Iraq ‘may’ take Mosul before Trump in office

ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Dec 5, (Agencies): While the fight to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State is going to be difficult, it is “possible” it could be complete before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday.

Some 100,000 Iraqi government troops, Kurdish security forces and mainly Shi’ite militiamen are participating in the assault on Mosul that began on Oct 17, with air and ground support from a US-led coalition.

The capture of Mosul, the largest city under control of Islamic State, is seen as crucial toward dismantling the caliphate which the militants declared over parts of the Iraq and Syria in 2014.

“That is certainly possible and again it is going to be a tough fight,” Carter said when asked if the recapture would be complete before Jan. 20, when Trump starts his presidency.

Islamic State fighters retreating in the face of a seven-week military assault on their Mosul stronghold have hit back in the past few days, exploiting cloudy skies which hampered US-led air support and highlighting the fragile army gains.

In a series of counter-attacks since Friday, the jihadist fighters struck elite Iraqi troops spearheading the offensive in eastern Mosul, and attacked security forces to the south and west of the city.

“Obviously there (are) always weather issues ... the Iraqi security forces are prepared for any eventuality there,” Carter said.

Iraqi officials say they continue to gain ground against the militants who still hold about three-quarters of the country’s largest northern city.

But the fierce resistance means the military’s campaign is likely to stretch well into next year as it seeks to recapture a city where the jihadists are dug in among civilians and using a network of tunnels to launch waves of attacks.

Carter did not say how the recapture could be completed before Jan. 20 in the face of resistance from Islamic State.

In a separate speech in California on Saturday, Carter left the door open for US and coalition forces to stay in Iraq after Islamic State had been removed.

“In Iraq in particular, it will be necessary for the coalition to provide sustained assistance and carry on our work to train, equip, and support local police, border guards, and other forces to hold areas cleared from ISIL,” said Carter, using an acronym for Islamic State.

Two senior Iraqi army officers have been killed in clashes with the Islamic State group south of the embattled jihadist bastion of Mosul, the military command said Monday.

The brigadier general and colonel were killed Sunday in the Sharqat area, 90 kilometres (55 miles) from Mosul where Iraqi forces are pressing an offensive to retake the city from the jihadists, the Joint Operations Command said.

Iraqi forces recaptured the western part of Sharqat in September but IS still controls eastern Sharqat.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces backed by a US-led

coalition launched a massive operation to retake Mosul, the jihadists’ last major bastion in Iraq, on Oct 17.

Western-backed Iraqi forces have begun shelling parts of west Mosul, residents said, in preparation for a new front against Islamic State seven weeks into a difficult campaign to drive the militants from the city.

Federal police forces, stationed a few miles (km) south of Mosul, on the west bank of the Tigris river that divides the city, have long said they aim to advance towards the airport on the southwestern edge.

Military commanders hope that by opening a second front within the city they can increase pressure on the few thousand jihadists who have deployed suicide bombers, snipers and militant cells against elite Iraqi troops in eastern districts.

Some 100,000 Iraqi soldiers, security forces, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and mainly Shi’ite paramilitary forces are participating in the assault that began on Oct. 17, with air and ground support from a US-led international military coalition.

Mosul is the largest city under Islamic State control and driving the militants out would roll back the selfstyled caliphate which it declared in Iraq and Syria 2014 after seizing large parts of both countries.

The campaign entered its eighth week on Monday but militants still control three-quarters of the city, where around 1 million residents are living under increasingly siege-like conditions as winter sets in.

Speaking by telephone from western neighbourhoods, residents reported what they said was the first artillery or mortar bombardment of the area.

“About 10 mortar bombs fell on the neighbourhood, coming from the south, as the Iraqi forces approached ... during the past 24 hours,” a resident of the Mosul al-Jadida district told Reuters late on Sunday. “It has sparked panic among civilians because this is the first time it has happened in our area.”

He said the bombardment had led to a virtual curfew in the district, with people afraid to leave their homes.

“One of the mortar bombs exploded 100 metres from our house, killing three youths and wounding others,” he said.

In the adjacent neighbourhood of Mansour, a resident said the bombardment was an ominous development. “We’re worried there will be a repeat of the scenario in the eastern districts which have seen humanitarian disasters,” he said.

An Iraqi police source, speaking from the front line south west of Mosul, said police rockets or mortars were not yet within range of the edge of the city.

But a military source said French artillery forces, who are supporting the police units, had been firing in the south. The US-led air coalition has also conducted some air strikes.

Another Mosul resident said on Monday there had been “constant” air strikes against targets around the airport and in the Tel Roman district on the southwestern edge of the city.

Militants were reported to be on the move. People said they saw 40 or 50 pickup trucks with rocket launchers on top leaving Wadi Agab, an industrial area on the western limits of the city targeted by strikes, and moving to residential areas nearer the expected new front line.

A shopowner near the industrial area said he saw a long queue of pickups leaving the industrial area on Sunday. “This morning I saw more vehicles leaving. I counted at least 50 trucks,” he said.

The long-awaited attack from the south aims to relieve pressure on Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) troops which have spearheaded the fighting in east Mosul for the last month and have come up against the militants’ lethal defences.

Officers say they are engaged in fierce urban warfare, facing hundreds of suicide car bombers, snipers and militants exploiting a network of tunnels underneath residential areas to launch deadly counter-attacks.