ISIL attack on Haditha continues
Trying to regain the initiative and to slow down an impending attack on Mosul, ISIL is besieging a military base in western Anbar. They have tracked with large vehicle-borne explosive, as they did when they took Ramadi last May. Thus far, the tactic has not brought success, possibly because the US has rushed anti-tank weapons to Iraqi troops which are effective in destroying oncoming vehicles. ISIL will likely up the ante at Haditha. So will the US – with airpower.
Iranian embassy in Yemen target of Saudi airstrike?
Damage is negligible, but it comes amid so much tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It isn;t clear that the strike was intended to his Iranian targets, but Tehran will see it that way. Some sort of retaliation is possible.
Truck bomb strikes Libyan security forces
An explosion his a security academy in Zliten, a coastal town about 75 miles east of Tripoli. No one has yet to claim it but ISIL is of course likely to have done it. ISIL is well established along the central coast and is trying to seize oil wells int he south and export facilities on the coast.
Balochistan is a large, mineral rich straddling southeastern Iran and western Pakistan. Indeed, it is about 40% of Pakistan’s land mass. There have been insurgencies simmering in both countries. There is some evidence that ISIL is establishing itself there. It’;s not a good fit as Baloch insurgents are generally not religious radicals. However, there is the common element of hostility to Shiism.