Destruction in Old City west Mosul (Iraq News Center)
The Iraqi forces (ISF) made a huge symbolic victory finally
capturing the Nouri Mosque and making other advances in west Mosul. Ninewa We
Are Coming commander General Abdul Amir Rasheed Yarallah announced that the mosque and the
Islamic State’s headquarters in Sargkhana, both in the Old City, were freed by
the ISF. Bab Lakash, Bab
al-Jadid and Bab al-Baid, which has been declared liberated twice, were still
under siege,
and the government’s troops were also moving towards Makawi and Shahar Suq. To
the north Shifa
was said to have been captured for
the fourth time. According
to the government the capture of the Nouri Mosque meant that the Islamic State’s
caliphate was coming to an end. That was where IS declared its state three
years ago. After three months of heavy fighting the ISF finally seized it. These
latest advances still leave roughly half of the Old City under insurgent
control.
Predictably, taking the Nouri Mosque led to Iraqi propaganda
to go into overdrive. After the fighting was over the Golden Division claimed
it killed 60 IS members in combat around the mosque. Shortly afterward the
unit’s commander General Abdul Ghani al-Asadi upped that figure to 600 dead. The
spokesman for the division then added that no
part of Mosul was under IS control, and only scattered insurgents were in two
areas. First, the ISF have been saying for days now that they believed
there were only 300-400 IS left in the entire Old City district. That made it
difficult to understand how the fatalities at the mosque not only increased 10
times, but were more than all the insurgents in the entire district. Second,
the government’s own maps show that half of the Old City is still under IS
control. This was just the latest example of the hyperbole that has become synonymous
with Iraq’s victory narrative over the last three years.
A doctor working with the ISF told the
press that over 200 civilians were killed in the combat in the Old City over
the last week. Dr. Saadullah Khafaf said 204 people had died, half of which
were children. That did not include civilians killed and trapped in their
homes. Despite the Iraqi and U.S. led Coalition claims that they are attempting
to avoid civilian casualties most of the IS held territory is considered a free
fire zone with plenty of examples of homes being hit with no militants nearby.
That along with IS firing mortars into areas indiscriminately, executing
people, and using them as human shields has led to horrendous casualties.
There were continued concerns of IS operations in the
liberated sections of Mosul. The Federal Police conducted a
large search and arrest operation throughout the city to find sleeper cells.
They warned
of insurgents dressed as members of the security forces. This happened after a
recent suicide bombing in a market in east Mosul where IS fighters were dressed
as members of the Golden Division. That was followed by two more bombers being
killed in Nabi
Younis, on June 29 that were wearing Federal Police uniforms. Another
bomber was arrested
in Zuhur. That marked the sixth straight day the Islamic State had attempted
operations in the freed parts of the city. Few of them have been successful
thankfully.
For some unexplained reason the number of displaced in
Ninewa suddenly doubled. On June
28, there were 435,216 registered displaced (IDPs). The next day that went
up to 819,534.
No reason was given for this huge increase. The United Nations did report that
amount of people returning had dropped the fourth week of June. That was
because of the IS attacks in freed areas of Mosul had scared people. The U.N.
was also in contact with people that had gone back to the city. They found that
east Mosul and the town of Bartella there was electricity on most of the time,
but clean water only every two days. In comparison, in the west, there was not
only no access to the power grid but few generators either. The east obviously
was freed first, and escaped a lot of damage. There has been a lot of
grassroots and government rebuilding there. The west however, has largely been
flattened, and because of the continued combat there is little help available
there so far.
SOURCES
Al Alam, “Daesh
dying and the Iraqi forces are preparing to declare full victory,” 6/29/17
Baghdad Post, “Iraqi
forces recapture vital districts in Mosul right bank,” 6/29/17
- “ISIS terrorists
hide in houses near Tigris River,” 6/29/17
- "Two suicide bombers killed in Nineveh," 6/29/17
Bas News, “Iraqi
Police Clearing Liberated Areas of Mosul from IS Elements,” 6/29/17
BBC, “Battle for
Mosul: Ruins of Great Mosque of al-Nuri retaken,” 6/29/17
Chmaytelli, Maher,
“Iraq reclaims Mosul mosque, declares end of ISIS caliphate,” Reuters, 6/29/17
- "Iraq's army encircles Islamic State in
Mosul's Old City: military," 6/20/17
Deuparcq, Emmanuel,
“Iraqi rescuers in perilous search for Mosul missing,” Agence France Presse,
6/29/17
Duparcq, Emmanuel
with Dunlop, W.G., “Iraq sees end to ‘caliphate’ as Mosul mosque recaptured,”
Agence France Presse, 6/29/17
Dwyer, Colin, “Iraq Reclaims Historic Mosul Mosque, Saying
ISIS ‘Caliphate’ Has Fallen,” NPR, 6/29/17
European
Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian
Aid Operations,” Iraq: Qayyarah emergency site grows with surge in new arrivals
from Western Mosul,” 6/29/17
George, Susannah,
“In Mosul, Iraqi forces take landmark mosque blown up by IS,” Associated Press,
6/29/17
Hath Al-Youn, "Federal Police announces
control of Bab al-Baid area in Mosul," 6/24/17
International
Organization for Migration, “Displacement Tracking Matrix Emergency Tracking
Factsheet #35 – Mosul Operations From 17 October To 29 June,” 6/29/17
- “Iraq: DTM West Mosul Displacement Overview (as of 29 June
2017),” 6/29/17
Iraq Newspaper,
“Iraqi Newspaper Reporter In Mosul: 9 Fighters Were Killed In Fighting in Bab
Al-Baid And Bab Al-Jadid,” 6/29/17
- “Iraqi Newspaper
Reporter In Mosul: The Battles Are Fierce Now In Al-Shifa Neighborhood And The
Iraqi Television Is Showing Pictures Of The Nouri Mosque,” 6/29/17
- “Iraqi Newspaper
Reporter In Mosul: The Police Chief Announces Victory Statement On The Third
Anniversary Of The Declaration Of The State By Daesh,” 6/29/17
Iraqi Broadcasting
Networks News, “Federal Police Units Free Batool Hospital And Qasr Building In
Mosul,” 6/29/17
Iraqi Ministry of Defense, "The 9th Armored
Division controls all of Shifa district and Fifth Bridge separating the Old
City and the neighborhood itself," 6/22/1
Jumkari, Azad,
“Counterterrorism Forces: Iraqi forces killed 600 armed men in the process of
liberating Jami al-Nouri area,” 6/29/17
Kalin, Stephen, "Iraqi forces seize more
group in Mosul from Islamic State, PM sees victory soon," 6/27/17
March 14, “Federal
Police And Rapid Reaction Liberated The Medical Complex IN Al-Shifa District On
The Right Bank of Mosul,” 6/29/17
Al Masalah, “Suicide
Bombers In Mosul Disguising Themselves In Police And Army Uniforms,” 6/29/17
- “Two suicide
bombers disguised as federal police were killed in Mosul,” 6/29/17
Al Mayadeen, “Iraq:
Ninewa We Are Coming Operations Commander Yarallah: the liberation of the
Republican Hospital by the Emergency Response Division and the Obstetrics
Hospital and Dental College,” 6/29/17
Morris, Loveday and
Salim, Mustafa, “Mosul’s Old City waits for salvation amid ‘death, death,
death,’” Washington Post, 6/16/17
Al-Ramahi, Khaled
and Chmaytelli, Maher, “Iraq declares end of caliphate after capture of Mosul
mosque,” Reuters, 6/29/17
Rudaw, “100s
civilians killed in past week of fighting in Old Mosul,” 6/29/17
- "Iraqi forces take control of one of two
remaining ISIS districts in west Mosul," 6/17/17
- “Prime Minister
Abadi declared ‘the end of the ISIS statelet’ in Mosul,” 6/29/17
Shafaaq News,
“Foiled suicide attack in Mosul,” 6/29/17
- “Iraqi forces
recapture the Saat Church and Omar al-Asad Mosque in the vicinity of the old
city Mosul,” 6/29/17
Specia, Megan and Gladstone, Rick, “Iraq Recaptures Al Nuri
Mosque in Mosul, but Only Rubble Remains,” New York Times, 6/29/17
UN High Commissioner
for Refugees, “Iraq Situation: UNHCR Flash Update – 28 June 2017,” 6/28/17
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