Days of the ISIS are numbered claims a Colonel of the British Special Forces

A British Colonel of the Special Forces has claimed that the ISIS is in dire straits and its days are numbered – its strength has dropped drastically from 18,000 to hardly 8,000 because of losses it has incurred at the hands of the airstrikes. In the opinion of the Colonel, British troops have helped to train Kurdish forces in Iraq and the defeat of Islamic State is imminent.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 18 September 2015.

The Special Forces Colonel feels ISIS are 'fragile' and in a 'poor position' after suffering devastating losses of both land and militant fighters and that can be attributed to the training that the Kurdish soldiers have received from the UK special forces and also the continuing air strikes.
Ever since British MPs authorized taking part in air strikes in Iraq a year ago, RAF jets and drones have been deployed almost 1,300 times and they have carried out 300 successful bombing missions in Iraq in the last year. Obviously, the tide of the battle is turning against IS and they lack the aura of invincibility because the people have understood that ISIS were beatable and it is now just a question of time for the end.
It may be recalled that British soldiers had returned to Iraq at the end of last year to train Kurdish fighters in using heavy weapons as the running battles were intensifying. Their arrival was five years after the last combat troops had left Iraq following the invasion which ousted former dictator Saddam Hussein.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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US-airstrikes against ISIS have killed 459 civilians in Iraq and Syria

#ISIS, #civiliancasualties, #airstrikes #Iraq #Syria It has now been revealed that US-led airstrikes against ISIS militants have killed at least 459 civilians in Iraq and Syria during last year. This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 4 August 2015.
This number of civilian casualties is the result of 57 airstrikes and 48 of the deaths are suspected "friendly fire" deaths. Of course, it is claimed that those same airstrikes have killed more than 15,000 IS militants.

The US had begun airstrikes against IS in Iraq on 8 August last year, and in Syria on 23 September. Subsequently, a coalition of countries has joined the operations and a total of more than 5,800 airstrikes have taken place in Syria and Iraq.
So far, the US has acknowledged killing two civilians in its airstrikes – they are two children who died during a strike against al Qaeda-linked militants in Syria in 2014. And, that particular airstrike is the subject of one of at least four ongoing investigations by the US military into allegations of civilian casualties.
Britain has announced that its RAF Tornados would extend airstrikes for another year.
The aim of these airstrikes is to cripple the ISIS outfits by targeting and destroying their ground installations and, in the course of such strikes, a certain of civilian casualties have to be treated as fait accompli, a necessary evil.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Islamic State bulldozes Hatra as a part of its cultural cleansing mission

#Hatra #Nimrud #ISIS #Mosul #Iraq #UNESCOWorldHeritage After the destruction of Nimrud the Islamic State have now targeted the ancient archaeological site of Hatra in Iraq as a part of what it has termed as a cultural cleansing mission as reported in news.sky.com dated 7 March 2015.
UNESCO has already said that the destruction of Nimrud "constitutes a war crime" and has called on people around the world to protect "the heritage of the whole of humanity". Nimrud, located on the River Tigris just south of Mosul, had fallen to the ISIS last June.
The IS has now turned its attention on looting and destroying artefacts from the ancient archaeological site of Hatra in Iraq. According to a Kurdish official, the militants have removed artefacts from Hatra and have taken activities to destroy the Roman period ancient fortress city.
It seems local residents near Hatra had heard two large explosions followed by bulldozers moving in.
Hatra was founded over 2,000 years ago and is the second ancient city that had been targeted by IS militants in recent days. The city is located 68 miles south-west of Iraq's second largest city Mosul and had been declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1985. As UNESCO director general Irina Bokova has remarked - the destruction of Hatra marks a turning point in the appalling strategy of cultural cleansing under way in Iraq.