LINA MESA – In early June 2014, the city of Mosul succumbed to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).[1] Iraqi forces, plagued by neglect and corruption, fled as ISIS launched its attack.[2] It took ISIS less than a week to take hold of Iraq’s second-largest city.[3] However, on October 17, 2016, the Campaign for Mosul began to recapture the city from ISIS forces.[4] Backed by Western Special Forces and American-led coalition warplanes Iraqi troops, Shia militias, and Kurdish fighters have encircled the city of Mosul.[5]
On October 29, 2016 Iraqi Security Forces tore through ISIS defenses around Mosul and were able to recapture the town of Shura, located south of Mosul.[6] On October 31, 2016 The Counter-Terrorism Service recaptured a television station in eastern Mosul.[7] The recapture of the television station was the first time that the Iraqi Security Forces were able to enter the city since ISIS captured it in June 2014.[8] However, the fight will not be easy. As Iraqi Security Forces captured Mosul’s eastern edges on November 5, 2016, ISIS began to emerge from deeper points in the city to launch their counterattack.[9] ISIS fighters equipped with mortars and suicide car bombs began targeting Iraqi Security Forces as they pushed deeper into Mosul.[10] Satellite images revealed that ISIS had set up defenses to weaken advancing troops.[11] Defenses included rows of concrete barricades, earth berms, and rubble blocking routes that lead to the center of the city.[12] Further adding to the daunting task the Iraqi Security Forces is undertaking is the slow advance of forces from the South into Mosul. The Iraqi Security Forces’ uneven advances to the city of Mosul could prove detrimental to their efforts if ISIS realizes this and begins to heavily target the areas where Iraqi Security Forces are advancing while saving their energy at other entry points into city that Iraqi Security Forces have not yet reached.
Furthermore, Mosul is not a city inhabited solely by ISIS. Mosul is a city full of civilians that have been under ISIS’ rule since June 2014. Those who were able to flee in 2014 say that ISIS terrorizes civilians by recruiting children as fighters, conducting public executions, and forbidding any communication with anyone outside of the city. [13] As Iraq embarked on its offensive to retake Mosul, civilians once again began preparing for the campaign by fleeing the city.[14] Approximately 26,000 civilians arrived at the Debaga camp for the displaced in Iraqi Kurdistan in mid-October.[15] The camp is approximately a one-hour drive from Mosul.[16] However, hundreds of thousands if not millions of civilians remain in the city and as Iraqi Security Forces advance deeper into the city, ISIS has begun to use civilians as human shields near its positions throughout the city.[17] ISIS’ unscrupulous use of civilians as shields proves that they are more than prepared to maximize civilian casualties, rendering the Iraqi Security Force’s efforts to retake the city much more dangerous and difficult than ever.[18]
Mosul is crucial because it is one of Iraq’s largest cities and Iraq’s last major urban center that is still under the reign of ISIS.[19] Defeating ISIS and recapturing the city would be an enormous boost to Iraq and a huge blow to the already weakened ISIS. However, this could come at the cost of thousands of Iraqi civilians that remained trapped in the city.
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[1] How Can Militants Take Over Iraqi Cities?, BBC News, (June 11, 2014), http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25588623.
[2] Jihadists Told: Surrender or Die, The Economist, (Nov. 3, 2016), http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21709606-iraqi-special-forces-reach-city-limits-first-time-jihadists-told.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Michael Momayezi Et Al., The Campaign for Mosul: November 1-3, 2016, Institue for the Study of War, (Nov. 2016), http://iswresearch.blogspot.com.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] ISIL Counter-Attacks in Mosul as Fierce Fighting Rages, Aljazeera, (Nov. 6, 2016), http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/11/isil-counter-attacks-mosul-fierce-fighting-rages-161105194328137.html.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Alice Fordham, As Iraqi Forces Prepare to Attack Mosul, A Civilian Exodus Could Follow, National Public Radio, (Oct. 14, 2016), http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/10/14/497911812/as-iraqi-forces-prepare-to-attack-mosul-a-civilian-exodus-could-follow.
[14] Id.
[15] Id.
[16] Id.
[17] Michael Momayezi Et Al., The Campaign for Mosul: November 1-3, 2016, Institue for the Study of War, (Nov. 2016), http://iswresearch.blogspot.com.
[18] Michael Momayezi Et Al., The Campaign for Mosul: November 1-3, 2016, Institue for the Study of War, (Nov. 2016), http://iswresearch.blogspot.com.
[19] Alice Fordham, As Iraqi Forces Prepare to Attack Mosul, A Civilian Exodus Could Follow, National Public Radio, (Oct. 14, 2016), http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/10/14/497911812/as-iraqi-forces-prepare-to-attack-mosul-a-civilian-exodus-could-follow.
