ISIS is in tatters, general asserts
Iraq’s lightning offensive, boosted by U. S. airstrikes, has militant group cornered
Islamic State fighters are in disarray and struggling to fend off a rapid offensive by Iraqi forces to recapture Mosul and expel the militants from their last major stronghold in the country, a top U. S. military official said.
“They’re lacking purpose motivation and direction,” Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin said in a phone interview from Baghdad. “I’ve never seen them so disorganized.”
The pace of the battle reflects great improvements in Iraq’s military and its ability to coordinate operations with a U. S.- led air campaign, which is pounding the militants at a record pace.
“You’re watching ISIS be annihilated,” Martin said using another name for the Islamic State.
Iraq’s military has quickly penetrated a set of obstacles, including concrete barriers and roadside bombs, the militants had established to slow the Iraqi advance, Martin said.
The militants are struggling to organize themselves to slow the advance. “They’re taking longer to react to initiatives on the battlefield,” he said.
Iraq’s military has been battling ISIS since the militants invaded Iraq from Syria in 2014 with little resistance. U. S. training and guidance have resulted in a much stronger fighting force that has retaken major cities such as Ramadi and Fallujah.
Mosul is the country’s second- largest city, after the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
The militants’ disarray could be the result of repeated airstrikes that have wiped out battlefield leaders, which makes it difficult for ISIS fighters to organize an effective response.
In addition, ISIS militants are badly outnumbered. About 100,000 Iraqi se- curity forces and Kurdish militia have been involved in the offensive into Mosul and the surrounding countryside since the campaign began. They initially faced a militant force of 3,000 to 5,000 defending the city.
The Pentagon estimates that 2,000 or fewer Islamic State fighters remain there.
In an earlier battle to recapture eastern Mosul, Iraqi troops were slowed by car bombs, which were deployed to attack the flanks of advancing Iraqi forces.
This week, the militants mounted a counterattack west of the city but were quickly rebuffed by Iraqi ground forces and coalition aircraft.
“The counterattack was destroyed,” Martin said. “Their morale has to be pretty low.”
Iraqi forces also have “disrupted” a key militant capability: the use of drones to conduct reconnaissance of Iraqi positions, Martin said.
Martin declined to detail how that was accomplished, citing security concerns.
Iraq’s military, which has captured key government buildings, estimated it has retaken about 30% of western Mosul since the assault began Feb. 19, and it is beginning to clear dense neighborhoods of enemy fighters.
By January, Iraq’s government announced that the eastern part of the city had been liberated.
Weeks later, Iraqi forces launched their offensive to take the western part of the city, which is divided by the Tigris River.
U. S. advisers are assisting Iraqi units but primarily from a distance to avoid direct combat with ISIS fighters.
In recent days, Iraqi forces complet- ed the isolation of western Mosul by securing control over the last road out of the city. The operation is designed to prevent militants from bringing in supplies and reinforcements from Tal Afar, an ISIS- held town west of Mosul.
“ISIS is trapped,” Brett McGurk, a U. S. envoy to the anti- ISIS coalition, told reporters during a visit to Iraq this week.
“Very few, if any, of the enemy are going to escape,” added Col. John Dorrian, a U. S. military spokesman in Baghdad.
Still, U. S. officials expect tough resistance as Iraqi forces clear the neighborhoods in the old city, where Islamic State militants are holed up in buildings and alleyways.
Said McGurk, “I do not want to understate the very difficult fight that lies ahead.”