Iraqi army opens new front in fight for Mosul

TheU.S.-backed Iraqi offensive to take back Mosul from ISIS gained fresh momentum on Thursday, with an armoureddivision trying to advance into the city from the northern side.

The militants are now besieged in the northwestern corner ofMosul which includes the historic Old City centre, the medievalGrand al-Nuri Mosque, and its landmark leaning minaret, where the Islamic militant group's black flag has been flying since June 2014.

The Iraqi army's 9th Armoured Division and the RapidResponse units of the Interior Ministry have opened a new frontin the northwest of the city, the military said in a statement.

The attack will help the elite Counter-Terrorism Service(CTS) and Interior Ministry Federal Police troops who arepainstakingly advancing from the south.

• PHOTOS |Inside the fight to free Mosul
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"Our forces are making a steady advance in the first hoursof the offensive and Daesh fighters are breaking andretreating," Brig.-Gen.Yahya Rasool, a spokespersonfor thejoint operations command, told state television, referring to ISIS by an Arabic acronym.

Federal Police and Rapid Response forces advanced 1,400metres and keep pushing ahead in the Hulela area toward theHaramat district northwest of Mosul. They were trying to reachthe Tigris River bank and surround the Fifth Bridge north of theOld City, the Federal Police said in a statement.

A U.S.-led international coalition is providing key air andground support to the offensive on Mosul, ISIS's defacto capital in Iraq, which started in October.

Roadtorpedoes

It was from the pulpit of the Grand al-Nuri Mosque thatISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi revealed himself tothe world in July 2014, declaring a "caliphate" that spannedparts of Syria and persecuted non-Sunni communities as well asSunnis who did not abide by its extreme interpretation of Islam.

"An armoured division should not be going into narrowalleyways and streets but we will," said Lt.-Gen.Qassem al-Maliki, commander of the 9th Armoured Division.

"There are sometimes troop shortages or orders that requireus to do so and we will do our duty," he told Reuters in aninterview at a base southwest of Mosul.

"We will enter with Rapid Response forces and CTS and wewill enter as one front."

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The Iraqi army said on April 30 that it aimed to finish thebattle for Mosul, the largest city to have fallen under ISIS control in both Iraq and Syria, this month.

Defeat of ISIS in Mosul will not mean the end of thehardline Sunni group, which remains in control of parts of Syriaand vast swathes of Iraqi territory near the Syrian border.

Close U.S. support should help the involvement of thearmoured division and reduce the risk for civilians, U.S. ArmyLt.-Col.James Browning, the partnered adviser to theIraqi 9th Armoured Division, told Reuters.

"Everything I am trying to do is try to shape thebattlefield for [Maliki]," said Browning, a battalion commander from the82nd Airborne Division. "I am looking at trying to strike right in front of him aswell as deep, even into Old Mosul."

U.S. support is essential for getting rid of suicide carbombs, known as VBIEDs, driven by the militants as roadtorpedoes before crashing into troops.

• PHOTOS |Life under ISIS: Mosul residents reflect on a brutal occupation

A typical conversation between Browning and Maliki would golike this: "What are you seeing on the screen? Do you seecivilians?" Browning recalls Maliki asking.

"And sometimes I say 'yes' and he says 'don'tstrike.' I go through that process every time. We scan, we takea look, we make sure."

The war is taking a heavy toll on civilians trapped behindISIS lines, who are being used by the militants as shields.

Local officials and eyewitnesses have said as many as 240people may have died in March in the Al-Jadida district ofwestern Mosul, when a blast resulted in a building collapsing.

The U.S. military has acknowledged that the U.S.-ledcoalition probably had a role in the March 17 explosion, butsaid ISIS also could be to blame.