This Week in War News: August 10-16, 2014

Iraq

Displaced Yazidis walk towards Syria. Photo: Reuters.

Iraq’s sectarian Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has stepped down. He will be replaced by Haider al-Abidi, who will hopefully form a more inclusive government.

The focus of the fighting remains in the Kurdish-populated areas of northern Iraq. The ever-brutal ISIS has massacred 80 Yazidis for refusing to convert to Islam, for a total of about 500. Some have been buried alive.

An American mission found the situation of the Yazidi refugees trapped on Mount Sinjar to be better than expected. The refugees are not in immediate need of evacuation. U.S. airstrikes and international humanitarian support continue. Canada and France are arming the Kurdish Peshmerga in their fight against ISIS; Britain has been conducting aerial surveillance of the terrorist group.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-to-help-shuttle-weapons-into-iraq-1.1961505

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iraqis-change-pm-challenges-loom-25004086?singlePage=true

http://news.sky.com/story/1319531/corpses-everywhere-after-iraq-massacre

http://www.dw.de/france-to-send-arms-to-kurdish-forces-in-iraq-in-coming-hours/a-17849320

http://nypost.com/2014/08/14/us-says-yazidi-rescue-might-not-be-necessary-after-visit/

Ukraine and Russia

Ukrainian soldiers at a checkpoint near Donetsk. Photo: Reuters.

The large Russian humanitarian convoy has not yet entered Ukraine. Ukrainian officials will inspect the cargo before the convoy crosses the border, making it less likely that the aid will be used as cover for an invasion, as Ukrainian and western observers initially feared. BBC journalists inspected trucks from the convoy, finding many of them to be almost empty.

Ukraine claims to have engaged a Russian armored column within Ukraine. Images show a destroyed BMP-2 in painted like some of those used in the Russian Ground Forces. Russia denies the existence of any such convoy. If Russian soldiers have indeed been killed in Ukraine, that would be a repeat of a 1994 Russian convert offensive against Chechen separatists; in that event, efforts by the government to conceal soldiers' deaths lead to anti-war protests spearheaded by soldiers' mothers.

A separatist leader claims that Russia will deliver 150 armored vehicles, including 30 tanks, and 1,200 trained fighters to the Ukrainian separatists in the near future. The separatist leadership was recently reshuffled, possibly due to their inability to effectively hold territory. There will likely be no change in their effectiveness or actions despite the new leadership.

The Ukrainian military appears to be on the verge of capturing Horlivka, a large town near to the encircled separatist stronghold of Donetsk. So far, the fighting has killed 2000, wounded 5,000, and displaced 285,000.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28799627
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28817347

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28802849

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/world/europe/ukraine-russia.html

http://www.janes.com/article/42040/moscow-reshuffles-ukrainian-separatist-leadership

http://www.dw.de/foreign-ministers-to-hold-urgent-meeting-on-ukraine-crisis/a-17858512

Syria

The Syrian National Coalition, the nominal leadership of Syria's moderate rebels (the Free Syrian Army and other groups), has called for international intervention against ISIS in Syria. This request seems to have come at the request of U.S. representatives, according to Al Jazeera. If so, the call for intervention will probably be answered by U.S. air strikes against ISIS positions in Syria as well as in Iraq.

The situation in Syria is extremely complicated. While both Iran and the U.S. have supported Iraq against ISIS, they are backing opposing sides in the Syrian Civil War. Iran backs the Assad government, and the U.S. backs the Free Syrian Army. Also involved are ISIS, other Islamist groups like Jabhat Al-Nusra, and Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in the north of the country.

Commentators on the war – still the bloodiest currently ongoing – are debating which side is winning, suggesting that the Syrian government’s long offensive has come to an end.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/rebels-ask-iraq-style-strikes-syria-201481614319736346.html
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/us-syria-intervention-201481645334741469.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/world/middleeast/syria-bashar-assad-aleppo-rebels-isis.html

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/08/13/the_rebels_are_gaining_ground_in_syria_assad_islamic_state_jabhat_al_nusra

Afghanistan

The Taliban have kidnapped five Red Cross workers. On Friday, the Afghan military appears to have independently rescued three Indian engineers who the Taliban had previously captured, arresting one person in the process.

The results of Afghanistan's recent presidential election are still to be determined, though agreements between the candidates (Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah) have reduced the chances of the government collapsing. The agreements were facilitated by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

http://www.dw.de/gunmen-abduct-red-cross-workers-in-herat-afghanistan/a-17858518

Kashmir

India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Pakistan of waging a proxy war against India at a recent speech in Kashmir. A sporadic insurgency in the majority-Muslim region, also claimed by Pakistan, is ongoing. The Kashmir region is divided between India, Pakistan, and China. Modi's visit to Indian Kashmir is the first since the 1999 Kargil War.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-28751252

Elsewhere in the world, fighting is ongoing in rather a lot of places.