Destruction wrought by fighting in Zinjali, West Mosul (AFP)
The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) freed the second
neighborhood in their final push on Mosul. The Federal Police announced
that Zinjali was finally liberated. The ISF were also moving on Shifa
where there has been no
real progress so far. With this victory, there is just Shifa and the large
Old Mosul district left under Islamic State control. At the start of the new
offensive the ISF made a push into the Shifa medical district, but got ambushed
by IS and were forced out. The Old City has held up the police for four months
nw.
The Wall
Street Journal wrote about the rebuilding going on in east Mosul. That
section of the city was freed five months ago. Shops are open and life has
generally returned. The government has provided some services and repaved main
roads, but most of the reconstruction financing has come from private sources borrowing
money or spending their savings. Prime Minister Haider Abadi blamed a lack of
coordination between Baghdad and the Ninewa government for the limited
rebuilding. In comparison, west Mosul is still a battlefield and has faced far
more destruction than the east, and little is being done there as a result. That
will make it a much larger problem. There is already some resentment building
up over the differences between the two sections, which has historical
precedents as the east has always been considered more well off than the west. Iraqis
are a resilient group. They are not waiting for the government to help them put
their lives together. At the same time, individuals can only do so much by
themselves. They need the authorities to do the heavy lifting, but at the
moment they don’t have a plan or the money to fund one.
There were two additional stories of life in east Mosul
improving. First, the University of Mosul started classes
once again. The campus suffered extensive damage under the Islamic State, so
most of the classrooms are unusable. Still, they are pushing ahead. Second, the
Iraqi Real Estate Bank re-opened
a branch in the east. It will be part of a government program to offer up to 50
million dinar loans for 10 years to help residents rebuild. The program won’t
start until the entire city is freed however. A similar program was started in Anbar,
but the requirements to borrow money were so strenuous that only the rich could
apply. Hopefully that won’t be repeated in Mosul, but you can never tell.
The Washington
Post cited sources that believed the U.S. led Coalition might have used
white phosphorus in both Mosul and Raqqa. Video footages was posted from both
cities of what looked like phosphorus artillery shells being used. To support
the claim, the Pentagon posted pictures of 155mm howitzers being deployed in
Syria with a pallet of white phosphorus shells. White phosphorus can be used to
create smoke to obscure the enemy’s vision, but it can also be deployed as an incendiary
as it burns at high temperatures when it hits the ground. The Iraqis have
officially denied this story, but they are not a reliable source when it comes
to bad news.
Deputy Hashd commander Abu Muhandis announced
that its operations were finished in western Mosul, while the Kurds were still
criticizing them. This was a victory speech as the Hashd still want to take Tal
Afar and said they planned on clearing the Syrian-Iraq border from Ninewa all
the way down to Anbar. A Kurdish parliamentarian issued a statement
saying only the Peshmerga could be in the Sinjar district. He said other groups
were just leading to instability there, meaning the Hashd. The Kurds feel that
the Hashd’s presence threatens their control over Sinjar. That’s true because
many Hashd group oppose Kurdish expansion into disputed areas like Sinjar. They
have used the local Yazidis against the Kurds as well, recruiting them into
their units, getting local militias to join their ranks, and liberating the
remaining Yazidi towns from the Islamic State. This has led to a war of words
between the two sides.
Finally, Kuwait
remains one of the few regional countries providing aid to the people of Mosul
and Ninewa. The Kuwait Red Crescent Society is handing out 4,000 food packages
for Ramadan to displaced from Mosul. 750 were given to people in west Mosul
with the rest to be distributed in the next few days. Iraq’s neighbors are
always talking about how the country’s Sunnis are oppressed, but do little
constructive for them. Kuwait is one of only two nations in the region that are
stepping up to the plate and has consistently given assistance during the Mosul
campaign.
SOURCES
Agence France
Presse, “Iraq on cusp of Mosul victory three years after major defeat,” 6/9/17
AIN, “Video..90% of
Zinjili freed and the evacuation of dozens of families,” 6/9/17
Al-Ayash, Kamal, “Rich Iraqis Only: In Anbar, Loans For
Reconstruction – But Nobody May Apply,” Niqash, 6/9/17
Baghdad Post, “KDP
threatens to use military force to expel IMIS from Sinjar,” 6/9/17
El-Ghobashy, Tamer
and Ali Nabhan, “Torn by War on ISIS, Mosul Risks Lasting Division,” Wall
Street Journal, 6/9/17
Gibbons-Neff,
Thomas, “U.S.-led forces appear to be using white phosphorus in populated areas
in Iraq and Syria,” Washington Post, 6/9/17
Jawad, Ali, “Iraqi
state-run bank reopens branch in eastern Mosul,” Anadolu Agency, 6/9/17
Kuwait News Agency,
“Kuwait charity delivers more aid to evacuees from Mosul,” 6/9/17
Mostafa, Mohamed, “Iraqi forces take over 90% of western
Mosul’s Zanjili, push closer to Old City,” Iraqi News, 6/9/17
Murdock, Heather, “Deadly choices: Mosul families face
gunfire, bombs or starvation,” Voice of America, 6/8/17
New Sabah, “Large
preparations waiting for the zero hour to break into the old city in West
Mosul,” 6/9/17
NRT, “University Of
Mosul Resume Classes Despite Difficulties,” 6/9/17
Al Rafidain,
“Government Forces Trying To Recover Zanjili Neighborhood In West Mosul From
The Islamic State Organization,” 6/9/17
Shafaaq News, "URGENT Iraqi forces liberate
al-Zanjili neighborhood in Mosul," 6/9/17
Al Sumaria, “Engineer
announces the end of the popular mobilization operations in western Mosul,”
6/9/17
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