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US WARPLANES LAUNCHED multiple strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria today, seeking to turn up the heat, as Britain carried out its first air raids against the group.
IS fighters closing in on a key town near the Turkish border were among the targets of nearly a dozen US air raids in Syria, the Pentagon said.
US warplanes also bombed IS in neighbouring Iraq as Kurdish forces launched attacks on three fronts in a bid to recapture ground lost to the group last month.
Britain said its jets had destroyed an IS heavy weapons post and a machinegun-mounted vehicle in the country’s first air strikes against the group in Iraq.
IS fighters have captured large parts of Iraq and Syria, declaring an Islamic “caliphate” and committing a wide range of atrocities.
But Tuesday it freed more than 70 Kurdish school children it abducted in northern Syria in May, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor.
It was not immediately clear why IS released the children, part of a group of about 153 students snatched after taking school exams.
The move came as IS fighters penetrated within two to three kilometres (as close as 1.2 miles) of the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab on the Turkish border, the Observatory said.
It was the closest the militants had come to the town, known as Kobane in Kurdish, since they began an advance nearly two weeks ago, sending tens of thousands of mostly Kurdish refugees fleeing across the border.
Turkey could enter fray
NATO member Turkey, after months of caution in the fight against IS, has decided to harden its policy, and the government asked parliament Tuesday to authorise military action against IS in Iraq and Syria.
Lawmakers are due to debate a motion on Thursday that Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said would “meet all the demands and eliminate the risks and threats”.
Ankara is being pressed to allow the transit of its territory by Western and Arab forces carrying out strikes and to allow US jets to conduct sorties from its Incirlik air base.
But it could also go further by sending Turkish military forces to join the attacks.
Turkey has remained tight-lipped about what its intervention will entail, but Arinc indicated the parliamentary mandate will be kept as broad as possible to allow the government freedom to decide.
In Iraq, Kurdish peshmerga forces battled to claw back land from jihadists, as US warplanes launched 11 strikes at several locations, destroying armed vehicles and IS positions.
They struck at the border town of Rabia, north of jihadist-controlled Mosul, and south of oil hub Kirkuk, commanders said.
They also attacked the town of Zumar, near the reservoir of Iraq’s largest dam, which has been a key battleground between Kurds and jihadists.
Peshmerga spokesman Halgord Hekmat said IS had been ousted from 30 positions.
Kurdish officials said at least six peshmerga and police were killed, as well as an unknown number of jihadists.
US war costs rise
With the United States now conducting what it says are “near continuous” strikes in both Iraq and Syria, a Washington-based think-tank warned that the costs of the campaign could swiftly escalate.
US aircraft have flown more than 4,000 sorties since August, including surveillance flights, refuelling runs and bombing raids, the military said.
The Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments estimated that when US air strikes got under way in Syria last week, Washington had already spent as much as $930 million (735 million euros) on the campaign against IS.
If attacks continue at a moderate level, the cost will run at between $200 million and $320 million a month, but if they are conducted at a higher pace the monthly cost could rise to as much as $570 million.
The UN says about 191,000 people have been killed since an uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad erupted in 2011, escalating into a war that brought jihadists flocking to the country.
The Observatory said at least eight people were killed today, among them four children, when regime helicopters dropped explosives-packed barrel bombs on northern Aleppo.
The number of Syrians in urgent need of food aid has shot up to more than six million, or more than one in four of the population, UN agencies said.
Dublin City Council needs to aggressively go after single tenants in mutli-bedroom houses. People given houses for their family 30 years ago – the kids have long moved out, but the parent is still hogging a 3 or 4 bed house. I’m sure DCC could make a huge impact to the “housing crisis” by making better use if their stock.
@Mick paisley: I have to agree to some point with you. Although you have every right to live in any house you want I work with the elderly and it’s a bit mad when you go to collect a 84 year old woman living in a 4 bed in the suberbs next to a young family. I for one would much rather be living in a smaller home at that age.
@Mick paisley: why not build more houses and vastly improve commuter public transport instead of making rich old ones homeless?
@Noj Nikrub: the comment from Mick is about socials who got their houses many years ago and now are single occupying it.
@Mick paisley: the UK actually seen this was an issue and did something.
Look up the ‘bedroom tax’ UK.
@Mick paisley: It isn’t easy to up sticks and move to another part of the city when you’ve spent most of your life in a certain area.
Usual song and dance sinn fein approach to something we already know so it looks like their actually doing something about housing. Strip it back and they have zero productive alternative to the problem. These little soundbites are great for hiding that fact though
@Alan: their solution is probably to tax Ireland’s elite on 35,000 a year plus , even further! The same elite on those kind of figures , that are sharing rooms in kip house shares !
Private property is just that-private. So it’s up to the owners to do what they see fit, such as leave empty, let go derilict or rent out to make the best return, currently Airbnb. Dcc failed to allow adequate housing be built over the last year’s then they take it out on property owners with the introduction of rent pressure zones. Why do local authorities block the division of two storey houses into 2 separate units ? It’s because planners with their heads up their culos believe they know best and Dictate to the rest of us, that needs to change.
@Bren Guiden: eh no Bren, property rights are not absolute and do not trump the common good. Its in the Constitution, feel free to go to the Supreme Court if you think otherwise
@Bren Guiden: So scrap the concept of planning permission?
@Bren Guiden: Yes there are property rights and people can do what they want within those rules, but the government can change that “free” market with tax and legislation. So what you’ve said is incorrect.
You invest in rental property you accept the investment risks including new legislation that may have a negative impact on your property.
In this case with so much new room stock coming through in the hotel market it’s in the greater interest to re-purpose this space to actual tenants
@Vin: The problem is that changes that appear to be in the general interest (of individual tenants) actually dissuade property investors from entering or remaining in the property market and over time this results in a lack of supply and increased rents and is to the detriment of tenants generally.
SF led DCC for 5 years and let all this fester
More nonsense from SF. Air bnbs are normally city center apartments that would be unsuitable/too expensive for most people.
Stop property owners from sitting on land/buildings in city center and aiming to make a gain in 10 years on dormant sites. Property tax should be based on the value of the land, not what sits on it. Landlords should receive tax breaks for fixing buildings but punished hugely for space on their land that is left derelict.
When planning permission is granted authorities should be insisting the purpose of the building. i.e rental/owner occupied.
Initiatives like this would do much to address the supply issue.
@Wreck Tangle: Apartments are housing. Housing should be used to house people, especially in times of chronic shortages. The fact that housing in our cities is “too expensive” is because of the shortage of property to rent or buy. Using apartments and houses as short term let’s for tourists exacerbates this issue. More supply = more choice= more affordable. Tourists should be in hotels or hostels , not homes.
@An bhearna:
Personally I disagree with air bnb but my point is that this is bluster and not a major source of the problems in Dublin and Ireland in general.
As you point out, this is an exacerbating factor. Removing air bnb is a good move but it is not address the property crisis. The properties will be rented to middle/high income earners and any impact would be short lived.
@Wreck Tangle: do you know how supply and demand works
Ah, good old dcc! They won’t even given Ronan an extra two floors into the stump he’s building for sales force in the docklands! These absolute hypocrites are right up there at the top, when it comes to the blame for the housing crisis! Denying tens of thousands housing in central areas , to appease existing constituents. Surprised the haven’t adopted a “ to hell or Connaught “ mantra yet, they couldn’t care less about those desperate for housing or being robbed blind to pay for it! They are the biggest culprits in limiting supply!
@Shane Murphy: You’re supporting Ronan in trying to get extra floors to build multi million euro apartments in a vanity project. There wouldn’t be one single affordable or social dwelling in it. The application has no merit and is nothing more than a greedy attempt at overturning a well thought out and correct decision by using media campaigns to convince mugs like you that it’s done kind of panacea to the housing issue.
Try finding the form 15 under the new legislation! And with only 3 days to go before the legislation the form was for not even on Dublin City Council’s website. So now just simply key in “New Short Term Letting Regulations, Planning and Development (amendment) Regulations 2019″
@Pat Redmond: shambles
Try finding the form 15 under the new legislation! And with only 3 days to go before the legislation the form was for not even on Dublin City Council’s website. So now just simply key in “New Short Term Letting Regulations, Planning and Development (amendment) Regulations 2019″
@Pat Redmond: that’s not good
Try finding the form 15 under the new legislation! And with only 3 days to go before the legislation the form was for not even on Dublin City Council’s website. So now just simply key in “New Short Term Letting Regulations, Planning and Development (amendment) Regulations 2019″
@Pat Redmond: that’s what Pat was saying earlier
Law is only in papers and big companies are still letting apt and houses as short let. Why city council didn’t check online there are so many companies still doing short let in Dublin.
Is this register available to the public? Is there a mechanism for people to report properties?
@David Guiney: yes please go to http://www.mynameisDaveandImabigsnitch.com
Try finding the form 15 under the new legislation! And with only 3 days to go before the legislation the form was for not even on Dublin City Council’s website. So now just simply key in “New Short Term Letting Regulations, Planning and Development (amendment) Regulations 2019″
@Pat Redmond: I’m sorry could you repeat that please?
Try finding the form 15 under the new legislation! And with only 3 days to go before the legislation the form was for not even on Dublin City Council’s website. So now just simply key in “New Short Term Letting Regulations, Planning and Development (amendment) Regulations 2019″
@Pat Redmond: are you sure now you looked hard enough?
Try finding the form 15 under the new legislation! And with only 3 days to go before the legislation the form was for not even on Dublin City Council’s website. So now just simply key in “New Short Term Letting Regulations, Planning and Development (amendment) Regulations 2019″
@Pat Redmond: Thanks that’s what I thought you said alright
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