ISIS Uses Mosul Residents as Human Shields

A U.S. Defense Department official and residents of Mosul say that as Iraqi government forces and Kurdish Peshmerga advance towards the city, ISIS forces are using civilians as human shields. Reuters reports that there are indications that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, along with thousands of his forces, are in Mosul, and given this concentration of forces, the battle for the liberation of Mosul is likely to be prolonged. According to the report, Iraqi government forces and Peshmerga have reached positions 20 to 50 kilometers from Mosul. Meanwhile, residents in Mosul have told Reuters via phone that ISIS forces are preventing them from leaving the city and have stationed civilians in buildings likely to be targeted in airstrikes. Abu Maher, a resident living near the university in Mosul, told Reuters, "It is very clear that ISIS is using civilians as human shields by keeping them in buildings that are likely to be bombed." Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, also stated on Tuesday that it is evident that civilians are being used as human shields. He added that for several weeks, it has been observed that ISIS is preventing people from moving and forcibly detaining them, effectively blocking their exit from Mosul against their will. Jeff Davis referred to the battle for Mosul as "a dirty war" and said, "I can tell you that we have seen some very good progress so far, but this battle will be long, and expectations should not be raised because it is just the first day of operations." Meanwhile, as government forces advance, two international organizations warned on Tuesday about the potential use of chemical weapons by ISIS in the battle for Mosul. The International Red Cross and the International Organization for Migration stated that there is a high likelihood that ISIS will use chemical weapons against civilians. Robert Mardini, a spokesman for the Red Cross, said that the organization has trained its relief personnel around Mosul for such situations and has sent necessary equipment for medical facilities in the area. The operation to liberate Mosul began on Monday with the participation of 30,000 Iraqi government forces, Peshmerga, and Shia militias, supported by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition. Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, fell to ISIS militants in the summer of 2014 with minimal resistance from Iraqi forces.