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Old 03-12-14, 13:00   #64
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Update re: VIDEOs>Dungeon That Held Starving Hostages +Kurds Break ISIS Siege

World Coalition Actions Have Weakened Islamic State

3 December 2014, By Lesley Wroughton and Adrian Croft, Reuters

BRUSSELS, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The coalition has inflicted serious damage on Islamic State, carrying out around 1,000 air strikes so far in Iraq and Syria, but the fight against the militants could last years, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday.


The United States and its allies began air strikes against Islamic State after the Sunni militants made large territorial advances last summer. The Iraqi army, Sunni tribal fighters and Kurdish forces have since recovered some ground against them.

"Our commitment will be measured most likely in years but our efforts are already having a significant impact," Kerry said at the start of a first meeting of ministers from a coalition of more than 60 countries that Washington has assembled to destroy Islamic State, which is also known as Daesh.
"The roughly 1,000 coalition air missions we have flown have reduced Daesh's leadership and inflicted damage on its logistical and operational capabilities."

Kerry said Islamic State's momentum in Iraq had dissipated and Iraqi forces had retaken territory around Mosul and in Tikrit and had expanded security around some oil refineries.
In northern and western Iraq, Kurdish troops are battling Islamic State, while Sunni tribal fighters are "beginning to come on board," Kerry added.

In Syria, he said Islamic State command facilities had been destroyed, oil infrastructure damaged and a siege of the border town of Kobani blocked.

"It is much harder now than when we started for Daesh to assemble forces in strength, to travel in convoys and to launch concerted attacks," Kerry said. "No large Daesh unit can move forward aggressively without worrying what will come down on it from the skies."

The U.S.-chaired meeting was held at NATO headquarters in Brussels, but Kerry stressed it was not a NATO event.

Washington wants to discuss political coordination among coalition members but otherwise officials have been vague about the aims of the meeting.

Kerry praised the role of Arab states in the fight against Islamic State. Apart from Iraq, the meeting had 60 representatives from countries around the world, including Kuwait, Bahrain and Morocco.

Kerry, who held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi before the meeting, also hailed "the significant progress" the new Baghdad government was making to implement a national programme and to unite against Islamic State.

Kerry cited Baghdad's agreement this week with Kurds on oil exports and revenue and its order for the release of detainees held without formal charges.


RELATED:

The Enemy of my Enemy: Pentagon Confirms Iran has Launched Airstrikes Alongside U.S. and UK in Fight Against ISIS

  • Iran has launched several airstrikes against ISIS in recent days
  • Attacks in eastern Iraq are not coordinated with coalition forces
  • Tehran has not been invited to join the coalition, Pentagon said
  • Shortly after strikes were confirmed, Iran's ambassador to Yemen was targeted in suicide bomb attack


Iran has joined the fight against ISIS and has launched airstrikes against militants in eastern Iraq, Pentagon said today.

Tehran has targeted ISIS in recent days, but is not coordinating attacks with the U.S. and the UK, and has not been invited to join the coalition, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Rear Admiral John Kirby says the U.S. believes this may be the first time Tehran has launched manned aircraft from inside Iran to strike targets in Iraq.

Scroll down for video




Joining forces: Iran has launched airstrikes against militants in eastern Iraq alongside coalition forces (pictured is two U.S. Navy F-18E Super Hornets over Iran



The fight against ISIS has seen Tehran and the Washington set aside their customary hostility to battle a common enemy which both governments view as a dangerous threat.

Earlier this week, an F-4 fighter, similar to those used by the Iranian air force, was filmed attacking targets in the eastern province of Diyala, and its nationality was confirmed by Pentagon yesterday.

'We have indications that they [Iran] did indeed fly air strikes with F-4 Phantoms in the past several days,' Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

Iranian forces have been active on the ground in Iraq assisting Shiite militia and Baghdad government units, but this was the first time the United States had confirmed the Iranian air force was conducting strikes against the IS group.
Kirby said the United States was not coordinating with Iranian forces and that it was up to the Iraqi government to oversee military flights by different countries.


Car bomb explodes on street in Yemen killing three people;







Attack: Yemeni police troopers gather at the damaged residence of the Iranian ambassador in Sanaa, after a car bomb exploded on the street outside, killing three people





Possible retaliation: Iranian ambassador Hassan Sayed Nam was not in the house when the attack took place






Suicide mission: Witnesses say a suicide attacker drove a car laden with explosives at the residence of the Iranian ambassador in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, but this has not been confirmed



'We are flying missions over Iraq. We coordinate with the Iraqi government as we conduct those. It's up to the Iraqi government to deconflict that air space,' Kirby told reporters.
'Nothing has changed about our policy of not coordinating military activity with the Iranians.'

Shortly after Tehran's airstrikes were confirmed, Iran's ambassador to Yemen was targeted in a bomb attack in the capital of Sanaa.
A car bomb detonated outside the residence of Ambassador Hassan Sayed Nam in Sanaa this morning, killing at least three people, security officials and witnesses said.


The ambassador was not in the house when the attack took place, and it was not immediately clear whether the attack was in retaliation for Iran's airstrikes against ISIS.
It is also not known if the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber or if the device was remotely detonated.

Shiite-ruled Iran has close ties to the Shia-led government in Baghdad, and Tehran quickly came to the government's aid after the Sunni jihadists overran Iraqi army units in western and northern Iraq earlier this year.

Iran also has provided weapons to ****e fighters in Iraq and several fighter jets, amid widespread speculation that the planes are flown by Iranian pilots.
The commander of Iran's elite Quds Force, Major General Qassem Suleimani, led a counter-attack in Iraq over the summer that pushed back IS militants from a key route leading from Samarra to Baghdad, according to Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah.



Even if there is no direct communication between Iranian and U.S. forces, the Americans likely would be aware and easily monitor flights over Iraq by Iran's less sophisticated air fleet, which uses a fighter jet that dates back to the Vietnam War





A F-4 fighter, similar to those used by the Iranian air force, was filmed by Al Jazeera attacking targets in the eastern province of Diyala (pictured)


A US air command center in Qatar coordinates American fighters, bombers, drones and surveillance aircraft flying round-the-clock missions over Iraq along with other coalition warplanes from European governments as well as Australia and Canada.

The onslaught of the IS in Iraq has forged an unlikely alignment between Iran and the United States, which have been locked in a cold war for more than three decades.


The fight against the IS has come amid a US diplomatic drive to agree a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, and officials acknowledge the two sides have discussed the war in Iraq on the margins of the nuclear talks.
But the two rivals remain deeply opposed over Syria, with Iran providing crucial military backing for President Bashar al-Assad while Washington has vowed to train a moderate rebel force to eventually confront the Damascus regime.

Analysts and former US officials say neither country appears ready to pursue elaborate cooperation for military operations in Iraq, but there appears to be some level of tactical communication at least to avoid accidents.

As the two governments expand their military activity in Iraq, there is a growing risk of potential crossed signals or conflict as Washington and Tehran remain bitter enemies.

Car Bomb Explodes on Street in Yemen Killing Three People;


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