Battle for Mosul

Jan 25, 2013
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It's been a week since the offensive for Mosul, a predominantly Sunni city, began and I am still nervous about this, especially amid reports of abuses against civilians and the usage of sectarian language and flags by some (particularly Shi'a extremists/militias). I despise ISIS, the Sunni extremists, as do most Sunnis, but I hope that they won't just be replaced by equally brutal/sectarian people.

"If the US-led effort is successful, it will signal the end of ISIS as a land-holding force in Iraq, setting the stage for the isolation and eventual loss of its remaining territory in the country. At the peak of its military surge in the summer of 2014, ISIS controlled as much as 40% of Iraq. That number has shrunk to 10% today, with the bulk of people living under ISIS control concentrated in Mosul, which the Iraqi government estimates to contain at least 1 million civilians. ISIS’s Syrian capital of Raqqa, far smaller with some 200,000 residents, could be won more easily once its supply routes from Iraq are cut."

....Shiite militia, which have faced accusations of committing crimes against Sunni civilians, have also vowed to push into Sunni-dominated Mosul, despite US objections, as part of the assault.

The Biggest Battle Against ISIS In Iraq Has Begun And This Is What You Need To Know
 
Jan 25, 2013
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Articles, 'old' and new, regarding this current offensive:

"A leading government-backed militia in Iraq has described the assault on the Islamic State (IS) group stronghold of Mosul as "revenge for the killing of Imam Hussein", referring to the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad."

Shia militia leader vows 'revenge for Hussein' in Mosul battle

^Who the leader of the Shi'a militia, Asaib ahl al-Haq, was referring to was left vague. It may have been ISIS or it may have been the Sunni population in general. Either way, it only served to increase my nervousness.

"We have mixed feelings. We are happy that we will eventually be liberated from Daesh and afraid of what will happen afterward," the father said, using the Arabic acronym for IS....Sunni Arabs who stayed in Mosul under IS rule fear they will be treated like supporters of the extremist group, Wille said. They point to the recapture of Ramadi, which was almost entirely reduced to rubble, and Fallujah, where rights groups say hundreds of men fleeing the city were detained or tortured, or simply disappeared.

In Mosul, Residents Report New Terrors as Iraqi Forces Near

More recently, it took more than a month for Iraq to regain control of Fallujah, and not without significant cost. Not only were battlefield losses high, but the city was reduced to rubble in a manner not too dissimilar from what happened in Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's western Anbar Governorate.

PMF militias were also exposed as having committed grave atrocities, such as slaughtering Sunni civilians before forcing others to drink the blood of their recently slain fellow prisoners.


Mosul will fall again, but at great cost
 
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Continued:

He says he expects chaos and violent retribution if ISIS is pushed out of Mosul. He fears that families who lost loved ones to the militants will take revenge not just on those who worked with ISIS, but on their whole families.

...When questioned, Iraqi officials are keen to talk about the military strategy to retake the city, but are vague on details of security, justice or reconciliation.

...When asked about the families of such people, he* says any family with a father or a brother in ISIS will all leave, including women and children, "maybe outside Iraq, maybe to Turkey, to Syria."


*Nofal Hamdani Sultan, governor of Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital

After ISIS, People From Mosul Fear What May Come Next

The PMF units, formed from Shi'ite militia groups who now have official status from Baghdad, have been accused by the United Nations and others of carrying out killings and kidnappings in some other areas freed from Islamic State.

Their presence at the frontline is often bitterly resented by Sunni civilians in Sunni-majority areas the government hopes to free from Islamic State control, and authorities want to keep them off the battlefield in Mosul.


Fears of abuse as Iraq Shi'ite fighters set to storm city
 
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Continued:

Once recaptured, Mosul could pose a far more complicated rebuilding challenge, given that it is so much bigger than other Islamic State conquests and was much more diverse, with Christian, Kurdish and Shiite minorities.

Retaking Mosul From ISIS May Pale to What Comes Next

"As far as the Shiite PMF, the coalition only supports those elements that are under the direct command and control of the Iraqi security forces - and the Shiite PMF are not," said Major General Gary Volesky, the commander of US-led coalition ground forces in the fight against Islamic State militants.

US will not back militias in fight for Iraq's Mosul

The international community and the United Nations — the flag bearers of democracy and human rights — seem not to learn from their mistakes. Having turned a blind eye to the atrocities carried out in Tikrit and Fallujah, we again face the prospect of a once great city being destroyed and its proud people murdered because those whose responsibility it is to represent and protect them seem to live in an alternate reality. We risk turning Mosul into another Aleppo, bombed and destroyed, and its people forced out of their homes.

The world must act now to save Mosul from being another Aleppo
 
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Relatively long excerpts so putting in the quote box:

“I was driven to the ‘yellow house’ at night and put in a room of about 4m x 5m with tens of others. There was blood on the walls. Torture started immediately. They hit us with anything they could lay their hands on, metal rods, shovels, pipes, cables. They walked on top of us with their boots. They insulted us, and said that this was payback for Speicher massacre... I saw two people die before my eyes. On the second day, I saw [relative, name and relationship removed upon request] die; he was hit with a shovel on his head several times. Others died from the conditions. They didn’t give us anything to drink for the first day; on the second, they brought a small bottle for 10 people. They took about 300 of us to the truck...They handcuffed us two by two. One man died right there, I think from thirst and suffocation... Others were taken out and then I could hear gunshots. Later I could also smell burning.”

This is one survivor’s account of what it is like to be liberated from the Islamic State (IS) group by men wearing Iraqi army and police uniforms. The testimony was given to Amnesty International last year near Fallujah, at al-Sijir and also at Saqlawiya where 643 men alone went missing.

...Reconquest is only half of the story. The greater fear lies in what happens to these cities after the IS have been kicked out.

...From the Mediterranean to Baghdad, from Deraa, where the uprisings started in Syria to Mosul, Sunni Arabs are being evicted from their cities. The bulk of the population which inhabit these lands have become refugees, exiled or internally displaced. Either at the hands of the Bashar al-Assad, the Russians and Iranian-backed militias, in the case of Aleppo, or the hands of Iraqi government forces in Tikrit and Ramadi. Since IS took over, 3.3 million Iraqis have been displaced. Until now, the vast majority of residents from these cities have not returned to their homes.

The liberation that awaits Mosul

Even after fleeing ISIL, thousands of men and boys, mainly Sunni Arabs, were rounded up by Iraqi security forces or armed groups backed by the government, on suspicion of links to ISIL, the report says.

Amnesty found that the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU), a group of militias sponsored by the Iraqi government, was responsible for many of the abuses.


Iraqi civilians may face abuse, torture in Mosul battle

Abu Yazan said residents of Mosul hope PMU fighters "are not allowed to enter the city".

"We are trapped. There is no safe place in Mosul. We fear random bombing, we fear for our lives if the sectarian militias enter Mosul."


Mosul battle could cause a 'human catastrophe'
 
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Continued:

The troops amassed at the gates of Mosul will probably be able to take the city. If the military fight goes as planned, and these political reforms are enforced, this could change Iraq in a way that previous political experiments never did. At the same time, once the city is taken, Iraq might find itself facing the floodgates of underlying political problems that have so far been neglected by Washington in favour of military gains against ISIL.

The battle for Mosul is a struggle for Iraq itself

The UN has warned that the liberation of Mosul from the Islamic State group could cause the single largest humanitarian crisis of the year, with up to a million people needing shelter and a forced population movement that no single institution could cope with.

Mosul facing largest single humanitarian crisis of year, says UN

“We expect hundreds of thousands to attempt to flee when the fighting gets more intense,” Gressmann said. “With no safe exits, they will risk getting trapped in the crossfire while we will be unable to reach them.”

There are also persistent concerns that by forgoing the use of safety corridors and screening centers run by government-approved forces — with help from aid groups — that Mosul’s Sunni civilians will be exposed to the wrath of Shia-dominated militias.


Aid Groups Fear Battle for Mosul Will Be Disaster for Civilians
 
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Continued (I know, I know. Should be the last one on this thread until tomorrow I think):

Also relatively long:

Shiite militia leaders say they should play a role in Tal Afar because of the significant Shiite minority there. But any revenge killings against the Sunni majority could provoke Turkish forces to intervene.

“We think it’s better to keep [Shiite militias] out of Tal Afar; it’s a bad idea to have them there,” said Atheel Nujaifi, the former governor of Nineveh province, whose Sunni fighters are being trained by Turkey. “We are trying to do that politically because we can’t prevent them by force.”

.....How advancing forces treat Sunni civilians will be crucial, however, he said. Civilians who remained in Islamic State territory would likely be viewed with suspicion for perceived ties to the militants, and men of fighting age will go through security screening.

Abuses against the Sunni population would fuel the perceptions that caused many civilians in Mosul to welcome Islamic State militants into their city in June 2014. Then, many felt discriminated against by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad and its security forces, turning to the militants.

Battle to banish Islamic State from Mosul could become a mess

Battle to Retake Mosul Begins in Iraq: Pictures

"Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Sunday that Shiite militias must be excluded from the operation to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

..."Peshmerga is already in the region and provide its support, locals should not be forced to make a choice between Daesh terrorists and the Shiite groups, which are attacking Sunni Muslims in the region," the foreign minister said, emphasizing the importance of reducing the sectarian tensions in the area."


Shiite militias should not have a role in Mosul operation, FM Çavuşoğlu says
 
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I think a huge portion of Islam's violence problem might be solved if muslims could do something about that Shia/sunni divide that erupts into violence so easily.

Islaam doesn't have any problems. Muslims, on the other hand, do when Islaam's rules are not followed properly, including the guidelines it lays down for war.
 
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Amnesty International released a report the week the Mosul operation began in order to caution against committing the crimes committed by the Iraqi government/Shi'a militias in the past year. Unfortunately, as I will post after the first two links, they are being committed already in this Mosul offensive. And they haven't even gotten to the more densely populated parts yet!

“After escaping the horrors of war and tyranny of IS, Sunni Arabs in Iraq are facing brutal revenge attacks at the hands of militias and government forces, and are being punished for crimes committed by the group,” said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.


Iraqis fleeing IS-held areas face torture, disappearance and death in revenge attacks

Link to Amnesty's report: Iraq: "Punished for Daesh's Crimes": Displaced Iraqis abused by militias and government forces

Human rights organisations have slammed the Iraqi government and its allies for abuses against Iraqi refugees by Iraqi soldiers near #Mosul

In another video, an ISF soldier can be seen brutally beating a prisoner that activists have identified as being another child, though the victim’s age is not immediately clear. The ISF soldier can be seen striking the victim with a hammer on the knees and head while other soldiers join in on the abuse.

Videos emerge of Iraqi abuses of children
 
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Douger

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Islaam doesn't have any problems. Muslims, on the other hand, do when Islaam's rules are not followed properly, including the guidelines it lays down for war.
That seems like a nice reasonable position, until one remembers myriad of terror groups you support and promote on this forum, and then it's kind of confusing.
 
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^Says the one who supports Assad despite him deliberately killing hundreds of thousands of civilians.

"There is no liberation going on. Mosul is run by a group of violent sectarian militias, and is on track to be handed over to another violent sectarian militia - but one that has the backing of the US government."

Is it wrong to call Mosul battle a 'liberation'?

"Amnesty International released a report yesterday detailing how tribal fighters aligned with the Iraqi government are torturing and humiliating civilians who lived in areas southeast of Mosul that were recently recaptured from Daesh.

The militias, a Sunni contingent of the predominantly Shia Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), beat men and boys, administered electric shocks to them and forced them into poultry cages in public squares."


Amnesty: Iraqi militias carry out Mosul revenge attacks

“The Iraqi authorities have repeatedly failed to stop revenge attacks or investigate crimes by militias from the Popular Mobilisation Units, who are also participating in the Mosul offensive,” said Lynn Maalouf, research deputy director at Amnesty.

“This has fostered a dangerous culture of impunity in which perpetrators of such attacks feel they have free rein to commit crimes and go unpunished.”


Iraqi militias 'lock civilians in cages and strap them to car bonnets' in torture campaign en route to Mosul
 
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Oafman

Try telling that to these bog brained murphys
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Militias are exactly as the name describes. They're not professional soldiers, and they will never have the discipline of a professional army. We have come to expect this kind of behaviour from the Shia militias, which is why they are mostly being kept a long way from Mosul itself. But it's frustrating that some Sunni militias also seem to be beyond anyone's ability to control.

Overall, it feels like the battle for Mosul is going relatively well so far. But the hard yards are yet to come. It was always going to be horrific, and it still will be.
 
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About the Shi'a militias in Iraq that the US is training. Not much different from ISIS.

"On top of that, you speak to people in the government in Iraq — we’re talking about powerful people — who are petrified of the militia and of the power that they wield. And they are petrified of speaking out against them. People were so brave to talk to us. We talked to so many people who had spoken out against the militias and had received death threats and were genuinely scared for their lives. We spoke to a few [members of parliament] who, not only had ISIS tried to kill them, but the militias had also tried to kill them."

..."Diyala was so important to our story because it was the one place that everybody said, “This is a militia state. If you want a glimpse at the future of Iraq, look at Diyala.” This is like the wild west of Iraq. This is where the militia are acting as gangs, with impunity. They’ve infiltrated the federal police, they’re kidnapping for ransom, they’re killing. We heard so many accounts of what they’re doing in Diyala, we realized this was a place that we absolutely had to go into."

..."It was much harder to get people to talk against the militias. People really, really fear for their lives. Certainly, people who’ve been victims of the militias, who’ve been warned, “If you ever talk about what has happened to you, we will track you down and kill you” — I saw terror in people’s eyes. So building up trust took time, and assuring people that we would keep them anonymous, use blurs, disguise their voices."

..."I came away fearing that it’s a tinder box. I came away fearing another Sunni insurgency. What really needs to happen, which started to happen during the awakening campaign, is that Sunnis really need to be given a stake in the future of Iraq. They were promised this as part of the awakening campaign. And the Americans came on board and promised them this, and we have all failed them. I think the implications of this are huge. Sunnis do not feel that they have a piece of the political pie, which is what they were promised. We have seen historically what happens when Sunnis feel disenfranchised and disempowered — that there is an insurgency."


“I Was Not Prepared for the Level of Killing”: Ramita Navai on “Iraq Uncovered”
 
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Trump once again continuing Obama's legacy. Actually, he's being much worse in this instance because apparently the rules of engagement have been relaxed and there is no guise of trying to be near certain of avoiding civilian casualties.

"This was not a liberation, but it was a destruction."

"By the time rescuers finally arrived no one was left alive. For almost a week desperate neighbours had scraped through the rubble, searching for as many as 150 people who lay buried after three homes in a west Mosul suburb were destroyed by coalition airstrikes.

...Neighbours said at least 80 bodies had been recovered from one house alone, where people had been encouraged by local elders to take shelter. Rescuers were continuing to dig through the ruins, and the remains of two other houses nearby, which had also been pulverised in attacks that were described as “relentless and horrifying”.

...“We all know each other, and most of us are related,” said Majid al-Najim, 65, as he stood next to the corpse of his nephew in a local cemetery. Gravediggers prepared the man’s grave as people wept around him. “And all of the families were in one of three houses. We are from the Jabour, Dulaim and Tai families. On that day, the airstrikes started around 8am. We originally hid in that house, but we left before the planes came back. There was three hours between us and death.”

...At the graveyard, Majid al-Najim said: “Is an Isis sniper being on a roof enough of a reason to send a plane with a large bomb to destroy a house? They hit it many times. They wanted to destroy everything inside.

“Then after that, we needed equipment to rescue the people. Just one bulldozer. Anything. The corrupt government officials could not help us, and would not if they could. This is an enormous crime.”

In a nearby Iraqi base, a special forces major shifted uncomfortably when details of the disaster were relayed to him. “This is not in our area and we know nothing about it,” he said. “We have lost people too, around 20 colleagues fighting an enemy of all the people.” After a while, he shrugged and said: “What can we do? It’s war.”"


Mosul's children were shouting beneath the rubble. Nobody came
 
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Mosul local council chief says she's been banned from W. #Mosul after publicizing deaths in coalition strike. Press access restricted too.

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Tried to make it to #Mosul Al-Jadida to report on civilians casualties of coalition airstrike - access denied, order came from the top
 
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