Update for Thursday, September 22, 2016

With U.S. air support, Iraqi forces continue to make gains against I.S. Iraqi troops have seized the city center of Shirqat, and essential link between Mosul and the staging area for the offensive in Qyara.  A U.S. air strike is said to have killed I.S. forces fleeing the town.

Iraqi forces also continue to expand control of territory around Ramadi, also here.

This is pretty inconsequential but it’s being widely reported so here you go. A rocket fired in the direction of the Qayara base where U.S. troops are stationed fell harmlessly in the desert, but field tests indicated the possible presence of a mustard agent. As the linked story indicates, I.S. attempts to make chemical weapons have been crude and ineffective.

Conditions in Fallujah following it’s “liberation” have not gotten any better, with no rebuilding of infrastructure and displaced people still being treated as potentially hostile by the Shiite-led government. The prospects for reuniting Iraq are not improving, to say the least.