By Emily Anagnostos and the ISW Iraq Team
TheIraqi Security Forces (ISF) is rapidly consolidating control over eastern Mosulfollowing a major push from January 10 to 18. The ISF has extended its controlalong the Tigris River and recaptured the University of Mosul, once ISIS’smajor logistical hub in the city.
The ISF isnearing the end of operations in eastern Mosul after a major push from January10 to 18 to recapture several remaining neighborhoods and the University ofMosul. The Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), the ISF’s elite urban warfareunits, advanced two efforts to clear the University of Mosul and to extend theISF’s control of the Tigris River. The CTS officially announced control over theuniversity on January 15, after storming it two daysprior, and continued to advance north along the river bank, seizing twoadditional bridges and key governmentbuildings on January 13.
Meanwhile, theIraqi Army (IA) and Federal Police are consolidating gains in northern andsoutheastern Iraq. The Iraqi Army is advancing west along Mosul’s northern citylimit towards the remaining ISIS-held areas in eastern Mosul. Federal Policeand Iraqi Army units announced on January 14 full control of southeastern Mosulwith the recapture of Yarmjah andthe southeastern countryside with the recapture of Qiz Fakhri,the last ISIS-held village on the eastern bank. The Federal Police announcedthe same day the completion of its mission insoutheastern Mosul and that its units will return to thesouthern axis in order to resume efforts to break into the Mosul airport andsouthern military base. This effort will likely occur in synchronization as theISF cross the Tigris River into western Mosul, though no timeline has yet been given.
Recent reinforcements and increased Coalition advisorsenabled these quick advances, though it is also likely that ISIS did not resistthe ISF to the same extent as in the early stages of the city battle. Thedestruction of the five bridges spanning the Tigris River by Coalition airstrikes has likelylimited ISIS’s mobility between east and west Mosul, hurting its ability toreinforce and resupply its fighters in the east. Pentagon spokesman Capt. JeffDavis stated on January 9 that ISIS has resorted to makeshift means, including planks and cranes, to move people and equipmentinto eastern Mosul. The ISF is therefore facing an enemy incapable ofregenerating its ranks as it takes losses. ISIS may have already withdrawn themajority of its fighters from eastern Mosul, as well, in order to limit itscasualties in the face of growing ISF momentum.
ISF operations in western Mosul will require a change in tactic.The block-by-block method of clearing eastern Mosul will not be effective inthe west because its infrastructure is not laid out by city blocks. ISIS willuse western Mosul’s narrow and winding streets to challenge less-experiencedISF units, such as the Iraqi Army. The group may rely more on the city’s infrastructurefor static defenses, as it did in Ramadi, in order to stave of its imminent lossof the city. Lessons learned from eastern Mosul, however, such as the need for cross-axiscoordination, will help the ISF rebuff ISIS’s defenses and ensure thatoperations in western Mosul are smoother than the stop-and-go progress thatprotracted operations in the east.
