Mosul: Iraqi forces sustain heavy losses, assault grinds to a halt

An Iraqi military official announced that Baghdad had ordered a “temporary” halt to military operations to advance into eastern Mosul. This comes after reports of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and allied Kurdish Peshmerga sustaining high casualties.

The Turkish Anadolu Agency reported that a military source had confirmed to them the halt, but that this freeze in combat operations did not necessarily mean that ISF units were withdrawing from eastern Mosul.

The ISF is primarily based in the satellite town of Gogjali, which is outside what is traditionally known as Mosul. Analysts have said that the Iraqi government has largely failed in its self-imposed deadline of breaching the city limits within three weeks.

The offensive to retake Mosul from Daesh began on 17 October and is now almost into its fourth week, showing that the Iraqi government is behind schedule.

Placing blame on the US-led coalition, operating under the name of “Operation Inherent Resolve”, the Iraqi military official said: “A request was sent to the army’s general command to discuss the inadequacy of air cover with US-led coalition commanders.”

However, the US is hesitant to authorise airstrikes in densely populated urban areas due to the risk of significant civilian losses.

Civilians suffering due to Iraqi forces

Anadolu cited the same source as stating that the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) had sustained heavy losses in men and equipment, but the reason why operations had been halted was due to Daesh using “human shields” and a desire to reduce civilian casualties.

This has been observed as being contradictory, partly due to the fact that ISF officials have repeatedly criticised reduced air support from the US-led coalition and blamed that for their losses and inability to hold ground in their forays into Mosul.

Meanwhile, other units of the ISF and allied federal police units have been accused by international human rights organisations of torturing and killing civilians in towns and villages around Mosul, including children.

Amnesty International reported today that civilians southeast of Mosul were tortured and killed by federal police, likely due to sectarian reasons or unproven accusations of links to Daesh. These killings were all extrajudicial and without the oversight of the Iraqi justice system, itself criticised of being politically compromised.

Human Rights Watch also condemned the enforced disappearance of Iraqi civilians by both Baghdad and Kurdish authorities, a crime under international law. Civilians have been held incommunicado and denied access to lawyers, as well as forbidden from talking to their family members.