A boy shows victory sign next to a captured IS armored vehicle
in Najar neighborhood northwest Mosul, probably for use as a car bomb (Rudaw)
Roughly 4 neighborhoods remain under Islamic State control
in Mosul (white area) (Ninewa Media Cell)
The liberation of all of Mosul is at hand. The Najar
area along the Tigris River was the latest to fall to the Iraqi Security Forces
(ISF). There was fighting going on in Rifai
as well. Colonel Patrick Work, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 82
Airborne Division, which is advising the Iraqi army in the battle warned
that as the last sections of the city were reached the fighting would reach a
crescendo. The ISF were building
a bridge across the Tigris to connect the east and west to allow people to flee
the conflict. Another span was already put up in the northern section of the
city for the same purpose. There are only four neighborhoods left in west Mosul
under Islamic State control. Iraqi generals and politicians are still talking
about freeing the city before Ramadan, which is only a few days away. That is
unlikely to happen, but the final date is still close at hand.
CBS
News followed the Federal Police in the Old City district. The police were
hunting down a sniper going floor to floor, house to house looking for the
gunman’s hideout. Out in the streets the insurgents were hanging up blankets
across streets to block the ISF’s vision. Those streets were so narrow to begin
with that the Iraqis couldn’t use their vehicles most of the time adding to the
intensity and difficult of the fight. These and other reasons were why the
police got stuck in the Old City weeks ago.
As the battle is winding down the west side of the city has
been left in shambles. A new United Nations review
using satellite imagery found 3,000 residential and commercial sites damaged in
Mosul since August 2016. Most of east Mosul was left intact after it was freed
with only a few neighborhoods showing the effects of heavy fighting. West Mosul
has been completely different. The dense layout, the increased use of air
strikes and artillery have all led to the destruction of much of the western
half.
The Iraqi forces were accused of criminality again. Locals claimed
that equipment and parts were taken from the Wadi Akab industrial zone in the
west by members of the ISF. There have been other reports of the ISF looting
houses. A group of thieves wearing military uniforms was also arrested trying
to rob residences. While these stories have been few and far between they
undermine the standing of the government’s forces, and need to be dealt with
swiftly.
The Hashd freed more territory in western Ninewa, and were garnering
more criticism as a result. Eight villages were freed
in the Sinjar district around the town of Qayrawan. More officials called on
the Hashd to withdraw stating that they were a threat to the stability of the
area. The latest to make this call was the Sinjar council
and the general
secretary of the Christian Bet-Nahrain Democratic party. They join the
Sinjar mayor and the Ninewa provincial council who have made similar comments.
All of these, are connected to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which is
attempting to expel the Hashd to ensure its control over the district. The KDP
is already having a difficult time with that after having abandoned the area in
the face of the Islamic State, and competing with new groups such as the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) and Yazidi groups. The Hashd are not leaving and many have
anti-Kurd sentiments, so they’re probably relishing in the role of challenging
the KDP.
Human
Rights Watch (HRW) interviewed three men from the town of Hadar and two
local officials who said that the Hashd detained around 100 men in April 2017
and tortured and beat them during questioning. They were taken to a school and
a house where the abuse occurred. HRW has document other such cases by the
Hashd during the Ninewa operation. Unfortunately this is a common occurrence
not just with the Hashd but the ISF as well. Almost anyone arrested in Iraq
whether it be for robbery, rape, murder or setting off an IED is likely to have
a confession beat out of them. The government has never done anything about
this because it is widely accepted, and a lasting legacy of the years of
dictatorship the country lived under.
The Hashd were in the news for other similar events. Four
Hashd members were arrested
for beating a parliamentarian (MP) at a checkpoint as he was trying to visit
Mosul. The politician blamed followers of Maliki after the incident. In Nimrod,
to the southwest of Mosul, a Shabak Hashd group led by the brother of an MP was
accused
of kidnapping the local district director and two of his staff members in a
raid. Again, these types of stories only tarnish the image of the joint Iraqi
forces as they struggle to free Ninewa of the Islamic militants.
The Associated Press
went to the Ninewa plains which have been divided between Kurdish and government
zones. The Peshmerga have dug a berm across nearly all of Ninewa to mark their
frontline. This is now splitting the farms of locals. AP talked with two men
who had their land cut nearly in half by the Kurds’ defensive position. This
complicated all kinds of things such as travel, as it was very difficult for
non-Kurds to cross the line and enter Kurdish controlled territory without a
residency permit or a sponsor. People on the Kurdish side also rely upon
government aid and services, but can’t get them as they do not cross the line. Irbil
has promised to return all the land that it took when the Mosul campaign
started in October. The rest of the territory however, it will keep. Baghdad
has no plans for how to deal with this dilemma, and the Kurds would love to
keep the territory as they claim almost all of it as part of their disputed
areas. This is one of many issues the government will have to deal with after
Mosul is liberated.
A related issue is that some Christian leaders are calling
for an autonomous region in the province. On May 16 several community leaders
made that demand of the government. They also want Baghdad to rebuild Christian
sites destroyed by the insurgents such as the Mar Behnam and Mar Mattai
monasteries. The director of antiquities in Ninewa noted that the government
lacks money to accomplish that. Almost everyone agrees that changes are needed
in Ninewa after Mosul. There is no consensus on which ones, and how they are to
be implemented.
The flow of people out of Mosul and the difficulties they are
facing continued to increase. The United Nations counted
375,282 displaced (IDP) registered with the authorities. From May 18-20, over
32,000 fled the city. The majority, after they are screened, are moving
to east Mosul to be closer to their homes. Many more are attempting to leave
the IDP camps as well and relocate to the city. From May 11-18 over 11,000 went
to Mosul. Others want to leave the overcrowded camps to the south of the city
and go to the ones in the north and east where there is still room. The
government however is not providing information about these sites let alone
transportation to get to them. Many have to spend their own meager sums in
procuring private transportation to those camps. A recent survey of displaced
from Ninewa found that the vast majority feel completely helpless about their
situation because they believe they are not receiving aid or information, and that
they are stuck where they are. The government agencies like the Displacement
Ministry appear to be completely overwhelmed by the situation and are under
serving the public as a result.
Finally, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced
that the Kuwait government has been contributing a lot to the relief effort.
That country has provided 42,000 medical screenings, 18,000 mattresses and
blankets, 10,200 winter and spring clothes sets, 8,327 fuel kits, and 500 bread
ovens. Kuwait is one of the only regional countries providing any meaningful
aid to the people of Ninewa. Baghdad and aid groups can’t get enough outside
assistance as they lack the funds and supplies to adequately deal with all the
needs creating by the fighting.
SOURCES
Al Arabiya, "Iraqi forces recapture Najjar
district in western Mosul," 5/22/17
Baghdad Post, “Iraqi
forces a stone’s throw from fully liberating Mosul,” 5/22/17
- “Iraqi forces launch final battle to retake Old City, Nuri
Mosque in Mosul,” 5/22/17
- “ISIS torches cars of civilians to bar forces from pushing
deep in Mosul,” 5/22/17
Bas News, “Hashd
Presence Does Not Bode Well for Future of Nineveh: Leader,” 5/22/17
- “Sinjar Officially
Demands Hashd Al-Shaabi to Abstain from Yezidi Areas,” 5/22/17
Bassem, Wassim,
“Iraq’s Christians demand reconstruction of religious sites,” Al Monitor,
5/21/17
D’Agata, Charlie,
“Iraqi forces face toughest battle in Mosul offensive,” CBS News, 5/22/17
eKurd, “Iraqi
Kurdistan News in brief – May 22, 2017,” 5/22/17
Gibbons-Neff, Thomas
and Salim, Mustafa, “Final stages of Mosul battle will be ‘extremely violent,’
U.S. commander says,” Washington Post, 5/22/17
Human Rights Watch,
“Iraq: Scores of Men Imprisoned in Schoolhouse,” 5/22/17
International Organization for Migration, “Displacement Tracking
Matrix Emergency Tracking Mosul Operations Data Snapshot: 21 May 2017,” 5/21/17
- “IOM Iraq response
to Mosul Crisis through the Government of Kuwait,” 5/21/17
Mostafa, Mohamed, “Iraqi forces retake western Mosul’s
al-Najjar district, move closer to last IS haven,” Iraqi News, 5/22/17
- “IS members burn civilian vehicles in Mosul’s al-Shifa,
evacuate to Old City,” Iraqi News, 5/22/17
- “Police shell IS locations in Mosul’s Old City preparing
for decisive invasion,” Iraqi News, 5/22/17
- “Seven militants
killed in western Mosul airstrike, bridge installed for civilians evacuation,”
Iraqi News, 5/22/17
Shafaaq News,
“Arrested four members of the popular crowd for the attack on a Shabak
representative in the Iraqi parliament,” 5/22/17
- “Residents accuse
Iraqi forces of looting an industrial zone in Mosul,” 5/22/17
- “Security source:
Shabak crowd kidnapped local official and two staff in Nimrod,” 5/22/17
Al Sumaria, “The liberation of the rest of West Mosul,”
5/22/17
Szlanko, Balint,
“Boundary between Iraq, Kurdistan territory divides communities,” Associated
Press, 5/22/17
UN High Commissioner
for Refugees, “Iraq Situation: UNHCR Flash Update – 21 May 2017,” 5/21/17
- “Mosul Weekly
Protection Update 13-19 May 2017,” 5/19/17
Xinhua, “Iraqi forces liberate new neighborhood in western
Mosul,” 5/22/17
No comments:
Post a Comment