Forces inch to Mosul
QARAQOSH, Iraq, Oct 25, (Agencies): Iraqi forces were inching to within striking distance of eastern Mosul Tuesday as coalition defence chiefs gathered in Paris agreed to also take on the jihadist’s Syrian bastion of Raqa.
With the Mosul battle in its second week, French President Francois Hollande called for the coalition to prepare for the aftermath and the next stages of the campaign against the Islamic State group (IS).
The United Nations said it had received reports of a new series of atrocities by the jihadists as troops close in on its last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
Forces from the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) retook areas close to the eastern outskirts of Mosul.
“On our front, we have advanced to within five or 6 kms (three to four miles) of Mosul,” their commander, General Abdelghani al-Assadi, told AFP.
“We must now coordinate with forces on other fronts to launch a coordinated” attack on Mosul, he said, speaking from the Christian town of Bartalla.
Kurdish peshmerga forces are making gains on the northeastern front, but federal forces advancing from the south have some way to go before reaching the outskirts.
Meanwhile, thousands of men from the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary umbrella group dominated by Tehran-backed Shiite militias were preparing for a push to the west of mainly Sunni Mosul.
The Hashed’s mission will be to “cut off and prevent the escape of (IS) towards Syria and fully isolate Mosul from
Syria”, said Jawwad al-Tulaibawi, spokesman for the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia.
“We expect that it will be a difficult and fierce battle,” he said.
Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Arab politicians have opposed the Hashed’s participation in the operation, as has Turkey, which has a military presence east of Mosul despite repeated demands by
Baghdad to withdraw its forces.
Tensions have risen between Baghdad and Ankara, whose foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, warned Tuesday that if there is a threat to Turkey, “we are ready to use all our resources including a ground operation”.
As Iraqi forces advance, the United Nations said it has received reports of dozens of execution-type killings by IS in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital.
Citing preliminary reports, the UN said those killed included 50 police officers who had been held hostage.
In Paris, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was meeting coalition counterparts, including Pentagon chief Ashton Carter, to review the war on IS after more than two years of air strikes, training and on-the-ground military advisers.