Operation Featherweight: Month 33, Week 1, Day 1.

In the summer of 2013 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were on the brink of defeat.

Despite intense international condemnation the Syrians had managed to restrict them to an area in the Euphrates River basin.

This would obviously be extremely bad news for any nihilistic organisation like ISIL which needs to continually expand and continually destroy. It was particularly bad news for ISIL whose motto is; "Maintain and Expand."

So in the winter of 2013 ISIL almost completely abandoned fighting in Syria and invaded Iraq's south-western Anbar Province instead. In the summer of 2014 ISIL invaded Iraq's north-western Nineveh plains region including the city of Mosul. That city went on to become ISIL's de facto capital within Iraq.

On October 17th 2016 (17/10/17) an operation was launched to take Mosul back from ISIL.

This was intended as a combined operation between the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga and the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) militias that function as part of the ISF. It is being supported by the US-led coalition - Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR).

The eastern side of Mosul was liberated from ISIL on January 25th 2017 (25/1/17). Following a planned operational pause an operation to liberate the western side of Mosul was begun on February 19th (19/2/17) with the ISF entering the city itself on February 23rd (23/2/17).

As with the operation to liberate eastern Mosul it is the ISF who have sole responsibility for fighting within the city. They have gone about this by attacking on two axis.

On the southern axis the Federal Police element of the ISF entered via the Mosul International Airport and Ghazlani Military base complex at the very southern tip of the city. On the south-west axis the Counter Terrorism Force (CTF/Golden Division) entered via the Tal al-Rayyan neighbourhood at the south-western tip of the city.

By approximately March 10th (10/3/17) the Federal Police on the southern axis had succeeded in liberating the government complex around al-Remah Square. This advance included liberating both the so-called; "Fourth Bridge" and the Hurriyah Bridge across the Tigris River and all the neighbourhoods south to the Ghazlani/Airport complex.

At roughly the same time on the south-western axis the Golden Division had advanced all the way to the several neighbourhoods that make up the; "New Mosul" district of the city. On March 8th (8/3/17) they had entered the al-Moalimeen neighbourhood which is the most western neighbourhood in the New Mosul district.

On March 14th (3/2/17) the Federal Police on the southern axis advanced to liberate the Corniche on the banks of the Tigris including the so-called; "Old Bridge." At the same time the Golden Division on the south-western axis completed their liberation of the New Mosul district including Mosul Railway station.

These advances meant that the ISF surrounded the southern portion of Mosul's "Old City" district on three sides; the east, south and west. In fact on March 14th (14/3/17) the Federal Police element of the ISF actually entered the al-Tob neighbourhood which is the most southerly neighbourhood of the Old City district from the al-Remah Square complex directly to the south.

Mosul's Old City district almost represents a city within a city and the battle to liberate it a battle within a battle.

Parts of Mosul's Old City district were first constructed during the Assyrian Empire some 4,000 years ago in the 25th Century B.C. However the majority of it was constructed a mere 1,300 years ago in the 8th Century A.D. As a result the Old City district is a warren of tightly packed buildings and alleyways to narrow to ride a horse down.

I'm sure this all makes Mosul's Old City a wonderful place to live or to visit as a tourists. However it makes for an absolutely horrible place to fight a war.

Elsewhere in the operation to liberate Mosul if the ISF encountered an ISIL fighting position they could simply drive columns of armoured vehicles at it and overwhelm it. Within the Old City they cannot do that instead having to take territory by winning one firefight at a time.

Amid valid comparisons to the World War Two Battle of Stalingrad the operation within the Old City has become almost a war of snipers. The ISF snipers have to wait for ages to get the shot needed to kill an ISIL sniper allowing them to advance a few hundred metres/yards at a time.

That progress would slow dramatically once the ISF entered the Old City district was well known in advance and planned for. So while it may look to a casual observer that the operation has ground to a halt it most certainly has not. In fact progress has continued at a steady if slow pace.

By March 17th (17/3/17) the Federal Police element of the ISF had advanced into the Old City from the Corniche. They succeeded in liberating Bab al-Saray Market area including the al-Pasha Mosque and al-Adala Street. This roughly 4kmsq (2.5 milesq) area is bordered by the Corniche to the east and Nineveh Street to the north.

To the south of the Old City the Federal Police element of the ISF have succeeded in liberating the al-Tob neighbourhood. They are currently fighting within the Kalakchi neighbourhood which sits directly to the west of the al-Tob neighbourhood. As of Monday (20/3/17) they are said to be approaching the Latin Church. This sits on the junction of Nineveh Street and al-Shaziani Street.

The ISF have made no secret of the fact that their immediate objective is to converge on and liberate the Nuri Mosque. Sitting on al-Shaziani Street to the north of Nineveh Street this is the site of the famous Hadbaa leaning Minaret and where ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave one of his sermons declaring ISIL to be a Caliphate and he its Caliph.

Amid such fierce fighting it is hard to accurately tell how close the ISF are to the Nuri Mosque. However they're estimated to be within between 600 metres/yards to the east and 750 metres/yards to the south. Someone pointed out that according to Google Drive this puts them within three minutes drive of the Mosque. However with there said to be some 1000 ISIL fighters guarding the Mosque I suspect it might take slightly longer than that in this traffic.

What I'd expected the Golden Division element of the ISF to do was to cross the Ramparts from New Mosul into the Old City and advance along Nineveh Street to converge on the Nuri Mosque from the west. However they have instead started to advance north adjacent to the Old City district.

Yesterday (21/3/17) the Golden Division succeeded in liberating the neighbourhoods of Risala and Nablus. These are the two most eastern neighbourhoods of what is often shown on maps as the Hay al-Yarmuk district. Containing the Alyarmook Park these sit directly north of the New Mosul district and south of the Hay al-Rabi district.

As with the operation to liberate Mosul's eastern side the first phase of the operation to liberate the west was to encircle the city cutting it off. 

On February 26th (26/2/17) the Iraqi Army element of the ISF along with the PMF launched an operation to tighten that noose. This was done by pushing north from positions around the village of Tal Zalat - roughly 20km (12 miles) west of Mosul - to the town of Badush which sits roughly 10km (6 miles) north-west of Mosul.

On March 14th (14/3/17) the ISF and the PMF had succeeded in fully liberating Badush and the surrounding area. From there the PMF have pushed south-east towards Mosul itself. Yesterday (21/3/17) the PMF succeeded in liberating the North Gate into Mosul on the Highway 1 H1 Mosul to Badush road.

At the same time the ISF element of the operation have advanced east from the Tal Zalat to Badush line into Mosul itself. Yesterday (21/3/17) they entered the Hay al-Nasr neighbourhood opening up a third axis within the city.

Despite these advances ISIL have not yet collapsed and continue to mount counter offensives. Yesterday (21/3/17) they launched an attack on PMF positions at Badush from the Badush hills to the north. This counter offensive was quickly repelled by the PMF.

Today (22/3/17) ISIL launched a counter offensive in the al-Dawasa neighbourhood. Liberated back on March 6th (6/3/17) this sits directly south of the Hurriyah Bridge road and the Old City district. Although I am still waiting for confirmation this counter offensive also seems to have been repelled.

As I was sitting down to write this news began to break of an apparent run-over and stabbing attack outside the Parliament building in London, UK.

In the immediate hours after an attack such as this it can be extremely difficult to tell what is going on. Therefore I decided that it would be a more productive use of my time to write this while awaiting for more information to emerge.

After all the best way to prevent terror attacks western cities in the UK, Europe and the US is to completely defeat ISIL and their associates.

17:45 on 22/3/17 (UK date).