• Iraqi troops launch battle for last IS stronghold in Mosul, A-4
BAGHDAD — U.S.backed Iraqi troops pushed into the last Islamic State stronghold in Mosul on Sunday, launching a major battle for the Old City where some 150,000 civilians are believed to be trapped and risk being used as human shields by the extremists.
The push for the Old City is the final major fight of an eight-month campaign to drive the extremists from Iraq’s second largest city. The radicals are expected to make their last stand in the densely populated quarter with narrow, winding alleys.
Iraqi special forces, the regular army and Federal Police are taking part in the operation to retake the Old City, said Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah, who commands army operations in Ninevah province.
Iraq state TV aired live footage showing thick black smoke rising from the Old City, with the sound of gunfire rattling inside. It said leaflets were distributed urging civilians to leave through five “safe corridors.”
Already on Sunday morning there were reports, which could not be immediately confirmed, that more than a dozen civilians had been killed in airstrikes on the old city.
The International Rescue Committee called on Iraqi forces and the U.S.led coalition to “do everything in their power to keep civilians safe during these final stages of the battle for Mosul.”
“With its narrow and winding streets, Iraqi forces will be even more reliant on airstrikes despite the difficulty in identifying civilians sheltering in buildings and the increased risk of civilians being used as human shields by [IS] fighters,” said Nora Love, the aid group’s acting country director.
IS captured Mosul when it swept across northern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014. Iraq launched a massive operation to retake the city last October, and has driven the extremists from all but a handful of neighborhoods.
Ms. Love warned that the assault on the Old City could lead to even more civilian deaths than the hundreds killed so far in airstrikes across the rest of the city, as “the buildings of the old town are particularly vulnerable to collapse even if they aren’t directly targeted.”
Those who try fleeing to government-controlled areas risk being caught in the crossfire or targeted by IS snipers, Ms. Love added.