Like Mosul, Like Aleppo

by Eze Eluchie,

The humanitarian disaster that will unfold in Mosul in the coming days is projected to be unprecedented in modern history. With the over 2 million residents of Mosul in its firm grip, the Islamic State (ISIS), notorious for its brutality in treating its hostages, appears set to go down in a blaze of infamy, drowning itself in the blood of innocent civilians under its control. Already, the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations operating in the area, have confirmed reports of mass killings of civilians, dumping bodies of decapitated children and women in rivers and other bestial acts as the liberation forces continue the sure and steady march towards liberating Mosul.

As the progress towards liberating Mosul continues, more evidence of the crimes against humanity being committed by ISIS in Mosul will be unearthed. The situation is made more delicate with the discovery of huge stockpiles of bombs tipped with chemical weapon delivery devices in some of the liberated towns around Mosul – a clear indication that ISIS has chemical weapons in its arsenal and will surely use same with devastating consequences as its control of the city is directly threatened.

With the array of military jets and thousands of tanks and ground troops assembled for the final assault on Mosul, the landscape and skyline of what was previously the second largest city of Iraq will certainly bear a grim resemblance to what has become the Syrian city of Alepppo. The resemblance Mosul will have with Aleppo does not end with merely the physical; it also extends to the tactics adopted by the combating units, the make-up of the combating units and the overriding end result that must be achieved at all costs.  

Like in Mosul where ISIS terrorists are holding the civilian population hostage and using them as shield against attacks from legitimate efforts at liberation, Al Nusra front and other Al Qeida linked terrorist are preventing civilians from leaving Aleppo, using such innocent civilians as human shield and as further fodder to vilify legitimate efforts at liberating Aleppo. Also, like in Mosul, the AQ-linked terrorist organizations (ignorantly referred to as ‘rebels’ in some media outlets) have been shown, in a United Nations sanctioned report, to have deployed chemical weapons in their ongoing quest to oust the Al-Assad regime – deployment which caused much sufferings and loss of civilian lives and a mistaken accusation against the Syrian government for using such weapons against its own people.

Also like in Mosul, the battle for Aleppo pits extremist Islamist terror groups against internationally recognized governments, in a manner that the international community must never allow the terrorists to claim victory. Just as Mosul must be liberated at all costs, Aleppo must likewise be liberated at all costs. The world cannot afford one inch of territory in the control of terrorists.

Picture: Mosul, just before it becomes like Aleppo.