ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – As an anticipated offensive to push the Islamic State out of Mosul looms closer, some ISIS leaders and militants have been leaving the city for Syria and the group’s leader has instructed fighters to raze Mosul to the ground if they are unable to defend it, a Kurdish official said. “Today, 13 ISIS members, three of them emir’s of the group from Mosul, escaped to Raqqa in Syria,” claimed Saeed Mamuzini, media officer for the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) from Mosul province. “They know that the issue is about timing, and Mosul will be liberated. Therefore, they are sending ancient archeological pieces, silver and money out of Mosul,” said Mamuzini, who lives in the Kurdistan Region since ISIS took over Mosul in 2014. “ISIS is prepared to fight and they have new tactics of war. For example, they have built tunnels inside Mosul,” said Mamuzini, speaking in a television interview with Rudaw. An anticipated offensive to liberate Mosul from ISIS is expected soon – by some estimates as early as this month. He said ISIS has “planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in most places. They have prepared suicide bombers, but the new strategy that was sent from (ISIS leader) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is: ‘if you can defend Mosul, do it, and if you can’t then escape, but leave devastation and mass killings behind.” Mamuzini added that ISIS is forcing young people in Mosul to fight for their cause, and explained that there are no public and health services in the city. “Daily, people are detained and killed in Mosul by ISIS. People are in a very bad situation. If there is a way, people will escape from that hell.” He added that according to the numbers they have from last month, more than 200 people were executed by ISIS in Mosul after refusing to fight for the group against the Peshmerga. “People hide their youth from ISIS so that they are not taken to the frontlines. People are not sure about their children. They cannot take them out of homes often. Thousands of people inside Mosul have disappeared,” according to Mamuzini. He said there was no electricity for the people, who have to rely on generators, while what little power there is goes to ISIS. Lack of medicine and food mean that people are dying every day, including children, Mamuzini said. “There is no medicine, especially for long-term diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Medicine for heart disease is not available and even what is available is very expensive,” Mamuzini said. “Most of the medicines are past their expiry dates, therefore ill people are dying every day, tens of children die. Food is scarce and whatever little people have to eat, they are storing away for when the war begins,” the KDP official said. He added that the number of foreign fighters left with ISIS in Mosul is a minority, and that among the non-Arabs there are about 100 Kurds from the Kurdistan Region. “The number of ISIS militants is not more than 7,000 to 10,000 and the foreign fighters are a minority. The majority of the fighters are Arabs.” He said that among the foreign fighters there are 135 Danes, five Britons, 115 Kurds from Kurdistan and 18 Kurds from Iran. He said there was also a smattering of other nationalities, but mostly Arabs. “Those who have most power are Chechens and Turkmen of Tel Afar. They are powerful in Mosul and run the leadership of ISIS,” Mamuzini said. He said the resistance in Mosul would not be great. “It will be a short war and ISIS will be defeated. If we want Mosul to be retaken first we should liberate its surroundings,” he said. “Now, Bashiqa, Bartela, Qaraqosh and Tel Kaif will be easily retaken. If ISIS is going to defend, it will be inside Mosul. They won’t have much defense, except suicide bombers, suicide car bombers and improvised explosives."
