Large scale attack launched in Mosul battle by Kurds

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Large scale attack launched in Mosul battle by Kurds - Full article

Kurdish fighters say they have launched a large-scale operation east and north of Mosul, as an offensive to oust so-called Islamic State (IS) militants from the Iraqi city continues.

The Kurds say the operation aims to tighten the noose around the militants' last major stronghold in Iraq.

 

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Outskirts of Mosul breached...

Iraqi Special Forces Enter Mosul
November 1, 2016 • Iraqi forces have for the first time entered the outskirts of Mosul, as they attempt to drive Islamic State (IS) militants from the northern city.

Elite Counter-Terrorism Service troops seized control of the state TV building in Kukjali hours after launching an assault on the eastern district. But a BBC journalist embedded with them says they are facing fierce resistance. Army units are also pushing into the south-eastern Judaydat al-Mufti area, according to the military. On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the 3,000 to 5,000 militants believed to be inside Mosul, which they overran in June 2014, that there was "no escape" and to "either surrender or die". About 50,000 Iraqi security forces personnel, Kurdish fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen are involved in the two-week-old offensive to drive IS militants out of their last major urban stronghold in the country.

Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) units retook Bazwaya, the last village before Mosul's eastern outskirts, in a dawn assault on Monday and then advanced on the Kukjali industrial zone. One commander is Major Salam - he has a full name, but here, he doesn't need it. His men follow him without question and he is known as a "door-kicker". He is always in front of his men; his body is visibly riddled with proof of his "lead by example" mantra. He spent weeks in France this year for medical reasons, after fighting in Falluja. If there are unsung heroes in their ranks, it is the men driving the bulldozers. They are sent in quickly to destroy the wildly complicated network of tunnels that IS has been using for over two years to avoid air strikes from the US-led coalition.

The tunnels are often rigged with powerful explosives, set up as the enemy retreats further into the heart of the city. They moved out again shortly before first light on Tuesday, this time with the aim of entering the adjoining Kukjali residential area, which is within the city limits. The troops have much more momentum than anybody expected up until this point, our correspondent says. But, he adds, they are coming under attack from a number of different directions with a number of different weapons. The troops have responded to the RPG, machine-gun and sniper fire with heavy weapons, and also by calling in air strikes by the US-led coalition against IS. A number of civilians have also approached them, some waving white flags.

By noon, the troops were approaching the more built-up Karama district, Maj Gen Sami al-Airdi of the CTS told the Associated Press news agency. In an attempt to slow the advance, militants had set up concrete blast walls to block the main road into Karama, and also planted bombs along it, he said. Later, as the state television building was retaken, CTS commander Lt Gen Abdul Wahhab al-Saidi said most of Kukjali had been cleared. One resident of the nearby Quds district told Reuters news agency: "We can see [IS] fighters firing towards the Iraqi forces and moving in cars between the alleys of the neighbourhood."

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Iraqi forces edge into Mosul, major urban warfare lies ahead
November 1, 2016 • Iraq's special forces fought their way into the outskirts of Mosul on Tuesday, taking its state television building despite resistance by Islamic State group fighters that is only likely to stiffen when combat reaches the inner city.

It was the first time Iraqi troops have set foot in the city, Iraq's second-largest, in more than two years. The advance was the start of what is likely to be a grueling and slow operation for the forces as they fend off booby traps and ambushes in difficult, house-to-house fighting expected to take weeks, if not months. Troops entered Gogjali, a neighborhood inside Mosul's city limits, and later the outskirts of the more built-up Karama district, according to Maj. Gen. Sami al-Aridi of the Iraqi special forces. As the sun went down, a sandstorm blew in, reducing visibility to only 100 meters (yards) and bringing the day's combat to an end. "Daesh is fighting back and have set up concrete blast walls to block off the Karama neighborhood and our troops' advance," al-Aridi said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. He said bombs have been laid along the road into the city.

Later, al-Aridi said the troops had taken the state television building, the only one in the province, and that heavy fighting broke out when they tried to continue further into built-up areas. An official casualty report was not given, but officers mentioned one dead and one wounded. Mosul is the last major IS stronghold in Iraq, the city from which it drove out a larger but demoralized Iraqi army in 2014 and declared a "caliphate" that stretched into Syria. Its loss would be a major defeat for the jihadis, but with the closest Iraqi troops still some 10 kilometers (six miles) from the city center, much ground remains to be covered. Tuesday's battle opened with Iraqi artillery, tank and machine gun fire on IS positions on the edge of Gogjali, with the extremists responding with guided anti-tank missiles and small arms in an attempt to block the advance. Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition supporting the operation added to the fire hitting the district.

Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said that aerial observations of the battlefield showed that IS forces can no longer move in large numbers. "If Daesh stand and fight, they're going to be killed. There's no question about that. If they run, they will either be captured or killed. They are not going to be allowed to escape," he said in a televised news conference with Iraqi forces in Qayara, south of Mosul. "When we see them come together where there are significant numbers we will strike them and kill them." Smoke could be seen rising Tuesday from buildings in Gogjali, where shells and bombs had landed. IS-lit fires also sent plumes of dark smoke into the sky, in an attempt to obscure coalition warplanes' view of the city.

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Is ISIS conscripting kids to fight battle for Mosul?...

U.S. Military: 'We're Seeing Younger (ISIS) Fighters, Perhaps Adolescent' in Mosul
December 9, 2016 - "Mosul is completely surrounded on all sides, and Daesh have no ability to resupply or reinforce their fighters," Air Force Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, told reporters on Thursday.

As a result, Dorrian said, the ISIS fighters are getting younger and younger -- "perhaps adolescent age." "You know, they've had more than two years to prepare for this battle, so they have significant resources packed away within the city at various points, but those resources are finite and being depleted," Dorian said. "And part of this campaign, one of the reasons why the Iraqi security forces are using overwhelming force and have completely encircled the city, is that they understand that as this effort goes on with each passing day, Daesh has fewer fighters and fewer resources at their disposal. "We've already seen that some of their fighters -- unfortunately, we're seeing younger fighters, perhaps adolescent age, rather than adults. That's unconscionable on their part, but it is a long list of things that they do that are unconscionable."

Dorrian said ISIS is now planting improvised explosive devices inside "regular vehicles" instead of using armored cars that are much more difficult to stop. "So, what that tells us is, they're beginning to run out of those resources. It doesn't mean that it's not still an extraordinarily dangerous situation. They are not going to go quietly, but they are going to go."

Dorrian would not say how may ISIS fighters have been killed or wounded since the battle to retake Mosul began one month ago. "I would say many hundreds of fighters are gone. We don't release -- we don't release causality statistics and we don't consider them a measure of merit, but I can tell you that the enemy is taking very significant casualties, as difficult as they are making it for the Iraqi security forces. "I can assure you that their fighters are being expended at a much faster rate than -- than are the Iraqis. It's still very, very dangerous fighting, it's very, very difficult, but, you know, eventually we're going reach critical mass where the enemy is going to begin to break and then things will start to accelerate."

Dorrian said coalition air strikes and artillery strikes continue to damage the enemy, by striking them on the battlefield, blowing up vehicle-borne IEDs, supply routes and excavating equipment. "These strikes have been conducted to reduce the ability of ISIL to rotate forces, resupply, and use vehicle-borne improved explosive devices against the Iraqi security forces." Dorrian added that four of the five bridges across the Tigris River have been disabled.

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US Airstrike Hits Mosul Hospital Used by ISIS
Dec 09, 2016 | U.S. warplanes carried out a deliberate bombing of a hospital Wednesday at the request of Iraqi forces who were under attack from Islamic State fighters in the building, a military spokesman said Thursday.

The incident took place amid fierce fighting around the Al Salem hospital complex, the largest in eastern Mosul, as Iraqi Security Forces sought to expand their foothold in the stronghold of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, said Air Force Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. The Iraqi forces managed to take the building but then were driven back to nearby positions that were more defensible, Dorrian said in a video briefing from Baghdad to the Pentagon. As they continued to take fire from the hospital, the Iraqi forces requested the airstrike, which was approved by the U.S. Initial assessments of the airstrike did not give U.S. officials "any reason to believe civilians were harmed," Dorrian said, but a complete analysis was "very difficult to ascertain with full and total fidelity."

Dorrian said U.S. officials were making assessment of the effects of the airstrike and the decisions that led up to it, but no decision has yet been made on whether to launch a formal investigation. The U.S. has frequently condemned the bombing of hospitals by Russian and Syrian air forces in rebel-held areas, but Dorrian said the U.S. airstrike in Mosul was conducted only after the Iraqis requested it and officials determined that ISIS fighters were firing from the building.

Iraqi special forces medics carry a man wounded by an ISIS mortar shell to a neighborhood hospital in Mosul, Iraq​

The U.S. issued the following statement on the incident, using the term ISIL, another acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS: "On Dec. 7th, after Iraqi forces continued to receive heavy and sustained machine gun and rocket propelled grenade fire from ISIL fighters in a building on the hospital complex, they requested immediate support from the coalition. In support of the Iraqi Security Forces, coalition aircraft conducted a precision strike on the location to target enemy fighters firing on Iraqi forces." The coalition also said it "takes all feasible precautions during the planning and execution of airstrikes to reduce the risk of harm to non-combatants."

The hospital complex was less than a mile from the Tigris River running through the center of the city. Reaching the Tigris from the east was a key goal of the Mosul offensive that began on Oct. 17. Mosul was now "completely surrounded," Dorrian said, and ISIS fighters were cut off from resupply and reinforcements. ISIS has been able to build up significant stores of weapons, ammunition and supplies since taking Mosul more than two years ago, but "those resources are finite and are being depleted," Dorrian said. The airstrike on the hospital was believed to be the first known incident of the U.S. deliberately targeting a medical facility in Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan.

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[Bleipriester]

An US airstrike in Mosul hit the Iraqi army killing 90 and wounding 100. Military equipment was destroyed and the army had to retreat from the area. The next massive attack that benefits ISIS after the "coalition" bombed the Syrian army in Deir-Ezzor.

US Airstrike in Mosul Reportedly Leaves 90 Iraqi Servicemen Dead