Kidnappings, bombings hit Basra; IA Aviation Mil Mi-35 and IA Bell 407 helicopters downed by #IS with FN-6 MANPADS

IA Aviation Mil Mi-35 and IA Bell 407 helicopters downed by #IS with FN-6 MANPADS in the vicinity of Bayji: pic.twitter.com/9CTKHZqDW7

— MemlikPasha (@MemlikPasha) October 9, 2014 Basra federalists still have only 20K signatures demanding referendum for new federal region. Need more than 100K, goal not reached in 2009. #Basra federalist leader promises constitution for new federal region in oil-rich south of #Iraq before referendum #BREAKING Rosneft scraps purchase of Morgan Stanley's oil trading business IA Aviation Mil Mi-35 and IA Bell 407 helicopters downed by #IS with FN-6 MANPADS in the vicinity of Bayji: The Chinese FN-6 is an updated version of the Russian 9K38 Igla-S MANPADS. FN-6 send by Saudi for FSA... Now we are sure that no further advanced weapons will be sent to them. I wait for the TOW Missille in the hand of ISIS...US aircraft at Kobane operate well over the maximum range of the MANPADS. ISIS need SA-3(S125PechoraM)available in Latakia/Tartous/Damascus &othr #ASAAD basis,accordng to IISS(2010) #Kweris had some but was not taken by #ISIS. These have a ceiling of 59k feet,FN6 are based on SA16/18(9K38)not on SA24 and have 12kfeet ceiling hat could be the reason for the absence of manpads at kobane?? Limited no.s only or kept for something big? A family photo of sorts for #MANPADS, good for comparison: http://imgur.com/gallery/KFH6b04 @MemlikPasha 2013-06-01 Panorama of Alasala Watanmia Front in Aleppo Syria by jurassicbark Background on this group and their MANPADS: "9K338 Igla-S (SA-24) and other MANPADS in Syria" via armsresearch.org by N.R. Jenzen-Jones I made this panorama from video after seeing the group deploy one of the MANPADS today. Most notable is the various anti-air missile systems displayed: 9K32M Strela-2M , Chinese FN-6, 9K338 Igla-S, 9K310 Igla-1. =========== To stem extremists, Iraq to reduce Baghdad's power By SAMEER N. YACOUB and VIVIAN SALAMA Oct. 10, 2014 3:26 AM EDT Mideast Iraq Decentralization In this Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014 photo,Basra residents chant slogans supporting the creation of... BAGHDAD (AP) — To get a home or an office built in the central Iraqi province of Salahuddin, contractors have usually had to pay hefty bribes to corrupt officials in Baghdad to clear away the red tape. It was just one example of the heavy hand that the central government holds over even the smallest details of life in Iraq's provinces. That hand was often corrupt as well. Around 70 percent of the projects that the government committed to fund in Salahuddin existed only on paper, according to Najih al-Mizan, a Sunni lawmaker from the province. "Some of the funds allocated to the province go missing in Baghdad," said al-Mizan. The combination of interference and neglect from the Shiite-led government in Baghdad was one reason why many among the predominantly Sunni population of Salahuddin saw the Islamic State group as a possible alternative when its extremist fighters swept into the province the past month, al-Mizan said. People there were so fed up with Baghdad, they were desperate for something new. Now, Iraq's new government, beleaguered by the Sunni militant onslaught over much of the country, is making a concerted effort to empower local and provincial governments. The aim is in part to draw Sunni support away from the extremists. But it is also a calculation that it is better to have a controlled decentralization of power than to see the country outright fall apart into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish fragments, as many fear. Until recently in Iraq, getting anything done on a provincial level — even routine business like hiring a street cleaner — required approval from Baghdad. Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish populations alike have long complained that the central government monopolized power and horded resources, leaving outlying regions to fend for themselves. Provinces that are home to the Sunni minority have long felt the brunt of discrimination from Shiite authorities in Baghdad, who the Sunnis say would often either neglect their needs or exploit them through corruption. But Shiite provinces were neglected as well, particularly those dominated by Shiite parties not in favor in the capital. The exclusion intensified feelings of resentment toward the government of then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, even among one-time loyalists. That resentment finally led to al-Maliki's replacement last month. The Islamic State group, which now holds territory stretching from northern Syria across Sunni regions of northern and western Iraq down to the edges of Baghdad, has intentionally sought to benefit from the Sunni resentments of Baghdad. Part of its core strategy has been to establish administration over the land that it controls to win over the population. The group administers courts, cleans streets, fixes roads and even polices traffic. Haider al-Abadi, named Iraq's prime minister on Sept. 8, has made decentralization a paramount theme in his platform. He plans to give greater autonomy to provincial governments and construct a national guard in which recruits and leadership are conscripted from local populations. "We have to move away from governing from the center, which is Baghdad, and having to decide all the details for the different governorates — that's important for us," al-Abadi said in a Sept. 17 interview with The Associated Press. "We want to have a real federal state according to the constitution," by giving provinces more power and involving them more in the central government's decision-making for the whole of Iraq. Decentralization has failed to take off in the past. In 2013, parliament revised a law on provincial powers to spread authorities but the changes were never carried out. The constitution itself — written under heavy U.S. influence after the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein — has strong provisions for decentralization. It allows several provinces to vote to form a region together that would have a large degree of autonomy. That raises the possibility of a Sunni-dominated region in the center and a Shiite-dominated one in the south, similar to the already existing semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north. No individual province has tried to officially start the process to create a region, but there have been calls. This week, protesters in the southern city of Basra held demonstrations demanding greater decentralization. But decentralization also gets lost in the thicket of disputes between Baghdad and the provinces over issues ranging from annual budgets, investment, security, sharing of resources and balance of powers. The Shiite-majority city of Basra, for example, has everything and nothing. It has little access to drinking water, systematic garbage collection or decent health care — ironic, since Basra is the biggest contributor to Iraq's annual budget with its robust oil reserves. "We are not even able to build houses for poor people because we have no control over most of Basra's land," said Sabah al-Bazaouni, a member of Basra's provincial council. "The Oil Ministry has the upper hand in this issue (and) does not care whether our people are living in houses or on the sidewalk." Iraq has had a long history of autocratic rule since gaining independence from the British in 1932, with the central government in Baghdad maintaining a tight grip on all provincial matters. At the time, only the Kurds fought the centralized model of governance as it stymied their ambitions for an independent Kurdish state. But in the decades that followed, Shiites clashed with the Sunni-led government claiming that they were treated like second-class citizens, persecuted, arrested, and denied basic rights. When the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam in 2003, tables turned and Sunnis expressed similar grievances about the Shiites who came to power. One complaint voiced particularly by Sunnis and Kurds is over abuses by the security forces and Shiite militias. Al-Maliki inflamed tensions in the military by dismissing some Sunni officers and replacing them with Shiite officers loyal to him. Al-Abadi cited the problem of indiscriminate shelling of urban areas by the military as a source of bitterness toward the central government, and within days of taking office he banned the armed forces from such shelling. The national guard plan also aims to reduce the resentments by bringing locals more into security duties. But the fear over decentralization has always been that empowering provinces will only get the ball rolling faster toward the disintegration of the war-torn nation. "There is the risk that federalism may eventually lead to secessionism," said Ramzy Mardini, an Iraq expert at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. "It has already taken root in Iraqi Kurdistan, and once the territorial integrity of Iraq is compromised, there's no assurance that things won't unravel further." ========================================== Islamic State seizes large areas of Syrian town despite air strikes Thu, Oct 09 18:43 PM EDT image 1 of 7 By Daren Butler and Oliver Holmes MURSITPINAR Turkey/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters seized more than a third of the Syrian border town of Kobani, a monitoring group said on Thursday, as U.S.-led air strikes failed to halt their advance and Turkish forces looked on without intervening. With Washington ruling out a ground operation in Syria, Turkey said it was unrealistic to expect it to mount a cross-border operation alone to relieve the mainly Kurdish town. The U.S. military said Kurdish forces appeared to be holding out in the town, which lies within sight of Turkish territory, following new air strikes in the area against a militant training camp and fighters. Washington said U.S. forces launched nine air strikes on Thursday against Islamic State militants north and south of Kobani, striking some fighting units and destroying four buildings held by the group. U.S. forces also conducted two air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq. But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State, still widely known by its former acronym of ISIS, had pushed forward on Thursday. "ISIS control more than a third of Kobani - all eastern areas, a small part of the northeast and an area in the southeast," said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Observatory, which monitors the Syrian civil war. The commander of Kobani's heavily outgunned Kurdish defenders confirmed that the militants had made major gains, after a three-week battle that has also caused the worst street clashes in years between Turkish police and Kurdish protesters. In Turkey's eastern province of Bingol, two police officers were killed and a police chief was seriously wounded in an attack, CNN Turk television reported, while clashes elsewhere killed four protesters. Militia chief Esmat al-Sheikh put the area controlled by Islamic State, which controls large amounts of territory in Syria and neighboring Iraq, at about a quarter of the town. "The clashes are ongoing, street battles," he said by telephone from the town. Explosions rocked Kobani throughout the day, with black smoke visible from the Turkish border a few km (miles) away. Islamic State hoisted its black flag in the town overnight and a stray projectile landed 3 km (2 miles) inside Turkey. The town's defenders say the United States is giving only token support with its air strikes, while Turkish tanks sent to the frontier look on but do nothing to defend the town, where the United Nations says only a few hundred remain. Over 180,000 people from the city and surrounding area have fled into Turkey. UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, played down the chances of its forces going to the aid of Kobani. "It is not realistic to expect Turkey to conduct a ground operation on its own," he told a news conference with visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg. He added: "We are holding talks ... Once there is a common decision, Turkey will not hold back from playing its part." Ankara resents suggestions from Washington it is not pulling its weight, and wants broader joint action that also targets the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"We strongly reject allegations of Turkish responsibility for the ISIS advance," said a senior Ankara government source. "Our allies, especially the U.S. administration, dragged their feet for a very long time before deciding to take action against the catastrophic events happening in Syria," he added.

Turkey has long advocated action against Assad during the civil war, which grew out of a popular uprising in 2011. But the United States called off air strikes on Damascus government forces at the last minute last year when Assad agreed to give up his chemical weapons. It has also managed so far to fly sorties across Syria with tacit consent from Assad. Kerry said Islamic State's advance on Kobani was a tragedy but would not deter the U.S. coalition from its long-term strategy in the region. "Kobani is a tragedy because it represents the evil of ISIS, but it is not the definition either of the strategy or the full measure of what is happening with response to ISIS," he told reporters in Boston. "We are only a few weeks into building the coalition," Kerry said. "The primary goal of this effort has been to provide the space for Iraq to be able to get its government in place and to begin to push back and to begin to be able to deprive them (Islamic State militants) of their command and control, their supply centers and their training. That is taking place." Retired U.S. General John Allen, asked by President Barack Obama to oversee the creation and work of the anti-Islamic State coalition, was in Ankara on Thursday for two days of talks with Turkey's leaders. President Tayyip Erdogan wants the U.S.-led alliance to enforce a "no-fly zone" to prevent Assad's air force flying over Syrian territory near the Turkish border, and to create a safe area for around 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey to return. Stoltenberg said neither had been discussed by NATO. TURKISH CLASHES The anger felt by Turkey's Kurds over Ankara's failure to help their brethren in Syria threatens to unravel a fragile peace process that Erdogan hoped would end a 30-year armed struggle for autonomy by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). At least 25 people died in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey on Wednesday during clashes between security forces and Kurds demanding that the government do more to help Kobani. On Thursday, two policemen came under attack in Bingol's city center while they were inspecting shops damaged in demonstrations earlier this week. No group claimed responsibility for the killings. Four people were killed and 20 were wounded in the southern border province of Gaziantep when armed clashes broke out between protesters demonstrating in solidarity with Kobani and groups opposing them. The violence had prompted curfews to be imposed in five southeastern provinces, restrictions unseen since the height of the PKK's war against Turkish forces in the 1990s, and streets were calmer as a result. Erdogan said protesters had exploited the events in Kobani as an excuse to sabotage the peace process. Selahattin Demirtas, head of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which had urged Turkish Kurds to take to the streets this week, denied that they had provoked violence. He appealed for calm and said jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan had called for talks with the government to be stepped up. Kurdish leaders in Syria have asked Ankara, so far in vain, to establish a corridor through Turkey to allow aid and possibly arms and fighters to reach Kobani. Ankara is suspicious of Syria's Kurds for having achieved self-rule by tacit agreement with Assad after he lost control of the region to anti-government rebels, and fears this could revive secessionist aspirations among its own Kurds. Turkish police fired tear gas against Kurdish protesters in the town of Suruc near the border overnight, and the shutters of most shops remained closed in a traditional mark of protest. Ferdi, a 21-year-old Turkish Kurd watching the smoke rising from Kobani, said if the town fell, the conflict would spread to Turkey. "In fact," he said, "it already has spread here." (Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul and Orhan Coskun, Tulay Karadeniz and Jonny Hogg in Ankara, Scott Malone in Boston and Peter Cooney in Washington; Editing by David Stamp, Kevin Liffey and Ken Wills) ============= Iraqi soldiers man a checkpoint in Basra, in December 2007. (ATEF HASSAN/Reuters) By Ali Abu Iraq and Ben Lando of Iraq Oil Report Published Thursday, October 9th, 2014 Four people were kidnapped Wednesday in Basra, including an Iraqi oil worker – the latest in a series of violent incidents that have prompted provincial leaders to revise security plans.Iraq's oil capital is far south of the territory controlled by militants of the so-called Islamic State (IS), whose war against the Iraqi state has effectively shut down the country's northern oil sector. To counter that threat, many Basra security force regulars have been called up north, leaving something. ========== Iraq’s north export infrastructure destroyed Iraq’s north export infrastructure destroyed Iraq’s Oil Police secure the site of a burning oil pipeline near the northern city of Kirkuk on July 3, 2006, after it was bombed by insurgents. (MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP/Getty Images) By Ben Lando, Ben Van Heuvelen, Patrick Osgood, Rawaz Tahir and Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published Thursday, September 11th, 2014 Key infrastructure along the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) corridor that has been fully controlled by insurgents since June has been damaged so badly that, even if security were restored, it would take years to repair.The long-term incapacitation of Iraq's northern export pipeline deprives the country of a major revenue stream and creates an added incentive for Baghdad to pursue political reconciliation with the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has built pipelines that cou... ================= Shootout between ‘allies’ underscores Iraq divisions Shootout between ‘allies’ underscores Iraq divisions Shia militiamen brandish their weapons in the town of Tuz Khurmatu on Aug. 31, 2014. (STRINGER/Reuters) By By Christine van den Toorn, Shwan Lacky and Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 Ethnic and sectarian tensions are approaching a breaking point in the volatile northern city of Tuz Khurmatu, following an Oct. 3 gun battle between Shia militia and Kurdish fighters.The shootout, which injured at least four people, highlighted not only a rivalry between Kurds and Shia, but also the widespread mistrust and mistreatment of Sunnis. It was another worrying sign that violence and sectarianism will continue to plague Iraq even after the extremist militants of the so-called Islam... ================ UPDATE 1-Iraq cuts output targets in revised oil deals with BP, CNPC Thu, Sep 04 08:21 AM EDT (Adds BP comment, details, quotes, background) By Aref Mohammed BASRA, Iraq, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Iraq signed revised contracts with foreign oil companies for two southern oilfields on Thursday that reduced their production targets and extended the life of the deals, Iraqi oil officials said. The revised deal with oil major BP for Iraq's giant Rumaila oilfield cut the planned plateau level to 2.1 million barrels per day from 2.85 million bpd, Salah Mohammad, general manager of the Rumaila Operating Organisation, told Reuters. Iraq also agreed with China's CNPC to slash the final output target from the Halfaya oilfield to 400,000 bpd from 535,000 bpd, Adnan Noshi, head of state-run Maysan Oil Co, said. Iraq had set an overall production capacity target of 12 million bpd by 2020, which would rival that of top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, after it signed service contracts in 2009-2010 to develop its southern oilfields. Oil majors working in Iraq include BP, leader at Rumaila; ExxonMobil, in charge of West Qurna 1; and Royal Dutch Shell, operator of Majnoon. But crumbling infrastructure, red tape and a lack of clear oil legislation have stunted investor interest. Iraq has repeatedly failed to reach its ambitious targets, and current output from the southern fields is around 3 million bpd. Baghdad has reduced the overall capacity target to 8.5-9 million bpd and returned to the negotiating table to discuss revised plateau production rates with oil companies. NEW GOALS Rumaila, the workhorse of Iraq's oil industry which BP operates with CNPC, has estimated reserves of 17 billion barrels. It currently produces around 1.3 million bpd, Salah said, adding he expected that output level to remain steady for the rest of the year. Officials from BP and Iraq's oil ministry signed the amendment to the existing contract, originally agreed in 2009, in a closed-door meeting at Rumaila on Thursday. "Iraq and BP have reached an agreement to cut Rumaila's production target to 2.1 million bpd," Salah said. "It was (also) agreed to extend the timeframe to reach the new final production of 2.1 million bpd to 10 years from seven years that had been agreed upon before," he added. A BP spokesman said that under the amendment to the existing technical service agreement, the partners "plan to raise plateau production by about 800,000 b/d within the next decade to some 2.1 million b/d". CNPC, operator of Halfaya, is developing the field with France's Total and Malaysian state company Petronas . Maysan's Noshi said Halfaya's amended contract had been extended to 30 years from 20. Halfaya currently produces 200,000 bpd and it is expected to boost output to 230,000 bpd by the end of this year, he added. Iraq's giant southern fields have not been affected by Baghdad's fighting with Islamist insurgents. (Reporting by Aref Mohammed; Additional reporting and writing by Rania El Gamal; editing by Jane Baird) ========= Siege of Kobani: Insider video shows ISIS militants advance Published time: October 11, 2014 18:54 Conflict, Military, Syria, Terrorism, Turkey, War As fierce fighting continues for the Kurdish city of Kobani near the Turkish-Syrian border, a video was posted online showing the advance of the jihadists. There are widespread fears the town’s capture may result in a bloody massacre. The video was posted online on Friday by a group connected to ISIS to show militants using rocket propelled grenades and sledgehammers while advancing inside the besieged city of Kobani. As of Friday, the jihadists controlled 40 percent of the area. ISIS now controls 40% of Kobani – top US official The two-minute long clip shows the scenes of fight in the streets, militants changing dispositions and aiming fire. The jihadists are equipped with different kinds of weapons including tommy-guns and shotguns. AP reported that the video has been authenticated against known locations and events by regional experts. AP cites a Kurdish official as saying that fighting was mainly taking place in the southern and eastern parts of the city. READ MORE: Battle for Baghdad: ISIS now within 8 miles of airport, armed with MANPADS Many Kurds in neighboring Turkey took part in protests appealing to the government to intervene and to let Turkish Kurds cross the border and participate in defense of the town. Despite airstrikes by the US-led coalition, the IS fighters advanced this week. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the town's Kurdish fighters are being outgunned by the militants. UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura warned Friday that if Kobani falls to ISIS, thousands of civilians there would “most likely be massacred.” He urged Turkey to prevent the slaughter. "Do you remember Srebrenica? We do. We never forgot and probably we never forgave ourselves," de Mistura told journalists. READ MORE: 1.8 million fleeing ISIS in deadly, life-threatening situation - UN At least 500 people have been killed and more than 200,000 forced to flee into Turkey since the IS jihadists started an assault on Kobani in mid-September. =========