Iraq Situation Report: August 22, 2014
Aug 22, 2014 - Institute for t...The attack on worshipers in Diyala was most likely carried out by Iraqi Shi’a militias or Iraqi Shi’a volunteers.
The attack on worshipers in Diyala was most likely carried out by Iraqi Shi’a militias or Iraqi Shi’a volunteers.
Since August, 8, the U.S. carried out 90 airstrikes against ISIS in northern Iraq. Of these strikes, 57 supported the ISF and Iraqi Kurdish forces on and around the Mosul Dam.
On August 19, ISIS released its first video in response to the U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq. The video showed the beheading of a U.S. journalist who was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012.
President Obama stated that the Mosul Dam was retaken and cleared by Iraqi forces with U.S. air support.
Iraqi Kurdish officials announced that the Peshmerga cleared ISIS from the Mosul Dam but added that ISIS rigged some buildings with explosives.
The Peshmerga launched a counter offensive in northern Iraq against ISIS.
On August 14, 2014 ISIS clashed with the military wing of the Sadrist movement, the Promised Day Brigade (PDB), now called the Peace Companies, west of Samarra.
Nouri al-Maliki announced he would step down and support Haider al-Abadi’s nomination as Prime Minister, ending the political crisis that intensified on August 10, 2014 and existentially threatened Iraq’s political system.
ISIS and the Peshmerga continue to challenge one another for territorial control along the Kurdish internal boundaries in northern and eastern Iraq.