WASHINGTON — The reluctance of U.S.-led coalition forces and Shiite militias to work together is hampering Iraq’s efforts to defeat Islamic State, says the Iraqi general planning an operation to wrest Mosul back from the militant group.
“Each side rejects the other,” General Najim Abdullah al-Jabouri, 59, said in his first interview since being appointed commander of the Mosul operation on April 12.
He said the failure to adequately co-ordinate is reducing the effectiveness of U.S.-led airstrikes and the Iraqi government’s ground campaign against Islamic State, which seized Mosul and other cities during its lightning advance across the north last summer. Progress against the group has now “slowed,” al-Jabouri said.
Earlier this month, Iraqi forces, tribal fighters and Shiite militias backed by U.S.-led airstrikes began efforts to dislodge Islamic State from its strongholds in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, west of Baghdad. That followed Iraq’s first major victory against the group at the end of March, when government forces recaptured Tikrit. The offensive there exposed tensions between Iranian-backed Shiite militias and the United States, which insisted on militias withdrawing from front-line roles before deploying air support.
As al-Jabouri attempts to organize forces for the Mosul campaign, which Iraqi officials have said will follow the offensive in Anbar, he’s also meeting resistance from some political leaders.
“Politicians refuse the idea of involving the Hashd Shabi forces in the liberation of Mosul operation, even though their numbers are bigger than the Iraqi army’s and they have better weapons,” he said in an interview, using a local term for the Shiite militias. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will have the final say, he said.
About 70 percent of Mosul’s population of about 1 million, will rise up against Islamic State once the battle to retake the city begins, according to the general. When that will be, he couldn’t say.
“For us it’s very important that our back is secured before going to Mosul,” he said. “The Baiji refinery must be liberated and secured, Sharqat too, some parts of Salahuddin province also need to be secured first, we don’t want to go to Mosul while our back is open for the enemy.”
“We are not in a rush, we have to be careful for the sake of the civilians,” said the general, “I don’t want someone to say he liberated Mosul in two days but civilian casualties were high.” Al-Jabouri was previously police chief in Tal Afar in 2005 when he worked closely with U.S. forces in the city led by the-then Col. H. R. McMaster to oust Sunni insurgents.
Islamic State fighters are coming to Mosul from Syria in small groups so the coalition air force can’t target them, and move between cities in civilian cars to avoid detection, he said. They also hide in mosques, churches and hospitals because they know coalition forces won’t target them there, he added.
Such tactics are proving effective at stalling the Iraqi military as it struggles with “the financial situation of the country, a lack of weapons and ammunition,” al-Jabouri said.
— With assistance from Caroline Alexander in London.
