Mosul Campaign Day 49, Dec 4, 2016

The Golden Division claimed some new and old neighborhoods in eastern Mosul. Salam was liberated for the second time, Aden and Intisar for the third time, and Zuhur for the fourth. Younis Sabawi, first attacked on November 11, Palestine entered on November 13, and Mufti assaulted on November 17 were finally cleared, along with Jadida the 50^th neighborhood reached so far.

The day before the Islamic State launched a series of attacks across Mosul. The group hit eight neighborhoods on December 3, even able to capture some of them in the process. IS has constantly counterattacked, but December 2-3 were especially heavy as there was poor weather limiting air cover and giving the militants relative freedom of movement.

There has been minimal movement on the northern and southern fronts for the past few weeks. They are almost a month behind reaching Mosul itself. The commander of the Rapid Reaction Force in the south said it was waiting for orders to move out and was aiming for Albu Saif before it reached the Mosul airport. No word was given when this new effort was supposed to start. The original campaign plan was to seize the city’s suburbs and then attack on multiple fronts to spread out the defenders, while the Golden Division was to take the lead. That fell apart quickly as the Golden Division reached the eastern half of the city far before everyone else and was told by Baghdad to enter anyway. That entire plan is now being revised.

Finally, the Associated Press accompanied a series of aid trucks to eastern Mosul and two neighboring towns. In one area there were no authorities present and the people ended up fighting with each other trying to snatch as many supplies as they could. In the Bakr neighborhood of Mosul things were more organized, and civilians were cued up waiting to collect food, heating oil, water and other goods. The aid convoy was in response to warnings by non-governmental organizations that a humanitarian crisis could be breaking out in the east with winter approaching and no services or food available.

SOURCES

Adel, Loaa, "Anti-Terrorism forces kill 13 ISIS members near Mosul," Iraqi News, 12/3/16

Bas News, "Iraqi Forces Retake Two More Neighborhoods East of Mosul," 11/17/16

- "Mosul: Iraqi Forces Liberate Two Other Neighborhoods," 12/2/16

Al Forat, "Al Forat Announces incursion into five neighborhoods on Mosul's left coast,

and continued clearing of Tal Afar Airport," 11/17/16

Hameed, Saif and Laessing, Ulf, “Islamic State strikes back to slow Iraqi forces in Mosul,” Reuters, 12/4/16

Iraq Oil Report, "Inside Mosul, Dec 3, 2016," 12/3/16

- "Inside Mosul: Nov. 1, 2016," 11/1/16

- "Inside Mosul: Nov. 13, 2016," 11/13/16

- "Inside Mosul, Nov. 21, 2016," 11/21/16

- "Inside Mosul, Nov. 29, 2016," 11/29/16

Al Mada, "Breaking into eight districts and increases pressure on Daesh on the left coast," 11/11/16

Mizban, Hadi and Salaheddin, Sinan, “Chaos erupts as Iraq delivers aid to Mosul,” Associated Press, 12/4/16

Mostafa, Mohamed, "Zohour, Shoqaq Khadraa neighborhoods of Mosul recaptured: source," Iraqi News, 11/24/16

New Sabah, "Anti-terrorism forces edge up to the Tigris from the Left Coast after the liberation of Akhaa, Zuhur, and Aden," 12/4/16

NINA, "Iraqi Forces Kill 20 And Arrest 11 North Of Mosul," 3/12/16

- "Iraqi forces killed a suicide bomber from Daesh and stormed three new residential neighborhoods east of Mosul," 12/3/16

Rojkan, Mira, "Joint Forces Continue to Advance, Liberating More Areas in Mosul," Bas News, 12/4/16

Shafaq News, "Three civilians were injured by Daesh shooting northeast Mosul," 12/3/16

World Bulletin, "Suicide bombing kills 12 in Iraq's Mosul," 12/3/16

Xinhua, "Iraqi forces clear areas freed from IS in eastern Mosul," 11/9/16

- "Iraqi forces free more districts in eastern Mosul," 11/4/16