With the announcement of the end of the second phase of Ninevah military operations in the face of the fighters Daesh and control over all residential areas of the region of the left Sahel in Mosul city center , the military and security Iraqi commands proceeded to put the first touches to start the third phase, which relate to go to the areas where the elements Daesh and their hideouts and their headquarters in the right Sahel and in coordination with the command of the international coalition under the direct field supervision by the United States and its security and intelligence and military cooperation with the troops and advisers of the French army within the framework of the process of consultation and exchange of experiences and strengthening the work and effectiveness of the joint operations department in Baghdad and Erbil.
All these measures seek to determine the exact and correct frameworks on how to deal with the movement and the transmission and deployment of the leaders and fighters of Daesh in the area of the right coast and address all the mistakes and the negatives that accompanied the advance process carried out by the military and security troops within the four axes that shaped a picture of the confrontation, which began at dawn on 17 October 2016.
Hence , the next phase of military confrontation with the organizations of Daesh fighters could be determined in the following political, military and field frames :
1. Enhancing the image of the field and strategic cooperation of the coalition command with the experience of Americans advisors who are present with Iraqi military and field units which accompanied it in parallel and provide all the security and intelligence advice and engineering and that will support the process of the field advance to for these formations.
- European participation by the presence of advisers and officers and soldiers of the French numbering (200) elements to accompany with the movement and spread of Iraqi forces to all areas of confrontation with Daesh fighters and provide assistance for the process to sustain the momentum of military confrontation and helping to clean-up and deployment and treatment of all types of explosives used by Daesh and facilitate the task of crossing operations and implementation of combat missions assigned to Iraqi forces.
3.Enhancing the process of intensive aerial bombardment of the international coalition aircrafts under the supervision of the United States and the use of all types of big offensive Hits planes represented by (F16-Apache helicopters – bombers air) and provide all the facilities that contribute to the process of progress towards the goals set for the Iraqi troops and try to stay away from hitting the local civilian population .
- Iraqi air force planes and formations of Army Aviation conducted serious and effective contributions in promoting confrontation process and the bombing of military targets and buildings that were shielding the Daesh and targeting their headquarters and whereabouts fighters reinforcing cooperation and coordination process with the commands of the international coalition , where the control operation on the left side of the city of Mosul witnessed an intensive air missions reached per day (120) sorties.
- to define the tasks, objectives and fieldwork procedures in an accurate way for all contributors in the process of progress towards the right coast and draw an accurate frameworks for the implementation of all combat missions for the Iraqi military formations (Federal Police – Anti-terrorism forces – military divisions) and take advantage of all the negative aspects and avoid it which accompanied the process to control the left coast of the city of Mosul.
- to work seriously and continuously to prevent infiltration by the Daesh fighters across the West Bank of the Tigris River toward the residential neighborhoods close of the left coast overlooking the Tigris River, which elements Daesh stated to use it on a daily basis and try to do offensive operations on the whereabouts of military units in the neighborhoods (officers – Baath – Palestine – Jarmjh – Rashidiya) and attempts to address this by using weapons and night binoculars and supporting weapons and Aviation of the international coalition, which hampers the process of crossing over the Tigris River.
7.To pay great importance to the possibility of providing security and stability of neighborhoods that have been controlled by Iraqi forces and strengthen the status of empowerment of its members to form a joint force by the leadership of military operations to ensure the preservation of the lives and property of citizens within the left coast to form a force composed of the (anti-terrorist fighters – Federal Police – Directorate of Nineveh province police – formations of tribal and civilian crowds, which was formed before the start of military operations in Nineveh governorate).
8.To enhance the supporting aspects of the effectiveness and progress of the Iraqi military units through the creation of heavy helicopter air cover and advanced reconnaissance capability with the forces trained in guerrilla and cities warfare and enhance the fiery and qualitative support which form a back support to support the advanced military formations.
- Neighborhoods of the right Sahel will witness a large displacement of the population as a result of the intensification of aerial bombardment of their areas and increasing of the field shelling operations with mortars by all parties, which is a threat to their safety and security, and the displacement process will constitute a new humanitarian catastrophe due to the lack of any safe passage for them and tighten the siege on them by elements Daesh and the lack of camps for the sheltering of displaced people in this side of the city which is a tactical case that impede the work and progress of military units, and we will be in front of a large field sacrifices for the locals and in a more disastrous state than we have seen on the left coast area.
The unity of the Iraqi Studies
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies