Alwaght- Iraq's Special Forces entered the suburbs of Mosul on Tuesday in a major breakthrough as they move towards the more populated areas of the strategic city which has been under occupation by ISIS Takfiri terrorist group since mid-2014.
According to Maj. Gen. Sami al-Aridi of the Iraqi Special Forces, troops entered Gogjali, a neighborhood inside Mosul’s city limits, and by noon were only 800 meters from the populated Karama district.
“The special forces have stormed in,” he said. “ISIS is fighting back and have set up concrete blast walls to block off the Karama neighborhood and our troops’ advance,” he said adding that bombs have been laid along the road into the city.
This is the first time Iraqi troops have entered the city, Iraq’s second largest, in over two years. However this advance is expected to slow down as Iraqi forces and local militia engage in the tough, house-to-house urban warfare.
Popular Support for Iraqi Forces
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), generally known by the Arabic title Hashd al-Shaabi, are fighting alongside Iraqi troops in the massive military operation to liberate the northern Iraqi city from ISIS. The PMF has been playing a major role in the battle filed success of Iraqi forces apart from providing critical humanitarian assistance to Iraqi civilians in areas liberated from ISIS.
US Forces Ambiguous Role in Mosul
While Iraqi Forces and local allies continue to engage in fierce battle against ISIS terrorists, US warplanes purporting to be on the anti-ISIS operation have bombed an Iraqi school.
On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said intelligence indicated that US planes had targeted a school near Mosul, Iraq, leaving many civilians dead and wounded.
“There are new cases of [US-led] coalition’s airstrikes on civilian targets. On October 24, the US Air Force’s tactical aircraft launched missile and bomb strikes on a school building in the village of Tall Kayf, 14km north of Mosul at 3:35am. As a result of the strike, there are dead and wounded,” said Lt. Gen. Sergey Rudskoy, chief of the Russian General Staff Main Operational Directorate.
In yet another diversionary tactic, spokesman of the US coalition, supposedly involve in the anti-ISIS operation, Colonel John Dorian alleged that there was going to be a “pause” in Iraqi military operations in Mosul. He had claimed on Saturday that the suspension was aimed at helping the forces to “regroup.”
This surprising move was a ploy meant to weaken Iraqi resistance forces and dampen the moral of local forces. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi denounced the move saying that, “since the beginning of the operation to date, Iraqi forces have liberated a large number of districts, villages, and towns [in Nineveh Province, of which Mosul is the capital], and this trend is to continue as scheduled.”
Meanwhile, on the pretext of supporting Sunni Muslims, the US and its NATO allay, Turkey, have all along been opposed to the presence the Popular Mobilization Forces. This sectarian approach by Washington and Ankara is a strategy used to ignite discord within the ranks of Iraqis who are fully behind their government in the ongoing operations against ISIS terrorists across the country. Iraqis are aware of this divisive strategy employed by the US especially since the Sunni Muslims are the main victims of terrorism and also US, Turkish attacks in Iraqi territory.
Iraqi have vowed to continue their resistance and support the presence of The PMF as a major pillar in battling Takfiri terrorists in the country.
ISIS Indirectly Concedes Defeat in Mosul
Meanwhile, ISIS had apparently ceased Mosul as the capital of its so-called caliphate through its news media outlets to possibly influence public perceptions about the imminent liberation of Mosul according to the Iraqi satellite TV network, Al Sumaria.
Iraqi media outlet also explained that the significant changes in the speech of the ISIS were made, in order to prepare the public opinion on the impending liberation of the city of Mosul by the joint security forces.
