Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Ninawa, Feb. 4, (VOI) – Anticipation dominates the picture of Mosul city nowadays. People there don’t know their destiny; a big military operation is at the gates of their old city, and they fear both the strike of the Iraqi army and the revenge of the armed groups.

Since the bloody explosion that took place at Al-Zenjeli district two weeks ago, western Mosul (capital city of Ninawa province, and 420 km to the north of Baghdad – capital of Iraq), preparations are moving on to carry out a tight security plan in Mosul.

Iraqi Premier, Nouri Al-Maliki, announced from Karbala province (110 km southwest of Baghdad) last week that the conclusive battle with Qaida organization in Iraq will be in Mosul city. And on last Saturday, Maliki flew to Ninawa province where he asserted that it is the time now to conduct the “conclusive battle against terror” in that province.

However, Brigadier Khalid Abdul-Sattar, speaker of Ninawa Operations Command, perceives “The security plan is not a conclusive battle against terror, but a plot to hunt Qaida elements in Mosul,” Abdul-Sattar said to Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI), and confirmed that the Command is coordinating with the Commander in Chief, Premier Nouri Al-Maliki, to proceed in applying the new security plan over Mosul city.

Prime Minister Al-Maliki supplicated all the Iraqi political forces and parties, along with Ninawa people, to support the Iraqi armed forces in their efforts to eliminate the armed groups in Mosul.

Ninawa governor, Doraid Kashmola, said to VOI commenting on Maliki’s visit to Mosul “Prime Minister Al-Maliki arrived to Mosul in order to discuss the details of the expected military plan with the security commanders at the province, and to evaluate the readiness of the Iraqi troops to hunt Qaida elements in Ninawa province.”

Ninawa Operations Chief of Staff, General Riyadh Jalal Tawfeeq, told VOI “Preparations are going on to conduct the new security plan of Mosul, and we are waiting for more troops to arrive to the city,” adding that the military units that recently arrived to Ninawa province are still based at the compound of Ninawa Operations Command, and were not distributed yet over the neighborhoods of Mosul city.

Despite that some Iraqi military commanders emphasize that the D-Day of this military plot is unpredictable, people of Mosul city expect that it would coincide with the first days of schools’ spring vacation, which is only few days from now.
A military analyst, who is also a resident of Mosul, sees that the security operation in that city will start after schools’ midterm exams.

“I think that the military operation in Mosul would start on Feb. 7, which is the first day of schools’ spring vacation,” the military analyst said to VOI on the condition of anonymity.

He added “Mosul, the city that is divided into two sides, eastern and western, by the Tigris River, will witness untraditional battles, and there will be no fronts of two engaged armies, but continuous operations of raid and seizing the ground.”
The analyst proceeded “Battles are expected to take place in the hot areas of Mosul city, such as the neighborhoods of Al-Tahreer, Saddam, Al-Intisar, Al-Wahda, and Sommer at the left coast, and the districts of Al-Yarmoq, Al-Islah Al-Zeraee, Al-Mosul Al-Jadeeda, Al-Sinaa Al-Qadeema, and Sabataash Tamoz at the right coast. In general, we have 10 hot areas in Mosul city out of more than 40 neighborhoods.”

Hot areas in Mosul are not entirely dominated by armed groups, according to that military analyst; militants “flee areas as soon security patrols emerge into them”. He attributed the current security problem in Mosul to the bad planning in distributing security forces in that city “Iraqi and U.S. militaries patrol in daytime, but at night, they stay in bases, and gunmen seize control over those hot districts.”

Until now, Mosul people didn’t recognize any distinguished military presence in their city. The military analyst asserted that the armed forces are still in their positions near to Mosul airport (southwest of Mosul city), referring that “The military operation will start from the right coast, and moves toward the left coast of Mosul.”

The military expert criticized the Iraqi government for announcing its intention to secure Mosul, explaining “That means gunmen will leave the city, for a period of time only, heading toward the Syrian territories, where they would get more logistical support, and after the end of the security plan, they will return to Mosul to resume their operations, and in a wider range.”
Mosul people have their concerns and fears in that regard.

Abu Saleem, an old retired man, said to VOI that the military operations in Mosul “will start immediately after the midterm exams of schools, and will coincide with the spring vacation. This is the only way to avoid harming civilians that have absolutely no involvement in all this.”

The old man added that Mosul people “hope that the coming military operation would bring security and stability to their city,” and proceeded “We know the safe-hides of terrorists in Mosul, but we are afraid to speak about them, because we don’t know what would happen after the end of operations.”

Um Ghassan, a housewife in Mosul, shares the same doubts with Abu Saleem. She questioned the ability of the new security plan to hunt down al-Qaeda gunmen from Mosul.

She told VOI “In each time there was a security plot, our hopes peaked that Mosul would be stable again, but things got worse after each operation.”

“I wish that my kids would finish their midterm exams first, and then let them do what they want as far as my kids are with me at home,” she said.

In Al-Thawra neighborhood, western Mosul, Ali (30 years) describes the situation there to VOI by saying “Since days, we have heard about more troops coming to Mosul from Baghdad, and preparations for a wide-range military operation here, but on the ground, we see nothing.”