Operation Featherweight: Month 36, Week 1, Day 3.

This really should be read as a direct continuation of Monday's (19/6/17) post; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/operation-featherweight-mon-35-week-5.html

In that post I covered how the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have lost control of all of the Iraqi city of Mosul save for parts of the Old City district. I also covered how ISIL have lost control of the 28,000kmsq (16,800milesq) of territory between Mosul and Iraq's border with Syria to the west.

It almost goes without saying that ISIL have not taken this string of defeats in good grace.

As I've mentioned on May 19th (19/5/17) ISIL were being liberated from the Hay 17 Tammuz district of Mosul. Their response to this was to set fire to a building in which 8 civilian families made up of a total of 23 people were sheltering.

This served absolutely no military purpose and was done purely out of spite. Due to the ongoing fighting it took four days for those 23 bodies to be recovered and buried.

Due to that and other similar incidents the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) have shifted their tactics within Mosul.

When the operation began back in October 2016 the focus was on getting civilians to remain within their homes while the fighting raged around them. The ISF have recently been much more focused on raiding house to help the civilians escape before trying to fully oust ISIL from an area.

However even this has brought risk to Mosul's population. ISIL want to use these civilians as human shields so absolutely do not want them to escape. Therefore as the ISF have move towards evacuations ISIL have intensified their use of snipers to shoot down the civilians as they flee.

This is a tactic that ISIL have been using throughout the battle for Mosul. However a particularly nasty period occurred at the start of June. Here ISIL snipers murdered 70 civilians fleeing the Zanjili district in a five day period. The bodies were left rotting in the streets until Zanjili district was liberated on June 5th (5/6/17) allowing them to be recovered.

The threat to civilians from ISIL snipers within particularly the Zanjili district had become so bad that on June 3rd (3/6/17) that the New Zealand air force were forced to drop White Phosphorus bombs to create a smokesceen.

Igniting on contact with moisture in the air White Phosphorus is an extremely effective way of producing a smokescreen. However because it also ignites on contact with the moisture in the skin it produces truly horrific burns. Therefore to use White Phosphorus in a populated area is an extreme measure that can only be taken when the risk to civilians from snipers is higher than the risk of them coming into contact with White Phosphorus.

Sadly in response to their looming defeat in and around Mosul ISIL's vengeance against Iraq's civilians has not been limited only to Mosul.

On May 29th (29/5/17) twin bombings struck Baghdad. The first targeted the al-Fuqma Ice Cream Parlour in the Karrada district of this city. This bombing killed 15 people and wounded 75. The second bombing targeted the Pension Office in the Shawaka district of the city. This killed 14 and wounded 37.

The bombing of the al-Fuqma Ice Cream Parlour was particularly spiteful because it occurred just after sunset on the second night of Ramadan. During Ramadan Muslims fast throughout the day and as soon as the sun sets they start feasting. In a very hot country such as Iraq and particularly if you have young children the first thing you want to eat is ice cream.

So the al-Fuqma Ice Cream Parlour was absolutely packed at the time of the bombing and was chosen specifically to kill young families as they were celebrating Islam's most important religious festival.

To their credit the staff at the al-Fuqma Ice Cream Parlour were able to re-open and was once again packed with families celebrating Ramadan on June 3rd (3/6/17). Just five days after the bombing.

On June 9th (9/6/17) ISIL conducted two further bomb attacks close to Baghdad. The first of these targeted the Iman Husayn Shrine in Karbala around 100km (60 miles) south-west of Baghdad. This wounded 5. The second struck a market in the town of Musayib around 70km (40 miles) south of Baghdad. This killed 21 and wounded 30.

On June 10th (10/6/17) ISIL launched a marauding style attack on the town of Shargat. This sits around 130km (80 miles) south of Mosul along the Tigris River. 13 ISIL fighters went on the rampage inside the town before being killed by the ISF. There is no word on any civilian casualties.

As I've said within Mosul ISIL are now just limited to the Old City district. Their defences seem to be centred around the Grand Mosque of al-Nuri which sits just north of the al-Shaziani/Nineveh Street junction.

Built in 1173 the al-Nuri Mosque is famous for its tilting Minaret which has been dubbed; "al-Hadba/The Hunchback." Some say that this 45 metre (148 feet) Minaret tilts because the Prophet Mohammad knocked into it as he was ascending to heaven. Others say it is bowing its head towards the tomb of the Virgin Mary which Iraqi Christians claim is in near-by Erbil.

The al-Nuri Mosque is considered of great importance to ISIL because it is where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave his only public sermon after declaring ISIL to be an Islamic Caliphate and he to be its Caliph. Technically al-Baghdadi actually made the declaration of the Caliphate in private in Mosque in eastern Mosul.

On March 17th (17/3/17) the Federal Police element of the ISF entered the Old City district from the al-Tob neighbourhood to the south and the Corniche area to the east. The then proceeded to advance north along al-Shaziani Street and west along Nineveh Street towards the al-Nuri Mosque. By May 4th (4/5/17) the Federal Police had succeeded in surrounding the al-Nuri Mosque on three sides.

On Sunday (18/6/17) the Counter Terrorism Force (CTF/Golden Division) element opened up a new axis entering the Old City from the north-west. Since then they have made dramatic progress. By Tuesday (20/6/17) they had advanced east along Nineveh Street to around 30 metres/yards of the junction with al-Shaziani Street and the al-Nuri Mosque killing around 300 ISIL fighters in the process.

Yesterday (21/6/17) evening ISIL blew up the al-Nuri Mosque. They claim that it was hit by a US airstrike. However I have seen footage of the explosion and it clearly shows demolition charges placed within the building being detonated in sequence. The wrong sequence I may add.

ISIL's defence of Mosul and the Old City in particular has been entirely focused on the defence of the al-Nuri Mosque. The fact that they have now destroyed it shows that ISIL's understand that they have no chance of defending it and will soon be defeated.

In short ISIL have decided that if they can't have the al-Nuri Mosque then no-one can.

Despite this loss of nearly 850 years of Islamic culture the Golden Division have continued their advance on the site where the al-Nuri Mosque used to stands. They now said to just be one street away.

On May 18th (18/5/17) I said I wouldn't be making firm plans for that coming weekend because the destruction of a single building could cause ISIL's defences in Mosul to collapse completely. Although I didn't name it the building I was thinking of was the al-Nuri Mosque.

As such I think the announcement that the battle is over and Mosul has finally and fully been liberated will be coming in the next three to four days at most.

17:25 on 22/6/17 (UK date).