The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) have claimed that they have taken control of six districts in eastern Mosul, in clashes that can now be said to be taking place in the city itself on the 18th day of the offensive to recapture the city from Daesh militants.
General Abd Al-Amir Rashid Yarallah, the Iraqi commander given overall responsibility for the offensive, said: “The Counter Terrorism Service units recaptured the neighbourhoods of Al-Malayeen, Al-Samah, Al-Khadra, Al-Quds and Al-Karama in the eastern sector of Mosul, and raised the Iraqi flag over buildings after inflicting losses of men and materiel on the enemy.”
However, one of the Counter Terrorism Service’s (CTS) main commanders, General Abdulwahhab Al-Sa’idi, contradicted the Iraqi military commander, telling Anadolu that the neighbourhoods were contested and have not yet been captured.
These neighbourhoods are in eastern Mosul, on the very outskirts of Iraq’s second city and Daesh’s last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
Daesh’s media arm, Amaq, announced that the militant organisation had conducted fierce counterattacks against targets in Gogjali using car bombs, also known as vehicle-borne IEDs (VBIED). This was also reported by several news agencies, including Al Jazeera.
Gogjali is a satellite town a little over a kilometre away from the eastern edges of Mosul, and the fact that Daesh are able to conduct attacks there shows that ISF troops do not hold any of Mosul’s eastern districts, but are instead attempting to gain a foothold there.
Analysts have said that Iraqi troops are unlikely to push in from the east while other ISF units and allied militias are still far away, and this would be due to the risk of being outflanked if they enter alone.
ISF units to the north of Mosul are only a kilometre away, whilst in the south they are around ten kilometres away, fighting in Hammam Al-Alil where ISF forces lost 18 fighters killed today, with dozens injured in VBIED attacks.