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Mosul update


Wiljor
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Weary and wary, Iraq forces fight ‘house-by-house’ in Mosul  

Published — Tuesday 14 March 2017

 
 
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MOSUL: Iraqi special forces are engaged in a punishing and paranoid close-quarters battle against Daesh in western Mosul as they seek to drive the terrorists out of their last urban bastion in Iraq.
The urban warfare is now more intense than ever, both because Daesh militants have been backed into one half of the city and because the west — home to the old city and city center — is more densely populated.
“The fighting is at much closer quarters. It was street-by-street — now it’s house-by-house,” said Iraqi commando Alaa Shaker, 32, a member of the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS).
“We are often literally in the same house, on the roof, and Daesh is downstairs. Sometimes we drop grenades. If there are civilians, families in the homes, we shout to them to take cover inside a room.”
Seif Rasheed, a 28-year-old CTS medic, said one commando had been killed earlier that day in the same area, shot through the head, and another wounded, shot through the neck and hip.
“Daesh men are hiding in homes, opening doors and shooting at troops from just a few meters away,” he said.
The men were speaking as they took a break from the fighting to eat lunch in the courtyard of a western Mosul home, in a neighborhood recaptured from Daesh the day before.
No one can drop guard. Shaker paused mid-mouthful, stood up, and brought over two assault rifles that were leaning against the wall, setting them down within arm’s reach.
“Just in case,” he said, miming that a member of the family living inside might otherwise pick one up and turn it on the soldiers eating there. “That has not happened so far, but you have to be careful — we do not know these people. Daesh has left supporters and sleeper cells behind.”
MOSUL: Iraqi special forces are engaged in a punishing and paranoid close-quarters battle against Daesh in western Mosul as they seek to drive the terrorists out of their last urban bastion in Iraq.
The urban warfare is now more intense than ever, both because Daesh militants have been backed into one half of the city and because the west — home to the old city and city center — is more densely populated.
“The fighting is at much closer quarters. It was street-by-street — now it’s house-by-house,” said Iraqi commando Alaa Shaker, 32, a member of the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS).
“We are often literally in the same house, on the roof, and Daesh is downstairs. Sometimes we drop grenades. If there are civilians, families in the homes, we shout to them to take cover inside a room.”
Seif Rasheed, a 28-year-old CTS medic, said one commando had been killed earlier that day in the same area, shot through the head, and another wounded, shot through the neck and hip.
“Daesh men are hiding in homes, opening doors and shooting at troops from just a few meters away,” he said.
The men were speaking as they took a break from the fighting to eat lunch in the courtyard of a western Mosul home, in a neighborhood recaptured from Daesh the day before.
No one can drop guard. Shaker paused mid-mouthful, stood up, and brought over two assault rifles that were leaning against the wall, setting them down within arm’s reach.
“Just in case,” he said, miming that a member of the family living inside might otherwise pick one up and turn it on the soldiers eating there. “That has not happened so far, but you have to be careful — we do not know these people. Daesh has left supporters and sleeper cells behind.”
 
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Iraqi intelligence: ISIS terrorists commit suicide by fire in Mosul

March 14 2017 10:43 AM
ISIS militants in Iraq
ISIS militants in Iraq

 

Iraqi Defense Ministry Military Intelligence Directorate said ISIS terrorists are committing suicide by setting themselves on fire due to their feeling of disappointment, defeat and low morale as battles are fiercely raging in the right bank of Mosul.

A statement released by the Intelligence Directorate late Monday said a group of ISIS militants have committed suicide by self-immolation in a house near the village of Sheikh Mohammad in the right bank of Mosul.

The statement noted that ISIS militants are overwhelmed by the feelings of disappointment and defeat as they are about to fall in the hands of the Iraqi security forces which achieved a big progress in the battles to regain the city.

Head of Falcon Intelligence Cell said on Monday ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may have fled Syria to join his fellow terrorists in Turkey's Ghaziantep, special sources told The Baghdad Post. 
    
The cell, affiliated with the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, has carried out a series of attacks against ISIS militants, killing and wounding hundreds of them.  

The cell head was cited by press reports as saying "it is possible al-Baghdadi had escaped to Turkey to join the ISIS leaders who managed to cross the Syrian-Turkish borders under loose security measures". 

He indicated his cell elements managed to spot the terror group leader's hide-out and target him more than once. 

 

Earlier, US and Iraqi officials believed the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has left operational commanders behind with die-hard followers to fight the battle of Mosul, and is now hiding out in the desert, focusing mainly on his own survival.
 

It is impossible to confirm the whereabouts of the ISIS "caliph", who declared himself the ruler of all Muslims from Mosul's Great Mosque after his forces swept through northern Iraq in 2014.

But US and Iraqi intelligence sources say an absence of official communication from the group's leadership and the loss of territory in Mosul suggest he has abandoned the city, by far the largest population center his group has ever held.

He has proved to be an elusive target, rarely using communication that can be monitored, and moving constantly, often multiple times in one 24-hour cycle, the sources say.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/8098/Iraqi-intelligence-ISIS-terrorists-commit-suicide-by-fire-in-Mosul

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Iraqi warplanes drop thousands of leaflets on Mosul's right bank

March 14 2017 10:01 AM
Iraqi warplanes drop hundred thousands of leaflets on Mosul
Iraqi warplanes drop hundred thousands of leaflets on Mosul

 

Iraqi warplanes have dropped hundred thousands of leaflets on residents in Mosul's right bank, asking them to carry out specific recommendations ahead of more operations to recapture the city from ISIS terrorist group.

Iraqi Joint Special Operation Command announced on Tuesday that Iraqi air forces have dropped such leaflets on certain districts in western Nineveh province to instruct citizens about important recommendations as the battles are progressing. They are notified citizens that the Iraqi forces are close to liberate them from ISIS terrorists.

The leaflets' distribution by Iraqi warplanes on Mosul is believed to be the largest number of leaflets dropped since World War II.

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http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/8097/Iraqi-warplanes-drop-thousands-of-leaflets-on-Mosul-s-right-bank

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Beating back the caliphateThe Iraqi army is on the brink of defeating Islamic State

But the government must move fast if it is not to squander its victory

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IN A series of lightning advances over the past few days, Iraq’s army has seized control of most of western Mosul, the last redoubt of Islamic State (IS) in the country. On March 7th, a day that may have marked a turning point, army units took Mosul’s main government complex, as well as the city’s famous antiquities museum and about half of the old city. The airport had fallen a week or so earlier, and all roads in and out of the city in which the leader of IS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared his “caliphate” in June 2014 are firmly in government hands.

In the command centre responsible for the eastern half of the city, which was liberated in December, Brigadier Qais Yaaqoub was jubilant. “They are in full collapse now,” he said. “When an army breaks it happens very quickly. Within a week or two, this will all be over.” He may be speaking prematurely, but probably not by much. The liberation of west Mosul, which started only last month, has proceeded much faster than expected. That said, the last of the fighting could be a lot more difficult. IS clings on in the oldest parts of the city, where streets are narrow, making it hard to manoeuvre vehicles and increasing the risk of ambushes and civilian casualties. However, tens of thousands have been able to make their way to safety.

 

American officers working closely with the Iraqi army estimate that as few as 500 IS fighters now remain in the city, the others having fled or been killed in a devastating campaign of well-targeted air strikes. The evidence is clear from a tour of east Mosul, on the left bank of the Tigris river, which has split the city in two since IS blew up all its five bridges as it fell back.

Residents point out building after wrecked building that had been used by jihadists, only to be knocked out from above. “This was a shopping centre, but Daesh [IS] took it over,” says Muammar Yunnis, an English teacher. “Then the planes destroyed it.” The liberation, he reckons, “could not have been handled better. Some have died. That happens in a war. But the government and the Americans have been careful.”

Driving IS out of the city may come to be seen as the straightforward part, however. Judging by what has happened in east Mosul, rebuilding will be a slow process. Three months after their liberation, east Mosulites are getting fed up. They are still without running water, and the only electricity comes from private generators.

“We have security now, but no services at all,” complains Muhammad Ahmed, a pharmacist. “There is no government here.” The provincial governor lives in Erbil, a couple of hours’ drive away, partly along roads ploughed up by IS that show no sign of being repaired. No international agencies are to be seen in the recaptured city, bar a few clinics and some empty school satchels donated by UNICEF. The central government has failed to provide it with an emergency civilian administration, leaving it either to the army, which is otherwise occupied, or to the local government, which barely functions.

Mr Ahmed probably speaks for many when he recalls that in the days immediately after IS took control of Mosul, the jihadists were rather popular. The previous elected authorities had been corrupt and incompetent, and unable to deliver the basics. Electricity, he recalls, was available for just three hours a day. Under the caliphate the lights stayed on, at least until coalition air strikes began and then, shortly before losing control of east Mosul, IS blew up the city’s main power station and its water-pumping station.

At least they kept the lights on

If squabbling and corruption on the part of the politicians hinder the provision of services, citizens will once again consider supporting alternative groups. “What can we do?” laments the brigadier. “The government does not have the resources to fix all this. It will take 12 years or more. We need a lot of help from outside.”

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Many will blame the inaction on insecurity. But this is overblown. Although the chatter of machineguns and the crump of mortar rounds can be heard from across the Tigris, east Mosul already looks and feels reasonably safe. The Shia militias have been kept out of the city to avoid sectarian killings, as have the Kurdish peshmerga fighters. There is no curfew; policemen guard many street corners, and the IS “sleeper cells” that some warn of seem to be soundly asleep, if indeed they exist. The last incident in the city was a month ago, when a terrorist blew himself up in a restaurant, killing three people.

Children are back at school, to the delight of parents who had kept them at home after the city fell to IS rather than send them off to be indoctrinated by homicidal zealots. But even though restaurants and shops are open, business is slow. Muhammad Attar, who runs a falafel restaurant, says this is because no one has any money. Iraq’s economy is dominated by the state and most people with regular jobs work for the government. Amazingly, it kept paying salaries for about a year after IS conquered Mosul. But even so, most of the city’s workers have not been paid for more than a year. Pensions, somehow, are still getting through, and families are managing on those and on debt.

With Mosul recaptured, the rout of IS in Iraq will be complete. Undoubtedly, though, some of its surviving fighters will revert to suicide-bomb attacks. And, for a while, the group will live on in Syria. But there too it is surrounded and shrinking back to its “capital”, Raqqa. The caliphate’s short, brutal life is drawing to a close.

In the longer term, huge problems remain for Mosul. Many of its people undoubtedly collaborated with the occupiers, and scores will be settled. Sunnis will want to be sure that they are given a full share of power in the city and its surrounding province of Nineveh, even though it is a Shia-dominated army that liberated them. The Kurds will want some sort of reward for their part in beating IS back. Much of the city will need to be rebuilt. Getting the power back on and the water running as the roasting Iraqi summer approaches would be a good place to start.

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21718456-government-must-move-fast-if-it-not-squander-its-victory-iraqi?fsrc=scn/tw/te/rfd/pe

Edited by tigergorzow
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UPDATED: Iraqi police recapture railway station, garage near Mosul’s Old City

 

by a46ed14a8c1d95162d7b6827eedc1639?s=80&d= Mohamed Mostafa Mar 14, 2017, 10:01 am

Iraqi-forces-in-western-Mosul-1-758x506.
 
Members of Iraqi rapid response forces are pictured during clashes with Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq March 13, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari

 

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Federal Police recaptured Tuesday a railway station near western Mosul’s Old City as forces sweep through areas near the strategic Islamic State stronghold.

Alsumaria News said in a breaking news that Federal Police took over the Nineveh Railway Station, with operations continuing to clear western Mosul from IS militants amid tough resistance from the group coupled with inclement weather conditions. Other news reports said the police also took over the nearby Baghdad Garage.

The railway is part of Mosul al-Jadida (New Mosul), a district near the Old City which the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said took over on Monday.

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Western Mosul’s railway station (Google Maps)

Iraqi generals view Mosul’s Old City as decisive in realizing victory against IS in western Mosul. It remains, however, a serious challenge given its extremely narrow alleyways and dense population, factors that render the troops incapable of storming it with combat vehicles.

Iraqi government forces recaptured the eastern section of Mosul from Islamic State on January 24th after three months of battles, and recently said they became in control of 30 percent of western Mosul since another offensive launched in February to retake the region.

Iraqi troops have made remarkable victories in the western region by recapturing major government facilities, a military base and the city’s airport. Commanders also said they had cut off main roads between the city and extremists’ supply routes fro Syria and also from the rest of Iraq.

http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/iraqi-police-recapture-railway-station-near-mosuls-old-city/

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Islamic State execute 3 in Kirkuk for collaboration with security

 

by a46ed14a8c1d95162d7b6827eedc1639?s=80&d= Mohamed Mostafa Mar 14, 2017, 7:49 am

SIS-publicly-executing-Iraqi-man.-Filer-
 
SIS publicly executing Iraqi man. Filer photo

 

Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants executed three civilians late Monday in Kirkuk over charges of collaboration with security forces as the security campaign mounts against the extremist group.

A security source told Alsumaria News that the militant group beheaded the trio in Hawija, IS’s most prominent stronghold in southwestern Kirkuk. He added that the three were executed at one of the group’s camps and prevented their families from receiving their dead bodies.

According to the source, the three civilians were arrested three months earlier, and an IS tribunal issued the verdict finding them guilty of cooperation with security forces.

Since it occupied large areas of Iraq in 2014, Islamic State has posted videos of heinous executions of civilians, security personnel, and foreign workers over multiple charges, most commonly collaborating with security authorities, as well as violating its extreme religious rules.

IS has held southwestern Kirkuk regions since 2014, which prompted thousands to flee to refugee camps.

There has not been an official security campaign targeting IS bastions in Kirkuk, but it is expected that the Iraqi government will charge at IS locations across Iraq after it is done with a campaign running since October to expel the group from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and IS’s key stronghold in Iraq.

http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/islamic-state-execute-3-kirkuk-collaboration-security/

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Coalition jets kill 9 militants in western Mosul, IS continues to burn homes

 

by a46ed14a8c1d95162d7b6827eedc1639?s=80&d= Mohamed Mostafa Mar 14, 2017, 12:27 pm

Mosul-battle.jpg
 
Smoke rises during a battle with Islamic State militants in western Mosul. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

 

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Fighter jets from the U.S.-led military coalition killed nine senior Islamic State members in western Mosul on Tuesday, while the group continues to burn civilians’ homes, according to an Iraqi officer.

Col. Dureid Saeed, from the army’s Counter-Terrorism Forces, told Bas News that the strikes killed the militants in al-Islah al-Zerai district. He added that the extremist group continued to burn civilian-owned homes, with the latest round of fires arsons seen at ten houses evacuated from their dwellers in al-Rafai district.

Security officers and civilians say IS burn homes in a bid to create smokescreens that blur vision for assaulting aircraft.

Rafai-district.png
 
 
Rafai district in western Mosul (Google Maps)

Iraqi government forces recaptured eastern Mosul from Islamic State on January 24th after three months of battles. Security commanders recently said they became in control of 30 percent of western Mosul since another offensive launched in February to retake the region.

Iraqi troops have made remarkable victories in the west by recapturing major government facilities, a military base and the city’s airport. Iraqi and coalition generals have predicted the city to be free within six months from the beginning of battles. Though admitting fierce resistance from IS, the commanders believe the group, currently deprived from escape routes, have no other option but to fight to death.

http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/coalition-jets-kill-9-militants-western-mosul-continues-burn-homes/

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Iraqi forces capture Nineveh train station in western Mosul

March 14 2017 11:39 AM
Iraqi Federal Police Chief Raed Jawdat
Iraqi Federal Police Chief Raed Jawdat

Iraqi Federal Police announced on Tuesday that they have recaptured a railway station near western Mosul’s Old City and a nearby Baghdad Garage as operations continue to push deep into more areas controlled by ISIS in the embattled city.

In statements on Tuesday, Chief of the Iraqi Federal Police Raed Shaker Jawdat said Rapid Intervention Forces (RIF) troops continued their advance towards Bab al-Tob neighborhood close to Mosul's Old Bridge. 

The railway is part of Mosul al-Jadida (New Mosul), a district near the Old City which the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said took over on Monday.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/8100/Iraqi-forces-capture-Nineveh-train-station-in-western-Mosul

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PM approves set of urgent recommendations to help Mosul displaced

March 14 2017 11:55 AM
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has approved eight recommendations on increasing support to the displaced people from the right bank of Mosul as battles to set free the city has forced thousands of families to leave their homes.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Abadi’s office said the recommendations were approved during an urgent cabinet meeting held late Monday.

The recommendations included increasing the number of observers in the security checks team to reach up to 100 elements to guarantee a smooth influx of refugees.

The Iraqi Ministry of Transport will provide as many as 50 extra buses, each to carry 44 seated passengers, to join a special committee for evacuation of displaced. The committee will be sponsored by four technical directors from the Ministry of Transport to organize the transportation of the displaced to their accommodation camps, according to the statement.

The cabinet’s recommendations also approved providing 200,000 liters of fuel monthly for the buses that will be assigned to carry the displaced. Also, The Iraqi Ministry of Immigration and Displacement will coordinate with the provincial councils in Nineveh to complete other living services urgently needed at the camps.

The Iraqi Red Crescent Society will coordinate with the Iraqi military commanders the entry of water, foodstuff to the liberated areas and their distribution on residents, according to Abadi’s office statement.

The recommendations also comprised a coordinate with UN teams to provide better services to the displaced people and deployment of more ambulances to the displacement areas in southern and eastern Mosul.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/8101/PM-approves-set-of-urgent-recommendations-to-help-Mosul-displaced

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8 hours ago, tigergorzow said:

American officers working closely with the Iraqi army estimate that as few as 500 IS fighters now remain in the city, the others having fled or been killed in a devastating campaign of well-targeted air strikes. The evidence is clear from a tour of east Mosul, on the left bank of the Tigris river, which has split the city in two since IS blew up all its five bridges as it fell back.

DV,  The "Liberation Of Mosul" is moving along at a rapid pace.  ISIS has two choices either be "KILLED"  or "SURRENDER".   I prefer they kill them all for crimes they have committed against humanity.

GO JUSTICE!!

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500 IRGC elements sent to Mosul - Times echoes Baghdad Post

March 14 2017 06:01 PM
More Iran troops in Mosul
More Iran troops in Mosul

Iran has sent 500 Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to Mosul, one of its largest deployments of troops to fight in the Mosul city, the Times posted, as the Baghdad Post scooped days ago.
 

Those troops are fighting on the side of the Iraqi and US forces in western Mosul.
 

The paper also added that commander of Quds Force Qassem Suleimani visited the IMIS terrorists in October, shortly before the start of the offensive to recapture the city.
 

The new US administration is considering to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization, the Times concluded.

 

Units from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have arrived in Mosul accompanied by Iranian Militias in Iraq and Syria (IMIS), well-informed sources told The Baghdad Post on Saturday.
 

Earlier, The Baghdad Post quoted witnesses as saying that more than 500 IRGC militants have entered Mosul accompanied by IMIS and federal police.
 

The IRGC and their IMIS puppets are destructing the Mosul city, according to the sources

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/8122/500-IRGC-elements-sent-to-Mosul-Times-echoes-Baghdad-Post

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Here are villages, districts recaptured in Mosul's right bank

March 14 2017 06:24 PM
Mosul's recaptured areas
Mosul's recaptured areas

 

Iraqi Ministry of Interior on Tuesday published a tally indicating villages and districts that the Federal Police recaptured in Mosul till Monday.

The Iraqi forces have regained control of 52 districts and villages, including residential areas and government headquarters.

Also, the Federal Police declared earlier on Tuesday they retook Nineveh train station southwest of Mosul.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has announced the start of an operation to liberate the western side of the flashpoint city of Mosul from the grip of ISIS terrorist group.

"We announce the start of a new phase in the operation. We are coming, Nineveh, to liberate the western side of Mosul," he added, referring to the province of which Mosul is the capital.

Image1_3201714182342542035783.png
 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/8125/Here-are-villages-districts-recaptured-in-Mosul-s-right-bank

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ISIS top commander in Mosul killed, police say

March 14 2017 07:27 PM
Fed. Police commander
Fed. Police commander

Top military commander of ISIS terror group in Mosul Mahmoud Mohammed, aka Abdel-Rahman Al-Ansari, has been killed in an offensive to liberate Bab Al-Toub neighborhood, commander of Federal Police Gen. Raid Shaker Jawdat said Tuesday.

He announced earlier today that his forces have seized control of the cement firm in the Old City of Mosul.

Also, the Federal Police declared earlier on Tuesday they retook Nineveh train station southwest of Mosul.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has announced the start of an operation to liberate the western side of the flashpoint city of Mosul from the grip of ISIS terrorist group.

"We announce the start of a new phase in the operation. We are coming, Nineveh, to liberate the western side of Mosul," he added, referring to the province of which Mosul is the capital.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/8128/ISIS-top-commander-in-Mosul-killed-police-say

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