British Army: Behind the Frontlines - The Battle for Mosul (S1 E1):-
A look at the heart of the British army. The army goes to Iraq, where they have a bloody history - 179 British soldiers were killed here between 2003 and 2011.When fighters with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria swept across Iraq in the summer of 2014, the largest prize they claimed was the city of Mosul. The jihadists forced the Iraqi military and a large portion of the city’s population and people to flee. With roughly 600K residents remaining, Mosul is the largest population center under ISIS control, a key source of prestige and resources and a living advertisement for the group’s claim that it is building a state.

In March, the Iraqi government announced the launch of a military operation to retake Mosul, but so far the campaign has only made incremental progress, reclaiming a series of villages with the help of the U.S. led military coalition against ISIS. The Iraqi military lacks the troops to launch a full-scale assault on the city, and in late May the government committed troops to a separate campaign to retake Fallujah, another key ISIS-held city that lies closer to Baghdad. Pro-government forces retook the center of Fallujah on June 17. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared on Twitter, “Fallujah has returned to the nation and Mosul is the next battle.”
But Mosul won’t be easy, and it’s not just because of the military challenge. The Mosul campaign is complicated by a political stalemate within Iraq. The military is expected to rely on powerful Kurdish militias to help pave the to Mosul, but the semi-autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq has yet to commit to the operation, claiming they are not properly equipped for an attack on the city. In Fallujah and other battles, the government has relied on Shi’ite-majority militias called “hashd al-shabi,” or popular mobilization forces. Prime Minister Abadi said in February that the militias would join the battle for Mosul, but to date none of them have been sent to the front lines approaching the city. Rights groups have accused some of those groups of of war crimes, and critics say that sending the militias into a Sunni-majority city like Mosul could cause further sectarian violence.

While the battle for Mosul has yet to begin in earnest, members of the Iraqi military, Kurdish militias, and the U.S. military are already fighting and dying in the battle against ISIS. Iraqi civilians are fleeing by the thousands, and hundreds of thousands of others remain trapped under ISIS rule. The jihadists continue to counterattack the opposing forces, harassing the troops holding the front lines.

#Army #UK #Syria
~ FORTH NEWS