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On Thursday, Iraqi security forces (ISF), backed up by the US-led coalition, successfully advanced al-Shahwan district in the Old Mosul area in western Mosul and de-facto reached the Tigris River. The goal was to separate ISIS units and to accelerate the collapse of the terrorist group’s defense in the area.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Federal Police seized an ISIS training center known as ‘Abu Massoud camp’ at al-Bouseif village, south of Mosul. The camp was located 10 meters under the ground and extended along 1,500 meters.
ISIS temporarily cut off the Sharqat-Qayara road south of Mosul after an attack on the positions of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) there. Five PMU fighters were allegedly killed. The terrorist group also captured a Humvee and a T-72 tank.
Late on Thursday and early on Friday, reports started appearing in social media and pro-government media outlets that ISF have fully liberated the city of Mosul from ISIS. However, no official announcement confirming these allegations has appeared so far. The security situation in western Mosul, including the recently liberated areas of Old Mosul, as well as in eastern Mosul are very complicated. Earlier this week, the Iraqi military said that it had info about at least 100 ISIS suicide bombers operating in Mosul.
Thus, even if the Iraqi military officially declares the victory over ISIS in the city, there will be a lot of work to neutralize remaining ISIS sleeper cells and raid units.
Nonetheless, the formal victory in Mosul will be a major blow to ISIS in Iraq and Syria and will be another important step in liberating the remaining areas controlled by terrorists.
What are the estimates of total number of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and how many of them and other anti-government forces have been killed in the wars so far?
The television version –
“Lavrov stated that the US has agreed on the importance of respecting Syrian sovereignty and will work for a political solution.”
From – http://theduran.com/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-results-of-the-trump-putin-meeting/
The truth –
“The US is setting up its military bases in the territories that were liberated from Daesh by our fighters during the fight against terrorism,” ~ Senior Representative of the US armed, proxy, SDF forces.
With very little fanfare from the western media, the US is quietly creating a hostile military footprint inside Syria.
By establishing a chain of airbases, military outposts and missile bases inside Syria, the US is illegally, stealth-occupying a sovereign nation. The number of US military installations in Syria has increased to eight bases according to recent reports, and possibly nine according to one other military analyst.
We should also not forget the malevolent presence of Israel in the criminally annexed southern Syrian territory of the Golan Heights.
The fundamental flaw with US Coalitions is that they do not include the Syrian Arab Army, Russia and their allies who have been systematically fighting ISIS & NATO state extremists, since the start of the externally waged war against Syria.
The US coalition is, in reality, an uninvited, hostile force, violating Syria’s territorial integrity, operating under the false pretext of combatting ISIS while many reports expose the collusion between US coalition command & forces and ISIS.
In the North, we can speculate that the US is trying to create optimum conditions for an autonomous Kurdish region and the eventual partitioning of Syria.
following the already skewed US road map. According to Gevorg Mirzayan, Associate Professor of Political Science at Russia’s Finance University, Kurds control 20% of Syrian territory, when ISIS is defeated the likelihood is that they will want to declare a “sovereign” state.
This would play into, not only US, but primarily Israel’s hands.
The US is relentlessly flaunting international law, as it has throughout this protracted conflict – it has established, inside Syria, almost as many bases as it has set up in its regional, rogue state allies, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Syria, a country that the US has been punishing for over six years, via economic, media and militant terrorism. The lawlessness of the US hegemon has now reached epic proportions and threatens to engulf Syria and the region in sectarian conflict for a while yet thanks to its Machiavellian meddling in a sovereign nation’s affairs on almost every front.”
From Vanessa Beeley at http://21stcenturywire.com/2017/07/05/us-expands-military-footprint-in-syria-to-eight-bases-modifies-kobani-air-base/
The above site has map of US bases. people may choose to pretend this hasn’t happened but will be shocked to learn that Syria is not going to get it’s territory back and the airbases are also going to be useful for intimidating Iran. Nobody ever talks about east of the Euphrates any more.
Last before G-20 updates:
The Kurdish Question.
“…Kurdish militias in Iraq and Syria were boosted by the US, UK, France, Germany among others. Israel is also pumping weapons and intel, but most of all spies.
Only recently KSA and UAE are interested in pumping money to YPG for instance, and that is due to the turkish regime support to Qatar.
But the kurdish thing is much more complex. Kurdish in Iraq were armed by Iran in the early stages of ISIS offensive there back in 2014, later, turkish regime used its friendship with Barzani to advance its new ottoman empire to grab land from Iraq and later Syria.
The situation gets odd when Turkey, a NATO country, is basically at war with the kurdish militia in Syria and inside Turkey, placing Turkey directly at “war” against the US.
There is no simple solution for this mess, but it is hard to think that the US will engage Turkey to defend the YPG for instance, mostly because the US is using its base inside Turkey to prop weapons, armoured vehicles and air support to SDF.
A last comment is that there is no one kurdish factor in all ME, there are several kurdish factions and they usually hate each other, it is true all over Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, it simply illogical to think about a large kurdistan State since there is no ground to base it. All we are seeing is the collateral damage control of US, UK and France to conduct their plan to weaken Syria and control Iraq, while paving the way for Israel to pave the way to have much more influence on the many kurdish factions so they have a closer base, intel and spies against Iran.
Reconciliation in Eastern Qalamoun & Afrin.
“… Eastern Qalamoun.
The whole pocket to be reconciled, it seems the vast majority will stay in the area while the area returns fully to Government presence and services. This deal is about to happen at anytime.
The implication of a successful deal at east Qalamoun pocket will boost the chances for a broader deal in Suweida, Daraa and northern Homs areas.
Afrin.
“… Talks on-going, and it seems at this stage they are way advanced, it seems we are heading toward the presence of Government institutions, including the SAA, while Russians police will be part of it.
The implication of a successful deal in Afrin, may shift gears to real changes in Sheikh Maksud, inside Aleppo as the locals did not remove the barriers, and also it would have impact in Manbij region, Hasaka and Qamishili cities. This could set the tone for future negotiations all over northern Syria, though too soon to tell whether it will indeed have success.”
What Secret Tool US, Israel Have in Stock for Their Plot Against Iran
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201707081055362791-germany-iran-report-missiles/
“The German Intelligence Agency (BND) claims that Iran is “actively seeking products and scientific know-how” from German companies “for developing weapons of mass destruction and missile technology,” but Iranian political observer Hassan Beheshtipour dismissed the accusation as a “US-Israeli conspiracy against Iran” where BND is merely a pawn.
Sputnik Iran discussed the issue with Hassan Beheshtipour, Iranian political observer, an expert on nuclear issues and foreign policy contributor for PRESS TV Network, who called the accusations absurd.
“From the ideological point of view, the 181-page report could be regarded as a new attempt of the Israeli and American intelligence services and the Zionist lobby to discredit Iran with the help of Germany. It looks like a new scenario for the implementation of their schemes which they plotted back in 2001 and which they later modified into the anti-Iranian dossier on the nuclear program. However they failed,” Hassan Beheshtipour told Sputnik.”
The zionazis latest disinfo attempt to further propagandize their preparations for war on Iran.