Iraqi declares ‘total victory’ over Islamic State in Mosul

Shortly after al-Abadi’s speech, the coalition congratulated him on the victory but noted that parts of the Old City still “must be back-cleared of explosive devices and possible ISIS fighters in hiding.” ISIS, ISIL and Daesh are alternative acronyms for the Islamic State group.

“The victory in Mosul, a city where ISIS once proclaimed its so-called ‘caliphate,’ signals that its days in Iraq and Syria are numbered,” President Donald Trump said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, airstrikes pounded the last IS-held territory on the western edge of the Tigris, Humvees rushed wounded to field hospitals and soldiers hurriedly filled bags with hand grenades to ferry to the front.

Iraqi troops had slowly pushed through the narrow alleys of the Old City during the past week, punching holes through walls and demolishing houses to carve supply routes and fighting positions in a district where many of the buildings date back centuries.

For days, the remaining few hundred militants held an area measuring less than a square kilometre (less than half a square mile), and Iraqi commanders described victory as imminent.

Al-Abadi also visited Mosul on Sunday, congratulating the troops on recent gains but stopping short of declaring an outright victory as clashes continued.

The drawn-out endgame in Iraq’s fight for Mosul highlighted the resilience of the extremists and the continued reliance of Iraqi forces on air support to retake territory.

Iraqi commanders said gains slowed to a crawl in recent days as IS fighters used their families — including women and children — as human shields. As the battle space constricted, the coalition began approving airstrikes dropping bombs of 200 pounds or more on IS targets within 50 metres (yards) of friendly forces.

Plumes of smoke Monday grew larger than the strip of territory under IS control.

“This used to be a beautiful city, tourists used to come here,” said Iraqi army Capt. Marwan Hadi based inside the Old City. The last days of the fight for Mosul were the fiercest, he said.

“All along the front line, there are so many families under the rubble,” he said. “I saved two children and their mother, but one daughter, we couldn’t reach her.”

Reports of civilian casualties spiked as Iraqi forces punched into Mosul’s western half in February. Residents fleeing the fighting reported that entire families sheltering in the basements of their homes were killed by airstrikes targeting small teams of IS fighters.

Thousands of civilians were estimated to have been killed in the fight for Mosul, according to Nineveh’s provincial council. A toll that does not include those still believed buried under collapsed buildings.

Also Monday, the United Nations said there was no end in sight to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq despite the conclusion of the fighting. Of the more than 897,000 people displaced from Mosul, the U.N. said thousands of residents will probably not be able to return to the city because of “extensive damage caused during the conflict.”

The infrastructure in western Mosul, where the fighting was fiercest, has been decimated. Iraq’s civil defence rescue teams — a branch of the Interior Ministry — said about 65 per cent of the buildings in the Old City were severely damaged or destroyed. In other western neighbourhoods, destruction was estimated to be higher: some 70 per cent of all houses, buildings and infrastructure.

“Daesh, when they came to Iraq, their goal was to destroy everything,” said Hisham Hatem, an officer with the federal police stationed at Mosul’s main hospital complex, a series of buildings that was shredded by weeks of artillery and airstrikes. Hatem said IS used tactics to draw out the fight for Mosul to ensure little of the city would be left after the group’s defeat.

Regardless of the victory’s heavy toll, a number of celebrations broke out across Mosul’s east and west as victory appeared imminent.

Iraq’s special forces held a flag-raising ceremony on the Tigris river bank and Iraqi army soldiers danced and sang to patriotic music Sunday.

Muhammad Abdul Abbas, a 20-year-old solider sat on the sidelines of the revelry. He said he was happy the fight was over, but explained that his unit, like many others, suffered significant losses. Over the past nine months, 15 of his close friends were killed fighting for Mosul, he said.

Iraq’s special forces, who largely led many of the assaults in Mosul, faced casualty rates of 40 per cent, according to a report in May from the office of the U.S. secretary of defence.

“Honestly, all this death and all this destruction — I don’t believe it was worth it,” Abbas said.

___

Associated Press writer Salar Salim in Mosul contributed to this report.

Susannah George, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Iraqi declares ‘total victory’ over Islamic State in Mosul

Our Community