Fight Continues to Take Back Mosul Despite Setbacks
After a brief pause in their advance, coalition forces have resumed their attacks on Islamic State in Mosul. Despite slow movement, Iraqi forces have made it within one kilometer of the Great Mosque of Nour al-Din where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi publicly proclaimed the virtues of the Islamic caliphate.
While capturing the mosque will not put an end to IS, it would be a significant and symbolic blow. In 2014 IS’s capture of the mosque was a symbolic moment and ignited the group’s lightening sweep across Iraq.
This capture, however, may still be weeks away. Iraqi forces are fighting their way through the winding streets but their movement is slow because the area is still inhabited by civilians. They are crippled by their limited ability to use artillery or mortars at the risk of civilian casualties.
Iraqi forces, backed by the American-led International coalition, began to take the western portion of Mosul back from IS after successfully recapturing the eastern portion just over a month ago.
The western portion of Mosul is home to the ancient western district known for its narrow alleyways, which armored vehicles cannot pass through, and dense population. There is limited space for the movement of the 750,000 civilians that inhabited Mosul at the beginning of the battle.
The United Nations reported that as of March 22, at least 307 people had been killed and at least 273 others had been wounded in just over a month of fighting.
The increase in civilian casualties is impacted both the population density and the sheer number of attacks being carried out. There have been attacks with at least 700 bombs and rockets and another 400 or more strikes using satellite-guided Himars missiles in just the last two weeks.
After a month of fighting in western Mosul, it is estimated that about half of the original 2,000 IS fighters are still in Mosul, fighting to their death. They have become increasingly desperate as coalition forces close in.
Over the past two years, IS made defense preparations in western Mosul including a network of underground passageways and tunnels allowing them to quickly disappear, making them, and civilians, nearly impossible to track.
IS and the coalition are already fighting in tight quarters with civilians present, in and of itself making any strikes high risk. However, instead of simply using civilians as human shields, IS has graduated to baiting the coalition into striking buildings filled with civilians.
At least 61 people were killed on March 17th when an explosion collapsed a house where IS fighters had gathered approximately 140 civilians in the basement.
The U.S. has opened a formal investigation into the explosion. American officials have acknowledged that the coalition was striking in the area but also believe that there is a possibility that IS planted explosives in the building, contributing to much of the death and destruction.
Army Lt. Gen. Townsend told the Pentagon, “My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties.” However, Townsend also reported that the munitions the US uses in these air strikes should not have been able to collapse a building. U.S. officials are investigating the possibility that IS filled the building with explosives after gathering the civilians.
Unfortunately, this is not the first instance of IS baiting coalition forces to strike civilians. American surveillance caught on video a group of IS fighters forcing civilians into a building and then positioning themselves in the same building to fire on Iraqi forces.
Major General Maan al-Saadi of the Iraqi special forces demanded that the coalition pause its air strikes until they concluded their investigations. In response, coalition forces paused their operations so that residents could gather their belongings and safely flee the area.
The coalition and IS are back to fighting and both Iraqi and U.S. forces are working hard to limit civilian casualties in a difficult situation. As IS continues to fight to the death, the coalition is making its way to the Great Mosque with ambitions to capture it as early as next week, dealing a heavy blow to the Islamic State.
