Iraqi forces prepare new push, tactics in Mosul

Iraqi forces are preparing a fresh push against Daesh using new tactics, but operations to drive the militants out of their last stronghold in the country are on hold, military officials said on Friday.
Families streamed out of the northern Iraqi city during the lull in fighting, part of an exodus of people fleeing in their thousands each day, the UN said, heading for cold, crowded camps or to stay with relatives.
The US-backed operation to drive Daesh out of Mosul, now in its sixth month, has recaptured most of the city. The entire eastern side and around half of the west is under Iraqi control.
But advances have stuttered in the last two weeks as fighting enters the narrow-alleyed Old City, and the militants put up fierce resistance using car bombs, snipers and mortar fire against forces and residents.
“Today we do not have operations,” Lt. Col. Abdel Amir Al-Mohammedawi, a spokesman for the elite Rapid Response forces said by phone.
Attacks would soon resume, and “new techniques” more suitable to fighting in the Old City would be used, he said, without elaborating.
A Federal Police officer told Reuters the new tactics would include deploying additional sniper units against Daesh sharpshooters.
The officer asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of discussing military tactics.
Daesh fighters have stationed themselves in homes belonging to Mosul residents to fire at Iraqi troops, often drawing air or artillery strikes that have killed civilians.
They have also launched counter-attacks, sometimes pinning down Iraqi forces on the southern edges of the Old City. Cloud cover and rain in recent weeks have prevented effective air support, military officials say.
One of the next targets of Iraqi forces inside the Old City is Al-Nuri Mosque, whose recapture would be a key symbolic victory. It is where Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate spanning large areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
As the battle continues, more civilians are being killed or displaced.
Local officials and residents said on Thursday dozens of people were buried in collapsed buildings after an air raid against Daesh triggered a massive explosion last week.
Outside the city on Friday, hundreds of displaced people poured out of Mosul, walking through the mud with suitcases and bags.
One man said Daesh snipers had shot at those fleeing, and some had been killed in explosions.
The situation inside the city is worsening with no drinking water or electricity and no food coming in, residents said.
Khaled Khalil, a 36-year-old carpenter whose shop was destroyed in fighting, clutched his three-year-old daughter.
“We have been on the move since yesterday. We are very tired but now we are safe. Anybody they catch, they kill. If we have time, we run,” he said.
Meanwhile, populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr told a demonstration in Baghdad on Friday that he would order a boycott of upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections unless the country’s electoral law is changed. Polls are to take place next year, and Al-Sadr supporters had previously demonstrated for changes to the law and to the country’s electoral committee, which is dominated by affiliates of powerful political parties.
If “the law remains... this means that we will order a boycott of the elections,” Al-Sadr said in televised remarks made at a demonstration at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square.
The cleric did not specify the specific changes he wants to take place, but the current law has been criticized as being biased toward large political parties over smaller ones.
The UN has backed demands for electoral reform, urging Parliament last month to “finalize the ongoing review” of the election law and the electoral commission.
Al-Sadr is the scion of a powerful clerical family who in earlier years raised a rebellion against US-led forces and commanded a feared militia.
He had lost some of his political influence in recent years but has brought himself back into relevance by calling for demonstrations to push for reforms.
His supporters broke into Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone area, where the government is headquartered, on several occasions last year, and clashes at a Baghdad protest left seven people dead last month.
Demonstrations calling for improved services and opposing widespread corruption broke out in the summer of 2015, drawing pledges from authorities that reforms would be made that ultimately led to little in the way of lasting change.
The protest movement eventually flagged, but Al-Sadr subsequently revitalized it by calling for his supporters to take part in demonstrations starting last year.

Source: Arab News