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Mosul offensive: Iraqi forces’ latest achievements

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mosul-offensiveCommander of Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism forces says his forces have marched into an eastern neighborhood of Mosul as government troops and allied fighters are trying to expel Daesh terrorists from their stronghold in the strategic northern city.

Major General Maan al-Saadi said on Wednesday that the counter-terrorism forces are making headway in Aden district of the city, located 400 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, warning against the presence of Daesh booby traps and hidden explosive devices there, Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported.

The achievement was followed by a Daesh mortar attack against al-Zahra district in eastern Mosul. At least 14 civilians reportedly lost their lives and seven others were injured.

US-Backed Kurdish Forces Peshmerga in Iraq Accused of War Crimes

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kurd-commited-genocide

Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq, trained and equipped by the United States, are allegedly razing Arab towns liberated from the Islamic State group.

A human rights group is accusing the armed forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government of carrying out a deliberate campaign to prevent the return of Arabs to towns in Iraq once occupied by the Islamic State group, a practice it says may amount to war crimes.

Armed and equipped by the United States and other major powers – and backed by U.S. airstrikes – Peshmerga forces and allied militias have played a key role in reclaiming territory captured by the Islamic State group.

However, Amnesty International is accusing those forces of razing the predominantly Arab villages they have liberated from the extremist group as part of an apparent attempt to expand the autonomous region’s territory.

More than 3 million people have been refugees by the latest conflict in Iraq, with the country experiencing “the highest and fastest rate of people displaced in the world in 2015,” according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The U.S. government has pledged to help rebuild those towns and villages its allied forces have retaken from the Islamic State group. However, some Arab Iraqis are discovering that their former homes no longer exist, having been bulldozed to the ground soon after liberation. “These villages were terrorists,” one KRG security official told Amnesty International, according to the report. “They didn’t just support IS, they were part of it.”

That the largely Sunni residents of razed towns either sympathized with or actively supported the extremist Islamic State is a frequent charge, but other KRG officials offered different explanations, including that areas freed from the Islamic State’s control were not yet safe enough for refugees to return to — or that Kurdish forces were merely correcting past wrongs.

“We are just taking back some of what was ours,” one official reportedly told Amnesty International, referring to former Baathist dictator Saddam Hussein’s efforts to “Arabise” formerly Kurdish parts of Iraq.

Whatever the motivation, Maher Nubul, a father of 11, told Amnesty International, “All I know is that when the Peshmerga retook the village the houses were standing.”

“We could not go back but could see it clearly from the distance. And later they bulldozed the village, I don’t know why. There is nothing left. They destroyed everything for no reason.”

According to Amnesty’s International’s Donatella Rovera, that destruction could be grounds for a criminal prosecution.

“The forced displacement of civilians and the deliberate destruction of homes and property without military justification may amount to war crimes,” said Rovera, part of a team that carried out field research in 13 towns and villages and interviewed 120 witnesses.

What researchers saw and heard on the ground was also backed by satellite imagery — and it was not isolated. “Rather,” the report states, the alleged crimes “are examples of a wider pattern across the disputed areas of northern Iraq, where parties which had long vied for exclusive control of these areas are now intent on consolidating territorial gains they have made as a result of battlefield successes against IS.”

WATCH: Amnesty International’s Donatella Rovera on the Ground in Northern Iraq

Source: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/US-Backed-Kurdish-Forces-in-Iraq-Accused-of-War-Crimes-20160120-0005.html

https://youtu.be/WeU7FUoDZnk

Heavy fighting in and around Mosul as Iraqi troops expand their foothold

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heavy-fightingIraqi allied forces, numbering 100,000 and backed by US air power, are pressing into the IS stronghold. The militants are vastly outnumbered but are using bombers, snipers and ambushes to fight back.

A suicide car bomber sent by the Islamic State (IS) group struck Iraqi special-forces Saturday in Mosul, sparking heavy fighting in the strategic city in the northern Iraq.

The early morning attack occurred in the Qadisiya neighborhood, and triggered a barrage of gunfire, mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades, Iraqi officers said. They added that fighting was also taking place in the adjoining Arbajiya neighborhood.

But backed by US and Iraqi air power Iraqi special-forces appear to have taken control of the two districts after killing 30 militants, three rocket launchers and destroying nine car bombs sent on suicide missions by the IS.

For more than a week Iraq’s infantry and armored division troops have been trying to expand their small foothold in the city that IS has controlled since the middle of 2014 when their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a Muslim caliphate across parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.

An alliance of 100,000 Iraqi fighters supported by thousands of Western personnel on the ground is trying to drive IS out of the biggest city under its control in either country.

They’re up against just a few thousand militants but they’re facing stiff resistance in the form of suicide car bombers, assault fighters, snipers and rocket fire.

Tunnels and ambushes

IS fighters have, at times, melted into the city’s population of 1.5 million and used a network of tunnels around the city to launch surprise raids and ambushes.

A statement issued by the military said the Counter Terrorism Service took control of the districts of al-Qadisiya al-Thania on Friday, as well as the adjacent al-Arbajiya.

To the south, troops from the First Infantry and Ninth Armored divisions attacked militants in the Salam neighborhood.

Military forces are closing in on Mosul from the north and south, aiming to open new fronts inside the city in order to put added pressure on the jihadists.

The Iraqi forces are made up of Iraqi army troops, special-forces and federal police units. Outside the city, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are holding territory to the northeast while predominantly Shi’ite paramilitary forces are positioned to the west.

Mosul Update: Iraq forces advance against Daesh in Mosul from city’s south “Hammam al-Alil”

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all-hamam-ali-1Iraqi troops have pushed into the center of the last town before Mosul where Daesh terrorists await a final offensive by the army and volunteer forces to drive them out. 

Units of the police force on Saturday moved into the town of Hammam al-Alil which includes a vast territory on the banks of the Tigris river and hoisted the Iraqi flag over buildings.

They also captured six villages near the town, which is located some 25 kilometers south of Mosul, after launching an offensive on Friday.

To the southwest of the city, troops liberated three villages and killed a Daesh commander.

Iraqi police commander Major-General Thamer al-Husseini said federal police forces had entered the Salahiya district of Hammam al-Alil, adding the town and its surrounding areas will be liberated “within hours.”

Elsewhere in the northern city of Kirkuk, 32 members of Daesh terrorist group were killed in two car bomb blasts. The circumstances of the explosions were not immediately clear.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi forces, also known as the Popular Mobilization Units, liberated three villages west of Mosul.

The development comes as Iraqi army troops, backed by Hashd al-Shaabi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, are closing in on Mosul, Daesh’s last stronghold in Iraq, from almost all directions in a full-scale operation launched on October 17.

On Friday, Iraqi special forces launched an assault to advance deeper into the city’s urban center, and engaged in fierce fighting with Daesh terrorists, estimated to number between 3,000 and 5,000, in the sprawling city.

The Iraqi troops managed to enter Mosul’s limits earlier this week for the first time since June 2014, when the city fell to Daesh amid a large-scale terror campaign in northern and western Iraq.

So far, a large number of the villages and districts around the city have been purged of the terrorists. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has vowed that the country’s second largest city will be fully recaptured by year-end.

n another development, two roadside bombs struck a convoy carrying Iraqi families fleeing Daesh in Mosul late on Friday, killing 18 people.

The incident took place late on Friday as the Iraqi citizens from the town of Hawijah, about 120 kilometers south of Mosul, were being taken to al-Alam, next to the Tigris River.

Police say 17 civilians and one policeman lost their lives in the incident.

Thousands of people have fled Mosul and its surrounding areas since Iraqi forces launched their offensive three weeks ago to liberate the city from Daesh terrorists.

Source: http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/11/05/492243/Iraq-Mosul-Hammam-alAlil-Daesh

Mosul residents storm Daesh-run jail, free dozens of inmates

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mosul-jailResidents of the Daesh-held Iraqi city of Mosul have managed to storm the city’s main prison and free dozens of inmates amid a major military operation by the Iraqi forces who are tightening the noose around the terror group holed up in the northern city.

Iraq’s Arabic-language al-Sumaria satellite television network quoted an unnamed security source as saying that the Mosul residents on Friday evening broke into the city’s main prison, located in the eastern part of Mosul, and freed at least 45 prisoners after killing all of the Daesh militants manning the jail.

The development comes as Iraqi army troops, backed by the country’s Hashd al-Shaabi forces, also known as the Popular Mobilization Units, and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, are closing in on Daesh’s last stronghold in Iraq from almost all directions in a full-scale operation launched on October 17 to liberate the city.

The Iraqi troops managed to enter Mosul’s limits earlier this week for the first time since June 2014, when Daesh began its terror campaign in northern and western Iraq. So far, a large number of the city’s villages and districts have been purged of terrorists. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has vowed that the country’s second largest city will be fully recaptured by year-end.

‘Daesh killing hundreds, recruiting children’

Meanwhile, UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani has announced that the terrorists have executed hundreds of people, including 180 former Iraqi government employees who were killed on Wednesday as the Takfiri group was withdrawing from Gogjali town.

Citing “credible reports”, she added that the terrorists also executed 50 deserters at the Ghazlani military base in Mosul on Monday.

Shamdasani, who was speaking on Friday at a regular UN briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, went on to say that Daesh had moved 1,600 people, likely to use them as human shields against airstrikes, from the town of Hammam al-Alil to Tal Afar near Mosul on Tuesday, and told them they might be taken to Syria.

She also warned that Daesh was trying to recruit children, particularly boys above the age of nine, in Hammam al-Alil as the group was increasingly losing its adult terrorists in clashes with the Iraqi troops.

“They’ve been knocking on people’s doors and asking for their boys,” Shamdasani further said, adding that defiant families were threatened with harsh punishment.

The UN official also said that Daesh was currently holding about 400 Kurdish, Izadi and Shia women in Tal Afar, and had possibly killed up to 200 people in Mosul.

On Friday, the Iraqi special forces launched an assault to advance deeper into the city’s urban center, and engaged in fierce fighting with Daesh terrorists, estimated to number between 3,000 and 5,000 in the sprawling city.

In another related development, Iraqi civilians fleeing Daesh in Mosul reunited with their families for the first time in more than two years at the al-Khazar camp, to the east of the city, on Friday.

ISIS supreme leader al-Baghdadi calls on fighters to stand firm during Mosul battle

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al-baghdadiThe Islamic State’s (ISIS) supreme leader and self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Thursday called on his followers to keep up the fight, to not flee, and to attack Turkish forces in Iraq and Syria, while his caliphate is increasingly losing territory under attack by Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Mosul. 
This is the first audio tape released by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi since December last year, Aranews.net reports.
The key ISIS deputy and spokesperson Mohammed al-Adnani was killed in al-Bab in August this year.
Under the banner “this is what God and his Messenger have promised us“, al-Baghdadi’s 30-minute audio statement called on his followers who cannot go to Syria and Iraq to head to Libya.

He also called on his followers to obey their emirs, and pay more attention to sins than to the enemies.
In a surprising statement, the ISIS head for the first time called for attacks on Turkey inside Iraq and Syria, calling Turkey an ‘apostate’ state.

Al-Baghdadi’s statement comes four days after the US ordered Istanbul consulate staff members to leave Turkey, fearing ISIS attacks.
The ISIS leader also called for attacks on Saudi Arabia.
He also demanded the ‘soldiers of the caliphate’ to stand firm in front of coalition jets, and said
that the coalition was formed after they saw Muslims lived under the caliphate in dignity.
Al-Baghdadi considered the number of forces aligned to fight ISIS as a testament to the strength of ISIS.
The ISIS leader cited a Quranic verse, says the “coalitions” amassed to storm Mosul are evidence of what God has promised the Muslims.
“Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s statement is the fastest in tempo and strongest among his speeches, clearly wants fiercest fighting to protect areas,” Hassan Hassan, co-author of NYT bestseller
‘ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror’ said.
“Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi reassures followers that stronger enemies doesn’t mean they’re better
and calls on them not to flee the battlefield,” he added.
Furthermore, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi tried to frame the war as a sectarian war between Shiites and Sunnis, according to Rita Katz, Director of SITE Intelligence Group.
Al-Baghdadi said that the Shiites are trying to do everything to take over the power in Iraq, suggesting ISIS is the only solution.

Iraqi PM Warns Turkey After It Deploys Troops Near Border

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iraq-warns-turkeyIraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has warned Turkey against provoking a confrontation after Ankara sent tanks and artillery near the countries’ border not far from Mosul.

Abadi said in a televised news conference that Baghdad does not want a confrontation or a “war with Turkey,” but said Iraqi forces “are ready for it” if it happens.

He added that Baghdad had prohibited Turkish forces from intervening in the fight against Islamic State (IS) fighters to regain control of Mosul and if “Turkey enters the current battle…we will deal with them as an enemy.”

Turkey has deployed tanks and heavy artillery on its southeastern border with Iraq, saying that the forces may be sent into Iraq “if necessary.”

The deployments on November 1 were made in Turkey’s Silopi region bordering a stretch of northern Iraq along Iraq’s strategic Highway 2, which leads to Mosul about 130 kilometers to the south.

Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said on November 1 that Ankara was under no obligation to keep its military forces on its own side of the border.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on October 25 that Ankara could launch a ground operation into Iraq if it felt its security was threatened. “We are ready to use all our resources, including a ground operation,” he said.

The deployments came as Iraqi special forces battled Islamic State (IS) militants into an eastern neighborhood of Mosul on November 1 — the first time government forces have been inside the city since it was seized by IS militants in 2014.

It also came as the head of the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff, General Hulusi Akar, was visiting Moscow on November 1 for talks with his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov, about possible military cooperation and what Ankara described as “the situation in the Middle East.”

Turkey has as many as 1,000 troops in northern Iraq at the request of regional Iraqi leaders, and have been training Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

But the government in Baghdad has called on Turkey to withdraw those forces.

Turkey has not had a direct role in a two-week-old Iraqi operation to recapture Mosul from IS fighters.

But Ankara has said its forces should be involved to prevent Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia fighters from carrying out atrocities against Sunni civilians in Mosul.

At the same time that Turkey has been helping Iraqi Kurdish forces, it has been fighting against U.S.-supported Syrian Kurds from the so-called Kurdish People’s Protection units (YPG) — claiming that the YPG in Syria is associated with Turkish Kurds from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Turkey has been battling PKK militants in southeastern Turkey for more than 30 years in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, and CNN Turk

Mosul Update: Iraqi troops advance on more urban districts of Mosul

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Hashd al-Shaabi fighters flash the sign of victory from the back of a truck as they drive towards the village of Umm Sijan, southwest of Mosul, on October 31, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Hashd al-Shaabi fighters flash the sign of victory from the back of a truck as they drive towards the village of Umm Sijan, southwest of Mosul, on October 31, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi special forces were advancing toward the more urban center of Mosul on Tuesday after entering the outskirts of the city in a bid to retake it from Takfiri terrorists. 

The advance into Iraq’s second largest city in over two years marks the start of what could be a grueling and slow operation for troops, with the terrorists holed up in their positions and using civilians as human shields.

According to the commander of the special forces, troops entered the Gogjali neighborhood inside Mosul’s city limits and by noon were only 800 meters (yards) from the more built-up Karama district.

“Daesh is fighting back and have set up concrete blast walls to block off the Karama neighborhood and our troops’ advance,” Maj. Gen. Sami al-Aridi said.

Iraqi artillery, tank and machine gun fire pounded Daesh positions, with the Takfiri terrorists responding with guided anti-tank missiles and small arms in an attempt to block the advance.

Across the liberated districts, white flags fluttered to show the residents wouldn’t resist the Iraqi army advance. Some residents stood outside their homes, and children raised their hands with V-for-victory signs, the Associated Press reported.

‘Human shields’

One resident said Daesh was preventing families from moving toward the security forces and ordered them into the city center.

UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani meanwhile said Daesh was trying to move 25,000 civilians from the town of Hammam al-Alil to Mosul to use them as human shields.

Most of the trucks used in the operation on Monday were forced to turn back under pressure from patrolling aircraft, but some buses managed to reach Abusaif, 15 km north of the town, she added.

Shamdasani also cited reports from the field as saying that the terrorist group on Saturday killed 40 former members of the Iraqi security forces near Mosul and threw their corpses in the Tigris river.

She said the UN has no documented any reports of abuses by Iraqi troops or civilian deaths in air raids in Mosul so far.

Iraq’s Badr Organization said seven villages located to the west of Mosul were purged of Daesh on Tuesday. Iraqi forces also took control of a government building in a village in eastern Mosul.

The spokesman for Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Units Ahmed Assadi said 39 villages west of Mosul have been purged of Daesh since the beginning of the operation about two week ago.

According to the Defense Ministry, as many as 27 Daesh terrorists were killed in fresh operations and their weapons and equipment seized or destroyed.

Meanwhile, a military source said a senior terrorist commander was killed in an airstrike in the center of Mosul on Tuesday.

Abu Tareq al-Hayali, the commander of the Daesh-affiliated Jund al-Khilafah, and seven of his companions were killed as Iraqi aircraft bombed their positions, he added.

With the advances gaining momentum, Takfiri militants are resorting to more desperate measures. On Monday, Iraqi forces thwarted a Daesh car bomb attack and another terrorist attack on the Asyla village west of Mosul, killing 12 terrorists and capturing two others.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the operations to liberate Mosul on October 16. The city fell to Daesh in June 2014 as the Takfiri group crossed the Syrian border to expand its so-called caliphate.

The loss of Mosul would be a major defeat for the Takfiri terrorists because it is the last major Daesh bastion in Iraq.

Mosul Update: Iraq opens new frontlines in Mosul operations

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new-frontline

A fighter from the Hashd al-Shaabi forces, also known as Popular Mobilization Forces, flashes the sign for victory in the village of Ayn Nasir, south of Mosul, October 29, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi forces have launched an offensive to advance toward the eastern borders of the city of Mosul from three new axes.

The Joint Operations Command coordinating Iraq’s war on the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group said the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) and army troops launched a campaign “to advance toward the left bank of the city of Mosul from three axes.”

The Tigris River flows through Mosul; thus, Iraqis refer to the city’s eastern half as the “left bank” and its western part as the “right bank.”

A senior officer with the CTS said outside the recently-recaptured town of Bartalla that only two villages separate the Iraqi forces from Mosul.

“The target is to retake Bazwaya and Gogjali, the last two villages before Mosul,” he said, adding, “If we manage that, we’ll only be a few hundred meters from Mosul.”

The operations to liberate Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and Daesh’s self-proclaimed headquarters in the Arab country, have entered their third week.

According to al-Sumaria news website, Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi forces liberated the village of Dlawya al-Sharqiya, west of Mosul, from Daesh on Monday.

A security source in Nineveh Province also said security forces took control of five villages in the northern front toward the town of Tal Kif.

A massive explosion targeted a meeting of Daesh commanders in the al-Sarjkhana area in the center of Mosul, a local source said, adding that a number of senior commanders were killed.

Iraq’s War Media Cell said Iraqi forces also managed to retake the villages of Najmom and Tal al-Yabes in northern Nineveh from Daesh.

Iraqi security forces also regained control of the villages of Tobruk and Tahrawa on the southeastern front of Mosul.

The CTS forces purged Bazwaya of the Takfiri militants and raised the Iraqi flag over its buildings.

Three villages to the southwest of Mosul were also liberated, including Mashyrfa.

The Iraqi forces also seized back the village of Tall Sikhan, west of Mosul.

The CTS said that the Iraqi forces are advancing toward the first area in the city of Mosul from the eastern side.

Lieutenant General Abdul Wahhab al-Saadi said the CTS forces are advancing toward the village of Kokjeli.

(This item is being updated.)

Mosul Update: Iraqi forces, allies inch closer to Daesh-controlled Mosul

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Iraqi government forces and fighters from Popular Mobilization Units advance towards the village of Ayn Nasir, southwest of Mosul, on October 29, 2016, during the ongoing battle against Daesh terrorists to liberate the city of Mosul. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi government forces and fighters from Popular Mobilization Units advance towards the village of Ayn Nasir, southwest of Mosul, on October 29, 2016, during the ongoing battle against Daesh terrorists to liberate the city of Mosul. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi government soldiers, backed by allied fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, have recaptured more areas and villages around the strategic northern city of Mosul in a large-scale offensive aimed at ending the control of Daesh militants there.

On Saturday, the media bureau of Iraq’s Badr Organization announced that the Popular Mobilization Units had liberated the region of Ayn Nasir southwest of Mosul, located some 400 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, from the grip of Daesh terrorists.

The pro-government forces also established control over the road linking Hammam al-Alil region to Albu Hammad village.

Additionally, Iraq’s Joint Operations Command (JOC) announced that the 9th Division of the Army and units from Nineveh Liberation Operations Command had taken control of the villages of al-Hamidiyah, al-Shorouq, al-Mokhlat and Jayaf southwest of Mosul, and raised the national Iraqi flags over a number of buildings there.

Iraqi security personnel also freed al-Dawajel region and nearby villages on Saturday.

Moreover, Iraqi fighter jets carried out a precision airstrike against an area in Ta’an region, east of Mosul, and destroyed an arms depot and a bomb-making workshop belonging to Daesh terrorists.

In another Saturday development, Iraqi forces wrested full control over the al-Shoura region, located 45 kilometers south of Mosul, and flew the national flag above several buildings in the area.

Moreover, fighters from Popular Mobilization Units established control over Abu al-Aris and Zuwairaj villages southwest of Mosul.

Popular Mobilization Units also kicked off an operation on Saturday to retake the city of Tal Afar, which is situated 63 kilometers west of Mosul and serves as a supply line between Daesh’s main stronghold in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

“The operation aims to cut supplies between Mosul and Raqqah, and tighten the siege of in Mosul and liberate Tal Afar,” the spokesman for the volunteer forces, Ahmed al-Assadi, said.

Assadi said the operation was launched from the Sin al-Dhaban area south of Mosul, and aims to liberate the ancient city of Hatra  as well as the cities of Tal Abta and Tal Afar.

There are reports that about 50,000 Iraqi ground troops are involved in the Mosul offensive, including 30,000 army troops, 10,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and the remaining 10,000 from police and Popular Mobilization Units.

Iraqi forces have so far liberated nearly 80 towns and villages ever since they began the decisive battle on October 17.