IRAQI FORCES CLOSE IN ON ISIL IN MOSUL
Airstrikes rattle the city as Kurds retake villages
Iraqi government forces bombed Mosul on Monday, as Kurdishled troops captured villages just east of the city to lay the groundwork for reclaiming the last major Iraqi city held by the Islamic State.
Explosions shook the eastern part of Mosul, as U. S.- led coalition warplanes launched airstrikes at Islamic State defensive positions in the long- anticipated drive to free the northern Iraqi city, captured by the militant group in 2014.
By late Monday, nine villages to the east within about 80 square miles were recaptured by Kurdish peshmerga forces advancing on Mosul, while Iraqi forces advanced from the south to head off the militants, according to the Iraqi Kurdish military command and a statement from Iraqi government forces.
The Islamic State “is fleeing along southern axis of advance,” Maj. Gen. Hussein Alawadi told the state- run Al Iraqiyah television channel, which aired special “victory” music videos along with its news bulletins about the campaign.
Mosul, Iraq’s second- largest city, is the key prize in the fight to drive the Islamic State out of Iraq, which now includes about 30,000 fighters from the Iraqi military, militias and the peshmerga against an estimated 5,000 Islamic State militants, holed up in the city of 1.5million.
Kamal Ahmad, aMosul resident, said the Islamic State carried out many executions Monday “because the people don’t want to join them and fight with them.”
“They are very tense, and they carry out executions against anyone they feel is not loyal to them,” he said in a phone interview. “The sky in the city is black and polluted because ( the Islamic State) has burned crude oil in the trenches they dug in the past few days to prevent airplanes from spotting them. ... They are planting bombs in the main streets and car bombs in every corner” of the city.
The offensive kicked off early Monday shortly after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi announced on state TV that the battle forMosul was beginning. “We will liberate you from the terror and oppression of ( the Islamic State),” he said, speaking toMosul residents.
In the past year, Iraqi forces, aided by coalition airstrikes, recaptured the cities of Tikrit and Fallujah from the Islamic State. Since the summer, Islamic State fighters have been bracing for the offensive to retakeMosul, sending their wives and children to Syria and Turkey, planting roadside bombs and setting fires to oil wells to stymie Iraqi troops.
Urban fighting is the most challenging type of warfare because militants can hide in buildings and in alleys, making the use of air power or artillery difficult. The Islamic State also frequently uses civilians as human shields to avoid coalition firepower.
U. S. and Iraqi officials say the recapture of Mosul will take weeks if not months. “This attack will be a long process. Do not expect a quick victory,” said Maj. Mohammed Yusef. “Iraqi troops are not gung- ho to fight, and Kurds will be reluctant to commit to a battle for a city that Baghdad claims for itself.”
“This operation to regain control of Iraq’s second- largest city will likely continue for weeks, possibly longer,” Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the coalition task force, said.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter called the Mosul offensive “a decisive moment” in the campaign to defeat the Islamic State. “We are confident our Iraqi partners will prevail against our common enemy and freeMosul and the rest of Iraq from ( the Islamic State’s) hatred and brutality,” Carter said in a statement.
The siege also is complicated by fears of sectarian violence. Many SunniMuslims in Mosul felt alienated from the Shiite- dominated government in Baghdad and embraced Islamic State fighters — fellow Sunnis — when they captured the city. But the Islamic State’s brutal rule has left many residents disaffected with the militant group.
As a result of fears over potential sectarian violence, the Iraqi government is allowing only government forces and police to enter the city, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim.
Shiite militias will support forces outside the town, government officials have said.
Another concern is the prospect that an exodus of civilians will overwhelm aid groups.
In recent weeks, U. N. refugee officials warned that Mosul threatens to produce one of the “largest man- made displacement crises of recent times,” with more than 1 million people displaced.