Iraqi commander says to complete capture of Mosul in May

BAGHDAD // An Iraqi commander expects to dislodge ISIL from Mosul in May despite resistance from militants in the densely populated Old City district.

The battle should be completed “in a maximum of three weeks”, the Iraqi army’s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Othman Al-Ghanmi, told the state-run Al Sabah newspaper on Sunday.

A US-led international coalition is providing air and ground support for the offensive in Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, which fell to extremist fighters in June 2014. ISIL has lost most of the city’s districts since the offensive began in October and is now surrounded in the northwestern districts, including the historic Old City centre.

The United Nations believes up to half a million people remain in the area controlled by the militants, 400,000 of whom are in the Old City with little food and water and no access to hospitals.

The militants have dug in between the civilians, often launching deadly counter-attacks to repel forces closing in on the Old City’s Grand Al Nuri Mosque.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said on Sunday that a group of 36 Yazidi survivors had been rescued after three years of “slavery” under ISIL rule.

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The Yazidis, whose beliefs combine elements from several Middle Eastern religions, were the most persecuted community under ISIL, which considered them devil-worshippers. The UN estimates that up to 1,500 Yazidi women and girls remain in captivity, suffering abuse.

Iraqi forces estimate the number of ISIL fighters still in Mosul to be 200 to 300, most of them foreigners. The numbers are much reduced from nearly 6,000 when the offensive started but they are still capable of deadly counter-attacks on the tens of thousands of soldiers and paramilitary groups arrayed against them.

A federal police brigade commander and 18 other members of the interior ministry force were killed in attacks on two positions at the edge of the Old City on Friday, military sources said on Sunday.

Federal police took back the positions on Saturday but the ministry has sacked a commander for failing to fend off the counter-attacks. The American-trained counter-terrorism service and federal police are the main forces fighting inside Mosul.

Regular Iraqi army units are taking part in battles outside the city, alongside Shiite volunteers trained and armed by Iran, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Sunni tribes.

The total number of fighters aligned against Islamic State in Mosul exceeds 100,000.

Several thousand have been killed so far in the battle, both civilians and military, according to international aid organisations. The total number of people displaced from Mosul since October is close to 400,000, about a fifth of Mosul’s population before its capture by ISIL.

Even if defeated in Mosul, ISIL will remain in control of vast swathes of land in the border area with Syria, where Al Baghdadi is believed to be hiding, according to Iraqi military sources.

The Iraqi army on Sunday said its ground and air forces pushed back an attack on troops stationed near the Syrian border, killing eight militants.

* Reuters