ISIS: Main developments in Iraq

ISIS: Main developments in Iraq

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Illustration
Illustration

Low-intensity fighting continued this week at the various battle sites, with no significant developments. ISIS’s efforts to establish its military and administrative control over the various areas also continued.

The Mosul area

Following the airstrikes by the coalition forces, it was reported that ISIS operatives had removed 13 security checkpoints that they had set up in the Mosul area (Al-Mayadeen, January 14, 2015). It was also reported that ISIS operatives in Mosul had abducted 56 former Iraqi Army officers from their homes and executed them (www.understandingwar.org, January 19, 2015).

The Kirkuk area

On January 17, ISIS operatives took over a village north of Kirkuk, the seat of the Albu Hamdan tribe. According to the leader of the tribe, ISIS took over the village because the tribespeople refused to pledge allegiance to ISIS (www.understandingwar.org, January 19, 2015).

On January 17, 2015, a website and Twitter account affiliated with ISIS published photos from a ceremony marking the end of a snipers course, which took place in the province of Kirkuk, at the Abu Omar al-Baghdadi Army Camp (the camp is named after the former commander of the Organization of the Islamic State in Iraq).

Samarra

On January 16, 2015, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at the entrance to the city of Samarra. A Twitter account affiliated with ISIS posted a video showing the preparations for the attack and the reading of the will by the operative (Abu Turab al-Jazrawi – according to his codename, he was probably Saudi). In the video, the terrorist expressed the hope that members of the organization will be able to release the prisoners from the prisons and called to fight to defend Islam and cause maximum causalities among the enemies (Twitter account affiliated with ISIS, January 16, 2015).

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Baiji

ISIS published photos and a video which they claim pertains to the takeover of the Al-Maliha area (south of Baiji) from the Al-Hashd al-Shaabi militia (popular militia recruited by the Iraqi government). They also showed an ISIS operative of German origin, killed in the fighting in the Baiji area (he was referred to as “the media man, the German Abu Jandal”) (Al-Minbar al-I’lami al-Jihadi, January 14, 2015).

Rutba (Al-Anbar province)

On January 16, 2015, a forum affiliated with ISIS published photos from the city of Rutba (eastern Iraq). One photo shows a sign reading “The Islamic State – the province of Al-Anbar,” “Welcome to the city of Rutba.” The insignia of the Islamic State appears in the upper left. These photos were apparently published in order to refute the claims of the Iraqi regime regarding the siege imposed on the city and to make it clear that the city is still controlled by ISIS (the Muntadayat Ahl al-Sunnah fi al-Iraq forum, January 16, 2015).

The Sinjar area

On January 14, 2015, Kurdish sources said that ISIS had carried out a widespread attack against the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Sinjar (Al-Jazeera, January 14, 2015). On January 17, it was reported that ISIS had released 200 Yazidis, most of them elderly or ill, who had been held by the organization for five months. The released prisoners were taken by ISIS from Sinjar to a crossing near Mosul and handed over to the Peshmerga forces (www.understandingwar.org, January 19, 2015).

Written by: The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center