Lupa Kata Sandi? Klik di Sini

atau Masuk melalui

Belum Memiliki Akun Daftar di Sini


atau Daftar melalui

Sudah Memiliki Akun Masuk di Sini

Konfirmasi Email

Kami telah mengirimkan link aktivasi melalui email ke rudihamdani@gmail.com.

Klik link aktivasi dan dapatkan akses membaca 2 artikel gratis non Laput di koran dan Majalah Tempo

Jika Anda tidak menerima email,
Kirimkan Lagi Sekarang

Mosul Offensive Going Faster Than Planned, Iraqi PM says

Translator

Editor

21 October 2016 08:14 WIB

Members of Iraqi security forces celebrate after the liberation of Khalidiya village from Islamic State militants, south of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, October 20, 2016. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

TEMPO.CO, Mosul - The offensive to seize back Mosul from Islamic State is going faster than planned, Iraq's prime minister said on Thursday, as Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched a new military operation to clear villages on the city's outskirts.

Howitzer and mortar fire started at dawn, hitting a group of villages held by Islamic State about 10-20 km (6-12 miles) from Mosul, while helicopters flew overhead, according to Reuters reporters at two frontline locations north and east of Mosul.

To the sound of machine gun fire and explosions, dozens of black Humvees of the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), mounted with machine guns, headed towards Bartella, an abandoned Christian village just east of Mosul.

Militants were using suicide car-bombs, roadside bombs and snipers to resist the attack, and were pounding surrounding areas with mortars, a CTS commander said.

Hours later, the head of Iraq's Special Forces, Lieutenant General Talib Shaghati, told reporters at a command centre near the frontline that troops had surrounded Bartella and entered the centre of the village. Two soldiers were hurt and none killed, and they had killed at least 15 militants, he said.

"After Bartella is Mosul, God willing."

A cloud of black smoke wreathed some frontline villages, probably caused by oil fires, a tactic the militants use to escape air surveillance.

Iraqi state TV later quoted a CTS spokesman as saying about 80 insurgents were killed in fighting in Bartella and 11 suicide car-bombs destroyed.

A U.S. service member also died on Thursday from wounds sustained in an improvised explosive device blast in northern Iraq, the U.S.-led military coalition said in a statement.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a U.S. defence official said the incident took place near Mosul. Roughly 5,000 U.S. forces are in Iraq. More than 100 of them are embedded with Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces involved with the Mosul offensive, advising commanders and helping them ensure coalition air power hits the right targets, officials say.

The fighting around Mosul has also forced 5,640 people to flee their homes in the last three days, mostly in the past 24 hours, the International Organization for Migration said on Thursday.

MORE QUICKLY THAN WE THOUGHT

Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, addressing anti-Islamic state coalition allies meeting in Paris by a video link, said: "The forces are pushing towards the town more quickly than we thought and more quickly than we had programmed."

Islamic State denied that government forces had advanced. Under the headline "The crusade on Nineveh gets a lousy start," the group's weekly online magazine Al-Nabaa said it repelled all assaults on all fronts, killing dozens in ambushes and suicide attacks and destroying dozens of vehicles including tanks.

The U.S.-led coalition that includes France, Italy, Britain, Canada and other Western nations is providing air and ground support to the forces that are closing in on the city in an operation that began on Monday.

Mosul is the last big stronghold held by Islamic State in Iraq and around five times the size of any other city the group has held. The push to capture it is expected to become the biggest battle fought in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The United Nations says Mosul could require the biggest humanitarian relief operation in the world, with worst-case scenario forecasts of up to a million people being uprooted by the battle.

About 1.5 million residents are still believed to be inside the city, and Islamic State has a history of using civilians as human shields. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said controls were being put in place to check jihadists were not trying to insert themselves among those fleeing Mosul.

BOMBS, BUNKERS AND TUNNELS

On the northern front, Kurdish peshmerga shot down a small drone that had flown over from the Islamic State lines. It was not clear if the drone, 1 to 2 metres (yards) wide, was carrying explosives or being used for reconnaissance.

"There have been times when they dropped explosives," said Halgurd Hasan, one of the Kurdish fighters deployed in a position overlooking the plain north of Mosul.

Ali Awni, a Kurdish officer, kept a handheld radio receiver open on a frequency used by Islamic State. "They are giving targets for their mortars," he said.

So far, advancing Kurdish troops have moved through villages outside the city, finding abandoned houses rigged with explosives and underground bunkers. In some cases fighters from Islamic State, known by opponents by the Arabic name of Daesh, appear to have fled without putting up a fight.

"We did not face resistance from Daesh. They are retreating to Mosul and to Syria. They gave no resistance," peshmerga soldier Ahmed Midhat Abdullah told Reuters in the village of Nawaran, north of Mosul, where a Kurdish column of armoured vehicles was advancing in the dusty desert terrain.

Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, swept into Mosul and other parts of northern Iraq in 2014 and has used extreme violence to administer a self-proclaimed caliphate there and in parts of neighbouring Syria.

"The objectives are to clear a number of nearby villages and secure control of strategic areas to further restrict ISIL's movements," the Kurdish general military command said in a statement announcing the launch of Thursday's operations.

SHI'ITE MILITIA

The area around Mosul is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse parts of Iraq, and Western countries backing the assault are concerned that communities feel safe as the government forces advance, to avoid revenge attacks or ethnic and sectarian bloodletting as fighters are driven out.

Western allies have tried to limit the role of Shi'ite militia fighters known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, which human rights groups say have carried out killings and kidnappings of Sunnis in other areas freed from Islamic State.

After the Paris meeting, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari offered reassurance: "In answer to those who criticise the PMF for behaving badly, this is not true ... They are part of the Iraqi forces and will be disbanded afterwards."

Prime Minister Abadi said the Mosul advance demonstrated that Iraqis from all groups could fight in common cause, noting that it was the first time in 25 years that troops from the Baghdad government had entered territory controlled by the Kurdish region to fight alongside the peshmerga.

"Our war today in Mosul is an Iraqi war conducted by Iraqis for Iraqis and for the defence of Iraq's territory," he said. "Full Iraqi unity is shining through and more than ever showing the unity to vanquish terrorism."

U.S. President Barack Obama hopes to bolster his legacy by seizing back as much territory as he can from Islamic State before he leaves office in January.

Islamic State "will be defeated in Mosul", Obama said on Tuesday, expecting the fight to be difficult.

Iraqi officials and residents of Mosul say Islamic State is preventing people from leaving the city, in effect using them as shields to complicate air strikes and the ground progress of attacking forces.

REUTERS




U.S. Launches Strikes in Iraq and Syria, Nearly 40 Reported Killed

54 hari lalu

U.S. Launches Strikes in Iraq and Syria, Nearly 40 Reported Killed

The U.S. launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and militias it backs


Iraq Reports 119 Hemorrhagic Fever Cases, 18 Deaths

19 Mei 2023

Iraq Reports 119 Hemorrhagic Fever Cases, 18 Deaths

Iraq registered up to 119 cases of viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF), including 18 deaths, since the beginning of this year.


Indonesia to Face Japan, Iraq, and Vietnam at Asian Cup 2023

11 Mei 2023

Indonesia to Face Japan, Iraq, and Vietnam at Asian Cup 2023

Indonesia has been drawn in Group D for the Asian Cup 2023 which will take place in January 2024 in Qatar.


Iraq Elects New President and Premier, Ending Stalemate

14 Oktober 2022

Iraq Elects New President and Premier, Ending Stalemate

Under a power-sharing system to avoid sectarian conflict, Iraq's president is a Kurd, its prime minister a Shi'ite, and its parliament speaker a Sunni


Kurdish Protesters Rally in Erbil over Mahsa Amini's Death

25 September 2022

Kurdish Protesters Rally in Erbil over Mahsa Amini's Death

Dozens of Iraqi and Iranian Kurds rallied in Iraq's northern city of Erbil on Saturday over the death of Mahsa Amini by the Iranian police.


Iraqi Forces Identify Launch Area of Drones Targeting PM's Residence: Report

8 November 2021

Iraqi Forces Identify Launch Area of Drones Targeting PM's Residence: Report

The Iraqi security forces on Sunday identified the launch area of drones that targeted the residence of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.


Minister Masduki Sees Off SME's Exports to Hong Kong and Iraq

12 September 2021

Minister Masduki Sees Off SME's Exports to Hong Kong and Iraq

Cooperatives and Small, Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Minister Teten Masduki flagged off export shipments of charcoal briquette products


Red Cross Urges Countries to Reclaim Citizens from Syria Camps

27 Maret 2021

Red Cross Urges Countries to Reclaim Citizens from Syria Camps

Countries must reclaim 62,000 people held in squalid camps in northeast Syria for families associated with Islamic State fighters.


Police Nab Foreign National over Human Trafficking against Indonesian

26 Maret 2021

Police Nab Foreign National over Human Trafficking against Indonesian

The Indonesian national police criminal unit (Bareskrim) arrested an Iraq national with a human trafficking charge.


First Big Suicide Attack in Baghdad for 3 Years Kills at Least 32

22 Januari 2021

First Big Suicide Attack in Baghdad for 3 Years Kills at Least 32

Suicide attacks, once an almost daily occurrence in Baghdad, Iraq, have halted in recent years since Islamic State fighters were defeated in 2017.