There were various reports out of Mosul. First, an IED
in the northwest left three dead and four wounded. There are thousands of unexploded
bombs left in the city, which pose a serious threat to people returning right
now to the western section. Second, three Islamic State elements were killed
trying to cross the Tigris River from west to east Mosul. There are still
insurgents said to be hiding in the Old City in the west. They are still being
flushed out or attempting to escape. Third, 16 municipal workers were arrested in
Mosul for cooperating with IS. The security forces and National Intelligence
Agency are hunting down insurgents in the city, and apparently are now focusing
upon collaborators as well. Last, 23 people were pulled out of the rubble of the
Old City. Finding survivors three weeks after the city was liberated was pretty
amazing.
The government continued to move slowly on providing
security for Mosul. The Interior Ministry agreed to appoint
1,000 police to Ninewa. The provincial government has been calling
on Baghdad to re-instate all 32,000 dismissed police. So far, only a few
thousand have been brought back. This 1,000 is a drop in the bucket. That has
forced Ninewa to rely upon a plethora of tribal Hashd and ISF units, none of
which coordinate with each other, and many of which are in open competition.
Ninewa politicians and others have called the situation chaotic. Baghdad has
always been bad at planning, and lacks money right now as well to carry out
such projects.
The Iraqi government is preparing for the Tal Afar
operation. The spokesman for the Rapid Reaction force predicted
that the battle would be over quickly. The Golden Division, army, police, Hashd
and tribal Hashd will all take
part with one exception. A Turkmen Hashd commander told
the press that Prime Minister Haidar Abadi will not allow any units from the
town itself to participate. That includes a brigade from the army’s 15th
Division, two brigades from the Federal Police, the Tal Afar emergency police
brigade, and the Al-Hussein brigade of the Hashd. The officer seemed shocked by
the premier’s decision. Abadi may be thinking that these units will want
revenge against the militants, which would lead to more bad press after all the
extra judicial killings that happened after Mosul’s liberation.
The rebuilding of Mosul and Ninewa continues. Bret McGurk
the U.S. representative to the anti-IS coalition said that
Washington will be providing funding to the U.N. to help stabilize the
province. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is working to repair
a major hospital in Mosul, schools, has provided 50 generators to Mosul
University, and has gotten one water treatment plant up and running in the
east, and is working on another. Two temporary bridges are being built across the Tigris River,
one in Badush and one in Hamam al-Alil. This will greatly help the movement of
people and troops through the province. The major bridges were all bombed by
the Coalition during the Mosul campaign. The reconstruction of east Mosul is
moving ahead rapidly. Things are going more slowly in the west because so much
of it was destroyed, there are still explosives everywhere, and sections of the
Old City are considered unsafe. The same came be said for most of Ninewa, which
does not seem to be getting much attention from the authorities. That leaves
the public to do much of the repairs on their own.
Another repercussion of the Mosul battle is thousands of
orphans and abandoned children.
Reuters wrote about kids that had their parents killed, or were split from
their families. There are also many that are suffering trauma from the
fighting. UNICEF is attempting to assist them. Some are being put with families
in camps, others are finding foster homes. There are two major problems
however. One is that the government has no psychological programs for these
kids. Second, if they come from IS families they are shunned. Dozens of
children for example, were put in a camp just for IS families that were
expelled from their homes. Aid groups are trying to deal with these
populations, but they have very limited resources.
Finally, former Governor Atheel Nujafi gave a radio interview
where he made more accusations against his opponents. He accused Vice President
Nouri al-Maliki of surrendering Mosul to the Islamic State in 2014. He and Iran
then worked together to use IS and Mosul to raise the profile of the Hashd and
occupy the city. He claimed that if his Ninewa Guards were involved in the
campaign things would have turned out better. Nujafi has been talking more and
more to the media using Mosul to go after his opponents. Nujafi blames Maliki
for everything wrong in Iraq. Attacking Iran also goes over well with Sunnis,
and his allies Turkey and the Kurdistan Democratic Party that are opposed to
Tehran’s influence in the country. These types of criticisms will be heard more
and more now that Mosul is freed, and elections are coming.
SOURCES
Baghdad Post,
“Nujaifi: Mullah surrendered Mosul to ISIS,orchestrated its destruction,”
7/30/17
- “Official: Tal
Afar’s operation to be conducted in record time,” 7/30/17
Bas News, “16 Mosul
Employees Arrested for Links with IS,” 7/30/17
Al Forat, “The Security Council discusses the status of
Baghdad and the return of displaced people to Mosul,” 7/30/17
Al Ghad Press,
“Source: Interior Ministry approves the appointment of 1,000 members of the
Ninewa police,” 7/30/17
Hath Al-Youm, “Tal
Afar and Hawija… Accounts before the liberation battles,” 7/30/17
MacSwan, Angus,
“Lost children are legacy of battle for Iraq’s Mosul,” Reuters, 7/30/17
Al Mada, “The crowd kills 14 Daash in the Ninewa Desert. The
defense minister is inspecting the logistical preparations for the liberation
of Tal Afar,” 7/30/17
- “Ninewa is
perplexed by 30 tribal groups holding liberated lands,” 7/21/17
Mostafa, Mohamed,
“Tal Afar personnel excluded from liberation offensives: commander,” Iraqi
News, 7/30/17
- “Three IS leaders
killed escaping to eastern Mosul via Tigris” Iraqi News, 7/30/17
New Sabah,
“Extensive military preparations and strategic planning to begin the liberation
of Tal Afar,” 7/30/17
- “Twenty-three
civilians were rescued from the rubble after spending three weeks in a basement
in Old Mosul,” 7/30/17
Rudaw, “Rebuilding
Mosul one of the biggest challenges world has seen in decades,” 7/30/17
- “United in
education, 350K students are back to school in Mosul’s east and west,” 7/30/17
Shafaaq News, "Leftover IED leaves 3 dead
in Mosul," 7/30/17
Sly, Liz and Shwan, Aaso Amin, “In one Iraqi town, a visit
to the first bar to reopen after Islamic State rule,” Washington Post, 7/29/17
Al Taghier TV, “Ninewa…Wounded civilians complain about the
poor health and lack of medical staff – Video,” 7/30/17
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