Spotlight: United Iraq crucial to defeat IS, as troops approaching fringes of Mosul

A strong and unified Iraq has become a crucial need as the Iraqi forces are pushing to surround the city of Mosul to evict the extremist Islamic State (IS) militant group from its last major stronghold.

In the second week of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the troops' advance seems quicker than most observers had anticipated, and the troops become closer to the fringes of the country's second largest city.

Like previous offensives that freed the cities of Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah and others from IS militants, the troops are moving gradually to encircle Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, after clearing IS militants from towns and villages around it, before entering the city's populated districts.

Federal forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were moving forward in several routes around the city, but the militants were hitting back with shelling, sniper fire, roadside bombs, suicide car bombs and booby traps with the aim of slowing down the troops' advance.

Thick plumes of black smoke rose into the air above Nineveh plains; mainly from oil fires set up by IS militants to make targets more difficult to recognize by the U.S.-led coalition and Iraq aircraft.

"Attempts by the IS to slow the Iraqi forces shows the group's desperation, reinforcing the opinion that the group is completely on the defensive and is only trying to hold on," Major Abdullah al-Jubouri, an Iraqi army officer, told Xinhua.

On Oct. 20, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi spoke by video link to diplomats meeting in Paris, saying that the Iraqi forces are "advancing faster than expected" in their offensive to recapture the areas around Mosul.

On the other side, the IS militants increased large-scale attacks on big cities in Iraq in an attempt to divert the troops' advance to their stronghold in Mosul.

The group waged several major attacks on Sinjar and Rutba, but the most notable one was on Kirkuk, when dozens of IS militants carried out multiple attacks on Friday on the city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, and simultaneously on a nearby power plant in Debis area.

The attacks on Kirkuk, which occurred just four days after the launch of Mosul offensive, resulted in the killing of more than a hundred of people, including 74 IS militants, according to a statement issued by Kirkuk's provincial security committee.

"The attacks in Kirkuk apparently aimed at creating chaos and fear rather than seizing territories," Jubouri said, adding "It seems they thought the attacks would cut the number of Iraqi fighters who can be sent to Mosul."

However, the IS militants appeared well-trained for urban combat, and they showed stubborn fighting when they continued sporadic clashes for two days after Friday, as the troops searched for unknown number of militants holed-up in some buildings and houses and possibly would attack again or flee the city.

"Such fighters with combative spirit raise concern about the battle for Mosul, which could be long and bloody if they show stiff resistance," Jubouri concluded.

Despite IS desperate attempts, Iraqi forces apparently are making significant progress on the ground around Mosul, including Nineveh Plain, which lies to the east and northeast of Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh.

The troops have so far recaptured the towns of Hamdaniyah, also known as Bakhdida, Bartellah and Bashiqa in east and northeast of Mosul, as well as some 76 villages on the routes of the troops around the city.

If the progress continue in the coming days, the battles on the fringes of Mosul probably could start in mid-November to drive out the IS militants from the urban areas of the city.

Heavier resistance is anticipated by some 3,000 to 5,000 IS militants once the anti-IS forces enter populated neighborhoods located on the eastern side of the Tigris River that bisects the city.

Laith al-Ani, a military expert, told Xinhua that it is widely believed that the security forces will try to enter the city from the eastern side of the river, which reports said the IS group has evacuated most of its fighters from its headquarters in the eastern side to the western side where the old city located.

"Most of the neighborhoods in the eastern side, locally named left side, were built in the recent decades with separated houses and wide streets, that would be difficult for IS militants to defend, unlike the neighborhoods of the western side, or right side, where the old city located with its heavy populated old buildings and narrow alleys," Ani said.

The battles in the eastern side of Mosul would mainly depend on suicide car bombs, roadside bombs and snipers attacks, which aimed at hindering the progress of the troops, while the fierce battles are expected to be on the western side.

Mosul is the IS last major stronghold in Iraq, the group more likely is unwilling to surrender without a fight. Over the past two and a half years, they have dug an extensive network of tunnels to transport equipment and fighters, and rigged roads and bridges with bombs and digging trenches to be filled with burning oil to impede the Iraqi forces' movements. Then there is the human toll of an estimated over one million civilians who are still living in the city, and IS apparently to use them as human shield.

Despite the difficulty of the task of liberating Mosul, success in such task would be great gift to Iraqis and the whole world, as defeating IS in Mosul would break the back of the terrorist group, demolishing its self-declared state of Islamic "caliphate" in Iraq.

However, the U.S. strategy to defeat the IS in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh and its capital Mosul depends on a variety of allied local armed groups who are often bitterly at odds. All of them consider the IS group as an enemy, but also most of them consider one another as enemies.

The army, Kurdish Peshmerga, Shiite paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units and Sunni tribal fighters are expected to struggle for control in the aftermath of the fighting.

As part of his cooperation with the U.S.-led international coalition, Abadi who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi forces, managed to achieve the coalition's goal which requires that Iraqis fight as a single force under a unified leadership named Joint Operations Command.

For the first time, the Iraqi elite Counter Terrorism Service troops deployed to the Kurdish frontline, marking the first joint military operation between the government of Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government based in Arbil in the north of the country.

Abadi also convinced the Hashd Shaabi units, including the powerful Iranian-backed Shiite militias, to act under the supervision of the Iraqi security forces and to avoid possible abuses to Sunni civilians.

In his speech to the diplomats meeting in Paris, Abadi vowed to protect civilians fleeing the battleground and said the government "will not allow any violations of human rights."

According to a plan agreed by the Iraqi factions, the Iraqi security forces are moving up to Mosul from the south; Kurds headed to the city from the east and northeast, but will stop on the fringes of Mosul itself, leaving the actual entrance to Iraqi counter terrorism special forces, which will be followed by Iraqi police and Sunni tribesmen, Ani said.

However, bringing back peace to Mosul needs hard work, it is even more important than the necessary military action. The city once was home to a complex mosaic of tribes and ethnic groups, but with majority of Sunni Arabs.

Hassan al-Dulaimi, a military expert, told Xinhua the unity of Iraqis through real national reconciliation efforts "is crucial in this stage, because it will help defeat Daesh (IS) and put foundations for peace in the post-IS era."

The Iraqi government, the international coalition and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) will have the duty to pursue long-term engagement strategy with a greater focus on national reconciliation that could consolidate the peace and co-existence among Iraqi factions in Mosul and other parts of Iraq, according to Dulaimi.

"This is not an imagination or wishes, because the Iraqi factions, regional countries and the international community have the interest to bring peace and dry up the resources of terrorism," Dulaimi concluded.

On the other hand, the United Nations and aid agencies expected a human catastrophe with up to 1.5 million people could be displaced or in need for aid in Nineveh province when an offensive is launched to retake Mosul from IS militants.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in recent report that it is expecting 200,000 people to flee in the first few days of an attack to retake the city, but says the worst case scenario could be up to 700,000 people. Up to 1.5 million people in the city could be in need of aid.

Civilians in Mosul could face multiple threats from cross-fire, sniper attacks, booby traps and explosive remnants of war. Responders fear that tens of thousands of Iraqi girls, boys, women and men may be forcibly expelled, trapped between conflict lines, held under siege or used as human shields, according to OCHA report.

Currently, agencies on the ground have supplies for about 100,000 of the estimated 200,000 people who will initially need help. "It's a race against the clock now," said Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Iraq. Endit