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Mosul Offensive News
Iraqi forces fighting in al-Aalam district in MosulNineveh (IraqiNews.com) Forces from the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service partially recaptured on Tuesday another district in the eastern section of Mosul from Islamic State militants, security sources said. The forces managed Tuesday morning to storm al-Aalam district in eastern Mosul, the sources said as battles continue to liberate Iraq’s second largest city from the extremist group. Iraqi government forces, backed by popular militias and a US-led air cover, have been liberating villages in Mosul on an almost daily basis as part of a major operation to free the city that launched in mid October. Military and police commanders said recently that government forces became in control of nearly 50 percent of the eastern section of Mosul. ISIS remains in control of most of the western region adjacent to the group’s strongholds in Syria, but Iraqi security commanders and militia leaders reportedly managed to cut ISIS’s supply and escape routes to and from Syria. On Monday, Iraqi forces bombarded regions on the western side, denoting the opening of a new battle front. Fighting against ISIS continues in eastern Mosul Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army forces are engaging in ferocious battles with Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in Mosul since early Tuesday as operations continue to clear the eastern section of the city. UK-based The New Arab website quoted military sources as saying that the forces are backed by US artillery forces and Apache helicopters which bombed areas inside the city. ISIS militants are, meanwhile, carrying out a series of suicide bombings in several areas east of Mosul to impede the advancing troops, according to the website. Intense battles are ongoing at the districts of al-Shaimaa, al-Salam, Doumiz, Qadisiya and al-Barid, according to the army sources. “For hours, we have been in violent battles, backed by an air and artillery cover from the international and US forces. US Apaches have intervened shortly before to handle some difficult targets,” an army officer told the website, pointing to what he described as “ a significant progress” achieved by the forces. Also on Tuesday, the army’s Counter Terrorism Service invaded al-Aalam district in eastern Mosul. Iraqi government forces, backed by popular militias and a US-led air cover, have been liberating villages in Mosul on an almost daily basis as part of a major operation to free the city that launched in mid October. Military and police commanders said recently that government forces became in control of nearly 50 percent of the eastern section of Mosul. ISIS remains in control of most of the western region adjacent to the group’s strongholds in Syria, but Iraqi security commanders and militia leaders reportedly managed to cut ISIS’s supply and escape routes to and from Syria. On Monday, Iraqi forces bombarded regions on the western side, denoting the opening of a new battle front. ISIS shifting forces to the east in Mosul More Islamic whack-a-mole (Reuters) Islamic State has brought its forward defenses from western Mosul towards the east as it fights against Iraqi forces in the battle to liberate the city, a coalition commanding general said. Iraqi special forces are slowly edging through districts in eastern Mosul, Islamic State’s last stronghold in Iraq, where they face suicide attacks, snipers and mortars from militants dug in among the civilian population. Commanders expected the western half of the city, divided by the Tigris River, to be the tougher battle, but Islamic State – which has controlled the city for two years – appears to be committing its defenses to the east against the Iraqi forces, which are backed by Western-led coalition air strikes. “What we thought was going to be the strongest defense, now they have already hedged their bets and bought it forward,” U.S. Brigadier General Scott Efflandt, a coalition deputy commanding general told Reuters. “The quality of the enemy we are facing now is markedly declined from a month ago… what they were saving for the west side of the river they are now committing to the east.” Mosul was the largest city under Islamic State control and defeating the militants there would be a major blow to the self-styled caliphate which it declared in Iraq and Syria in 2014 after over-running large parts of both countries. Fighting has slowed as U.S.-trained Iraqi special forces push into east of the city. The militants still hold three-quarters of Mosul, where around 1 million residents struggle not only with the fighting, but also food and water shortages. Around 100,000 Iraqi soldiers, security forces, Kurdish fighters and mainly Shi’ite paramilitary forces are participating in the assault that began on Oct. 17. Efflandt said militants prepared well, using Mosul’s machine shops to manufacture their own munitions and armored car bombs. But in one sign of progress, commanders have seen the complexity and deployment of those suicide bombs declining, he said. Initial estimates of Islamic State numbers in the city ranged from 3,000 to 5,000 militants, but Efflandt said that number was now likely to be closer to 3,000 after six weeks of fighting for Mosul had killed some or forced others to flee. “They are well rehearsed, well trained, well resourced and they have had ample time to prepare, and that has made it a formidable fight,” he said. Along with the fighting, the presence of civilians throughout the city has hampered the Iraqi progress, they say, reducing options for air strikes and heavy weapons in the densely populated streets. But French artillery and Iraqi forces on Monday began shelling southern Mosul in preparation for a push from the south to relieve pressure on Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service troops spearheaded the fighting in east Mosul. “It’s a complex urban, Old World city that has two years of deliberate defense. We as the coalition knew that it was going to take a long time,” Efflandt said. Iraqi militia capture Tal Abta Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Al-Hashd sl-Shaabi militia said Tuesday its combatants recaptured the southern section of the town of Tal Abta, another step towards besieging the Islamic State holdouts in western Mosul. The militia’s media service said the victory came after intense fights with the extremist group. Last week, al-Hashd al-Shaabi said the troops were preparing to invade the flashpoint village of Tal Abta, the only remaining area to consummate a siege on the town of Tal Afar, a major ISIS stronghold and a vital spot on the group’s supply lines from Syria. Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, which turned via a parliament vote last month from a mere popular militia to an Iraqi national force, has been actively fighting against ISIS by the side of the Iraqi government forces. The militia has been mostly active in the southwestern areas of Mosul since operations to retake the city launched in mid October. Government forces, meanwhile, are still struggling to liberate the eastern section of the city and have said they had become in control over at least 50 percent of that region. More: al-Baghdadi subscribes to LBJ's winning formula in warfighting Iraqi forces attack towards Mosul bridge (Reuters) Iraqi army units advanced from southeast Mosul towards a bridge across the Tigris in the city center on Tuesday, in an attack that could give fresh impetus to the hard fought, seven-week battle for Islamic State’s northern Iraq stronghold. Campaign commander Lieutenant General Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah was quoted by Iraqi television as saying troops had entered Salam Hospital, less than a mile (1.5 km) from the Tigris river running through the center of Mosul. If confirmed, that would mark a significant advance by the army’s Ninth Armoured Division, which had been tied up for more than a month in deadly, close-quarter combat with Islamic State fighters on the southeast edges of the city. A colonel in the armored division said Tuesday’s assault, launched at 6 a.m., aimed to push towards the river and ultimately reach Mosul’s Fourth Bridge, the southernmost of the five bridges spanning the Tigris which splits the city in two. The bridge, like three others, has been hit by U.S.-led air strikes to prevent Islamic State sending reinforcements and suicide car bombs across the city to the eastern front, where counter-terrorism troops have spearheaded the army campaign. The last and oldest bridge, built of iron in the 1930s, was targeted on Monday night, two residents said. The structure was not destroyed, but the air strikes made two large craters in the approach roads on both sides. Militants immediately began to fill the craters, the residents told Reuters by telephone. “I saw Daesh using bulldozers to fill the craters with sand and by midday vehicles managed to cross the bridge normally. I drove my car to the other side of the bridge and saw also Daesh vehicles crossing,” said a taxi driver. Mosul is by far the largest city under Islamic State control and defeating its fighters there would roll back the self-styled caliphate it declared in Iraq and Syria 2014 after seizing large parts of both countries. Some 100,000 Iraqi soldiers, security forces, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and mainly Shi’ite paramilitary forces are participating in the overall Mosul campaign that began on Oct. 17, with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition. Although it has made advances inside eastern Mosul, the army says it is battling the toughest urban warfare imaginable – facing hundreds of suicide car bomb attacks, mortar barrages, sniper fire and ambushes launched from a network of tunnels. Its advance has also been slowed by the presence of more than 1 million residents in the city. NEW TACTICS The army colonel said Tuesday’s offensive aimed to overwhelm the militants, who have put up stiff resistance but are hugely outnumbered by the attacking forces. “We are using a new tactic – increasing the numbers of advancing forces and also attacking from multiple fronts to take the initiative and prevent Daesh fighters from organising any counter-attacks,” the colonel said by telephone. He said the four armored division regiments, whose tanks and heavy armour have struggled to adapt to street-by-street fighting, had been reinforced by an infantry regiment. They were aiming for the Wahda neighborhood, a sprawling southeastern district that extends some distance into the city. Wahda could serve as a launchpad for an attack on the Fourth Bridge, he said. It was not immediately possible to confirm whether troops had reached Salam hospital, deep inside Wahda neighborhood, but one person in Mosul contacted by telephone said he had heard from other residents that the army had advanced close to it. The army push in the southeast comes as federal police units stationed west of the Tigris prepare a separate advance towards the airport on the southwestern edge of the city. Residents have reported mortar fire and increased air strikes in the western half of the city, possibly in advance of a land offensive that would open up another front in the city and further stretch Islamic State defences. The Sunni Muslim jihadists, who seized Mosul in mid-2014, are believed to be dug in across the city, but a U.S. general in the coalition supporting Iraqi forces told Reuters they appeared to have committed additional defences to the fight in the east. Brigadier General Scott Efflandt said the coalition had expected the main defences to be in the west of the city, which is more densely populated and has a greater concentration of Sunni Muslims than the eastern section. “What we thought was going to be the strongest defence, now they have already hedged their bets and brought it forward,” said Efflandt, a coalition deputy commanding general. “The quality of the enemy we are facing now is markedly declined from a month ago … what they were saving for the west side of the river they are now committing to the east.” Echoing comments from Iraqi officers, he said the rate of suicide car bombings – which stand at a total of over 650 so far, according to the army – had dropped off recently. He also said that the number of militants in the city had probably fallen to around 3,000, from around 3,000 to 5,000 at the start of the campaign. Iraq officials have not given any casualty figures for their own forces. Last week the United Nations said nearly 2,000 members of Iraq’s security forces had been killed in November – a figure Baghdad says was based on unverified reports – and that more than 900 police and civilians had also been killed. Iraqi forces capture Hayy al-Salam Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations Command announced on Tuesday, that Iraqi army troops entered Hayy al-Salam area in the city of Mosul. Commander of We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations, Lieutenant General Abdel Amir Yarallah, said in a press statement, “Today, troops of the army’s 9th armored brigade entered Hayy al-Salam area and its main hospital, in the city of Mosul.” Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition air force continue liberating the remaining areas of Mosul from the ISIS grip. The battle to liberate Nineveh was launched in 17 October 2016 by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Iraqi forces retreat in face of ISIS counterattack in Wehda and Sumer districts Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army troops withdrew Wednesday from the districts of Wehda and Sumer due to deadly counter-attacks by Islamic State militants, hours after the forces stormed the two eastern Mosul districts, Anadolu Agency reported. Three soldiers were killed after ISIS suicide bombers, boarding booby-trapped trucks and armored vehicles, attacked al-Salam Hospital, southwest of Mosul, where an Iraqi government force stationed after storming several neighborhoods in eastern Mosul on Tuesday, according to Anadolu Agency which quoted Mahdi Kazem, a captain at the 9th armored division. Kazem said the attack left 43 others wounded, including civilians. ISIS-run Amaq news agency had claimed more than 62 deaths among Iraqi troops as the extremist group launched counter, suicide attacks on the troops during fights around al-Salam hospital since late Tuesday. It added that more than 20 various army vehicles were destroyed during the attacks. Iraqi government forces, backed by popular militias and a US-led air cover, have been liberating villages in Mosul on an almost daily basis as part of a major operation to free the city that launched in mid October. Military and police commanders said recently that government forces became in control of nearly 50 percent of the eastern section of Mosul. ISIS remains in control of most of the western region adjacent to the group’s strongholds in Syria, but Iraqi security commanders and militia leaders reportedly managed to cut ISIS’s supply and escape routes to and from Syria. ISIS troops hit Iraqi flanks at hospital Iraqi commander flunked flank, gets the flunk out. (Reuters) Islamic State militants attacked Iraqi soldiers near a hospital in southeast Mosul on Wednesday, an army officer and the jihadist group’s new agency said, trying to repel the army’s deepest advances of the seven-week Mosul campaign. The fighting came a day after the army’s operations commander for Mosul said soldiers surged into the city and took over the Salam hospital, less than a mile (1.5 km) from the Tigris river which divides eastern and western Mosul. Tuesday’s rapid advance marked a change in military tactics after more than a month of grueling fighting in the east of the city, in which the army has sought to capture and clear neighborhoods block by block. But it left the attacking forces exposed, and the Islamic State news agency Amaq said on Wednesday some of them were surrounded. It said a suicide bomber blew himself up near the hospital, killing 20 soldiers. Eight armored personnel carriers were also destroyed in the fighting, Amaq said. There was no official Iraqi military comment on the fighting but the army officer, whose forces were involved in the clashes, said they had come under multiple attacks by suicide car bombers in the Wahda district where the hospital is located. “We managed to make a swift advance on Tuesday in al-Wahda but it seems that Daesh fighters were dragging us to an ambush and they managed later to surround some of our soldiers inside the hospital, he told Reuters by telephone, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media. He said an armored regiment and counter terrorism units, backed by U.S.-led air strikes, were sent to support the stranded troops early on Wednesday and had opened up a route out of the neighborhood. “They have secured the position, evacuated the wounded and pulled out the destroyed military vehicles from around the hospital,” he said, adding that they were coming under fire from snipers and rocket-propelled grenades. Amaq said it attacked the relief convoy in Sumer district, south of Wahda near the outer edge of the city. Iraqi forces have been battling for seven weeks to crush Islamic State in Mosul. The city was seized by the militants in 2014 and is the largest in Iraq or Syria under their control. Defeating Islamic State in Iraq’s biggest northern city would help roll back the group’s self-styled caliphate over large parts of both countries. Iraqi forces recover arms cache in Hayy al-Zohour area Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Anti-Terrorism Directorate in Nineveh province announced on Wednesday discovering a large cache of weapons and equipment belonging to the Islamic State (ISIS), east of Mosul. Deputy Commander of the 2nd Special Operations of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate, Brigadier General Haider Fadel al-Obeidi, said in a press statement, “Troops of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate managed, today, to discover a large cache of weapons and equipment, including mortar shells and rockets, belonging to the ISIS in Hayy al-Zohour area, east of the city of Mosul.” “The Anti-Terrorism forces are now waiting on al-Shalalat road in Mosul for the arrival of the troops of the army’s 16th brigade, in order to besiege ISIS,” Obeidi added. The extremist group imposed its control on the city of Mosul, Nineveh, in 10 June 2014, before extending its terrorist activities to other areas in Iraq. Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition air force continue liberating the remaining areas of Mosul from the ISIS grip. The battle to liberate Nineveh was launched in 17 October 2016 by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Iraqis capture Hayy al-A’lam Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations Command announced on Wednesday, that the Anti-Terrorism Directorate completely liberated Hayy al-A’lam in the city of Mosul. Commander of Operations, Lieutenant General Abdel Amir Yarallah, said in a press statement, “Anti-Terrorism forces fully liberated Hayy al-A’lam, as well as raising Iraqi flag over its buildings.” “The [Anti-Terrorism] forces liberated the area after inflicting heavy human and material losses on the enemy,” Yarallah added. Joint security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga, backed by the international coalition and Iraqi Aviation, continue their military operations to retake Nineveh from the ISIS control. Posted by: badanov 2016-12-09 |
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