Iraq forces push against jihadists

[webfact]

Iraq crisis: Shia and Kurdish forces move against IS

(BBC) Iraqi Shia militias and Kurdish forces are continuing their advance against Islamic State (IS) militants, a day after breaking the siege of Amerli in northern Iraq.

A BBC team entered the town on Monday, finding residents who had endured more than two months under siege.

Meanwhile the joint forces have seized the IS stronghold of Suleiman Beg.

The UN says it is sending a team to Iraq to investigate "acts of inhumanity on an unimaginable scale" by IS.

Violence in Iraq has escalated dramatically in recent months as the group, formerly known as Isis, and allied Sunni rebels have taken control of large parts of northern and western Iraq.

Thousands of people have been killed, the majority of them civilians, and more than a million have been forced to flee their homes.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29019034


-- BBC 2014-09-02

[submaniac]

And I wonder if the Shia will enact the same retribution (beheadings, atrocities) against the Sunni population when they (re)gain control that ISIS inflicted against the Shia? I hope it is not the same atrocities committed by different perpetrators.

[bartender100]

I don't know why Iraq government are taking the credit.

Kurdish Officials: Baghdad Hasn’t Delivered on Aid
By Alexander Whitcomb 3 hours ago

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish officials are frustrated by the lack of support from Iraq’s federal government as the semi-autonomous region struggles to support 1.4 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

“Baghdad has not fulfilled its responsibility toward its own citizens,” says Dr. Dindar Zebari, the Deputy Head of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Department of Foreign Relations. “It has not taken any concrete steps to build the camps or to cover the expenses of these IDPs and refugees. It hasn’t even released the wages of public employees or provided them with their food stamps.”

The vast majority of Iraq’s IDPs are now in Kurdistan, where they make up roughly 20 percent of the resident population. Despite the crisis, Baghdad has refused to make emergency transfers to the regional government. This places incredible strain on the KRG, which hasn’t received its share of the national budget for seven months.

According to Zebari, the Federal Government has ignored repeated calls to release salaries of displaced government employees to Kurdish banks and to allow the UN or KRG to distribute food stamps. Instead of transferring aid money to Kurdish regions, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement sent 20-30 employees to set up temporary offices in Erbil and Sulaimani.

Zebari is highly skeptical that these tiny offices could address the needs of an estimated 1.2 million displaced Iraqis. He claims that they have only succeeded in making one or two payments of $820 to a small fraction of “mostly Arab” IDP families.

Regarding security and intelligence issues, Sami Jalal Hussein, General Director of the Ministry of Interior, makes clear there is no cooperation between Baghdad and Erbil. The KRG has been saddled with the entire burden of monitoring criminal activity amongst the IDPs, including the arduous task of identifying Islamic State sleeper cells.

“All police forces have been on standby for the last three months. We will be employing 1,200 officers to monitor the camps,” Hussein tells Rudaw. “There are certainly sleeper cells due to the massive number of Arabs coming in. Assayish (security) and police are continually investigating these. If we were not continuously investigating the sleeper cells, there would have been hundred more suicide attempts in the Kurdistan Region cities,” referring to bombings in Erbil and Kirkuk on 23 August.

When asked what the Ministry needed from the international community, Hussein was frank. “We need financial support and military equipment to continue our activities, but we also need moral support, encouragement that we’re not alone in facing this enemy.”