Posted on 10/16/2016 4:24:43 PM PDT by yoe
The offensive to liberate Mosul from ISIS control has begun, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a televised statement early Monday. "Our dearest people in Nineveh province, the victory bell has rung, and the operations to liberate Mosul have begun," he said. "I am announcing today the beginning of these heroic operations to liberate you from the brutality and terrorism of ISIS. God willing, we will meet soon on the ground of Mosul where we will all celebrate the liberation and your freedom."
The fight is expected to last weeks, if not months, and if the battles to wrest Falluja and Ramadi from ISIS' grip are indicators, Mosul will be a messy melee. The assault's buildup has been ongoing for some time. US-led coalition and Iraqi forces have hammered ISIS targets with airstrikes for more than a year. The Nineveh Liberation Operations Center, which was set up to coordinate the offensive, has brought in dozens of American and British advisers. A US artillery unit has provided cover for operations south of Mosul.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
And recently announced that they were getting ready for a big offensive giving them even more time to prepare/get out....I'm thinking they may have done it in hopes of having an easy "victory" w/o having to kill a lot of the enemy and letting the next folks worry when they re-infest the place.
That would appear to be the case.
All I know is apparently it was one awful battle with our RofE still crippling the efforts of our soldiers.....that Thanksgiving, two of the young men who had fought in that battle were guests in my home, one an old college classmate of my granddaughter...was trying to tell me about it...we both were in tears pretty shortly..........
Female Pershmerga soldiers as they arrived for the battle....
Peshmerga troops as they advanced on mosul
6:36pm
The day before the Mosul liberation began, the global anti-ISIS coalition carried out four airstrikes in the Mosul area, engaging: “three ISIL tactical units, two staging areas, 12 assembly areas, and a bridge; destroyed six tunnel entrances, five supply caches, four repeater tower generators, four mortar systems, a repeater tower, four repeater antennas, four solar panels, two artillery systems, two vehicles, two tunnels, and an anti-air artillery system; damaged a trench tunnel network; and suppressed three mortar systems.”
The coalition confirmed the strikes in a statement released on Monday by the Combined Joint Task Force of Operation Inherent Resolve.
6:01pm
A senior ISIS official and his deputy have been killed in airstrikes in a town on the Mosul outskirts, the Kurdistan Region Security Council’s anti-terror general directorate has announced.
“A moment ago the coalition warplanes targeted senior terrorist Ya’arb, an ISIS military official of the Mosul division, and his deputy Abu Ibrahim known as Zilzal, as well as some other militants in Tel Kaif town. All of them were killed,” reads the announcement, citing intelligence obtained by the directorate.
Abu Ya’arb was an ISIS military official on the Aski frontline, northwest of Mosul, the directorate reported.
Source of timed updates.....
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/161020167
Saeed Mamuzini, an official from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said that ISIS has sent reinforcements to Mosul ‘from’ Raqqa. ...........
“ISIS has acted in two specific ways, they have moved some militants from Raqqah to Mosul, and they have, through loudspeakers, called on militants in Mosul to go to frontlines.”
Mamuzini also said,....... “ISIS has executed a number of its militants in Mosul after they have reportedly deserted the frontlines.”
Erdogan continues to thunder.... has already for months had his soldiers attacking Kurds and ISIS on the Northern border fighting but wants credit for being in the Monsul Operation.........
Iraqi Gov. does not want Turkey troops entering the city.....as usual Erdogan creates issues for everyone else who are thus far co-operating very well with the Baghdad operations....bottom line is if your not authorized to be in the field of battle you should not attempt to be there...buck stops in Baghdad Operational center.
2:14pm
Turkish President Erdogn says that Iraqi demands for Turkey to stay out of the Mosul operation are “out of the question.” ...
His statements came shortly after Reuters reported on Monday that about 1,500 Turkish-trained militia forces in northern Iraq will participate in the Mosul offensive.
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