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Attacks Intensify on Mosul by NATO and Iraqi Government Forces, Hashd Militiamen Torture Mosul Civilians

October 29, 2016 

Editor's Note:

The US-led coalition which fights the Islamic State in northern Iraq consists of US-led NATO forces, Iraqi Shi'i government forces, Iranian-backed Shi'i militias, and Kurdish Peshmerga forces. The coalition's continuous attacks have resulted in the killing of thousands of Iraqi Sunni Muslim Arabs and the eviction of thousands as a result of the destruction of their cities and villages.

Millions of Iraqi Sunni Muslim Arabs are expected to leave their cities and villages as the fighting intensifies towards an all-attack by the US-led coalition on Mosul. The end outcome is going to be evicting (ethnic cleansing of) Sunni Muslim Arabs from the upper Euphrates region of northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria. 

The following news stories from the official US and Iraqi websites do not mention any civilian casualties, as all reported deaths are claimed to be for ISIS members, who were killed in air strikes and bombardment on cities! Needless to say that independent sources are hard to find or report from. Thus, the following is a documentation of the death and destruction, as reported basically in such official website. Other independent reporting will be presented whenever available.

 

Video: Iraqi government-backed Shia militia torture displaced children in Mosul	Armed members of Iraqi government-backed militia riding a motorbike near Al-Qayara, south of Mosul, with huge smoke in the background, October 27, 2016

Iraqi special forces fire at Islamic State fighters in Al-Shoura, south of Mosul, October 29, 2016	Member of Iraqi special forces fires at Islamic State fighters in Al-Shoura, south of Mosul, October 29, 2016

 

Shi'ite militias launch offensive to seal off western Mosul

Sat Oct 29, 2016 | 11:39am EDT

By Stephen Kalin and Ahmed Rasheed | AL-SHURA, Iraq/BAGHDAD

AL-SHURA, Iraq/BAGHDAD

 Iraqi Shi'ite militias said on Saturday they had launched an offensive towards the west of Mosul, an operation that would tighten the noose around Islamic State's Iraq stronghold but could inflame sectarian tension in the mainly Sunni region.

The battle for Mosul is expected to be the biggest in the 13 years of turmoil unleashed in Iraq by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion which toppled former president Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, and brought Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims to power.

A spokesman for the Shi'ite militias, known as the Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) forces, said thousands of fighters "started operations this morning to clean up the hotbeds of Daesh (Islamic State) in the western parts of Mosul".

The city is by far the largest held by the ultra-hardline Sunni Islamic State and its loss would mark their effective defeat in Iraq, two years after their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a cross-border caliphate in parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria from the pulpit of a Mosul mosque.

The Shi'ite militias aim to capture villages west of Mosul and reach the town of Tal Afar, about 55 km (35 miles) from the city, the Hashid spokesman said. Their goal is to cut off any option of retreat by Islamic State insurgents into neighboring Syria or any reinforcement for their defense of Mosul.

The Iran-backed and battle-hardened paramilitaries bring additional firepower to the nearly two-week-old campaign to recapture Iraq's second largest city from the jihadist group.

Iraqi soldiers and security forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters, backed by a U.S.-led air coalition and thousands of Western military personnel, have been advancing in the last 13 days on the southern, eastern and northeastern fronts around Mosul, which remains home to 1.5 million people.

The United Nations has warned of a possible humanitarian crisis and a potential refugee exodus from Mosul - though the start of operations on the city's western flank could leave Mosul's civilians with no outlet to safety, even if they are able to escape Islamic State control.

Villagers from outlying areas around Mosul have told Reuters that women and children were being forced to walk as human shields alongside retreating Islamic State fighters as they withdrew into the city this week.

Iraqi and Western military sources say there had been debate about whether or not to seal off Mosul's western flank. Leaving it open would have offered Islamic State (IS) a chance to retreat, potentially sparing residents from a devastating, inner-city fight to the finish.

Some civilians fleeing Mosul have used the roads to the west to escape to Qamishli, in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria. Others, from villages just outside Mosul, have exploited the chaos to flee in the other direction.

"Some people fled the other day so we took a chance. Daesh fired two bullets at us but they missed and we made it," said Ahmed Raad, 20, from the village of Abu Jarbuaa northeast of Mosul, who had found refuge at a peshmerga base.

The International Organisation for Migration said on Saturday 17,520 people have been displaced so far during the Mosul operation - excluding thousands of people forced back into the city by Islamic State.

SLOW PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH

Thirty km (20 miles) south of Mosul, Iraqi rapid response forces entered the Sunni town of al-Shura, once a significant base for Islamic State where the jihadists enjoyed strong support.

An intelligence officer said that most of the Islamic State insurgents appeared to have pulled back north towards Mosul, leaving just a small number to try to slow the advancing security forces.

Captain Abbas Shakir, speaking at the western edge of the town, said IS fighters had built up defenses in the east and the south. "The enemy was surprised by our entrance from the west... They dropped their weapons and fled," he said.

Shakir told Reuters that security forces had taken the center of al-Shura and raised the Iraqi flag, killing 50 to 60 Islamic State insurgents. The remaining jihadists were firing from the eastern edge of the town, and security forces responded with artillery fire and air strikes.

Nearly two weeks into the Mosul campaign launched by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, troops advancing along the Tigris river valley are much further from Mosul than Kurdish peshmerga fighters and an elite army unit advancing from the east.

Saturday's announcement by the Shi'ite militias added another force to the coalition of fighters seeking to crush Islamic State in Iraq, but will also raise concerns about the role the Popular Mobilisation fighters will play.

Targeting the Islamic State-held town of Tal Afar, close to Turkey and home to a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population with historic and cultural ties to Turkey, will alarm Ankara.

But before it was seized by Islamic State the town also had a strong Shi'ite presence, and its location on the road west to Syria gives it strategic importance to the Iranian-backed militias who have supported President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's five-year-old civil war.

Hashid spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi said Turkish forces, who are training Sunni tribal combatants in a camp northeast of Mosul to join the offensive against Islamic State, were in no position to obstruct the Shi'ite militia advance.

He also said the Popular Mobilisation forces, who have already fought in support of Assad in Syria, would cross the border into Syria to support him again once they had "cleared" Islamic State from their own country.

The Popular Mobilisation force, formed in 2014 to help push back Islamic State's sweeping advance, officially report to Abadi's Shi'ite-led government, but have very close links to Iran.

Human rights groups have warned of possible sectarian violence if the Shi'ite paramilitaries seize areas where Sunni Muslims form a majority, which is the case in much of northern and western Iraq.

Amnesty International says that in previous campaigns, they committed "serious human rights violations, including war crimes" against civilians fleeing Islamic State-held territory.

In July, the United Nations said it had a list of more than 640 Sunni men and boys reportedly abducted by a Shi’ite militia in Falluja, a former militant bastion west of Baghdad, and about 50 others who were summarily executed or tortured to death.

The Abadi government and the Popular Mobilisation forces say a limited number of violations had occurred and were investigated, but they deny abuses were widespread and systematic.

(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy near Bashiqa; writing by Dominic Evans; editing by Mark Heinrich)

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The following are news stories from a pro-Iraqi government website (http://www.iraqinews.com/) :

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Video: Shia militia torture displaced children in Mosul

By Loaa Adel - Oct 26, 2016

(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh –

Social media activists published a video showing a number of (Iraqi government-backed) al-Hashd al-Shaabi milita members torturing two displaced children in Mosul, Rudaw News website reported on Wednesday.

The footage showed security members, who are said to be from al-Hashd al-Shaabi’s forces torturing children for fleeing the ongoing military battles in Mosul.

The video was published on accounts close to al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces that are deployed near the city of Mosul but its credibility could not be ensured yet.

Earlier, Human Rights Watch warned of organized killing and torture by al-Hashd al-Shaabi motivated by sectarian hatred against civilians in the areas of battle against the Islamic State.

Al-Hashd al-Shaabi was formed in 2014 for deployment against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The organization was formed by uniting existing militias under the “People’s Mobilization Committee” of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior.

Turkey threatens to respond to any attack on Turkmen in Tel Afar

By Loaa Adel - Oct 27, 2016

(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh –

Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, threatened that his country will take the needed procedures to respond to any attack launched on the Turkmen in the city of Tel Afar, northwest of Nineveh.

Cavusoglu said in a press statement, “We intend to protect the Turkmen’s rights in Tel Afar, and we are capable of that, and if they were subjected to any attacks we will interfere.”

“Shia militia of al-Hashd al-Shaabi is willing to enter Mosul, backed by some countries, as well as launching attacks on other Sunni areas,” Cavusoglu added.

Two days ago, al-Hashd al-Shaabi announced that its forces reached the axis, west of Mosul, in preparation to participate in the ongoing battles against the ISIS militants.

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The following are news stories from the US Department of Defense website (http://www.defense.gov/News) :

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US Strikes on ISIL Territories in Iraq

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 29, 2016 —

Strikes in Iraq

Bomber, fighter and rotary aircraft conducted four strikes against ISIL terrorists in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Bashir, a strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Kisik, a strike destroyed two ISIL vehicle bombs and a command-and-control node and damaged four staging areas and two tunnels.

-- Near Mosul, a strike destroyed two tunnel entrances, an artillery system, an ammo cache, a mortar system and a vehicle.

-- Near Rawah, a strike destroyed an ISIL bunker.

US Strikes on ISIL Territories in Iraq, Syria

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 28, 2016 —

Strikes in Syria

Bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted three strikes in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike damaged an ISIL supply route.

-- Near Mara, two strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two vehicles and a heavy machine gun.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, bomber, fighter, remotely piloted and rotary wing aircraft and rocket artillery conducted six strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Rutbah, a strike engaged an ISIL bunker.

-- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and four fighting positions; destroyed four vehicles, four tunnels, two vehicle bombs, two mortar systems, a mortar cache and a weapons cache; and damaged a tunnel.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike engaged an ISIL headquarters building.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit.

Coalition Strikes Hit ISIL in Iraq, Syria

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 28, 2016 —

Strikes in Syria

Bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted three strikes in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike damaged an ISIL supply route.

-- Near Mara, two strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two vehicles and a heavy machine gun.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, bomber, fighter, remotely piloted and rotary wing aircraft and rocket artillery conducted six strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Rutbah, a strike engaged an ISIL bunker.

-- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and four fighting positions; destroyed four vehicles, four tunnels, two vehicle bombs, two mortar systems, a mortar cache and a weapons cache; and damaged a tunnel.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike engaged an ISIL headquarters building.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit.

US Strikes on ISIL Territories in Iraq Syria

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 27, 2016 —

Strikes in Syria

Attack and bomber aircraft and rocket artillery conducted seven strikes in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed an ISIL oil wellhead and an oil pump jack.                                          

-- Near Shadaddi, four strikes engaged three ISIL tactical units and destroyed three fighting positions and an anti-air artillery system. 

-- Near Raqqah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Ayn Isa, a strike destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, bomber, fighter, rotary and remotely piloted conducted 11 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Rutbah, a strike destroyed five ISIL bunkers.  

-- Near Kisik, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a tunnel.  

-- Near Mosul, seven strikes engaged three ISIL tactical units; destroyed eight anti-air artillery systems, seven fighting positions, five tunnels, four mortar systems, three weapons caches, two vehicle-borne bombs, two vehicles, a vehicle-borne-bomb facility, a command-and-control node, a tunnel entrance, a heavy machine gun and an artillery system; and damaged two ISIL tunnels.  

-- Near Rawah, a strike destroyed an ISIL bunker. 

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike destroyed an ISIL dump truck.

Carter Meets With French, Turkish Counterparts on Counter-ISIL Campaign

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2016 —

While in Brussels for a conference of NATO defense ministers, Defense Secretary Ash Carter met today with his French and Turkish counterparts to discuss the campaign to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.

In a statement summarizing what he called a “productive” meeting, Cook said Carter, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık focused on the counter-ISIL campaign in Iraq and Syria, including an update on military operations to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa.

Grateful for Counter-ISIL Contributions

“The secretary thanked Minister Le Drian and Minister Işık for their countries' contributions to the campaign, while emphasizing the need for the coalition to maintain pressure on ISIL on multiple fronts,” the press secretary said. “The ministers also discussed the need to solidify and consolidate recent gains by Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces along the Turkey-Syria border, and the need to maintain military cooperation in the area.”

All sides agreed to maintain frequent communication on the full range of security interests, he added, and to continue their close coordination and continued transparency in the coalition effort to deal ISIL a lasting defeat.

The NATO meeting is Carter’s last stop in an overseas trip that has included visits to Turkey and France, as well as to Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.

http://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/987495/carter-meets-with-french-turkish-counterparts-on-counter-isil-campaign  

Iraqis Clear Areas Outside Mosul Before Advancing To Liberate City

By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2016 —

In the operation to liberate Iraq’s second-largest city from the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Iraqi and Kurdish forces continue clearing and back-clearing areas around Mosul before they advance to the city, the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman told reporters today.

Air Force Col. John Dorrian briefed the Pentagon press corps via videoconference from Baghdad on Iraq’s progress to liberate Mosul.

Coalition Strikes Extensive ISIL Tunnels

As Iraqi and Kurdish security forces clear formerly held ISIL territory, the U.S.-led coalition continues precision strikes to take out ISIL targets, Dorrian said.

One of those targets is ISIL’s extensive tunnel networks, which the enemy uses for tactical movement and to hide weapons.

“If left unabated, this [network] could present challenges for the Iraqi and peshmerga forces advancing on the city,” Dorrian noted. “Coalition strikes have taken out 46 tunnels since the liberation battle of Mosul started Oct. 17, reducing the threat from a favored enemy tactic.”

Diversionary Fires Under Control

Dorrian said one of the highest-profile tactics ISIL fighters have used since the battle of Mosul began is igniting toxic sulfur residue stored at the Mishraq sulfur factory, 28 miles south of Mosul, to deter Iraqi forces.

“The latest information I have is that those fires are largely under control,” he said, “but [they] continue smoldering and flaring up as the Iraqis continue to use water, sand and firefighting foam to combat the [blazes].”

Predominant winds were blowing smoke from the sulfur plant fire and from burning oil wells south toward Camp Swift and Qayyarah West Airfield. The coalition constantly assesses the risk to forces, Dorrian said, noting that protective masks that were required at those locations have not been necessary in the past two days.

“[ISIL’s] intention starting those fires was to divert and disrupt [Iraqi] forces going to Mosul, and those efforts have failed,” he said.

Since the campaign began Oct. 17, the U.S.-led coalition has delivered nearly 2,500 close-air support bombs and missiles, artillery rounds and rockets from High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems on enemy targets, the spokesman said.

“Those weapons destroyed not only the tunnels, but 33 [vehicle-borne bombs], hundreds of enemy vehicles, fighting positions and artillery pieces,” he added.

Qayyarah West Airfield Reopened

The airfield at Qayyarah West is open and supporting the resupply of troops in the area, Dorrian said. A team of Air Force engineers spent three weeks repairing the damage caused by ISIL, and the first aircraft, a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules, landed the evening of Oct. 21

The colonel said ISIL had largely destroyed the airfield in a manner they thought would prevent the Iraqis and the coalition from using it.

“The Iraqi and coalition forces that have swept the area to remove explosives -- plus 29 airmen who specialize in opening and repairing airfields -- used heavy equipment and more than 2 million lbs. of concrete to show [ISIL] once again that they are wrong. Five flights have gone into that airfield so far,” he said.

“The new airfield capability provides the coalition and the Iraqis, who have their own C-130s, the ability to resupply and reposition forces rapidly,” Dorrian said.

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