Mosul has fallen

[Kutnupe14]

Fallujah is surrounded and cut off by Iraqi forces. Now the real battle begins. It'll be house to house combat and no mercy from either side and the civilians are caught in the middle.

Fallujah: Iraqi forces 'closing in' on ISIL-held city

I'd image that as the battle moves closer to civilian pockets, the civilians will turn on ISIS. Hopefully.

 

[mrjarrell]

Turn on them with what? Pots and pans and kitchen knives? All those poor folks are going to be able to do is hunker down and try to not get killed. There were already reports that IS had moved many people into the city center to use as human shields in the coming attack. The best those folks will be able to do is run and hope for the best.

 

[jamil]

Turn on them with what? Pots and pans and kitchen knives? All those poor folks are going to be able to do is hunker down and try to not get killed. There were already reports that IS had moved many people into the city center to use as human shields in the coming attack. The best those folks will be able to do is run and hope for the best.

I would think they'd try their best not to stand out, and especially not to be seen supporting either side. The wrong side might win.

 

[mrjarrell]

I would think they'd try their best not to stand out, and especially not to be seen supporting either side. The wrong side might win.

Given the true loyalties of some the Iraqi soldiers that's entirely possible.

 

[T.Lex]

IS conflict: Iraqi forces 'retake Falluja city hall' - BBC News

Iraqi government forces have retaken the main government compound in the city of Falluja from Islamic State (IS) militants, a top commander has said.

"Everything old is new again...."

 

[thej27]

Fallujah fully liberated from IS group, Iraqi commander says

 

[mrjarrell]

The battles for Mosul rage on and now IS has set fire to a sulphur plant that is making things rough for the people around there, as well as for US and Iraqi forces.

Mosul battle: Hundreds treated over toxic fumes in Iraq - BBC News

 

[Shalashaska]

I feel bad for the civilians that live there. Stuck under the oppressive rule of ISIS, now having to avoid becoming collateral damage. Sucks for them.

 

[Hohn]

We shouldn't have bothered in the first place, buy hey.. we had to "protect" all that oil... Saddam and his sons could have been removed with some well placed pavewayIIs... we all know the real reasons we were there...

Why protect the oil? High oil prices benefit us now more than harm us. That's why the Saudis keep pushing the price low. We'd get rich off high priced oil.

 

[T.Lex]

Battle for Mosul: High tensions as fighting continues - BBC News

The Current Battle for Mosul. What is this, the 3rd or 4th time this city has been lost/retaken in the last 3 years?

 

[T.Lex]

More from Mosul.

Daesh destroys an historically relevant mosque.

Battle for Mosul: IS 'blows up' al-Nuri mosque - BBC News

There's video of it, and it looks like a controlled detonation from inside. Multiple charges going off at the same time. No way it was a bomb from the air.

 

[T.Lex]

Battle for Mosul: Iraq forces repel IS counter-attack - BBC News

Update on progress retaking Mosul, including what I think is a FAMAS in the wild.

LOTS of unaimed counter-fire. I think I've heard of this as "Iraqi off-hand firing" or something.

 

[jamil]

What is FAMAS?

 

[T.Lex]

What is FAMAS?

French bull pup awesomeness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAMAS

 

[jamil]

D'oh! In a discussion about the ME it did not occur to me that this was a reference to that. I thought maybe there was an acronym for some new terrorist group pretending to be freedom fighters.

 

[T.Lex]

D'oh! In a discussion about the ME it did not occur to me that this was a reference to that. I thought maybe there was an acronym for some new terrorist group pretending to be freedom fighters.

Ha!

In retrospect, I can see that ambiguity.

Plus, frankly, it still kinda doesn't make sense how it got there, although there are some ME users - Tunisia, UAE, Lebanon, (sheik your) Djibouti.

 

[Thor]

LOTS of unaimed counter-fire. I think I've heard of this as "Iraqi off-hand firing" or something.

That's typical third world untrained military off-hand firing...or I'm going to hide then use all my ammo and run away third world combat technique. There's a reason these folks don't win wars unless they are fighting each other.

Also, the guy in the article who said this was the 'toughest urban warfare since WWII' obviously never read the after action report for Russia in Chechnya. Now that was some tough fighting.

 

[IndyDave1776]

That's typical third world untrained military off-hand firing...or I'm going to hide then use all my ammo and run away third world combat technique. There's a reason these folks don't win wars unless they are fighting each other.

Also, the guy in the article who said this was the 'toughest urban warfare since WWII' obviously never read the after action report for Russia in Chechnya. Now that was some tough fighting.

From what my dad told me, this may also have had something to do with our difficulties in Vietnam.

 

[T.Lex]

Also, the guy in the article who said this was the 'toughest urban warfare since WWII' obviously never read the after action report for Russia in Chechnya. Now that was some tough fighting.

Yeah, I take for granted a certain Euro-centric perspective on some things.

Having said that, I think our own Marines' struggles in Mosul back in the day rank up there with anything the Russians had in their counterinsurgencies. Arguably worse because of certain USian ROEs that the Russians don't really have.

But, that's not really to argue against your assertion. At a certain point, marginal increases in comparative hellishness become trivial.

 

[Thor]

From what my dad told me, this may also have had something to do with our difficulties in Vietnam.

Thankfully we backed that up with a lot of B52's, F111's, F105's, F4's, A4's, A6's, A37's and A1's and probably a few others.