ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD

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BBC News UK

Iraq crisis: RAF Tornados to be ready to join aid effort

RAF Tornado jets are to be sent for possible use in the aid operation in northern Iraq, where many thousands of people are fleeing Islamist fighters.

The Ministry of Defence said the planes would leave RAF Marham in Norfolk within the next 48 hours.

The bombers will not have a combat role, but could carry out surveillance to assist delivery of aid supplies.

Here, the prime minister is resisting pressure to recall Parliament to debate a military role in the Iraq crisis.

David Cameron's spokeswoman said a recall was "not on the cards", while Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond ruled out a combat role for the UK amid growing calls for military involvement.

Aid drops

Islamic State (IS) fighters have seized territory across Iraq and Syria in the past few months, with continuing reports of the slaughter of Iraqi religious minority groups.

Among those reportedly being targeted by fighters are Christians and Yazidis in the north of Iraq, where thousands of Yazidi civilians are trapped in the Sinjar mountains without food and water.

Downing Street said helping the trapped civilians was its "immediate priority".

"We have decided to pre-position a small number of Tornados in the region so that they could, if required, use their excellent surveillance capability to gather better situational awareness to help with humanitarian effort," No 10 said, following a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee.

It said this would be similar to the role Tornados played during floods in the UK earlier this year.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed the jets, which will be operational by the end of the week, would not be used in a combat role.

They would be equipped with hi-tech imaging equipment to pinpoint exactly where refugees were so aid drops could be targeted, the MoD said.

The RAF has made one drop of aid to the Sinjar mountains - but aborted a second on Sunday over concerns for the safety of those on the ground. The next is likely to be carried out within the next 24 hours.

No 10 said it would work with Iraqi, Kurdish and international representatives in the area "to mitigate safety concerns".

The UK would also look at how it could play a role in getting equipment to Kurdish forces so they were better able to counter IS, No 10 added.

Former Labour Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said sending the jets was a "step in the right direction" but urged the government to look at what further military assistance could be provided.

"One way or another, these maniacs, these medieval maniacs in the so-called Islamic State have got to be defeated," he told ITV News.

The UK government is facing calls to reconvene Parliament to debate the UK's response to the unfolding crisis.

But speaking after the Cobra meeting, Mr Hammond said: "I don't think that's necessary at this time. We are talking about a humanitarian intervention."

He added: "We don't envisage a combat role at the present time."

Mr Cameron, who is on holiday in Portugal, remains "very much engaged" with decision-making on Iraq, his spokeswoman said.

"Our focus is very much on the humanitarian effort at the moment. As such, recall is not on the cards," she said.

'Worth trying'

The US has carried out four rounds of air strikes targeting IS fighters near Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Conservative MP Conor Burns, who has written to the speaker of the House of Commons asking him to recall MPs, said he did not know whether they would support military action but it was "worth trying".

"These people are being beheaded by people from IS, and our only response is to drop some food or water on them," said the MP for Bournemouth West.

He said he thought the UK should be involved in air strikes and UK special forces should be deployed.

Tory MP Andrew Rosindell said "air strikes are absolutely correct", while Tory MPs Nick de Bois and David Burrowes have written to Mr Cameron also urging a recall of MPs.

Ex-army chief Lord Dannatt added his voice to the calls, saying it was "not the moment for decision-makers to be on holiday".

He said UK troops might be needed on the ground to help support US military air strikes.

Labour MP John Mann said there was no need to recall Parliament "at this stage" but MPs must continue to follow developments closely.

The US has begun supplying weapons to the Kurdish Peshmergas who are fighting the militants, senior US officials have told the Associated Press.

Mr Burns said the UK should be "answering positively" requests from the Kurds to arm them, and that asylum should be offered in the UK.

Full Article & video and pics:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28746403

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The Guardian

US to directly arm Kurdish Peshmerga forces in bid to thwart Isis offensive

The Obama administration has announced it will arm the militia forces of Iraqi Kurdistan, to prevent the fall of the final bastion of pro-US territory in Iraq.

The weaponry is said to be light arms and ammunition, brokered not through the Department of Defense – which supplies Baghdad and its security forces with heavy weaponry – but the CIA, which is better positioned to supply the Kurdish peshmerga with Russian-made guns like AK-47s that the US military does not use. The news was first reported by the Associated Press.

US officials say they are not currently considering providing Kurdish forces, which are not under the control of the Iraqi government in Baghdad, with missiles, armored vehicles or helicopters. The move to arm them raises questions about how the US-provided rifles will affect the military balance against the Islamic State (Isis), which has captured US-supplied armored Humvees and other heavy weapons from the Iraqi military.

The CIA declined to comment.

The idea of arming the Kurds has been the subject of weeks of internal deliberation and official silence by president Barack Obama’s foreign policy advisers. It is a fateful step in Iraq’s current crisis, one that risks facilitating the long-term disintegration of Iraq. Several administrations over decades have refrained from arming the peshmerga due to concerns about reprisals from Saddam Hussein and his successors. US officials have demurred for days when asked about the deliberations.

It provides an opportunity for Obama to use a proxy for confronting Isis on the ground – a step Obama has said he is unwilling to take with US forces – which defense analysts consider the only way to dislodge Isis from territory in north and central Iraq the group has seized since June.

Unlike the Iraqi security forces, comprised overwhelmingly of Arab Iraqis and nominally loyal to the Baghdad government, the peshmerga have stood and fought the better-armed Isis, although they fell back to the regional capital of Irbil after an Isis push last week to threaten the autonomous provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan. With the cover of days’ worth of US air strikes on Isis vehicles and artillery, peshmerga forces are said to have taken back two Kurdish cities from Isis on Sunday and enabled the extraction of 20,000 Yazidis trapped by Isis atop a mountain without food or water.

US warplanes struck again in support of the peshmerga near Irbil late Sunday, US Central Command announced Monday. Around 4pm local time, fighter jets “struck and destroyed” vehicles part of an Isis convoy advancing toward peshmerga lines defending Irbil.

The danger is that arming the peshmerga will facilitate a permanent fragmentation of Iraq, something the Kurds consider a national aspiration. Several disputed and multi-ethnic cities in northern Iraq complicate any peaceful cleavage, as do major oil holdings in both Kurdish and contested territory. The Peshmerga used the June disintegration of Iraqi army forces running from Isis as an opportunity to seize disputed areas like oil-rich Kirkuk.

In keeping with Obama’s approach to use the promise of weapons to incentivize Baghdad to make favorable political choices, administration officials are also discussing backfilling any weaponry to the Kurds provided by Baghdad, considered a step toward mitigating any decisive split between Baghdad and Irbil.

A US defense official pointed with encouragement to the “unprecedented” delivery of three plane-loads of ammunition to the peshmerga, calling it “a signal of growing cooperation”.

“The US will work to continue to push supplies forward to ISF and peshmerga to respond to the threat of [Isis]. The US government is coordinating with the government of Iraq to help fill these requests as quickly as possible,” the defense official said.

A separate track, one seemingly more immediate as peshmerga fighters line trenches to battle Isis, will come from US intelligence providing guns directly. Unlike the Syrian rebels whom Obama for years declined to arm – a decision that is now the subject of sharp recrimination for ostensibly clearing a path for the rise of Isis – US forces have known and worked closely with the peshmerga for a generation, albeit with diplomatic distance.

The US has about 40 special operations “advisers” in Irbil – which until last week was a rare patch of Iraqi tranquility – in a “joint operations center” established by Obama to coordinate intelligence and targeting against Isis. Unlike the other center, in Baghdad, there are no Iraqi military officers there, only peshmerga. Yet the center is said not to be the place where weapons transfers will occur.

Observers said arming the Kurds carries an inevitable tension with diplomatic attempts to encourage an inclusive successor government in Baghdad, which the Obama administration considers a prerequisite for draining Isis of Sunni Iraqi support and a durable victory.

“If you arm the Kurds now, and I think you have to, I don’t think there’s any other way around it, you’re putting a finger on the scales of Iraq’s internal political disputes,” said Michael Hanna of the Century Foundation.

“They’re going to be retaking territory that’s part of the disputed territory. You’re basically shoring up one side of that political divide.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/a ... istan-isis

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BBC News

RAF planes make second aid drop in northern Iraq

RAF planes have dropped a second round of aid to refugees trapped on a mountain in northern Iraq.

Two consignments were dropped over Mount Sinjar on Monday night, the Department for International Development said.

They come as RAF Tornado jets are being sent for possible use in aid operations, after thousands of people fled from Islamist fighters.

The government said on Monday the jets would leave within the next 48 hours.

Supplies dropped overnight included 3,180 reusable water purification containers containing a total of 15,900 litres of clean water, and 816 solar lamps that can also be used to charge mobile phones.

The first drop took place on Saturday, delivering 1,200 water containers and 240 solar lanterns.

A further drop planned for Sunday night had to be abandoned because of fears that people could be injured by the cargo.

'Deeply worrying'

Islamic State (IS) fighters have seized territory across Iraq and Syria in the past few months, with continuing reports of the slaughter of Iraqi religious minority groups.

Among those reportedly being targeted by fighters are Christians and members of the Yazidi community. Thousands of Yazidi civilians have been trapped in the Sinjar mountains.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said: "The humanitarian situation in Iraq area is deeply worrying.

"Isis terrorists continue to contest towns and villages south of Irbil and in the Sinjar area and the Yazidi community face appalling conditions, cut off on Mount Sinjar.

"UK aid is already helping the people who desperately need it."

The BBC's world affairs correspondent Rami Ruhayem, in Irbil, said being able to communicate with other people, with the help of the mobile phone chargers, was one of the key benefits of those receiving the aid packages.

He told BBC Breakfast: "Anybody who will get their hands on this aid, there will be a big difference for them in terms of the quality of life they're living while they are trapped in the mountains."

He added: "But it's very hard to know exactly how much relief this, or other aid being dropped, will provide and of course the tragedy is still the fact they are trapped in very difficult circumstances."

'Commitment-phobic'

Downing Street has said the government is working closely with Iraqi, Kurdish and international representatives to "mitigate safety concerns" that led to the cancellation of Sunday's delivery.

No 10 said in a statement: "The challenge of getting aid safely to those on the mountain reinforces the need for a long-term solution that gets these people to safety."

The RAF Tornado jets are set to take off from RAF Marham in Norfolk, and could carry out surveillance to assist delivery of aid supplies.

Meanwhile, a senior retired British general has accused the UK government of being "commitment-phobic" over the crisis, telling The Times that politicians were "terrified of any form of intervention" ahead of next year's general election.

Sir Richard Shirreff said: "What we have got is this commitment-phobic government that is terrified of being seen to be putting boots on the ground at a time when they are trying to extract from everything."

US forces have carried out four rounds of air strikes targeting IS militants near Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

The US has also begun supplying weapons to the Kurdish Peshmergas, who are fighting the militants, senior US officials told the Associated Press.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28751958

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Independent

Iraq crisis: Obama makes it clear - caretaker Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki should go

President Barack Obama has made plain that the United States squarely supports the removal of Nouri al-Maliki as caretaker prime minister of Iraq and urged the man chosen to replace him, deputy speaker of the parliament, Haider al-Ibadi, to move forward quickly with formation of a new unity cabinet.

Taking time out from his own holiday in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, Mr Obama characterised the political developments in Iraq, triggered by the designation of Mr al-Ibadi by Iraq’s president Fouad Massum, as a “promising step forward” towards ending the political haggling that has consumed Baghdad even as the country confronts the assault by Isis forces in its north and west.

His appearance before the cameras on Monday night was a clear message to Mr al-Maliki that the attempt he appears to be making to cling on to power will meet with stern US disapproval. The president, who last week authorised limited air strikes against Isis fighters as well as humanitarian air drops to members of religious minorities threatened with mass slaughter, did not mention Mr al-Maliki by name, but he hardly had to.

He similarly sent a message to Mr al-Ibadi, now prime minister designate, that the US would expect him to use the moment to build a government of unity, something which al-Maliki has failed to do. “I urge him to form a new cabinet as quickly as possible, one that is inclusive of all Iraqis and representative of all Iraqis,” Mr Obama said, adding that he and Vice President Joe Biden and both spoken directly to Mr al-Ibadi by telephone.

Speaking for only a few minutes and taking no questions, the president meanwhile reported that US air assets had successfully carried out strikes in support of Kurdish forces in the north and were continuing with the air drops with help from other countries. “I want to thank in particular the United Kingdom and France,” he said.

Earlier, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, had issued an impatient warning to Mr al-Maliki not to try to exploit political tensions to hold on to power and defy his president. The government formation process is critical in terms of sustaining stability and calm in Iraq, and our hope is that Mr Maliki will not stir those waters,” he said. “One thing all Iraqis need to know, that there will be little international support of any kind whatsoever for anything that deviates from the legitimate constitution process that is in place and being worked on now.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 62909.html

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Telegraph

Can Haidar al-Abadi lead Iraq from disaster as new PM?

Haidar al-Abadi, who was nominated Monday as Iraq's next premier, is a former exile and long-serving MP who was close to Nuri al-Maliki until he took his job.

"The country is in your hands," President Fuad Masum told Mr Abadi after accepting his nomination by parliament's Shiite alliance in a move slammed by Maliki, who insists he is being robbed of a third term.

Mr Abadi was communications minister in the interim government set up after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and is a member of Maliki's Dawa party.

"Up until recently, he's been a Maliki surrogate," said Kirk Sowell, the Amman-based publisher of the Inside Iraqi Politics newsletter.

"I have never seen much daylight between the two of them."

Mr Abadi, who was born in 1952, was elected to parliament in 2006, chairing the Economy, Investment and Reconstruction Committee and then the Finance Committee.

He was voted deputy parliament speaker in July, before being tapped to form the government.

"Haidar is a very friendly person, very down to earth," said Zaid al-Ali, a legal expert and the author of the book The Struggle for Iraq's Future.

"People ... accept that he's a very easy person to speak to. You don't need to look over your shoulder after speaking with him, you don't have to be worried about disagreeing with him," Mr Ali said.

Like Mr Maliki and other senior politicians, Mr Abadi spent years in exile before returning to Iraq.

Mr Abadi lived in Britain, where he graduated from Manchester University in 1981 with a doctorate in electronic and electrical engineering, remaining abroad for most of Saddam Hussein's rule.

In a biography on his website, Abadi said that two of his brothers were arrested by the dictator's regime in the early 1980s and executed for being members of Dawa, which opposed Saddam.

A third brother was arrested and imprisoned for 10 years on the same charge.

If he is successful in forming a government in the next 30 days, Abadi will face enormous challenges as premier.

Iraq suffers from rampant corruption, has major shortfalls in basic services such as electricity and clean water, and is sharply divided along religious and ethnic lines.

But the greatest of all will be security, with jihadist-led insurgents in control of large areas of five Iraqi provinces, and hundreds of people killed in attacks each month.

Maliki sought to address violence, which has been on the rise since April 2013, with military force, making little in the way of concessions to his opponents, especially members of the country's Sunni Arab minority.

But without reaching out to Iraqi Sunnis and giving them a significant stake in politics and government, it will be extremely difficult to bring the violence plaguing the country under some semblance of control.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ew-PM.html

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Daily Mail

RAF forced to ABORT humanitarian aid drop because there were too many desperate Yazidi refugees crowding under the plane

Desperate, starving families watched yesterday as the RAF was forced to abort an operation to drop emergency supplies.

A C130 cargo plane had been due to make a second drop of UK aid on the slopes of the Iraqi mountain where tens of thousands of Yazidis and Christians are trapped in appalling conditions.

But despite making several passes, the Hercules could not find a clear space to parachute aid bundles down without risking injury to those below.

Thousands are still trapped on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq after fleeing the advance of Islamic State militants.

Another humanitarian flight will come early today as British and US special forces, with Kurdish fighters, try to plot an escape route for up to 150,000 refugees.

Some 20,000 are said to have been led off the mountain in the past 48 hours, many making their way to the Kurdish city of Irbil where the 1.5million population has grown by around 185,000.

There were heartbreaking scenes yesterday as thousands who had been trapped on the mountain, or who had fled into neighbouring Syria, tried to reach safety in Kurdish areas across a pontoon bridge.

People scanned every vehicle for loved ones. Unknown numbers of men, women and children went missing in the chaos as panicked Yazidis fled militants.

Others were lost as families scattered under gunfire from extremists chasing them into the mountains. Dizzy from thirst, adults lost track of children in the crowds on Mount Sinjar.

Some women were abducted by Islamic State militants, and Iraqi and US officials say they believe hundreds are being held captive.

‘There are many missing, many,’ said Naji Khano, who lost his son Sherwan, 17, as he fled gunmen.

At the Semalka crossing, trucks, Jeeps and cars full of Yazidis inched across the pontoon bridge over the Tigris River, which forms the border between Syria and the relative security of Kurdish Iraq.

Hundreds milled among them on foot, some barefoot, lips cracked from thirst, clutching water bottles, watermelons and flat bread loaves distributed by aid workers. Men walked into the river to cool off; mothers bathed their children.

One woman walked weeping; a boy held her hand. Most said they had not eaten in days. Many spoke of the dead they had left behind, some shot by militants, others dead from starvation or dehydration on the mountain.

‘My sister is missing,’ 22-year-old Amer Qassem said.

He and dozens of his extended family fled their village of Tel Qassab on the night of August 2 when they heard Islamic State fighters were approaching.

As the sun rose, militants riding a Jeep mounted with a machine gun spotted them and opened fire.

‘We ran everywhere, we were terrified. We lost each other,’ Qassem said. As the family regrouped, they realized around ten women were missing.

‘My sister Amira was one of them,’ he said. ‘My father is a broken man now, he does not know what to do.’

The US yesterday launched more air strikes on vehicles and mortars around Irbil in an effort to blunt the militants’ advance and protect American personnel around the Kurdish capital.

US warplanes and drones have attacked militants firing on minority Yazidis around Sinjar in the far west of Iraq.

Yesterday, concerned at Islamic State’s huge gains near both Baghdad and Irbil, the US also moved to supply Kurdish fighters with weapons.

Officials would not say which US agency is involved or what weapons are being sent, but one said it was not the Pentagon. The CIA has historically undertaken similar operations.

Previously, the US had insisted on only selling arms to the Iraqi government in Baghdad, but the Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been losing ground to Islamic State in recent weeks.

However, they yesterday claimed to have recaptured Gwer and Makhmur, towns near Irbil, by moving forward rapidly after US air strikes.

As those on the mountain prepared to spend a seventh night in the open air, an RAF spokesman stressed: ‘The safety of the Yazidi community is paramount.

‘With a number of people at the drop sites this morning, the crew made the responsible decision not to carry out the air drop to ensure that the lives of those in the area would not be put at risk.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... plane.html

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Reuters
By Michael Georgy and Ahmed Rasheed

U.S. ready to help new Iraq leader, Iran welcomes choice

Iraq's new prime minister-designate won swift endorsements from both the United States and Iran on Tuesday as he called on political leaders to end crippling feuds that have let jihadists seize a third of the country.

Haider al-Abadi still faces a threat closer to home, where his Shi'ite party colleague Nuri al-Maliki has refused to step aside after eight years as premier that have alienated Iraq's once dominant Sunni minority and irked Washington and Tehran.

However, a senior government official said commanders of military forces that Maliki deployed around Baghdad on Monday had pledged loyalty to President Fouad Masoum and to respect the head of state's decision to ask Abadi to form a new government.

As Western powers and international aid agencies considered further help for tens of thousands of people driven from their homes and under threat from the Sunni militants of the Islamic State near the Syrian border, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would consider requests for military and other assistance once Abadi forms a government to unite the country.

Underscoring the convergence of interest in Iraq that marks the normally hostile relationship between Washington and Iran, the head of Tehran's National Security Council congratulated Abadi on his nomination. Like Western powers, Iran has been alarmed by the rise of Sunni militants across Syria and Iraq.

Abadi himself, long exiled in Britain, is seen as far less polarizing, sectarian figure than Maliki, who is also from the Shi'ite Islamic Dawa party. Abadi appears to have the blessing of Iraq's powerful Shi'ite clergy.

Iraqi state television said Abadi "called on all political powers who believe in the constitution and democracy to unite efforts and close ranks to respond to Iraq’s great challenges".

One politician close to Abadi told Reuters that the prime minister-designate had begun contacting leaders of major groups to sound them out on forming a new cabinet. The president said on Monday he hoped he would succeed within the next month.

Maliki angrily dismissed Abadi's nomination on Monday as illegal. But there was no further sign of opposition on Tuesday.

U.S. OFFER

While U.S. officials have been at pains not to appear to be imposing a new leadership on Iraq, three years after U.S. troops left the country, President Barack Obama was quick to welcome the appointment. Wrangling over a new government since Iraqis elected a new parliament in April has been exploited by the Islamic State to seize much of the north and west.

Obama has sent hundreds of U.S. military advisers and last week launched air strikes on the militants after they made dramatic gains against the Peshmerga forces of Iraq's autonomous ethnic Kurdish region, an ally of the Baghdad authorities.

U.S. officials have said the Kurds are also receiving direct military aid and U.S. and British aircraft have dropped food and other supplies to terrified civilians, including from the Yazidi religious minority, who have taken refuge in remote mountains.

Kerry, who on Monday had warned Maliki not to resort to force to hold on to power, said on Tuesday that Abadi could win more U.S. military and economic assistance.

"We are prepared to consider additional political, economic and security options as Iraq's government starts to build a new government," he told a news conference in Australia, where he also reaffirmed that Washington would not send combat troops.

"The best thing for stability in Iraq is for an inclusive government to bring the disaffected parties to the table and work with them in order to make sure there is the kind of sharing of power and decision-making that people feel confident the government represents all of their interests," Kerry added.

It remains unclear how much support Maliki, who remains acting premier, has to obstruct the formation of a new administration. One senior government official told Reuters that his fears of a military standoff in the capital had eased:

"Yesterday Baghdad was very tense," he said. "But key military commanders have since contacted the president and said they would support him and not Maliki."

(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in Sydney; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by David Stamp)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/ ... Z220140812

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Al Jazeera

Maliki stands defiant as Iraq crisis deepens

Incumbent PM refuses to step down saying nomination of Haider al-Ibadi is violation of Iraq's constitution.

Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's incumbent prime minister, has told army officers that they should not intervene in the country's political crisis.

The armed forces and security services must limit their role to defending the country, Maliki told a meeting of senior army, police and security officers on Tuesday.

His comments came a day after Iraqi President Fouad Massoum selected Haider al-Ibadi, the deputy speaker of parliament, to replace Maliki as prime minister.

The president gave Ibadi 30 days to present a new government to lawmakers for approval.

Ibadi's nomination quickly received support from the Iraqi Kurdistan leader Masoud Barzani, Iran and the United States as well as Saudi Arabia, prompting Maliki to describe the nomination as a 'violation of the constitution'.

Barzani told Joe Biden, the US vice president, that he would be willing to work with the new Iraqi leader.

But Maliki insists that he is entitled to form the next government, and has also stressed that any violation of the constitution must be prevented.

It will be up to the judiciary to remedy the violation in line with decisions of the Federal Supreme Court, Maliki said.

Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from Erbil, said that it was clear that the support was going to the PM designate.

On the question over Maliki's claims that the nomination violated the consitition, Arraf said the "problem with the constitution is that it is quite flexible and many people have different interpretations."

On Tuesday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it was "imperative'' that Iraqi security forces stayed out of the political process leading to the formation of a new government.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Iraq's new leaders to work quickly to form an inclusive government and said the US was now prepared to offer the new government significant additional aid in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Kerry said the US "stands ready to fully support a new and inclusive Iraqi government'' and called on Prime Minister designate Haider al-Ibadi "to form a new cabinet as swiftly as possible.''

According to Kerry, Washington would be ready "to fully support a new and inclusive Iraqi government, particularly in its fight against ISIL."

"Without any question, we are prepared to consider additional political, economic and security options as Iraq starts to build a new government,'' Kerry said.

Kerry would not outline the potential new US assistance to Iraq, but he ruled out the return of American combat troops to the country.

Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Pentagon was considering additional aid to the Iraqi security forces, including the Kurdish army, which is now involved in heavy fighting against the armed rebels.

The Obama administration has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against the Islamic State, senior US officials said, but the aid has so far been limited to automatic rifles and
ammunition.

On Tuesday, at least 12 people were killed in two bomb blasts in the Baghdad

raising fears of further political violence in the capital.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeas ... 51708.html

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Telegraph

RAF Chinooks now considered for Iraq aid crisis
By Ben Farmer, Defence Correspondent 3:58PM BST 12 Aug 2014

British Chinook helicopters could soon join RAF transport planes and Tornado jets operating in Iraq as the UK rapidly escalates its aid mission

Britain is considering sending Chinook helicopters to Iraq to bolster an aid mission for thousands of desperate refugees fleeing Islamist extremists demanding they convert or die.

The heavy lift helicopters would join two RAF C130 Hercules planes already carrying out aid drops and Tornado jets on their way to the region, as Britain rapidly steps up efforts to save a quarter of a million people fleeing fighting in northern Iraq.

The proposal was being discussed in a meeting of Government’s Cobra emergencies committee on Tuesday afternoon.

Defence sources said the helicopters would first fly to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, where the RAF Hercules and Tornado aircraft are deployed for their aid missions.

From there, they could be moved on and based nearer Iraq, but sources said there were no plans to station them inside the country.

Up to a quarter of a million people have fled the advances of Islamic State fighters in recent weeks. Iraqi Christians and members of the Yazidi sect have been given an ultimatum to convert or die. Tens of thousands of refugees are trapped in desert with no food, water or shelter.

British Hercules transporters carried out two more aid drops of water to tens of thousands of Yazidis trapped near Mount Sinjar, west of Mosul.

A panel of United Nations representatives said the world must take "all possible measures" to prevent a massacre of minorities in Iraq, but resisted calls for military intervention.

Rita Izsak, the UN's special rapporteur on minority issues, said: "All possible measures must be taken urgently to avoid a mass atrocity and potential genocide within days or hours – civilians need to be protected on the ground and escorted out of situations of extreme peril."

The group warned the world was witnessing “a tragedy of huge proportions unfolding in which thousands of people are at immediate risk of death by violence or by hunger and thirst.”

Rashida Manjoo, special rapporteur on violence against women, warned: "We have reports of women being executed and unverified reports that strongly suggest that hundreds of women and children have been kidnapped, many of the teenagers have been sexually assaulted, and women have been assigned or sold to IS fighters as 'malak yamiin' or slaves.

"Such violations are crimes against humanity that must be stopped and punished."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... risis.html

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Independent

Iraq crisis: Video shows Rudaw Kurdish TV reporter confront Islamic State militants
this man deserves a medal for bravery

A reporter from a Kurdish TV station has been filmed bravely attempting to confront men who appear to be members of the Islamic State militant group (IS), formerly Isis, near the northern Iraqi town of Kirkuk.

Hunar Ahmad, a broadcast journalist from the independent Rudaw media network, walks to the middle of a bridge which marks the point of separation between the extremist militant stronghold, and an area controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

"Speak Arabic if you can," one Peshmerga soldier advises Ahmad as he walks towards the fighters.

"We are here close to IS militias at Merriam-Beg, they have made here the border," the reporter says to the camera.

"We are here to interview anyone of them but they are refusing to talk."

As he approaches the notorious group, Ahmad raises his hands to show he is unarmed.

“We repeatedly tried to talk to the IS militias, but they are busy strengthening their frontlines right here,” he adds, returning to his broadcast.

In what appears to be an attempt to prevent a vehicular attack, militants operating behind a black and white IS flag dump soil across the entrance to the bridge with an earthmoving loader, Sky News reported.

phpBB [video]

At least 10 militants can be seen walking around the defensive position, which is described as being west of Kirkuk near Rashad, as the reporter attempts to make contact.

"We tried to reach them but they are warning me not to get any closer," Ahmad says in the footage.

"From here to the middle belongs to Peshmerga forces and the rest belongs to them."

Since June, the militants rejected by al-Qa'ida for being too extreme have taken over several cities in Iraq. Around a quarter of a million Iraqis from religious minorities have already fled their homes in the face of "convert or die" ultimatums from the advancing fighters, according to a UN report.

In response, the US has launched airstrikes in the region, which the Pentagon said has slowed the advance of IS. Meanwhile, Britain is edging closer to direct military action in northern Iraq with the Government announcing that Tornado fighters will take to the skies over the country for the first time since 2003.

World News in Pictures

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 65094.html

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Fox News

Helicopter delivering aid to displaced Yazidis crashes in Iraq

A helicopter delivering aid to displaced Yazidis on Iraq’s Sinjar mountain has crashed -- killing the pilot and injuring other passengers -- after too many people climbed aboard, Iraqi officials say.

Iraq's military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said in a statement that Iraqi parliamentarian Vian Dakheel, of the minority Yazidi community most affected by the fighting, was aboard the Mi-17 helicopter and was injured in the crash. She and others aboard were evacuated to a hospital in the nearby Kurdish autonomous region.

"The helicopter delivered aid to the people stranded in Sinjar and too many people boarded it and it hit the mountain during takeoff," said the Iraqi statement. Kurdish officials told the New York Times that there was no evidence of militant activity in the area.

The New York Times reported on its website that reporter Alissa J. Rubin, riding along on the helicopter for a story, suffered an apparent concussion and broken wrists in the crash. Photographer Adam Ferguson was also on board but uninjured.

A Kurdish regional government official told the newspaper that the helicopter pilot was killed in the crash.

Tens of thousands from the minority Yazidi sect have fled their homes after invading militants from the Islamic State group gave them an ultimatum to convert to Islam or be killed.

The displaced have been stranded on the Sinjar mountain range near the Syrian border with little food and water.

The Iraqi military as well as the U.S. and its allies have been flying supplies to help the people.

Al-Moussawi said Tuesday it was a Russian-made helicopter but gave no details on casualties.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/08/12 ... -in-north/

It is now STRONGLY rumoured that this was a deliberate attempt on the life of Vian Dakheel

[Anthea]

Telegraph

UK troops must help the Kurds, says Iraq War hero Colonel Tim Collins

Ancient civilisations will be extinguished unless Britain acts, warns Col Tim Collins, who famed for his inspirational speech on the eve of the 2003 Iraq War



One of Britain’s most respected commanders has compared the massacres in Iraq with genocides carried out by Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot, accusing the Government of failing in its “moral obligation” to intervene.

Col Tim Collins, famed for his inspirational speech on the eve of the 2003 Iraq War, said that Britain’s politicians have “left for lunch” as he urged David Cameron to recall Parliament to debate the crisis.

He told The Telegraph that ancient civilisations will be “extinguished” unless Britain joins air strikes and provides arms to Kurdish forces, and suggested that troops should be stationed in Iraq to provide training and support.

Gen Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff during the Iraq War, added his voice to calls for Britain to join the air strikes on “humanitarian” grounds and to bring an end to the “appalling” atrocities being committed in Iraq.

A Comres poll for ITV News found that more Britons were in favour of joining air strikes than were opposed, although the majority remained against sending troops into Iraq.

The humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq on Monday, where 30,000 refugees are trapped by Islamic State extremists.

The United Nations warned that Iraq will descend into a “mass atrocity and potential genocide” unless action is taken “within hours”.

Britain agreed to help transport “military resupplies” to Kurdish fighters and to send Chinook helicopters to carry out aid drops for the refugees.

The Government is also sending up to eight heavily-armed Tornado fighter bombers to Iraq to carry out surveillance, and defence sources have indicated that Britain is prepared to join air strikes if the crisis descends into genocide. Mr Cameron, who returns from his holiday in Portugal, spoke to Tony Abbott, the Australian prime minister, and the pair agreed to work together to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, suggested on Tuesday that “two aid drops” in four days was not enough and that the Government should be doing more to help.

Col Collins joined Lord Dannatt, the former head of the Armed Forces, and several Conservative MPs in urging the Prime Minister to recall Parliament for a vote on possible military intervention.

However, Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, said there were no plans to recall Parliament “at the moment”.

Col Collins warned that the aid drops were little more than “a pebble in the ocean”. Writing an article for The Telegraph, he said: “In the next months ancient civilisations will be extinguished on our watch unless we act. I cannot think back in my mind of a precedent. Pol Pot was the closest it came, Stalin tried it.

“Britain helped create Iraq in 1920 and we have a moral responsibility to help. We have used the Kurds as a public convenience for too long, now their backs are against the wall and we’ve got to support them.”

He said that while ministers are happy to “make noises” about the crisis in Gaza, they are not prepared to do so about intervening in Iraq because it is not a “vote winner”.

He said: “The Government has left for lunch — 'back for the election in 2015’ is the sign on the door. There is no activity. They will make noises about Gaza because that’s a vote winner. This has no votes in it, it’s a moral obligation. Current politicians don’t do moral obligation.

“Parliament should be recalled. There’s hundreds of thousands of lives and an ancient civilisation that we created.

“Air drops are a pebble in the ocean compared to what’s needed.”

Col Collins visited Erbil in northern Iraq a fortnight ago. He said: “I saw the lines of tents in the baking sun, kids wandering around on the motorways in the baking sun looking for their mothers, thousands of people queuing for water. It’s appalling.

“There’s two things that need to be done in parallel. The Brits need to be there to train and arm the Peshmerga. We should also be taking part in air strikes and urging our coalition partners including Turkey, France, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to take part.”

Sir Mike said: “What’s going on in Iraq is horrific, it is the most appalling treatment of human beings. I’m not sure this Government or indeed the nation has an appetite to get heavily involved again.

“Given our history over recent years in Iraq, we have a moral duty to do what we can on humanitarian grounds. I would have no difficulty at all in saying that we should be alongside the United States and up the British ante to the use of airpower, on humanitarian grounds.”

Efforts to deliver aid were further hampered when an Iraqi army helicopter crashed on Sinjar mountain after an aid drop, killing the pilot and injuring several passengers, including a Yazidi member of parliament and a journalist.

In Baghdad, efforts continued to form a unity government, with international support pouring in for the newly appointed prime minister, Haider al-Abadi.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... llins.html

[Piling]

Beside humanitarian aid, France decides today to send weapons to Kurds. Fuck EU, lol.

[Anthea]

Beside humanitarian aid, France decides today to send weapons to Kurds. Fuck EU, lol.

Fantastic news

There is no time to waste

The dying cannot stay alive while international powers spent the next 6 months deciding what to do

Kurds need help and the need it

NOW

[Anthea]

The Guardian

British forces helping transport ammunition to Kurdish forces in Iraq

Britain is helping transport Soviet-era ammunition from eastern European countries to Kurdish forces fighting jihadists from the Islamic State (Isis) in northern Iraq, David Cameron has said.

In a sign of Britain's growing involvement in Iraq, the prime minister also confirmed that British forces would also play a leading role in airlifting Yazidi refugees from Mount Sinjar. Chinook helicopters deployed to the region are expected to join a US-led operation in the coming days to airlift the refugees.

The PM's remarks, when speaking in Downing Street after he returned to work from his Portuguese holiday a day earlier than expected to take direct command of Britain's response to the Iraq crisis, prompted an intensification of calls for a return of parliament. Sir Menzies Campbell, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, said that MPs should debate the decision to put British forces in harm's way in Iraq.

Campbell spoke out after the prime minister responded to a French decision to arm Kurdish forces by saying Britain would help to restock Kurdish supplies by transporting ammunition. The RAF will be flying in Soviet-era weapons from former Warsaw pact countries in eastern Europe to the Kurds who are trained in the use of weapons which originated from the Soviet Union. The Kurds have not requested British weapons.

From Downing Street, Cameron told the BBC: "We do support the Kurds and we should continue to support the Kurds. In terms of the ammunition they are getting – Britain is going to be playing a role in helping to get that to them. What they want is ammunition and weapons like they have been using. That is what is being delivered to them and Britain is playing a role in helping to make sure that happens."

The prime minister said that Britain would play a leading role in helping to airlift refugees from Mount Sinjar. He said: "We need a plan to get these people off that mountain and get them to a place of safety. I can confirm that detailed plans are now being put in place and are underway and that Britain will play a role in delivering them. I think the first thing is to deal with this desperate humanitarian situation, with people who are exposed, starving, dying of thirst on this mountainside – getting them to a place of safety."

Cameron said he had no current plans to recall parliament. He said: "This is a humanitarian operation that Britain is involved in so I don't think it is necessary to recall parliament for that. But of course I always keep this issue under review and were things to change then obviously that is something that could be done."

But Campbell told Sky News: "We have heard from the prime minister that we are increasing our obligation. It is certainly still part of the humanitarian effort. But if we are taking part in a rescue operation that can only be through the use of helicopters – then helicopters, by their nature, are subject to the risks from surface-to-air missiles. We know that the Isis jihadis have captured some of those.

"When you are putting troops or any personnel into harm's way you really do have an obligation to come to the House of Commons and to explain. I think it is in the interests of the government to come to the House of Commons and explain. For the moment at least the government has a story to tell. We are helping with the humanitarian effort, we are helping with the intention to provide more weapons to the peshmerga – helping to move these weapons."

The PM made his remarks after chairing a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra meeting as the government comes under renewed pressure to join the US in launching military strikes against Isis forces.

As more aid was delivered to help thousands of people trapped on Mount Sinjar in the north, Liam Fox attacked the "catastrophic complacency" of world leaders. His words came as the international development secretary, Justine Greening, confirmed on Tuesday that a third round of successful UK airdrops had taken place.

The supplies included two RAF C-130 consignments containing 2,640 reusable water purification containers filled with clean water. More than 500 shelter kits to provide shade in temperatures higher than 40C were also inside the packages. There have now been five successful drops over three nights.

Fox wrote in the Daily Mail: "The idea that this is not our problem is wishful thinking at best, and catastrophic complacency at worst. The US government has made a belated, but welcome, decision to use American air power to hit Isis bases. We should be willing to do the same if asked.

"Sending humanitarian aid is right but if we are leaving the vulnerable unprotected from the military terror of the Isis forces then our help is superficial."

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014 ... force-iraq