Iraq - Mosul thread

Everybody wants to be in on this - Push for Iraq's Mosul to start in a few weeks: UK minister
An offensive to encircle Iraq's second city of Mosul should begin "in the next few weeks", Britain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said Friday, after a visit to the country.
He added that Iraqi forces were moving into a tactical assembly area in preparation for the assault.

Top US military officers have hinted that the final push for Mosul could begin next month, but there are still significant military, political and humanitarian obstacles between the launch of the operation and entering and retaking the city.
 
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/250920166
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed on Sunday that the battle to push the Islamic State (ISIS, Daesh) out of their stronghold of Mosul will commence on October 19.

“It is said that the battle for Mosul against Daesh will kick off on October 19 and that we all have to be prepared for this event,” Erdogan said in a meeting with Turkish community figures based in the United States.

Halgurd Hikmat, media officer for the Peshmerga ministry, told Rudaw English that he could not confirm publicly the date for the launch of the Mosul offensive for security reasons.

Turkish armed forces are in Bashiqa, northern Iraq, providing training for Peshmerga and Iraqi Sunni forces.

Last December, Turkey boosted its troop numbers at the camp sparking a diplomatic confrontation with Baghdad who asserted that the Turkish troops were in the country without Baghdad’s permission or knowledge. Turkey maintained that the troops were necessary to protect their training mission at the camp.
 
Mysterious explosion at ISIS workshop suffocates 11 children in Mosul - Iraqi News
A local source in Nineveh province informed that Mosul Hospital has received 11 children who inhaled poisonous gases, and added that these children are called “The Cubs of Caliphate”.

According to Iraqi media outlets, “Today, Mosul Hospital received 11 children, who known as the cubs of caliphate, and they were suffering from severe dyspnea due to inhaling poisonous gas,” adding that, “The injured were working at a workshop belonging to the ISIS for manufacturing local rockets, near Mosul, and they were injured after a mysterious explosion at the workshop.”

Noteworthy, ISIS formed brigades consists of children and called it “The cubs of caliphate”, in order to enhance its combat abilities and tighten its grip on Nineveh province.

Pentagon suggests ISIS may use chemical weapons to defend Mosul
ISIS could use mustard gas against an Iraqi offensive to retake Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, the US Defense Department said Monday.

"We can fully expect that as this road towards Mosul progresses, ISIL is likely to try to use it again," Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis told reporters.

Davis said the jihadists had already used mustard gas "at least a couple dozen" times, packing a "rudimentary" form of the chemical weapon into crude, makeshift munitions.
 
http://rudaw.net/english/interview/26092016
Britain's Defense Secretary Michael Fallon spoke to Rudaw about the impending operation to liberate Mosul from Islamic State (ISIS) militants, stressing that Britain stands “shoulder to shoulder with Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the campaign against Daesh [Islamic State/ISIS]”, adding that the coalition believes that operations will “begin against Mosul in the next few weeks.”

Fallon stressed that it is in “everybody’s interest that Daesh is driven,” out of Iraq’s second-city.

The Defense Minister also said the main purpose of his visit to the Kurdistan Region’s capital Erbil was “to review the progress of that campaign and the prospects for the liberation of Mosul.”
 
US to deploy 600 more troops to Iraq for Mosul push
US to deploy 600 more troops to Iraq for Mosul push
The United States will send about 600 more American soldiers to Iraq to prepare local forces for the upcoming battle to retake Mosul from ISIL fighters.

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced on Wednesday the US troops will advise Iraqi soldiers and provide logistics support and intelligence for the operation to recapture the country's second-largest city from ISIL - also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS.

"American President Barack Obama was consulted on a request from the Iraqi government for a final increase in the number of trainers and advisers under the umbrella of the international coalition in Iraq," Iraq's Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said in a statement.
 
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/021020164
As an anticipated offensive to push the Islamic State out of Mosul looms closer, some ISIS leaders and militants have been leaving the city for Syria and the group’s leader has instructed fighters to raze Mosul to the ground if they are unable to defend it, a Kurdish official said.

“Today, 13 ISIS members, three of them emir’s of the group from Mosul, escaped to Raqqa in Syria,” claimed Saeed Mamuzini, media officer for the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) from Mosul province.

“The number of ISIS militants is not more than 7,000 to 10,000 and the foreign fighters are a minority. The majority of the fighters are Arabs.”

He said that among the foreign fighters there are 135 Danes, five Britons, 115 Kurds from Kurdistan and 18 Kurds from Iran. He said there was also a smattering of other nationalities, but mostly Arabs.

“Those who have most power are Chechens and Turkmen of Tel Afar. They are powerful in Mosul and run the leadership of ISIS,” Mamuzini said.

He said the resistance in Mosul would not be great.

“It will be a short war and ISIS will be defeated. If we want Mosul to be retaken first we should liberate its surroundings,” he said. “Now, Bashiqa, Bartela, Qaraqosh and Tel Kaif will be easily retaken. If ISIS is going to defend, it will be inside Mosul. They won’t have much defense, except suicide bombers, suicide car bombers and improvised explosives."
 
Iraqi forces burn ISIS poppy fields to curtail heroin and opium revenue - Iraqi News
On Wednesday Iraqi security forces burned a 16 thousand square meter field planted with opium poppies belonging to ISIS gangs near Sharqat district in Salahuddin province.

Iraqi media outlets explained that ISIS relies on the cultivation of opium poppies to finance part of its operations.

The terrorist group extracts heroin from this plant in the laboratories of Mosul University which has been under the group’s control since the middle of 2014.

Iraqi news websites revealed that most of those who supervise the cultivation of this plant hold Afghani nationalities.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/politics/isis-mosul-iraq-us.html
As Iraqi and American troops prepare to try to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State, the Obama administration is describing the battle as the last major hurdle before declaring victory against the extremist Sunni militancy — in Iraq, at least.

But some former officials and humanitarian aid groups are worried that President Obama will run into the same problem that haunted his predecessor, George W. Bush: beginning a ground campaign without a comprehensive plan for what happens afterward.

“There’s an effort to proclaim mission accomplished, and obviously, getting back Mosul would be a momentous and symbolic defeat for ISIS,” said Vali Nasr, a former State Department official in the Obama administration, using another name for the Islamic State. But, he said, victory in Mosul without a detailed arrangement for how the city and the surrounding province will be governed “does nothing to prevent extremists from resurfacing again.”
(With IS burning oil and anything else at hand to not be seen by drones, this will be a dark, messy and brutal campaign)
 
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/081020163
Brett McGurk noted that there are a lot of “wild cards” when it comes to the military, humanitarian, and political plans for Mosul but the coalition of forces is trying to carry out the operation in a way that the people of Mosul are confident they will have a much better life after ISIS.

The people of Mosul are very concerned about the security and political governance of their city after the military operation. The Mosul Eye, a blogger in Mosul and one of the few sources of information in the city, reacted to McGurk’s comments, telling Rudaw English that “it seems that they have no plans for post-ISIL Mosul,” using an alternative acronym for ISIS.

A 30,000-strong force consisting of Peshmerga, Iraqi security and counter-terrorism forces, local police, and 14,000 Nineveh tribal fighters are prepared for the offensive. Coordinating all the different forces took “a lot of work” McGurk said, noting that Erbil and Baghdad have closely cooperated and all agreements are in place.

The coalition of forces is also looking for “independent screening mechanisms” in order to ensure that problems such as what occurred in Fallujah do not happen in Mosul when carrying out security screening of the population. One element of this, McGurk said, is to “make sure that armed groups that are not under full control of the Iraqi government are not a part of the campaign.”
 
PressTV-‘Iraqi army may attack Turkish troops'
Iraqi security officials warn the army may attack occupying Turkish forces deployed to the north should they intervene in an upcoming operation to liberate the city of Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

Baghdad “seeks to make clear that there is absolutely no role for Turkish forces in the Iraqi sphere,” a senior security source was quoted as saying by the Middle East Eye (MEE) news portal on Thursday.

“Any movement or intervention by Turkish during the military operations (to retake Mosul), would be faced with a very strong response,” the official warned, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

On Monday, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a Shia paramilitary group, stressed the importance of Iraq’s territorial integrity, saying Turkish troops on Iraqi soil will be dealt with following the recapture of Mosul from Daesh.

An Asaib Ahl al-Haq spokesman said the group would open a new front against the intruding Turkish forces to prevent them from pursuing their goals inside Iraq.
 
ISIS builds 6 defense lines in Mosul to hinder anticipated attack by government forces - Iraqi News
Media outlets reported on Sunday that the Islamic State group (ISIS) started to build six defense lines in Mosul in order to hinder the advance of security forces toward the city and added that all defense lines are reinforced with booby-trapped vehicles and suicide bombers.
Al-Hashd al-Shaabi: Our participation in Mosul offensive is confirmed - Iraqi News
The Spokesman of al-Hashd al-Shaabi affirmed on Sunday that the liberation battle of Mosul will begin in few days, and renewed the organization’s rejection to the presence of any foreign troops in Iraq.

Al-Hashd al-Shaabi Spokesman, Ahmed al-Assadi, said in a press statement, “The General Commander of the Armed Forces announced, few months ago, at the Iraqi House of Representatives that al-Hashd al-Shaabi militia will be within the main participating forces in Mosul offensive, so it is a final decree.”

“Our troops are deployed and prepared, and our participation is now confirmed,” Assadi explained. “The Mosul offensive will start in few days,” he added.
 
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/11102016
More than 230,000 passengers passed through Erbil International Airport (EIA) in August as the airport recorded its busiest month in Iraq by passenger flights this year, according to Iraqi ministry of transportation.

With 2,492 flights landing in EIA, the airport has come on top of Iraqi airports, receiving nearly one-third of all flights to the country.

Built in 2005 at a cost of an estimated $400 million, EIA has one of the largest airfields in the Middle East designed to receive greater cargo planes.

(Busy people at Erbil Airport ... wonder why? :rolleyes: )
 
65 thousand Iraqi soldiers ready for Mosul liberation battle - Iraqi News
Iraqi forces are preparing for a battle expected to take place during the coming few days to liberate the city of Mosul from the grip of terrorist group of ISIS.

News websites reported that 65 thousand Iraqi soldiers divided up into six divisions are expected to participate in the battle.
 
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/13102016
The Iraqi Army continued to deploy around Mosul on Wednesday, gearing up to move against the last urban stronghold of the Islamic State group in Iraq.

Armoured vehicles and artillery pieces, belonging to Iraq's elite counter-terrorism service, or special forces, were seen arriving at the Khazer frontline east of Mosul, with cheering onlookers lining the roads. Regular armoured units were also seen moving to the town of Telskof, north of Mosul.

The operation to retake Mosul is expected to be the most complex yet for Iraqi forces backed by US-led coalition air-power.
(Interesting to see if Mosul comes to look like Eastern Aleppo ... )
 
Last edited:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...n-Iraq-cannot-handle-Mosul-assault-alone.html
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Iraq could not deal alone with driving ISIS from the city of Mosul.

Erdogan also defended the presence of Turkish forces in a nearby military camp as an insurance against attacks on Turkey.

Turkey has been locked in a fierce row with Iraq’s central government over the presence of Turkish troops at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, and over who should take part in the planned US-backed assault on Mosul.
 
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/161020162
Iraqi aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets on Sunday over Mosul, advising residents to stay away from ISIS shelters as an offensive to evict the militants from their Iraqi stronghold appeared imminent.

The Iraqi army and its allied militia, Peshmerga forces and the US-led coalition are poised for the offensive.

The leaflets dropped over Mosul advise residents “to avoid ISIS shelters, try to stay indoors and shut doors and windows.”

The message also highlights a message from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi which reads: “The Mosul liberation operation is close and it is time to clean Iraq of Daesh (ISIS).”

The pamphlets also provide a hotline where people can call to get information to “locate the whereabouts” of ISIS activities.
Iraq gears up for offensive on ISIL-held city of Mosul
Aircraft dropped "tens of thousands of newspapers and magazines on the centre of the city of Mosul carrying important news... to inform them of updates and facts and victories," said Iraq's Joint Operations Command, which distributed images of some of the leaflets.
One image showed a leaflet containing safety instructions for Mosul residents, urging them to tape over windows to prevent the glass from shattering, to avoid the sites of air strikes for at least an hour after a place is bombed, and saying they should not drive if possible.
(here we go folks ...)
 
Last edited:
Iraqi forces move in to attack Mosul, country's last stronghold of Islamic State
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/world/middleeast/iraq-isis-mosul-battle.html
Iraq PM declares offensive to retake Mosul from ISIL
The operation began hours after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced in a brief speech aired on state television just before 2 a.m. that the long-awaited campaign to liberate Mosul had begun.

“The Iraqi flag will be raised in the middle of Mosul, and in each village and corner very soon,” Mr. Abadi said, dressed in a military uniform and surrounded by officers.

In the first phase, the troops who have been massing at bases around Mosul in recent weeks will encircle the city, seeking to cut it off and prevent Islamic State fighters from fleeing, particularly west into Syria. Later, the counterterrorism forces, which took the lead in liberating other Iraqi cities, like Ramadi and Falluja, from the Islamic State, will join regular army units in storming the city center.

(Badush and Wadi ad Dayhanah on highway 1 to Syria are the places to watch out for)
 
Last edited:
Last edited:
From March this year
Iraq: Beware the liberation of Mosul
On February 26, US Marine Lieutenant-General Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), told the US Senate Armed Services Committee that Mosul would probably not be recaptured by the Iraqi security forces (ISF) in 2016.

Stewart's comments are unsurprising. Military planners are by their nature pessimistic. But, as a result, the one scenario that military planners often overlook is that of unexpectedly rapid success.

In the case of Mosul, the least studied scenario - and potentially the most dangerous - is what might be termed "catastrophic success": the collapse of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group's control in the city before stabilising forces and plans are in place to fill the vacuum.
...
Prior to 2014, Mosul was the most active insurgent hub in Iraq. A patchwork of Sunni militant groups ran the large-scale organised crime networks in the city, dominating real estate and profiting from mobile phone networks and trade. These networks are currently submerged and not entirely under the control of ISIL.

This all points to the question: If an anti-ISIL uprising began in Mosul, who would be the rebels? Would they be as immoderate as many of the "moderate Syrian opposition" fighters in Syria? Would the new leadership of Mosul include the old al-Qaeda in Iraq elements who refused to join ISIL - in effect, the Iraqi version of al-Nusra Front?
 

Similar threads

robert99
Apache helicopters make a debut in Iraq
Replies
0
Views
1K
USA
robert99
robert99
robert99
UK foreign secretary meets Iraqi and Kurdish counterparts
Replies
0
Views
1K
UK & Eire
robert99
robert99
robert99
US to supply Peshmerga troops with armored vehicles
Replies
0
Views
970
USA
robert99
robert99
robert99
more boots on the ground
Replies
23
Views
3K
Lounge
robert99
robert99
robert99
More boots on the ground?
Replies
1
Views
1K
USA
robert99
robert99
Top Bottom
Back