When the battle to liberate Mosul was begun with dawn on the seventeenth of October 2016 ,the aspects and features of this battle have become clearly defined and characterized as marked for the rest of their counterparts from the clashes waged by the Iraqi military and security forces in many areas of the places that already had a Daesh fighters in Anbar, Salahuddin and Diyala, and began with an accurate plan and the strategy of several axes , they were three main axes noting that the most important of them are axes of (Khazar and Alkwyr) and with effective and field participation of a high coordination between the Kurdish and Iraqi forces, and with a slow progress on the southern axis starting from the junction the district of Qayyarah on the international road that is linking between the provinces of Salaheddin –Nineveh and the northern axis in the Mosul Dam area that has been marked by positive cooperation and progress between Iraqi forces and fighters of the National crowd called later on by (Guard of Nineveh) under the supervision of the former governor of Nineveh province.
And we can mark the most important pictures and features of the first week of the beginning of the battle, which are represented by the following:
1.The presence of Iraqi military and security forces of the soldiers and officers of the divisions (9-15-16) in all the fighting axes and within the territory of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and this has happened for the first time after the departure of the last soldier from the province of Kirkuk after the June 2014 events and the control of fighters Daesh on large parts of the city, and the disagreement of the leadership of the region to the military presence of the Baghdad government in the region since the beginning of the US invasion of Iraq.
2.The military presence of Iraqi forces in the Kurdistan region was marked by complete cooperation , harmony and coordinating on the ground with the political leaders of the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who were existed in all areas of the Nineveh Plain. Advanced and accelerated results have been achieved in clear and record time on the fronts of the regions (Khazar and Alkwyr).
- Kurdish forces in collaboration with the division 15 managed from breaking into and entering the Hamdaniya district and with the participation of anti-terrorism forces after fierce and ferocious battles encountered in front of the fighters Daesh and thus tightened its control and extended its influence over all the district and surrounding areas of it and this constitutes progress and achievement , tactically important on the field because it is to approximate the distance of this axis toward the city of Mosul by a distance of 10-12 kilometers.
- The clear cohesion and field plan drawn to encircle the areas (Tlsagv -brtalh-Ba’shiqah) was of great importance to the strengthening of the path of private axes of Hamdania district , , and this has contributed to tighten control on area of Bartila and Tlsagv and thus put Kurdish forces against the new plan of encircling the center of the district of Ba’shiqah from main several axes in order to control them because of their positive consequences on the progress of the battle and military confrontations.
5.The clearest picture in the first week of the Battle of Mosul is the (Turkish participation), which began by air bombardment of targets and places belong to al Daesh around the city of Mosul, and then followed by the actual participation of Turkish troops stationed on the high plateau in terms of Ba’shiqah with a depth of 5 km and bordering on the center of the district with artillery concentrated fire and continuous on the headquarters and the presence of fighters Daesh which contributed effectively to tighten the control on the center of the district by Kurdish forces.
- the most important of what happened in the first days of the battle is that the Daesh fighters managed to carry out a unique operation to control of several residential neighborhoods and targeting security headquarters in the center and south of the city of Kirkuk, the most important is to control of the power station of Al-Dibis and targeting the headquarters of the provincial police directorate and after that, the security forces and special forces that were sent from the city of Sulaymaniyah and the involvement of the Turkmen crowd were managed to control and restore security and stability to the province, but this surprise showed the possibility of Daesh fighters in the presence and making security breach and take advantage of the existing security vacuum in a number of areas around the city of Kirkuk.
7.The most important event was identified by the fact that fighters of Daesh managed to attack the center of AL-Rutba district of the province of Anbar and tighten the control on it from three major axes, which witnessed the fall of the first division and the federal police and local police forces and most of the residential areas and government buildings have been controlled by Daesh.
The importance of offensive to Al-Rutba is to send another message that it could target places of strategic and tactical importance taking advantage of it for the media and his choice of Rutba as overseeing the Trebil area and international high way line and adjoins the borders of Jordan, and as it relates to the strategic area of Nukhayib and related to the node of the road 160, which connects the international line with Karbala and important desert areas .
These are the most prominent features of the first week of the battle , Will we see other surprises or settlement ahead of the battle of all its axes this is what we will see in the coming days and weeks.
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies