Iraqi Prime Minister Haïder al-Abadi has announced the start of the battle of Mosul. The mass of the Atlantist Press is rejoicing about the coming liberation of the city, currently occupied by Daesh.

In reality, the Iraqi army is only acting as a facade in this conflict. The real firepower belongs to the Coalition led by the Pentagon, followed by the anti-terrorist units (Special Forces) directed by the Prime Minister, and finally by the Shia, Kurd and Sunni militias.

The inhabitants of Mosul had welcomed the arrival of Daesh, and a good number still support them. However, this does not necessarily mean that they adhere to Daesh ideology, but see it as the arm which will help them recover the power they enjoyed before the overthrow of President Hussein.

In case Daesh should offer resistance, the Pentagon will have no scruples about indiscriminately bombing the 1.5 million inhabitants of the city. It has constructed an emergency camp to shelter 800,000 people who may flee the combat zone, but has provided nothing to take care of the wounded or to feed them.

In reality, Daesh should withdraw from Mosul and retreat freely into Syria, as was previously the case for Falloujah [1]. As from now, Washington might well accept civil peace in Syria and let Damascus worry about Daesh.

Translation
Pete Kimberley

[1« Washington ne combat pas Daesh, il le déplace », par Hassan Nasrallah, AxedelaRésistance.com , Réseau Voltaire, 14 octobre 2016.