Fighting ISIS - Global Strategy Missing

أوباما لقادة الكونغرس: لديّ السلطة لقتال "داعش"ـ

Obama to Congress Leaders : I have the power to beat ISIS.

U.S. President Obama (r) and Congressman John Boehner (l),
influential Republican delegate from Ohio and House Speaker.

"I am looking for a strategy from the president
that takes on this terrorist threat and defeats it."
(John Boehner quoted from his website)

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on 10 September 2014]

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خطط البنتاغون لضرب "داعش" في سوريا

The Pentagon already planned a blow against ISIS in Syria.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on 9 September 2014]

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مفوض حقوق الإنسان: بلد داعش سيكون بيتاً من الدماء

A representative of Human Rights : The territory of ISIS will be a "house of bloodshed".

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on 8 September 2014]

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ـ“داعش” يضم مقاتلين من 81 دولة.. 12 ألف أجنبي بينهم 3000 أوربي

ISIS is gathering warriors from 81 countries ..... 12.000 foreigners including 3.000 from Europe.

[Source: All4Syria , Syrian news center on 1st September 2014]

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An increasing number of militant Neo-Salafists from Europe is heading for the Middle East to join forces with Abu Bakr's ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

According to the trade union of German police and some experts, Germany's domestic security services didn't realize the problem of religious motivated radicalization until 2008 / 2009 when first Christian converts to Islam left the country to find a new home and purpose in life in the training camps of Al-Qaeda.

Some ultra-conservative Salafist movement in Germany was detected at the origin of Islamic radicalization and which was targeting certain German youths suffering from a difficult situation within their Muslimic or Non-Muslimic families.

The radical ideas of any Salafist movement could be easily defeated by relevant quotations from the Holy Koran which can be seen as an overall-accepted and unchangeable standard in the world of Islam. Yet, any religious dialogue could only be achieved by Muslims in the know and who are freely acting in an embedding society of Non-Muslims. Mistrust and fear of a Non-Muslimic majority, however, makes it difficult if not useless for them the begin a dialogue with those who could still be saved from their militant ideas. What should they answer when being told: "Look, those infidel to Allah are treating you like me as some minor creature."

This, at least, is the basic experience of German experts who are now searching for ways to stop further radicalization and calm down the furious young men (and women) .




German ISIS fighter Denis Cuspert alias Deso Dogg.

[Evaluation by Ulysses based on different German sources.]

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ISIS - News from the Front Line

Last UPDATE: August 31

The following "bits of news" have been translated from an Arabic text site published by Al-Sumariya News, an Iraqi TV station. The news were collected between August 28 and 30 and should represent last minute information. Further news from Al-Arabiya TV in Dubai have been added.



ISIS Unit (obviously including women)

مسلحو "داعش" يختطفون شيخين بكركوك

Abduction of Sheikhs by armed [fighters] from ISIS in Kirkuk district.

In an interview with Al-Sumariya News some security source from Salah al-Din told that Sheikh Sadam Hamad Said, Sheikh Mahmud Hasan Salah and others should have been abducted by ISIS fighters in Kirkuk district at noon today [August 30].

[Source: Al-Sumariya السومرية, Baghdad, on August 30, 2014]

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ـ"داعش" يعدم 200 جندي سوري اثناء محاولتهم الفرار من محيط مطار الطبقة شمال البلاد

ISIS killed 200 Syrian soldiers when they tried to flee from the precincts of a [=> military] airfield in the Northern part of the country.

[Source: Al-Sumariya السومرية, Baghdad, on August 28, 2014]

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مقتل 36 عنصرا من "داعش" في عملية أمنية شرق الفلوجة

36 ISIS partisans died in a security operation east of al-Faluja.

[Source: Al-Sumariya السومرية, Baghdad, on August 30, 2014]

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مقتل قادة سوريون و عرب و أجانب ب"دعش" بقصف جوي استهدف مواقعهم في دير الزور

Syrian, Arabic and foreign ISIS commanders died in an air raid while being exposed in their [positions] at Dir al-Sur [=> Syria].

[Source: Al-Sumariya السومرية, Baghdad, on August 28, 2014]

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العراق.. قصف مواقع لـ"داعش" قرب أمرلي المحاصرة

Iraq - Bombing of ISIS positions near the besieged [community] of Amrali.

قصف طيران الجيش العراقي مواقع لعناصر تنظيم "داعش" في ثلاث قرى بالقرب من بلدة أمرلي المحاصرة منذ أكثر من شهرين، بحسب مصادر أمنية.ـ

According to security sources an air raid targeting positions of ISIS organization was carried out by Iraqi forces on three villages near the [community] of Amrali, which has been under siege for more than two months.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية, Dubai, on August 29, 2014]

UPDATE for August 31:




تحرير آمرلي من داعش Liberation of Amrali from ISIS

[Source: AL-ARABIYA on August 31, 2014]

In addition, Al-Arabiya TV is quoting a source within Iraqi police as saying that 10 persons died during two explosions that took place in al-Ramadi.

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Peshmerga Unit

البيشمركة تدخل ناحية زمار غربي الموصل و تشتبك مع "داعش"ـ

Peshmerga [Kurdish militia] is entering the region of Samaar, west of Mosul, and engaging with ISIS.

[Source: Al-Sumariya السومرية, Baghdad, on August 30, 2014]

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مقتل ضابط بالبيشمركة و إصابة أربعة عناصر بانفجار في كركوك

One officer from Peshmerga [i.e. Kurdish militia] died while four [fighters] were wounded in an explosion that took place in Kirkuk.

A source from within regional security of Kirkuk district told Al-Sumariya in an interview that one Peshmerga lieutenant died and four [other] fighters were wounded in the [probably accidental] detonation of some explosive about 10 km north-west of Kirkuk [township] on Thursday [August 28].

[Source: Al-Sumariya السومرية, Baghdad, on August 28, 2014]

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History - The Last Caliph

This short lecture on history is about the fall of the once mighty caliphate of Baghdad when Mongolian horsemen invaded and destroyed its capital and killed the last ruler of the Abasside dynasty.

In the 13th century, the Mongols finally decided to repel the Muslims who had been making incursions from Kazakhstan into Western Mongolia and China for six hundred years.

In 1257, Hulagu, a grandson of Mongolia's famous leader Ghengis Khan, asked the Abasside Caliph al-Mutasim, the 37th of his dynasty, to recognize Mongol sovereignty or perish. Hulagu's claim was based on an ancient agreement between al-Mutasim's predecessors and the Seljuk Turks who were of a clan distantly related with the Mongols. That agreement comprised supremacy of Seljuk rulers over the Abasside caliphate in Baghdad.

The Caliph who called himself "prince of the faithful" sent word to Hulagu Khan that any attack on his capital would mobilize the entire Muslim world from India to north-west Africa. Not in the least impressed by his enemy's overconfidence, Ghengis Khan's successor announced his intention of taking the city of Baghdad by force. It was in 1258 that Hulagu and his huge army of Mongolian horsemen finally succeeded in overrunning the caliphate's defense.

The cruel death of Caliph al-Mutasim and the downfall of his empire, comprising far more than Iraq and Syria, showed repercussions everywhere in the Islamic world and led to a temporary decline of Islamic culture.




In 1258, Mongolian horsemen didn't need the U.S. Cavalry.




Mongolia - The Art of War


故曰：知彼知己者，百战不殆；
不知彼而知己，一胜一负；
不知彼，不知己，每战必殆。

Therefore I say: Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without peril. If you are ignorant of the enemy and know only yourself, you will stand equal chances of winning and loosing. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you are bound to be defeated in every battle.

Iraq - Latest News

مقتل العشرات من مسلحي "داعش" بينهم مسؤول الدفاع الجوي بقصف طيران الجيش في الفلوجة

Title:
Tens of militants from ISIS were killed in al-Faluja during an air raid of the [regular] army. Among them was the [ISIS] responsable for air defence.

From Anbar province:
On Tuesday, a reliable source in the command of operations [of Anbar province] informed that it was possible for army aviation to kill tens of followers of Daesh [ISIS] organization in al-Faluja, among them being the organisation's responsable for air defence.

The article is referring to an air raid directed against some headquarters of ISIS organisation near [al-Karma],13 km east of al-Faluja, and which should have taken place this morning, August 26. The ISIS responsable for air defence who died together with his companions is known by his nickname Abu Abdallah.

[Source: Al-Sumariya السومرية, Baghdad, on August 26, 2014]




The extremist organisation ISIS storms and captures many areas in Iraq and Syria.

伊拉克—ISIS进攻拜伊吉炼油厂被击退

Iraq - An ISIS attack on the Bayji refinery was beaten back.

[Source: China Central TV - Channel 13 news from August 25, 2014]

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Related subject: Iraq’s New Refugee Crisis

Western Alliance Fighting ISIS

تقرير يكشف عن دعم واشنطن للأسد عبر المخابرات الألمانية و برلين تنفي

Title:
Report reveals Washington assisted Assad with the help of German intelligence and which is what Berlin denies.

A British press report revealed the United States assisted the regime of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad in its confrontation with the organization "Islamic State". They acted in cooperation with Germany's reconnaissance apparatus (BND) while rejecting [ultimate] Syrian support with [related] knowledge.


The Arabic source is referring to an article published by the British daily The Independent two days before on August 22.
That article describes the current military situation in Syria and mentions a covert passing of U.S. intelligence to Syria about the exact location of jihadi leaders while using a BND channel. The intelligence business was brought to the attention of British journalists by some source that remained unnamed in the British article.




..... The German reconnaissance apparatus rejected that Syria [had been informed] at any time, and a speaker on behalf of the reconnaissance [agency] told the external of German News Agency (DPA) that " such report is faulty and missing any substance ".....

[Arabic source: Al-Sumariya السومرية, Baghdad, on August 24, 2014]

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المانيا تؤكد موقفها لمساعدة العراق في بناء دولة مدنية متطورة

Titel:
Germany confirms its position to assist Iraq in the building of a developed civil [or: secular] nation.

On Sunday, Germany's ambassador to Iraq [confirmed, once again, the determination] of his country in its assistance of Iraq and the territory of Kurdistan in their fight against "Daesh" [ISIS] organisation, while assuring [his country's application to work for] the creation of a civil nation that should be modern and developed.

The Arabic article is referring to Ekkehard Brose, the German ambassador to Baghdad and whose picture is shown above.

[Arabic source: Al-Sumariya السومرية, Baghdad, on August 24, 2014]

In the following days, Germany's parliament "Bundestag" is poised to discuss the federal government's decision in favour of weapon deliveries to Iraq that might help to stop the advancing militants from ISIS organisation.
Such military aid has already been approved within the European Union. Even though the German government is not obliged to call for parliamentary support on this matter, it has been decided to summon an extraordinary session of parliament on Wednesday, August 27, to create a broad basis of support for the government's decision.

[From different German news sources on August 24, 2014]

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Registered Terrorists Keep ISIS Running

المدرجون على قائمة الإرهاب.. دورهم في داعش والنصرة

Title: Those enlisted as terrorists ... are hanging around with [ISIS] and the Al-Nusra [front].

أدرج مجلس الأمن التابع للأمم المتحدة، أسماء 6 عناصر من داعش على قائمة الإرهاب

The Security Council of the United Nations registered the names of six elements of "Daesh" [ISIS] in [their] terrorism list.

The Arabic article mentions the names of six ISIS members together with their photos and some further information. In addition to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, the following names are provided:




- Abu Mahmud al-Ednani, 37, comes from Idlib, Syria, and is responsible for information.




- Abdulmahsin ash-Sharikh, 29, comes from Saudi-Arabia and is nicknamed Sinafi an-Nasr.




- Abdulrahman al-Jehani, who should be in his fourties, comes from Saudi Arabia and is nicknamed Abu Wafaa.




- Hajaj al-Ejmi became known from the financial group of the Al-Nusra Front.




- Hamid al-Ali is acting as a rigorous follower from Kuwait.




- Wahid Erif [whose photo is not available] fled from house arrest in France.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on August 16, 2014]

ISIS - Loss of Reputation for Bin Laden

ديلي ميل : العثورعلى رسالة في مخبأ بن لادن حذرته من وحشية "داعش"ـ

Daily Mail: The discovery of a letter in Bin Laden's hide-out which is warning of ISIS brutality.

Al-Bayan

On the occasion of the Bin Laden killing, U.S. special forces allegedly found a letter making part of Bin Laden's personal belongings and that comprised an internal evaluation of Abu Bakr's affiliate organization. That letter, written by one of Bin Laden's senior officials, stated increasing fears that ISIS could damage Al-Qaeda's reputation because of unreasonable cruelties Abu Bakr's militia practised against peaceful Muslims. The document went to list some of the acts of barbarism committed by ISIS, including using chemical weapons, destroying mosques and massacring the congregation of a Christian church.

It was the British "Daily Mail" that came with the news only two days ago on August 10. Meanwhile many Arabic papers quoted the British article. Even People's Network in Beijing reported.




وثيقة في مخبأ بن لادن تحذر من داعش

A document in Bin Laden's hiding-place is warning of Daesh [i.e. ISIS].

Al-Arab Al-Yawm




本拉登遗言：ISIS太残忍 基地应与之切断所有联系

Last words from Bin Laden: The ruthlessness of ISIS
made Al-Qaeda cut off [an existing] relationship.

People's Network




توزيع منشورات لتنظيم "داعش" وسط لندن

Distribution of pamphlets on behalf of Daesh [i.e. ISIS]
in the center of London. [Al-Arabiya, August 14, 2014]




Recent visitors from Northern Iraq.




Recent visitors from Pakistan and
who are interested in the subject.

ISIS - Rule of Caliph Ibrahim

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
now starring as " Caliph Ibrahim "



On the occasion of a Friday's prayer: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivers a sermon in the great mosque of Mosul. The above pictures have been taken from a public video. The video's original subtitle is saying:
" Caliph Ibrahim, Commander of the Faithful in the Islamic Nation; may Allah protect him ".




The first official passport of the " Islamic Caliphat ",
recently introduced by ISIS administration in Mosul
[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on June 5, 2014]

North Korea - Launch of Guided Missile

金正恩指导朝鲜人民军进行战术导弹发射训练

Kim Jong Un guided North Korea's people's army in their tactical training
when conducting the launch of a guided missile.

据朝中社30日报道，朝鲜最高领导人金正恩指导朝鲜人民军进行了战术导弹发射训练。
报道说，发射全程采用科学计算，并对飞行轨道和目标水域进行了安全检查。

[Today,] June 30, North Korea's Central News Agency reported that North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un guided North Korea's people's army in their tactical training when conducting the launch of a guided missile.
The report is saying the launched [missile] used scientific computing during the whole journey. On its flight trajectory as well as in the targeted waters, security checks were carried out.

韩国国防部29日说，朝鲜当天凌晨在江原道元山附近向半岛东部海域方向发射了两枚短程导弹。

On [June] 29, South Korea's defence ministry said that North Korea on that day, before dawn, had launched two guided short-range missiles from the neighbourhood of Wonsan in Kangweon [province] towards the peninsula's eastern sea area [i.e. towards the Japanese Sea].

[Source: Global Network 环球网 on June 30, 2014]




Wonsan Missile Launching Site




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Related News on July 3, 2014:



Presidents of China and South Korea.

China's president Xi JinPing has arrived in South Korea for a two-day visit set to focus on North Korea.

It is the first time a Chinese leader has visited Seoul before Pyongyang, and comes amid cooler China - North Korea ties.

China is North Korea's biggest trading ally and the nation most able to wield influence over it.

But in recent months Beijing has appeared increasingly frustrated with its unreliable neighbour.

Last year, North Korea carried out its third nuclear test and there are reports that it could be planning a fourth.

[Source: World Breaking News , news video on July 3, 2014]

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ISIS Fighters - See You in Baghdad

Last UPDATE: June 28



صحف أميركية: مدن تتساقط و المالكي متوتر

U.S. media: Towns are falling and al-Maliki is under stress.

أولت صحف أميركية اهتماما بالأزمة العراقية المتفاقمة، وأشار بعضها إلى أن مدنا "كانت ترمز إلى الانتصارات الأميركية" سقطت الآن في أيدي المسلحين، وأن رئيس الوزراء العراقي نوري المالكي يعيش حالة من التوتر وسط زحف المسلحين على بغداد.ـ

U.S. media [recently] began to fear a deterioration of the Iraqi crisis and some of them even mentioned towns " that were hinting at [former] U.S. victories " [and are now] falling into the hands of armed militants, and [they mentioned] that Iraq's prime-minister Nuri al-Maliki lives under condition of stress while armed militants advance towards Baghdad.




تجدد القصف على بيجي و نزوح جماعي بشمال العراق

Renewed shelling of Baiji and collective emigration in northern Iraq.

[Source: Al-Jazeera / Arabic الجزيرة نت on June 25, 2014]




"داعش" ينقل عربات عسكرية أميركية من العراق لسوريا

Daesh [i.e. ISIS] " moves U.S. military vehicles from Iraq to Syria ".

ظهرت عربات عسكرية أميركية من طراز "هامفي" للمرة الأولى مع تنظيم "داعش "، اليوم الأحد، في ريف حلب حيث استولى التنظيم على هذه العربات من الجيش العراقي أخيرا ونقلها إلى سوريا، بحسب ما ذكر المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان.ـ

On Sunday, U.S. military vehicles, "Humve" brand, appeared for the first time with "Daesh" organization. In the [rural district] of Aleppo was the place where these vehicles finally [landed], confiscated from the Iraqi army and moved into Syria by [Daesh / ISIS] organization according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on June 22, 2014]




Iraqi visitor from Najaf.

From his modest office in the shrine city of Najaf, Iraq’s highest religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, leader of the country’s Shiite establishment, issued a call to arms asking his followers to join with the government military to stop the blitzkrieg by the [Sunni dominated] Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS].

But one cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, who led a militia that fought the government and lost in 2008, decided instead that he too would challenge the state. Mr. Sadr revived his Mahdi Army, possibly one of the largest and most experienced battle groups in Iraq, and announced that under no circumstances would it be under the control of the government.

His open challenge to Iraq’s Shiite establishment lays bare the latest in a series of cracks that are dividing the country’s three main ethnic groups, the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, as the Iraqi state comes unraveled. But as Mr. Sadr’s actions show, the fault lines are not strictly between religious and ethnic groups, but also within each group, a fracturing that could lead Iraq to even greater chaos and uncertainty.

[Source: New York Times on June 23, 2014]




السيستاني يدعو لتسمية رئيس وزراء قبل جلسة البرلمان

Al-Sistani appeals to the designated prime-minister
before the [beginning of the] parliamentary session.

حذر السيد علي السيستاني، المرجعية الدينية في العراق، اليوم الجمعة، من المخططات المبيتة لتفكيك العراق، داعياً الكتل السياسية إلى الاتفاق على الرئاسات الثلاث (رئيس الجمهورية ورئيس الوزراء ورئيس مجلس النواب) قبل موعد عقد جلسة البرلمان الثلاثاء المقبل.ـ

Today, Friday [June 27], Master Ali al-Sistani, the religious authority of Iraq, warned of scheming plannings for Iraq's disintegration, pleading the political factions to seek agreement with the three leaders (i.e. the president of the republic, the prime-minister, and the president of parliament) before the bginning of the third parliamentary session.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on June 27, 2014]


بارزاني: سيطرة الأكراد على كركوك ومناطق أخرى "نهائي"ـ

Barsani: Kurdish control over Kirkuk and other regions [regarded as] "definitive".

أكد رئيس إقليم كردستان العراق، مسعود بارزاني، الجمعة، أن سيطرة الأكراد على كركوك ومناطق أخرى متنازعاً عليها مع بغداد أمر نهائي بعدما اعتبر أن المادة 140 من الدستور الخاصة بهذه المناطق "لم يبق لها وجود".ـ

On Friday [June 27] the president of Iraq's Kurdish territory, Masoud Barsani, confirmed that Baghdad's rivalry of Kurdish control over Kirkuk and other regions can be considered [after final decision on the basis of] article 140 of the constitution, particularly with regard to these regions, as " not longer existing ".

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on June 27, 2014]

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UPDATE for June 28:

كيف سيحمي المالكي بغداد بـ"حزامها"؟

How will al-Maliki arouse Baghdad within its zone ?




حدود حزام بغداد والجزء المتوسط يظهر العاصمة

Border of the Baghdad belt; the central part showing the capital.

أكثر ما يرد في أحداث العراق اليوم "حزام بغداد"، وهو التحدي الأخير لقدرة قوات المالكي في الصمود أمام الحراك السريع، الذي قاده الثوار وتنظيم "داعش" في خمس محافظات، هي ربع مساحة البلاد.ـ

More [and more] of the daily incidents in Iraq [are happening] today in the "Baghdad belt". And this is an ultimate provocation for the authority of al-Maliki's [military] in its determination to face the rapid dynamics which guided the insurgents and "Daesh" organization [i.e. ISIS] in five provinces [representing] one quarter of the country's territory.

The article is referring to the difficulties waiting for prime-minister al-Maliki to organize a military response to ISIS activities in the "Baghdad belt" and to arouse its inhabitants in a fight for the current political system and the national integrity of Iraq.
Six regions at the border of the Baghdad belt are mentioned in the original article together with their pecularities. Two of them became known outside Iraq because of their historic importance:

قضاء المحمودية، الواقع جنوب بغداد، ويضم المدينة وقرى مجاورة، ويسكنه نصف مليون نسمة، وكان بوابة دخول الجيش الأميركي إلى العاصمة في 4 أبريل 2003، قبل سقوط العاصمة بخمسة أيام.ـ

The [region] of al-Mahmudia, south of Baghdad, includes the town [of al-Mahmudia] and neighbouring villages. It is inhabited by some half million people and had been the entrance of U.S. troops into the [Iraqi] capital on April 4, 2003, only five days before the fall of the capital.

قضاء أبوغريب، الواقع غرب بغداد، ويضم المدينة وقرى مجاورة، والمطار الدولي وأشهر سجون العراق، ويسكنه 750 ألف نسمة.ـ

The [region] of Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, includes the town [of Abu Ghraib] and neighbouring villages, the international airport and the famous Iraqi prison. It is inhabitated by 750.000 people.

The prison of Abu Ghraib became notorious at its time as a synonym for cruel treatment of political prisoners under U.S. rule.
With the exception of al-Madain (100.000 inhabitants south-east of Baghdad), the remaining regions comprise a population between half a million or one million inhabitants each. The region of Taji, north of Baghdad, should house a big garrison of government troops.

وما أن بدأت الثورة من الموصل، وتسارعت إلى المدن المجاورة نزولاً إلى بغداد، عملت قوات المالكي على تحصين العاصمة عبر حزامها، فنشرت قطعاً عسكرية ضخمة، معززة بالفرقة التاسعة المدرعة، واللواء المدرع الآلي في الشرطة الاتحادية، إضافة إلى قوات النخبة.ـ

From the very beginning of the uprising in Mosul, its rushing to the neighbouring towns and down [i.e. southwards] to Baghdad , al-Maliki's army tried hard to fortify the capital during its [encirclement], then surely deployed an enormous military force, [supported by] the ninth armoured division and the motorized armoured brigade in the federal police who added to the elite troops.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on June 28, 2014]

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The unexpected progress of militant Sunnis in Iraq is worrying Shiites in the Islamic Republic of Iran as well. As a result, Iran and the U.S. are now holding informal contacts on that matter.