Sunni Islamist rebels surge towards Baghdad as Iraqi army loses control of north
Sunni Islamist rebels surge towards Baghdad as Iraqi army loses control of north
Iraqi Kurds seized control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Thursday, while surging Sunni Islamist rebels advanced towards Baghdad, as the central government’s army abandoned its posts in a rapid collapse that has lost it control of the north. Peshmerga fighters, the security forces of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish north, swept into Kirkuk after the army abandoned its posts there, a peshmerga spokesman said.
Former Defense Officials Blast Obama As Having A ‘Complete Lack Of Strategy’ For Iraq
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) listens as U.S. President Barack Obama hosts a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, September 30, 2013. With radical militants seizing vast swaths of territory in Iraq less than three years after American soldiers left the country, two former senior defense officials tell Business Insider much of the blame for an increase in sectarian violence stems from a lack of leadership in the White House.
America’s Allies Are Funding ISIS
The extremist group that is threatening the existence of the Iraqi state was built and grown for years with the help of elite donors from American supposed allies in the Persian Gulf region. There, the threat of Iran, Assad, and the Sunni-Shiite sectarian war trumps the U.S. goal of stability and moderation in the region.
US seeing signs Iran engaged in Iraq strife, official says
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday U.S. officials were seeing signs that Iranian fighters were engaged in Iraq, a development the source described as “concerning.” But it was not immediately clear how many troops were involved. The defense official told Fox News the United States had been watching the swift gains made by the Sunni group known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) for months, adding “this didn’t just happen.”
Iraq conflict: Iran’s Rouhani ‘ready to help’
Iran is ready to assist the Iraqi government in its battle against extremist Sunni insurgents, President Hassan Rouhani has said. But he denied Iran had sent troops into Iraq to help bolster Iraqi government forces’ defences. The insurgents – from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) – have seized the cities of Mosul and Tikrit and are moving closer to Baghdad.
