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ISIS razes oldest Christian monastery in Iraq; US hits second ISIS money store

More bad news from Iraq. ISIS terrorists have flattened the oldest monastery in Iraq, the St Elijah Monastery that dates from the 6th century (before Islam even existed) :frown:

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5093ba551d1b45b08fe8a26363b88f54/only-ap-oldest-christian-monastery-iraq-razed (there are some excellent photos of the monastery and Iraqi Christians in 1920s in the article)

In other news, Coalition forces have carried out an airstrike on a second ISIS money storage facility, continuing their ongoing operation hitting key ISIS finance nodes. They have been quite successful in this, with ISIS announcing a 50% cut in fighter salaries. To cut off smuggling income and supply routes for new recruits, the US has financed a Turkey-Syria border fence that is now said to be 90% complete




Finally, CJTF-OIR (Coalition Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve) HQ has released this graphic showing the ongoing training operations from over a dozen coalition nations. 17,000 Iraqi and Pesh troops have been trained in basic infantry tactics (ambushes, contact drills, only firing when you actually have a target rather than spray and pray)

This is vital because the Iraqi Army that the US trained up in the 2000s was very much designed to fight a counterinsurgency war (raids, arrests, checkpoints). This is why the Iraqi Army couldn't stand up to ISIS, they simply weren't trained for a stand-up fight against an enemy that was fighting more like a conventional army


(edited 8 years ago)
News just in, ISIS has captured an SA-6 Gainful "Kub" surface-to-air missile system from the Deir-ez-Zor Syrian Air Force base.

The question would be whether they have also captured the necessary fire control radars that would guide the weapon. The weapon could be completely inoperable for lack of spare parts. This could be a threat at some point in the future; ISIS will have access to Ba'athist engineers who could find a way to operate it if they also have access to other SA-6 TELs and radars to cannibalise spare parts. It is possible they could find former Iraqi air defence officers who would have the knowledge to operate it.

Thankfully commercial airliners from Europe flying to Dubai and the East take the long route over Turkey and Iran rather than down the middle of Iraq as they used to. It's unlikely to be an immediate threat, but certainly something to keep in mind



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