US-backed forces on verge of recapturing Iraqi city of Mosul
By
James Cogan
23 June 2017
Iraqi government army and police have reportedly forced the last surviving Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters into a small area of Mosul’s “Old City” district. The city—or what is left of it—is expected to be fully under government control within a matter of weeks, or even days.
The offensive to recapture Mosul from ISIS began last October. For nine months, it has been the scene of some of the most intense street-to-street urban warfare since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Iraqi government troops and police have slowly advanced through its suburbs, supported by the US military and a coalition that includes Australian, British, French and Canadian aircraft and special forces “advisors.”
The destruction yesterday of the 900-year-old minaret of the historic Al Nuri mosque symbolises the devastation that has been inflicted on Mosul and its population. The combination of airstrikes and murderous fighting on the ground has reduced large areas of the city to half-standing buildings and left its streets littered with burnt-out vehicles and rubble. Electricity, gas, water and sewerage networks have been shattered.
According to the Baghdad government, the minaret was blown up by ISIS to prevent elite Iraqi “counter-terrorism” police from capturing it intact. The Al Nuri mosque had significant propaganda value for the government forces, as it was where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had declared the establishment of a “caliphate” in June 2014, after the Islamist movement seized control of Mosul.
ISIS, in its own online propaganda, has claimed the minaret was destroyed by a US airstrike. This has been denied by the US military and a video does suggest that it…