Iraqi Forces Shift Tactics in Mosul as Forces Advance on New Fronts
Iraqi Forces Shift Tactics in Mosul as Forces Advance on New Fronts:- Iraqi security forces began a dramatic shift in tactics Thursday in their stalled offensive to retake Mosul, Islamic State’s last major stronghold, advancing on new fronts and bringing federal police into the battle after counterattacks inflicted heavy casualties.
Iraq’s military announced a multi-sided offensive on the city’s northern, eastern and southeastern neighborhoods in an attempt to choke off supplies of weapons and new fighters.
In the past week, Iraq’s military has begun using heavy artillery in the crowded city, in spite of the risk to civilians, and has moved forces from Baghdad and other areas to support the Counter Terrorism Forces. Some 4,000 federal police have been shifted from the capital and south of Mosul to support the fight in the east.
The changes follow a series of devastating counterattacks by Islamic State that have raised questions about the battle plan and even the military’s capacity to secure other urban centers, including the capital Baghdad.
“The current Mosul fight has turned into a war of attrition,” said Iskandar Witwit, a lawmaker on the security and defense committee and a former army general. “This will negatively affect security in Iraq for sure.”
For more than two weeks, Iraqi troops have largely stood pat to re-supply, repair vehicles and rotate forces. They have also tried to secure the areas they have retaken while defending against militant attacks.
Much of the tactical reassessment has revolved around the Counter Terrorism Forces. The elite U.S-trained forces are spearheading the drive to reclaim the eastern half of the city and have led nearly every successful effort to win back territory from Islamic State. The units—about one-fifth the total involved in the offensive—have taken unusually heavy losses in Mosul.
Lt. Gen. Abdel Ghani al-Assadi, the commander of the forces, said this week his units have begun using artillery in eastern Mosul for the first time after the government dropped its initial objections when the offensive bogged down.
Iraq’s military and government don’t release casualty figures. But medical workers, Iraqi politicians and American officials have said the death toll among security forces has far exceeded previous battles against Islamic State, largely due to the size of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, and the number of Islamic State fighters concentrated there.
“I know they’re taking a lot of casualties; it’s been tough on them,” a U.S. official said.
Since the start of the Mosul operation on Oct. 17, the U.S.-led coalition has struck Islamic State with more than 7,650 munitions in support of the Iraqi Security Forces, according to a coalition statement Thursday.
Col. Arkan Fadhil, a senior officer that coordinates airstrikes with American forces, said the losses in personnel and equipment have been “in an acceptable range considering the rate of the battle.”
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi initially said the redeployments are part of an evolving battle plan, but some military commanders and politicians say he was overconfident of a swift victory. The prime minister initially predicted victory by the end of 2016. On Tuesday, he said evicting Islamic State from all of Iraq would take three more months, an assessment commanders and analysts said is still unrealistic given the size of Mosul and the intensity of the fight.
“Daesh fighters now are fighting to death,” said a senior commander with the Emergency Response Division, a police SWAT force, referring to Islamic State by another name. The force had made rapid advances on Mosul from the south but has been shifted to the east because of its expertise in the type of tactical fighting executed by the Counter Terrorism Forces.
The Iraqi special forces are trying to compensate for lumbering armored military units.
On Dec. 7, Iraq’s 9th Armored Division made an incursion into the city, sending dozens of armored vehicles and tanks to claim the massive Al-Salam Hospital complex in southeastern Mosul. The division said the militants had been using the hospital as a headquarters.
Come nightfall, the tide turned. Dozens of militants with suicide vests emerged from a network of tunnels while mortars rained down and snipers fired at the trapped soldiers.
Gen. Assadi sent in two of his regiments—a total of 30 vehicles and 150 fighters—to rescue the soldiers and beat back the militants while two regiments and one brigade from the 9th Division retreated. The fight took some seven hours and cost at least 13 lives and destroyed dozens of vehicles, he said.
The U.S. coalition said warplanes had struck a building in the hospital compound in response to an Iraqi military request in the face of a sustained militant attack.
“That incident forced us to recalculate,” Gen. Assadi said. “Having an armored division do a street to street fight isn’t wise. A tank rolling in is like walking in blindfolded.”
Source:- http://www.wsj.com/articles/iraqi-forces-advance-in-mosul-as-tactics-shift-1483047152
