Update for Thursday, February 23, 2017

Iraqi forces have captured the Mosul airport, although some sources are suggesting that parts of the complex are not yet under government control. KUNA says that half the airport has been captured, along with portions of a nearby military base. (Note that the government commonly makes premature claims of complete control of territory. Many reports are saying the government has control of the entire airport but as of now I am skeptical. -- C)

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dunford says the military is preparing to present the president with a plan to defeat IS of "global scope". No specifics are available as of now.

The Pentagon acknowledges that U.S. troops have come under fire in the battle for Mosul and that some have been wounded and evacuated, but declines to say how many. (This has gotten so little publicity in the U.S. that I had to track it down from RT, which I normally stay away from. -- C)

UNHCR reports on progress toward accommodating civilians displaced from the Mosul battle. They are still well short of anticipated need, even as conditions in IS held territory grow increasingly desperate.

There are shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine. Half of all food shops have closed and most people can only access untreated water. Food prices are rocketing and there are reports of families burning furniture, clothing and plastic to stay warm. Conditions will deteriorate if civilians are not able to flee the fighting.

Update for Sunday, February 19, 2017

Iraqi PM Abadi announces start of offensive to recapture western Mosul. Iraqi federal police are attacking from the south, attempting to capture the airport. Planes dropped millions of leaflets on the city announcing the offensive and calling on Jihadis to surrender.

They claim to have taken several villages to the south and west of the city.

People in areas retaken from IS are purging every remaining vestige of their presence, including destroying the homes of IS members and digging up their graves.

A British general predicts the fight for Mosul will take 3 months.

An Iraqi human rights organization says that people in western Mosul are starving and that they know of 25 children who starved to death in January.

Update for Thursday, February 16, 2017

Car bomb attack on a used car market in Baghdad kills dozens. The linked report gives the death toll as 48, but reported casualty totals, as usual, have tended to rise over time. IS claims credit. This is the third car bomb attack in Baghdad in as many days, but by far the most deadly.

More than 46,000 people have returned to eastern Mosul, despite continuing attacks from IS by mortars and drones launched from areas still under IS control. (Apparently mostly meaning across the river.) However, due to the security situation the UN has temporarily suspended aid to government-held parts of the city. Rations for displaced people still in camps have also been cut due to a lack of international donations.

Iraqi government claims to have killed several IS leaders near Mosul in an air strike. However, other accounts attribute the action to the U.S.-led coalition.

Human Rights Watch accuses government-allied militias of destroying homes  and looting in villages bear Mosul.

In other news (sigh) the U.S. may enter ground combat in Syria, although the Pentagon has not presented as formal proposal as yet.

Update for Saturday, February 11, 2017

AFGHANISTAN

 Two U.S. soldiers are injured in a firefight in Helmand. An airstrike called in to support the action may have killed up to 25 civilians, according to local officials. One of the U.S. soldiers suffered a gunshot wound and has been transported out of the country. The other was lightly wounded by shrapnel and has returned to duty.

Suicide attack on an Afghan army vehicle in Lashkar Gah kills several soldiers and injures 15 people. Reported death totals vary, from 3 to 8. Seven is the most commonly cited number.

Gunmen kill a "counterterrorism officer" and his bodyguard in Badakhshan.

IRAQ

Sadrist rally in the capital results in deadly clashes between protesters and police. One police officer and four protesters are reported killed, as police fire tear gas and rubber-coated bullets. 

Suicide bombings, 1 in Mosul and 2 in Baghdad, kill 10 and injure 33. Other reports give higher casualty totals. Note that if this happened in a European country or the U.S., it would be a huge story. It is completely ignored by U.S. media.

U.S. drone attack targets IS operative Rachid Kassim near Mosul. Results are unknown.

Update for Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Afghanistan

Six Red Cross staffers are killed and 2 missing in Jowzjan , which has been affected by heavy snowfall. Provincial police chief Rahmatullah Turkistani attributes the attack to IS (DAESH). A Red Cross spokesperson says it is too early to say how the incident will affect operations.

IS claims responsibility for a suicide bomb attack Tuesday on the Supreme Court which killed 21 people and injured 41. This direct attack against the state is a new development for IS. The Taliban have been responsible for previous attacks on the court system.

Suicide bomber in Paktia kills two civilians in a failed attack on a police station.

Update for Monday, February 6, 2016

Once again, just one link.

Record spike in civilians killed in Afghanistan last year, according to a UN report.

The report documents 11,418 conflict-related civilian casualties, including 3,498 killed and 7,920 injured. Of these, 3,512 were children - 923 dead and 2,589 injured, up 24 per cent on the previous highest recorded figure. The figures, recorded by UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), are the highest since the UN began systematically documenting civilian casualty figures in 2009.

“The killing and maiming of thousands of Afghan civilians is deeply harrowing and largely preventable,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan. “All parties to the conflict must take immediate concrete measures to protect the ordinary Afghan men, women and children whose lives are being shattered.”

Anti-Government forces, mainly the Taliban, were responsible for almost two thirds of the casualties while pro-Government forces were responsible for almost one quarter. . . .

Airstrikes carried out by Afghan and international forces caused 590 civilian casualties (250 deaths and 340 injured) nearly double that recorded in 2015 and the highest since 2009.

UN press release available here.

Special update for Sunday, February 5, 2017

An investigation by the Military Times finds the Pentagon has failed to disclose thousands of lethal airstrikes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Excerpt:

The American military has failed to publicly disclose potentially thousands of lethal airstrikes conducted over several years in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, a Military Times investigation has revealed. The enormous data gap raises serious doubts about transparency in reported progress against the Islamic State, al-Qaida and the Taliban, and calls into question the accuracy of other Defense Department disclosures documenting everything from costs to casualty counts.

In 2016 alone, U.S. combat aircraft conducted at least 456 airstrikes in Afghanistan that were not recorded as part of an open-source database maintained by the U.S. Air Force, information relied on by Congress, American allies, military analysts, academic researchers, the media and independent watchdog groups to assess each war's expense, manpower requirements and human toll.

So what else is new?