Quote: By Bill Roggio, June 10, 2014

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham seized control of Mosul, which is the provincial capital of Ninewa and Iraq's second largest city, after five days of heavy fighting with Iraqi forces. Mosul is the second major city to fall to the former al Qaeda affiliate this year.
Fighters from the ISIS took control of government buildings, including the provincial headquarters, as well as police stations and military installations inside and outside of the city, according to reports. Several police stations were torched by the ISIS. Some Iraqi soldiers and policemen are said to have shed their uniforms before fleeing their posts to avoid being captured and executed by ISIS fighters.

The ISIS has raised the black flag of jihad and "announced over loudspeaker that they had 'come to liberate Mosul and would fight only those who attack them,'" the BBC reported.

Usamah al Nujayfi, the speaker of Iraq's Council of Representatives whose brother is the governor of Ninewa, told Al Baghdadiyah Satellite Television that "the right and left sides of the city of Mosul as well as its districts and subdistricts have been completely occupied."

Nujayfi also accused Iraqi security forces of abandoning their posts and leaving weapons, ammunition, and armored vehicles behind.
"When the battle intensified inside the city of Mosul, these forces gave up their weapons and the commanders fled, leaving behind arms, armored vehicles, and locations for the terrorists," Nujayfi continued. "Mosul Airport and some aircrafts and command locations have fallen, not to mention arms warehouses. Prisons have been taken and the prisoners have been released." Some reports indicate that hundreds of prisoners have been freed.

Nujayfi also warned that the ISIS fighters are "now heading toward Salahaddin Governorate," and that the villages outside of Al Shirqat "have been entirely occupied."

It is unclear how many Iraqi soldiers, policemen, and civilians were killed in the latest round of fighting in Mosul.

The ISIS began its assault on Mosul five days ago, when hundreds of fighters entered the city in pickup trucks and attacked government installations and security forces. ISIS fighters took control of several neighborhoods, but the military claimed that it beat back the jihadists and killed 105 fighters as they retreated. Yet the military said that 10 percent of Mosul remained under ISIS control. Eighteen security personnel were reported killed on the first day of fighting.

Mosul was the last major city to serve as a bastion for the ISIS after the US and Iraqi forces launched counterinsurgency operations as part of the surge that began in 2007. By the time US forces left Iraq at the end of 2011, the ISIS was operating as terrorist cells in the city. Close proximity to Syria allowed the ISIS to continue operating in Mosul and the northwestern province of Ninewa. The ISIS began reasserting itself as the Syrian civil war picked up steam in the summer of 2011 and US forces withdrew from Iraq a few months later in December.

Mosul is the second major city to fall completely under the control of the ISIS this year. At the beginning of January, the ISIS and allied tribal groups seized Fallujah, the second largest city in Anbar province. The ISIS immediately imposed sharia, or Islamic law. Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, also briefly fell under the ISIS' control, but Iraqi forces regained much of the city. Other smaller cities and towns in Anbar are under the ISIS' influence.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/06/isis_take_control_of.php##ixzz34HtzJQe6

Quote:Turkey has been blamed by the Western allies of the Syrian opposition for backing Al-Qaeda branches and off-shoots including ISIL and shipping weapons but Ankara has denied such allegations to date.[SUP][36][/SUP][SUP][37][/SUP] Following large scale offensives into Iraq, ISIS is reported to have seized control over most of Mosul, the third most populous city in Iraq and its surrounding Nineveh province in addition to Fallujah.[SUP][38][/SUP]

Quote:While the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is fighting other Islamists in Syria's east it has gained enough resources to also launch capable attacks in Iraq. In January it captured Fallujah, a conservative Sunni city. Last week it attacked Samara and threatened to capture the Shia shrine of Imam Al-Hassan Al-Askari. The Iraqi army reinforced there. But that attack on Samara seems to have been a diversion.

Today ISIS set out to capture Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city. The government troops there were, allegedly, told to not resist or deserted and fled. ISIS took over prisons and police stations and released some 3,000 of the prisoners - many of whom will now join its ranks. It robbed banks and replenished its already large financial resources. It captured tons of new weapons, ammunition and trucks. The civilian airport is in its hands. Civilians are fleeing the city.

Prime Minister Maliki, with a yet unstable coalition after he won a recent election, has little capabilities to fight back. The Iraqi army alone is unlikely to be able to take on ISIS and the Sunni Anbar tribes that support it. The Iraqi air force is too small to make a difference. Maliki will have to resort to sectarian Shia militia and will have to arrange a new coalition with the Kurds. ISIS has helped him there as it recently attacked political offices of President Talabani, one of the two major Kurd leaders.

Iraq will need further support to push ISIS back. We may soon see some rather weird coalitions growing against it: Iraqi Kurds allied with Shia Iraqi Arabs and the more secular Iraqi Sunni tribes; the U.S. air force riding shotgun for the Iraqi military in coordination with special forces from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Without its bases in east Syria ISIS would be incapable to achieve such gains. This spillover of the Syrian conflict should be an alarm signal even Washington can not deny. The Syrian government troops will be needed to tear ISIS down. The U.S. must now turn away from the insurgents in Syria and support the Syrian government troops in their fight against the common enemy. Unless that happens the ISIS problem will only fester and threaten more states in the Middle East including Jordan and Turkey.

Quote:Just when one thought US foreign policy couldn't sink any deeper into the hole of its embarrassment, it takes out a shovel and starts digging. Overnight, in what AP describes as a stunning assault that exposed Iraq's eroding central authority, Al Qaida-inspired militants from ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, overran much of Mosul on Tuesday, seizing government buildings, pushing out security forces and capturing military vehicles as thousands of residents fled the second-largest city.

For those who may have forgotten, Iraq was one of those countries "liberated" by the the United States, which unlike Afghanistan where the opium trade is still important, did pull out its troops two and a half years ago.

The shocking takeover of Mosul took place months after Al Qaeda-linked fighers took over another Iraqi town, Fallujah, earlier in the year and which they have successfully defended against government attempts to reclaim it.

That however, was just the appetizer: Mosul is a much bigger, more strategic prize. The city and surrounding Ninevah province, which is on the doorstep of Iraq's relatively prosperous Kurdish region, are a major export route for Iraqi oil and a gateway to Syria.
"This isn't Fallujah. This isn't a place you can just cordon off and forget about," said Michael Knights, a regional security analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, cited by AP. "It's essential to Iraq."

The WSJ adds that hours after government forces fled Mosul in disarray following four days of fighting, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a nationwide "state of maximum preparedness" but didn't indicate whether government forces were mobilizing to retake the Iraqi city, 220 miles north of the capital Baghdad.

The capture of Mosul by rebels linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, is the latest evidence of the weakness and disorganization that have beset Iraq's security forces since the U.S. forces withdrew from the country in December 2011.

Residents of Mosul said they were shocked at the ease of the rebel takeover of government buildings, television stations and military installations where U.S.-supplied fighter airplanes, helicopters and other heavy weaponry are based.

"The whole of Mosul collapsed today. We've fled our homes and neighborhoods, and we're looking for God's mercy," said Mahmoud Al Taie, a dentist. "We are waiting to die."

Videos showed victorious insurgents waving black flags emblazoned with an Islamic scriptthe standard brandished by al Qaeda militants world-wide.
The biggest irony here is that while the US is arming "rebels" in neighboring Syria, among which numerous Al-Qaeda rebels, the weapons and the trained "fighters" then promptly make their way across the border and continue fighting the US-blessed government in Iraq!

Jessica Lewis, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, said ISIS fighters won a notable victory in Mosul.

"ISIS is designing its campaign around the state that it believes it has already created," said Ms. Lewis, currently research director for the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C.

"I think that means that Iraq is going to start to look more like Syria. It's a gauge of the severity of the conflict and the trajectory that it's on. That's a very bad sign."

The ISIS-controlled areas of Iraq.


And to think none of this could have been accomplished without the assistance of the US state department.

The Obama administration, responding to the fall of Mosul, said ISIS "is not only a threat to the stability of Iraq but a threat to the entire region."

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the group has drawn strength from the Syrian civil war, where it can acquire recruits, weapons and other resources for its fight in Iraq.

Perhaps miss Psaki should have answered questions about where the ISIS force was getting its weapons. The U.S.-trained and equipped Iraqi security forces, which have floundered since the U.S. pullout, haven't succeeded in thwarting ISIS's emergence as a formidable paramilitary force.
Below is a detailed narrative of just how Al-Qaeda managed to take over yet another garrison in the middle east:

Despite the security precautions, ISIS fighters raided the western half of Mosul early Friday, forcing military personnel and federal police forces to retreat over bridges to the eastern bank of the Tigris River, which divides the city.

For three days, residents in the eastern half of the city huddled in their houses and parceled out their ever-dwindling supply of food and other staples, as authorities tried to secure the city.

Mosul governor Atheel Nujaifi, appearing Monday evening on national television, made a desperate call for city residents to form ad hoc committees to defend themselves. But he fled on Monday night.

In the early-morning darkness of Tuesday, local resistance dissolved, as insurgents poured across the bridges separating east from west. According to witnesses, government soldiers fled on foot, leaving the streets littered with abandoned army vehicles, weapons and uniforms.

The vanquished soldiers knocked on doors and begged for civilian clothes, so they could escape without being identified, said Ahmed Khaza'al, a cosmetic dealer.

The victory by ISIS and its allies means they control sizable regions in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces. Upon news of Mosul's fall, fears of more fighting rippled across the country.

The US has pledged to help Iraqi leaders "push back against this aggression" as the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki asked parliament to declare a state of emergency that would give him extraordinary powers to tackle the crisis. The rampage by the black banner-waving insurgents was a heavy defeat for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as he tries to hold onto power, and highlighted the growing strength of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The group has been advancing in both Iraq and neighboring Syria, capturing territory in a campaign to set up a militant enclave straddling the border.

But the battle, for the time being, seemed to be over. Some police were discarding uniforms and weapons and fleeing a city where the black flag of ISIL now flew over government buildings.

"We have lost Mosul this morning," said a colonel at a local military command center. "Army and police forces left their positions and ISIL terrorists are in full control.

"It's a total collapse of the security forces."

[... Lots of videos and picture ...]

But the worst news by far for the US is that as a result of the takeover of Mosul by ISIS forces, an unknown number, and at least one, US ultramodern Blackhawk and Kiowa helicopters parked at the Mosul airport, are now in, you guessed it, Al Qaeda hands.


Thank you US State Department: once again, this smashing Al-Qaeda success could not have been achieved without your help.

Quote: عربات وملابس القوات الامنية في شوارع الموصل بعد تركها من قبل عناصر القوات الامنية/ صورة من موقع التواصل الاجتماعي (الفيسبوك)

ضابط في الشرطة الاتحادية يروي ما حصل في الموصل... القيادة أمرتنا بالإخلاء وترك المعدات


الكاتب: HH
المحرر: BS ,HH
2014/06/10 17:22
عدد القراءات: 6020

المدى برس/ بغداد

كشف ضابط في الشرطة الاتحادية بمحافظة نينوى، اليوم الثلاثاء، أن قوات الشرطة الاتحادية تلقت أمراً من القيادة بإخلاء مقارها في مدينة الموصل، مساء أمس، وخيرتنا بين ترك المعدات ونقلها، وفيما اكد أن عناصر الشرطة الاتحادية تمكنوا من التخفي مع الأهالي النازحين باتجاه إقليم كردستان، أشار إلى أن القيادات الأمنية "استقلت طائرات مروحية وفرت باتجاه العاصمة بغداد عقب صدور أمر الإخلاء".

وقال الضابط الذي فضّل أن نناديه "ابو احمد" في حديث إلى (المدى برس)، إن "الفوج الذي ينتسب اليه تلقى نداءات عبر جهاز الاتصالات اللاسلكي (الهوكي توكي)، من القيادة العليا بضرورة إخلاء المقار الامنية من دون تحديد المكان وخيرنا بين ترك المعدات وحملها".

وأضاف الضابط الذي يحمل رتبة مقدم، أن "عناصر الشرطة الاتحادية القوا ملابسهم وجميع معداتهم وارتدوا ملابس مدنية وتخفوا مع أهالي الموصل النازحين إلى مدن إقليم كردستان"، مشيرا إلى أن "القادة الامنيين كقائد القوات البرية الفريق اول ركن علي غيدان وقائد العمليات المشتركة الفريق الركن عبود كنبر فروا بطائرات مروحية إلى العاصمة بغداد بعد أمر الإخلاء".

وتابع الضابط، أن "عناصر تنظيم (داعش) انتشروا بشكل سريع في جميع مناطق المدينة ولم تكن هناك مقاومة من قبل القوات الأمنية"، مشيرا إلى أن "عربات الجيش أصبحت بيد عناصر التنظيم الذي احرق عددا كبيرا منها أثناء تجوالهم في المدينة وهم يحملون رايات (داعش)".

وكان رئيس الحكومة العراقية نوري المالكي قد أعلن، اليوم الثلاثاء، عن ان القوات المسلحة ستستعيد السيطرة على مدينة الموصل خلال 24 ساعة، بعد سيطرة تنظيم (داعش) على جميع مناطق المدينة.
وكان تنظيم "الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام" (داعش) قد أعلن، في وقت سابق من اليوم الثلاثاء، عن سيطرته على ثلاثة سجون في مدينة الموصل بعد فرض سيطرته بالكامل على المدينة، فيما أكد "تحرير" 3000 معتقل.
وكان رئيس الحكومة نوري المالكي قد اعلن، اليوم الثلاثاء، ( 10 حزيران 2014)، عن "حالة الإنذار القصوى والتأهب الشديد"، في جميع انحاء البلاد، فيما دعا البرلمان إلى "إعلان حالة الطوارئ".
كما اعلن المالكي عن "اعادة هيكلة الاجهزة الأمنية العراقية" ورسم خطط جديدة من اجل "تطهير الموصل" من المسلحين، فيما دعا الجهات الرسمية إلى "دعم همة المواطنين وابناء العشائر للتطوع" وحمل السلاح والاشتراك في العمليات العسكرية لدعم الدولة.
وكان رئيس مجلس النواب العراقي أسامة النجيفي قد اكد، اليوم الثلاثاء، على انه طلب من الإدارة الأميركية أن تتدخل في ما يحصل بمدينة الموصل ضمن الاتفاقية الستراتيجية، فيما أكد أنه يعمل على "حشد الرأي العام الخارجي والداخلي لصد هذه الهجمة".
واتهم النجيفي، اليوم الثلاثاء (10حزيران2014)، قيادات الجيش العراقي وأجهزة الأمن في الموصل "بالإهمال"، مؤكدا على ان القطعات العسكرية العراقية لاتمتلك أية معلومات استخبارية، وترفض التعامل مع المعلومات التي تزودها بها "ادارة الموصل"، وفيما اشار إلى "هروب القيادات وترك الجنود اسلحتهم"، حذر من امتداد المعارك إلى مناطق اخرى من البلاد بعد "سقوط كامل الموصل".
وأفاد مصدر امني في محافظة نينوى، اليوم الثلاثاء(10حزيران 2014)، بأن عناصر تنظيم (داعش) سيطروا على قاعدة القيارة الجوية، جنوب الموصل، بعد انسحاب الجيش من القاعدة، فيما بين ان المسلحين متوجهون الى قضاء تلعفر، غربي الموصل بعد انسحاب قوات الجيش والشرطة من القضاء بالكامل.
وكان مصدر أمني في محافظة نينوى، أفاد اليوم الثلاثاء،(10حزيران2014)، بأن تنظيم داعش سيطر على مطار الموصل الدولي ومعسكر الغزلاني بالكامل جنوبي المدينة،(405كم شمال بغداد)، بعد اشتباكات مع القوات الأمنية، فيما اشار الى أن مسلحي التنظيم اطلقوا سراح العديد من السجناء المحسوبين على الإرهاب الذين كانوا محتجزين في سجون المدينة ومراكز الشرطة.
يذكر أن مدينة الموصل،(405 كم شمال العاصمة بغداد)، شهدت في يوم الجمعة (6 حزيران 2014)، اشتباكات عنيفة بين عناصر ينتمون لتنظيم (داعش)، الذين هاجموا مناطق عدة من المدينة، والقوات الأمنية، سقط في إثرها عشرات القتلى والجرحى بين الطرفين، فيما تؤكد مصادر طبية في المدينة ان عشرات المدنيين قتلوا وأصيبوا اثر القصف بقذائف الهاون الذي تشهده تلك الاحياء، في حين اتهم مسؤولون بمجلس المحافظة القوات الأمنية بقصف بعض الأحياء السكنية ما أدى إلى نزوح سكانها إلى المناطق المجاورة ومنها سهل نينوى الذي يشكل المسيحيون أغلبية فيه.

Quote:Vehicles and clothes security forces in the streets of Mosul after leaving by elements of the security forces / image of the social networking site (Facebook)
Federal police officer tells what happened in Mosul ... leadership ordered us to evacuate and leave the equipment


Author: HH
Editor: BS, HH
06/10/2014 17:22
Number of readings: 6020





Long-Presse / Baghdad

Revealed an officer in the federal police in Nineveh province, said Tuesday that the federal police force has received an order from the leadership to vacate their headquarters in the city of Mosul, yesterday evening, and Khiratna between leaving the equipment and transfer, while stressing that the elements of the federal police have been able to disguise with people displaced towards the Kurdistan region, He pointed out that security leaders "boarded a helicopter and fled toward the capital, Baghdad, following the issuance of the evacuation order."

Said the officer, who preferred to Nnade "Abu Ahmed" in an interview to the (long-Presse), said that "the regiment to which he belonged receive calls via a communications Wireless (Hockey Toki), from the top leadership of the need to evacuate security headquarters, without specifying the place and given the choice between leaving equipment and carry them. "

He said the officer, who holds the rank of lieutenant colonel, that "elements of the Federal Police threw their clothes and all their equipment and wore civilian clothes and hide with the people of Mosul displaced to the cities of the Kurdistan region," adding that "security leaders as commander of ground forces Lt. General Ali Ghaidan and the commander of Joint Operations Lieutenant General Abboud Qanbar helicopters fled to Baghdad after the evacuation order. "

He said the officer, that "elements of the organization (Daash) spread rapidly in all areas of the city and there was no resistance from the security forces," adding that "the army vehicles became However, elements of the organization, which burned a large number of them while roaming in the city, carrying banners ( Daash). "

The Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has announced on Tuesday that the armed forces will regain control of the city of Mosul, within 24 hours, after the control of the organization (Daash) on all areas of the city.

The organization "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (Daash) had announced earlier on Tuesday, for control of the three prisons in the city of Mosul after the imposition of control over the entire city, as he emphasized the "liberation" of 3,000 detainees.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has announced on Tuesday (June 10, 2014), about the "state of maximum alert and high-alert" across the country, urged the Parliament to "declare a state of emergency."

As Maliki announced a "restructuring of the Iraqi security services" and draw new plans in order to "cleanse Mosul," insurgents, urged the authorities to "support the mettle of citizens and the sons of the tribes to volunteer" and bear arms and to participate in military operations in support of the state.

The Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama Najafi, had confirmed on Tuesday that he had asked the U.S. administration to intervene in what is happening within the city of Mosul, the strategic agreement, as he emphasized that it is working on "mobilizing public opinion, external and internal to repel this attack."

He accused Najafi, on Tuesday (June 10, 2014), the leaders of the Iraqi army and security forces in Mosul, "negligence", stressing that the pieces of the Iraqi military to not possess any intelligence information, and refuse to deal with the information furnished by the "administration of Mosul", and as pointed out, "the escape of the leaders and leave the soldiers, their weapons, "warned of a stretch battle to other parts of the country after the" fall of the entire Mosul. "

According to a security source in Nineveh province, on Tuesday (June 10, 2014), that the elements of the organization (Daash) took control of the base Qayyarah air, south of Mosul, after the withdrawal of the army from the base, among the gunmen Heading to Tall Afar, west of Mosul, after the withdrawal of military forces and the elimination of police in full.

A security source in Nineveh province, said on Tuesday (June 10, 2014), that the organization Daash dominated Mosul International Airport and Camp Ghazlani the entire south of the city, (405 km) north of Baghdad, after clashes with security forces, while noting that the gunmen organization freed many of prisoners affiliated to terrorism who were detained in the prisons of the city and police stations.

The city of Mosul (405 km north of Baghdad), witnessed on Friday (June 6, 2014), violent clashes between the elements belonging to the organization (Daash), who attacked several areas of the city, and the security forces, fell into the evacuated dozens of dead and wounded among the parties, while stressing the medical sources in the city said dozens of civilians killed and injured after a mortar shelling witnessed by those neighborhoods, while officials accused the provincial council security forces shelled some residential neighborhoods has led to the displacement of its population to the surrounding areas, including the Nineveh plain that Christians constitute a majority of the .

ISIL kidnaps Turkish consul, 24 others in Iraq: Police

ISIL takes more Turkish drivers hostage in northern Iraq as 500,000 flee Mosul

Peter Lemkin Wrote:They are gobbling up Iraq. ::hungry:: I just heard on Al Jazeera that they took another major city JUST NORTH of Baghdad!

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki: Mosul capture a conspiracy

Quote:

Mosul Seized: Jihadis Loot $429m from City's Central Bank to Make Isis World's Richest Terror Force

• 
  
• By Jack Moore
  June 11, 2014 11:12 BST
  

Civilian children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) in the northern Iraq city of Mosul.Reuters

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (Isis) has become the richest terror group ever after looting 500 billion Iraqi dinars - the equivalent of $429m (£256m) - from Mosul's central bank, according to the regional governor.
Nineveh governor Atheel al-Nujaifi confirmed Kurdish televison reports that Isis militants had stolen millions from numerous banks across Mosul. A large quantity of gold bullion is also believed to have been stolen.
Following the siege of the country's second city, the bounty collected by the group has left it richer than al-Qaeda itself and as wealthy as small nations such as Tonga, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Falkland Islands.

Richest Terror Factions in the World (as of 2011)
1) Taliban - $70m - $400m
2) Hezbollah $200m - $500m ($120m from Iran)
3) Farc - $80m - $350m
4) Hamas - $70m
5) Al-Shabaab - $70m - 100m
Source: Money Jihad

The financial assets that Isis now possess are likely to worsen the Iraqi governement's struggle to defeat the insurgency, which is aimed at creating an Islamic state across the Syrian-Iraqi border.
The Islamist militants took control of Mosul after hundreds of its fighters overwhelmed government military forces in a lightening attack on Monday, forcing up to 500,000 people to flee the city and Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to call a national state of emergency.
The militants freed up to 1,000 inmates from Mosul's central prison, according to senior police officials. They are also in control of Mosul airport and local television stations.

The prize: Kurdish television is reporting that ISIS looted 500 billion #Iraq dinars from Mosul banks. That's about $425 million
Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) June 10, 2014

They also seized considerable amounts of US-supplied military hardware. Photos have already emerged of Isis parading captured Humvees in neighbouring Syria where they are also waging war against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
US-supplied humvees captured by Islamic insurgents in the battle for MosulTwitter / @jenanmoussa

In a televised news conference, Maliki said "Iraq is undergoing a difficult stage" and urged the public and government to unite "to confront this vicious attack, which will spare no Iraqi."

For example, with $425 mill ISIS could pay 60,000 fighters around $600 a month for a year.
Brown Moses (@Brown_Moses) June 11, 2014

The US State Department has released a statement saying that it is "deeply concerned" by the Islamist militants' siege of Mosul.
"The situation remains extremely serious. Senior U.S. officials in both Washington and Baghdad are tracking events closely in coordination with the Government of Iraq," the statement read.
"The United States stands with the Iraqi people," it continued.
Mosul lies in northern Iraq near the Syrian border.Google Maps

Isis captured the city Falluja, 40 miles west of Baghdad, in January and currently controls large swathes of northern Iraq.
The Iraqi government has launched a number of failed assaults on the city leaving hopes of retaking Mosul slim.
An Iraqi army officer told the Independent: "We can't beat them."
"They're trained in street fighting and we're not. We need a whole army to drive them out of Mosul. They're like ghosts; they appear to hit and disappear within seconds."