MOSUL // Iraqi government forces besieged ISIL militants around Mosul’s Old City on Thursday, edging closer to the historic mosque where the group’s leader declared a “caliphate” nearly three years ago.
The militants, hiding in houses and darting through alleyways, resisted with sniper fire, suicide attacks and car bombs.
Though heavy rain hampered the advance, Federal Police and rapid response unit troops reached points about 500 metres from the centuries-old Al Nuri Mosque by Thursday morning.
The extremists’ black flag was clearly visible, draped from the mosque’s famous leaning minaret.
The government forces have made significant gains in recent days in a battle that started in October, seizing a main bridge over the Tigris river and closing in on the mosque.
“We are holding positions we took yesterday. There is a lot of resistance in that area with snipers and car bombs,” said Federal Police Major General Haider Dhirgham.
The capture of Al Nuri Mosque would be a huge symbolic victory as well as a concrete gain.
“It’s important for them, it’s where they declared their state,” Maj Gen Dhirgham said, speaking at a police forward base as refugees trudged through the muddy streets and wrecked houses.
Since ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi made his declaration at the mosque in July 2014, Mosul has been the hardline group’s main urban stronghold in Iraq. Since the government offensive on the city, however, ISIL has steadily lost ground and Iraqi leaders say the battle for Mosul is reaching its final stages.
Several more areas of western Mosul were recaptured on Wednesday and Thursday morning, including the hospital, but officers said progress was slowed by car bombs and booby-traps in houses and alleyways, as well as the bad weather.
ISIL hit back with sporadic attacks on government positions, including mortar fire. Suicide bombers had also driven explosive-rigged cars at troops, Maj Gen Dhirgham said.
Government forces responded with mortars and helicopter gunships strafed militant positions from above.
Police said they had killed nine militants who tried to counter-attack one of their positions with rocket-propelled grenades.
“Federal Police drones bomb dozens of fixed and mobile Daesh targets in the perimeters of the Grand Mosque,” a later police statement said.
A Federal Police officer said commanders were meeting to adjust their plans for tackling the Old City.
“The new offensive plans should adapt with the difficult terrain of the complicated, narrow alleys,” he said. “The tight roads prevent us from using armoured vehicles and that will definitely leave our soldiers vulnerable to enemy fire.”
The need to ensure the safety of civilians, many of them hungry and traumatised by life under ISIL’s harsh rule, was also a priority.
“The enemy ... has started to set fire to houses, which means that are on the retreat. They have destroyed homes and have destroyed families,” Maj Gen Dhirgham said.
US and other countries are providing air, artillery and other support to the Mosul offensive, reflecting the international concern over the ISIL threat.
But the presence of tens of thousands of civilians in ISIL-held areas means that simply pulverising them is a risky proposition.
Thousands of residents have escaped to government lines in recent days but it has been impossible to tally the number of civilian casualties.
On Thursday, at a camp crammed to capacity south of Mosul, displaced families from the Old City waited for buses to take them on to other areas.
Many had come from near a central bus garage on the western side of old Mosul and had fled that morning.
“There’s destruction, houses destroyed, people have been pulled from under the rubble,” said Hisham Sobhi, 41, waiting with his family in the rain and mud.
Some were heading to eastern Mosul to stay with relatives.
Maj Gen Dhirgham said the total retaking of the city was not yet imminent.
“I will not tell you one or two weeks, because that’s not true, but within one or two months it will be completely liberated,” he said.
* Reuters