War

The long awaited battle to retake Mosul from the Islamic State/ISIL/ISIS is proving difficult for the Iraqi army. The Daily Caller reports: Iraqi troops once again fled from a key battle for Mosul, the Islamic State’s headquarters in northern Iraq, as they began a long awaited offensive late last month to retake the city. “The Iraqi Army commenced an assault on ISIS strongholds around Mosul, but when ISIS fired back, the Iraqi Army ran away and the assaults ended,” a western defense specialist based in Iraq told Fox News.

Islamist rebel groups shot down their second Syrian plane in a month on Tuesday using advanced Surface-to-Air Missiles. Inquiries are being made into how these advance weapons keep falling into the hands of terrorist groups such as al-Nusra and Daesh. American weaponry is finding its way through Turkey into terrorist hands in Syria, while Saudi Arabia bankrolls the project and provides spiritual support. Sputnik reports: ​On Tuesday, Islamist rebels shot down a Syrian plane, the second such incident in less than a month, and captured the pilots.

Submitted by Angela Borozna via OrientalReview.org,

Do Russians want another war? If you are Russian, you would be surprised by the question. Why would anyone want war (hot or cold)? But if you are an American, and grew up fearing ‘bad Russians’ such question does not surprise you a bit. After all, the whole Cold War was based on the main assumption – Russians/Soviets want war!

Belgian anti- terror police have released new footage of the third suspect in last months Brussels terror attacks. The Mirror reports: The suspect – who is believed to have discarded his suicide bomb after it failed to detonate – is seen walking away from the carnage before ditching his jacket in a bid to escape detection. The chilling footage has been released by Belgian anti-terror police at a news conference today. Brussels was hit by suicide bombings at the airport and on the Metro which killed 32 victims and wounded 270. The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group.

Andrew Bacevich has written an excellent article on the need to end our ongoing “war for the Greater Middle East.” This part jumped out at me in connection with the debate over the Libyan war:

A particular campaign that goes awry [bold mine-DL] like Somalia or Iraq or Libya may attract passing attention, but never the context in which that campaign was undertaken [bold mine-DL]. We can be certain that the election of 2016 will be no different.