Iraq forces move to liberate all of Mosul
Armoured vehicles move on ISIL in city’s west after dawn, in operation where high toll on troops and civilians is expected
ERBIL // Iraq’s armed forces yesterday began their assault to drive ISIL from west Mosul in a fight that could bring even more bloodshed than the liberation of the city’s eastern half.
Prime minister Haider Al Abadi announced the next stage in the campaign to rid Iraq’s second largest city of the extremists, who seized Mosul in June 2014, in a televised address.
“We are coming, Nineveh, to liberate the western side of Mosul,” Mr Al Abadi said, referring to the city’s province.
Iraqi special forces liberated the eastern part of the city last month, after more than two months of gruelling urban combat that took a heavy toll on the military and civilians.
Soon after daybreak yesterday, long columns of armoured vehicles moved on Mosul from the south, advancing parallel to the Tigris river that bisects the city.
The initial advance will focus on the airport on Mosul’s southern edge. To reach their target, Iraqi forces have to clear the outer suburb of Albu Saif and take the nearby high ground.
The first phase of the operation is being carried out by the Federal Police, a paramilitary outfit, and the elite Emergency Response Forces, both under the auspices of the interior ministry.
To reach the city they have to cross several kilometres of gently rolling hills, and made good progress yesterday by taking a string of isolated hamlets in the arid landscape.
But there is little prospect of west Mosul falling quickly. The area holds the city’s historic centre, a maze of winding, narrow alleys and dense housing, and its people are thought to be more sympathetic to ISIL than those of east Mosul.
There are likely to be more than 2,000 fanatical fighters remaining in the last major ISIL stronghold in Iraq, and they are expected to put up a fierce fight.
“Mosul would be a tough fight for any army in the world,” said Lt Gen Stephen Townsend, commander of the US-led Combined Joint Task Force assisting the Iraqi military.
Elite counter- terrorism soldiers, known as Iraqi Special Operations Forces, completed the liberation of east Mosul by mid-January.
They have massed in preparation for the next fight but have not been committed to it yet.
“There is a phase for each security force to take part in the battle and we are waiting for the next stage in the plan,” said Maj Sabah Alnuman, an Isof spokesman.
As many as half of the about 5,000 ISIL fighters thought to be in Mosul when the campaign to liberate the city began on October 17 could still be holed up on the west bank.
Coalition air strikes destroyed all five bridges across the Tigris, preventing the insurgents from sending reinforcements to battle Isof on the east bank.
This helped the special forces to secure east Mosul, but also stopped them from cutting back ISIL’s numbers.
ISIL sent suicide car bombs in huge numbers to slow the Isof advance. Civilian cars laden with home-made explosives and protected by metal sheets welded to their frames inflicted heavy losses. Easy to assemble, these death vehicles are likely to remain a major danger as the fighting resumes in the west.
Suicide bombings also remain a menace in the liberated east, as attacks by ISIL sleeper cells have disrupted the return to normality. Car bombs were set off in east Mosul yesterday as ISIL tried to tie down Iraqi forces in the liberated part of the city. The civilian suffering caused by the fighting in east Mosul will almost certainly be equalled or surpassed by the battle for the west.
The UN estimates that up to 800,000 civilians are trapped in west Mosul, in increasingly dire conditions. Food has become scarce since militias allied to the government cut of the last route into the city late last year. Many families eat only one meal a day, and burn furniture and waste to keep warm in the winter nights, the UN said.
“The situation is distressing. People, right now, are in trouble,” said Lise Grande, UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq.
There is little certainty over the number of civilians killed or wounded during the campaign so far. But it is clear that car bombs, indiscriminate shelling and sniper fire by ISIL on areas no longer under its control have exacted a heavy toll.
Air strikes and artillery fire on ISIL positions have destroyed infrastructure and homes, and killed civilians. The UN puts the number of civilians treated for battle-related wounds and injuries at well over 2,000 since the campaign began in October. Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced in that time.