|
|
|
Fighters are roaming the streets in Mosul (AFP).
|
Residents
of
Mosul
held their breath from Wednesday, November 10 to Sunday the 14th
as the city came under the control of anti-US fighters. At the
time of writing this, it is unknown who the fighters
are—whether they are Iraqi or foreigners—but they are
patrolling city streets. They have all but wrested control of
the city from US occupation forces. The
US
military said it had not left its bases in
Mosul
, but we have not seen any
US
soldiers or armor in two days.
There
is no government; there are no security forces. The people are
fearful of impending chaos.
The
city looks southward to Fallujah where a brutal American
onslaught has almost wiped out the city, and killed thousands of
people. We are getting reports that refugees, desperate to leave
the city, have been fired on.
Will
this be
Mosul
’s fate?
By
Friday, Iraqi police and national guardsmen had disappeared from
view and masked armed men were wandering freely the city. The
fighters had taken over almost all of the police stations,
procuring arms caches, releasing prisoners and burning American
flags. They hoisted Iraqi flags, which gave us some indication
they may be Iraqi and not foreigners.
A
main road to the local governorate and police station was
littered with roadside bombs, making movement in the heart of
the city hazardous. But everyone was staying at home, fearful of
any reprisal attacks or an aerial bombing.
The
attacks took everyone by surprise, not least of which the
city’s interim government, supported by the
US
army. Fighters armed with home-made rocket propelled grenades
(RPGs) jumped from behind trucks and popped out from behind
street corners to take shots at US armored vehicles, Iraqi
national guard or police stations.
In
one section of
Mosul
where I was sitting with a journalist colleague at a café
adjacent to a police station, we heard shouts from the outside
and saw people running. We came out and saw a masked man,
wearing the traditional Arab agoal carrying a rather large
improvised rocket of some sort. He stood there, almost appearing
to relish the attention he was receiving, and then he fired his
weapon. In an instant, the police station was engulfed in a
fireball which sent shards of glass flying through the air.
We
all fell to the ground. Cars were on fire, people were injured.
The fighter had disappeared.
The
type of rocket used was particularly powerful—much more so
than an RPG. We had heard reports that several ammunition
warehouses had been plundered in the days after the
US
occupied
Iraq
and that customized explosives were being made. This is how so
many
US
tanks have been destroyed.
Everyone
dispersed to their homes to tend to their families.
On
Saturday, the interim Iraqi government threatened to take back
control of
Mosul
and claimed it had amassed troops on the city’s borders. But
the city remained effectively calm.
On
Sunday, the first day of the Islamic feast `Eid Al-Fitr, we
awoke to renewed television transmission from
Al-Iraqiya/Ninevah—the local affiliate of the Iraqi TV. It had
been out of commission for two days after all the television
broadcast stations were hit by RPG fire.
The
television, which is owned by the interim government, was
appealing to the capital
Baghdad
to send more Iraqi security forces to take back the city.
Ironically,
this bloody first day of `Eid was greeted by Mosque clerics and
preachers with calls for resistance. We could hear them from the
loudspeakers on the minarets calling for all Iraqis in
Mosul
to resist the foreign occupation and fight a Jihad to liberate
the city at the same time that the television stations were
calling for a battle against the resistance.
Needless
to say, most
Mosul
residents were confused.
By
Sunday afternoon, the fighting had started. We heard of Iraqi
security forces, backed by
US
troops deploying in various parts of the city. Two police
stations were said to have been retaken from the fighters. It
seemed the fighters had a tactic, called by
US
newspapers bait and switch. Lure the enemy in by appearing to
withdraw, or disappear.
Then
they struck back. As Iraqi security forces set up roadblocks,
these fighters ambushed them and killed at least one security
soldier. The Iraqi security withdrew from the area and closed
off all roads leading to it.
US
helicopters hovered overhead.
These
fighters said they would execute anyone who helped the
occupation forces. We heard of some Kurdish officers being
killed but there was no way to verify it.
Interim
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has threatened to turn
Mosul
into Fallujah. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
Abdullah
Ghafar Al-Mosuli is an Iraqi journalist based in Mosul,
Iraq
.
|
