Iraqi armored car passing a truck destroying by Islamic
State west Mosul (Reuters)
Iraqi T-72 tank moves across rubble in west Mosul (Reuters)
There was fighting in three areas of west Mosul. The Iraqi
Security Forces (ISF) were still trying to capture the Zinjali
neighborhood. The ISF has largely been frustrated in Shifa and the Old City and
tried to push into the two areas from different directions.
The Iraqi command claimed that the final assault on Mosul would be over
quickly, while lower ranking officers and the Americans warned the opposite
that it would be the toughest part of the fight. The latter are proving to be
more accurate.
There have been mounting casualty reports coming out of the
city. Two reports had 150
civilians being killed by Islamic State fire in Zinjali and Shifa, while
another had 70
deaths in Zinjali and Saha. There’s likely overlap there as both mentioned
Zinjali, but those were still huge figures. The insurgents have been using
snipers and mortar fire on people attempting to flee the last sections of Mosul
under its control. On the other hand, the Iraqi forces and U.S. led coalition
are using more mortars, artillery, and air strikes since the start of the west
Mosul operation. Together they have taken a huge toll on the residents.
The Joint Operations Command launched an attack
upon reporter Ali Arkady and his stories in Der
Spiegel, ABC
News, and the Toronto
Star. Arkady followed a unit from the Rapid Reaction Division during the
Mosul operation and documented beatings, torture and alleged killings of IS
suspects. The Joint Operations Command claimed the stories were made up so that
Arkady could get asylum in a foreign country. It went on to say that if there
was any abuse then Arkady was complicit as he was there. At the same time,
there is an inquiry underway into the stories. This is classic double speak of
denying a story and then saying if it happened then the one who reported it was
partly responsible. Abuse is institutionalized within the Iraqi forces, there
have been plenty of postings on social media and reports by human rights groups
of the ISF killing prisoners, so Arkady’s work should have come as no surprise.
The Iraqi forces are on the cusp of
victory in Mosul, and yet have come to complain about any bad press more and
more. The Iraqi forces have continuously repudiated any wrong doing in such
events, threatened legal action, implied that the Islamic State is responsible,
and tried to limit press access more and more within the city. In fact, the
closer they get to winning the more they are worried about anything that might
besmirch their reputation.
Another example was a Kurdish television station catching
what looked like white
phosphorus being used in west Mosul. The Iraqi command said it was smoke
used by the U.S. led Coalition to block IS snipers from firing on civilians in
the Shifa neighborhood. It went on to threaten legal action against anyone
showing the footage, and blocked
all live television coverage of the battle afterward. After all that denial,
the government is now opening another investigation into the matter. Like the
Der Spiegel story, the Iraqis claimed nothing happened, threatened the press,
and now will look into the incident. In neither case is anything likely to come
from the examination as no previous ones over the years have ever done so.
Baghdad is unwilling to accept any wrong doing, and is more interesting in
promoting its victory narrative.
The New
York Times had a good photo essay following the ISF into the Rifai and Saha
neighborhoods in west Mosul. The reporter found a huge amount of destruction.
In Rifai he didn’t see a single house that had escaped the fighting. He also
recorded the intense combat taking place. East Mosul had some battle damage,
but most of the neighborhoods escaped relatively intact. West Mosul on the
other hand looks to have been mostly leveled with the increased use of
artillery and air strikes by the Iraqis and Coalition on top of the regular
fighting.
In the Rifai neighborhood Agence
France Presse reported on looting by residents. People were seen walking
down the streets with all kinds of home items that they stole from the area.
Policemen were trying to tell people to stop and return the items. The common
response was that everything belonged to the Islamic State, so people were free
to take them. The ISF were skeptical, but their verbal remonstrations were not
enough to end the practice. Many people feel desperate in the western section
of the city due to huge shortages and are likely looking for what they can find
to supplement their living.
Ninewa Operations Command head General Najm Jabouri talked about
how the population of Mosul were assisting the ISF in securing east Mosul. He
reported that 1,500 IS members had been arrested so far with the help of the
citizenry. There have been constant fears of insurgents hiding amongst the
population in the east, and there are always raids looking for them as a
result.
The Hashd were still at work in west Ninewa. 9 villages were
seized
to the northwest of Baaj, and they were heading towards a border crossing.
Hashd leader Yusuf al-Kalabi told the press that the
units would be clearing the Baaj district and the move into new regions. Deputy
Hashd commander Abu Muhandis claimed
IS was firing upon the Hashd from Syria. This might be a provocation to cross
the border as many other Hashd members have talked about in recent days. Prime
Minister Haider Abadi however stated
that the government does not want any of the Iraqi forces fighting outside the
country. The Hashd have said they would not move into Syria without Baghdad’s
approval, but they are increasingly pushing the matter. Until then if they want
to secure the Iraq-Syrian border they only have a very small fraction under
their control, so there is plenty for them to do inside Iraq.
Finally, there were more stories of extrajudicial killings
by the security forces. Human
Rights Watch had several reports of the ISF executing IS suspects and
leaving them in ditches or dumping them in the Tigris River. On May 21, a local
security member told Human Rights Watch that they saw a body floating down the
Tigris River in Qayara south of Mosul. On May 13 and May 15 2 groups of aid
workers and a foreign journalist found 15 bodies on the side of the road
outside of Hamam al-Alil. Men at a checkpoint told the foreign reporter that
they saw members of the ISF bring the men to the site and shoot them. At the
end of April, an aid worker went to the Qayara morgue and found a man shot,
blindfolded and bound. On April 20 Reuters reported that six bodies were
witnessed in the Tigris blindfolded and bound. The Hashd’s 90th
Brigade is holding prisoners in Safina 20 kilometers to the north of Qayara. An
Iraqi official told a reporter that the brigade had killed 25 prisoners and
dropped them into the river. When Human Rights Watch inquired at the Qayara
hospital they were told the Health and Defense Ministries had banned any
discussions of its morgue. In fact, on June 5, 5 bodies were found
in Bartella apparently blindfolded and shot by the Hashd. Human Rights Watch
has documented many other cases in the Mosul campaign of prisoners being killed
by the Iraqi forces. Like the abuse of prisoners this has been a long-standing
practice, and therefore should not be surprising when cases are discovered.
Again, Baghdad is likely to make some statement in response, but it will do
nothing about it as it has never done so before, and is more interested in
promoting itself than accepting and fixing its flaws.
SOURCES
Agence France
Presse, “Looters target empty homes in Iraq’s Mosul,” 6/5/17
Al Alam, “Abadi: We
do not want our troops to fight outside the border,” 6/5/17
Baghdad Post, “Video: Iraqi army fighting ISIS terrorists in
Mosul right bank,” 6/5/17
Der Spiegel, “Not
heroes but monsters,” 5/23/17
Dunphy, Liz, “Did
Iraq use deadly phosphorus? Probe after sinister white-blue clouds are filmed
over ISIS-held western Mosul,” Daily Mail, 6/5/17
Human Rights Watch,
“Iraq: Dozens Found Handcuffed, Executed in, around Mosul,” 6/4/17
Iraq News App, "Iraq: Sources in the field:
the high toll of civilians killed by Daash in the Shifa and Zinjali
neighborhoods in Mosul up to around 150 martyrs," 6/5/17
Iraq News Center, "Killing and injuring more than 18
members of the security forces and an officer, and 4 military vehicles
destroyed in Bab al-Tob west Mosul," 6/5/17
Iraq News Portal,
“Abu Muhandis: We responded to incoming fire coming from Syria .. We reject
America’s warnings of crossing the border,” 6/5/17
Kuran, Mustafa,
“Nineveh Operations Commander: Coordination of citizens with security forces is
the reason for maintaining the security of Mosul,” Rudaw, 6/5/17
Al Maalomah, “After
the liberation of Baaj The Popular crowd reveals its new mission,” 6/5/17
Mostafa, Mohamed,
“Iraqi command: reporter who accused troops of Mosul tortures merely eyed
asylum,” Iraqi News, 6/5/17
- “Iraqi forces kill 21 IS members, including snipers, in
snap attack in Mosul,” Iraqi News, 6/5/17
- “Mobilization
forces recapture 9 villages clearing borders with Syria,” Iraqi News, 6/5/17
- “Officer, 4 civilians killed during Mosul battles Monday,”
Iraqi News, 6/5/17
New Sabah, "Counterterrorism reveals Daesh only controls
area of 4 square kilometers in West Mosul," 6/5/17
Potter, Mitch,
Shephard, Michelle and Campion-Smith, Bruce, “Bound. Tortured. Killed.” Toronto
Star, 5/27/17
Prickett, Ivor, “On
Mosul’s Front Line: A Grueling Battle on Civilian Streets,” New York Times,
6/5/17
Ross, Brian,
Schwartz, Rhonda, Meek, James Gordon and Kreider, Randy, “Iraqi troops torture
and execute civilians in secret videos,” ABC News, 5/25/17
Rudaw, "Civilians thirst, hunger to be
liberated from ISIS in western Mosul," 6/5/17
Shafaaq News, "Found the bodies of men killed by the
popular crowd in Bartella," 6/5/17
- “Iraqi forces
attack Old City from the south and found a prison with the remains of Daash
north Mosul,” 6/5/17
- “Iraqi forces open
a new front towards Shifa and progress in Zinjali,” 6/5/17
- "A lieutenant colonel and four civilians were killed
west Mosul," 6/5/17
Sobir, Shoguna, “Iraqi Forces Resume Push into Mosul’s Old
City from Southern Front,” Bas News, 6/5/17
World Food Programme, “Iraq: Situation Update – Mosul Operation
– 04 June 2017,” 6/4/17
Xinhua, “Iraqi paramilitary forces free town, 12 villages in
west of Mosul,” 6/5/17
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