Kurdish forces are being pushed back by ISIS due lacking munitions and money; stretched too thin - Polidicks

[quote]BAGHDAD — The ancient northern Iraqi town of Sinjar emptied Sunday, with thousands of people fleeing on foot as Sunni extremist militants made their first significant punches through the defenses of overstretched Kurdish forces. Sinjar is an ancestral home of the long-persecuted Yazidi religious sect, which the Islamic State has branded as devil worshipers, and few of its residents stayed to find out what was planned for them when the group’s militants entered Sunday. [B]Until Sunday, Sinjar had been protected by Kurdish fighters known as pesh merga, but officials from the semi-autonomous northern region have been warning for weeks that they are poorly equipped to sustain the defense of the nearly 650-mile border they now share with the militants.[/B] [B]The town of Wana also fell Sunday, putting the Islamic State within striking distance of Mosul’s hydroelectric dam, the largest in the country. After nearly two months of skirmishes, it was a second day of losses for the Kurds with extremists seizing the nearby town of Zumar on Saturday and two small oil fields.[/B] The al-Qaeda splinter group marked its entry into Sinjar by blowing up a Shiite shrine and demanding that residents convert or die. Islamic State-affiliated social media accounts circulated pictures of its gains — one claimed to show abandoned military vehicles, another a gun-toting militant sitting at the governor’s desk. [B]The pesh merga are known for their fighting prowess, but rocky relations with Baghdad mean they have no munitions supplies from the central government and their soldiers have not received salaries for months. Meanwhile, their lack of sovereignty complicates arms purchases from abroad and Baghdad put a temporary hold on cargo flights to the north last month.[/B] The United States is “gravely concerned” by the displacement of innocent civilians and loss of life, said State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. Joint Operations Centers in Irbil and Baghdad are sharing information with Iraqi security forces and Kurdish pesh merga, she said. But Kurdish officials said they were poised to fight back, and Syrian Kurdish forces claimed to be assisting. Salih Muslim Mohammed, leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, said that hundreds of fighters from his party’s armed wing are fighting alongside the pesh merga in Iraq. In a statement, the group’s military wing said it had been “surprised” by pesh merga withdrawals. At least two Syrian Kurdish fighters were killed in Iraq, Mohammed said. “This is not a time to dwell on political differences, it’s a time for working together,” he said, referring to past friction. “Our people are in danger and crisis. We have no choice but to assist.” Including those in surrounding districts, as many as 200,000 were forced to flee in the new violence, said Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations representative in Baghdad. He warned of an unfolding “humanitarian tragedy.” [B]A Kurdish official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said pesh merga forces had made a “tactical retreat” from Sinjar to allow civilians to leave after overnight fighting. Soldiers withdrawing from the town said that they had run out of ammunition, said Falah Hassan, 42, a Yazidi resident who spoke by phone as he fled across the mountains on Sunday.[/B] Sinjar is an ethnically and religiously mixed town, and its population had swelled in recent weeks by those seeking refuge. Among them were thousands of Shiites and Yazidis from Tal Afar, which the Islamic State seized last month.[/quote] [url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/islamic-state-seize-town-of-sinjar-pushing-out-kurds-and-sending-yazidis-fleeing/2014/08/03/52ab53f1-48de-4ae1-9e1d-e241a15f580e_story.html[/url] Article is a few days old so there may be some parts that is old news, but the fact that the Kurds are being pushed back by ISIS is a bit concerning when everyone were saying before that if anyone could kick their ass, it would be the Kurds. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Ninevehdistricts.jpg[/img]

Well, hopefully with the approval of airstrikes things will be shifting into the Kurds favor and the Iraqi military.

[QUOTE=Mr.Goodcat;45625975]Well, hopefully with the approval of airstrikes things will be shifting into the Kurds favor and the Iraqi military.[/QUOTE] US airstrikes are only going to be used if "American assets" are threatened, like American consulates. The US isn't going full gear toward ISIS, if you're assuming that from the other thread. On top of that, airstrikes only help so much and won't stop ISIS from gaining ground in the long term, only slowing them down. What stops them would be the Kurds being supplied with the resources they need to fight on an even level. Unfortunately, that means Baghdad will have to acknowledge their separation at some point, which in their eyes may as well be as bad as ISIS taking away land from them.

I hope they get aid.

Wait? They're just IS now. Was there even a thread when they formally shortened their name?

[QUOTE=matt000024;45626346]Wait? They're just IS now. Was there even a thread when they formally shortened their name?[/QUOTE] I'm tired of them changing their name every other week. I'm sticking with ISIS because it's the most well known.

[QUOTE=matt000024;45626346]Wait? They're just IS now. Was there even a thread when they formally shortened their name?[/QUOTE] They declared themselves a Caliphate, the Islamic State a few months ago with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi named as its caliph. Everyone just knows them as isis though. They can also be called isil or those assholes.

[QUOTE=matt000024;45626346]Wait? They're just IS now. Was there even a thread when they formally shortened their name?[/QUOTE] Now they're the Terrorist Group Formerly Known as ISIS.

It sounds like a supply problem. The Kurds have the fighters, someone needs to get them supplied ASAP. The Shia led Iraqi government might find it distasteful but the alternative is losing parts of their country to ISIS, retaking that ground later will be far costlier than defending it now.

Fuck man. I really like the Kurds too. They're the cool moderates in a sea of Islamic extremism. All of the greatness of the Arab world with much fewer downsides.

Hopefully our air support and the Iranians are enough to help, the Kurds don't deserve this plague. They deserve their own country too, fuck al Maliki.

I thought the Iranians had entered Iraq to help the Kurds?

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;45625952][url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/islamic-state-seize-town-of-sinjar-pushing-out-kurds-and-sending-yazidis-fleeing/2014/08/03/52ab53f1-48de-4ae1-9e1d-e241a15f580e_story.html[/url] Article is a few days old so there may be some parts that is old news, but the fact that the Kurds are being pushed back by ISIS is a bit concerning when everyone were saying before that if anyone could kick their ass, it would be the Kurds.[/QUOTE] Keep in mind though, that the kurds are making a fighting retreat, which is significantly something different than abandoning positions as soon as the enemy shows up. It does point up at both much better morale and planning than was present in the Iraqi army for instance.

[QUOTE=wraithcat;45627790]Keep in mind though, that the kurds are making a fighting retreat, which is significantly something different than abandoning positions as soon as the enemy shows up. It does point up at both much better morale and planning than was present in the Iraqi army for instance.[/QUOTE] The Kurds have been relentlessly fucked with for a lot of their existence. Now they've got a chance to establish their own state during a period of severe regional turbulence. As far as i know, they've got significant Kurdish territory in Iraq and Syria. They could probably federate if they wanted to but Turkey might get shitty and bomb them or something.

My Dad is working at a rig near Irbil/Erbil (however you spell it) and the Peshmergas are pretty much the only comfort I can take in assuming his safety. Glad to be able to say that he is coming home tomorrow, and assuming nothing goes wrong with his flight he'll be here tomorrow!

[QUOTE=The DooD;45628032]My Dad is working at a rig near Irbil/Erbil (however you spell it) and the Peshmergas are pretty much the only comfort I can take in assuming his safety.[/QUOTE] I thought all the oil companies pulled out their employees already? Its awfully callous to leave people there even if they are relatively safe.

[QUOTE=Trebgarta;45628050]My government may be idiot, but not that kind of retard What they were doing before ISIS and all was negotiating peace with PKK and trying to get good relations with Northern Iraq Kurds by business cooperations, we had just finished an oil pipeline from Arbil-Mosul to Iskenderun Its the choice of the Kurds really, violence is in an all-time low here regarding PKK terrorism. If they gain independence in the south and get along with Turkey, we'll be cool with it, but if they fund terrorists and choose the path of aggression, itd be the other way around.[/QUOTE] Alright, fair enough. I'm mainly concerned about a lot of former Kurdish territory being located in Turkey. If the Kurds federate they may call for their land back from Turkey, and that obviously would never happen. I'm personally hoping that everything will be resolved peacefully. An Independent Kurdistan, even if it only comprises Northern Iraq and Northern Syria, would help stablise the region. Feel free to correct me because i'm a little out of my depth on middle eastern politics. I do wonder though if the majority of the Kurds sympathize with the PKK, i'd very much be interested to see how a state run by them would turn out.

Out of this whole situation I could only root for the Kurds, if I'm not mistaken all they basically want is to become sovereign, not to expand.

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;45627131]It sounds like a supply problem. The Kurds have the fighters, someone needs to get them supplied ASAP. The Shia led Iraqi government might find it distasteful but the alternative is losing parts of their country to ISIS, retaking that ground later will be far costlier than defending it now.[/QUOTE] The Shia government sees letting the Kurds fight as losing parts of their country as well, though. [editline]8th August 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=MattSif;45627556]Hopefully our air support and the Iranians are enough to help, the Kurds don't deserve this plague. They deserve their own country too, fuck al Maliki.[/QUOTE] Our air support is being restrained to defending US consulates and "American assets", not an offensive to drive ISIS out.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;45629212]The Shia government sees letting the Kurds fight as losing parts of their country as well, though. [editline]8th August 2014[/editline] Our air support is being restrained to defending US consulates and "American assets", not an offensive to drive ISIS out.[/QUOTE] Thats like cutting off the top of a dandilion, it will grow back till the sun engulfs the earth if you don't pull it up by the root.

Maybe the Kurds themselves ought to rob a bank.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;45625998]US airstrikes are only going to be used if "American assets" are threatened, like American consulates. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;45629212]Our air support is being restrained to defending US consulates and "American assets", not an offensive to drive ISIS out.[/QUOTE] I've never known anyone in SH speak with such conviction yet be wrong so often than you lol [URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28709530[/URL] [quote]The US says it has launched an air strike against militants from the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq. The Pentagon said American aircraft attacked artillery that was being used in northern Iraq against Kurdish forces defending the city of Irbil.[/quote]

It amazes me how IS gained such a large following and spread so damn quick. There was nothing nothing and then bam one day IS has captured multiple cities and what not.

[QUOTE=itisjuly;45629423]It amazes me how IS gained such a large following and spread so damn quick. There was nothing nothing and then bam one day IS has captured multiple cities and what not.[/QUOTE] Iraq was already going to shit before ISIS even entered the picture. While ISIS were still in Syria, wrestling for bombed-out real estate with Al-Nusra Front and the FSA, Iraq had already lost Fallujah to Sunni tribal militias, and violence was erupting all over the country. ISIS only took the territory it did because the Iraqi government was practically set to abandon those areas anyway.

[QUOTE=Mingebox;45626417]Now they're the Terrorist Group Formerly Known as ISIS.[/QUOTE] They are not a terrorist group...

[QUOTE=Cutthecrap;45629755]They are not a terrorist group...[/QUOTE] What are they misunderstood philanthropist nation-builders?

[QUOTE=Cutthecrap;45629755]They are not a terrorist group...[/QUOTE] Right, not a terrorist group, but a group of terrorists.

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;45629773]What are they misunderstood philanthropist nation-builders?[/QUOTE] They're a country with a government and an army. Though ultimately it depends on how strict you are with your definitions.