Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• After IS kidnap and oppression, Iraqi girls eager to get lives back
• French priest reveals IS child jihadist training
• Civilian casualties from Mosul are overwhelming capacity, U.N. warns
• Iraqi troops face stiff resistance from IS in eastern Mosul
• Iran appoints new chief for army's ground forces
• A charity that gives food – and frees hostages
• Three Iraq forces killed trying to defuse truck bomb
• The Knowns and Unknowns of Donald Trump's Foreign Policy
• Islamic State kills 12 Sunni tribal fighters, police south of Mosul
• Far from Mosul, Islamic State close to defeat in Libya's Sirte
• Illinois man sentenced for trying to join Islamic State
• Dutch expert: Islamic State has 60-80 operatives in Europe
• U.S. officials arrive in Australia to begin assessing asylum seekers

After IS kidnap and oppression, Iraqi girls eager to get lives back Posted: 19 Nov 2016 05:19 PM PST By John Davison NEAR BASHIQA, Iraq (Reuters) - The first thing Iraqi teenager Afrah did when she escaped Islamic State captivity near Mosul was to remove her face veil and throw it defiantly to the ground. The ultra-hardline militants kidnapped and used Afrah, 16, her older sister Asil and 14 other family members and relatives as human shields when they withdrew from the Iraqi city of Tikrit, her hometown around 200 km (125 miles) south, early last year. For a year and a half the family was trapped in the village of Bawiza just north of the jihadists' Iraqi stronghold.

French priest reveals IS child jihadist training Posted: 19 Nov 2016 01:28 PM PST Islamic State group may be teetering on the brink of collapse but the jihadists are creating an entire new generation of would-be terrorists, according to a book written by a French Catholic priest describing the daily lives of three young boys. The Yazidi children -- forced into training camps by IS -- spend their days studying the Koran and learning to fire automatic weapons and even have their own custom-made bomb belts. "The Daesh (another term for IS) training camps are machines that crush children until they forget where they come from" and "feel close to their torturers, ready to fight for them with their lives", said Patrick Desbois, who collected the testimonies of the children.

Civilian casualties from Mosul are overwhelming capacity, U.N. warns Posted: 19 Nov 2016 12:52 PM PST By Stephen Kalin ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Mounting civilian casualties from fighting in eastern Mosul between Iraqi forces and Islamic State are overwhelming the capacity of the government and international aid groups, the United Nations said on Saturday. Nearly 200 wounded civilians and military personnel were transferred to hospital last week, the highest level since the campaign to push the jihadists out of their last major stronghold in Iraq began on Oct. 17, said Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq. The proportion of civilians among the wounded also appears to be on the rise, reaching 20 percent in the first month of the offensive, according to a Department of Health official, though part of the increase is likely due to improved access to areas newly retaken from Islamic State.

Iraqi troops face stiff resistance from IS in eastern Mosul Posted: 19 Nov 2016 11:05 AM PST MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi troops faced stiff resistance Saturday from Islamic State militants as they pushed deeper into eastern Mosul, backed by aerial support from the U.S.-led international coalition, a senior military commander said.

Iran appoints new chief for army's ground forces Posted: 19 Nov 2016 09:13 AM PST TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The website of Iran's Supreme Leader is reporting that he has appointed a new chief for the national army's ground forces.

A charity that gives food – and frees hostages Posted: 19 Nov 2016 08:27 AM PST It was before 6 a.m., and Imtiaz Sooliman was already wide awake. Dr. Sooliman runs Africa's largest humanitarian aid organization, a South African charity called Gift of the Givers Foundation, and describes himself as a man who gives "four thirds" of his time to his work. On Dec. 6, 2014, Sooliman, normally a blur of movement in his green Gift of the Givers tracksuit, was the one waiting.

Three Iraq forces killed trying to defuse truck bomb Posted: 19 Nov 2016 06:02 AM PST Three members of the Iraqi security forces were killed Saturday when an Islamic State group truck bomb they were trying to defuse exploded west of Baghdad, police officials said. A large truck packed with explosives was intercepted by security forces in the Tamim neighbourhood of Ramadi, the main city in Iraq's vast western province of Anbar. "Three members of the police's disposal team, one of them a lieutenant colonel, were killed and the head of the squad was wounded, as they tried to defuse the truck," said a police lieutenant colonel.

The Knowns and Unknowns of Donald Trump's Foreign Policy Posted: 19 Nov 2016 01:50 AM PST By the time modern American presidents receive the keys to the White House, learn the identities of intelligence assets around the world, and obtain the nuclear-weapons codes, they have traditionally been well-defined, both by their long careers in public service and by an arduous election campaign. Their positions have been anchored to a coherent worldview and governing philosophy. Their character judgment has been revealed by the wide circle of experts and advisers drawn to the cause. Their policy positions have been detailed in extensive white papers. Their decision-making has been illuminated through close scrutiny of past votes and personal history. Yet despite dominating the spotlight of one of the most-watched and bitterly contested presidential campaigns in U.S. history, President-elect Donald J. Trump will enter the Oval Office on January 20 as an enigma in many important respects.

Islamic State kills 12 Sunni tribal fighters, police south of Mosul Posted: 19 Nov 2016 01:08 AM PST Islamic State killed seven Sunni tribal fighters who support the Iraqi government and five policemen on Saturday in a town south of Mosul, the insurgents' last major city stronghold in Iraq, local security sources said. The tribal fighters and police were gunned down at two fake checkpoints set up by the insurgents in Shirqat, a Sunni town between Mosul and Baghdad, they said. Islamic State has escalated attacks on forces and officials opposed to its rule as it fights off a military campaign to retake Mosul, the largest city in the "caliphate" it declared in 2014 over parts of Iraq and Syria.

Far from Mosul, Islamic State close to defeat in Libya's Sirte Posted: 19 Nov 2016 12:48 AM PST By Patrick Markey SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - After six months of heavy fighting, Libyan forces have advanced so deep into the strategic city of Sirte that they can pick out the Tunisian and Egyptian accents of their Islamic State enemies as they trade insults over the frontline. Victory is imminent on this remote front of the war against Islamic State, with the last few militants staging a last stand in a small area of just one square kilometer (0.4 square mile), U.S. and Libyan officials say. "They know they will die anyway so they fight well." Defeat in Sirte will damage Islamic State's ability to show it is expanding globally and deprive it of a foothold outside Iraq and Syria.

Illinois man sentenced for trying to join Islamic State Posted: 18 Nov 2016 11:48 PM PST By Timothy Mclaughlin CHICAGO (Reuters) - A would-be Islamic State recruit who worked in a Chicago-area hardware store was sentenced on Friday to more than three years in prison for seeking to join the militant group, federal prosecutors said. In exchange for a more lenient sentence than he might otherwise have faced if tried and convicted, Mohammed Hamzah Khan, 21, pleaded guilty last year to a charge of attempting to provide material support, namely himself, to a terrorist organization. Khan's lawyer said at the time of the plea that his client had been brainwashed by online propaganda.

Dutch expert: Islamic State has 60-80 operatives in Europe Posted: 18 Nov 2016 11:20 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — Intelligence experts estimate that the Islamic State extremist group has between 60 and 80 operatives planted in Europe to carry out attacks, the Dutch counterterrorism coordinator said Friday.

U.S. officials arrive in Australia to begin assessing asylum seekers Posted: 18 Nov 2016 09:30 PM PST By Harry Pearl SYDNEY (Reuters) - U.S. officials have arrived in Australia to begin assessing asylum seekers held on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island and Nauru for resettlement in the United States, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Saturday. Australia announced last week it had reached a deal in which the United States would take a substantial number of the 1,200 refugees held at the Australian-funded offshore processing centers, although the election of Donald Trump has injected uncertainty into the agreement.

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