Thursday deadly bombings in eastern Mosul, which were claimed by the Islamic State, were carried out using a security loophole as army forces failed to scrutinize a fake funeral organized by group militants, said the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights on Friday.

The attacks in the Kokjali area, which was declared IS-free two months ago, were reportedly carried out with three booby-trapped vehicles driven by IS suicide bombers. They left at least 30 dead, including army soldiers, and 60 wounded, according to security sources quoted by the media.

But how the suiciders managed to enter the area was not clear until the rights commission gave its account.

“The group utilized army forces’ failure to search a fake funeral they set on from the neighboring, IS-held al-Quds district,” the commission said in a statement, adding that attendants of the mock procession claimed to be heading for burial at a local cemetery in Kokjali.

Getting finished with the deceptive act, they militants drove their trapped vehicles and exploded them at shoppers in a popular market, the organization added.

It urged caution among security forces to foil IS “plots” against civilians who return to their liberated areas.

Iraqi government forces, backed by al-Hashd al-Shaabi and US-led air forces, launched a wide-scale military campaign mid October to retake Mosul: IS’s last major stronghold in Iraq. While government forces fought on the eastern shore of the Tigris River, recapturing several districts around the city center since then, al-Hashd al-Shaabi has been fighting the group in the western region, claiming to have isolated IS’s hideouts there from both Syria and Iraq.

As admitted by military media, progress in battles at the easte slowed down over the past week. That is reportedly due to bad weather conditions and the density of the targeted districts.

IS has been targeting areas it had lost to Iraqi forces, leading to civilian deaths and even withdrawals by Iraqi troops in some cases, according to rights organizations and news reports.

iraqinews.com

As many as 28 suspected militants linked to the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have recently been killed in nine separate U.S. drone strikes across Yemen, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

“Strikes against AQAP in Yemen pressure the terrorist network and hinder their ability to attack the U.S. and our allies,” Major Josh T. Jacques, a Central Command spokesman, said in a statement.

The strikes were carried out between Sept. 23 and Dec. 13., said the statement, which was released shortly before the anniversary of the attempted bombing of a commercial airliner in 2009 carried out by the terror group.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was also blamed for the bloody attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris in January 2015.

xinhuanet.com

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri said the country has mastered the necessary skills for warfare in the cyberspace

tasnimnews.com

More than 4,000 fighters left Aleppo in recent hours as the evacuation of rebel-held parts of the city nears its conclusion, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday.

“Overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, in one of the last stages of the evacuation, more than 4,000 fighters were evacuated in private cars, vans, and pick-ups from eastern Aleppo,” said Ingy Sedky, the ICRC’s spokeswoman in Syria.

She said about 34,000 people had now left rebel areas of Aleppo under an evacuation deal that will allow President Bashar al-Assad’s forces to retake control of the city after years of fighting.

The evacuations began last week but were hampered in recent days by heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures.

“The bad weather, including heavy snow and wind, and the poor state of vehicles (many of them had to be towed) mean things are moving much more slowly than expected,” Sedky said.

“The evacuation will continue for the entire day and night and most probably tomorrow. Thousands are still expected to be evacuated.”

manilatimes.net

A brazen assault claimed by ISIL in the southern Jordanian city of Karak this week signalled a change in tactics for the group, which had previously seemed reluctant to launch large-scale attacks in the kingdom, analysts say.

ISIL has not claimed any of the attacks carried out in Jordan over the past two years by apparent lone wolves with a history of radicalisation. But analysts say the group may have been lying in wait, observing the reaction of the Jordanian public to determine how much support they had in the kingdom before directly pursuing and declaring their own operations.

Admitting it carried out Sunday’s attack in Karak, which killed 10 people and injured 34, suggests “ISIL’s open confrontation with Jordan has marked a new stage,” said Mohammad Abu Rumman, a researcher at the University of Jordan’s Centre for Strategic Studies who specialises in the study of extremist groups, and a columnist for the Amman-based Al Ghad daily newspaper.

This stage “is directly targeting Jordan” from the inside, with attacks carried out by radicalised Jordanians, he added. “ISIL is growing in Jordan and this is worrying. The danger lurks inside the country.”

Sunday’s attack was only the second in Jordan to be claimed by ISIL. The group also claimed a suicide bombing at a border crossing with Syria in June that killed seven members of the Jordanian security forces.

The Karak assault came just weeks after three US special forces soldiers were shot dead at a military base in the southern city of Al Jafer by a member of the Jordanian security forces. That attack was not claimed by ISIL, however, and the circumstances are still being investigated.

With ISIL now in retreat in Syria and Iraq, it is seeking to mobilise extremist cells beyond its self-declared “caliphate”, Mr Abu Rumman added.

Sunday’s attack also marked the first time the group had targeted civilians in Jordan, something it had previously avoided for fear of alienating the public. The Karak attack, in which two Jordanian civilians and a Canadian tourist were killed, suggests that this is no longer a concern.

“ISIS is no longer concerned about losing public support. There is a change in their tactics against Jordan and they have adopted an increasingly confrontational approach in a country it regards as part of its orbit,” said Hasan Abu Hanieh, an independent expert on extremist groups.

“Now the group is increasingly targeting security forces and foreigners which sends a message to those who carry their ideology to carry out copycat attacks.”

A few weeks before the border bombing in June, five intelligence agency staff were killed in a shooting attack on their office on the outskirts of the Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp, near Amman. The government described the attacker as a lone wolf – someone who was inspired by ISIL’s ideology but acted alone.

In March, Jordanian security forces killed seven militants wearing explosive belts in a raid on an ISIL-linked cell in Irbid, a city close to the Syrian border. A soldier was also killed during the raid and 13 other militants were arrested.

Since ISIL began capturing territory in Iraq in 2014, Jordan has cracked down harder on extremist groups and their sympathisers. Authorities have taken measures that include freezing the financial assets of known extremists, arresting militants and sympathisers, and banning preachers who promote hate speech from delivering sermons.

But the threats continue. On Tuesday ISIL vowed that attacks against members of the US-led coalition fighting the group in Syria and Iraq – which includes Jordan – will be more severe than ever before, according to the ISIL-linked news agency Amaq.

thenational.ae

Amid the evacuation of rebel fighters and civilians from east Aleppo, there have been signs of a diplomatic push. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan were working to organise a new series of Syrian peace talks.

On Tuesday, despite the previous day’s assassination of Moscow’s ambassador in Ankara, a meeting took place between the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran, resulting in a declaration to revive peace talks.

However, no one should be fooled into thinking that we are on the cusp of a negotiated settlement to the Syrian conflict. President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly vowed to retake the whole country, typically prior to the start of ceasefires.

His regime’s negotiating strategy throughout the conflict has been to attend talks, behave intransigently and limit the scope of discussion, then use the talks’ resulting failure as a pretext to launch a major military campaign. The regime only engages concertedly in negotiations to arrange local ceasefires and evacuations.

So even if talks do take place anytime soon – whether under the auspices of the UN or of Russia, Turkey and Iran – they are likely to simply be a prelude to another military onslaught by the regime and its allies, buoyed by their recent victory in Aleppo.

As such, speculation is rife as to the next target. In this regard, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura was right to warn last week that Idlib province, in northwest Syria, risks becoming “the next Aleppo”.

Why target Idlib

From a strategic standpoint, it makes sense for pro-regime forces to eye Idlib as their next target. It is a major rebel stronghold bordering Turkey, which serves as an important supply route.

Capturing Idlib would secure the Damascus-Aleppo highway, which rebels have also used as a supply route, and also neighbouring Latakia, Assad’s home province and a regime stronghold.

Idlib has served as a launch-pad for rebel attacks into Latakia, which is home to Russia’s largest foreign electronic eavesdropping facility and also hosts Khmeimim Air Base, the strategic centre for Russia’s military operations in Syria.

In October, Moscow ratified a treaty with Assad making Khmeimim Russia’s first permanent air base in the Middle East. This makes Latakia an obvious place from which to launch an offensive into Idlib.

Similarly, it would be relatively easy for pro-regime forces to be directed toward Idlib from neighbouring Aleppo province – where they were massed to retake the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo city – compared, for example, to being sent to Palmyra to the south, which the Islamic State (IS) recaptured earlier this month.  In any case, the US is carrying out airstrikes against IS there.

Corralling those who resist

With Latakia to the west, Aleppo to the east, and largely regime-held Hama province to the south, pro-Assad forces would be able to target Idlib in a multi-pronged assault.

It is in this context that the Aleppo evacuation deal, and others like it, including truces in besieged towns near Damascus and Homs’ al-Waer neighbourhood, should be seen. It is by no means a coincidence that they have entailed relocating rebels to Idlib. This is likely a deliberate strategy, as corralling them into a specific location makes it far easier to target them.

Forcing rebel groups with differing ideologies and allegiances into one area may also be a means of encouraging divisions among them. Infighting among east Aleppo’s rebels, who are now being sent to Idlib, contributed to the regime victory there.

Sending civilians to Idlib may be a regime tactic to put them under the repressive authority of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly the Nusra Front) and Ahrar al-Sham – the two predominant rebel groups in the province – either as a punishment, or to make them yearn for Assad’s rule.

Since they are jihadist groups, he and his allies would certainly play up their propaganda that they are engaged in a ‘war on terror,’ as a means of justifying an onslaught on Idlib.

Furthermore, since the US-led coalition and pro-regime forces agree on the designation of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham as a terrorist organisation, there may be less international condemnation of an onslaught in Idlib.

We may even see coalition, Russian and regime warplanes hit the same targets, particularly given the good relationship thus far between Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated in a few weeks.

Suffering and disaster

The difficulty in attacking Idlib is that, unlike east Aleppo and other former rebel-held territory, it is not surrounded by the regime on all sides as it borders Turkey, so it cannot be besieged.

However, the diplomatic embrace of Ankara by Moscow and Tehran may be a means of ensuring that it does not get in the way of an assault on Idlib, and limiting its involvement to negotiating terms of opposition surrender and providing humanitarian aid.

Sending rebels to Idlib as a result of evacuation deals means there is the potential for a large and formidable rebel force, one that may recognise the need to close ranks to hold back pro-Assad forces. The problem in that regard, however, is that it plays into the propaganda of the regime and its allies that all rebels are extremists and terrorists, or at least happy to collaborate with such fighters.

Regardless of how this likely campaign plays out, civilians in Idlib are already suffering, with aid workers describing the situation there as a humanitarian disaster, and warning that the influx of refugees from Aleppo will makes matter worse. Talks may be on the horizon, but this will not deter the military ambitions of Assad and his allies.

middleeasteye.net

Activist videos and photographs show protests in Diraz village, the home of Ayatollah Isa Qassim

Bahraini security forces clashed with supporters of the country’s Shia Muslim spiritual leader near his home on Wednesday, activists said.

Videos and photographs posted by activists online appeared to show around a dozen police vehicles and armoured cars in Diraz village where Ayatollah Isa Qassim lives surrounded by youths maintaining a round-the-clock vigil to prevent his arrest.

The videos and still images, whose authenticity could not be immediately confirmed by Reuters, showed the police firing tear gas at stone-throwing protesters.

Qassim is the Shia majority’s most revered cleric and his treatment by Bahraini authorities has repeatedly drawn rebukes of the island kingdom’s Sunni-led government by Shia Iran as sectarian rancour continues to divide the region.

The Bahraini interior ministry appeared to refer to the incident in a statement on its official Twitter account.

“As part of efforts to preserve security and enforce the law, court orders to arrest wanted people in certain villages and to search their homes were implemented this morning.”

Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment and it was unclear whether they sought to detain Qassim.

Qassim went on trial for money laundering in June and faces expulsion from the country after authorities revoked his citizenship in May for fomenting violence and alleged ties to foreign powers – an apparent reference to Iran.

The ayatollah and his supporters have denied the charges.

Bahrain’s government dissolved the main opposition al-Wefaq group over the summer and detained a top human rights activist, prompting protests by the United States and United Nations.

The island kingdom has been hit by unrest since 2011 “Arab Spring” protests led by the Shiite community were repressed by force with help from Gulf Arab neighbours.

middleeasteye.net

Islamic State (IS) militants used chlorine gas to attack Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Forces in Mosul, according to an Iraqi commander on Wednesday.

As Iraqi forces continue to advance in the north and east of Mosul, civilians search for corridors to escape from the battlefield.

In the video below, Kurdistan24 correspondent Zardasht Hame visits the newly liberated neighborhood of Tamin, east of Mosul.

An Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Forces commander told Kurdistan24 the extremist group had attacked Iraqi forces with chlorine gas in the past two days.

“Thank God. No one died, but some of our soldiers experienced problems with their breathing,” he said.

Iraqi forces aim to pass the Tigris River in central Mosul to the west of the city after their troops cleared the eastern parts from IS.

kurdistan24.net

Several villages held by Islamic State have been captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of militias backed by the United States that includes a strong Kurdish contingent, an organisation that monitors the war said on Monday.

The advance is part of a military campaign backed by an international coalition led by the United States to drive Islamic State from its Syrian capital of Raqqa. It follows SDF gains against the jihadist group across the north of the country.

The strongest group in the SDF is the People’s Protection Units or YPG, a Kurdish militia, but Washington has said that any operation to retake Raqqa should be predominantly Arab, the ethnicity of most of the city’s residents.

The latest advances in the countryside about 50 km (30 miles) west and northwest of Raqqa follow an earlier phase of SDF gains on another front about 30 km north of the city.

Three SDF soldiers were killed fighting Islamic State after the capture of five villages, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said on Monday.

Islamic State had been on the back foot in both Syria and Iraq, where it is under attack in Mosul, its biggest and most important possession, and after a string of U.S. air strikes that have killed many of its leaders this year.

However, earlier this month it launched a surprise attack 160 km southwest of Raqqa to retake the ancient desert city of Palmyra, which it had lost in March to Syrian army forces backed by Russian air power after a nine-month occupation.

That attack demonstrated the risks still posed by the group across Syria even after its territorial losses there since mid-2015, including holdings along the Turkish border which were once its main route for supplies and recruits.

Complicating the efforts against Islamic State is a second campaign being waged against it in northwest Syria by Turkey and Syrian rebel groups allied to Ankara. This has taken a large area from the jihadist group but is also aimed at stopping Kurdish expansion.

The Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are now attempting to capture the city of al-Bab from Islamic State, a move that will end Kurdish hopes of uniting their two separated areas of self rule in northern Syria.

Early on Monday, the Turkish military said one of its soldiers had been killed in a car bomb in al-Bab on Sunday and that 11 militants were also killed in clashes that day.

reuters.com

farsnews.com