Iraqi forces tell civilians to evacuate old Mosul
(Reuters) The Iraqi air force dropped leaflets on Friday urging residents in the Islamic State-held Old City center of Mosul to flee, raising fears among humanitarian groups for the safety of desperate civilians there.
The leaflet drop, announced in an Iraqi military statement, signaled that the decisive offensive to dislodge the militants from their remaining enclave in the northern Iraqi city was imminent.
The U.S.-backed offensive on Mosul, now in its eighth month, has taken longer than planned as the militants are dug in among civilians, fighting back with booby traps, suicide cars and motor-bikes, snipers and mortar fire.
Civilians trapped behind Islamic State lines face a harrowing situation with little food and water, no electricity and limited access to hospitals.
“Iraqi air force planes dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets a short while ago on the non-liberated areas … urging citizens to exit through safe corridors,” an Iraqi military statement said.
A resident in Farouq, an Old City neighborhood, sounded desperate in a telephone interview. “We’re waiting for death at any moment, either by bombing or starving,” he said, asking not to be identified for his safety. “Adults eat one meal a day, either flour or lentil soup.”
The humanitarian group Oxfam said the leaflets suggested that the Iraqi forces’ move on the Old City in Mosul “is imminent … This could involve an official announcement from the military in the coming days”.
“Save the Children is deeply concerned that any calls to leave west Mosul will mean that civilians, particularly children, are in significant danger of being caught in the crossfire,” another aid organization said in a statement.
The militants have laid sheets of corrugated metal over pebbles in the alleys as an early warning system, residents said. The grinding noise produced by treading on it would alert them to any troop movements or civilians trying to escape.
The United Nations last week said up to 200,000 more people could flee Mosul as fighting moves to the Old City.
Residents said millet, usually used as bird feed, is being baked like rice as food prices increased by ten folds. People were seen collecting wild mallow plants in abandoned lots and also eating mulberry leaves and other types of plants.
About 700,000, about a third of the pre-war city’s population, have already fled, seeking refuge either with friends and relatives or in camps.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had initially hoped Mosul would be retaken by the end of 2016.
The fall of Mosul would mark the end of Iraqi half of the “caliphate” declared nearly three years ago by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which also covers parts of Syria.
Iraqi military commanders had expressed hope of taking control of the Old City’s Grand al-Nuri mosque, from which Baghdadi declared the caliphate, before the fasting month of Ramadan, which starts on Saturday or Sunday in Iraq.
The insurgency is expected to continue in the sparsely populated desert region along the Syrian border even if Mosul is fully captured.
Iranian-backed Shi’ite paramilitary forces are fighting Islamic State in that part of the country where Baghdadi is believed to be hiding, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.
The Iraqi Shi’ite paramilitary force, known as Popular Mobilisation, is theoretically under Abadi’s command.
On Friday, it announced it had captured the Sinjar military base, cutting the road between two cities that remain under Islamic State control west of Mosul, Tal Afar and Baaj, and getting closer to the Syrian border.
Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government is aiming to control the border in coordination with the Iranian-backed army of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Linking up the two sides would give Assad a significant advantage in fighting the six-year rebellion against his rule.
Iraqi forces move into ISIS held districts
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces invaded Islamic State’s last bastion in western Mosul’s Old City Saturday through three districts as operation near the elimination of the extremist group from its proclaimed capital.
The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell, quoting the Joint Operations Command, said joint forces invaded “the remaining non-liberated districts in western Mosul, invading al-Shefa, al-Jamhouri Hospital, Zanjili and al-Sihha al-Oula.
Federal Police chief, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat, said his forces passed the third of Mosul’s five main bridges linking the western side with the east above the Tigris River towards the Old City.
Jawdat said he was confident his forces were able to win the battle as IS starts to lose control over areas near the Hadbaa (leaning) Minaret, referring to the mosque where IS supreme leader declared in 2014 the establishment of the group’s “caliphate” in Iraq.
Federal Police said Thursday they opened safe exits for civilians from the ancient area.
Iranian commander dies in western Mosul
Baaj (IraqiNews.com) A commander with the Iranian elite Revolutionary Guards Corps was killed in operations by Iran-backed, Iraqi paramilitary forces against the Islamic State, an agency reported late Friday.
Haj Shaban Nasiri was killed during operations by al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) in Baaj, a desert area near the borders with Syria still witnessing an Islamic State presence, according to online Iranian newspaper Mashregh News.
The website said Nasiri had co-founded Badr Organization which fought the Saddam Hussein regime in the 1980s. Badr Organization is part of the PMU force, an alliance of more than 60 mainly Shia paramilitary groups fighting the Islamic State since 2014.
The website pointed to what it described as Nasiri’s “effective presence” in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
Iran is an ardent political and military supporter of Shia governments and militias in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. IRGC fighters are actively engaged in fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against IS and rebel fighters in Syria.
PMUs enjoy Iraqi government recognition since November. They launched an offensive earlier this month to recapture areas near the Syrian borders from Islamic State militants, running simultaneously with government forces battles to retake Mosul, Islamic State’s largest stronghold in Iraq.
On field, al-Hashd al-Shaabi media said Saturday its troops recaptured Rambous village north of Baaj region. It has been taking over villages in neighboring Qairawan over the past few weeks.
29 ISIS Bad Guys die in western Mosul
Mosul/ Baaj (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi warplanes killed 29 Islamic State militants and set free 24 civilians from the group’s captivity on Saturday as operations to recapture the city approach their end.
The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said the airstrikes targeted IS locations in Baaj and Qairawan, west of Mosul and near the Syrian borders. Besides the deaths among militants, the strikes destroyed six vehicles, a fuel container and two motorbikes belonging to the group, according to the statement.
Pro-government paramilitary forces, al-Hashd al-Shaabi, have been sweeping through IS havens in the two areas since May 12th. The offensive ran coincidently with government troops battles against IS in western Mosul, where IS strongholds had shrunk to less than 10 percent of territories.
In western Mosul’s Old City, the last remaining IS haven, Cap. Ali Haider, from the Federal Police, was quoted saying that forces had set free 24 civilians, including women, and killed one IS sniper upon invading a prison run by the militant group at a big salt factory in al-Shefa.
The United Nations says at least 400.000 stranded in IS captivity in the Old City, and 200.000 could flee in coming period as the battle nears its end. The conflict displaced more than 670.000 since October.
14 ISIS Bad Guys in western Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Federal Police forces say they killed 14 Islamic State fighters while invading the group’s last bastion in western Mosul; the Old city, while the army mourned two of its officers who died during battles at the city.
The police command said the militants were killed during an incursion in Zanjili district, north of the Old City, where forces advanced over 250 meters backed by drones.
Dozens of snipers and other troops were deployed south of the Old City to strengthen control on the area’s narrow alleyways, the statement added.
The Joint Operations Command also said a lieutenant colonel and a colonel from the army’s 16th division were killed in combat in Mosul, but did not name a specific location.
Earlier on Saturday, the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell, quoting the Joint Operations Command, said joint forces invaded “the remaining non-liberated districts in western Mosul, invading al-Shefa, al-Jamhouri Hospital, Zanjili and al-Sihha al-Oula.
Federal Police chief, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat, said his forces passed the third of Mosul’s five main bridges linking the western side with the east above the Tigris River towards the Old City.
Jawdat said he was confident his forces were able to win the battle as IS starts to lose control over areas near the Hadbaa (leaning) Minaret, referring to the mosque where IS supreme leader declared in 2014 the establishment of the group’s “caliphate” in Iraq. |
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