Islamic fighters kill scores of Yazidi men in Iraq

[Valin]

AP:

DIAA HADID and SAMEER N. YACOUB

8/16/14

 

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) -- Islamic extremists shot scores of Yazidi men to death in Iraq, lining them up in small groups and opening fire with assault rifles before abducting their wives and children, according to an eyewitness, government officials and people who live in the area.

 

A Yazidi lawmaker on Saturday cited the mass killing in Kocho as evidence that his people are still at risk after a week of U.S. and Iraqi airstrikes on the militants.

 

(Snip)

 

Islamic State fighters had surrounded the nearby village 12 days ago and demanded that its Yazidi residents convert or die. On Friday afternoon, they moved in.

 

(snip)

 

 

[Valin]

Meanwhile back at the ranch......

 

Iraq Sunni Tribes Take Up Arms against Jihadists

 

Members of more than 25 prominent Sunni tribes took up arms against jihadists and their allies west of the Iraqi capital on Friday, a tribal leader and officers said.

The uprising in Anbar province, where jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group and insurgent allies hold major areas, came a day after Nuri al-Maliki, the incumbent premier who is widely reviled by Iraqi Sunni Arabs, abandoned his bid for a third term.

 

Anbar was the birthplace of a 2006 U.S.-backed uprising against extremist militants that helped bring about a sharp reduction in violence.

The current effort could potentially be a major turning point in Iraq's two-month conflict against an IS-led offensive.

 

"This popular revolution was agreed on with all the tribes that want to fight IS, which spilled our blood," Sheikh Abduljabbar Abu Risha, one of the leaders of the uprising, told Agence France Presse.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

US airstrikes at Mosul Dam likely offensive in nature
Bill Roggio
August 17, 2014

US Central Command issued a press release on US airstrikes against the Islamic State in northern Mosul on Saturday; the full press release is below:

US military forces continued to attack ISIL [islamic State] terrorists in Iraq Saturday (Iraq time), with a mix of fighter and remotely piloted aircraft successfully conducting airstrikes near Irbil and the Mosul Dam.

 

US Central Command conducted these strikes under authority to support humanitarian efforts in Iraq, as well as to protect US. personnel and facilities.

 

The nine airstrikes conducted thus far destroyed or damaged four armored personnel carriers, seven armed vehicles, two Humvees and an armored vehicle.

 

All aircraft exited the strike areas safely.

 

 

The US airstrikes near the Mosul Dam on Saturday were likely offensive in nature, in support of the Kurdish Peshmerga attempting to retake the strategic dam. A senior Kurdish commander has said as much.

(Snip)

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2014/08/us_airstrikes_at_mosul_dam_lik.php#ixzz3AeZzRqgV