Islamic State cornered in Mosul as Iraq prepares victory celebrations

[webfact]

Islamic State cornered in Mosul as Iraq prepares victory celebrations

By Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli

 

Members of the Emergency Response Division walk with their weapons during the fight with the Islamic States militants in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq July 3, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

 

MOSUL/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters were battling to hold on to the last few streets under their control in the Old City of Mosul on Monday, making a doomed last stand in their former Iraqi stronghold.

 

In fierce fighting, Iraqi army units forced the insurgents back into a shrinking rectangle no more than 300 by 500 metres beside the Tigris river, according to a map published by the military media office.

 

Smoke covered parts of the Old City, which were rocked by air strikes and artillery salvos through the morning.

 

The number of Islamic State (IS) militants fighting in Mosul has dwindled from thousands at the start of the government offensive more than eight months ago to a mere couple of hundred now, according to the Iraqi military.

 

Iraqi forces say they expect to reach the Tigris and regain full control over the city by the end of this week. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is expected to visit Mosul to formally declare victory, and a week of nationwide celebrations is planned.

 

Mosul is by far the largest city captured by Islamic State. It was here, nearly three years ago to the day, that it declared the founding of its "caliphate" over parts of Iraq and Syria.

 

With Mosul gone, its territory in Iraq will be limited to areas west and south of the city where some tens of thousands of civilians live.

 

"Victory is very near, only 300 metres separate the security forces from the Tigris," military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told state TV.

 

Abadi declared the end of Islamic State's "state of falsehood" on Thursday, after the security forces took Mosul's medieval Grand al-Nuri mosque.

 

It was from here that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his first and only video appearance, proclaiming himself "caliph" - the ruler of a theocratic Islamic state - on July 4, 2014.

 

SUICIDE ATTACKS

 

With its territory shrinking fast, the group has been stepping up suicide attacks in the parts of Mosul taken by Iraqi forces and elsewhere.

 

On Sunday, a male suicide bomber dressed in a woman's veil killed 14 people and wounded 13 others in a displacement camp west of the capital Baghdad known as Kilo 60, security sources said. Islamic State claimed responsibility.

 

“The people who were attacked had fled to Kilo 60 for their safety. Many have travelled huge distances seeking help," Lise Grande, the United Nations' Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, said in a statement.

 

Islamic State said on Sunday it had carried out 32 suicide attacks in June in Iraq and 23 in Syria, of which 11 were on the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces attacking its stronghold of Raqqa.

 

Iraqi state television said thousands of people had fled Mosul's densely-populated Old City over the past 24 hours.

 

But thousands more are believed trapped in the area with little food, water or medicine, and are effectively being used as human shields, according to residents who have managed to escape.

 

Months of grinding urban warfare have displaced 900,000 people, about half the city's pre-war population, and killed thousands, according to aid organisations.

 

Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding near the Iraq-Syrian border, according to U.S. and Iraqi military sources.

 

The group has moved its remaining command and control structures to Mayadin, in eastern Syria, U.S. intelligence sources have said.

 

(Additional reporting by Khaled al-Ramahi in Mosul; writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-04

[boomerangutang]

                                Sorry to say, but the manifold problems in the M.East necessitate destroying a city in order to save it.   But, save it for what?   For the next motley group of holier-than-thou fanatics?   Or, at best, save the city for Sharia Law and continued misery for any residents who haven't already have their lives snuffed out or shot to hell.

 

Blowing up the old leaning minaret (which was the #1 tourist attraction of the city) reminded me of a story I heard happened in Chad, years ago.  As you know, Chad is a giant desert.  In one region, there was one twisted tree standing.  The only tree for miles in every direction.   A car backed into it and killed it.  I jest not.   

[Stargeezr]

I am glad to hear that the Deash dogs are almost gone in Mosul, Kill them all.

  No sympathy from me if they all are killed off.

Geezer

[dexterm]

3 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

                                Sorry to say, but the manifold problems in the M.East necessitate destroying a city in order to save it.   But, save it for what?   For the next motley group of holier-than-thou fanatics?   Or, at best, save the city for Sharia Law and continued misery for any residents who haven't already have their lives snuffed out or shot to hell.

 

Blowing up the old leaning minaret (which was the #1 tourist attraction of the city) reminded me of a story I heard happened in Chad, years ago.  As you know, Chad is a giant desert.  In one region, there was one twisted tree standing.  The only tree for miles in every direction.   A car backed into it and killed it.  I jest not.   

I am as delighted as most folks that the vile barbaric IS have been militarily defeated.

 

But don't forget it was the motley group of holier-than-thou fanatics aka Bush, Blair et al who caused the problem in the first place, destroying a country on the flimsiest of manufactured pretexts, killing over one million Iraqis, creating 4.5 million refugees, and opening the door in the power vacuum for religious fanatics and sectarian strife.

Saddam and his cohorts were monsters for sure, who should have been got rid of with a hit squad in a CIA orchestrated coup.
 
But under Saddam  no Al Qaeda, no Daesh, no sharia law (that was introduced on Bush's watch in 2004), veillesss women with education and political rights enshrined in the constitution and literacy rates far higher than any surrounding countries...until we stuck our noses in.

 

We are just helping to clean up one of the messes we created.

[William C F Pierce]

"...until we stuck our noses in." Which means every dictator since Hitler we should allow them to do as they like. Unfortunately we don't always deal with all of them.

[DeaconJohn]

In the past, the United States in its infinite naivete thought that it could control outcomes on the ground in the region.  Today, that naivete has developed into a kind of aggressive ignorance as the Trump administration simply follows the Saudi lead, with Israel pushing from behind.  In this way, the United States will be propelled toward war with Iran. But wait, actually Donald Trump himself anticipated this outcome. Back in 2013, Trump said, "We will end up going to war with Iran because we have people who don't know what the hell they are doing. Every single thing that this administration and our president does is a failure."

Who knew that Donald Trump could be so prescient?

The president has proven himself high-performing in at least this one regard: self-fulfilling prophecies

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, William C F Pierce said:

"...until we stuck our noses in." Which means every dictator since Hitler we should allow them to do as they like. Unfortunately we don't always deal with all of them.

No, but it means you better have a realistic plan for dealing with the consequences of defeating your enemy.  In the case of Iraq what the USA had was wishful thinking.

[boomerangutang]

                                      One factor which contributed to ISIS gaining momentum - was years ago:  When the US was immersed in wars there in Iraq II, it naturally had to jail prisoners.  At least one of the large make-shift prisons allowed inmates to freely interact with each other.   In hindsight, the compounds should have been designed to keep prisoners isolated from each other.  Granted, it would have entailed a lot more investment in infrastructure and guards.  Anyhow, here's what happened with the open-forum plan:

 

                                   Prisoners quickly flocked around those who were most influencial - it was (surprise!) those who were the most fanatical and anti-westerner.  So, a few dynamic stricter-than-though individuals dominated, and the inmates rallied around those few men, and were heavily indoctrinated.  Much of it happened while guards looked on like dummies.   Indeed, Uncle Sam was feeding and housing the whole bunch of them, while they were essentially at a college for radicals.

 

                                            Then, when the prisoners were set free, ....it was like letting a pathogen out.  Their firebrand fanaticism spread like wildfire.  

[dexterm]

17 hours ago, William C F Pierce said:

"...until we stuck our noses in." Which means every dictator since Hitler we should allow them to do as they like. Unfortunately we don't always deal with all of them.

Perhaps you should reread what I actually wrote.

"Saddam and his cohorts were monsters for sure, who should have been got rid of with a hit squad in a CIA orchestrated coup."

 

I suggested a way of getting rid of Saddam without killing one million innocents in the process, and without creating  a power vacuum filled by ISIS.

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2017 by dexterm

[sanemax]

On 7/4/2017 at 0:30 PM, dexterm said:

 

Saddam and his cohorts were monsters for sure, who should have been got rid of with a hit squad in a CIA orchestrated coup.
 

I disagree, he should have been left in place .

O.K. He was a brutal dictator, but that was needed to keep a lid on internal strife Iraqis and Arabs in general do not understand the concept of democracy , its about who has the biggest and strongest army    There is a theory that Saddam was removed, with the intention of watching that area of the M.E. go up in flames.

   Did people really thing that removing Saddam would result in everyone living happily ever after ?      There's about ten different factions in Iraq/Syria , all fighting against each other .  Saddam was the one keeping them all in check.  Now hes gone, its a free for all.