On the 90th day of the Mosul campaign all of
southeast Mosul was declared freed and much of the northern section as well.
Starting in the south, the Federal Police and 9th Division freed Yarmja.
The Rapid Reaction forces reached
the Tigris River and said it was aiming to attack the Mosul Airport. Other
units were clearing
areas they had taken in the section. In doing so the entire southeastern part
of Mosul was under government control. Towards the center the Golden Division
liberated Sadriya,
Nassir and Faisaliya. The unit also seized
several government buildings including the mayor and the provincial council’s
offices. In the north the division took all of the Mosul
University. Above that the army was going through Hadbaa,
Mudraa and Kafat looking for IEDs and booby traps. Only about 25% of Mosul in
the northeast along the Tigris River and in the center remains under Islamic
State control after these recent advances.
In the new areas being entered there has been a shift in the
fighting.
First, there are fewer car bombs. There used to be double digits per day, but
now that is down to around 1-4. There are also not as many civilian casualties
because not many people live in areas such as the government complex and the
Mosul University.
The Washington
Post noted how reinforcements, more supplies and an increase in U.S. led
Coalition advisers has facilitated the recent victories. The Golden Division,
which has been in the lead inside Mosul received up to 300 new replacements. It
also got 70 additional Humvees, and 40 U.S. Coalition advisers in and around
Mosul. The first two were very important to keep the unit going. There have
been various figures presented for the Golden Division’s casualties. An Iraqi
general said it had suffered 20-26% losses, an American officer told Politico
that it was as high as 50%, while a former American adviser to the Golden
Division had heard
the figure was 20-35%. There’s no way to say which was right, as the government
does not report its losses. Whatever the true number was replacement troops and
equipment were crucial to keep the force going in the tough fighting within the
city. The forward deployment of Coalition forces also helped with air and
artillery strikes, and providing intelligence and advice.
Reuters
had a piece on how IS was fighting inside the city. It talked with people in Muharibeen,
which is now under government control, about how the militants conducted
themselves. IS hung curtains across streets to try to obscure its movements
from the ISF. It parked car bombs on side streets waiting for opportunities to
deploy them, forced people out of their homes at gunpoint to use them as fire
positions, and then quickly moved on to others. Finally there was a division of
labor between fighters who planted explosives, snipers, and guides. The guides
would tell fighters where to take up positions, where to place car bombs, etc.
The IS members were also from different places. Locals claimed the snipers were
usually foreign fighters form Russia, Chechnya and Afghanistan, while the rest
were Iraqis mostly from Mosul and Tal Afar.
Another day and there was another story on the divisions
within the Islamic State. 10 IS fighters were allegedly killed and wounded in a
clash. As insurgents were fleeing east Mosul for the west crossing the Tigris,
other members called them cowards. That led to an argument and armed clashes
that resulted in the casualties.
The Director General of the Joint Crisis Coordination Center
in Kurdistan warned
that the humanitarian situation was growing worse for those displaced from the
fighting. He said that around 3,000 people were fleeing Mosul per day. 70% of
those make their way to camps in Kurdistan. He complained that Baghdad and
international donors were not contributing enough to aid this increasing wave
of people. This was predicted before the Mosul campaign began, and was why the
government urged the people of Ninewa to stay in their homes. The authorities
and aid groups simply lacked the resources to take care of them. Only one tenth
of the one million internal refugees that were feared have materialized, but
they even that amount is turning into a handful.
Rudaw
went to a screening court at a displaced camp in Khazir. While most have
focused upon the males that are taken away as suspected IS sympathizers during
this process Rudaw wrote about the documents people are missing, which are
crucial for receiving aid. People need their government IDs to receive tents,
food rations, and other forms of assistance. Many coming out of Mosul have
either left those papers behind, were lost while they were under IS rule, or
were taken by Kurdish security when they escaped. The situation of the
displaced is already hard enough. Without their papers it will be all that more
difficult.
Finally, the Ninewa Plains were liberated during the Mosul
operation, which is one of the historical homelands of Iraq’s Christians. Many
of their towns like Qaraqosh
have been destroyed however, and few are talking about returning. Instead many
interviewed by the press have talked about immigrating to other countries,
especially ones in Europe, a process that has been going on for years now due
to the violence aimed at them. As one Christian woman said, the Islamic State
“destroyed our dreams and our memories” and there was little left for them in
Iraq now. On the other hand, there are some that want to create their own province
or region. How successful that will be with more and more of the community
leaving the country is yet to be seen.
SOURCES
Adel, Loaa, "Security forces liberate government buildings, 3
districts in Mosul, Iraqi News, 1/14/17
- “Security forces storm into Mosul University and liberate
it completely,” Iraqi News, 1/14/17
- “Ten IS members killed, wounded in internal clash in
Mosul,” Iraqi News, 1/14/17
Al Alam, “VIDEO: Iraqi Forces Reaches Bank of Tigris River,
Aim for Mosul Airport,” 1/14/17
BBC, "Mosul battle: Iraq forces 'retake' university from
IS," 1/14/17
Chick, Kristen, “Iraqi Christians: Will they go home?”
Christian Science Monitor, 1/14/17
George, Susannah, “Iraq makes swift territorial gains
against IS in Mosul,” Associated Press, 1/14/17
Al Jazeera, “Iraqi forces ‘retake Mosul University’ from
ISIL,” 1/14/17
Kalin, Stephen, “On Mosul frontlines, Islamic State’s local
fighters direct the battle,” Reuters, 1/14/17
MacDiarmid, Campbell, “The Battle to Retake Mosul Is
Stalemated,” Foreign Policy, 12/22/16
Morris, Loveday and Salim, Mustafa, “After a slow and bloody
fight against ISIS, Iraqi forces pick up the pace in Mosul,” Washington Post,
1/14/17
Neuhof, Florian, “Inside Mosul: Taking selfies and
comforting civilians all in a day’s work for Iraqi soldiers,” The National,
1/14/17
Neurink, Judit, “Court set up near Mosul to confer Iraqi IDs
on refugees with ISIS-issued documents,” Rudaw, 1/14/17
New Sabah, “Liberated a wide area of Mosul neighborhoods and
Veterinary Medical College,” 1/14/17
NINA, “Daesh Burns All Government Departments In The Left
Side In Mosul,” 1/13/17
Perry, Mark, “How Iraq’s Army Could Defeat ISIS in Mosul-But
Lose Control of the Country,” Politico, 12/15/16
Rudaw, “Iraqi army kills ISIS leader form Netherlands in
Mosul,” 1/14/17
- “Mosul University liberated along with entire southeastern
parts of the city, security officials say,” 1/14/17
- “Mosul’s fleeing residents double with 3000 on daily
basis, Kurdish official,” 1/14/17
Shafaaq News, “War media cell reveals the outcome of the
day’s battles in Mosul,” 1/14/17
Xinhua, "Iraqi forces make gains in recapture push in
Mosul," 1/14/17
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