Fall of Mosul

Fall of Mosul
Part of Iraqi insurgency (2011–present), and the Spillover of the Syrian Civil War

A snapshot of the Tigris River and bridge in Mosul
Date4–10 June 2014
(6 days)
LocationMosul, Iraq
Result

Decisive ISIL victory

Belligerents

Iraqi Government

 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
JRTN[5]
Commanders and leaders
Iraq Lieutenant General Mahdi Gharawi Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi  †
Strength
30,000 (Two divisions, with security forces outnumbering attackers by more than 15-to-1)[6][7] 800–1,300+ [6][8]
Casualties and losses
More than 2,500[9] Unknown
Around 500,000 civilians displaced from Mosul[10]

The Fall of Mosul in June 2014, refers to blitz takeover of the city during the June 2014 offensive. After advancing on the city for almost a week from June 4; on the night of 9–10 June 2014, militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant took control of most of the Iraqi city of Mosul. An estimated 1,300 armed militants seized the Nineveh Province government offices, army facilities, and Mosul International Airport. Approximately 500,000 residents of Mosul were believed to have fled the city,[10] although many returned after the fighting had subsided.[11] Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki called for a national state of emergency following the attack. Mosul was reported to be entirely in insurgent hands as of 10 June. On the following day the city of Tikrit also fell to insurgents, who burned government buildings and freed hundreds of inmates from the local prison.

Background

Since December 2013, clashes involving tribal militias, Iraqi security forces, and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have broken out throughout western Iraq. In early January 2014, ISIL militants successfully took control of Fallujah and Ramadi,[12] bringing much of Anbar Province under their control. Afterwards, the Iraqi Army began conducting an offensive against the Anbar region, the stronghold of the ISIL, with the stated goal of bringing the region under government control. Samarra was recaptured by Iraqi forces on 5 June 2014,[13] while heavy shelling on Fallujah weakened the ISIL forces there. However, the advances ISIL has made in neighboring Syria, from where they source weapons,[14] has substantially strengthened their position.[15]

In early June, insurgents began advancing into central and northern parts of Iraq following the Iraqi Army's campaign in the Anbar region. While advancing, ISIL military chief Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi was killed on June 5, by Iraqi Security Forces near Mosul. ISIL named the military operation that resulted in their seizure of Mosul on June 9 Bilawi Vengeance, a reference to his alias.[16] At that point they were still in control of most of Fallujah and Garmah, as well as parts of Haditha, Jurf Al Sakhar, Anah, Qa'im, Abu Ghraib, and several smaller settlements in the Anbar Province.[17]

Mosul attack

On 4 June, the police under Lieutenant General Mahdi Gharawi's command "cornered Islamic State's military leader in Iraq". But the "leader" blew "himself up" after which Gharawi thought that his "death might avert an attack".[18] At 02:30 in morning, ISIS convoys of pickup trucks (each truck having four fighters) entered Mosul shooting the city's "two-man checkpoints". In the first line of defence of Mosul, though there were 2,500, in "reality was closer to 500". According to Gharawi, since all the tanks had been shifted to Anbar, there was nothing left in the city to fight the ISIS fighters. He also said that the attackers "hanged soldiers and lit them ablaze", beside crucifying some of them.[18]

ISIS commander Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi was killed on 5 June

The next day, curfew was imposed in the city. The government used helicopters to bomb the militant. In southern part of the city, five suicide bombers were used to blast an arsenal.[19] In that day, ISIS commander Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi was killed.[20] On 6 June, ISIS entered the city and attacked the northwestern part of the city. The ISIS force was of 1,500 soldiers which was outnumbered by their Iraqi counterpart with 15 to 1.[21] Near Mosul, in the village of Muwaffakiya, two suicide bomber cars also explode, which killed six Sabak soldiers. After the attacks, most of the fighters "withdrew into the desert" or "took cover among the local population".[19]

On 8th June, the group did a double bomb attack against a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party office in Jalula in which eighteen people died.[22] Carrying atleast four hundred men, about hundred vehicles entered the city. Sleeper cells which were hidden in the city were activated and according to police, "neighbourhoods rallied to them".[18] The group also bombed a police station in the neighbourhood of al-Uraybi, and "charged into" an abandoned building on the west of Tigris river which was transformed "into a battle post" for thirty SWAT members.[18]

On 9 June, ISIS executed fifteen memebers of secuirity forces who were captured in Tikrit.[23] According to CBS News media official in Nineveh province, ISIS fighters "who were armed with machineguns" carrying "rocket-propelled grenade" stormed the provincial headquarter buildings on the same day.[24] By that time, the fourth batalion "were among the very last local police fighting" the attackers. The rest of the defence forces had either ran away or joined the opposition. Short of plans and ammunition, Gharawi ordered the military to retreat on advice of advisor Khaled al-Obeidi.[18] On that same night, ISIS and Sunni militants attacked Mosul, with heavy fighting overnight. Iraqi Army soldiers fled the city while it was under attack, with the militants controlling much of Mosul by midday on 10 June.[15] The militants seized numerous facilities, including Mosul International Airport, which had served as a hub for the U.S. military in the region.[25] Militants captured the helicopters present at the airport, besides occupying "several villages" and a military airbase in south Saladin Province.[24] The Iraqi army "crumbled in the face of the militant assault", which is evident from the fact that the soldiers left their weapons and dressed in civilian clothes to blend with the commoners.[26]

The city finally "fell" to the ISIS on 10 June 2014 after four days of "advances" between ISIS and repulsion by the Iraqi military. There were also reports of the group advancing to Kirkuk. Capturing the city, the group also freed nearly 1000 prisoners, some of whom were greeted by the fighters.[9] Black flags were also flown over government buildings.[4]

Aftermath

On June 11, ISIL insurgents advanced into the oil refinery town of Baiji, seizing the main court house and police station and setting them on fire. The militants, who were travelling in a group of around 60 vehicles, also took control of the Baiji prison and freed all the inmates within. Local residents told members of the media that ISIL sent a group of local tribal chiefs ahead of them to convince the 250 guards at the oil plant to withdraw, while soldiers and police had been warned to leave as well.[27][28] Al Jazeera claimed that later in the day, militants retreated from Baiji after reinforcements from the Iraqi Army's Fourth Armored Division arrived in the city.[29]

Later during that day, ISIL members seized the Turkish consulate in Mosul and kidnapped 49 Turkish employees, including the Consul General, three children, and several members of the Turkish Special Forces. Reports suggested that the abducted were taken to a nearby militant base and were unharmed. An unnamed Turkish official confirmed the government was in contact with the insurgents, while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held an emergency meeting with members of the National Intelligence Agency (MIT) and Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay to discuss the situation. The daring assault came a day after 28 Turkish truck drivers were abducted by militants while delivering fuel to a power plant in Mosul.[30][31]

Continuing their offensive, on the evening of June 11, insurgents took full control of the city of Tikrit, the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein and the second provincial capital to fall in two days. Local officials reported that checkpoints had been set up around the city, while at least 300 inmates had been freed from the city's prisons, many of them serving sentences under terrorism charges.[29][32][33]

Iraq's government said that they would arm their civilians and the parliament would declare a state of emergency. Beside plans of reorganizing the military also arose, where there would be collaboration "between tribal leaders and the US military".[9]

Reactions

United States United States of America: USA said that they were "deeply concerned", and felt that the situation was "extremely serious". Their spokesman Jen Psaki. "This growing threat exemplifies the need for Iraqis from all communities to work together to confront this common enemy and isolate these militant groups from the broader population".[9]

Iraq Iraq :Usama al-Nujayfi, a speaker of the Parliament, who hails from the city said "what happened is a disaster by any standard". He also blamed the "negligence" of the army as they withdrew from the city.[24] Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, also asked for "help" from "friendly governments".[26]

A Mosul based businessman commented that the "city fell like a plane without an engine" as "they were firing their weapons into the air, but no one was shooting at them".[9] One officer told Reuters that "they [ISIS militants] appear, strike and disappear in seconds".[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Mosul Falls, Indie Oil Should Rise". Forbes. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  2. ↑ Al-Salhy, Suadad; Fahim, Kareem. "Sunni Militants Drive Iraqi Army Out of Mosul". New York Times. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  3. ↑ Insurgents in Iraq Overrun Mosul Provincial Government Headquarters
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Mosul falls to militants, Iraqi forces flee northern city". Reuters. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  5. ↑ Hassan Hassan. "Political reform in Iraq will stem the rise of Islamists". Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Iraq army capitulates to Isis militants in four cities". The Guardian. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  7. ↑ "Battle for Mosul: Critical test ahead for Iraq". BBC. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Iraqis flee Mosul after fighters seize city (Al Jazeera, June 11, 2014)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 "Isis insurgents seize control of Iraqi city of Mosul". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Iraq crisis: Islamists force 500,000 to flee Mosul". BBC News. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  11. ↑ "Iraq crisis: Iraqis Who Fled Mosul Say They Prefer Militants to Government". New York Times. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  12. ↑ "Iraq's Fallujah falls to 'Qaeda-linked' militants". Daily Star. 4 January 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  13. ↑ "80 killed in Iraq as security forces re-take city of Samarra". Xinhua. 5 June 2014.
  14. ↑ "Une province irakienne entière aux mains des jihadistes". Liberation. AFP. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Fahim, Kareem; Al-Salhy, Suadad (10 June 2014). "Sunni Militants Drive Iraqi Army Out of Mosul". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  16. ↑ "Revealed: the Islamic State 'cabinet', from finance minister to suicide bomb deployer". Telegraph.co.uk. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  17. ↑ "Iraq Update #42: Al-Qaeda in Iraq Patrols Fallujah; Aims for Ramadi, Mosul, Baghdad". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 "Special report - How Mosul fell: An Iraqi general disputes Baghdad's story". Reuters. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Insurgents fight Iraqi forces in city of Mosul". Reuters. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "Revealed: the Islamic State 'cabinet', from finance minister to suicide bomb deployer". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "Terror’s new headquarters". Economist. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  22. ↑ "Bombing of PUK HQ in Diyala leaves 18 dead". Daily Star. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  23. ↑ "Iraq crisis: ISIS militants push towards Baghdad -June 13 as it happened". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 "Iraqi city of Mosul falls to jihadists". CBS News. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  25. ↑ Sly, Liz; Ramadan, Ahmed (10 June 2014). "Insurgents seize Iraqi city of Mosul as troops flee". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Sunni Militants Drive Iraqi Army Out of Mosul". New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  27. ↑ "Half a million flee unrest in Iraq's Mosul". Al Jazeera. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  28. ↑ "Al-Qaeda splinter group captures Iraqi oil refinery town". CBC News. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 "Iraqi city of Tikrit falls to ISIL fighters". Al Jazeera. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  30. ↑ "ISIL fighters seize 48 Turks at consulate in Iraq's Mosul". Today's Zaman. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  31. ↑ "ISIL kidnaps Turkish consul, special forces, children in northern Iraqi hotspot". Hurriyet Daily News. June 11, 2014.
  32. ↑ "Insurgents overrun parts of Iraqi city of Tikrit". Trust.org via Reuters. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  33. ↑ "Iraq's Tikrit falls to militants: police". Daily Star Lebanon. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.