Though it is still nominally controlled by the Iraqi military, the key Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib continues to have a significant ISIS presence, meaning the fighters are just eight miles away from the runways of Baghdad Airport.
It’s not ISIS’ first attempt at taking Abu Ghraib, as they made a serious push back in April which forced Iraq to close the notorious prison there. Yet with a US air war now underway, the situation could be quite different.
ISIS now not only has the anti-aircraft weapons the Saudis provided to various Syrian rebel factions, but also everything they looted in the takeover of Mosul. That means, just a stone’s throw from the airport, they have shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles capable of downing the airliners.
That could be a game-changer for the US war in Iraq, as many of the ground troops deployed to Baghdad are nominally there to ensure control of the airport and the corridor between it and the US Embassy. That may not mean much if ISIS starts shooting down the planes.
US airstrikes in the area have focused on the outskirts of Ramadi and Fallujah, the major Anbar cities, but ISIS continues to advance down the highway, once again underscoring how little the war is accomplishing.
**Pulls up chair, opens bag of popcorn, and watches the SHTF in the Middle East.** The Zionists and the FedGov – I have run out of vocabulary to describe their deviltry.
A shoot-down of an airliner is just what the war doctor ordered. I'm sure my neighbor's kids will be quite excited at the prospect of returning to Iraq for more killing and dying. My neighbors, not so much.
The last time the US feared losing Baghdad, the fear was based on captured maps and plans of these same people, which showed surrounding Baghdad by taking Sunni neighborhoods all around it, rather than going in and taking the Shiite neighborhoods in street fighting.
That is what we must watch for, steady progress in encircling it all. Along the way, the airport nearly was and could be again shut down by fire into it, but that is just a symptom of the real risk.