Kurdish Forces Defeated by IS Near Ba’Shiqa, in Nineveh, Iraq

These images were taken by Islamic State mercenaries a few months ago and they help to highlight the issue that I presented last time. The Kurds, particularly the Peshmerga, are seriously underfunded and underpowered and back in June, they suffered some heavy losses because of it. They were also forced to withdraw early from the mountains while protecting a Yazidi village due to lack of manpower and firepower. Many Yazidi women and young girls were abducted and their fate is largely unknown, which unfortunately tarnished the Peshmerga image as a ruthless and fearless fighting force. Even though they have been defeated here, I will support them still over the IS religious fanatics, these Daesh cockroaches and traitor Europeans who have enlisted with this gang of psychopaths. In recent weeks, Peshmerga have managed to strengthen as a unit due to seized weapons caches in victories against the Islamic State and through siding with other Kurds like the PKK and YPG from Turkey and Syria, respectively. US airstrikes have also played a big role, although I’m unsure of just what the US intentions really are, but I can hazard a good guess.

So, here are some images showing Peshmerga and what looks like at least one PKK member. The man in blue with the identification might be a civilian, possibly executed hostage. But look at the landscape of Nineveh. Wide open, arid desert. No place to hide, many kilometers of flat land, not even trees to hide behind. Making each fight a desperate affair, especially for a people who rely mostly on guerrilla tactics (PKK) and who were lacking in long range weapons and ammo (Peshmerga). I don’t think I even need to mention that Nineveh is a rich source of oil that has also been very disputed between the Kurds and the Baghdad government.

The Peshmerga would go on to win victory at the city of Mosul, another key point. The major battle was for the Mosul Dam, a strategic target for the IS forces, as controlling water would literally mean life or death for hundreds of thousands. Most of the entire area had been left by the civilian populace, with dozens and dozens of cars just abandoned as the IS forces got closer. It looked almost post-apocalyptic, like a Mad Max film. As I mentioned, their own government as well as the Iraqi government have set up these brave men and women before. So who they will ultimately end up loyal to in terms of superpowers, be it US or Israel or Iraq I cannot say with any certainty at this point but I do know that they are devoted to a Greater Kurdistan, a real Kurdistan and will do what they need to in order to achieve that.

But they weren’t so lucky this time.