Tabnak – As the operation to retake Mosul from ISIS terrorists is still going on, concerns about the civilian injuries have caused the Iraqi and international forces to rethink their strategy. This is while the Iraqi forces have during the last weeks been successful to liberate most parts of the city.
According to a report published by NPR, The US and Iraq are changing tactics in the fierce battle against ISIS for the Iraqi city of Mosul.
The Iraqi commander coordinating the battle tells NPR the Iraqi military will slow an offensive pushing into the crowded old district of the city to try to minimize civilian casualties. The new tactics will mean fewer U.S. and Iraqi air strikes.
"We agreed among the commanders not to depend on the air strikes because that means we will maybe lose a lot of people," says Maj. Gen. Najm Abdullah al-Jabouri, head of the Ninevah Operations Command.
This is while according to al-Jabouri Iraqi troops have become in control over 90 percent of the "western axis”, and continue to advance in central Mosul. Troops are currently preparing to retake "the remaining regions where ISIS is positioned” in Tamuz, Refaie, Mesherfa and Hamodun districts.
In a separate report, the Los Angeles Times quotes Iraqi officials as syaing that they had removed nearly 300 bodies from the site of an apparent airstrike in west Mosul, the largest civilian death toll since the battle against Islamic State began more than two years ago and among the deadliest incidents in decades of modern warfare.
More bodies were being removed Wednesday as the US-led coalition investigated whether it was responsible, Iraqi officials blamed ISIS, and the injured continued to suffer.
The attack came after government officials urged residents at the start of the Oct. 17 offensive to stay in their homes. Responsibility for the deaths has been disputed, as has the number killed.
At the same time, More than 30 people were killed in an overnight attack by ISIS militants in the Iraqi city of Tikrit. A police source told the BBC that the militants targeted officers in the central Zuhur district, and then opened fire randomly at civilians nearby. At least two of them detonated suicide belts during clashes with police, which could still be heard after sunrise.
Along with several thousand civilians killed or injured in the battle for Mosul, the Iraqi military has also suffered heavy losses. US and Iraqi commanders say almost 800 Iraqi forces have been killed and more than 4,000 wounded. As they move further into West Mosul they have encountered more effective ISIS defensive lines. Jabouri estimates between 700 and 800 ISIS fighters remain in Mosul.
Iraqi and coalition generals, though admitting the difficulty of the battle for the western region, said ISIS powers were waning, and that its members had no choice but to fight to death.
The conflict in Mosul has displaced at least 430.000 since operations launched in October, with more than 200.000 having fled the western region alone.
