Sunday, January 26, 2014

Hejira

NINA reports a military assault has begun today on Falluja.  How did that work out?


AFP reports:

On Sunday, witnesses said between five and 22 soldiers, were captured by anti-government fighters who also seized several military vehicles.
The alleged operations were shown in videos posted on the YouTube, but their authenticity could not be immediately verified Witnesses said that anti-government fighters attacked a small military outpost on the outskirts of Fallujah in the morning, forcing some soldiers to retreat while others surrendered.
One video shows five men dressed in Iraqi army uniforms sitting in the back of a pick-up truck as onlookers crowd around them.


Here's two Tweets on the above.


  • 13h
    Maliki's soldiers in hand of Sunni tribesmen of Falluja
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  • 13h
    Multiple Hummers seized from Iraqi's army in hand of Sunni tribesmen in Anbar
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  • Retweeted by

    • And that one above is where an Iraqi tank has been seized.  Reuters adds, "On Sunday morning, Al-Qaeda-linked militants attacked an army post in southern Fallujah, seizing two Humvee vehicles and destroying a third, local sources said. A Reuters witness saw gunmen driving the Humvees, in which they were holding four people wearing Iraqi army uniforms captive."





    RT provides a video report on Iraq which includes:

    Paula Slier . . . thousands of residents are fleeing as government forces launch attacks and fire artillery shares.  The Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has vowed that government forces will not leave this area until all extremist elements are, to quote him, "eliminated."  But he does admit that for now the government has lost control in these cities.  In recent days, the militants received a boost in their fight against the Baghdad government by Sunni tribesman.  And what is interesting is that it marks a change from prior to the US withdrawal when major Sunni tribes turned against al Qaeda.  What we're witnessing now is that they're joining forces with these al Qaeda groups against the Shi'ite led government.  Now the American government has been slammed for creating this situation.  There are many who predicted that once the US forces withdrew from Iraq there would be a vacuum that would be created and this would be filled by extremist elements. 



    All Iraq News notes over 80% of Falluja residents have now fled their homes.   National Iraqi News Agency reports  a Rashidiya home invasion left 1 woman and her husband ("a former army office") dead,  a Qayyarah roadside bombing left 2 police officers dead and one more injured, Sheikh Khalid al-Zubaidi was shot dead in Mosul, 3 Kirkuk bombings left 4 people dead and fourteen more injured, security forces killed 3 fighters in Ramadi, 2 people were shot dead in Baghdad's Sadr City,  a Baghdad sticky bombing killed 1 person, a Baghdad home invasion (Husseiniya area) left a husband and wife dead, 3 corpses were discovered in the streets of Baghdad, Kirkuk clashes left 2 Iraqi soldiers and 1 military officials dead, Council head  Asaad al-Salihi and one Council member were shot dead in Diyala Province and another Council member was injured. a north Baghdad car bombing (al-Tarmiyah area) left 1 person dead and ten more injured, and a west Baghdad (al-Salam area)  bombing left seven people injured.



    Friday's snapshot included this from a  NINA report:

     Army troops closed on Friday evening al- Adhamiya district and the roads leading to it and prevented citizens from entering or leaving it after the arrest of Sheikh Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz al-Ani, head of the Council of Scholars of Iraq , and Abdul Sattar Abdul-Jabbar Imam and preacher of al-Imam al-Aadham Mosque .Eyewitnesses in al- Adhamiya district said in a telephone contact with / NINA / that the security forces deployed their military vehicles in different districts in al-Adhamiya especially near its entrances and main streets as a proactive step on the invitations to hold a sit-in in front of Abu Hanifa mosque in protest at the arrest of the two sheikhs .
    The eyewitnesses confirmed that the security forces have forced the owners of the shops and restaurants to close their shops for fear of the evolution of the situation. this:



    Today, NINA reports the two were released and:

    A security source said on Sunday that the arrest of the two Sheikhs Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz al-Ani, head of the Council of Scholars of Iraq , and Abdul -Sattar Abdul-Jabbar , imam and preacher of Abu Hanifa mosque , was due to their praising to Saddam Hussein.


    Who knows what they did or didn't do but on the face of it, "praising to Saddam Hussein," should not get anyone arrested at this late date.  The Iraqi leader has been dead for seven years.







    I'm traveling in some vehicle
    I'm sitting in some cafe
    A defector from the petty wars
    That shell shock love away
    -- "Hejira," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her album of the same name

     The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4489.





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