Green Energy
ISIS Building Air Force, Moving Closer to Key Air Bases
Newsmax:
After commandeering Humvees, munitions, tanks, trucks, and possibly Blackhawk helicopters, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is closing in on Iraq's Balad Air Base, the nation's largest airfield, The Daily Beast reports.
The airfield — a key American outpost when U.S. troops were in the country — still houses an abundance of aircraft, including, according to the Beast, "Russian-made transport helicopters, surveillance planes, and a fleet of pickup trucks fitted with heavy machine guns."
Russia began sending Mi-35 attack and transport helicopters in December, and the base was awaiting delivery of American F-16 fighter jets set for September.
Balad is under heavy mortar fire and surrounded on three sides by insurgents. On June 13, Iraqi forces rescued American contractors working at Balad, flying them to Baghdad, which is 50 south of Balad Air Base.
Should ISIS succeed in seizing the assets at Balad, "it would mean strategic defeat for the Iraqi army," according to Jessica Lewis, research director for the Institute for the Study of War and a former U.S. Army intelligence officer who served in Iraq.
Balad and neighboring Taji base are likely some of the next targets of the ISIS campaign.
The bases are critical military sites for the Iraqi army. Balad houses a significant arsenal of equipment, a former contractor told The Daily Beast, including "at least 1,000 trucks and vehicles, some of them armored, along with 500 to 600 portable power generators … Russian-made Mi-8 transport helicopters, small surveillance planes, military tactical vehicles, Humvees, and a fleet of pickup trucks with machine guns mounted in the truck beds."
Before it was handed over to the Iraqis in November 2011, the Balad Air Base was considered one of the busiest airports in the entire region, and housed roughly 36,000 American personnel, according to Business Insider.
A senior U.S. military intelligence official told reporters this week that ISIS military capabilities have "dramatically improved" as a result of everything it has stolen.
Fox News reported last week that much of the equipment seized from Iraq is being shipped to al-Qaida rebels in Syria. ISIS posted its haul on social media.
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Newsmax: Iraqi Army Repels Attack on Base Hosting U.S. Marines Iraqi security forces on Friday repelled an attack by Islamic State insurgents against an air base in Anbar province where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops, Iraqi and U.S. military officials...
- Update On Balad: Under Ddss Fp, Balad Now Being Evacuated —-by The Iraqi Air Force
Because we Don’t Do Stupid Shit?FOX:Americans were being evacuated Thursday from a major Iraqi air base as Al Qaeda-aligned militants toppled cities in the country’s north and threatened to advance toward Baghdad. A senior...
- Update On Balad, Story ***appears*** To Be Factual
The latest report on several hundred hundred American military contractors, trapped and sometimes under fire since Wednesday at the Balad air base north of Baghdad, is that at least some of them have been evacuated to safety by Iraqi forces. That’s...
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Gateway Pundit: ISIS Terrorists Capture DOZENS of Military Vehicles from Iraqi Army ISIS released video of the dozens of military vehicles captured this week during the invasion of northern Iraq– The video is titled (translated): Dozens of military...
- Israeli Jets Training Over Iraq
... and landing at American Air Force bases. From Carl in Jerusalem: A source in the Iraqi defense ministry told a local news network on Friday that Israeli jets have been practicing flying over Iraq for the last month and then landing at US bases in...
Green Energy
ISIS Building Air Force, Moving Closer to Key Air Bases
Newsmax:
After commandeering Humvees, munitions, tanks, trucks, and possibly Blackhawk helicopters, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is closing in on Iraq's Balad Air Base, the nation's largest airfield, The Daily Beast reports.
The airfield — a key American outpost when U.S. troops were in the country — still houses an abundance of aircraft, including, according to the Beast, "Russian-made transport helicopters, surveillance planes, and a fleet of pickup trucks fitted with heavy machine guns."
Russia began sending Mi-35 attack and transport helicopters in December, and the base was awaiting delivery of American F-16 fighter jets set for September.
Balad is under heavy mortar fire and surrounded on three sides by insurgents. On June 13, Iraqi forces rescued American contractors working at Balad, flying them to Baghdad, which is 50 south of Balad Air Base.
Should ISIS succeed in seizing the assets at Balad, "it would mean strategic defeat for the Iraqi army," according to Jessica Lewis, research director for the Institute for the Study of War and a former U.S. Army intelligence officer who served in Iraq.
Balad and neighboring Taji base are likely some of the next targets of the ISIS campaign.
The bases are critical military sites for the Iraqi army. Balad houses a significant arsenal of equipment, a former contractor told The Daily Beast, including "at least 1,000 trucks and vehicles, some of them armored, along with 500 to 600 portable power generators … Russian-made Mi-8 transport helicopters, small surveillance planes, military tactical vehicles, Humvees, and a fleet of pickup trucks with machine guns mounted in the truck beds."
Before it was handed over to the Iraqis in November 2011, the Balad Air Base was considered one of the busiest airports in the entire region, and housed roughly 36,000 American personnel, according to Business Insider.
Fox News reported last week that much of the equipment seized from Iraq is being shipped to al-Qaida rebels in Syria. ISIS posted its haul on social media.
-
Newsmax: Iraqi Army Repels Attack on Base Hosting U.S. Marines Iraqi security forces on Friday repelled an attack by Islamic State insurgents against an air base in Anbar province where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops, Iraqi and U.S. military officials...
- Update On Balad: Under Ddss Fp, Balad Now Being Evacuated —-by The Iraqi Air Force
Because we Don’t Do Stupid Shit?FOX:Americans were being evacuated Thursday from a major Iraqi air base as Al Qaeda-aligned militants toppled cities in the country’s north and threatened to advance toward Baghdad. A senior...
- Update On Balad, Story ***appears*** To Be Factual
The latest report on several hundred hundred American military contractors, trapped and sometimes under fire since Wednesday at the Balad air base north of Baghdad, is that at least some of them have been evacuated to safety by Iraqi forces. That’s...
-
Gateway Pundit: ISIS Terrorists Capture DOZENS of Military Vehicles from Iraqi Army ISIS released video of the dozens of military vehicles captured this week during the invasion of northern Iraq– The video is titled (translated): Dozens of military...
- Israeli Jets Training Over Iraq
... and landing at American Air Force bases. From Carl in Jerusalem: A source in the Iraqi defense ministry told a local news network on Friday that Israeli jets have been practicing flying over Iraq for the last month and then landing at US bases in...