The US has 800 troops in Iraq right now. There are calls to “move them out” and up to the front lines in Irbil to fight with the peshmerga.
Mosul Dam does indeed appear to be captured by ISIS.
Many of the Yezidis trapped on Mt. Sinjar have made it off the mountain. 30,000 made it out via a passageway carved out of ISIS lines to the north and northeast. It was carved out by Yezidi militias and YPG Syrian Kurdish forces. It crosses the Syrian-Iraqi border at a little known town of Fishkhabour, Iraq, near where Syria, Iraq and Turkey all come together. It is not located on many maps. It is on the Tigris were Turkey, Syria and Iraq all come together. 30,000 Yezidis have made it through this border checkpoint.
Yezidis leave Sinjar Mountain, head into Syria at some point, and then wind back around and re-enter Iraq at Fishkhabour, a Chaldean Christian town. They then apparently move into the Kurdish area.UK may get involved in humanitarian effort on Sinjar Mountain.As many as 100,000 Yezidis remain in the area in their towns, armed. They say they will defend their towns against ISIS. Situation with them is grave.The 400 Yezidi women taken captive may be being used as human shields. They are in various places scattered around Mosul. Other reports say 500 Yezidi families were captured and taken to Tel Afar where they are being stashed around town as human shields.
A top Hezbollah commander was killed in Mosul long after Mosul had fallen to ISIS. This indicates that he was deep behind enemy lines. Also, two high ranking Al Qods officers from Iran were killed in Iraq. Both were killed near Samarra.
Maliki accepted Iran’s offer of 200 Al Qods officers to help fight in Iraq. Quite possibly they are heading up to the Kurdish area. Iraqi Kurds have good relations with Iran.
An anti-ISIS militia has formed in Mosul. They even have a Facebook page. They are carrying out assassinations of ISIS cadre in the city and have caused significant casualties.
ISIS destroyed Saddam Hussein’s grave in Awja, near Tikrit. This will not endear them to the Baathists or even to millions of Iraqis, including many Sunnis.
