ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Peshmerga forces and Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militia that are expected to take part in an anticipated battle to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS) will not enter the city, a Kurdish official stressed.
Saeed Mamuzini also said that, as part of its preparations, ISIS has dug tunnels and trenches across Mosul and is filling the trenches with crude oil in a bid to halt the opposition forces from breaking into the city.
“According to a recent agreement between Baghdad and Erbil, Peshmerga forces and the Hashd al-Shaabi will stay out of Mosul, but the army and federal police are authorized to enter, in case if they do not need the Peshmerga,” Mamuzini added.
He pointed out that it is important for the Peshmerga to preserve and defend the Kurdish areas in the Nineveh plains during the battle, which is highly anticipated to start this month.
“It does not matter if there is an agreement or not, the Peshmerga is committed to defending the Kurdish inhabited areas in the Nineveh province,” Mamuzini said.
Mamuzini, who is media officer of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) for Mosul, said that ISIS is also preparing to fight back the coming assault with car bombs and suicide bombers.
“ISIS has also brought in many militants to the Bashik front as reinforcement," he explained, referring to the front southeast of Mosul, which briefly fell into ISIS’ hands in late 2014 and was retaken by the Peshmerga a few months later.
Mamuzini said that ISIS has divided its militants according to their nationalities. “The German militants have been ordered to carry out media affairs and foreign Arabs to carry out suicide attacks,” he explained. “The ex-Baathists will be fighters on the ground and the city’s populations will be used as human shields.”
The KDP official also stated, based on information he obtained from locals inside Mosul, that several local opposition cells exist inside the city, ready to fight ISIS once the assault begins.
“Secret opposition groups inside Mosul are operating against ISIS leaders and militants. For example, two ISIS militants were gunned down with silent pistols at the Qahira neighborhood today,” he explained.
ISIS overran Mosul in June 2014 when the terrorist group swept into a third of Iraq, and Iraqi army forces in the city melted away in the face of the onslaught.
Comments by military officials suggest that the offensive on Mosul will come sometime this month.
