Saudi Arabia wants its boots on the ground to tackle ISIS threats

Saudi Arabia has indicated its willingness to have its boots on the ground and is ready to join any ground operation that the US-led coalition would launch against Islamic State (IS) fighters in Syria. This has been committed by Brigadier General Ahmed al Assiri in the Saudi-owned al Arabiya TV.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 4 February 2016.

The Brigadier is a spokesman for the Saudi-led Arab coalition that is battling Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen. The Kingdom is an active member of the coalition that is at present fighting IS in Syria, and had carried out more than 190 bombing raids there since 2014.
However, in his opinion, the only way to defeat the extremist group is to put boots on the ground because aerial operations are not the ideal solution and a twin mix of aerial and ground operations could be a better option.
On this subject, US State Department spokesman John Kirby has remarked that the coalition is supportive of partners contributing more in the fight against IS, but he had not yet seen the Saudi proposal and cannot pass any comment on the subject.
Interestingly, only last month, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter had commented that several members of the coalition are doing "nothing at all" to help destroy the jihadis.
The USA has carried out the bulk of the 9,800 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since the summer of 2014. Later, in November, the United Arab Emirates, which is carrying out airstrikes against IS in Syria and Iraq, had indicated that it was willing to send ground troops to Syria. A couple of US senators have called for 100,000 soldiers, preferably from Sunni states apart from Americans, to fight IS in Syria.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Retaking of Mosul from ISIS on the cards for Iraq-Kurdish forces

#ISIS #Mosul #US #Iraq #haideralabadi It has been revealed by US officials that plans have been drawn up to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS and, in order to carry this out, a joint Iraqi-Kurdish military force of up to 25,000 fighters is being readied as reported in bbc.com dated 20 February 2015.
This operation to recapture Mosul, which is at present held by a 1000 to 2000 strong force of ISIS, has been tentatively for April or May. The city of Mosul was home to over a million people before IS captured it in June 2014.
It is expected that all of the fighters in the Iraqi-Kurdish force would have undergone necessary training imparted by the US by the time the operation is launched. It is important to carry out the operation before the onset of summer in May because at that time the heat would be unbearable.
The unnamed US official has indicated that no decision had been made on whether a small group of US military advisers would be needed on the ground to direct air support. In the opinion of US officials, the IS forces are now in retreat and Washington is keen to show that its efforts to rebuild Iraqi military capacity are bearing fruit.
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has already confirmed that his forces were "planning an offensive on Mosul". Moreover, military chiefs from more than 20 countries have already assembled in Saudi Arabia – they would be discussing on how best to strengthen the Iraqi army against IS.

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Two can play at the game – US pounds ISIS oil wells and ISIS sets free 150 prisoners

The strategy of US and allies to pound oil wells that account for the major source of finance of the ISIS seems to have hit the mark and terrorists who are fighting for ISIS in Syria are believed to have freed 150 prisoners in the group's de facto capital Raqqa dailymail.co.uk.
The air forces of Saudi Arabia and UAE have carried out a majority of the coordinated attacks by targeting 12 'modular oil refineries' in eastern Syria that have the ability to extract thousands of barrels of crude oil a day.
Much of this oil is smuggled into neighboring oil-producing regions in Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan at reduced price and then sold of mainstream markets. In the process, ISIS has become the wealthiest terror group of all time with an estimated $1billion in cash reserves.
The ISIS fighters who set the prisoners free want to prevail upon America and its Arab allies to end the campaign of airstrikes. The desperate militants have reportedly released the captives overnight in the belief that the move could encourage an anti-ISIS coalition of nations to focus their raids away from Raqqa. The 150 prisoners who have been set free by the group are all believed to have been arrested in recent weeks and could be locals accused of committing minor crimes.
Incidentally, Raqqa is the stronghold of ISIS and is widely thought to be a base for the group's senior figures - including leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - and where British hostages Alan Henning and John Cantlie are being held. The news comes as a fresh wave of airstrikes from the United States and its Arab allies hit ISIS oil refineries overnight, killing at least 14 militants and striking at the heart of the terror group's funding.
ISIS generates up to $2million a day from the sale of oil, employing highly trained engineers to extract thousands of barrels a day from the vast swaths of Syria and Iraq under the terror group's control.