The new predicition? Mosul will be liberated by June 10th. GULF NEWS quotes Iraqi army Maj Qusay al-Kinam declaring, "Mosul fell to [the Islamic State] on June 10, 2014, so by June 10 this year, it must be liberated."
Must it?
Because so many predictions have already been made.
For example, Lieutenant-General Othman al-Ghanimi, Iraq’s chief of staff, was insisting the operation would wrap up by the start of Ramadan. AL-ARABIYA reported May 11th:
The Iraqi Ministry of Defense has announced that the entire Mosul area will be under control before Ramadan.
Ramadan's already begun.
So now we're being told things will wrap up June 10th.
Let's deal with reality.
In June of 2014, the Islamic State took over Mosul.
The Iraqi government did nothing in 2014.
The Iraqi government did nothing in 2015.
Finally, in October of 2016, they launched an operation.
This operation is still ongoing.
Reality, it's now day 223 of The Mosul Slog.
Day 223 for an operation that was supposed to take mere weeks.
These Iraqi refugees are spending #Ramadan
in a camp. Resources are limited during what should be a joyful time.
in a camp. Resources are limited during what should be a joyful time.
Al Jazeera English
Refugees.
That's what The Mosul Slog has produced -- more refugees in a country already having a refugee crisis.
Jack Moore (NEWSWEEK) notes, "Seven months of battle -- longer than Stalingrad -- and Baghdad’s forces,
backed by the U.S.-led coalition, have slowly eaten away at the jihadi
group’s stranglehold on the largest city in its possession."
Elsewhere?
Ghassan Adnan and Ben Kesling (WALL STREET JOURNAL) report, "Two car bombings in the Iraqi capital early Tuesday killed at least two
dozen people and injured 60 others, Iraqi officials said, in attacks
that targeted families during the holy month of Ramadan." One of the bombings targeted an ice cream parlor. Murtada Faraj (AP) counts 13 dead and twenty-four more injured and reports, "A
number of wounded lay on the ground, others propped themselves up on
the colorful park benches outside the ice cream shop. One young girl,
wearing a ribbon and bow in her hair, wandered the scene dazed."
It was a deadly attack.
No buildings around the world will honor victims by putting its lights out, #Baghdad just cry yourself to sleep & start a new day tomorrow.
Had it happened elsewhere, it would be the subject of non-stop news, people would talk of showing solidarity with the victims.
But it's Baghdad so, if the pattern holds, the western news media will have forgotten it by this afternoon.
KUNA notes, "The Arab League strongly condemned Tuesday recent attacks carried out in the Karrada district, Baghdad, killing and wounding a large number of people. Arab League Secretary General Almat Abudl-Gheit affirmed the solidarity with the Iraqi leadership, government and people against this brutality that targets innocent civilians."
BREAKING: ISIS blows up a popular ice cream shop in Iraq's Karradah, slaughtering dozens of Iraqi Shia men, women and children. 
****GRAPHIC***
Bombing rocks Karrada Iraq just now. Many casualties reported! News coming to us from those on the ground. Spread the message
And the US Special Envoy Brett McGurk Tweeted:
ISIS terrorists tonight in Baghdad target children & families enjoying time together at an ice cream shop. We stand w/Iraq against this evil
The second bombing? Samuel Osborne (INDEPENDENT) reports, "A few hours later, a second explosives-laden car went off during rush hour near the state-run Public Pension Office near the al-Shahada (Martyrs') Bridge in the busy Shawaka district, killing at least 12 and wounding 23 more, a police officer said."
....I give up on this world..second car bomb in 12hrs in Baghdad, Iraq. 27 dead..it's Ramadan.. @AJEnglish http://aje.io/w39t
Blondie is back with a new album. Kat reviewed it in "Kat's Korner: Blondie's summer return" and you can catch Blondie on NPR:
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