Hard fighting, not fine words

There is no doubt that in recent weeks the Iraqi forces battling Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS) in Mosul have made significant gains. But the announcement this week that they had captured all of eastern Mosul was plain wrong. Media around the world flashed the news that the terrorists had been driven to the west bank of the Tigris with an army source adding that there was still a small pocket of resistance in the northeast of the city. This was untrue. What in fact had happened was that a special forces unit had battled its way through to the river in the southeast of the city, cutting off Daesh fanatics to the south. It was substantial progress but not the major victory that was first heralded. The Iraqi High Command has since issued a correction. War is an ugly business and it comes no uglier than with street fighting in a dense urban area. The Second World War’s bloody battle between the Soviets and the Germans in Stalingrad and the carnage in the 1937 fight between the Chinese and Japanese in Shanghai demonstrated the horrors of urban warfare. Against the determined and fanatical enemy that is Daesh, the cost in lives and destruction of property is immense. The defenders have all the advantages of long-prepared positions and carefully calculated fields of fire while the Iraqi troops and militiamen must edge their way forward under heavy fusillades and at risk of mines and IEDs. Clearing buildings one by one is a dangerous and difficult business and it only takes one hidden terrorist to be overlooked for a later deadly attack from behind. While full credit must be given to many of the Iraqi fighters in the frontline, there is less to be said for their leaders. Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has not distinguished himself with his optimistic and unrealistic prediction of imminent victory. He picked up this week’s report that his country’s forces had advanced to the Tigris and announced that the terrorists were in full retreat. Unfortunately for those who have to do the hard fighting in the frontline, this was not correct. Daesh killers are effectively surrounded in Mosul. But they have plenty of stores and ammunition and had been readying themselves for this fight for months. Even if the quality of the young dupes who have been lured into its ranks is now relatively low, Daesh is not about to run. Deceived by the blasphemous teachings of the terrorist leadership, these young men are nearly all prepared to fight and die where they stand. They are part of a death cult. Therefore, the task before Abadi’s troops remains immense and it will not be reduced one jot with empty rhetoric. Indeed, false claims of success could actually rebound and damage the morale of his men. They know that they are facing a foe of considerable resource that is using modern technology, such as commercially available and homemade drones to reconnoiter government positions and even drop grenades onto them. Mosul will be taken, in the view of some analysts, by the middle of this year, and the last fanatical terrorist will be destroyed. Nevertheless, this remains an immense challenge and an operation of considerable complexity. Wars are fought with bullets and courage in dangerous and icy frontlines, not with fine words pronounced in warm and comfortable buildings back in Baghdad.