Federal Police fighting in Old City in west Mosul (Reuters)
Map of progress in Old City west Mosul. Green is liberated
areas. Red is contested. Tan is under Islamic State control. Blue in right hand
corner is the Tigris River. (Iraqi Day)
Fighting in the Old City went back and forth. The Golden
Division attacking from the west took the Nablus
area. There were renewed clashes in Bab al-Tob, which
was just declared officially freed
for the second time yesterday. Cramped streets, poor weather, tough defenses by
the Islamic State have all slowed down progress in the city. The immediate goal
remains taking the Grand Mosque where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared
the caliphate in 2014. After that is taken there will still be the majority of
the Old City to be assaulted.
A month into the west Mosul campaign and everyone is
realizing that there has been a huge civilian casualty rate. Medics told the Associated
Press that they had seen 750 civilian deaths since the operation started on
February 19. That compared to 1,600 dead and wounded hospitals received in east
Mosul. The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights accused
the Iraqi forces (ISF) and Coalition of disregarding civilians trapped in the
city with their use of heavy shelling and air strikes on residential areas. The
United Nations was equally concerned.
The Iraqi and Coalition forces have admitted to using more artillery, mortars,
rockets, planes and helicopters in the current operation. The U.S. responded
to the criticism by saying its precision munitions was reducing collateral
damage. While that might mean hitting targets better, it ignored IS’s current
tactics. The insurgents are constantly attacking and withdrawing and then
moving back into positions. They are also forcing civilians to stay in their
homes while they are using them as fire positions, and making them withdraw
with them as well. As a civilian told Reuters, IS would
set up a sniper position on top of a building, take a few shots and then move
on, and then later the building would be hit while civilians were inside the
whole time. The heavy toll this is taking on civilians is a major reason why so
many people are fleeing the city.
Outside of Mosul the 9th Division and Hashd were
active again taking
two towns
north of Badush. These forces were supposed to open a third front in west
Mosul, but at the pace their moving that could come pretty late in the campaign
if it ever does. They could stay on the perimeter and ensure the encirclement
of the city.
Finally, Pulse
News talked with two families that returned to west Mosul. They had both
fled, but found no room in the camps and were forced to go back. One person
said he found several families packed into one tent at a camp. One family had
re-opened their business inside the city, but they had little to sell. They’d
gotten some goods from Hamam al-Alil to the south, but it wasn’t much. The
camps in the south are now overflowing, but the security forces keep directing
people there. Hundreds of families are now living outside the facilities,
probably out in the elements, and the ISF has plans to allow some to move on to
Baghdad. This is while there are thousands of spots in Kurdistan, but the
government is sending hardly anyone there even though aid groups have
petitioned them to do so.
SOURCES
Adel, Loaa, "Federal Police repulses IS attack near Mosul, 17
militants killed," Iraqi News, 3/19/17
- "Islamic State militants blow up 14 houses south of
Mosul," Iraqi News, 3/19/17
Baghdad Post, “Iraqi forces advance towards “Grand Nouri”
mosque in Mosul,” 3/19/17
Iraqi Red Crescent Society, “Increasing in the numbers of
displaced form the right side of Mosul to more than 100,000 people and the
teams of the Iraqi Red Crescent are making extraordinary efforts to relief
them,” 3/19/17
Markey, Patrick and Davison, John, “Iraqi forces close on
Mosul mosque as strike kills foreign militants,” Reuters, 3/19/17
Mostafa, Mohamed, “Six foreign IS leaders killed as Iraqi
forces retake more western Mosul areas,” Iraqi News, 3/19/17
- "UPDATED: Security forces recapture 2 central Mosul neighborhoods,
militants killed," Iraqi News, 3/19/17
Shafaaq News, "Injuring 10 civilians in the fall of mortar
shells on West Mosul," 3/19/17
-
"Iraqi forces moving cautiously and repel suicide attack West Mosul,"
3/19/17
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