U.S. General: Liberation of Mosul Involves ‘Hardest’ Urban Combat in Recent History

 By Seth Robinson,

The operation to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul is the most intense urban combat anywhere in the world in recent times, Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, head of ground forces for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, said Wednesday.

Five thousand civilians and 1,600 Iraqi troops have been killed and injured in Mosul since the operation to retake the city began in mid-October, according to Iraqi officials.

Islamic State fighters, who occupied Mosul more than two years ago, have had ample time to turn it into a deadly urban battlefield. Besides intricately prepared defensive positions and tunnel networks, advancing Iraqi forces have had to contend with hundreds of armored cars and trucks bearing improvised explosive devices. These usually emerge suddenly from nearby garages and other concealed locations, leaving little time for troops to react with airstrikes or shoulder-launched rockets.

Such tactics have significantly slowed the Iraqi advance and drawn unfavorable comparisons to the recently ended campaign in neighboring Syria, where government forces and their allies drove out entrenched rebels from Aleppo after just five weeks of intense combat.