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Ninevah Nightmares
65K soldiers massed for attack on Mosul(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Iraqi forces are preparing for a battle that is expected to take place in the coming few days to liberate the city of Mosul from the grip of the terrorist group, ISIS. Iraqi media outlets mentioned that around 5,000 fighters belonging to ISIS occupy the city of 1.3 million besieged residents. News websites reported that 65,000 Iraqi soldiers divided into 6 divisions are expected to participate in the imminent battle. Around 10,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are expected to participate in the battles that will take place in northern and eastern axes of Nineveh plain. Around 24,000 members of Nineveh Police and al-Hashd al-Shaabi Milita are ready to participate in the battle as support forces. Iraqi Air Force in coordination with the air force of the US-led coalition will provide air cover for the ground operation. In a related development, al-Hashd al-Shaabi Milita Forces announced on Monday that 14 of its members were killed by 5 Katyusha rockets fired by ISIS militants at Camp Zilkan north of Mosul. Media outlets revealed that only 76,000 tents have been set up to receive Mosul families, while at least 300,000 tents are supposed to be set up to receive the large number of families expected to flee the city at the start of the battle. ISIS could use CBR weapons in upcoming Mosul battle [ARA News] Erbil – The radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) may use chemical weapons to protect its main Iraqi bastion of Mosul, officials said on Wednesday. Informed sources told ARA News that after seizing chemical weapons in Syria, ISIS militants moved a large deal of those weapons to Mosul, in Iraq’s northwestern Nineveh Governorate. “ISIS has brought several shipments of chemical weapons, particularly chlorine and mustard agents, to Mosul earlier this week,” the head of Nineveh media centre Raafat al-Zarari said. The move comes ahead of the Mosul operation, planned by the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi Army troops, supported by the US-led coalition. The operation, which is expected to start within weeks, is aimed at capturing the city of Mosul from ISIS and expel the radical group from its main bastion in northern Iraq. “If those reports are confirmed, we may face a more complex situation in the battle for Mosul than expected,” a Kurdish Peshmerga official told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We are aware of ISIS moves in Mosul. The group has recently changed its main positions inside the city and installed new checkpoints in Mosul suburb. The terrorist group is willing to put all of its strength in the upcoming battle for Mosul,” the official said. “Using chemical agents during the fight is highly possible, and we’ll make our preparations for such a scenario.” Previous Chemical Attacks On 21 September, ISIS militants hit an Iraqi army base with shells that reportedly contained mustard agent. According to a joint investigation by the United Nations and a chemical weapons watchdog, the ISIS group has used banned chemical weapons. Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria have been exposed to several chemical attacks by ISIS, according to reports. Also, on 18 September, ISIS launched a chemical attack on the villages of Um Hosh and Herbel in Afrin District northwest of Aleppo. The attack led to the injury of five civilians and three members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who were transferred to the Afrin Hospital. A medical sources in Afrin told ARA News that the injured suffered from suffocation. “The victims have been clearly exposed to a chemical gas attack.” Speaking to ARA News, Rezan Heddo, a member of the Syrian Democratic Council, said: “ISIS and other radical Islamist groups in Aleppo province are in possession of chemical weapons. They have used those weapons in several attacks on populated areas in Aleppo province, especially against the Kurds.” In April, the SDF leadership confirmed that several shells containing chemicals dropped on their positions in the vicinity of Shaddadi city [60 km south of Hasakah city] northeastern Syria. “On April 26, ISIS terrorists pounded our fighters’ positions in the Taqa village near Shaddadi with mortar shells containing toxic chemicals. 15 fighters of the SDF have been injured and suffered suffocation by toxic gases.” A Medical source in Hasakah told ARA News that investigations confirmed the SDF fighters have been exposed to an attack by chemical agents. Also in April, ISIS militants launched an offensive on positions for the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq, using rockets filled with chlorine gas. At least one fighter from the Kurdish Peshmerga forces was killed and four more wounded in the attack. Local activists confirmed that ISIS attacked the Peshmerga forces in the fighting front of Kweir in Makhmur district with chemical weapons, killing the Kurdish fighter Jaffar Omar Karim and wounding four others, who suffered suffocation. The Kurdistan Regional Security Council (KRSC) said that the ISIS hardline group has repeatedly used chemical weapons against the Peshmerga forces on several fighting fronts in the region. In November 2015, the Peshmerga forces have repelled an attack by the radical group, during which ISIS was planning to use chlorine gas against the Kurdish troops in a military base near Erbil, according to the Peshmerga leadership. In August 2015, Officials in Iraqi Kurdistan confirmed the use of mustard agent by ISIS extremists against the Peshmerga forces. The Peshmerga Ministry in the Kurdistan Region said in a statement at that time that blood tests have shown the use of the chemical agent by the terror group against the Kurdish forces. At least 35 Peshmerga soldiers have been exposed to the mustard agent, while some of the injured soldiers have been taken abroad for treatment. Posted by: badanov 2016-10-13 |
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