Updates On Current Situations In Iraq

Iraqi Security Forces In Dhuluiya

It appears that Iraqi's are starting to get a boost in Morale across the north of the country. While they've suffered many losses over the past year they are starting to band together and fight back.

Iraqi forces backed by Shia and Arab militias retook Dhuluiya from ISIS militants this week. There were many losses on both sides but the Iraqis prevailed and took back their town.

 A tribal member described the sacrifices they made when speaking with Al Monitor news;  "We lost 127 men from our town in the fight against Daesh [IS],” said Khalid, a fighter from the Jobour tribe, which fought alongside government forces and Shiite militias. “From the first day they entered this town, everything changed. Our life became hell, so we decided there’s no option but to kick them out.”

In Kirkuk province and the towns of Al Shajara and Gharib ISIS militants rode around in dozens of vehicles searching for the men who burned two of their flags. They rounded up 170 men who were imprisoned and will be interrogated to find out who was responsible for the flag burning.

The governor's office of Kirkuk released figures that Some 734 people have been killed and 2,064 others wounded in Kirkuk as a result of violent clashes and bombings in the city, officials said Friday.

The report also said that 30 car bombs and 540 roadside mines had targeted the city in the last year. Nine car bombs and 276 roadside explosives had effectively been defused. The report said 129 mid-range missiles had hit the city, 34 people were kidnapped and 54 bodies were also found in the city in the last year alone.

Over the weekend ISIS released a video featuring British Journalist John Cantlie in Mosul as a follow up to his last video in Kobane. Cantlie discussed the botched rescue attempts to free him and the incessant bombing campaign against the ISIS militants.

Meanwhile Najafai the exiled mayor of Mosul who is residing in Erbil said that he has over 10,000 Sunnis ready to take on the Islamic State. Najafai has been living in Erbil since ISIS over ran Mosul back in June and forces the Iraqi government and army to flee.

In Zumar on Friday the peshmerga continued to face off against ISIS in a effort to further push them away from Erbil and to cut off all supply routes to Mosul.