi Kurdistan Peshmerga. The piece argued that the Peshmerga (Kurdistan’s paramilitary, meaning ‘one who stands before death’) have now effectively cut of the supply lines between Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq for Daesh (what Arabs call ISIS or ISIL). Daesh was originally al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia and then the ‘Islamic State of Iraq’ but went over to Syria after the revolution broke out there in 2011, and gradually took over the northeastern Syrian province of Raqqa as its base, and it was from there that they came back into Iraq and provided a framework for the Mosul uprising of June 9, 2014 against the Iraqi government.

Historians refer to polities that exist on both sides of a mountain range, united by passes, as a “saddlebag empire.” These were common in South Asia, where southern Afghanistan and Punjab were often part of the same kingdom despite the barrier of the Hindu Kush mountains. What I have called the ‘neo-Zangid’ state of the Daesh unites the area from Aleppo to Damascus, across Mt. Shinjar , just as had the medieval ruler `Imad al-Din Zangi. It is a sort of contemporary saddlebag empire.

But now not only have the Peshmerga taken the Mt. Shinjar area away from Daesh, helping rescue the besieged Yezidis but they have at the same time cut the supply routes between the terrorist group’s Syrian capital, Raqqa, and its Iraqi power base, Mosul. If you take shears to a saddlebag, it can’t straddle the horse’s back any more and will fall down.

The al-Mada article goes on to say that the the Peshmerga do not want to go on to take Talafar, 56 km west of Mosul, because it is a largely Turkmen town. Turkmen, who speak a language closely related to that of Turkey, have some conflicts with the Kurds, especially over the province of Kirkuk, and a Kurdish advance into a Turkmen city would be awkward. The Kurds will therefore wait until a united military campaign, including the Iraqi army, can be launched.

Nevertheless, the article says, by taking the western elevated areas, they have managed to isolate Mosul from Syria. Arab forces in Ninewah who oppose Daesh also affirmed that Raqqa cannot at the moment resupply Mosul, and they said they thought this change would be decisive for the coming liberation of Mosul.

Massoud Barzani, the leader of Iraqi Kurdistan, termed the advance into Mt. Shinjar “a historic epic”, adding that the Peshmerga would continue to fight until the last inch of Kurdish territory under Daesh control was liberated.

Barzani continued that Kurdistan “is ready to discuss supporting and helping the national unity government to regain Mosul, on condition that it has a clear strategy and war plan for the attack.”

He said that the Peshmerga had cut the two Daesh supply routes from Syria to Mosul, Rabi`at Shinjar and zummar Shinjar.

A Peshmerga commander said that the paramilitary had conquered 70% of Shinjar District, and that 20 Daesh fighters surrendered at Sununi near Shinjar.

The political danger here is that Sunni Arabs view the Peshmerga advance as an attempt by Kurdistan to annex part of mostly Sunni Arab Ninewah province. Going forward, ethnic sensitivities will play a larger role. For the Peshmerga to help liberate Mt. Shinjar’s Kurds is not controversial.

 

[Hindustani78]

Reuters / Sunday, December 21, 2014
Members of Kurdish security forces ride in a vehicle at Mount Sinjar, in the town of Sinjar, December 21, 2014. REUTERS/Ari Jalal

Reuters / Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Female fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) stand near the border between Syria and Iraq, close to the Iraqi town of Snoun December 22, 2014.

Yazidi temple Sharaf al-Din is seen at Mount Sinjar, in the town of Sinjar, December 20, 2014. REUTERS/Ari Jala

Fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) flash victory signs as they ride on an armored carrier at Mount Sinjar December 22, 2014.

Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters are pictured on a road between the Iraqi-Syrian border town of Rabia and the town of Snuny, north of Mount Sinjar December 20, 2014. REUTERS/Massoud Mohammed

 

[FaujHistorian]

Wow.... Very good news...

nah. Just an empty hype.

IS goons cannot be defeated by the kiddy armies of kurds and Iraq.

military history tells us that we need proper and modern armies on the ground to defeat IS, not some rag tag militias.

Sorry, we gotta be very serious about this issue. Otherwise it will be just another libya.

 

[manlion]

nah. Just an empty hype.

IS goons cannot be defeated by the kiddy armies of kurds and Iraq.

military history tells us that we need proper and modern armies on the ground to defeat IS, not some rag tag militias.

Sorry, we gotta be very serious about this issue. Otherwise it will be just another libya.

you are over estimating IS military capabilities, they are only good at conducting suicide and surprise attacks on weak targets. Holding ground, governance, defence is not their forte They will be cleared from Kurdistan regions and their demise is coming soon ..

Has the Kurdish Victory at Sinjar Turned the Tide of ISIS War? - The Daily Beast

In Mosul, foreign fighters have left, the city is flooded with refugees and supply routes are cut off. Locals are afraid of what comes next

“For the first time you can sense the feelings of fear and frustration in ISIS’s fighters,” one Mosul doctor, who had been seeing ISIS casualties come in, told NIQASH; he had to remain anonymous for security reasons. “As the number of dead and wounded from among their ranks increases, they look more and more like they’ve lost confidence in their leadership.”

 

[FaujHistorian]

you are over estimating IS military capabilities, they are only good at conducting suicide and surprise attacks on weak targets. Holding ground, governance, defence is not their forte They will be cleared from Kurdistan regions and their demise is coming soon ..

Has the Kurdish Victory at Sinjar Turned the Tide of ISIS War? - The Daily Beast

In Mosul, foreign fighters have left, the city is flooded with refugees and supply routes are cut off. Locals are afraid of what comes next

And yet no Iraqi force dares to enter the city?

Why would you spread misinformation.

I loath IS with every cell of my body, but I don't want to believe in Pishmerga fairy "tails" either.

 

[1000]

nah. Just an empty hype.

IS goons cannot be defeated by the kiddy armies of kurds and Iraq.

military history tells us that we need proper and modern armies on the ground to defeat IS, not some rag tag militias.

Sorry, we gotta be very serious about this issue. Otherwise it will be just another libya.

Notice Iraqi army didn't leave or lose any areas where they have support, they only left the areas where the locals are against them and mostly those soldiers were locals themselves who later found out they shot themselves in the foot, they will be the ones who have to retake control of their lands and remove the cancer they let in. If you bring a highly trained army they will succeed faster but with high casualties resulting in low level insurgency ( car bombs ) which you'd then had to solve as well, the same locals who welcomed ISIS have to defeat them as planned with the national guard, let them taste the war with their brothers they've welcomed themselves. If they don't want to fight them they'll have the US dropping hell from above giving them little choice.

As for 'kiddy armies', before ISIS attacked the KRG the world and Kurds were boasting about their bravery and how strong they were, as soon as ISIS attacked KRG for the first time they fled Sinjar ( friendly territory to Kurds ) without even putting up a fight. All the other countries in the region who ISIS doesn't target aren't immune to terrorism or losses, they just aren't being targeted.

And yet no Iraqi force dares to enter the city?

They enter when the time is right, besides ISIS plants IED's all over the place so what's the point of running into death just to entertain FaujHistorian the keyboard general.

Here a soldier lost his sight because of ISIS bombs which is all they've been doing lately.

 

[FaujHistorian]

Notice Iraqi army didn't leave or lose any areas where they have support, they only left the areas where the locals are against them and mostly those soldiers were locals themselves who later found out they shot themselves in the foot, they will be the ones who have to retake control of their lands and remove the cancer they let in. If you bring a highly trained army they will succeed faster but with high casualties resulting in low level insurgency ( car bombs ) which you'd then had to solve as well, the same locals who welcomed ISIS have to defeat them as planned with the national guard, let them taste the war with their brothers they've welcomed themselves. If they don't want to fight them they'll have the US dropping hell from above giving them little choice.

As for 'kiddy armies', before ISIS attacked the KRG the world and Kurds were boasting about their bravery and how strong they were, as soon as ISIS attacked KRG for the first time they fled Sinjar ( friendly territory to Kurds ) without even putting up a fight. All the other countries in the region who ISIS doesn't target aren't immune to terrorism or losses, they just aren't being targeted.



They enter when the time is right, besides ISIS plants IED's all over the place so what's the point of running into death just to entertain FaujHistorian the keyboard general.

Here a soldier lost his sight because of ISIS bombs which is all they've been doing lately.
....

No need to make it personal.

I have studied military history of region (than now includes Iraq) since 1900s.

Read again what I wrote. I think you agree with most of it if not all.

happy new year.