Irak

Ristiriitaista tietoa siitä. mitkä US-joukot olivat kyseessä vankilaiskussa.http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/10/us-special-forces-

kurdish-troops-raid-islamic-state-prison-in-iraq.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29

US Special Forces, Kurdish troops raid Islamic State prison in Iraq

The Department of Defense announced today that US Special Forces and Kurdish forces launched an air assault against an Islamic State-run prison near Hawijah in central Iraq. One US soldier was killed during the raid, which the military insists was not a combat operation, but part of its “advise and assist” mission. From the Department of Defense press release:

U.S. Special Forces supported an Iraqi peshmerga operation earlier today to rescue about 70 hostages from an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant prison near Hawijah, Iraq, Defense Department Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters at the Pentagon this afternoon.

American Special Forces personnel carried out the planned operation at the request of the Kurdistan regional government after learning through intelligence sources that the hostages faced imminent mass execution, Cook said.

The Special Forces mission was consistent with Operation Inherent Resolve’s counter-ISIL efforts to train, advise, and assist Iraqi forces, he emphasized.

One U.S. service member and four peshmerga soldiers were wounded when ISIL extremists fired on U.S. and Iraqi forces during the rescue, he said, adding the U.S. service member was medically treated but later died.

The recovered hostages were placed with the Kurdistan Regional government, Cook said, adding that no hostages died during the rescue to his knowledge.

“The U.S. provided helicopter lift and accompanied Iraqi peshmerga forces to the compound,” where ISIL held the hostages, Cook said. While it appears more than 20 hostages were Iraqi security forces’ members and the remaining hostages were Iraqi civilians, that review remains under way.

“Five ISIL terrorists were detained by the Iraqis and a number of ISIL terrorists were killed,” he said. “In addition, the U.S. recovered important intelligence about ISIL.”

The Daily Beast’s Nancy Yousef has more on the raid and the Pentagon’s refusal to describe the raid as a combat mission. Additionally, US officials do not seem to know what the importance of the target was:

Even after the raid, Pentagon officials, who once insisted there were no American boots on the ground, continued to call the U.S. effort a “train, advise and assist” mission, not a combat one. It marked the latest game of military semantics in a war defined as much by its messaging as by its tactical results.

At a briefing with reporters, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the U.S. military was “not in an active combat mission” in Iraq. Cook repeatedly called the raid “unique” but refused to say whether the U.S. military had conducted similar mission before this one or whether anyone in the Iraqi government had asked for similar help in the past.

Rather he said Secretary of Defense Ash Carter approved putting U.S. troops in harm’s way because the Kurdish forces asked for raid and because both Kurdish and U.S. forces believed hostages had recently been killed; more could die within hours, they feared.
The U.S. military was not sure who it was rescuing, Cook said. In a statement, Kurdish officials said there were no Kurds among those rescued; they seem surprised and suggested that Iraqis had been rescued, instead.

According The Daily Beast, “dozens of troops from the U.S. Army’s elite Delta Force” were involved in the operation. If true, the military’s claim that the Special Forces troops were not engaged in a combat mission is implausible. Delta operators are highly trained door-kickers and not military advisers.

US special operations forces have conducted at least one other operation in the Iraq-Syria theater this year. In May, US personnel killed an Islamic State military and financial leader known as Abu Sayyaf and captured his wife, Umm Sayyaf, during a raid at the Al Omar oil field in Deir al Zour province in eastern Syria. An estimated 19 Islamic State fighters were also killed during the mission.
 
Koulutus menee perille, hyvä niin. Mutta miten pirussa nuo oikein sotivat, jos ei ole tapana laatina taistelusuunnitelmaa ja antaa valmisteltuja käskyjä alijohtajille :confused:? No, onhan se nähty, miten arabijoukot sotivat, mutta luulisi, että kun tarpeeksi ottaa turpiinsa ja kärsii tappioita, niin alkaisi miettiä jo omaehtoisesti parannuksia menetelmiin.
Minkäköhänlainen se käsky oikein on: -Mennään tuonne, räiskitään vähän ja allah ahgbar vaan. Jalla jalla ähmyt.
Vahvennus on minun.

Uudet koulutettavat suomalaisten oppiin
Suomen osasto Irakissa on aloittanut uuden peshmerga-osaston kouluttamisen jalkaväen opeissa Pohjois-Irakissa. Kuun vaihteessa koulutuksen läpäissyt komppania on jo ottanut osaa taisteluihin ja erityisesti suomalaisten antama taisteluensiapukoulutus on osoittautunut hyödylliseksi, jopa henkiä pelastavaksi.

Yksi+peshmergoille+annettavan+jalkav%C3%A4kikoulutuksen+osa-alue+on+asutuskeskustaistelu.jpg


-Taistelijoiden taidot kehittyvät koulutusjakson aikana huimasti, tiivistää kouluttajaosaston johtaja kuuden viikon koulutuksen tulokset.

Ennen uuden koulutettavan osaston vastaanottoa suomalainen pääosin reserviläisistä muodostuva kouluttajaosasto nautti palvelusvapaista kotimaassa ja täydensi omaa osaamistaan osallistumalla amerikkalaisten järjestämään ampuma-asekoulutukseen toimialueella. Peshmergojen aseistus ei ole yhdenmukaista ja suomalaisenkin kouluttajaosaston on tunnettava kaikki koulutettavan joukon käyttämät ampuma-aseet. Muutoin rintamavastuun ottavalle peshmerga-joukolle ei kyetä antamaan riittävää koulutusta käytössä olevien aseiden huollosta ja käytöstä.

Vaikka suomalaisten osallistava koulutusote onkin tuottanut tulosta ja saatuja oppeja on sovellettu taistelukentällä, riittää koulutuksessa vielä työsarkaa.

-Eniten haasteita on johtamiskulttuurissa. Länsimaista tapaa laatia taistelusuunnitelmia ja antaa valmisteltuja käskyjä alijohtajille ei ole vielä omaksuttu käyttöön koulutettavassa joukossa, toteaa kouluttajaosaston johtaja.

Elo-syyskuun yli 50 asteen lämpötilatkin ovat hellittäneet ja sekä koulutettavat että kouluttajat voivat fyysisesti paremmin. Syksyn sateetkin ovat antaneet odottaa itseään eivätkä ne ole vielä kastelleet kouluttajia ja koulutettavia.


http://www.puolustusvoimat.fi/porta...9nQSEh/?pcid=a015e4804a593a78a590ef6bd924eb2c
 
Islamic State trains with American armored vehicles in Iraq

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archi...ns-with-american-armored-vehicles-in-iraq.php

Lisää kuvia linkissä!

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A US-made Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle used by the Islamic State

The Islamic State has released photographs detailing the training of its so-called “Third Armored Brigade” in Iraq’s northern province of Ninewa. The images show the use of American-made Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, as well as old Soviet armor. In addition to displaying the jihadists training with these vehicles, the fighters are also shown undergoing weapons training with AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs)

The vehicles were likely captured from the Iraqi military after the fall of Mosul last year or in subsequent battles. In June, the Islamic State showcased its “spoils” gained from fighting the Iraqi Security Forces near the town of Al Karmah, which sits in between Fallujah and Baghdad. Numerous Humvees, cargo trucks, fuel tankers, and US-made MRAPS were shown have been captured by the Islamic State. [For more information, see Threat Matrix report, Islamic State shows off ‘spoils of war’ from recent battles near Fallujah.]

The Islamic State is known to have operated 69 training camps in Iraq and Syria. Thirty-six of these were operated in Iraq, with the other 33 in Syria.

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Turpiin vaan, ei mitään armoa noille Isiksen tyypeille. Saakoot rautaa niskaansa niin paljon, ettei yksikään nouse maasta kuin korkeintaan siinä vaiheessa, kun heitetään joukkohautaa.

http://yle.fi/uutiset/kurditaistelijat_piirittivat_sinjarin_isis-joukon/8451358

Kurditaistelijat piirittivät Sinjarin Isis-joukon
Isis-taistelijat ovat joutuneet ahdinkoon Sinjarin kaupungissa. Yhdysvaltain sotilasyksikön kerrotaan ohjaavan kukkulan huipulta ilmaiskuja Isiksen asemiin.

Kuva: Yle Uutisgrafiikka

  • 12%20Sinjar.png
Kurdien peshmerga-taistelijat ovat aamulla alkaneessa suurhyökkäyksessään piirittäneet Sinjarin kaupungin Pohjois-Irakissa. Sinjar on ääri-islamistisen Isis-terrorijärjestön valtaama.

Operaation ensimmäinen tavoite on ollut katkaista Sinjarista kohti Syyriaa johtava maantie, joka on Isiksen tärkeä huoltoreitti. Kurdit kertovat hallitsevansa osaa tiestä. Samoin Sinjarista länteen ja Mosulin kaupunkiin vievä tie on kurdien hallussa.

Hyökkäykseen kerrotaan osallistuvan 7 500 kurdisotilasta. Isis-taistelijoita on kaupungissa arvioiden mukaan alle tuhat.

Kurdijoukot piirittävät Sinjaria kolmelta taholta, mutta eivät ole yrittäneet tunkeutua kaupungin keskustaan. Taisteleminen kaupungissa olisi ylivoimasta huolimatta hyvin riskialtista, sillä Isis on tiedustelutietojen mukaan rakentanut taloihin paljon erilaisia miinoitteita ja puolustusasemia.

Yhdysvaltain johtaman liittouman lentokoneet tukevat hyökkääjiä. Uutistoimisto AP:n toimittajat huomasivat, että Yhdysvaltain armeijan osasto oli kaupungin lähellä kukkulan huipulla ja ilmeisesti ohjasi sieltä ilmaiskuja Isiksen asemia, kalustoa ja ryhmitysalueita vastaan.

Liittouma kertoo tehneensä päivän aikana 24 ilmahyökkäystä kaupunkiin.

Kurdijoukot yrittivät vallata Sinjarin jo viime vuoden joulukuussa, mutta tuolloin yritys epäonnistui.
 
Kurdeja tarvitaan nyt kun oman ja usean muun maan omat soturit ova maailman kiertueella hakemassa turvapaikkaa...
 
Kurdeja tarvitaan nyt kun oman ja usean muun maan omat soturit ova maailman kiertueella hakemassa turvapaikkaa...
Joo, ja niin ovat maailmankirjat sekaisin, että tuollahan voi olla paikan päällä meikäläisten kouluttamia peshmerga-joukkoja :confused:.
Hitto, haluaisin kantaa korteni kekoon...
 
Kyllä mielellään näkisi kurdeilla oman valtion, niin kauan ovat saaneet kyykytystä osakseen. Motivaatio ainakin on kohdallaan vaikka taidot ja välineet ehken ei aivan huippua. Mutta näihän se on että "tahto, taito ja tarvittavat välineet". Juuri tuossa järjestyksessä. Irakin armeijasta näki mitä tapahtuu kun ei ole sitä motiivia.
 
Kyllä mielellään näkisi kurdeilla oman valtion, niin kauan ovat saaneet kyykytystä osakseen. Motivaatio ainakin on kohdallaan vaikka taidot ja välineet ehken ei aivan huippua. Mutta näihän se on että "tahto, taito ja tarvittavat välineet". Juuri tuossa järjestyksessä. Irakin armeijasta näki mitä tapahtuu kun ei ole sitä motiivia.

Irakin asevoimat taistellessaan ISIS:iä vastaan ja toisaalla saudit taistellessa houthi-kapinallisia vastaan ovat kalustoylivoimastaan huolimatta suurissa vaikeuksissa ja saaneetkin pahemman kerran nenilleen - koskaan sitä tahtoa ei pidä väheksyä, siihen vielä taitoa ja tämän paletin täydentää kolmantena tarvittavat välineet.

Kaiken tekemänsä perusteella kurdit jos ketkä ansaitsisivat uhraustensa palkaksi oman valtion, ja jos maailma olisi oikeudenmukainen paikka näin kävisi mutta maailma ei sitä ole. Yksin Turkin intressit sotivat itsenäistä kurdivaltiota vastaan, joten saamme varmaan odotella hamaan tappiin saakka kurdien omaa valtiota.

vlad.
 
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By Tim Lister, Ed Payne and Susannah Cullinane, CNN

Sinjar, Iraq (CNN)Plumes of smoke blackened the sky above Sinjar as Kurdish forces, backed by intense coalition air support, tried Thursday to take back the northern Iraqi town from ISIS.
The operation includes up to 7,500 Peshmergas -- the Kurdish military force -- who are attacking the city from three sides to take control of supply routes, according to the Kurdish Region Security Council .
CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is with one of the three fronts of fighters who launched their liberation operation early Thursday morning against a backdrop of airstrikes.
The U.S.-backed coalition Operation Inherent Resolve said coalition aircraft have conducted more than 250 airstrikes across northern Iraq in the last month. The strikes have reportedly destroyed ISIS fighting positions, command and control facilities, weapon storage facilities, improvised explosive device factories, and staging areas.
"A pitch-black sky was lit up by a lot of coalition airstrikes following days of bombing. At dawn, a large procession of Peshmerga started snaking their way through Sinjar mountain and behind it," Paton Walsh said.
The coalition strikes were pounding the strategic city itself, he said, with four different columns of smoke darkening the horizon above: "The strikes on Sinjar almost make the sky over it look black. There's a vast amount of air power -- more intense than the fight for Kobani."

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Kobani is a Syrian border town that was wrested back from ISIS militants earlier this year after four months of fierce fighting that left parts of it entirely flattened.

According to a Pentagon spokesman, U.S. troops are in the field calling in airstrikes from positions in Sinjar.
"The Peshmerga forces are carrying this out with, as you said, the support of coalition advisers. There are U.S. personnel. My understanding is there are coalition advisers from other countries as well participating," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told reporters.
He added: " Most of those folks as I understand it are behind the front lines advising and working directly with Peshmerga commanders. There are some advisers who are on Sinjar mountain assisting in the selection of airstrike targets."
Peshmerga and coalition unity
Reclaiming Sinjar is one big step toward dividing the "caliphate" that ISIS claims it is establishing across the region.
The artery that passes through the town links the Iraqi city of Mosul -- ISIS' prized possession -- with cities it holds in Syria.
Paton Walsh said the highway was a key goal for the Kurdish fighters, who were equipped with vehicles ranging from pickup trucks to armored Humvees.
"One of the targets of this offensive is the highway that runs through Sinjar, known as Route No. 47 to many. Now that's very important, not only of course because of what it does to liberate the population of Sinjar -- those who've not fled ISIS rule having endured it now for over a year -- but also because it is a vital supply route towards Mosul, another key target of any future coalition offensive," he said.

About 1.5 million people still live in Mosul, where prices are rising and activists report hunger.

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The U.S.-backed coalition said "Operation Free Sinjar" was aimed at clearing ISIS from Sinjar and seizing portions of Highway 47.
"By controlling Highway 47, which is used by Da'ish to transport weapons, fighters, illicit oil, and other commodities that fund their operations, the Coalition intends to increase pressure on Da'ish and isolate their components from each other," it said in a statement. Da'ish is the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
"This operation will degrade Da'ish's resupply efforts, disrupt funding to the terrorist group's operations, stem the flow of Da'ish fighters into Iraq, and further isolate Mosul from Ar Raqqah," said coalition spokesman Col. Christopher C. Garver. The Syrian city of Ar Raqqah, also spelled Raqqa, is ISIS' de facto capital.

By Thursday afternoon, the Kurdish fighters pushing toward Sinjar had taken control of a number of villages near the Iraqi town.
"Along that highway there's one village, Kabara, that's been repeatedly hammered by airstrikes in the past hour or so and a lot of Kurdish forces have managed to move into the main road," Paton Walsh said. Tweets by Kurdish fighters showed that almost all the vehicles in the village had been "burned to a crisp."

A tough slog
Before the push to retake Sinjar began, Kurdish fighters said they knew it wouldn't be easy.
Peshmerga commanders estimate some 600 ISIS fighters are inside Sinjar, with recent reinforcements boosting the militants' numbers. The Kurdish fighters believe they will encounter hundreds of landmines and booby traps.
Paton Walsh said it was unclear how ISIS would respond to the offensive.

"As you've seen in the past, sometimes ISIS have decided that certain fights are not worth them staying for the long haul, and I think there is a certain amount of manpower and mass here -- and also coalition air power, which we heard from the top of Mount Sinjar, during a very dark, cold night yesterday, pound targets consistently around that particular city."
Paton Walsh said there had been a "substantial uptick" in airstrikes on Sinjar in the days leading up to the launch of the offensive.

How will ISIS respond?
"I think the issue will be for ISIS, given the nature of the offensive -- from three different directions -- quite what their best strategy is: to sit here and try and symbolically hold it as long as they can, or pull out," he said.
"ISIS of course may also be feeling pressure on other fronts. There's been a lot of talk about the possibility of a move against Ramadi for the past few months.

"We've not seen any evidence of that at this particular stage but there is a genuine feeling that maybe the coalition -- after months of paralysis, months of calm -- might also slowly be beginning to get some kind of harmony or synchronicity here in terms of moving on separate fronts against ISIS and perhaps stretching what resources they have a little bit thinner."
A coalition spokesman in Baghdad told reporters later Thursday that Iraqi security forces had begun to encircle Ramadi, with support from coalition air power.
ISIS fighters swept into Ramadi in May, tightening control of Iraq's Anbar province and gaining a base of operations about 110 kilometers (70 miles) away from the capital, Baghdad.
Paton Walsh said the operation to retake Sinjar was important symbolically.

"The Peshmerga here want to show that they can be united with coalition air power, with Western military advisers, who we understand are in their midst here as well, to launch a successful -- and they hope brief -- offensive towards this town, but also strategically, because of what Sinjar could mean in the future, down the line."
He said the Kurdish fighters appeared optimistic they would take back Sinjar.
"I think the hope amongst the Peshmerga and the coalition is that the level of manpower they have here, their dominance in the skies, means potentially this could be over in days," he said. "But with a town of this size which had tens of thousands living in it before -- which ISIS has had months to prepare for an onslaught against -- this could turn out to be trickier than some are hoping."

Retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a CNN military analyst, agreed that the fight in Sinjar would be slow going.
"They're going to have to slog through this house by house, street by street," he said. "It's going to be very difficult."

More than a year under ISIS
The world watched in horror last year as some 50,000 Yazidis, who live in the region, scrambled up Mount Sinjar to escape the ISIS onslaught. About 5,000 men and boys in Sinjar and nearby villages were massacred, according to U.N. estimates, while teenage girls and women were sold into slavery.
 
Since then, Sinjar has become a chaotic jumble of demolished buildings held by ISIS fighters.
"There is no reliable estimate as to how many civilians live still inside of Sinjar," Paton Walsh said.
"You can tell how many seem to have fled, from the tents the Yazidis have erected up around Mount Sinjar -- even in this bitter cold -- still enduring a life here, wanting to be near their hometown. But that is the key concern obviously in situations like this. Many will be fearing that the amount of lead-up time has given ISIS adequate ability to ensure the civilian population are in place to assist them in protecting themselves."
The Peshmerga said they wanted to establish a buffer zone to protect the civilian population, but it was not entirely clear how that would physically work, Paton Walsh said.
Neighbors unite
With the operation to retake the town looming, some 5,000 Yazidi fighters were mobilized under the command of the Kurdish Peshmerga. Most are farmers; a very few have military experience.
The Yazidis are one of the world's smallest and oldest monotheistic religious minorities. Their religion is considered a pre-Islamic sect that draws from Christianity, Judaism and the ancient monotheistic religion of Zoroastrianism. In ISIS' eyes, they're infidels.
The Yazidis and Kurds have lived side by side for thousands of years and are friendly neighbors.
The Kurds are Sunni Muslims, who have their own unique language and culture. They occupy an autonomous region in northern Iraq, but the Kurdish homeland also covers portions of Iran, Turkey, Armenia and Syria.
In Snuny, Iraq, a village that sits in the shadow of Mount Sinjar, Peshmerga forces have set up camp and Yazidi civilians have started to return home. Speaking to CNN last week, they vowed to take back Sinjar and exact revenge on ISIS.
CNN's Nima Elbagir, Yousuf Basil, Hamdi Alkhshali, Barbara Starr, Jamie Crawford and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.
 
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/11/kurdish-forces-push-into-sinjar.php

Kurdish forces push into Sinjar, claim progress against Islamic State

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This image is taken from a CENTCOM video showing coalition airstrikes in support of the Peshmerga offensive to retake Sinjar and disrupt the Islamic State’s supply routes.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) announced yesterday that its fighters have pushed their way into Sinjar, which the Islamic State overran in August 2014. The so-called “caliphate” has maintained control of the northern Iraqi town in the 16 months since. But a new offensive launched in recent days has loosened the jihadists’ grip.

“Peshmerga forces today successfully reached Sinjar town from two flanks, East and West, as part of Operation Free Sinjar,” the KRSC said in a statement released online. The operation, which is “supported by International Coalition airstrikes,” has the “strategic objective of cordoning off Sinjar town and disrupting [Islamic State] supply routes.”

Yazidi fighters are also reportedly part of the offensive. And BuzzFeed’s Mike Giglio, who has been covering the battle to retake Sinjar from inside the town, reports that the YPG and the PKK shouldered much of the heavy fighting before the Peshmerga offensive began. The YPG, or Kurdish People’s Defense Units, is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the US government.

As of early yesterday evening, the KRSC reported, “Peshmerga forces had taken control of a significant stretch of the main road from Ba’aj to Sinjar.” The town of Ba’aj, which is located in a district with the same name to the south of Sinjar, is a known Islamic State stronghold.

The KRSC describes Ba’aj as a “staging ground for VBIEDS” (vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices) and says that “[v]ideo footage” from earlier today shows Islamic State fighters “mobilizing VBIEDS from Ba’aj to Sinjar in an effort to prevent Peshmerga advances.”

According to Shafaq News, the coalition has been bombing sites in Ba’aj to suppress the Islamic State’s ability to send reinforcements.

Kurdish ground forces, backed by the US-led coalition’s warplanes, are attempting to end the Islamic State’s control of Highway 47, which runs from Mosul, past Sinjar, and into Syria. The highway is a key supply line connecting Mosul and Raqqa, the “caliphate’s” two capitals. The loss of Highway 47 will force the Islamic State to use secondary supply routes through the desert.

“The targeting of Highway 47 over Sinjar Mountain…and the ground operation by the Peshmerga will degrade the ability of [Islamic State] terrorists to funnel fighters and equipment into Iraq, and help cut off an important means of funding their terrorist activities,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters. “Severing that supply route will impact [the Islamic State’s] ability to move men and materiel between those two hubs,” Cook continued, “and since November 11th, I can tell you, the coalition has conducted 36 airstrikes supporting this operation.”

Separately, US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that coalition military forces conducted twelve strikes near Sinjar on November 12. The airstrikes hit “five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed 27 ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL heavy machine guns, five ISIL vehicles, an ISIL vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), 11 ISIL staging areas, and denied ISIL access to terrain.” ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) is the acronym used by the US government for the Islamic State.

The Islamic State’s victory in Sinjar last year precipitated a major humanitarian crisis. Tens of thousands of Iraqis, mainly members of the Yazidi religious minority, were trapped on top of Mount Sinjar after fleeing the pillaging jihadists. The US airdropped food, water and other provisions to the Yazidis. Iraqi and Peshmerga forces came to their aid as well.

Thousands of other Yazidis, however, were massacred or taken as slaves. 5,270 Yazidis were abducted in 2014 and approximately 3,144 of them were still held by the Islamic State one year after the “caliphate” took Sinjar, according to The New York Times. The Islamic State has enshrined “a theology of rape,” the Times reported, with Yazidi women and girls being bought and sold as sex slaves. The practice is even used as a recruiting tool to attack new fighters.

Assuming Peshmerga forces can hold Sinjar, it would be the third major loss for the Islamic State inside Iraq this year. Iraqi forces, heavily backed by Iranian-supported Shiite militias, seized control of the cities of Tikrit and Baiji in central Iraq from the Islamic State over the past six months. Iraqi troops and the militias are also attempting to retake Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar.
 
Iraqis launch offensive to retake Ramadi from ISIS
By Andrew deGrandpre, Staff writer 8:18 p.m. EST November 26, 2015

Iraqi military forces have launched an offensive to retake the city of Ramadi from Islamic State militants, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The operation appears to have begun late Wednesday, with Iraqi troops — backed by American and coalition warplanes — first securing the Palestine Bridge, according to information released by the U.S.-led joint task force overseeing the war on ISIS, as the terror group is also known. Located northwest of the city, the bridge is an important supply line that crosses the Euphrates River.

It's not immediately clear if any American ground troops are supporting the operation, or how large the Iraqi military force is. Military Times has submitted those questions to the Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, and officials indicated they intend to provide answers.

From the air, unspecified coalition aircraft launched at least seven strikes near the city, which fell to the Islamic State group in May after under-equipped Iraqi soldiers abandoned their posts.

Iraqi Security Forces advance on Da'ish in Ramadi. #CJTFOIR continues to support with strikes near the city. pic.twitter.com/BzGvXej0or

— CJTF-OIR (@CJTFOIR) November 26, 2015

As Iraqi troops began to encircle Ramadi on Wednesday, warplanes targeted what U.S. officials described as five ISIS tactical units. They destroyed a sniper position, two "heavy machine guns" and several other weapons, including homemade explosives, officials said.

Throughout Iraq, coalition aircraft conducted 23 strikes on Wednesday using bombers, fighters, ground-attack jets and drones, officials said. Separate operations are targeting ISIS positions near Beiji, Fallujah, Kisik, Makhmur, Mosul, Qayyarah, Sinjar, Sultan Abdallah and Tal Afar.

Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, was the scene of tremendous violence during the United States' eight-year occupation of Iraq. More than 70 American troops died as a result of the 2006 campaign to defeat the insurgency there. Veterans of that campaign reacted bitterly to news of city's fall to ISIS earlier this year.

Last month, U.S. officials indicated the Iraq's army — after months of training by American soldiers and Marines — were ready to retake the city. The Iraqi government announced plans for the operation in July.

There are approximately 3,500 American troops in Iraq working to train and advise the Iraqi military. Apart from select missions involving special forces elements, they are not participating in direct ground combat. Since the summer, the Army also has launched several hundred artillery strikes on ISIS targets in Iraq, a development noted this week by the Washington Post.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/...take-ramadi-islamic-state-isis-isil/76411738/

Iraqi troops gunning for Ramadi outnumber ISIS 10 to 1
By Andrew deGrandpre, Staff writer 4:18 p.m. EST November 27, 2015

raqi troops closing in on Ramadi outnumber Islamic State militants by as many as 10 to one, a U.S. official told Military Times on Friday.

The offensive to wrest back control of the city involves between 8,000 and 10,000 Iraqi security forces, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition overseeing the fight against the Islamic State group.

No American military personnel are on the ground fighting alongside them, he said.

Three U.S.-trained Iraqi brigades are participating in the operation, Warren said. They face between 600 and 1,000 well-entrenched Islamic State fighters.

American and coalition warplanes have conducted airstrikes in and around Ramadi since the summer, aiming to weaken the militants' grip ahead of the highly anticipated ground operation that began Wednesday.

"We believe the Iraqis will finish soon," Warren said, adding that Iraq's government has a "detailed plan to use tribal fighters, federal police and local police for stabilization" once the city is cleared.

Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province, fell in mid-May when thinly supported Iraqi soldiers abandoned their posts ahead of the Islamic State group's advance. Iraq's government said in July it was developing plans to retake the city.

News of the city's fall angered American veterans who fought in Ramadi during the U.S. military's eight-year occupation of Iraq. More than 70 U.S. troops died as a result of the fighting there during a 2006 campaign to oust insurgents.

On Wednesday, Iraqi soldiers took control of the Palestine bridge northwest of the city, shutting off a key supply route crossing the Euphrates River. As they advanced, American and coalition aircraft took out IS snipers and a variety of homemade bombs and heavy weapons.

The air assault continued Thursday with a mix of bombers, fighters, ground-attack jets and drones, U.S. officials said. They hit IS command posts and staging areas, destroying buildings, boats and roads in an apparent effort to further eliminate supply lines and cut off escape routes.

7 #CJTFOIR strikes destroy 4 #ISIL buildings, 7 boats + 10 more targets near #Ramadi. More@ https://t.co/r2Ok55Q3eapic.twitter.com/ewsSiFtVG9

— CJTF-OIR (@CJTFOIR) November 27, 2015

About 3,500 U.S. troops are in Iraq, mainly soldiers and Marines tasked with training and advising the Iraqi army. The White House has approved U.S. special operations forces to participate in select surgical missions targeting IS fighters in Iraq and Syria, but President Obama has resisted calls to deploy large numbers of American ground troops.

Last month, Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler became the first U.S. service member killed by enemy fire while fighting the Islamic State group. He was among several dozen American commandos who helped Kurdish peshmerga fighters conduct a successful hostage rescue at an IS prison in Kirkuk province.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/...roops-fighting-ramadi-islamic-state/76443524/
 
USA:han lähetti erkkareita tuonne jo ennen kuin sai edes kongressilta lupaa, aikoja sitten.
Käyttivät vain brittien maastopukuja eikä omia mitkä suht samanlaiset.
 
http://yle.fi/uutiset/usan_erikoisj...a_myos_syyrian_alueelle/8495581?ref=leiki-uup

USA:n erikoisjoukkoja Irakiin – voivat iskeä myös Syyrian alueelle
Erikoisjoukot voisivat tehdä täsmäiskuja, vapauttaa panttivankeja, kerätä tiedustelutietoa ja ottaa Isis-johtajia vangeiksi. Puolustusministerin mukaan joukkojen toimialuetta voidaan laajentaa myös Syyriaan.

Irakin armeijan ja Isisin välisestä taistelusta nouseva savupilvi kohosi Sinjarin kylästä marraskuussa 2015. Kuva: Safin Hamed / Lehtikuva
Yhdysvaltain armeija lähettää osaston erikoisjoukkojensa sotilaita Irakiin, kertoo puolustusministeri Ashton Carter.

Osaston tarkoituksena on tukea Irakin armeijaa ja kurdien peshmerga-joukkoja taistelussa isis-terroristijärjestöä vastaan. Osasto lähetetään Irakin hallituksen suostumuksella.

Puolustusministerin mukaan erikoisjoukko voi tehdä täsmäiskuja, vapauttaa panttivankeja, kerätä tiedustelutietoa ja ottaa Isis-johtajia vangeiksi.

Yhdysvalloilla on jo aikaisemminkin ollut sotilaita Irakissa koulutustehtävissä. Vahvistamattomien tietojen mukaan yhdysvaltalaiset ovat myös osoittaneet kohteita Isistä vastaan tehtävien ilmahyökkäysten yhteydessä.

Ashton Carter kertoi edustajainhuoneen puolustuskomitean kokouksessa, että erikoisjoukot voivat tehdä iskuja myös rajan yli Syyriaan. Pentagon on jo aiemmin kertonut lähettävänsä 50 erikoisjoukkojen sotilasta Syyriaan.



Aika varovaista uutisointia yleltä. Ihan vahvastihan ne on siellä läsnä olleet. Tarkoittaako tämä nyt, että osallistuvat myös itse maataisteluihin?
 
Tuo "koulutus" tehtävät on sitten aika mielenkiintoinen käsite.
Koulutus tehtäväksi lasketaan myös partiointi tai tehtävän suorittaminenkin kunhan siinä on paikallisia muutama mukana.
Vähänkuin Win Win, joukot pääsee suorittamaan tehtäviä ja media mainostaa että kouluttamassa vain ovat ja julkisuudessa on kuva että istuvat kaiket päivät jossain tukikohdassa opettamassa kuinka ammutaan AK-47 peltitölkkeihin. Ei ole jenkit ainoat ketkä sitä "koulutusta" harrastaa. Tietysti osa tehtävistä on ihan oikeita koulutus tehtäviä ja osalla joukolla on sitten taas "koulutustehtäviä" :D
 
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