Many Islamic State leaders trying to flee to Syria: Iraqi minister

[uawchild]

Source: Reuters

Many Islamic State leaders have fled Mosul with their families toward Syria ahead of a planned offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces on the city, Iraq's defense minister said on Saturday.

Khaled al-Obeidi said he had intelligence of increasing conflict, especially over financial issues, among ultra-hardline militants of the group known as Daesh in Arabic by its enemies.

"Many Daesh families and leaders in Mosul have sold their property and sneaked out towards Syria, and a segment even tried to sneak out towards (Iraq's Kurdish) region", he said in an interview on state television.

Islamic State has lost at least half the territory it seized in Iraq in 2014. The group has also lost territory in Syria, where it emerged amid a civil war which is now in its sixth year, but U.S.-backed rebel forces there have had less success in beating it back.

Fighters in Mosul, the group's de facto capital in Iraq and the largest city under its control anywhere across its self-proclaimed caliphate, are thought to number in the thousands but probably under 10,000.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-idUSKCN10A0OX

[6chars]

1. This is what makes us better than them

They would never give their victims the opportunity to flee. They would kill their victims while they are fleeing.

[geek tragedy]

2. I'm guessing they're smuggling themselves out.

If we had a clean shot at IS leaders they'd be dead.

[uawchild]

3. "They Call This The Highway Of Death, And You'll Cringe When You Learn Why"

"When you think about war crimes, you don't often hear much about those that happened during the Gulf War of the early 1990s.
It might surprise you to hear that the biggest crime during that battle was actually committed by American forces against retreating Iraqi soldiers. It's known today as the Highway of Death incident, and it occurred back in February of 1991.

On February 22, 1991, Iraq agreed to a Soviet-proposed ceasefire that would allow it to withdraw its troops from Kuwait. However, the George H. W. Bush administration refused to believe that the Iraqi government had actually agreed to those terms.

On the night of February 26, 1991, the Iraqi army formed a massive column and began retreating using Highway 80, which connected Iraq and Kuwait. That's when coalition forces attacked.

U.S. and Canadian air force planes bombed the front and rear of the column to prevent a retreat.

For the next several hours, coalition forces dropped hundreds of bombs on the trapped soldiers, slaughtering everyone and destroying every vehicle in sight."


When the sun rose the next morning, the highway was littered with mangled vehicles and thousands of bodies. This road has since been dubbed the Highway of Death.
http://www.viralnova.com/highway-of-death/