Iraqis and Kurds take back Mosul dam
Fox News reports that the Kurdish peshmerga and Iraqi government forces have taken back the Mosul dam from the ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State insurgents. US officials say that US aircraft aided the Kurds and Iraqis;
The retaking of the entire dam complex on the Tigris River and the territory surrounding its reservoir is a significant victory against the Islamic State, the militant group formerly known as ISIS, which seized large swaths of northern and western Iraq this summer. It is the first major success for Iraqi and Kurdish forces since U.S. airstrikes began earlier this month.
The dam and its broader complex hold great strategic value as they supply electricity and water to a large part of the country.
Alarmed by the militants’ advance, the U.S. and Iraqi airstrikes pounded the area over the past two days. U.S. officials told Fox News that American forces conducted nine strikes on Saturday and another 14 on Sunday in efforts to help the Iraqis retake the dam.
However, the ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State spokesman denies that they’ve lost control of the facility, according to the Associated Press;
Soon after the news broke, the Islamic State group, which two weeks ago captured the Mosul Dam spanning the Tigris River just north of the city of Mosul, denied the claim, insisting it was still in control of the facility.
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, I suppose, given that folks in that region are given to hyperbole, especially in the media.
Category: Terror War
It’s a start.
This article on MSN uses the term ‘blitz’, which is incorrect.
http://news.msn.com/world/iraqi-forces-reclaim-control-of-mosul-dam
It was a ‘blitzkrieg’ by IS. At least these people quickly recognized the danger and got alarmed. I’m waiting to see word that Iran is sending in some of its hundreds of gunships from Esfahan.
Here’s another article from The Guardian (UK) with a bit more detail.
We are now informed that bodaprez wrote a letter to Congress about what he’s doing about Iraq, to let them know he’s following the War Powers Resolution.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/17/us-ramps-up-iraq-air-strikes-kurdish-attack-dam
Well, hallelujah! The POTUS is following the law this time!
I wonder why now, and not in Libya?
An official announcement from the US State Department is rendered, herewith.
“US State Dept. designates Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani as Specially Designated Global Terrorist” – @NBCNews
It’s official. IS has a designated global terrorist.
We can all go home now.
Anybody else get the feeling that the Kurds did the lion’s share of the fighting?
The Other Whitey…If it had not been for the Kurds leading the way, just like Americans before them…the Iraqis would have tossed their weapons…again. Yes I bet the mortgage that the Kurds took the lions share of the fight to the IS.
Yeah.
The Kurds do not have a choice.
They have gotten screwed numerous times over the centuries.
Good people that belong to the land.
Kurdistan!
Green Thumb…We are eye to eye on this. The only group there who will fight and die to the man for their homeland and freedom. Screw the Palestinians and their “demand” for a Palestinian State. If any group deserves a true homeland of their own, it is the Kurds.
So at what point after we take back the dam do we release the ONE BILLION feral hogs? I say we get the show on the road and turn those puppies loose. It will give the muzzies a common enemy and will be a food supply to the Christians. Plus, it just feels like the right thing to do at this point.
I’m kind of surprised ISIS didn’t blow the dam before the Kurds and Iraqis recaptured it. Maybe they’re just waiting for it to collapse of its own accord, which I understand is just a matter of time.
It’s an earthen dam. It could happen. The spillway is off to its right side.
It received some damage a week or so ago and the ISers sent engineers to make repairs, so it may have already been weakened a bit.
If it gives way, it will be a flood of epic – nay, even biblical proportions. 🙂
This is kind of weird. I was reading the Old Farmer’s Almanac August calendar page. They always have a poem down the side of one column.
This one goes like this.
Go fly a kite, Ben!
Lightning every night
Since I don’t know when!
Cooling, no fooling,
But here it comes again!
It’s hotter –
Tempers flare and empires totter.
Relief, but brief, chief.
I don’t say that’s prophetic or anything, but something is stirring. Watch the East. If these events in the Middle East don’t explode by the end of August, I will be surprised.
I was at CRC Ft. Benning on my way over when I shared a table at the small dfac with a NG Bird COL. He was a nice guy. His civ. job was Corp of Engineers, MS River ops. He was just returning from a deployment to Iraq where he had been involved in inspecting and assessing dams. I recall the he said the dam upriver from Mosul was located by Saddam for political reasons and was not located where the geology/soil would have dictated. He indicated to me that the dam is relatively weak and unstable because of where it was built.
The ISers were threatening to blow parts of it last week.
I actually drove over that dam in 2004 – if I knew then what I know now… :). Area was relatively unsecured even back then.