Palm Sunday services held for first time in three years in
church in Qaraqosh, Ninewa, which was burned by Islamic State (Reuters)
The Iraqi forces (ISF) are only carrying out minimal
operations in west Mosul in preparation for an impending big push to seize the
Old City district. On April 8
the Federal Police claimed it achieved a breakthrough in the Zinjali
neighborhood in the Old City. The police said this cut off some Islamic State
supply routes to the area. The next day Federal Police commander General Shakir
Jawadat stated
that 60% of the defenses around the Grand Mosque in the Old City were
destroyed. Iraqi propaganda is anything but consistent since Golden Division
General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi was quoted
in the press a week before that all the defenses were breached. Whatever the
percentage is the Iraqi police have been inching towards the mosque for weeks
now. Finally the Golden Division seized
the Matahen neighborhood in central west Mosul. That unit has been moving up
the western and central section of the city to try to encircle the Old City,
which is now surrounded on two sides by the ISF with a third running along the
Tigris River. The final push into this area should be coming soon. According to
Al
Mada the operation was supposed to have already started, but was delayed
due to heavy civilian casualties.
There were more reports of executions and chlorine attacks
by the Islamic State in Mosul. The group allegedly executed 50 for trying to
flee inside the city. Baghdad
Post also claimed that mortar shells filled with chlorine hit two
neighborhoods that sent 70 to the hospital. There are similar stories nearly
every week, but none of them have been confirmed. IS has used chlorine before.
IS also picked up its operations in liberated east Mosul.
Three suicide bombers were arrested, and two
more were killed attempting to attack the Salam Hospital. The insurgents shell
the east nearly every day, but this was the first report of suicide bombers for
quite some time. With less fighting going on in the west, perhaps the militants
thought they could spare some bombers to try to hit the east.
Finally, Palm Sunday was celebrated
for the first time in three years at a church burned by the Islamic State in
Qaraqosh, Ninewa. Unfortunately, the town is mostly deserted with the churchgoers
driving in from Irbil where they fled to when the Islamic State seized the area
in 2014. The Ninewa Plains used to be full of Christian communities, but many
were destroyed by the IS offensive three years ago. Few have returned as most
of the villages are destroyed, there is little to no rebuilding going on, and
many have started new lives in Kurdistan and feel safer there. This is just one
example of the demographic changes the Islamic State has brought about in the
country.
SOURCES
Adel,
Loaa, "Security forces storm building kill over 30 IS members in western
Mosul," Iraqi News, 4/9/17
Baghdad
Post, "13 killed, 90 injured, including women, children, in Mosul
shelling," 4/9/17
-
"ISIS terrorists shell western Mosul with chlorine gas," 4/9/17
-
"Nineveh's governor survives assassination attempt," 4/9/17
Cook,
Floyd, "IS Shoots Down Iraqi Helicopter Over Mosul," 4/8/17
Dearden, Lizzie, “Isis kills dozens of civilians caught
attempting to flee Mosul and hangs bodies up on electricity poles,” Independent,
4/8/17
Laessin, Ulf, “Iraqis celebrate Palm Sunday near Mosul for
the first time in three years,” Reuters, 4/9/17
Al
Maalomah, "Three female suicide bombers arrested in Mosul," 4/8/17
Al Mada, “Federal Police Commander: Mosul operations have become
more accurate,” 4/9/17
- “A new military plan is emerging for the operation in
western Mosul,” 4/8/17
Mostafa, Mohamed, “Police say brought down 60% of IS
defenses around Mosul landmark mosque,” Iraqi News, 4/9/17
New Sabah, “Daesh front lines destroyed
near the Great Mosque and Hadbaa lighthouse in Mosul city,” 3/27/17
- “Federal Police break the front lines of Daesh in the
Zinjali neighborhood in Mosul,” 4/8/17
NINA,
"Security Forces Kill 2 Suicide Bombers Before Targeting Them At Salam
Hospital In Mosul," 4/8/17
-
"URGENT… Security Forces Foil An Attack To Daesh And Kill A Medical Team
In Two Separate Incidents In Central Mosul," 4/8/17
Shafaa
News, "News of a new massacre killing 50 civilians who tried to flee from
central Mosul," 4/8/17
-
"The popular crowd repulsed a Daash attack in Tal Afar," 4/9/17
Sputnik,
"Iraqi Special Forces Liberate Matahin District of Mosul From Daesh
Militants," 4/9/17
2 comments:
The Old City should prove very fun to fight within. I mean...not fun. At all. As one can guess, it has very narrow streets, and the buildings are packed in tight enough that in many places you can run from rooftop to rooftop all the way down the street. In many places you can't get an armored vehicle down the streets and have to progress on foot.
Good luck Iraqi Army.
It's a major reason why the Iraqi police halted their assault upon the district a few weeks ago. They literally got stuck and the heavy civilian casualties made them pause.
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