Global SITREP C9-14: ISIS Takes Mosul, Baiji and Tikrit in Iraq

UPDATE 13 June 2014: Exactly as forecast on Eschatology Today on 11 June, Iranian forces have intervened in Iraq in an attempt to bring to a quick halt the march of Sunni Al Qaeda- ISIS jihadists on the Shi'a strongholds in eastern Iraq. The Wall Street Journal reported in today's edition that two battalions of Iran's IRGC Qods Force along with the IRGC commander, General Qassem Suleimani. General Suleimani has apparently taken operational control of Iraqi defenses around Baghdad. The presence of Iranian Shi'a troops fighting alongside Iraqi Shi'a troops against Sunni Iraqi's on Iraqi soil will undoubtedly have the effect of throwing high-octane gasoline on an already raging inferno. This war has now entered a completely new paradigm far beyond anything seen previously on the Syrian Sunni versus Shi'a front lines. More barrel bombs and even chemical warfare are almost certain to be central to the coming escalation.

 12 June 2014: Al Qaeda's ISIS is now at a full gallop in what it calls "Operation Entering the Gates."  The "Gates" they intend to enter are those of Baghdad. As detailed below they have acquired as spoils of war in direct confrontation with the Iraqi Army more than enough resources to accomplish their mission. The Iraqi Army, armed with US-made M1A1 Main Battle Tanks, MRAP armored personnel carriers plus fixed and rotary-wing combat aircraft was summarily routed and brushed aside after just four days of contact with massed and well coordinated ISIS forces.

On the battlefield west of Mosul, a feint against the main Iraqi line was followed by a blitz on the Iraqi rear to the east of Mosul which tore open the Iraqi defenses and sent what remained of the defenders fleeing for their very lives. The ISIS field commander for this operation is the very stealthy jihadist known by the nom de guerre "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," but whose real name is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri. He may well prove to be the next Osama bin Laden of Islamic jihadism.

ISIS forces have not stopped their advance, but actually increased their pace of combat operations and are streaming southward towards Baghdad in two primary columns, and driving a thoroughly defeated Iraqi army before them. The Baghdad government of President Nouri al-Maliki now has nowhere else to turn but to his patrons in Tehran as the Obama Administration has effectively thrown his former Iraqi allies under the bus in favor of the AQ ISIS jihadists. Is this the price to be paid in Obama's neck-breaking gambit to achieve a suicidal nuclear deal with Tehran? Sure seems that way.

11 June 2014: Within 24 hours of taking Mosul the forces of ISIS have now taken Baiji (pop. 200,000) and Tikrit (pop. 260,000 and famous as the home of the late dictator Saddam Hussein) in Saladin Province. In Baiji these Sunni jihadists have taken control of Iraq's largest oil refinery and the heavily industrialized heartland of Iraq. The large power plant in Baiji is an electrical lifeline to Baghdad. Saladin Province is the very heart of ancient Assur. In addition, Al Qaeda's ISIS also took possession of more than $425 Million dollars of cold, hard cash from the Central Bank in Mosul, not to mention an entire division's worth of armored vehicles and munitions of every description.

Without immediate direct military intervention from the Shi'a Islamic Republic of Iran (which I believe is imminent) it's puppet regime in Baghdad and what is left of Iraq are living on borrowed time. The hasty, ill-advised and premature departure of American and Coalition forces in Iraq (ordered by Commander-In-Chief Barack Hussein Obama), the last of which departed just two and one-half years ago, have made this stunning victory by Al Qaeda's ISIS possible and made a extremely wasteful mockery of the objectives America and its allies fought for in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
 
10 June 2014: Directly above at the top of this continuing post is a graphic image published on this date by DEBKAfile. This image gets to the heart once again of what I have been discussing for some time now about the modern-day Assur as spoken of by the prophet Asaph in Psalm 83 verse 8. This map is showing us at this late hour the actual territory (shaded as Islamic green) of the tenth nation mentioned in the Psalm 83 enemy confederation and which is directly linked to Jordan (i.e. "the children of Lot").  

As essential background data I urge you to re-visit these previous Eschatology Today posts, and which also contain links to other posts on this blog dealing with the same subject.

Psalm 83 Verse 8: Assur - Syria or Iraq?

Global SITREP B11-13: Psalm 83 and AQ in Iraq

For illustrative and comparative purposes consider the above green shaded part of the image with the two lighter pink shaded areas of the image below.  Even though these two images are on different scales, they do effectively illustrate us how the terrorist non-state known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, occupies the exact same territory today as did Assur circa 1000 BC when Asaph was inspired to compose Psalm 83.

 Again, we watch current events which have every probability of becoming literally fulfilled prophecy before our witnessing eyes, and in this case what we are talking about is a prophecy which is simultaneously 3,000 years old but also as current as today's news.