Sunday 28 / April / 2024
South of Mosul: Iraqi troops and security forces edged closer to Mosul on two southern fronts on Sunday but a leader of the militias newly participating in the offensive warned that the battle for IS's Iraq stronghold would be long and gruelling.
A military statement said the army's Ninth Armoured Division raised the Iraqi flag in the village of Ali Rash, about 7km (4 miles) southeast of Mosul, after recapturing it from the ultra-hardline militants.
Further south, an Interior Ministry officer said security forces were advancing from the town of Al Shura, recaptured from IS on Saturday, along the Tigris river valley towards Mosul 30 km (20 miles) to the north.
The army and security forces, along with Kurdish peshmerga fighters, have been backed by US-led air and ground support in their two-week-old campaign to crush IS in the largest city of Iraq.
Their battle for Mosul, still home to 1.5 million residents, could be one of the toughest in a decade of turmoil since the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
On Saturday thousands of Iraqi militia fighters, known as the Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) forces, joined the Mosul offensive, launching a campaign to take territory to the west of the city.
Their target is to seize the town of Tal Afar, 55 km (35 miles) west of Mosul, from IS.
That would cut off any chance of the militants retreating into - or being reinforced from - their positions in neighbouring Syria, Ahmed Al Asadi, a spokesman of the Popular Mobilisation, told a news conference. IS fighters have been "flowing into Mosul" from Syria, he added.
Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters are already driving IS fighters back on the southern, eastern and northeastern approaches to Mosul.
"There is cooperation between... the army, federal police, Hashid and counter-terrorism (forces) and also the tribes," said Hadi Al Amiri, head of the Badr Organisation, the most powerful group within the Popular Mobilisation forces.
Speaking in the village of Ain Nasir in the semi-arid land west of the Tigris, Amiri said the fight against IS insurgents holding Mosul, who have already launched waves of suicide car bombs, roadside bombs and sniper attacks to slow down the advancing forces, could be long and bloody.
"The battle of Mosul will not be a picnic. It needs time, it needs precision, it needs a deep breath," he said, wearing military fatigues and with his face wrapped in a white checked headscarf against the wind and sand.
"We are prepared for the battle of Mosul even if it lasts for months".
Anticipating the offensive on Tal Afar, and highlighting its strategic importance, IS has also been reinforcing the town in the last 48 hours, an Iraqi security official said.
He said two waves of reinforcements were sent including insurgents who had fought in neighbouring Syria and had experience in using anti-tank missiles.
"Intelligence reports show that the Daesh (IS) groups have entered TOW missiles systems into Tal Afar. It's obvious they are making preparations for a long protracted battle," the official from the provincial military operation command centre told Reuters.
His comments could not be independently verified but a resident of Mosul, speaking to Reuters by phone, said relatives in Tal Afar reported seeing increasing numbers of IS fighters in the town, some of them patrolling on motorbikes.
Since launching their advance towards Tal Afar on Saturday, the Popular Mobilisation forces have taken over several villages in an area about 60 km (40 miles) southeast of their final target.
The Kurdish Peshmerga said in a statement on Sunday they had cleared at least 28 villages north and east of Mosul since the start of the offensive.
Interior Ministry rapid response forces, who took control on Saturday of the town of Al Shura, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Mosul, advanced on Sunday a few km northeast and took three villages from IS, an officer told Reuters.
The Popular Mobilisation force, formed in 2014 to help push back IS's sweeping advance, officially report to Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi's government.
