Sunday, October 30, 2016 4:14:08 AM
Tal Afar, West of Mosul, Becomes Center of Battle for Influence in Iraq
By TIM ARANGOOCT. 29, 2016
A member of the Iraqi armed forces kissed a local boy after entering the town of Shura, south of Mosul, on Saturday. Credit Marko Drobnjakovic/Associated Press
ERBIL, Iraq — The city of Tal Afar, a former Ottoman outpost not far from Mosul that has a mostly ethnic Turkmen population and has been home to a corps of Islamic State leaders, on Saturday became the focus of a growing struggle between Turkey and Iran for influence in northern Iraq.
That is because Iraq’s Shiite militias, some of which receive support from Iran, began on Saturday to move west of Mosul, a trajectory that would essentially cut off Islamic State fighters in Tal Afar from their bases in Syria. The Shiite militias’ move toward Tal Afar could also draw Turkey deeper into the already complex battlefield around Mosul.
As the two-week-old campaign to reclaim Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, from the Islamic State grinds on in outlying villages, the role of the Shiite militias, controversial because of their history of abuse toward the Sunni population, was part of a delicate set of negotiations involving the Iraqi government and the American-led coalition. Iraq’s prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, agreed to allow the militias a secondary role of sealing off the desert areas west of Mosul, but not entering the city itself
Continued; http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/world/middleeast/tal-afar-iraq-isis.html
Cutting off ISIS from Syria seems to contradict stuff RT and others have been pushing lately .. like these two ..
US-Saudi Plan: Let 9,000 ISIS Fighters Walk Free from Mosul – to Fight in Syria
October 13, 2016
Patrick Henningsen
21st Century Wire
http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/10/13/us-saudi-plan-let-9000-isis-fighters-walk-free-from-mosul-to-fight-in-syria/
US-Saudi agreement to allow ISIS retreat from Mosul
Oct 12, 2016
http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/us-saudi-agreement-provide-safe-havens-isis-exit-mosul/
By TIM ARANGOOCT. 29, 2016
A member of the Iraqi armed forces kissed a local boy after entering the town of Shura, south of Mosul, on Saturday. Credit Marko Drobnjakovic/Associated Press
ERBIL, Iraq — The city of Tal Afar, a former Ottoman outpost not far from Mosul that has a mostly ethnic Turkmen population and has been home to a corps of Islamic State leaders, on Saturday became the focus of a growing struggle between Turkey and Iran for influence in northern Iraq.
That is because Iraq’s Shiite militias, some of which receive support from Iran, began on Saturday to move west of Mosul, a trajectory that would essentially cut off Islamic State fighters in Tal Afar from their bases in Syria. The Shiite militias’ move toward Tal Afar could also draw Turkey deeper into the already complex battlefield around Mosul.
As the two-week-old campaign to reclaim Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, from the Islamic State grinds on in outlying villages, the role of the Shiite militias, controversial because of their history of abuse toward the Sunni population, was part of a delicate set of negotiations involving the Iraqi government and the American-led coalition. Iraq’s prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, agreed to allow the militias a secondary role of sealing off the desert areas west of Mosul, but not entering the city itself
Continued; http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/world/middleeast/tal-afar-iraq-isis.html
Cutting off ISIS from Syria seems to contradict stuff RT and others have been pushing lately .. like these two ..
US-Saudi Plan: Let 9,000 ISIS Fighters Walk Free from Mosul – to Fight in Syria
October 13, 2016
Patrick Henningsen
21st Century Wire
http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/10/13/us-saudi-plan-let-9000-isis-fighters-walk-free-from-mosul-to-fight-in-syria/
US-Saudi agreement to allow ISIS retreat from Mosul
Oct 12, 2016
http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/us-saudi-agreement-provide-safe-havens-isis-exit-mosul/
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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