Iraqi Security Forces opened a new front north of the city last week when they began the second phase of the Mosul operation after a pause of a few weeks. The simultaneous attacks on three axes, “presents the enemy with more problems than they can solve,” Col. John Dorrian, spokesperson for the Combined Joint Task Force of the global anti-ISIS command, told reporters via video conference from Baghdad on Wednesday evening.
These three axes are beginning to converge as the Iraqi forces make progress towards the Tigris River, he added. In the first stage of the offensive, Iraqi forces were focused on pushing into the city from the east and southeast.
Dorrian said that the city is completely surrounded and ISIS cannot resupply or reinforce their fighters. As their resources dwindle and the Iraqi forces push in from three directions, the militants have to make a decision to either defend one axis over another or defend all three more weakly, meaning the Iraqis can move more decisively, he detailed.
He stressed, however, that ISIS has had more than two years to prepare, to build up a stockpile of weapons, dig elaborate defences, and set up booby traps. They also show no reluctance to attack civilians or use the population as human shields, he said.
Dorrian described the fight as one that requires the Iraqi forces to go through “every room and every closet.” He commended the forces for their sacrifices and patience in the slow and dangerous operation.
For the second phase of the operation, the coalition doubled the number of advisors it had working with the Iraqi security forces for Mosul, bringing the total to around 450. The advisors, which include American forces as well as other coalition-member nations, remain behind the forward line of Iraqi troops but “they have been in the city at different times,” Dorrian confirmed.
The spokesperson for the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) told Rudaw English on Sunday that coalition forces are providing air support, advice, and training but they are not on the ground in Mosul, by direction of the prime minister, who is also commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces.
“For the coalition support, it’s only by the air support. And they continue supporting us with the airstrikes and we have good coordination with them,” said Sabah al-Numan.
“During the last three days, they had about more than 50 airstrikes, destroyed enemy bases and they killed about more than 100 fighters from ISIS. This is the only support that we achieved from the coalition. It’s according to what the prime minister said that the only support from the coalition is by the air support.”
“On the ground there is only Iraqi fighters,” he clarified.
Declining to set a timeline on final victory in the city, Dorrian said “time is not on the enemy’s side” and the Iraqi security forces will retake the city.
