American forces imagined the Mosul liberation would drag to five to ten years and the imagination was due to their underestimation of the Iraqi forces and their dramatic image of Daesh power which would eliminate any possibility for liberation of the city from the Takfiri terrorist group.
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Hussein Rouyvaran, Iranian political expert on western Asia issues, detailed his views on features of Mosul liberation, victory of the people and also collapse of the Daesh capital in Iraq.
Q: What roles did the foreign and Iraqi forces played in liberation of Mosul?
A: In fact 99 percent of the achievement in Mosul liberation was made by the Iraqi forces and that was because of the limited cooperation of foreign forces and their measures, even in air force operation, was incomparable with the one carried out by Iraqi forces.
Some of those who had arrived in Iraq under the pretext of anti-Daesh campaign, including Turkey, did not have the least cooperation in this operation and that is the proof that anti-Daesh campaign was only a pretext for their presence in Iraq.
On the other hand it is noteworthy that the Federal Police, riot forces, Hashd al-Sha’bi and Kurdish Peshmarga forces were the key pillars of the armed forces in liberation of Mosul and vast areas in the north were retaken by Peshmarga while areas in the west and south were recaptured by Hashd al-Sha’bi.
This is while the combat inside the urban areas only riot forces and the Federal Police were involved which showed high capabilities in the war. Armed forces were mainly present in aerial operations carried out by fighters belonging to the air force though the ground forces were not involved due to the decision made by Haidar al-Abadi.
Clear and hold operation was carried out with utmost care meaning that the Iraqi forces did not directly head for the east but carried out the clear and hold operation in distinct villages in a 70-80 kilometers distance from Mosul and that is proof for a serious effort for the clear and hold operation which did not focus only on a certain spot but in a provincial scale.
Programming the operation and coordination of the forces, presence of the air forces as the support has been very important since these forces were in a coordinate operation and under the same joined chief of staff. They had carried out separate operations but cooperated in Mosul operation and this has boosted the solidarity of Iraqi armed forces to a high extent.
A very important point which should not be marginalized is presence of Iran. Hashd al-Sha’bi was trained by Iran, received arms from Iran and had serious presence in Iran’s headquarter; hence, the role of Iran should be highlighted as a domestic force and not an outside player. Certainly Hashd al-Sha’bi which was the most important force in liberation of Mosul could not make such an achievement without Iran’s support and Iran stood next to them with all its arm, training and programming capabilities.
Q: What role did the different Iraqi ethnicities play in this operation?
A: It should be noted that there have been both achievements and challenges in this regard. Kurds entered and liberated some areas including in Sinjar and Bashiqa though the first challenge following the liberation of Mosul is to push back the Kurds to Kurdistan.
Kurds have had paradoxical views in this regard. Masoud Barezani has said he would not pull back from any territory it has liberated but later on and under pressure he noted that the issue will be discussed with the central government.
The criteria are not optimistic since in Kirkuk, where their presence is to prevent the entrance of Daesh, they have hoisted the flag of Kurdistan contrary to opposition of the Federal Parliament and this might bring challenges in future.
Local forces including Izadi, Christians and Sunni forces have shown satisfactory cooperation and were supported by the armed forces and central forces and their presence in this operation provided the grounds for their integration with the military forces because that will lead to creation of a part of their forces in the city following the clear and hold operation.
Therefore, it seems that the stabilization of the situation is guaranteed since the regions previously held by Izadi and Christians are held by their own people and the groups who have contributed lives for liberation of the city show higher motivations in keeping the city away from threats of Takfiri infiltration.
Q: Apart from efforts to avoid casualties and financial losses, what other hinders dragged the operation so long?
A: American forces imagined the Mosul liberation would drag to five to ten years and the imagination was due to their underestimation of the Iraqi forces and their dramatic image of Daesh power which would eliminate any possibility for liberation of the city from the Takfiri terrorist group.
Though on the other hand, Haidar al-Abadi had vowed the liberation of Mosul for three months and that was a relatively big optimism. The operation started in January 2017, almost six months ago, and it was imagined to be finished before spring started. The operation however lasted for six months but the expectations by the US forces did not realize.
This operation proved the high capabilities of the army and Iraqi armed forces, particularly Hashd al-Sha’bi. Although all these forces were arrayed in a state of invasion their casualties were much less in contrast with the defensive state of the Daesh militants. These are all proof for the efficiency, precise planning and high capability of the Iraqi alliance.
What slowed down the operation was the civilians who were used as human shield by Daesh killing them whenever they made the least effort to escape the region.
Iraqi forces evacuated nearly 90 percent of the people in this city which was an admirable move. The fact that such a massive military operation saves the lives of civilians liberating them from Daesh is a great achievement. One of the expectations by the US forces was that if the evacuation operation quickened it would be followed by a massacre of the people and once the people stayed in the city they should have suffered turbulent situation.
We have been witness that the operation was quickened and the operation for evacuation of the people was successfully managed by the Iraqi forces, a reason for high capabilities in the Iraqi forces which has been ignored by the US forces.
On the other hand another reason for the sluggish operation was the troubles brought by US forces where they bombarded Hashd al-Sha’bi forces in Tal Aafr and Mosul and the move was announced to be a foul. Hashd al-Sha’bi criticized them and stressed its distrust of the so-called ally.
