Oct 7, 2016 - Iraq Control of Terrain Map: October 7, 2016 e Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and tribal ghters recaptured Sh
Iraq Control of Terrain Map: October 7, 2016 Iraqi Kurdish Map Legend Iraqi Kurdistan regions under Peshmerga control KDP Peshmerga Control Zone
Dahuk Rabia
KDP Peshmerga-held location
Mosul Dam
Sinjar
Arbil
Mosul
Tal Afar
PUK Peshmerga Control Zone
Qandil
PUK Peshmerga-held location Mixed PUK Peshmerga-Militia Controlled Location
Gwer Makhmur
Qayyarah Qayyarah Airfield West
Sharqat
Populated areas under ISF control with KDP Peshmerga and Sunni tribal fighters
Kirkuk Suleimaniyah
Hawija hir
Baiji
Joint ISF-KDP Peshmerga-held location
Bas
Tuz Khurmato
Populated areas under KDP Peshmerga/PKK/YPG control
Tikrit
Camp Speicher
Mixed KDP Peshmerga/ PKK/YPGheld location
Khanaqin Qaim
Samarra
Haditha Baghdadi Asad Base
Waleed
i
ad
um
ad
Taq
Trebil
Balad Base Camp Taji
Hit
Ram
Rutba
Populated areas under PKK/YPG control
Muqdadiyah Baqubah
Garma
e Bas
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Headquarters Site
Balad Ruz
h luja
Baghdad
Fal
Jurf al-Sakhr Karbala
al-Kut
al-Hillah al-Diwaniyah
Nukhaib al-Najaf
al-Amarah al-Samawah
Iraq Map Legend
al-Nasriyah
Basra
ISF Control Zone Joint ISF - Sunni Tribal Fighters Control Zone ISF-held location ISF-held military base Control Zone where Iraqi Shi’a militias are the primary security force and/or the present ISF units are compromised by Shi’a militias Shi’a militia-held location ISIS Control Zone ISIS-held location
100km
©2016 by the Institute for the Study of War
The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and tribal fighters recaptured Sharqat on September 22. The operation, which launched on September 20, consisted of Coalition-trained Iraqi Army units and Sunni tribal militias. These militias constitute brigades in the Popular Mobilization structure, but are acceptable partners to the Coalition. The operation did not use units from the Counter Terrorism Services (CTS), which have spearheaded all previous successful urban operations to recapture cities from ISIS in 2015 and 2016, such as Qayyarah, Fallujah, and Ramadi. ISW is thus changing the status of Sharqat and its environs to a joint ISF and Sunni Tribal Fighter-held location. The ISF and tribal fighters have also concentrated clearing operations in the desert on the northern bank of the Euphrates River, north of Ramadi and Hit districts in early September. ISW has not assessed that the ISF has lasting control over this terrain, which remains blank on the map.
ISW has redefined the areas listed previously as under “ISF control with a heavy militia presence.” This area, depicted on the map in yellow, is now defined as areas in which Iraqi Shi’a militias are the primary security force, such as around city centers in Salah al-Din. This area also includes places where Shi’a militias compromise the ISF units present, such as Diyala, where the Badr Organization has co-opted the Dijla Operations Command, 5th Iraqi Army Division, and police forces. Shi’a militias have significant presence in southern provinces, but ISW assesses that the ISF, not the militias, still represent the primarily hold force in these areas.
