Slutspel i Irak? ISIS och allierade erövrar Mosul

In Swedish and English
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2016-01-18 (Before)
2016-02-05 (After/Now)

The progress of the crisis.

Utvecklingen i Västra och Södra Kurdistan samt övriga inblandade i konflikten.

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Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq are forced to abide by the rules set by Washington, a French volunteer told Sputnik.

François Mauld d’Aymée, a volunteer from*France who joined the Peshmerga about*a month ago, is currently stationed in*the town of*Sinjar, liberated from*Daesh in*November, about*a kilometer away from*the frontline.

"We’re locked in*a static warfare here where the frontline doesn’t move. But Daesh fighters are about*500 meters away from*us, right now even as*we speak," d’Aymée told Sputnik. "They shell us with*mortars and their snipers try to*spot us, and we respond in*kind."

He also lamented that the Peshmerga is currently unable to*advance in*no small part due to*instructions from*Washington.

we cannot advance because the government in*Baghdad, completely subordinated to*Washington, didn’t allow the Peshmerga in*Iraq to*advance further. If we were to*attack, the coalition could’ve opened fire on*us," d’Aymée explained.

He remarked that while the US-led coalition does provide air support to*the Peshmerga, it’s not very effective as*the*airstrikes*are "often launched much later than*required."

International watchdog confirms chemical weapons used in Iraq

In the first confirmed use of chemical weapons in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an international chemical arms watchdog, said on Monday (Feb. 15) that mustard gas was used against Kurdish forces.

According to it’s website, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force in 1997. The OPCW consists of 192 Member States, with the goal of destroying all existing chemical weapons, monitoring as prevention, providing assistance to States, and fostering international cooperation to strengthen implementation of CWC.

In an exclusive report, Reuters confirmed that tests “had come back positive for sulfur mustard, after around 35 Kurdish troops were sickened on the battlefield last August.”

A source at the OPCW confirmed that laboratory tests had come back positive for the sulfur mustard. The OPCW classifies the chemical as “blistering agents,” describing the affects as “severe damage to the eyes, respiratory system and internal organs, they should preferably be described as ‘blistering and tissue-injuring agents’.”

This is not the first report of chemical weapon use in the fight with IS but it is confirmation of the chemical. The Kurdistan Region’s Security Council (KRSC) said in August 2015 that IS militants fired a homemade rocket, suspected of carrying a chemical substance, at Peshmerga positions north of Mosul.

“The impact produced considerable yellow smoke at the scene of the attack,” the KRSC statement said. One Peshmerga was sent to a hospital for treatment following the attack.

U.S. officials announced that IS mortars used against Peshmerga in Makhmour on August 11, 2015 showed traces of chemical toxins after testing.

RESIDENTS FLEE AS IRAQI ARMY PREPARES TO RETAKE MOSUL FROM IS.

The Iraqi army is deploying thousands of soldiers to a northern base in preparation for operations to retake the city of Mosul from Islamic State (IS), officials said on Monday (Feb. 15).

The government has designated Mosul as the next target for Iraq's armed forces after they retook the western city of Ramadi in December, the first major success of the U.S.-trained force that initially fled in the face of Islamic State's advance.

Hundreds of forces from the army's 15th division reached Makhmour base and more forces, including Sunni Muslim tribal fighters, were expected to arrive in coming days, said Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the joint operations command, on Friday (Feb. 12).

Makhmour lies around 70 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of Mosul. The initial aim is to completely sever IS supply lines between Mosul and areas farther south including Hawijah in Kirkuk province and areas near Baiji in Salaheddin, officials said.

Families anticipating the fighting are fleeing Islamic State's strongholds of Hawija and Shirqat for Makhmour. Officials said about 100 families are fleeing every day.

Lieutenant Mustafa, an officer in the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, said an increasing number of people were fleeing the area.

"The number of the people fleeing Daesh is increasing. We are receiving them at different times but mostly during nighttime.

After we welcome them and give them shelter and food, we interrogate them because their relatives are still in (IS strongholds in) Kirkuk (province)," he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.