For Israel, Mosul is the front line against Iran
In a special dispatch from Iraq, our correspondent reports on the wider conflict behind the battle against Daesh
AMID THE slew of battle groups lining up to take on Daesh in Mosul, there is one cohort that is flashing large on the radars of Western and Israeli intelligence.
Shia militias, under Iranian command, have joined the sundry coalition to uproot Daesh from the eastern Iraqi city with a particular aim: to help Tehran complete a “Shia Crescent” — a corridor — reaching from Iran, through Iraq and Syria, to Lebanon. Western intelligence and officers from the Peshmerga, the Kurdish army that is also among the forces closing in on Mosul, acknowledge that the position of the Shia militias effectively gives Iran and its proxies control of the entire border region between Iraq and Syria.
Speaking to me on the front line, one senior Peshmerga officer said the Kurds also saw Iran as a threat and expressed interest in co-operating with Israel.
“We have always seen Israel as an ally,” he said. “Many Kurds live in Isra- el and we have worked well together in the past. From our point of view, one Israeli is worth the entire Iranian nation.”
From their position north east of Mosul, the Peshmerga have been advancing towards the town of Baashiqa, which lies on the main road east out of Iraq’s second-largest city and along an oil pipeline.
Around 1,000 Kurdish fighters, dozens of armoured vehicles, artillery
batteries and US army aircraft, began their move on the town shortly after dawn on Sunday.
Every few 100 metres, large diggers and bulldozers built tall, square-shaped obstacles from the brown earth to protect the soldiers’ flank. Pick-up trucks carrying heavy Russian machine guns were placed behind the barriers, the gunners watching out for car bombs.
Sure enough, a mile ahead of the town, I could see two SUVs racing across the fields, trying to bypass the column’s vanguard. A few short bursts from a “Dushka” machine gun stopped them hundreds of metres away from the Peshmerga column and killed the men inside. Seconds later, sniper fire could be heard from a warehouse on Bashika’s outskirts, causing a number of casualties and bringing the column to a halt. Dozens of men flung themselves into ditches and began returning fire, but the sniper — or snipers — were out of range.
Peshmerga mortars and machine guns also failed to locate the Daesh shooters and take them out, and it was only when one of their own snipers was brought forward with his long-range rifle that the enemy fell silent. But a An Iraqi soldier minute later, another one began firing from a nearby building. Then it was time for lunch, and most of the Peshmerga took cover to begin cooking the chicken broth that is part of any Kurdish meal. A US air-strike was called in to bomb the Daesh targets before more progress was made towards the city. Contrary to the PR statements on the Battle of Mosul, both from the Iraqi government, the Kurdish regional administration and their American allies, progress is very slow. No group is eager to rush into Mosul itself, where at least 10,000 Daesh fighters remain, along with a million civilians. There is a fear of a bloodbath in what is a complex urban theatre, and concerns over the tensions between the various military groups cooperating against the jihadis. The Iraqi government has long been at loggerheads with the Kurdish Regional Government over the sale of oil extracted in the Kurdish areas. They are now wary allies. The third main element of the anti-Daesh force are the “people’s units”, Shia militias, largely controlled byIran.Theyare not taking a direct party in the bat- tle for Mosul, a Sunni town, but have a peripheral role, to guard the western approaches to Mosul.
The Iraqi commanders hoped that Daesh would take advantage of the city’s unguarded eastern flank to leave without a fight. As Peshmerga fighters advanced from the north on Sunday, one of their officers intercepted a conversation between two Daesh fighters and their headquarters in Mosul. Both said they were prepared to blow themselves up, taking the enemy with them. It seems the organisation is more interested in inflicting heavy casualties on the Kurdish and Iraqi forces than saving its own men.
No matter how long it takes, or the number of casualties, there is little doubt that the Battle of Mosul will end with the eviction of Daesh from its main Iraqi stronghold. The next stage is expected to be an operation against its remaining headquarters in Raqqa, in north-eastern Syria.
PrevioussetbackspromptedDaeshto unleash a campaign of terror in France and Belgium. Most analysts believe this will be the case once again. Daesh will be eager to show that it can still carry out complex attacks abroad. Britain, France, Belgium, Spain and Germany are all being mentioned as possible targets, while Israeli intelligence officials still believe that the organisation will try to launch an attack on Israel before the end of 2016.