New tactics for Mosul after offensive stalls for two weeks

DEBKAfile was founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service. March 25, 2017, 9:40 AM (IDT)

US and Iraqi commanders of the Mosul offensive, now in its sixth month, are planning a change of tactics, after being held back for two weeks from completing their capture of the western district. They were thwarted by ISIS snipers, car bombs and mortars fired from crowded residential areas in the narrow alleys of the Old City.

US Army Brigadier General John Richardson, a deputy commanding general in the coalition, said the solution could lie in a change of tactics. “They (Iraqi forces) are looking at opening another front to force ISIS to fight on two directions and isolate the Old City,” he said. “That is going to force ISIS to fight on two fronts, and I don’t think they have that capability,” he said. Meanwhile, civilians are streaming out of Mosul where hunger and deadly fighting are making life unbearable.

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