Mosul, Iraq: Counterattacks by Daesh terrorists on the western edge of Mosul have stalled Iraqi forces’ push in the Old City, the last Daesh stronghold in the battle, an Iraqi officer said Tuesday.
The attacks forced Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition to pull some assets away from the Old City to again clear the Yarmouk and Tanak neighbourhoods, which were declared liberated of Daesh in May.
The assaults underscore the extremist group’s resilience in the city, Iraq’s third-largest, despite months of heavy fighting with Iraqi forces backed by US air power.
According to the Iraqi officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, the latest counter-attacks began on Sunday by scores of Daesh fighters dressed as Iraqi paramilitaries. The following day, he said, a dozen coalition air strikes on Mosul’s western-most edge killed about 40 militants.
The territory that the Daesh still holds in Mosul has been reduced to an area that now amounts to about 2 square kilometres (0.8 square miles) in the ancient Old City district.
Front lines were quiet in the Old City on Tuesday as Iraqi special forces scouted the terrain. Troops ducked into narrow alleyways, through bright courtyards and up balconies to reach positions with a view of the now destroyed Al Nouri Mosque.
Daesh terrorists blew up the 12th century mosque in the heart of the Old City last week, along with its landmark minaret, according to the US-led coalition and the Iraqi Ministry of Defence — an act of destruction that the authorities in Baghdad interpreted as the militants’ message of defeat in the face of the relentless Iraqi offensive. Daesh released a statement blaming a US air strike for the destruction.
The mosque was also hugely symbolic — it was from a pulpit there that the Daesh’s top leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi in July 2014 declared a self-styled “caliphate,” encompassing territories held by Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
Iraqi special forces Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab Al Saadi said Daesh holds “very little” territory inside Mosul at the present moment, adding that he hoped the operation would be concluded within days.
But despite staggering territorial losses, Daesh has managed to launch a number of counter-attacks and insurgent assaults inside some Mosul neighbourhoods that were retaken from Daesh earlier this month.
The attacks also underscore the security threat that Daesh will likely pose, long after the militant group is routed from all of Mosul and other territory it holds in Iraq.
Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake Mosul’s Old City just over a week ago, more than eight months after the fight to retake Iraq’s second-largest city officially began.
