Despite declared win over ISIS, clashes shakeMosul
MOSUL, Iraq — Airstrikes, shelling and other heavy clashes shook a small sliver ofwesternMosul on Tuesday in renewed fighting, a day after the government declared victory over Islamic State militants in Iraq’s second-largest city.
Amnesty International, meanwhile, proclaimed the battle for Mosul to be a “civilian catastrophe,” with more than 5,800 noncombatants killed in the western part of the city. The top U.S. commander in Iraq rejected the group’s allegations, however, that the U.S.-led coalition violated international law.
In a sign that Islamic State militants were still holding out in the shattered Old City, plumes of smoke rose as mortar shells landed near Iraqi troop positions and heavy gunfire rang out. Airstrikes pounded the edge of the neighborhood west of the Tigris River throughout the day.
OnMonday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared “total victory” in Mosul, flanked by his senior military leadership at a small base in the city’swest.
The militants overran the northern city in summer 2014, when the extremists seized territory across Iraq and Syria. The campaign by Iraqi forces and the coalition to retake the city began in October 2016. The operation killed thousands of people, left whole neighborhoods in ruins and displaced nearly 900,000 fromtheir homes.
Astatement lateMonday from Islamic State, also known as ISIS, said its fighters were still attacking Iraqi troops in the al-Maydan area of Mosul’s Old City, purportedly killing and wounding many and seizing weapons and ammunition.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said in a recorded video after al-Abadi’s declaration that the victory in Mosul did not eliminate Islamic State fromIraq and “there’s still a tough fight ahead.”
Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said the coalition will continue to support its Iraqi partners, and he urged Iraqis to unite and prevent a return of the conditions that allowed the rise of the extremists.
InBaghdad, Shiite politician Karim al-Nouri echoed those remarks, urging the government to review its policies in Sunni areas of Iraq to “avoid previous mistakes that led to the emergence” of Islamic State.
The government needs towork on “removing fears of marginalization and terrorism affiliation in Sunni areas,” said al-Nouri, a senior member of the Badr Organization. He said he believes Iraqi forces should stay inMosul until it is fully secure before handing control to local forces.
Lawmaker Intisar alJabouri from Nineveh province, where Mosul is the capital, said uprooting Islamic State’s “extremism ideology” was the key to peace in Mosul, which reeled under the group’s harsh rule for three years.
She urged Baghdad to invest in “good relations” between the residents and the security forces and take all “necessary measures to prevent terrorism groups from returning toMosul.”