Route M4. Attempt #1
Colonel Cassad, Mar 14 2020
The Turks are trying to unblock the M-4 highway for tomorrow’s joint patrol with the Russian military as part of Putin and Erdogan’s agreements in Moscow and subsequent agreements between the Russian and Turkish military on military issues. The militants and their relatives with FSA flags have organized a blockade on the M-4 highway to prevent the passage of Turks (who are equipped) with a bulldozer, which should destroy the makeshift barricades and pave the way for the first patrol. Even alternatively gifted (альтернативно одаренные) children were dragged out onto the road. The point (Фишка) of the situation is that it is up to the Turks to unblock the road. And if they don’t, regardless of the reasons, Moscow will naturally accuse Erdogan of violating the new deal.
During the shelling of the base of Taji, injuring 3 Pindo soldiers
Colonel Cassad, Mar 14 2020
In response to the attacks on the camps of the Iraqi army, Shiite militias that yesterday on camera swore to take revenge, today fired just the day base Taji, where Pindostan recently has been losses. This time the shelling of rockets from caused 3 Pindos wounded. The shelling was conducted with 107 mm unguided rockets from the football field near the base. From 18 to 23 launched missiles fell on the territory of the base. Of course, it is unlikely it will cause significant damage, but other goal of these several attacks is to show that, despite technological superiority, the infrastructure deployment of Pindo troops in Iraq is vulnerable to these disturbing attacks, while Pindostan bombing of “pro-Iranian” forces in Iraq, killing mainly Iraqis, which leads to the growth of anti-Pindoism in the country. During last attack, killed 6 Iraqi military or police and a cook, and destroyed infrastructure of the Iraqi Ministry of defense. Thus, these attacks weaken the position of pro-Pindo forces in the country and complement the line of Iran to expel Pindostan from Iraq, relying on the decision of the Parliament and former PM. According to the contract of 2009, there is a delay of 1 year before the withdrawal of Pindostan, but officially they now refuse to leave.
The attack on the Embassy and military bases, is not only one of the ways to honor General Soleimani by killing Pindos, but a means to pressure Pindostan, in order to force them to reconsider their strategy in Iraq, putting them in a hard dilemma, either getting drawn into a war with Iranian proxies without much prospect of victory, or leaving. Pindostan is trying to avoid this in every possible way, trying to force Iran to stop using strikes against Iranian proxies and the Iraqi army. Pindostan will strongly deviate attempting strikes on Iran’s proxies in the Iraqi army and force Iran to stop. But as the deployment of Iranian proxies in Syria shows, they are generally insensitive even to systematic attacks, which Israel could already feel. Israel’s attacks on Iranian proxies became more and more frequent, but their number in Syria did not decrease, but on the contrary, increased. Tonight, the Pindos will probably bomb again on the border with Syria. Will this solve the problem? Well, of course not. Below, Fisherman about the official reaction of Baghdad to the shelling of the Iraqi military by the Pindos. Not long ago, the Iraqi side has finally released an official reaction to the firing, which we present below, with minor comments. We specify that the “Department of War Propaganda” is a joint body dealing with information and implement the information policy of the Iraqi state, which broadcasts on behalf of all forces in Iraq.
At 0115 hrs local time Mar 13, Iraq is a victim of an apparent attack by Pindo fighter aircraft. Was struck blows to positions of the 19th division of the Iraqi armed forces, the control point of the 46th Brigade “Hashd Shaabi” [“Kataib Hezbollah”] and 3rd regiment of the police of Babil in Babil province. Blows were inflicted on human settlements “Dzharf an-Nasr, As-Sadat, al-Bahbahani, the building of the former military-industrial company “al-Ishtar”, the terminal construction of the Karbala on the route Karbala to An-Najaf. As a result, three troops of the 19th division of the Iraqi armed forces was killed and four wounded, two of them in serious condition. Among the personnel of the 3rd police regiment of Babylon: two dead, two wounded. Five soldiers were wounded from Hashd Shaabi We remind that members of the “Kataib Hezbollah” is part of Hashd Shaabi, has equal rights with the military, and are an integral part of the Iraqi armed forces. Killed a civil employee of the under construction terminal of Karbala, injured five more. Under the rubble can still be people. Completely destroyed infrastructure, weaponry and equipment in all the struck the headquarters and control points. This is only preliminary data.
The joint operational command of Iraq strongly condemns the attack on Iraqi military facilities. This undermines the principles of cooperation and coalition between law enforcement agencies of Iraq and those who planned and implemented this treacherous attack that led to the death and wounding of Iraqi soldiers in the performance of their military duty in the areas of responsibility. The pretext that these aggressive actions were a response to the shelling of the Camp Taji is a lie that leads to escalation and further deterioration of the situation in the country, putting its survival at risk and threats. The attack was made against the will of the Iraqi state, encroached on the sovereignty of the country and further violated international law. Neither side the right to put themselves above the law and foreign sovereignty. This attack has no respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, it violates the rights of citizens and undermines the state’s reputation.
What does all the above mean? (Until now) this has been expressed mainly by individual boxtops, but now from the mouth of power structures of Iraq has made a communiqué in which used is quite serious, from the international point of view of both the prosecution and wording. For anybody not a secret that the security forces of Iraq are subject to various parties. For example, the Defense Ministry and the local Intelligence Agency under the control of several countries, the Interior Ministry tend to be French and Canadian side, the Counter-Intelligence Unit fully under the Pindos, and “Hashd Shaabi” in Iran. Can we consider the communiqué of the evidence that the leadership of these structures found themselves in the “national flair”? Possible. Will it change something? Hardly. These statements only underscore the weakness of Iraq, which is economically dependent on Pindostan, and in military-political terms dependent on Iran, plus not has a stable government. Therefore, the weakness of Iraq, which had made it possible for Pindostan to completely hosting in the occupied country, under the current circumstances gives the possibility of Iran using the resources of Iraq itself, to put pressure on Pindostan.
Iraq’s Resistance Reveals How Pindo Troops Will Be Removed From Its Country
Moon of Alabama, Mar 14 2020
Yesterday Pindostan attacked five sites in Iraq and killed 3 Iraqi soldiers of the 19th Division, two policeman and a civilian. The strikes came after some 10+ rockets fired by unknown people had hit the joint base Camp Tali and had killed 2 Pindo grunts and a British medic. Today Pindostan received the revenge for its strikes. CENTCOM argued:
We believe that this is going to have an effect on deterring future strikes of this nature. We’ve seen in the past what happens when you don’t respond. Now people know that we’re not going to tolerate these direct attacks on Pindo or vassal troops, and we’re willing and able to respond.
Even hawkish analysts find that the argument is nonsense. Pindostan claims that the group Kata’ib Hezbollah, part of the PMF and under command of the Iraqi government, fired the missiles. But the positions that Pindostan hit were not Kata’ib Hezbollah positions. Pindo intelligence in Iraq is not up to date with regards to where Kataib Hezbollah units or those of the other 20+ PMU groups are stationed.
British forces were supposed to join yesterday’s Pindo strike, but the WSJ denies that they did so. The Iraqi government announced that it would protest to the UNSC about the Pindo breach of its sovereignty. Ayatollah Sistani condemned the Pindo attack, and the Iraq Joint Operational Command protested against the strikes. The Iraqi parliament and government have told Pindostan to leave Iraq. The Trump administration is not willing to do that. In consequence, more Pindo grunts will die in Iraq. That the “deterrence” strikes did not deter anything was proven today, when another rocket salvo was fired at Camp Taji in broad daylight:
A hail of rockets landed on a military base housing Pindo & vassal troops north of Baghdad on Saturday morning, wounding three coalition soldiers and two Iraqi soldiers. The same base, Camp Taji, was the target of a rocket attack on Wednesday which killed two Pindo grunts and a British medic.
Pindostan in Iraq is not fighting some “Iran-backed” groups, but is an occupation force and therefore a legitimate target for Iraqi government forces. Sajad Jiyad of the Bayan Center, a Baghdad-based think tank, said:
We can’t forget that the PMF is a recognized entity within the Iraqi security forces; they aren’t isolated from the security forces and often are co-located on the same bases or use the same facilities. Now the groups who supported the initial strike in Taji, who were the most outspoken, feel obliged, authorized, maybe even legitimized to respond, ostensibly to protect Iraqi sovereignty but really to keep the pressure up on the Pindos. There are no red lines anymore.
The Iraqi police found the launch site from where today’s rocket volley was fired. Its pictures tell a lot about how this fight will go on until the Pindo occupation forces leave Iraq. This is a fixed camouflaged position under a roof. It was probably built months if not years ago. The launcher cases where dug into the ground of some shed. They were already adjusted in the planned strike direction. To launch the rockets, one had simply to clear the top of camouflage, pull up the rocket launcher from the front and set the height adjusting stick up. One man could do that within a few minutes. The electrical launch command would then come from remote by a wire or cellphone. The set-up of the position reminds one of similar positions that Hizbullah has built in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza. The people who set up this launch position in Iraq seem to have received some training from experienced staff. If there is this one well-prepared position aimed at Camp Taji, how many others are there? Ten? One hundred? Or even a thousand? How many exist around other sites in Iraq where Pindo troops are stationed? Previous strikes had come from mobile platforms. That the resistance in Iraq now revealed one of its fixed camouflaged launch sites is intentional. It is a warning to Pindostan to ponder about the above questions and potential consequences. These secret launch-sites are a real deterrent. In 2006, Israel attacked Hizbullah in Lebanon, but Hizbullah’s defenses were stubborn and hundreds of rockets were fired each day against Israeli positions. Israeli bombers then tried to find the launch sites, but they were indetectable from the air. In the end it was Israel which had to file for peace. Since then its forces have not dared to again enter Lebanon. Pindostan in Iraq has no way to protect its troops from such unpredictable rocket volleys. It has no way deter or even win against the forces that are now working to evict it from Iraq as well as other places in the Middle East. It should finally recognize that and leave.
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1238753776200306688
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1238772933327294464
Three Pindo-led coalition troops injured in attack on Iraq’s Taji
Reuters, Mar 14 2020
BAGHDAD – Three Pindo-led coalition troops were wounded in a rocket attack on Iraq’s Taji military base, the coalition’s spox said in a statement. Coalition spox Caggins tweeted:
Rockets Hit Base Housing Pindo Troops for Second Time
RT.com, Mar 14 2020
The news comes just few days after two Pindo grunts and a British medic were killed by an attack on the Camp Taji base that resulted in massive strikes against the local Shia militia by the coalition. At least 33 rockets hit coalition troops north of Baghdad, Iraqi boxtops stated on Saturday, in a second attack against the Camp Taji this week. According to a statement, a few rockets hit the coalition quarters, while several others fell on a runway used by Iraqi forces. The Iraqi military later stated that several of its troops had been critically injured by the rocket blasts. The Mar 13 airstrike against militia positions in Iraq followed a Mar 12 attack on Camp Taji. Baghdad also noted that the attack can’t be used as a pretext for military operations by foreign powers without approval from the Iraqi authorities. Wednesday’s rocket attack that killed three coalition soldiers came after Washington announced it would be moving air and missile defence systems into Iraq to defend against ballistic missile and drone threats. Pindo Sec Def Esper said that the attack was carried out by Iranian-backed militants, however, Tehran refuted the accusations. In response, Pindostan carried out airstrikes against Kata’ib Hezbollah and PMF, killing at least six. The operation was criticised by the Iraqi authorities, who also summoned the Pindo and British envoys to the foreign ministry after the attack.
M4 Highway Remains Blocked Less Than A Day Before First Planned Russian-Turkish Patrol
South Front, Mar 14 2020
For the second day in a row, opposition supporters and activists in Greater Idlib continued their sit-in on the M4 highway in southern Idlib. The sit-in began on Mar 13. The protesters are planning to prevent Russian and Turkish forces from conducting joint patrols on the highway in order to sabotage the recent Turkish-Russian agreement on Greater Idlib. Under the agreement, the first patrol should take place on Mar 15. A unit of the Turkish military made an attempt to end the sit-in and open the highway on Mar 14 noon. However, the protesters refused to evacuate, forcing the unit to retreat. The sit-in is by no mean peaceful, the protesters threatened to target any Russian unit that would approach the M4 highway. The threats were not limited to the protesters. A large unit of the Sham Corps, the biggest Turkish-backed group in Greater Idlib, released also a statement threatening Russian forces. The unit, known as the Ahl al-Sham Brigade, said in its statement:
Any Russian patrol that would enter our land will be a target for us.
Reopening the M4 highway, that links the coastal city of Lattakia with Aleppo city, is the keystone of the Russian-Turkish agreement on Greater Idlib. Turkey is clearly making efforts to reopen the highway. However, this will not likely happen as radical militants are dominating in the area. Turkish forces appear to be unwilling to confront these militants.
Three Coalition Service Members Injured In New Camp Taji Attack
South Front, Mar 14 2029
The coalition announced on Mar 14 that three of its service members were wounded in a rocket attack that targeted Iraq’s Camp Taji in the morning. Coalition spox Caggins stated that the attack also injured two Iraqi soldiers. Camp Taji, which hosts coalition troops, is mainly run by the Iraqi military. Lebanon’s al-Mayadin TV revealed that the rocket attack also caused significant damage to a runway in Camp Taji used by coalition warplanes. The perpetrators used seven 107 mm rocket launchers hidden underground in a garage near Camp Taji to launch the attack. The rocket launchers were uncovered by Iraqi security forces a few minutes after the attack.
Locations Of Pindo Strikes On Alleged Iranian-Linked Targets In Iraq
South Front, Mar 13 2020
On Mar 13, CENTCOM shared details regarding its recent strikes on the supposed Iranian-linked targets in Iraq. According to CENTCOM, the targeted locations were belonging to Kata’ib Hezbollah and storing weapons prepared to be used against forces of the coalition. Iraqi sources deny these claims saying that Iraqi government forces beame a target of the attack.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Summons Pindo & UK Envoys Over Night Airstrikes That Killed Six People
Tim Korso, Sputnik News, Mar 13 2020Sputnik News, Mar 14 2020
Iraq has summoned Pindo & UK envoys to the country in the follow-up to airstrikes conducted by Pindo & British forces. According to an official statement on the Iraqi Foreign Ministry’s website, minister Mohammed al-Hakim met with his undersecretaries on Mar 13 to discuss how to respond to the Pindo actions in the country. Pindo & British forces earlier carried out airstrikes against Kata’ib Hezbollah and PMF in retaliation for attacks on the Camp Taji military base in Iraq that killed at least three soldiers on Mar 11. According to some reports. On the same day, President Barham Salih slammed the recent Pindo attacks, calling them a violation of the country’s sovereignty. The head of CENTCOM claims that Faschingstein consulted with Baghdad on the air raid and claimed the Iraqi government knew the strikes were coming. The Iraqi military previously condemned the Pindo airstrikes. According to the military, the air raid resulted in the deaths of three soldiers, two policemen and a civilian. The strike came in response to the missile attack on the Camp Taji military base in Iraq on Mar 11 that led to the deaths of one UK medic and two Pindo grunts. The Pentagon stated that its forces carried out strikes that were “defensive & proportional” in nature. The incident on Mar 11 took place as Pindo forces are planning to reinforce their positions in Iraq by bringing in more missile defences, despite the country’s parliament passing a resolution calling to terminate all foreign military deployments. The resolution was adopted after Pindo forces conducted an airstrike near the Baghdad Airport assassinating Gen Qasem Soleimani, who was visiting the country on a diplomatic mission at that moment.
CENTCOM Chief: Threat From Iran Remains ‘Very High’
Sputnik News, Mar 13 2020
CENTCOM chief Gen McKenzie said Friday that the threat from Iran is still high, one day after Pindostan conducted retaliatory strikes against Kata’ib Hezbollah in response to a Wednesday attack on the Camp Taji military base in Iraq that killed at least three service members and injured 14 others. In a Friday statement, McKenzie said that the retaliatory strikes against five Kata’ib Hezbollah weapon storage facilities on Thursday would dissuade “future strikes of this nature,” Reuters reported. However, McKenzie said during the Pentagon news briefing:
I think the threat remains very high. I think the tensions have actually not gone down.
The Wednesday strike came after the Pindostan announced that it would be moving air and missile defense systems into Iraq. According to the Iraqi military, the Pindo strikes on Thursday night killed a total of six people: three army soldiers, two policemen and a civilian. The Iraqi government said Friday at least 12 people were also wounded in the attack. Iranian Foreign Ministry spox Abbas Mousavi on Friday denied Iran’s involvement in the airstrikes against Camp Taji, saying:
Instead of dangerous actions and baseless accusations, Mr Trump should reconsider the presence and behavior of his troops in the area.
Kata’ib Hezbollah was commanded by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was assassinated along with Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani in a Jan 3 Pindo airstrike in Baghdad.
Neighborliness (Соседство) in the province of Hasaka
Colonel Cassad, Mar 14 2020
Anna News posted an interesting video about patrolling the Russian military in the province of Hasaka and the meetings with the Pindos.
Pindostan Moves Patriot Missiles To Iraq, Outraged Baghdad Says “Consequences” Coming After Airstrikes
Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, Mar 14 2020
With coronavirus pandemic dominating the world’s attention, it’s easy to forget that Pindostan is essentially in a state of war with Iran, just Thursday night conducting a major aerial bombing campaign against multiple Iran-backed militia targets across southern Iraq. In response to prior rocket attacks on Camp Taji which killed two Pindos on Wednesday, the Pentagon declared that “all options are on the table” suggesting there could be more strikes to come. The Pentagon said it initiated a “proportional” response against five Kata’ib Hezbollah weapons facilities. Iraq’s government immediately condemned the attacks as not only unauthorized violations of its airspace, but as having killed and wounded several Iraqi security force personnel. CENTCOM chief Gen McKenzie brushed Baghdad’s condemnation aside, essentially saying it was Iraqi forces’ fault for being there. Many officers in the Iraqi Army see Khata’ib Hezbollah as a de facto extension of national forces Kata’ib is part of PMF, which is in turn part of Iraq’s armed forces. Reuters reports:
Iraq condemned overnight Pindo air strikes on Friday, saying they killed six people and warning of dangerous consequences for what it called a violation of sovereignty and targeted aggression against the nation’s regular armed forces.
The foreign ministry further summoned the Pindo and UK ambassadors following the attacks. But the Pentagon is not backing down. McKenzie said Friday:
These locations that we struck are clear locations of terrorist bases.
When asked about Iraq’s fierce response, he said:
If Iraqi military forces are there, I would say it’s probably not a good idea to position yourself with Khata’ib Hezbollah in the wake of a strike that killed Pindos and Coalition members.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is moving Patriot air defense missile systems into Iraq to better defend Pindo personnel against any potential Iranian strike, even at a moment when Tehran’s real focus remains on combating the deadlier COVID-19 outbreak in its midst. It was also reported Friday that Sec Def Esper has agreed to keep two aircraft carriers in the Gulf region “for a period of time.” They’ve been identified as the Eisenhower and the Truman. Pindostan rarely maintains two carriers there, with the last instance coming about eight years ago, in 2012.
Iraq condemns Pindo-Brit strikes that killed soldiers, police and civilian
Bill Van Auken, WSWS, Mar 14 2020
The Iraqi government and military together with various Iraqi political parties roundly condemned Pindo-British airstrikes carried out early Friday morning against some five separate locations, killing three Iraqi regular army soldiers, two policemen and a civilian worker. Another four soldiers, two policemen, five militiamen and one civilian were wounded, some of them critically. The death toll is expected to rise as rescue workers dig through the rubble. The Pentagon launched the bombing raids in retaliation for a rocket attack Wednesday that killed two Pindo and one Brit at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad. Faschingstein blamed the attack on Kata’ib Hezbollah, one of the largest predominantly Shiite militias in the PMF which has been incorporated by the Baghdad government into the country’s armed forces. Kata’ib Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for the attack, and Faschingstein has offered no evidence of its responsibility for firing 18 rockets that struck the base. Within hours of the rocket attack, warplanes struck a Kata’ib Hezbollah position in eastern Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province near a strategic border crossing with Iraq, killing some two dozen of its fighters. Iraq’s military described Friday’s Pindo-British airstrikes as “treacherous” and a “targeted aggression,” and warned that the attacks threatened an “escalation and deterioration of the security situation in the country, and exposes everyone to more risks and threats.” Pres Barham Salih called the airstrikes a “violation of national sovereignty” that could “slide Iraq into anarchy and chaos,” and added:
The repeated violations the state is being subjected to are a dangerous and deliberate weakening of its abilities especially at a time when Iraq faces unprecedented challenges on political, economic, financial, security and health fronts.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry convened an emergency meeting of its top boxtops and summoned the Pindo & British ambassadors to answer for the act of “Pindo aggression.” It said it would raise formal complaints before the UNSC. Meanwhile the Fatah Alliance, one of the most powerful blocs in the Iraqi Parliament, issued a statement stressing that there was no other answer to the attacks outside of forcing the withdrawal of the nearly 6,000 Pindo grunts deployed on Iraqi soil. The Iraqi Parliament voted overwhelmingly in support of a resolution calling for the immediate expulsion of all foreign forces from the country in the wake of the Jan 3 Pindo drone assassination of Gen Qassem Suleimani after he landed at Baghdad’s international airport for a meeting with Iraqi PM Abd’ul-Mahdi attempting to defuse rising regional tensions between Iran and the Toads. Also killed in the attack was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Kata’ib Hezbollah and deputy commander of the entire PMF, along with several other Iraqis and Iranians. This criminal assassination brought the region and the world to the brink of a catastrophic war. Iran responded five days later with missile strikes on two bases housing Pindo grunts in Iraq. While there were no fatalities resulting from the strikes, some 110 soldiers were (supposedly) left with traumatic brain injuries. The retaliations and counter-retaliations now unfolding in Iraq threaten again to trigger such a war. Iran on Friday rejected Pindo attempts to hold it responsible for Wednesday’s Taji rocket attack that killed two Pindos and one Brit. Iranian Foreign Ministry spox Abbas Mousavi said:
Pindostan cannot blame others for the consequences of its illegal presence in Iraq and the nation’s reaction to the assassination and killing of Iraqi commanders and fighters. Instead of dangerous actions and baseless accusations, Mr Trump should reconsider the presence and behavior of his troops in the area.
While the Pentagon, as always, described its bombing raids as “precision” and “proportionate,” one of the targets hit by Pindo bombs was an unfinished civilian airport under construction outside of the Shia holy city of Karbala, 60 miles southwest of Baghdad. The Imam Hussein Holy Shrine, which oversees the airport’s construction in an agreement with several Iraqi companies, stressed that “this airport is completely civilian” and condemned “this unjustified and blatant assault.” Iraqi television news channels broadcast footage from the scene, showing a building with its windows blown out with signs over the door reading “Karbala International Airport” and “Site Offices.” The one known fatality from the raid was a cook for the civilian workforce. Speaking in Faschingsteion on Friday, CENTCOM chief Gen McKenzie, dismissed the Iraqi protests with all the arrogance and contempt of a colonial occupier, saying:
We consulted them in the wake of the attack. They knew the response was coming.
As for the soldiers, police and civilians killed and wounded in the strikes, he said:
It’s probably not a good idea to position yourself with Kata’ib Hezbollah in the wake of a strike that killed Pindos and coalition members. … I don’t know whether the Iraqis are happy or unhappy.
For him, as the commander of what now unquestionably constitutes an occupying imperialist army, the matter is one of complete indifference. While the Pindo troops now deployed in Iraq were sent in as part “Operation Inherent Resolve,” with the ostensible mission of driving back Daesh, which overran a third of Iraq in 2014, routing the Pindo-trained Iraqi security forces, McKenzie and other Pentagon boxtops have made it clear that they now see the Iraqi Shia militias that played the decisive role in defeating Daesh on the ground as the main enemy, rather than Daesh itself.
Niqnaq 