Moody's upgrades Saudi Arabia's credit rating to Aa3 with stable outlook    Riyadh Metro to begin partial operations next Wednesday: Report    Al Okhdood halts Al Shabab's winning streak with a 1-1 draw in Saudi Pro League    Mahrez leads Al Ahli to victory over Al Fayha in Saudi Pro League    Al Qadsiah hands Al Nassr their first defeat in the Saudi Pro League    Saudi musical marvels takes center stage in Tokyo's iconic opera hall    Downing Street indicates Netanyahu faces arrest if he enters UK    London's Gatwick airport reopens terminal after bomb scare evacuation    Civil Defense warns of thunderstorms across Saudi Arabia until Tuesday    Saudi Arabia, Japan strengthen cultural collaboration with new MoU    Slovak president meets Saudi delegation to bolster trade and investment ties    Saudi defense minister meets with Swedish state secretary    Navigating healthcare's future: Solutions for a sustainable system    Al Khaleej qualifies for Asian Men's Club League Handball Championship final    Sixth foreign tourist dies of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos    Katy Perry v Katie Perry: Singer wins right to use name in Australia    Trump picks Pam Bondi as attorney general after Matt Gaetz withdraws    Al-Jasser: Saudi Arabia to expand rail network to over 8,000 km    Sitting too much linked to heart disease –– even if you work out    Denmark's Victoria Kjær Theilvig wins Miss Universe 2024    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



2 years of anti-Daesh air strikes have redrawn the Iraqi map
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 10 - 08 - 2016

Two years ago, the US-led coalition dropped the first air strikes on the Daesh group, ushering in a deeper phase of intervention that dramatically changed the fight against the militant group in Iraq. Since then, more than 9,400 coalition air strikes have allowed Iraqi forces to slowly claw back cities, towns, supply lines and infrastructure.
But the fight — which continues to be largely waged from the air — has also leveled entire neighborhoods, displaced millions and redrawn the Iraqi map.
The US-led coalition estimates that since the air strikes began on Aug 8, 2014, Daesh has lost more than 40 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq. But while coalition air strikes paved the way for Kurdish and Iraqi ground forces to retake territory, in many cases the result is a ruined prize.
The first coalition strikes were spurred by a Daesh push from Mosul a few weeks after the group's initial rampage across Iraq.
Makhmour base was just one of a number of front-line positions overrun in early August 2014, bringing IS fighters within just 30 kilometers (19 miles) of Irbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdish region.
"Daesh was moving into this town and we were withdrawing up into the mountains," said Ayoub Khaylani, a Peshmerga solider who was at Makhmour base with his unit just before the initial Daesh attack on Mahkmour.
After three days of air strikes, the Daesh advance on Irbil was slowed and Kurdish forces retook the base. Two years later, the fight against Daesh has moved west across the Tigris River into Nineveh province and Makhmour has transitioned from an active front line to a sleepy support position.
"If it weren't for the strikes and the heavy artillery (given to the Iraqi army by the coalition), we would still be up in the mountains," Khaylani said, sitting in a small air conditioned room hunched over his mobile phone on an overstuffed sofa.
"I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq," said President Barack Obama when he announced the authorization for air strikes in Iraq in 2014. "American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq."
On Friday, the Pentagon announced about 400 US soldiers will deploy south of Mosul to Qayarah airbase to aid in the operation to retake Iraq's second-largest city. They are among the 560 additional troops that President Obama approved for the Iraq mission last month. The Pentagon says there are about 3,800 US forces currently in Iraq, not including hundreds who are on temporary duty and not included in the official count.
As the push to retake Mosul ramps up, the scars from two years of costly victories remain vivid.
Sinjar, the small mostly Yazidi town north of Mosul, was retaken by Kurdish forces nine months ago, but it still lies in ruins. While Sinjar is technically "liberated" the vast majority of its residents still live in tented camps for the displaced scattered throughout Iraq's north.
The Pentagon claims 55 civilians have been killed in Iraq and Syria since the air war against Daesh was launched. However, human rights and humanitarian aid groups insist that number is vastly underestimated.
Airwars, a project tracking air strikes targeting Daesh, estimates that at least 1,568 civilians have likely died in coalition actions.
For Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga forces, pushing back Daesh has also meant strengthening their hold on disputed territory. Closely supported with coalition training, intelligence sharing and air strikes, Kurdish forces have taken hundreds of towns and villages from Daesh that were previously claimed by both the Kurdish regional government and Iraq's central government in Baghdad.
Amnesty International accused peshmerga forces of deliberately destroying thousands of homes in Arab villages taken back from Daesh in an effort to prevent Arab residents from returning to the territory, according to a report earlier this year.
Mosul residents who fled to Irbil in the summer of 2014 celebrated the first coalition air strikes on extremist militants, hoping the stepped-up intervention would quickly repel the militants and allow civilians to return home.
Now, makeshift tents in church gardens and half-finished buildings have been replaced with neat rows of caravans on the outskirts of town that resemble fledgling neighborhoods more than temporary shelters.
Across Iraq, more than 3.2 million Iraqis remain displaced from their homes, according to information gathered by the International Organization for Migration.
Kindi Hameed Majid, 30, fled Mosul with his wife in the summer of 2014. The young couple thought they would only be gone a few days. Now more than two years later, he is still in Irbil and says he doubts he will ever return.
Even if Mosul is retaken by Iraqi forces, he said he worries the city will never be secure enough to be inhabitable again. "We see the future as dark and unknown."


Clic here to read the story from its source.