Iraq starts operation to recapture city of Mosul from IS

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Iraq starts operation to recapture city of Mosul from IS - Full article

An Iraqi operation to recapture the city of Mosul, the last major stronghold of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in the country, has started.

Artillery began firing on the city early on Monday, in a long-awaited assault from Kurdish peshmerga, Iraqi government and allied forces.

Tanks are now moving towards the city, which has been held by IS since 2014.

 

[waltky]

How about killin' alla ISIS fighters?...

What are the humanitarian needs in wake of Mosul offensive?
October 17, 2016 - Iraqi government forces, with air and ground support from the U.S.-led coalition, launched an offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, the militants' last major stronghold in the country.

The United States predicted Islamic State would suffer"a lasting defeat" as Iraqi forces mounted their biggest operation since U.S. troops withdrew in 2011. The United Nations said last week it was bracing for the world's biggest and most complex humanitarian effort in the battle for the city, which could make up to 1 million people homeless and see civilians used as human shields or even gassed. More than 3 million people are already displaced in Iraq as a result of conflicts involving Islamic State. Medicine is in short supply in Mosul, and food prices have risen sharply.

Here are what some aid agencies are anticipating:

STEPHEN O'BRIEN, U.N. UNDER SECRETARY GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS

Families are at extreme risk of being caught in cross-fire or targeted by snipers. Tens of thousands of Iraqi girls, boys, women and men may be under siege or held as human shields. Thousands may be forcibly expelled or trapped between the fighting lines. Children, women, the elderly and disabled will be particularly vulnerable. I renew my call on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to the assistance they are entitled to and deserve. Nothing is more important.

KHALIL SLEIMAN, WORLD VISION'S RESPONSE MANAGER FOR NORTHERN IRAQ

The violence will have taken a devastating emotional toll on children, many of whom will need years of specialist support to rebuild their lives, come to terms with what happened, and to regain some kind of normality. Children always bear the brunt of conflict and we call for humane treatment at every stage of the process of the Mosul operation – including screening when boys as young as 14 may be separated from their families.

ARAM SHAKARAM, SAVE THE CHILDREN'S DEPUTY COUNTRY DIRECTOR IN IRAQ

Unless safe routes to escape the fighting are established, many families will have no choice but to stay and risk being killed by crossfire or bombardment, trapped beyond the reach of humanitarian aid with little food or medical care. Those that try to flee will be forced to navigate a city ringed with booby traps, snipers and hidden landmines. Without immediate action to ensure people can flee safely, we are likely to see bloodshed of civilians on a massive scale. Vast sums of money have been spent on military planning, equipment and ordinance — but an investment in the safety of children must be the priority.

FILIPPO GRANDI, HEAD OF THE U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY UNHCR

 

[Bleipriester]

What are the humanitarian needs in wake of Mosul offensive?

The monkey knows it!
NO FLY ZONE! NO FLY ZONE! NO FLY ZONE!

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - our boys got `em onna run...

ISIS Leaders Fleeing Mosul
October 19, 2016 • There are signs that leaders from self-styled Islamic State have fled Mosul as Iraqi forces close in on the city. "Make no doubt the Iraqi security forces have the momentum," Gen Gary Volesky said. The Iraqi army has been moving towards Mosul from the south, while their Kurdish allies have been approaching from the east.

There are thought to be up to 5,000 IS fighters still in the city. "We've seen movement out of Mosul; we've got indications that leaders have left," said Gen Volesky, giving his assessment of the situation. But he did not specify who had fled, nor did he say where they had gone to. The whereabouts of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are unknown. Some reports say he is in Mosul; others say he has fled the northern Iraqi city. It is possible that any fighters leaving the city had simply been going to man front line areas, which still lie beyond the outskirts, the BBC's Middle East analyst Alan Johnston says.

Nobody has any doubt that a hardcore of IS militants will stay in the city and fight for it, perhaps very fiercely indeed, our correspondent adds. Gen Volesky, who heads the land component of the US-led coalition fighting IS, said that foreign fighters are likely to form the bulk of the force who will hold out. "A lot of foreigner fighters we expect to stay, because they're not going to be able to exfiltrate as easily some of the local fighters, or the local leadership, so we expect there to be a fight," he said. The charity Save the Children claims that 5,000 people from the conflict area have fled to a refugee camp over the border in Syria in the last 10 days, with another 1,000 waiting at the border. Al-Hol was built to house 7,500 people but currently holds 9,000 refugees.

The camp is being expanded to eventually take in 50,000 people, but Save the Children says the camp currently has just 16 latrines, is littered with waste and faeces, and has no clean water. Refugee camps are being built in the south, east and north of Mosul in preparation for a flood of people fleeing the city. The UN says it expects at least 200,000 in the coming days and weeks. Up to 1.5 million civilians are thought to still be in Mosul, with those inside reporting that IS was preventing them from leaving and that they were running out of basic supplies.

Mosul has been in the hands of IS since 2014 and is the militants' last major Iraqi stronghold. The offensive to retake Mosul began on Monday, with the advancing forces seizing a number of villages on the city's outskirts ahead of a final push into the city. But progress is expected to be slow, with IS fighters appearing to be putting up stiff resistance in places. There are warnings the group could use human shields or chemical weapons. It could be months before the city is liberated.

Mosul battle: Kurds launch 'large-scale' offensive - BBC News

See also:

More Than 100 US Troops Move Forward With Mosul Attack Force
Oct 18, 2016 | More than 100 U.S. advisers and forward air controllers are moving forward with Iraqi and Kurdish forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes and rocket artillery fire, in the early stages of the campaign to drive the Islamic State from Mosul, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.

The Iraqi Security Forces attacking from the south and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters pushing from the east are essentially moving along four lines of attack toward Iraq's second largest city, where more than a million residents have been under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria for more than two years.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters stand on top of a military vehicle as they advance towards villages surrounding Mosul, in Khazer, about 19 miles east of Mosul, Iraq​

The U.S. has employed the HIMARS rocket artillery system from the Qayyarah Airfield area, the offensive's logistics hub about 40 miles southeast of Mosul, to aid the advance of the Iraqi columns pushing north, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. "We have the HIMARS" south of Mosul, and "the HIMARS is active," Davis said at a Pentagon briefing.

AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships are also available for the Mosul offensive, but they have yet to be employed, Davis said. The U.S. is also using .155mm artillery from the general Qayyarah area to back the advance, he said. The 101st Airborne Division had previously sling-lifted the .155s by helicopter to put them in a better firing position, but Davis declined to say whether that tactic was being employed to support the Mosul advance.

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[Bleipriester]

Granny says, "Dat's right - our boys got `em onna run...

It´s the Iraqis.