Insurgents seize Iraqi city of

Mosul as troops flee

Burning vehicles belonging to Iraqi security forces are seen during clashes between Iraqi security forces and al Qaeda-linked Islamic
State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, June 10, 2014. Radical Sunni Muslim insurgents seized control of
most of Iraq's second largest city of Mosul early on Tuesday, overrunning a military base and freeing hundreds of prisoners in a
spectacular strike against the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MILITARY)
BY LIZ SLY AND AHMED RAMADAN June 10
BEIRUT Insurgents seized control early Tuesday of most of the northern Iraqi city
of Mosul, including the provincial government headquarters, offering a poerful
demonstration of the mounting threat posed !y e"tremists to Iraq#s teetering sta!ility$
%ighters ith the Islamic &tate of Iraq and &yria 'I&I&(, an al)*aeda offshoot, overran
the entire estern !an+ of the city overnight after Iraqi soldiers and police apparently
fled their posts, in some instances discarding their uniforms as they sought to escape
the advance of the militants$
In Baghdad, ,rime Minister -ouri al)Mali+i announced a .general mo!ilization/ and
as+ed parliament to declare a state of emergency, saying the government ould not
allo the area to fall .under the shados of terror and terrorists$/
Iraq#s spea+er of parliament, 0sama -u1aifi, said Mosul, Iraq#s third)largest city and
the effective capital of northern Iraq, is no entirely in insurgent hands$
When the battle got tough in the city of Mosul, the troops dropped their weapons and
abandoned their posts, making it an easy prey for the terrorists, he told a televised news
conference in Baghdad.
All key facilities are now controlled by the insurgents, including the airport and the prisons,
said u!aifi, who is from Mosul.
"verything is fallen. #t$s a crisis, he said, appealing for international and government help to
retake the city. %aving these terrorist groups control a city in the heart of #ra& threatens not
only #ra& but the entire region.
#n declaring the state of emergency in a televised speech, Maliki called on all powers '
political, financial and popular ' to stop the terrorism and bring life to normal in the areas
controlled by the terrorists in Mosul or any other city.
%e said his government has created a special (risis )nit to deal with the situation and warned
that punishment would be meted out to those who were reckless and those who did not rise to
the challenge of the attack on Mosul.
*he speed with which one of #ra&$s biggest cities has fallen under militant control is striking
and suggests the ).+.,trained #ra&i security forces are even more vulnerable than had
previously been thought.
*he collapse of government forces in Mosul echoed the takeover earlier this year of the town of
-allu!ah in western Anbar province, where ).+. troops fought some of their fiercest battles of
the #ra& war in an effort to &uell the insurgents.
Mosul, however, is a far more important city, the capital of northern #ra& and a key commercial
and trading center. #t had also been an important focus of the ).+. military$s effort to stabili.e
#ra&.
*he capture of the airport, which had served as a ma!or hub for the ).+. military, could not be
independently confirmed, but u!aifi said it had been sei.ed and that all of the aircraft there
also were captured.
*housands of civilians had already fled Mosul after an initial assault -riday in which #+#+
fighters captured a number of neighborhoods. But the government appeared to be holding its
ground in the rest of the city, until late Monday.
*housands more fled overnight, most of them seeking refuge in the nearby autonomous region
of /urdistan. Among them was the governor of ineveh province, Atheel u!aifi, who is the
brother of the speaker of parliament. #n a telephone call with the Al 0a.eera television
network, he described a massive collapse of the #ra&i security forces.
As the #ra&i security forces unraveled, the insurgents advanced and rapidly sei.ed control of
key facilities in the city, including two television stations, two prisons and several police
head&uarters, according to #ra&i news reports. *he *witter account of the ineveh province
branch of #+#+ claimed that the group had sei.ed large &uantities of arms and ammunition from
the fleeing security forces. #t also said the prisoners at the facilities had been freed.
#t was unclear whether #+#+ fighters had managed to cross the *igris 1iver, which bisects the
city, and were also threatening the eastern bank, which is mostly /urdish. But it appeared clear
that the western bank, which represents the original heart and commercial center of Mosul, was
in insurgent hands.
*here was no immediate response from the government of 2rime Minister ouri al,Maliki, but
u!aifi said he had appealed to the government in Baghdad as well as the international
community for support to retake the city.
*his will reach every corner of #ra& if it doesn$t stop, he said. We need a fast reaction to stop
this terrorism.
*he capture of Mosul demonstrates that the insurgents now have the capacity to sei.e
strategically vital territory, positioning them to threaten other important areas of #ra&, said
(harles 3ister of the 4oha Brookings (enter based in 5atar.
#t also raises &uestions about the continued utility of sending ).+. military support to Maliki,
whose security forces seem simply to have crumbled. Maliki is urging the )nited +tates to
deliver more advanced weaponry, but #+#+ fighters have already been seen riding round in
).+.,supplied %umvees in other areas they control, and much of the weaponry captured in this
latest battle is likely to be American, 3ister said.
Washington will be &uestioning how to move forward in terms of supporting the #ra&i army in
its fight against terrorism, he said. "very time #+#+ captures territory, it$s a reminder that it
does so using weapons that have fallen into the hands of the forces the ).+. is trying to counter
in the first place.
#+#+ is an e6panded and rebranded version of the al,5aeda in #ra& organi.ation that the ).+.
military claimed it had tamed, though not defeated, ahead of the withdrawal of ).+. forces from
#ra& in 7899.
#+#+ has since significantly rebounded, aided in part by the rebellion in neighboring +yria,
which created a vacuum of authority and enabled the militants to gain a foothold beyond #ra&$s
borders.
#t is now channeling its efforts toward the creation of an #slamic state modeled on the :th
century #slamic caliphate, the system of governance that prevailed after the death of the prophet
Muhammad. ;ver the past year, #+#+ has consolidated its hold on a swath of territory in #ra&
and +yria that stretches from the eastern outskirts of the +yrian city of Aleppo to -allu!ah west
of Baghdad, where it has asserted authority by imposing a harsh version of #slamic law.
Mosul, located on the northeastern edge of the territory, is the group$s biggest pri.e to date,
underscoring the e6tent to which its e6pansion has gone unchecked since the ).+. military left.
"arlier this year, the leader of #+#+, known as Abu Bakr al,Baghdadi, publicly fell out with al,
5aeda leader Ayman al,<awahiri, who was harshly critical of some of the group$s e6treme
methods. *hough no longer directly affiliated with al,5aeda, however, the group shares
essentially the same goal of establishing a global #slamic state.