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With assistance from Russia, one of Iraq’s armored brigades has swapped out its American-made M1 Abrams tanks for new T-90s. The change comes after the United States complained about M1s ending up in the hands of Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias and could be another sign that the Kremlin is looking to lure Iraqi authorities into its sphere of influence. Iraq’s Ministry of Defense announced the change on its official, Arabic-only website on June 8, 2018. According to a translation of the information by Jane’s 360, the 9th Division’s 35th Brigade took delivery of 39 T-90S tanks. The unit’s remaining Abrams went...

The 5 ISIS members caught in the coordinated operation by the SDF and the Iraqi army, and details of the operation have been made public. Details from the coordinated operation by the SDF and the Iraqi army that resulted in the capture of the 5 most wanted ISIS members have been announced. The announcement made by the Iraqi Security Press Center lists the 5 captured ISIS members as: İsmail Alwan Salman El-İthawi (Ebu Zeyd el Iraki), Saddam Ömer Yahya El-Jamal (ubu ruqeya ensari), Muhammed Hüseyin (ebu seyf el şeiti), İssam Abdülkadir El-Zobaie (Ebu Abdul Haq el İraqi), Ömer Şihab Hammad...

Iraqi army and popular forces have discovered a number of US-made missiles from a military position of Daesh (ISIL) in the Southern part of Mosul, informed local sources disclosed after the first group of pro-government troops opened their way into Southern Mosul on Monday. “Several US-made missiles were found in al-Shoura region to the South of Mosul,” a local source said on Monday, Global Research reported. The Iraqi army and popular forces had previously found US-made missiles in Anbar province. Provincial officials confirmed that the US-made weapons were sent by the so-called US-led coalition for the ISIL terrorists in Anbar...

WASHINGTON — An exhausted and ill-equipped Iraqi Army faces daunting obstacles on the battlefield that will most likely delay for months a long-planned major offensive on the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, American and allied officials say. The delay is expected despite American efforts to keep Iraq’s creaky war machine on track. Although President Obama vowed to end the United States’ role in the war in Iraq, in the last two years the American military has increasingly provided logistics to prop up the Iraqi military, which has struggled to move basics like food, water and ammunition to its troops. Without...

The much-awaited liberation of Mosul from ISIS stalled late last month almost as soon as bullets flew, when Iraqi government troops once again fled from the black-clad terrorist army, members of the broad coalition poised to retake the key city told FoxNews.com this week. The Iraqi army, which was heavily criticized for abandoning posts – and weapons – as ISIS moved in on Mosul in June of 2014, had begun taking small villages on the outskirts after Baghdad announced the campaign March 24. But the liberation effort, which was to include Shia and Sunni militias, Kurds, Christians and Yazidis with...

Iraqi forces humiliate ISIL supporters captured in Ramadi By ninemsn VIDEO X 3 WATCH NOW December 23, 2015: Footage emerging online alleges to show Iraqi soldiers taking dozens of ISIL-supporters prisoner as they advance on the city of Ramadi. Iraqi forces have turned the tables on ISIL sympathisers captured in the city of Ramadi, taunting prisoners and forcing them to kneel in the sand and cower in fear. The Iraqi army advanced into the Ramadi city centre overnight, backed by US-led coalition air strikes and also supported by the police and Sunni tribes opposed to the jihadists. A video filmed...

The detachment from reality of that great military strategist, former House Speaker and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, has been well documented, from her defense of ObamaCare and the millions of jobs it would create instantly and that you had to pass to find out what’s in it, to her current fable -- that the rise of the barbaric Islamic State and its victory over Iraqi forces we trained is, as the Democratic mantra now goes, the fault of President George W. Bush in general and Gen. David Petraeus in particular: Reporter: “General Petraeus said last night that we are...

BESMAYA BASE, Iraq—Sgt. Abbas Adwani is helping to train a brigade of fellow soldiers for what promises to be one of the toughest battles yet against Islamic State: an offensive on the city of Mosul—the extremist group’s stronghold in Iraq. But he and many of his trainees say they still can’t shake the bitter aftertaste of previous fights—some in northern Mosul a year ago, others in Anbar province, where they said they were left without ammunition or altogether abandoned by their commanders.

The White House description of the fall of Ramadi to ISIS forces we have supposedly been busy degrading and destroying as a “setback” is like the British calling Dunkirk in World War II a strategic withdrawal. Ramadi is a defeat, the result of the precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by President Obama against the advice of military minds who know better about these things than the former community organizer from Illinois. It is a defeat for President Obama’s foreign policy, a rebuke of his fundamental transformation of America’s role in the world from a leader who shaped events...

Shiite militias have surged into Iraq's Anbar province, a largely Sunni region, in a government-sanctioned bid to recapture the provincial capital Ramadi, which was seized in its entirety by the jihadists of the Islamic State at the end of last week. Thousands have fled the city, which is about 80 miles west of Baghdad. Ramadi's fall poses a problem for U.S. officials, who have sought to paint a picture of a weakening Islamic State. One Pentagon spokesman told reporters that the city's capture was part of "complex, bloody fight" in which "there are going to be ebbs and flows." The...

News video at site Between 20 and 25 ISIS fighters wearing Iraqi Army uniforms infiltrated al-Asad airbase Friday -- the sprawling western Iraqi base where 400 American forces are training Iraqi troops -- and tried to enter the base, military officials said.

The U.S. military's top officer said Wednesday that almost half of Iraq's army is incapable of working against the Islamic State militant group, while the other half needs to be rebuilt with the help of U.S. advisers and military equipment. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey made the remarks to reporters while traveling to Paris to meet with his French counterpart to discuss the situation in Iraq and Syria. The general said that U.S. assessors who had spent the summer observing Iraq's security forces concluded that 26 of the army's 50 brigades would be capable of...

(Reuters) - Islamic State, the al Qaeda spin-off that seized wide swathes of Iraq almost unopposed last month, has released a video warning Iraqi soldiers who may still have some fight in them that they risk being rounded up en masse and executed.

IRAQI special forces secured full control of a crucial former US military base on the outskirts of Tikrit, officials said yesterday. Camp Speicher, the headquarters for US forces in northern Iraq during the 2003 invasion and subsequent war, has become a focal point in the fight between Iraqi forces and Islamist militants.

Some of my early thoughts were published in rough form earlier. My estimate of Kurdish and Iraqi Forces is that neither side is really ready for a stand-up fight. But it may happen anyway for political reasons or as deployed forces maneuver for position. If it happens, don't be surprised if it doesn't work out as planned - for either side... Of interest, the formation of the Tigris Operational Command and the claim of forming 2 Kurdish Operational Commands in response as justification for the confrontation is pure propaganda. Establishing corps-level commands has been ongoing since the Surge and both...

This Iraqi Security Force (ISF) update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during July 2012. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle is updated as of 31 July 2012. The July 2012 update was separately updated to reflect the GoI denial of Bulgarian/Polish arms deals. The “ISF Total Force Mobilization Update July 2012” was published reflecting the apparent changes in the command structure and planned force composition. These articles will not be addressed here. Highlights in this update include: - Claims of KRG arms deals by unknown officials; Rumors of UH-1s or AH-64s for the KRG not supported...

This Iraqi Security Force (ISF) update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during April 2012. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle is updated as of 30 April 2012. Highlights in this update include: * Romanian arms blacklisted; Second Batch of BTR4s ready for delivery while rumors continue of contract cancelation; 50/14 and 53/14 Brigades upgrading to Mech/Armor; Iraqi Army Upgrade Status Chart added. * EC120Bs for KRG Police/SAR; Contract awarded for support of 30 Bell 407s; third AN-32B delivered; F16 training at Al Asad; 24 F16s by end 2014?; Iraq to join GCC to provide Air Defense?

This Iraqi Security Force (ISF) update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during March 2012. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle is updated as of 31 March 2012. Highlights in this update include: - 10 battalions shifted to Baghdad for AL Summit; Rumors of BTR4 cancellation continue. - Aviation contracts to announce in April, L159s still in contention. - OSVs identified, 9 PBs delivered with 12th to deliver in May. - Rumors of increased control of Basrah security by Baghdad.

This Iraqi Security Force (ISF) update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during September 2011. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle is updated as of 30 September 2011. Highlights in this update include: * Final M1A1 Tanks arrive; Southern Iraq Iranian-border regions reinforced; Generals transferred. * IqAF not ready; Pilot training; Down-payment on 18 F16s.

In a statement to PUKmedia, Colonel Nouri Abdul Karim Mustafa, Commander of the Third Battalion of the Fourth Brigade of Kurdistan Region Guards forces (The Peshmerga) , said that at 9 am on Friday morning, Border Guards Forces entered Jalawla sub- district , to form a joint force with the Iraqi army under the supervision of coalition forces. This step is the beginning of the Peshmerga forces deployment al- Saadiya sub- district as well , and perhaps in the areas of Mandali, Qaratapa, and the Kurdish Separated Areas in Diyala province, Colonel Mustafa clarified.