SHURA, Iraq // Iraq’s Shiite militias joined the campaign to retake Mosul on Saturday, opening a new front to the west to complete the encirclement of the ISIL-held city and sever supply lines from neighbouring Syria.
Other Iraqi forces aided by US-led air strikes and heavy artillery meanwhile drove ISIL from the town of Shura, south of Mosul, where the militants had rounded up civilians to be used as human shields.
The twin thrusts come nearly two weeks into the offensive to retake Iraq’s second largest city, but most of the fighting is still taking place in towns and villages far from its outskirts.
The involvement of the Iran-backed Shiite militias has raised concerns that the battle for Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could aggravate sectarian tensions. Rights groups have accused the militias of abuses against civilians in other Sunni areas retaken from ISIL.
The militias, known collectively as the Popular Mobilisation Forces or Hashed Al Shaabi, say they will not enter Mosul itself and will instead focus on retaking Tal Afar, a town to the west that had a Shiite majority before it fell to ISIL in 2014.
“The operation aims to cut supplies between Mosul and Raqqa and tighten the siege of ISIL in Mosul and liberate Tal Afar,” said Hashed spokesman Ahmed Al Assadi, referring to ISIL’s main stronghold in Syria.
He said the militias had retaken 10 villages since the operation began before dawn but fighting was continuing and fighters were removing booby-traps set by ISIL to slow their advance.
Jaafar Al Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said his group and the other militias had advanced seven kilometres toward Tal Afar and used anti-tank missiles to destroy three suicide car bombs that were heading toward them.
The militias were being supported by Iranian advisers and Iraqi aircraft, he said, and the US-led coalition, which is providing air and ground support to Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga forces, was not playing any role in their operation.
Many of the militias were originally formed after the 2003 US-led invasion to battle American forces and Sunni insurgents. They were mobilised again and endorsed by the government when ISIL swept through northern and central Iraq in 2014.
South of Mosul, Iraqi troops advanced into Shura after a wave of US-led air strikes and artillery shelling against ISIL positions inside the town. Commanders said most of the militants had withdrawn days earlier with civilians, but that the US air strikes had disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape.
“After all this shelling, I don’t think we will face much resistance,” said Maj Gen Najim Al Jabouri as the advance got under way. “This is easy, because there are no civilians left.”
But hours later, a few families who had hidden away during the fighting emerged. The government has urged people to remain in their homes, fearing a mass exodus from Mosul, which is still home to more than one million people.
By the afternoon, Brig Gen Firas Bashar said his forces were clearing explosives and searching for ISIL fighters in Shura. The sound of artillery still echoed in the distance.
The Shura offensive came despite a statement from the US-led coalition on Friday that Iraqi forces would halt their advance on Mosul for a “a couple days”.
The Mosul offensive involves more than 25,000 soldiers, federal police, Kurdish fighters, Sunni tribesmen and the Shiite militias. The US has deployed several hundred troops to assist the operation, including special forces.
Iraqi forces moving toward the city from several directions have made uneven progress since the offensive began October 17. They are six kilometres from the edge of Mosul on the eastern front, where Iraq’s special forces are leading the charge. But progress has been slower in the south, with Iraqi forces still 35km from the city.
More than 17,500 people have fled their homes toward government-held areas since the Mosul operation began, the International Organisation for Migration said on Saturday.
The UN human rights office said on Friday that ISIL has rounded up tens of thousands of civilians in and around Mosul to use as human shields, and massacred more than 200 Iraqis in recent days, mainly former members of the security forces.
The militants have carried out mass killings in the past and is now believed to be cracking down on anyone who could rise up against it, focusing on men with military training or past links to the security forces.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, an ISIL suicide bomber on Saturday killed at least seven people and wounded more than 20 at an aid station for Shiite pilgrims.
The Sunni extremist group often targets Iraq’s Shiite majority, which it views as apostates deserving of death.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse