Iraq army retakes eastern side of Mosul
IRAQ: The Iraqi army has announced the ‘‘liberation’’ of east Mosul, following the collapse of Islamic State defences on the left bank of the Tigris River.
Isolated Islamic State fighters reportedly holding out in northeastern districts would soon be ‘‘cleaned up’’, said Brigadier General Sami Al Aradi, of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces. ‘‘After that we will move on to west Mosul.’’
The announcement comes three months after Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) began the battle to retake the city, which has been under the control of Islamic State of Iraq for two-and-a-half years. The speed of the ISF advance increased markedly after a renewed push since December 29.
The Tigris River bisects Mosul from north to south and while Isis defences have crumbled in the east, analysts say the stiffest resistance may be yet be to come in west Mosul. Losing its last urban stronghold in Iraq’s second largest city would likely spell the end for the so-called caliphate in the country.
‘‘We don’t want to give Isis a chance to reinforce or even breathe,’’ said Brigadier General Aradi from the garden of a commandeered home in east Mosul. ‘‘There will be a strong fight in the west but we don’t want to reveal our strategy yet.’’
Residents in the Andalus district told of panic among fleeing Isil fighters. As soldiers patrolled the newly liberated suburb, Ahmed Mahmoud surveyed the damage to his street. The bodies of four Isil fighters lay outside his home. Further down the street, two bodies lay near a crater caused by a coalition bomb dropped the day before.
‘‘They were running,’’ said the 40-year-old civil engineer. ‘‘They didn’t know which way to go.’’
The sound of heavy fighting in the Mohandeseen district continued into the evening. The ISF are expected to pause operations briefly before eventually crossing the Tigris on pontoon bridges into west Mosul, where the fighting may prove even more difficult.
‘‘The key question is what kind of reserves Islamic State has in west Mosul: did it already invest them in east Mosul, or are there still enough for a long defence of west Mosul?’’ asked Michael Knights, of the US-based think tank The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. ‘‘The battle might still be under way in late spring or early summer,’’
Aradi estimated that Isis might still have thousands of fighters in west Mosul, where the traditionally more conservative population lives in neighbourhoods with streets too narrow for armoured vehicles to enter. - Telegraph Group