Dr. Mahmoud Othman@Drmahmoudothman
17 Dec 2019 – After the #Rojava invasion, the Erdogan regime is openly performing a policy of ethnic cleansing & demographic change in the areas where the victims are the #Kurdish areas. United States & Russia have a moral responsibility to stop #Turkey from implementing their racist policies.
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There were no casualties in either attack. They were the latest in a string of similar incidents which have taken place on US facilities in Iraq since the beginning of the year.
By JONATHAN SPYER DECEMBER 12, 2019 22:08 JERUSALEM POST
Who is killing Iraqi demonstrators and who is firing at US bases?
Last week, five rockets were fired at the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq’s Anbar province. The base is a facility housing US troops. Ain al-Asad is something of a symbol for the 5,000-strong US presence in Iraq. President Trump visited the base last year, spending the day after Christmas with troops stationed there. Vice President Mike Pence was also there in late November, for Thanksgiving.
Two days later, Katyusha rockets were fired at the Balad airbase, 70 kilometers north of Baghdad. Again, this is a base where US forces and contractors are stationed.
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Basnews English 14/12/2019 – 10:28 ERBIL — The United States warned Iran on Friday over the rocket attacks on military bases where Iraqi and US troops are stationed, threatening to respond “decisively” if continued.
Within five weeks, different military bases across Iraq came under attacks at least nine times. Washington believes that Iran’s “proxies” are behind the attacks. “Iran’s proxies have recently conducted several attacks against bases where Iraqi Security Forces are co-located with U.S. and International Coalition personnel. On December 9, they launched a rocket attack against an Iraqi facility located on the Baghdad International Airport compound,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
“The United States will continue to work hand-in-hand with our Iraqi partners, including the Iraqi Security Forces, which played a pivotal role in reclaiming Iraq’s sovereignty from ISIS. We must also use this opportunity to remind Iran’s leaders that any attacks by them, or their proxies of any identity, that harm Americans, our allies, or our interests will be answered with a decisive U.S. response,” the statement continued.
Pompeo also urged the Iranian leaders to respect Iraq’s sovereignty and cease provision of lethal aid and support to third parties in Iraq and throughout the region.
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10 Dec 2019 – EKURD.net – BAGHDAD,— Protesters in Baghdad and across the southern provinces are calling for Iraqi president Barham Salih’s resignation after the country’s prime minister stepped down. A protest organizer said on Tuesday that a key demand of those in the streets is for all of Iraq’s senior political leaders to resign, arguing that they no longer hold any authority.
Ali Aziz told NRT TV that they wanted the “three presidencies” to step down, referring to President Barham Salih, caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, and Speaker of the Council of Representatives Mohammed al-Halbusi. Abdul Mahdi has already had his resignation accepted by parliament, but remains in power as caretaker.
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By JERUSALEM POST – SETH J. FRANTZMAN DECEMBER 10, 2019 18:54
Close aerial view of the Imam Ali Iranian military base in Syria where Iran is excavating underground tunnels
Iran has begun building tunnels at its Imam Ali base in Syria near the Iraqi border that will be used to store and move weapons, according to new satellite images and a report from Fox News. The
Imam Ali base has been under construction for more than a year and is a key part of Iran’s infrastructure in Syria that links Iran via Iraq to Syria and Lebanon. Syrian, regional Arabic media and Russian sources have accused Israel of airstrikes at the location going back to June 2018.
The tunnels are estimated to be 400 feet long and wide enough to drive a car through. Image Sat International (ISI), which provided the satellite images and wrote a report, noted that at least one tunnel is being excavated and that the construction accelerated “a few weeks after the base was attacked for the first time,” on September 9, 2019. In the wake of that attack an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps group attempted to fire rockets at Israel from near Damascus.
“The tunnel excavation began not online in spite of the compound airstrike, but even as a lesson learned from the mentioned attack,” ISI writes.
Fox News says they consulted with Western intelligence sources who reviewed the information. The US has recently linked Iranian-backed groups to at least nine attacks near areas with US bases over the last year. These have involved rockets. In addition Iraq’s government has accused Israel of several attacks in July and August. And Qais Khazali, leader of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia that was sanctioned by the US last week has threatened the US and Israel. A New York Times report last week said that Iran transferred short range ballistic missiles to Iraq.
Iran is building the Imam Ali base near a new border crossing at Albukamal in Syria. The border was reopened at the end of September after many years when it was closed due to the war on ISIS. But Iran’s base is in the desert just over some dunes near the crossing. It is now linked to the crossing.
A shed has been used to hide the entrance to the tunnel. “Large dirt piles appeared at the opposite end of the tunnel,” Fox News reports. The Western intelligence sources say that missiles and weapons will be stored in the tunnel.
The tunnel now looks like the latest addition to a network of Iranian infrastructure near the border. It will add to Iran’s entrenchment in Syria and Iran’s “land bridge” or road to the sea that goes through several areas near the Euphrates river and then to way-points on the road to Damascus and Homs, called T2, T3 and T4.
The latter is a base called T-4 or Tiyas, which has been hit by airstrikes and where Iran tried to bring in its 3rd Khordad air defense system in April of 2018. Iran has also brought drones and other weapons to T-4 using large civilian-style transport planes.
A report in Russian media claimed that Russian Su-35s were scrambled on December 6 to stop an Israeli airstrike at T-4. Israel has been accused of carrying out other airstrikes at the same location. In February 2018 Iran launched a drone from T-4 that entered Israeli airspace and was shot down by a helicopter.
The new Imam Ali base is a serious Iranian investment and shows its plans to link Syria and Iraq via Tehran’s hand. This is also here precision guidance might be trafficked to Hezbollah, a key concern. Israel warned that Hezbollah is trying to upgrade its 150,000 rockets with precision guidance in August.
ISI has provided numerous repots and images of the Albukamal location, going back to June 2018. It wrote a report on the Iranian “land bridge” in July 2018 and has consistently updated the report and images since. This was true in September after an airstrike where it was revealed several buildings at the Imam Ali base were struck. They appeared to be storehouses of some sort.
Now, Iran is seeking to go underground. Iran has expertise in building tunnels and bunkers. Hezbollah built tunnels near the border with northern Israel. Some were revealed last December during Operation Northern Shield that sought to locate and destroy Hezbollah tunnels.
In May 2018 ISI revealed that Iran had built tunnels at its Fordow nuclear enrichment facility. “The imagery of Fordow enrichment facility shows a large presence of buses and private vehicles, as well as an opened gate which leads to underground tunnels.”
Basnews English 09/12/2019 – 14:44 ERBIL — Hundreds of US troops on Monday arrived at Ain al-Assad airbase in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, media reports said.
The troops were transferred by nearly 500 vehicles of the US army, al-Sumaria News cited unnamed media outlets. It said agencies follow-ups revealed that the US forces were moved from Jordan to western Iraq.Ain al-Assad airbase is the largest and one of the most strategic military installations for the US in the region.
It came under rocket attacks last week without any casualties or serious material damages.
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