Iraqi forces use siege, stealth to evict Daesh
UN bracing for massive exodus from city as troops capture another district in Mosul
Iraqi forces are using siege and stealth tactics to drive Daesh militants out of Mosul’s Old City, an Iraqi general said, as his forces sought to minimise casualties among hundreds of thousands of people trapped in the crammed, historic neighbourhood.
Explosions from two car bombs could be heard nearby as Lieutenant-General Abdul Gani Al Assadi spoke to Reuters at his command post on Monday, and a Reuters correspondent saw thick smoke rising from the blasts.
“Most houses in the Old City are very old and its streets and Iraqi forces yesterday launched a fresh push southwest of Mosul to retake the Hatra area, which includes a UN-listed World Heritage site, a statement said.
The operation marks the latest phase of an offensive launched by the Hashed Al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary forces in parallel to the main assault on Mosul begun six months ago.
The Hashed forces, dominated by Iran-backed militias, have focused their efforts on a front southwest of Mosul which aims at retaking the town of Tal Afar as well as desert areas stretching to the border with Syria. “Hashed Al-Shaabi forces launched Operation Mohammad Rasool Allah aimed at liberating Hatra and neighbouring areas,” the organisation said in a statement. alleyways are very narrow,” said Al Assadi, a commander of Iraqi counter-terrorism units in Mosul. “So to avoid civilian losses, we are using siege, but that does not mean we will not enter the Old City.” Al Assadi said his units were refraining from engaging enemy forces in positions where the militants were holding civilians as human shields. “Using very careful methods and considerations, we will liberate our people from Daesh,” he said.
Militants surrounded
Government forces have surrounded the militants in the northwestern quarter, including the Old City, home to the Grand Al Nuri mosque, where their leader, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, declared a “caliphate” over parts of Iraq and Syria.
The ultra-hardline Sunni fighters are countering the offensive using booby traps, suicide motorcycle attacks, sniper and mortar fire and, occasionally, shells filled with toxic gas.
With food and water becoming scarcer in neighbourhoods of Mosul still under Daesh control, up to half a million people are believed to be trapped there, including 400,000 in the Old City alone, according to United Nations estimate.
Lise Grande, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, told Reuters last week fighting in the Old City could lead to “a humanitarian catastrophe, perhaps the worst” in the three-year war to evict Daesh from Iraq.