Saturday, December 31, 2016

Iraq snapshot

December 31, 2016. The year winds down not with peace on earth but continued violence.

‏@falbadri1995

HAPPY NEW YEAR IRAQ! May our people finally see peace, our youth return from the frontline and live in well deserved eternal happiness. 

2 replies91 retweets224 likes

Robert Mardini ‏@RMardiniICRC 31 Dec 2016

#HAPPYNEWYEAR to all and hope 2017 will be kinder to people across the #MiddleEast in particular #Syria, #Iraq and #Yemen.

5 replies51 retweets95 likes
Martin McGuinness ‏@M_McGuinness_SF 31 Dec 2016

Wishing everyone without exception a very Happy, Healthy & Peaceful 2017. Thoughts with those suffering in Syria,Yemen,Iraq etc. #Peace

33 replies103 retweets427 likes

No one deserves war.

And peace is long overdue in Iraq.

But Friday saw more bombings including in Baghdad:

BBC Breaking NewsVerified account ‏@BBCBreaking 30 Dec 2016

Blasts hit a market in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, with reports of people killed or injured

38 replies480 retweets347 likes
The Associated PressVerified account ‏@AP 30 Dec 2016

BREAKING: Iraqi police and medical officials: 2 bombs strike central Baghdad market, killing at least 21 and wounding 44.

17 replies311 retweets147 likes
Iraqi Day ‏@iraqi_day 30 Dec 2016

Multiple causalities in a double IED blast that targeted a crowded market in central #Baghdad #Iraq moments ago.

3 replies33 retweets8 likes

In other violence, the US government continued bombing Iraq.

Friday, DoD announced:

Strikes in Iraq
Attack, bomber, fighter, rotary and remotely piloted aircraft, as well as rocket artillery, conducted eight strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL-held building.

-- Near Qaim, three strikes destroyed a vehicle bomb-making facility, a bomb factory and an ISIL-held building.

-- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit, destroying 11 ISIL-held buildings, five supply caches, three tactical vehicles, two mortar systems, two fighting positions, two vehicle bombs, a tunnel, an observation post, a research lab, a command-and-control node, an up-armored vehicle bomb, two barges and two artillery pieces. Five mortar teams were suppressed, and 20 supply routes and two repeater towers were damaged.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Today, they announced:

Strikes in Iraq
Attack, bomber, fighter, remotely piloted and rotary wing aircraft and rocket artillery conducted seven strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike destroyed an ISIL-held building.

-- Near Haditha, a strike damaged a fighting position.

-- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged three ISIL tactical units; destroyed five fighting positions, three mortar systems, three ISIL-held buildings, a vehicle, a crane, a weapons factory, a vehicle bomb and a mortar position; damaged 12 supply routes; and suppressed four mortar positions.

-- Near Qayyarah, a strike destroyed an ISIL weapons storage facility.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Bombs dropped on Iraq.

And the US media doesn't see it as a crime.

Not even when it's a War Crime.

‏@OCHAIraq

STATEMENT: #UN concerned for civilian safety following airstrike on a hospital compound in eastern #Mosul. http://bit.ly/2hAJwhK  #MosulAid

54 retweets24 likes

That bombing?

They're talk the US bombing.

We covered it in Friday's snapshot:

‏@TheArabSource

Civilians feared dead by US airstrikes in northern #Iraq aml.ink/cWprO #ISIS #Mosul #MosulOps 

Operation Inherent Resolve (also known as Operation Eternal Redundancy) issued the following statement today:

Coalition strike results in possible civilian casualties

By | Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve | December 30, 2016

SOUTHWEST ASIA- During operations to liberate Mosul on Dec. 29, a Coalition air strike struck a van carrying ISIL fighters observed firing a SPG9/RPG recoilless rifle before loading the weapon in the van and driving off. The van was struck in what was later determined to be a hospital compound parking lot resulting in possible civilian casualties.

CJTF-OIR takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and this incident will be fully investigated and the findings released in a timely and transparent manner.

CJTF-OIR releases monthly reports covering our tracking and investigation of allegations of civilian casualties. Coalition forces comply with the Law of Armed Conflict, work diligently to be precise in our airstrikes, and take all feasible precautions during the planning and execution of airstrikes to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.

.

This wasn't even the first time this month that the US had bombed civilians in Iraq -- check out the December 8th snapshot for more on the previously admitted by CENTCOM of bombing civilians.

MIDDLE EAST ONLINE notes:

[T]he coalition has already admitted to killing at least 173 civilians in its strikes in Iraq and Syria since the start of its campaign against the IS group, a number independent observers believe is greatly understated.

The London-based NGO Airwars estimates the coalition campaign has actually killed more than 2,000 civilians.

But let's all pretend it didn't happen?

Is that the way it plays?

MSNBC talk show host posing as journalist Joy Reid didn't have a word to say about it.

But she's too busy screeching mental tantrums/breakdowns so why is that so surprising?

It is surprising that so-called peace activist in the US didn't give a damn about the bombing.

But I think they're all waiting until Donald Trump's inauguration to come out of their eight-year hibernation.

Monday night in Baghdad, Iraqi journalist Afrah Shawqi was kidnapped.

Gulf Center for Human Rights مركز الخليج لحقوق الإنسان

December 27 at 8:29am

العراق: اختطاف الصحفية المستقلة أفراح شوقي
http://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/1457

أكدت معلومات موثوقة استلمها مركز الخليج لحقوق الإنسان أن الصحفية المستقلة، أفراح شوقي قد تم أختطافها من قبل مجموعة مسلحة وذلك من منزلها في بغداد.

See Translation

العراق: اختطاف الصحفية المستقلة أفراح شوقي

GC4HR.ORG

Gulf Center for Human Rights مركز الخليج لحقوق الإنسان

December 27 at 7:09am

Iraq: Kidnapping of independent journalist Afrah Shawki
http://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/1456

Reliable information received by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) confirmed that independent journalist, Afrah Shawki has been kidnapped by an armed group from her home in Baghdad.

Iraq: Kidnapping of independent journalist Afrah Shawki

Reliable information received by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) confirmed that independent journalist, Afrah Shawki has been kidnapped by an…

GC4HR.ORG

Sara ‏@sarawithlove_q8 30 Dec 2016

Shia militias kidnapped the journalist Afrah Shawqi #Iraq

2 likes
Dunya Mikhail ‏@dunyamikhail 29 Dec 2016

Poet Dunya Mikhail on Kidnapped Iraqi Writer Afrah Shawqi and Elusive 'Freedom of Expression' https://arablit.org/2016/12/30/poet-dunya-mikhail-on-kidnapped-iraqi-writer-afrah-shawqi-and-elusive-freedom-of-expression/ … via @arablit

1 reply7 retweets8 likes
AᏞᎷᏫᎻᎯᏁᎠᎥᏚ ‏@mamo217 29 Dec 2016

#Afrah_Shawqi: Iraqi #journalist kidnapped from #Baghdad home https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/28/afrah-shawqi-iraqi-journalist-kidnapped-from-baghdad-home?CMP=share_btn_tw …

2 retweets1 like
Mona EltahawyVerified account ‏@monaeltahawy 29 Dec 2016

#Iraq gunmen kidnap Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi, journalist who condemned impunity of armed groups

3 replies31 retweets15 likes

KHOODEELAAR! ‏@khoodeelaar 31 Dec 2016

NOTING
Erik Gustafson ‏@epicEKG 28 Dec 2016

A search is underway in #Baghdad for Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi, an investigative journalist kidnapped by gunmen:

1 retweet1 like
#1 ‏@_JMBaldwin 27 Dec 2016

Pray for Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi - a journalist who was kidnapped from her home in Baghdad. She used her voice to campaign against corruption.

3 likes
Jose León García ‏@catire701939 27 Dec 2016

... Iraqi journalist Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi was abducted from her home in the southwest neighborhood of Saydiya, Baghdad (12/26/2016)

2 likes

Friday, people protested her kidnapping.

‏@moonnor27

#Breaking 
Iraqi Sunnis civilians 
Protesting against the abduction  of Iraqi Sunni Journalist  Afrah Shawqi
by Shia militias backed by Iran 

88 retweets49 likes

AFP reports:

Shawqi, 43, is employed by Asharq al-Awsat, a London-based pan-Arab newspaper, as well as a number of news websites including Aklaam.
"The real scandal is that gunmen were easily able to enter a woman's home and abduct her," said Dhikra Sarsam, another protester.
"The interior ministry has said absolutely nothing about the circumstances of her abduction."

The following community sites updated: