'Chaotic' scenes as Ramadi residents seek refuge in Baghdad

[Sally]

The Iraqi Army has to learn not to flee in the face of danger but to fight on. It looks like they realize that this "martyr) business is a bunch of baloney and don't want to chance losing their lives. If they don't fight, their country will be gone.


'Chaotic' scenes as Ramadi residents seek refuge in Baghdad

24 May 2015 Last updated at 17:33 BST

The US defence secretary has accused the Iraqi army of lacking the will to fight, saying it is a major reason why Islamic State (IS) militants have been able to advance.

Ashton Carter said the army had vastly outnumbered the militants in Ramadi, but had not tried to defend the city against the IS attack, in which about 500 people were killed and some 40,000 were forced to flee.

Continue reading story and watch video at:

Can Middle East defeat IS militants - BBC News

 

[ScienceRocks]

Time to nuke the ISIS

 

[waltky]

Iraqi forces take back Ramadi from ISIS...

IS flee Ramadi in big win for Iraq army
Tue, Dec 29, 2015 - ‘GREAT VICTORY’: The US-led coalition, which was heavily involved in supporting Iraqi forces in Ramadi, also congratulated them on the success of the operation

The Islamic State (IS) group on Sunday abandoned its last stronghold in Ramadi, effectively handing Iraqi forces their biggest victory since a massive nationwide offensive initiated by the extremists last year. There were still parts of the flashpoint government complex the elite counterterrorism service could not enter, as extremists had rigged the entire area with explosives before retreating. While pockets of extremists might remain, Iraqi forces said they no longer faced any resistance, and officials were already congratulating them for liberating Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province. “All DAESH fighters have left. There is no resistance,” Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service spokesman Sabah al-Numan told reporters, using an Arabic-language acronym for the Islamic State group. “The operation is almost wrapped up,” as a major clearing effort was still needed to allow forces to move in, he said.

People waving Iraqi flags celebrated the Ramadi victory in several cities, including Baghdad and Karbala. Iraqi Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri issued a statement congratulating the “heroes of the security forces for a great victory, which resulted in the liberation of the city of Ramadi from terrorism.” The US-led coalition, which was heavily involved in supporting Iraqi forces in Ramadi, also congratulated them on the success of an operation that began soon after they lost the city in May. “It is the result of many months of hard work by the Iraqi Army, the counterterrorism service, the Iraqi Air Force, local and federal police and tribal fighters all supported by over 600 coalition air strikes since July,” coalition spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.

Iraqi security forces on Sunday chant slogans in Ramadi, Iraq.​

Iraqi forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes had punched into the center of Ramadi on Tuesday, in a final push to retake the city. Fighting had been concentrated around the government complex, whose recapture had become synonymous with victory in the battle for Ramadi. According to medical sources, 93 members of the security forces were brought in with injuries on Sunday. “The dead bodies are taken directly to the main military hospital” near the airport, one hospital source said. At least five government fighters have been killed, but no official has divulged any overall toll for the operation. Estimates last week put the number of Islamic State group fighters at about 400 in central Ramadi, many of them protecting the government compound.

Those numbers were thought to have drastically declined, with several fighters retreating from the main battle and dozens of others killed in fighting or in suicide attacks. Local Khaldiya council head Ali Dawood said Islamic State group fighters used civilians as human shields to slip out of the government complex. “DAESH fighters forced all the families living around the compound to go with them in order to flee toward Sichariyah, Sufiya and Jweiba,” on the eastern outskirts of Ramadi, he said. He had said on Saturday that more than 250 families had managed to escape the combat zones since the start of the operation and had been escorted to safety by the army.

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Pentagon Officials Hail Iraqi Forces Retaking Ramadi from ISIS
Dec 28, 2015 | The success of Iraqi Sunni forces backed by coalition airstrikes in the battle for Ramadi shows that the U.S. has a coherent strategy for defeating the Islamic State that is making considerable progress, Pentagon and U.S. Central Command officials said Monday.

In a statement, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the overall plan to avoid U.S. "boots on the ground" while advising and training local forces in Iraq and Syria, and supporting them with air power, had met with success in Ramadi. "The fight for Ramadi demonstrates how capable, motivated local forces backed by coalition air support and training can defeat ISIL," Carter said, using another acronym for the Islamic State of Iraqi and Syria. "The expulsion of ISIL [from Ramadi] by Iraqi Security Forces, supported by our international coalition, is a significant step forward in the campaign to defeat this barbaric group and restore Iraq's territorial sovereignty," Carter said.

Iraqi Security forces enter downtown Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq​

Carter's statement contrasted with his testimony earlier this month before the Senate Armed Services Committee in which he said he agreed with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford that, "We have not contained ISIL." In a rare public statement, Gen. Lloyd Austin, the CentCom commander, echoed Carter in saying, "Enabled by the efforts of the international coalition, Iraq's security forces have secured the Government Center complex in Ramadi." Austin, who was pilloried at a committee hearing in September over the failure of a Syrian training program, rattled off a list of recent successes in Iraq and Syria to underline the Obama administration's contention that ISIS was steadily losing momentum and territory. "Coupled with other recent ISIL losses across Iraq and Syria, including at Tikrit, Bayji, al Hawl, the Tishrin Dam, and Sinjar, the seizure of the Government Center clearly demonstrates that the enemy is losing momentum as they steadily cede territory," Austin said.

The administration and the military have come under withering criticism in recent months from partisans on both sides of the aisle in Congress over what they claim is a lack of a comprehensive strategy against ISIS -- not just a strategy with which they don't agree. The critics have called for the imposition of a "no-fly zone" over Syria and a "safe zone" for refugees along the Turkish-Syrian border. They also have called for U.S. advisers to move closer to the front lines to call in airstrikes.

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[waltky]

Looks like it got hit by a tornado...

Iraqi city of Ramadi, once home to 500,000, lies in ruins
Jan 17,`16 -- So complete was the destruction of Ramadi that a local reporter who had visited the city many times hardly recognized it.

"Honestly, this is the main street," Amaj Hamid, a member of Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces, told the TV crew as they entered from the southwest. He swerved to avoid the aftermath of months of fighting: rubble, overturned cars and piles of twisted metal. Airstrikes and homemade bombs laid by the Islamic State group had shredded the poured-concrete walls and ceilings of the houses and shops along the road. Ramadi, once home to about 500,000 people, now largely lies in ruins. A U.N. report released Saturday used satellite imagery to assess the devastation, concluding that more than 3,000 buildings had been damaged and nearly 1,500 destroyed in the city 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad.

All told, more than 60 percent of Anbar's provincial capital has been destroyed by constant air bombardment and the scorched-earth practices of IS fighters in retreat, according to local estimates. Officials are already scrambling to raise money to rebuild, even as operations continue to retake neighborhoods in the north and east. Their concern is that the devastation could breed future conflicts, recreating the conditions that allowed the Islamic State group to first gain a foothold in the province in late 2013. While the U.S.-led coalition acknowledges the importance of reconstruction efforts, the actual money pledged to help rebuild is just a fraction of the amount spent on the military effort against IS.

Iraqi soldiers stand near destroyed armoured vehicles amid the devastation in Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq. Ramadi, once home to 500,000 people, lies largely in ruins after months of air bombardment and the scorched-earth practices of IS fighters in retreat. The U.S-led coalition acknowledges the importance of rebuilding, but actual money for the effort falls far short​

In previous fights for the city, government buildings, bridges and key highways bore the brunt of airstrikes and heavy artillery. But during the most recent round of violence, airstrikes targeted the largely residential areas where IS fighters were based. After the Islamic State group overran Ramadi in May, storming and then largely destroying the city's symbolically important central government complex, fighters quickly fanned out into the city's dense neighborhoods. Using civilian homes as bases, IS turned living rooms into operations centers and bedrooms into barracks.

Brig. Gen. Muhammad Rasheed Salah of the Anbar provincial police said if civilians don't start receiving compensation soon, tribal violence will quickly follow liberation. "Listen, I am a son of this land," he said explaining he is from a village on the outskirts of Ramadi still under IS control. "My house was destroyed by someone I know. He was my friend, my neighbor. In cases like this, you need to be able to provide people with something," he said referring to government help for rebuilding.

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UN panel: $40 billion needed to aid people in war, disasters
Jan 17,`16 -- An estimated $40 billion is needed annually to help the rapidly growing number of people needing humanitarian aid as a result of conflicts and natural disasters - and one possibility to help fill the $15 billion funding gap is a small voluntary tax on tickets for soccer games and other sports, concerts and entertainment events, airline travel, and gasoline, a U.N.-appointed panel said.

The panel's report on humanitarian financing, launched Sunday by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at an event in Dubai, says the world is spending around $25 billion today to provide life-saving assistance to 125 million people devastated by wars and natural disasters - more than 12 times the $2 billion that was spent in 2000. "We have an exponentially growing problem," said panel co-chair Kristalina Georgieva, the European Commission's vice president for budget and human resources. "The good news is that the world has never been so generous to people in need. The bad news is that never has our generosity been so insufficient."

The nine-member panel calculated that an additional $15 billion is needed annually to reduce suffering and ensure that no one in need dies or has to live "without dignity" for a lack of money. "This is a lot of money, but not out of reach for a world producing $78 trillion of annual GDP," the panel said in the report to the secretary-general released Sunday. In Dubai, Ban met with the panelists to thank them for their work and discuss their recommendations to tackle the shortfall in humanitarian funding. "Since they began their work the needs created by the demand for humanitarian aid have continued to rise dramatically. We are living in the age of the mega-crises. But, as this report clearly demonstrates, the gap in funding is a solvable problem," Ban said at the launch event, according to the U.N. spokesperson's office.

At a news conference, Ban noted that three out of four U.N. appeals for humanitarian funding for more than a billion dollars are in the Middle East and North Africa. He added that "Globally, the world is shattering records we would never wish to break." The 31-page report focuses on three inter-linked solutions to address the widening financial gap: mobilizing additional funds, shrinking the need for aid, and improving the efficiency of humanitarian assistance. The report says that today's massive instability and its capacity to cross borders, demonstrated by the flight of people from Syria and other conflict areas to Europe, "makes humanitarian aid a global public good that requires an appropriate fundraising model."

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[waltky]

ISIS claims car bomb attack...

Triple Baghdad Car Bomb Attacks Kill at Least 86
May 11, 2016 | Three car bombs in Baghdad, including a huge blast at a market in a Shiite area, killed at least 86 people Wednesday, the bloodiest day in the Iraqi capital this year.

The attacks, the deadliest of which was claimed by the Islamic State group, came with the government locked in a political crisis that some have warned could undermine the fight against the jihadists. The worst bombing struck the frequently targeted Sadr City area of northern Baghdad at around 10:00 am (0700 GMT), killing at least 64 people and wounding 82 others, officials said. The blast set nearby shops on fire and left debris including the charred, twisted remains of a vehicle in the street. Dozens of angry people gathered at the scene of the bombing, blaming the government for the carnage. "The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims," said a man named Abu Ali. "The politicians are behind the explosion."

Civilians help a municipality bulldozer cleans up after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday​

Abu Muntadhar echoed his anger. "The state is responsible for the bombings that hit civilians," the local resident said. The politicians "should all get out." Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who spearheaded a protest movement demanding a cabinet reshuffle and other reforms, has a huge following in the working class neighborhood of Sadr City, which was named after his father.

Another suicide car bomb attack killed at least 14 people at the entrance of the northwestern neighborhood of Kadhimiya, which is home to an important Shiite Muslim shrine. Access to the neighborhood, which has also been repeatedly targeted over the years, is heavily controlled. Several members of the security forces were among the victims, hospital sources said. In the Jamea district in western Baghdad, another car bomb went off in the afternoon, killing at least eight people and wounding 21, an interior ministry official and medics told AFP.

Political crisis

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ISIS says it's behind Iraq blasts that kill scores
Thu May 12, 2016 - The Sunni terror group ISIS says it's behind a series of attacks in Iraq's capital Wednesday that targeted Shiites and left more than 90 people dead.

At least 64 people were killed when a car bomb went off at a market in Baghdad, according to Iraqi police. Another 87 people were wounded in that attack in the largely Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. Pictures of the aftermath of the explosion showed hundreds gathered near a chaotic scene. Blood marked the street, cars had their windows blown out and nearly an entire sidewalk was left charred.

A crowd looks at the damage following a car bomb attack in Sadr City, a Shiite area north of the capital Baghdad.​

Later in the day, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest detonated in a busy square in the Shiite neighborhood of al-Kadhimiya, killing 17 people and wounding 43 others, two police officials in Baghdad told CNN. A suicide car bomber exploded in the Sunni neighborhood of al-Jamia in western Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 31 others. The attackers targeted a checkpoint manned by Shiites. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to a message on the Twitter account for Amaq, a media outlet linked to the group. Several mosques in Baghdad urged citizens to donate blood to help the wounded.

ISIS attacks come in security vacuum

Experts have said that a security vacuum has opened in Iraq amid the political turmoil the nation has been facing lately. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi struggles to firm up a government capable of battling ISIS and, at the same time, continue to address problems related to Iraq's long-standing economic and political wounds from years of war.

The Prime Minister's office said he ordered increased intelligence efforts to prevent sleeper cells from moving within cities to carry out attacks. ISIS has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Iraq in recent weeks, including one last month east of Baghdad in which more than two dozen people were killed.

Iraq ISIS attacks: Terror group claims multiple bombings - CNN.com