Good morning. We'll get the live blog rolling this morning with some news stories that came in over night, starting with this one:
U.S. Says Air Strikes Killed Nearly 200 IS Militants In Major Iraq Battle
Nearly 200 Islamic State militants were killed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes during a major battle in northern Iraq this week, the U.S. military said on December 18.
U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the coalition in Baghdad, said about 500 militants carried out a major offensive against Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the northern province of Ninevah on December 16, and the coalition responded by dropping nearly 100 bombs on them.
"Air power alone killed nearly 200 of them, about 187 by last count," Warren told Pentagon reporters in a video call.
"So, a significant blow to this enemy. And then, of course, ground forces. We don't have a good count yet for how much damage the pesh were able to inflict on this enemy during the course of this fairly long battle. But we know it was significant," he said.
"This is the most significant attack that the enemy has been able to mount, really since Ramadi [was captured in May]. And, if this is all they've got, things are going to begin to get worse and worse for this enemy," Warren said.
(Reuters, AFP)
There have also been reports of a deadly friendly fire incident in Iraq:
U.S. Air Strike Likely Killed Iraqi Soldiers In First Friendly Fire Incident
An air strike by the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) may have inadvertently killed as many as 10 Iraqi soldiers, in the first "friendly fire" incident in the war on the extremist group.
The incident on December 18 described by the U.S. military appears to be the same one that Iraq's joint operations command said left 10 Iraqi soldiers killed or wounded south of Fallujah in western Iraq.
"Despite coordination with the Iraqi security forces on the ground, initial reports indicate the possibility one of the strikes resulted in the death of Iraqi soldiers," the Pentagon said, adding that it is investigating the matter.
"The coalition offers condolences on the unfortunate loss of life of brave Iraq security forces on the front lines in the fight against Daesh today," the Pentagon said, using the Arab acronym for the militant group.
The air strikes were conducted at the request of Iraqi security forces and using information they provided, the Pentagon said.
"To the best of our knowledge, there have been no previous incidents of friendly fire in Iraq involving the coalition during the course of Operation Inherent Resolve," it said.
(AP, AFP, Reuters)
Our news desk has been getting reports of more migrant/refugee deaths in the Mediterranean:
Boat Capsizes Off Turkey, 18 Migrants Killed
Eighteen people have died and 14 have been rescued after a boat carrying migrants trying to sail to Greece sank off the southern Turkish town of Bodrum.
Dogan News Agency reports that the wooden boat capsized some 3.5 kilometers off the Turkish coast on December 18. It was carrying migrants from Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria.
Those rescued were taken to the hospital in Bodrum, many in serious condition, the agency said.
A record 500,000 refugees, often from Syria and Iraq, have travelled through Turkey and then risked their lives at sea to reach Greek islands this year.
Despite the winter conditions and rougher seas, the exodus has continued but at a slower pace.
Nearly 600 people have died this year on the so-called eastern Mediterranean Sea route for migrants, according to the International Organization for Migration.
(Reuters, Hurriyet Daily News)
Here's an update from our news desk on the Iraq friendly fire incident:
Iraq Says Nine Soldiers Killed In Coalition "Friendly Fire" Incident
Baghdad says 9 Iraqi soldiers were killed when U.S.-led coalition war planes mistakenly struck at troops near the city of Fallujah.
Iraq's Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said the incident on December 18 "occurred as coalition air forces were covering the advance of army ground troops near Fallujah because the Iraqi Army helicopters were not able to fly due to the bad weather."
The U.S. earlier it is investigating the incident. It called the bombing the first case of friendly fire in Iraq involving the coalition during the course of Operation Inherent Resolve, which is aimed at combating the Islamic State extremist group.
The Pentagon said the air strikes were conducted at the request of Iraqi security forces and using information they provided.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
The Economist has just published a nice piece aimed at dispelling some of the myths surrounding the original caliphate. Here's a taster:
For 1,300 years the caliphs, or “successors”, prided themselves on developing the Islamic community the Prophet Muhammad left behind. The Ottoman Empire, which rivalled the Roman one in longevity, came to include not only the Middle East, but north Africa, much of the north Black Sea coast, and south-eastern Europe all the way to the gates of Vienna. Ruling from Istanbul, the caliphs kept polyglot courts, reflecting the multiple religions and races represented there. French was a lingua franca at the Ottoman court; Persian, Armenian and Arabic were also spoken.
The caliphs were far from doctrinaire. Abdulhamid II, who ruled from 1876 to 1909, was one of the more Islamist, but he loved music (forbidden by IS) with a passion. He grew up in a court where the princesses played a piano coated in gold leaf given by Napoleon III, and Layla Hanoum taught the princes the cello. On Thursday evenings he would accompany Sufi masters in reciting the dhikr (rhythmic repetition of the name of God), and his imperial orchestra would play Offenbach on the way back from Friday prayers at the mosque. At state banquets the orchestra would match each course to a different concerto, including some by “Pasha” Giuseppe Donizetti, Gaetano’s older brother, who was the court composer. The last caliph, Abdulmecid II, played the violin, entertaining a mixed audience of men and women at concerts.
Far from reading only the Koran and the Muslim Sunnah, Abdulhamid II had a taste for spy novels and Sarah Bernhardt, the greatest actress of her age, whom he brought several times to his private theatre. “In politics Abdulhamid was conservative,” says Suraiya Farooqi, a professor of Ottoman history at Istanbul’s Bilgi University. “In private, his tastes were distinctly Verdi.” The Ottomans paraded in the latest fashions, often imported from Venice. Photographs in the vaults of the old Ottoman Bank show their clerks in pristine English frock-coats. In 1894 the governor of Smyrna, now Izmir, even banned the baggy trousers worn by mountain zeybeks (militias) because he found them uncouth.
Read the entire article here