Destruction in fight to take west Mosul worse than east

Lieutenant-General Raed Chaker, the chief of the militarized federal police, said that his forces had launched a surprise encirclement operation early Sunday in the Old City of western Mosul, where the historic al-Nouri Mosque is located.

Human Rights Watch believe a sinkhole south of Mosul, thought to be the largest site, may contain as many as 4,000 bodies.

Speaking at the same press conference in Baghdad on Tuesday, the spokesman for the US-led coalition vowed that Iraq would not be abandoned after the recapture of Mosul. They have been trying since then to dislodge the Sunni Muslim militants from the densely-populated Old City in western Mosul, their last Iraqi stronghold.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, announced the start of an offensive on February 19 to drive out extremist militants from Mosul’s western section, locally known as the Tigris River’s right bank, which cuts the city in half.

“There’s still another significant number of areas within Iraq that will. need to be cleared of Daesh, and. the Iraqi security forces are getting themselves ready for that eventuality – they know that it’s coming”, he said.

A Federal Police member flashes a victory sign during a battle with ISIS militants in the Mansour district of Mosul, Iraq, March 12, 2017. Yet Townsend said the attack against the regime had changed the coalition thinking “a little bit, but I couldn’t say specifically how”.

“Do not lose sight of the fact that even though the fighting is going to be very hard, this enemy is completely surrounded”, Dorrian said.

According to him, while progress continues, it has still a slow and tough fight because of the efforts of the coalition to avoid civilian casualties.

IS fighters captured Mosul in 2014 as they gained wide swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in battles against government troops.

Numerous civilians killed in Mosul were buried in gardens by relatives who were unable to reach a graveyard during the fighting, and now want to give them a proper burial.

“Don’t underestimate the ammunition”, he said. “If I need more resources I will go to my chain of command and tell them what I need to get the job done”.