LATEST: Islamic State Releases 32 Turkish Truck Drivers
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki stood firm against pressure to step down on Wednesday, maintaining that he will lead a new Government approved by Parliament.
Speaking in his weekly TV address, Maliki address Tuesday’s debacle in the legislature, which adjourned in acrimony after 30 minutes with no steps towards the naming of a new Speaker, President, and Prime Minister:
A state of weakness occurred, but God willing in the next session (planned for July 8) we will overcome it with cooperation and agreement and openness…in choosing the individuals and the mechanisms that will result in a political process based on…democratic mechanisms.
Maliki also denounced the intention of the Kurdish leadership to hold a referendum on independence: “No one has the right to exploit the events that took place to impose a fait accompli.”
And the Prime Minister offered an amnesty to Sunni insurgents, a gesture which is unlikely to be taken up by the factions who have allied with the Islamic State in the three-week offensive which has taken cities such as Mosul and Tikrit and approached Baghdad on three fronts.
Islamic State Releases 32 Turkish Truck Drivers
The Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday that 32 Turkish truck drivers have been released by the Islamic State.
Relatives had put out the news before the Foreign Ministry made its confirmation later in the day.
The drivers were abducted as they travelled towards Mosul while it was falling to insurgents on June 10.
The Islamic State still holds 49 staff and dependents of the Turkish Consulate in Mosul and a number of construction workers from Turkey and other countries.
Russia Delivers Advanced Attack Helicopters to Baghdad
Iraq has taken delivery of its first Mil Mi-28NE “Havoc” attack helicopters, as well as additional Mil Mi-35M “Hind2 assault helicopters, according to Russian state media.
The first three Mi-28NE helicopters and four new Mi-35M helicopters are ready for combat, complete with night vision.
Last week, Russia began sending a consignment of 12 Su-25 Sukhoi fighter jets to the Iraqi Government, with seven reportedly arriving in Baghdad by the weekend.
Russian documents indicate Iraq will receive a total of 15 Mi-28NEs and 28 Mi-35Ms.
Four Mi-35Ms are already in service.
The Mi-28NE, an all-weather day-and-night anti-armour and anti-personnel attack helicopter, has only recently been deployed by Russian armed forces.
Up to 45 Killed in Clashes With Supporters of Shia Cleric in Karbala
Security sources say up to 45 people were killed when Iraqi forces, supported by helicopters, fought followers of a cleric in the Shia holy city of Karbala on Wednesday.
The clashes began when the forces tried to raid the offices of Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, a strident critic of the Government, and arrest the Shia cleric. Authorities said Sarkhi’s supporters blocked roads and manned checkpoints around his district in the city.
Police and troops, reinforced by five helicopter gunships, surrounded the house but were prevented from entering by Sarkhi’s armed followers. Sources said five police officers and about 40 of Sarkhi’s followers were killed.
The cleric escaped during the battle. Supporters posted, on his website, a picture of an Iraqi military Humvee vehicle which they claimed they destroyed in the battle.
Earlier this week, Sarkhi challenged Iraq’s top Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali Sistani, criticizing Sistani’s decree for all Iraqis to work with security forces in the fight against insurgents.
Video: Iraqi Officer — Government Asked Us to Withdraw from Borders
An Iraqi officer claims he and other guards were asked to withdraw from the Syrian and Saudi borders by the al-Maliki Government:
“We didn’t know why.”
The officer says attackers burned cars and destroyed warehouses after the border guards retreated:
The officer’s account is complemented by a lengthy report in The New York Times of the collapse of the 9th Brigade, sent from southern Iraq to defend the town of al-Qa’im and the nearby border crossing with Syria in mid-June:
Several officers said the system the Interior Ministry had devised to supply its forces was suited for peacetime, and predictably failed in war. They said it relied on contracts with businesses that would deliver supplies to the troops’ main garrisons. But as the border-police convoys headed for territory under militant influence or control, the vendors would not follow.
“When the conditions were not good, and there was no security, they did not provide water and food by the contract,” said a border-police colonel, who asked that his name be withheld.
By June 17, the brigade was in position around Qaim, with hopes of blocking ISIS fighters’ free passage to and from Syria. But supplies were so depleted the troops could barely fight. Its members said they were given only a small piece of cake and about 10 ounces of water a day.
Morale sank further, brigade members said, because another unit in Qaim had already run out of water and food, prompting the Ninth Brigade to share its meager stores.
Moreover, the local people refused to help, police officers said, either because they had sided with ISIS or were afraid, and did not want to risk the militants’ wrath.
With supplies almost gone, the brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Sadiq Rasheed Abdilal, left Qaim to complain to senior officers, his troops said. They have not heard from him since. The troops said he had been arrested and his cellphone switched off.
