The Golden Division was caught up fighting in eastern Mosul.
Tahrir was declared freed on November 17, but
then the division said it was still trying to gain control
of the entire area on the 18th. There were clashes in Qadisiyah as well, which was
liberated on November 11.
Combat inside the city has been very intense and difficult. The Iraqi forces
(ISF) have been limited to armored columns that often get ambushed and then
having to dismount and clear houses, the Islamic State re-infiltrating using
tunnels dug underneath the city, and waves of civilians that make it difficult
determining friend from foe. That has led the ISF to constantly going through
the same neighborhoods again and again.
The southern and western fronts witnessed new progress. In
the southeast the 9th Division took three towns in the Nimrod
district. In the west the Hasdh captured two
villages and moved
to the south and west of Tal Afar. The ISF has yet to reach southern Mosul and
the Hashd have not yet cut off the city from its routes to Syria. Those should
happen by next week.
Farther south of Mosul outside of the town of Tal Adh Dhahab
another mass
grave with victims of the Islamic State was found. An eyewitness said that
the militants took up to 40 people, mostly former members of the Iraqi Security
Forces, and executed them.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported
that there were over 60,000 people displaced since the Mosul campaign started
on October 17. Around 40,000 of those fled since the start of November.
There was fallout over comments Kurdish President Massoud
Barzani made on November 16. Barzani was in Bashiqa, which had just been freed
by the Peshmerga where he gave a speech
saying that the Kurds would not withdraw from any of the areas that they had
liberated. The next day Prime Minister Haidar Abadi’s office issued a statement
that the agreement between Baghdad and Irbil was still in place, which had the
Peshmerga pulling out of the areas that they freed during the Mosul campaign.
Then on November
18 Barzani issued a clarification that the Arab press mistranslated his
words, and that Kurdistan stood by its deal with Baghdad. Kurdish politicians
and Peshmerga however have made it clear that all areas they took were part of
the disputed areas that they want to annex, and they would not relinquish them.
This dilemma will have to be dealt with after the liberation of the city along
with many other political issues.
Finally, there has been a growing chorus of pro-Iranian Hashd
notables who have stated that after Mosul they will march into Syria. The
latest was Badr leader Hadi al-Amiri who said
that President Bashar al-Assad had invited the Hashd into his country. Members
of the National Alliance, the main Shiite list responded saying that the Hashd
had no authority to act on its own without the approval of the Iraqi
government, parliament and Armed Forces General Command. A member of the
Supreme Council went on to say that Iraq respected the borders of its neighbors
and would not interfere in their affairs. There are already thousands of Iraqis
fighting in Syria organized by Iran, but they do not have official sanction.
Various pro-Tehran Hashd commanders have been talking about a formal invasion
of Syria, but this was the first time the political class spoke up against that
idea.
SOURCES
Agence France Presse, “New suspected IS mass grave found
near Mosul,” 11/18/16
AIN, "Freed village of Omar north of Nimrod," 11/18/16
- "Popular crowd encircling Tal Afar from the south and
west," 11/18/16
Associated Press, "Iraqi forces advance cautiously into
Mosul; 1 soldier killed," 11/18/16
Bas News, "Iraqi Forces Retake Two More Neighborhoods East of
Mosul," 11/17/16
Al Mada, "Army frees village southwest of Mosul, raising
Iraqi flag over it," 11/18/16
- “President Barzani of the Kurdistan region confirms the
commitment to any agreement concluded about the presence of the Peshmerga in
the liberated areas,” 11/18/16
- “Shiite forces critical of the leaders of the Popular
Crowd who told papers they would go to Syria after battle to liberate Mosul,”
11/17/16
New Sabah, "A break in the fight against terrorism as
Qadisiyah neighborhood in Mosul is completely freed," 11/11/16
NINA, “Al-Abadi Office: The agreement with the Region that
includes the withdrawal of the Peshmerga from the areas that are liberated,”
11/17/16
Rudaw, "Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi says it encircles Tal Afar
from two sides," 11/18/16
Shafaq News, "Urgent..violent clashes and shelling in the
second Qadisiyah neighborhood east Mosul," 11/18/16
Al Sumaria, "Security forces liberated the village of Abraham
north of Nimrod," 11/18/16
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, “More support needed as
Mosul displacement grows,” 11/18/16
No comments:
Post a Comment