Armored vehicles arrived in Mousl front to resume the fight against ISIS extremist group after days of suspension in the framework of the bombardment of a housing building leading to the killing of dozens of civilians. Meanwhile, Mousl’s Local Council described the military operations conducted in the city as destroying operations, warning that the destruction extended to 80 percent of the city.
Leader of U.S troops in Middle East Joe Fotil described the killing of a large number of civilians during airstrikes in Mousl as terrible tragedy, while he did not acknowledge that the airstrikes have been conducted by the International Coalition led by the U.S. He said, “We currently conduct an investigation over the incident. We resume taking exceptional measures to avoid targeting the civilians.”
The American leader blamed the extremists for using the civilians as human shields during the recent days, saying that the International Coalition coordinated with the Iraqi troops to take the measures aiming to reduce the suffering of civilians as much as possible.
According to the Iraqi authorities, over 200 thousand Iraqi citizens managed to escape from the western side of Mousl, while there are over 600 thousand citizens are still existed in the areas controlled by the extremists. Federal Police official said that over 80 armored vehicles have reached to Mousl’s Old City in preparation for resuming the military operations against ISIS. He signaled that the Iraqi forces will adopt a new approach to protect the lives of civilians.
On his hand, member of Mousl’s Local Council Zouhair Al Jabori said that the military operations conducted in the city’s right bank led to the destruction of the city not to liberate it from the grip of ISIS extremist group. He blamed the military operations for the killing of dozens of civilians.
He added that ISIS deals with the liberated areas as the territories of infidels, saying that they turn to bombard these areas intensively. He also criticized the Iraqi troops for the excessive use of heavy weapons, including the mortar shells, adding that they deal with these districts as open areas not residential ones.
Iraqi security forces started to deploy snipers on rooftops of buildings in western Mosul, in order to hunt down the Islamic State members, who are using civilians as human shields. Spokesman for the Joint Operations Command, Colonel Yahia Rasoul, said in a press statement that the Islamic State militants started to use civilians in western Mosul as human shields, and we are trying to shoot them by deploying snipers.
The army forces are advancing carefully to keep civilians safe, Rasoul explained. We are relying on light and medium weight weapons and tools, including sniping, to target the Islamic State members away from civilians, he further added.
Rasoul also accused the terrorist group of killing civilians, using booby-trapped containers, where its members gather civilians and force them to stay at specific houses, then detonate the nearby containers. Furthermore, Rasoul pointed out that the Islamic State is using this method to delude the public that Iraqi forces are targeting innocent civilians.

Source: Arab News