Iraqi and coalition planes step up air raids in advance of a ground offensive to drive out ISIL from town west of Mosul.

Hundreds of exhausted civilians were brought by Iraqi army trucks from the front line to a humanitarian collection point west of Mosul [Balint Szlanko/AP]

by Al Jazeera

Thousands of Iraqis have fled an ISIL-held town west of Mosul as Iraqi and coalition warplanes step up attacks before a ground offensive to drive out the group.

Iraqi warplanes carried out air attacks on Tuesday against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) positions in Tal Afar in preparation for a ground assault to retake the town near the Syrian border, the military said.

Plans to retake Tal Afar were announced on Monday by federal police chief Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat, who said “armoured and elite units” were headed for the town.

Tal Afar and the surrounding area is one of the last pockets territory held by ISIL in Iraq, after victory was declared against them in July in Mosul, the country’s second-largest city.

The town of Tal Afar, about 150 kilometres east of the Syrian border, sits along a major road that was once a key ISIL supply route.

On Monday, hundreds of exhausted civilians were brought by Iraqi army trucks from the front line to a humanitarian collection point just west of Mosul. Many described a harrowing journey of a day or more from Tal Afar, with no food or water.

‘There was nothing’

Jassem Aziz Tabo, an elderly man who arrived with his 12-member family, told The Associated Press he had left Tal Afar months ago and gone to a village on the outskirts to escape hunger, air raids and violence from ISIL.

“Those who tried to escape were captured and shot in the head. They killed my son,” he said. “He tried to escape, he was caught and they killed him.”

He said severe shortages have caused the price of food to skyrocket in Tal Afar, which has been besieged by Iraqi forces for months, with a kilogramme of sugar selling for $50.

“There was nothing. We were eating pieces of bread with water,” he said.

Alia Imad, a mother of three whose family paid $300 to a smuggler to lead them to safety, said there is no drinking water left in the town. “Most people drink water that’s not clean. The majority are surviving on that and a bit of bread,” she said.

The group she was with had come under fire during their escape from ISIL, she said. A woman was killed, and they had to bury her by the road.

Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator, told AP that the conditions in Tal Afar are “very tough”.

“Thousands of people are leaving, seeking safety and assistance. Families escaping northeast are trekking 10 and up to 20 hours to reach mustering points. They are exhausted and many are dehydrated when they finally arrive,” she said.

Shia groups to take part in battle

Anwar Hama, of the Iraqi air force, told AP that air raids this week have targeted ISIL headquarters, tunnels and weapons’ stores.

But Iraqi forces, closely backed by the US-led coalition, are not expected to push into the town for another few weeks, according to an Iraqi officer overseeing the operation. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Iraqi army, federal police and special forces units are expected to participate in the operation, as well as state-sanctioned mostly Shia armed groups known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces.

The Shia fighters largely stayed out of the operation to retake Mosul, a mostly Sunni city, but have vowed to play a bigger role in Tal Afar, which was mostly Shia before it fell to ISIL. Shia fighters captured Tal Afar’s airport, on the outskirts of the town, last year.

Their participation in the coming offensive could heighten sectarian and regional tensions. Tal Afar was once home to Shia and Sunni Arabs, as well as a sizable ethnic Turkmen community with close ties to neighbouring Turkey.

Turkish officials have expressed concern that once territory is liberated from ISIL, Iraqi Kurdish or Shia forces may push out Sunni Arabs or ethnic Turkmen.

On Monday, the Iraqi army began moving an armoured brigade to the front line south of Tal Afar, while an infantry division was deployed about 30km to the town’s east.

The United Nations says some 49,000 people have fled the Tal Afar district since April, compounding a humanitarian crisis that has lingered despite the cessation of major fighting inside Mosul.

It says nearly a million people were displaced by the Mosul campaign.

Leaked emails show Mohammed bin Salman expressing desire to end conflict during talks with former US officials.

Otaiba, UAE’s ambassador to the US, has described the crown prince as ‘pragmatic’ [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has told two former US officials that he “wants out” of the two-year war he started in Yemen, and that he is not against US rapprochement with Iran, according to leaked emails published by Middle East Eye.

The revelation sheds light on the thinking of Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the 31-year-old heir to the Saudi throne, also known as MBS.

The leaks pertain to discussions he held on the Middle East with Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel, and Steven Hadley, who served as US national security adviser during George W Bush’s presidency.

The conversation took place at least one month before Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar, accusing it of trying to undermine their war in Yemen and for having friendly relations with Iran.

The details of the meeting between MBS and the former American officials were revealed in an email exchange between Indyk and Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador in Washington, DC.

The email exchange was obtained by the GlobalLeaks campaign group, according to Middle East Eye.

MBS’s doubts about Decisive Storm further undermine the position of the Yemeni president in exile, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, in whose name the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthis and their allies was launched.

In one email, Otaiba and Indyk can be seen discussing the difference between the young MBS and the elder leadership of Saudi Arabia, with the former describing him as a “pragmatic leader”.

The emails also paint a picture of how Otaiba and the UAE leadership view the future Saudi Arabia.

‘Emirati imperialism’

The emails further reveal conversations between Otaiba and Elliott Abrams, former Bush administration official and pro-Israel hawk, who describes the UAE’s objectives in the region as the “new hegemon” and “Emirati imperialism”.

The conflict in Yemen has escalated dramatically since March 2015, when Saudi-led forces launched a military operation against the Iran-allied Houthi fighters.

Since the conflict began, more than 10,000 people have been killed, and millions have been driven from their homes.

The Saudi-led operation has been blamed for the spread of cholera in Yemen, where an estimated 500,000 have reportedly been afflicted.

In the exchange, Indyk was quoted as telling Otaiba that MBS made it “quite clear” to him and Hadley that “he is OK with the US engaging Iran as long as it is co-ordinated [sic] in advance and the objectives are clear.”

Indyk was contacted by Middle East Eye and presented with the substance of his email exchange with Otaiba. He refused to comment.

Otaiba did not reply to Middle East Eye’s request for comment.

Hadley said: “I cannot comment on what was a private conversation.”

The revelations come a day after Qasim al-Araji, Iraq’s interior minister, reportedly said that both Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and MBS had asked Baghdad to act as an intermediary and help mend relations between Riyadh and Tehran.

On July 30, MBS met Muqtada al-Sadr during the influential Iraqi Shia leader’s rare visit to Saudi Arabia.

Separately, Sadr visited the UAE on Sunday and met Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of UAE, and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sadr’s diplomacy

Sadr, an anti-American figure, commands a large following among the urban poor of Baghdad and the southern cities, including Saraya al-Salam, or the Peace Brigades armed group.

He is now seen as a nationalist who has repeatedly called for protests against corruption in the Iraqi government, and his supporters have staged huge protests in Baghdad calling for electoral reform.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Sunday, Saad Jawad, a political science professor at the London School of Economics, termed the Saudi-Iraqi diplomatic moves “odd”.

“If Saudi Arabia is [in a dispute] with Qatar about Qatar’s relationship with Iran … how could they ask the Iraqis to amend their relations with Iran?

“The Saudis know very well that Iraq is a little bit biased in [its] relations with the Iranians, and they are under the influence of the Iranians.”

Jawad said Saudi Arabia could have asked a more neutral broker such as Kuwait or Oman, both of whom have “good relations” with Iran.