Al-Hashed al-Shaabi speaker says Mosul battle could take months
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – The ongoing battle seeking to liberate the city of Mosul from Islamic State militants could last for several months, speaker of al-Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary forces said Tuesday as operations to recapture the city complete one month.
Ahmed al-Asadi told non14.net news website that “the closer the troops become to their strategic targets, the slower the operations will be.” He reiterated that operations will take “months rather than weeks”, attributing his speculation to the fact that “Mosul is home for more than 1.25 million civilians,” explaining that al-Hashed al-Shaabi’s top concern is to ensure the safety for civilians during battles.
“The closer we get to our strategic targets, the enemies change their resistance tactics by resorting to street battles, making use of buildings. We expect operations to maintain the current pace which has lasted for more than ten days.”
Also on Tuesday, al-Hashed al-Shaabi media body said the forces had liberated four villages on the western axis of Mosul, becoming 18 kilometers away from the airport of the strategic town of Tal Afar.
“Should al-Hashed forces take control of Tal Afar airport, that would be a prelude to the liberation of the whole town and the obstruction of a main ISIS supply line to Mosul,” read the statement.
The imminent advance to Tal Afar has been contentious over the past weeks, with Turkey voicing fears of possible human rights violations by the mostly-Shia al-Hashed al-Shaabi against the Sunni Turkmen residents of the town.
Asadi, however, said the militia would handle the town “accurately and sensitively” due to it’s complicated status. He accused Turkey of seeking “a pretext to intervene in Iraqi affairs,” accusing Turkey and Saudi Arabia of providing logistic and weaponry support for the extremist group.
“At every battle, we see new weapons for ISIS entering Iraq through the Turkish borders with Saudi finance. They have killed us with their money for years,” Asadi stated.