Militants of the terrorist group "Islamic State" 1 (banned in the Russian Federation) continue acts of vandalism against the cultural heritage of the Middle East. This time, terrorists blew up the An-Nuri cathedral mosque in the Old City of Mosul, a famous monument of the Arab Middle Ages.
The Al-Nuri Mosque was located in the western quarters of Mosul, where terrorists fiercely resisted for a long time, using underground passages and concrete tunnels under Mosul. As seen on, made by correspondents Federal News Agency (FAN) in Mosul, the famous "humpbacked" minaret of the mosque was one of the key dominants of Mosul, from which terrorists fired sniper fire at the positions of the Iraqi army.
In addition, the An-Nuri Mosque in Mosul is one of the most important symbols for the Islamic State itself. On June 29, 2014, standing at the pulpit of the Al-Nuri mosque, the leader of the terrorist group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed the creation of the so-called "Islamic Caliphate" in the territories of Syria and Iraq controlled by IS 1. Three years later, Islamic State forces in the Mosul area control only the Old City. For a long time, government troops could not seize the initiative here, getting bogged down in narrow medieval streets. But, to all appearances, now the terrorists have finally lost faith in their victory in Mosul, having destroyed an important object for them with all their might, and hastened to blame the coalition aircraft for this atrocity.
Senior Research Fellow, Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Historical Sciences Boris Dolgov in conversation with Federal News Agency (FAN) called the bombing of the An-Nuri mosque by the militants an unprecedented act of vandalism .
“Islamic State militants have committed acts of vandalism before, for example, the destruction of historical monuments in Palmyra. But the blowing up of the An-Nuri mosque, in which the “Caliphate” was proclaimed, is already a fact that goes beyond the boundaries of what was done before even by ISIS militants ”1.
The expert notes that previously objects of material and cultural heritage that belonged to other confessions were destroyed, which was explained by the dogma of Tawhid - the unity and oneness of Allah. The dogma says that Allah is the only deity who can be an object of worship. But this dogma was naturally distorted by ISIS militants: they destroyed historical monuments that personified other confessions or other areas of Islam. And now the Sunni mosque of An-Nuri has been hit by terrorists.
“Of course, it must be said that the historical monument of medieval Islamic culture was destroyed. The fact that it was destroyed by ISIS militants, I do not regard as an act of despair or an end to the struggle. This action, in my opinion, was aimed at keeping the coalition and Iraqi troops out of this mosque. But this certainly testifies to the fact that the terrorists, resorting to such measures, are on the verge of military defeat. "
The FAN interlocutor, however, warns against victorious sentiments, since even with the military suppression of ISIS terrorists in the Old City of Mosul, the war with ISIS will not end:
"There will be guerrilla actions, there will be an attempt to create" sleeping "cells, redeployment of militants to other regions and other countries, so the issue of fighting IS is quite difficult."
Political scientist, director of the Institute of Contemporary State Development Dmitry Solonnikov commented on Federal News Agency (FAN), why did the terrorists rush to blame the United States after the explosion of the mosque:
“We see that now the war is going on in the information field. Not only IS, but also other structures use the created, "fake" news, trying to spread it through their channels. Until recently, Islamic terrorist organizations managed to make certain provocations, accusing their opponents of actions that they themselves committed. In this case, they tried to blame the US-led coalition. This is a standard technique that has been used many times and has been successful many times. ”
The expert reminds that the news of the provocation could also be beautifully filmed with the participating extras and paid artists. Such stories were actively promoted by the Al-Jazeera and CNN channels, glad that they had such footage.
“The mosque was already getting ready to be taken soon. As a strategic object, as an informational object, as a "center of power" for ISIS, it was already meaningless, and it was already necessary to get rid of it. They got rid of this way, killing two birds with one stone: they got rid of the object, and tried to blame it on the US coalition. But in this situation they were outplayed in the information field. "
1 The organization is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Cathedral Mosque of an-Nuri(Arab. جامع النوري ) is one of the historical mosques in Iraq.
Location
Features of the architecture
It is famous for its humpbacked minaret, convex to the east, which is the only part left from the original structure.
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An excerpt characterizing the Cathedral Mosque of an-Nuri
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Iraqi government forces, backed by a US-led international coalition, have broken through to the Al-Nuri Cathedral Mosque in central Mosul, the Iraqi army said. The military said on Tuesday they surrounded the jihadist citadel in the Old City of Mosul. According to the latest information, the militants have already blown up the famous mosque.
In the operation against the organization "Islamic State" (banned in Russia), the An-Nuri mosque is of great importance. Establishing control over it is the main goal of the Iraqi army in the Old City. IS militants captured Mosul in June 2014, and it was in the Al-Nuri mosque that the IS leader, during Friday prayers, announced the creation of a caliphate in the territories of Iraq and Syria occupied by jihadists.
Establishing control over the mosque would mean a symbolic victory over the group.
Now, according to a statement by the Iraqi military, the officers of the Counter-Terrorism Service are located 200-300 meters from the mosque. The international coalition reports that the Iraqi ground forces are located 300 meters from An-Nuri.
The Iraqi army estimates the number of militants remaining in the city at 300 people (at the time of the start of the operation to liberate Mosul in October last year, their number reached 6 thousand people). Iraqi officials have expressed hope that the mosque will be freed from jihadists by the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (this year in Iraq, the last day of Ramadan falls on June 25-26).
Earlier, the military planned to time the victory over the terrorists in Mosul to the beginning of Ramadan, the first day of which this year fell on May 27, but at that time government forces had just begun to seize the last enclave of IS.
"We attack [jihadists] simultaneously from different fronts to break them up into smaller groups and make it easier to fight,"
- One of the officers of the Iraqi federal police, whose forces are also taking part in the operation to liberate the Old City, told Reuters.
According to the Iraqi Defense Ministry, the military destroyed the militants' weapons depot next to the mosque, and also killed ten terrorists in its vicinity. Military aircraft also attacked a vehicle with three jihadists in the same area. According to local media reports, the military reached Al-Farouk Street, which leads directly to the An-Nuri Mosque. They also report that the militants executed some 150 civilians who tried to escape from the besieged area towards the security forces.
Earlier, the Iraqi authorities predicted that Mosul would be able to be liberated from IS by the end of 2016. However, the operation was delayed due to the fact that jihadists use civilians as human shields, and also actively use shahid-mobiles and lay mines around the city as traps.
The operation to free Mosul from IS began on October 17 last year. It is being conducted by the Iraqi army, together with the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Shiite militia. From the air, they are assisted by the military aviation of the international coalition led by the United States. In late May, government forces began to seize the last IS enclave in Mosul, which includes the center of the Old City and three adjacent districts.
On May 27, he reported that the authorities of the Iraqi province of Ninawa, the administrative center of which is Mosul, prohibited women from wearing the burqa, since terrorists could hide behind headdresses that hide their faces.
Local authorities also banned residents from riding motorcycles after 6 pm, and the owners of electronics stores were obliged to collect data on the buyers of mobile phones and SIM cards.
The liberation of the Old City was also complicated by its layout: the center of Mosul and the surrounding areas are narrow streets with buildings located close to each other. The entire Old City is full of alleys and narrow streets, along which jihadists move unnoticed. In addition, they dug holes between houses, from which they fight off the advancing government forces with mortar fire.
The militants covered many streets with large canvases of fabric in order to complicate the work of military intelligence operating from the air. It also made it difficult to advance military aviation, for which the primary concern is not to endanger civilians.
Since the beginning of the operation to liberate Mosul from IS, which has been going on for eight months, about 850 thousand people have left the city, which is about a third of its pre-war population.
In parallel with Iraq, the militants are also losing their positions in Syria. There, militias of the Syrian-Kurdish alliance "Democratic Forces of Syria" (SDF), with US support, are conducting an operation to liberate the city of Raqqa from IS, which until recently was considered the Syrian capital of militants.
Earlier in June, it was reported that the jihadists had moved their headquarters from Raqqa to the city of El Meyadin near the Iraqi border. All the key commanders of the group moved there, according to the agency's interlocutors. The city of El Meyadin is located in the province of Deir ez-Zor, the only region that is still largely under IS control. Government forces control only a small enclave in the middle of the province adjacent to the Euphrates River.
"This is an official recognition of defeat by ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation, - editor's note)," Iraqi Prime Minister Haydr Al-Abadi said about the destruction of the historic Al-Nuri mosque in Mosul.
But is it really so? And why is this particular mosque so important? Here are five things to know about the bombing of the famous mosque with its rickety minaret.
Why was the An-Nuri mosque so important?
In many ways, the An-Nuri Mosque was a symbol of Mosul even before the war. It is more than 800 years old, it was built in 1172 and named after Nur ad-Din Mahmud Zangi, who led his jihad against the crusaders. The mosque was famous for its rickety minaret, which Westerners likened to the "leaning tower" in Pisa.
The mosque was important to both sides in the war because it was there that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi decided to announce the establishment of the so-called caliphate in a speech given in 2014. It was there that he announced the creation of the so-called Islamic state - so the mosque can be seen as a kind of birthplace of ISIS in its current form.
Baghdadi delivered his speech after ISIS took over Mosul, Iraq's second largest city that summer. This was the first official speech by an ISIS leader in several years, and it was also his last speech. The latest available photographs of al-Baghdadi were taken at the al-Nuri mosque in 2014.
© REUTERS, Iraqi Military Handout The blown up cathedral mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul
Is ISIS admitting defeat by doing so?
Despite what the Iraqi prime minister said, ISIS usually does not admit defeat. She did not do it this time either. They deny blowing up the mosque and instead blame the American air attack.
But ISIS has previously destroyed or sabotaged cultural heritage sites or strategically important sites, perhaps most actively when the ISIS was pushed back by Iraqi forces. For example, in the city of Qayyara, south of Mosul, ISIS set fire to an oil field before being forced out of the city last fall. As a result, visibility became much worse, the Iraqi forces had much more difficulty.
According to many, the Al-Nuri Mosque is the most important goal in Mosul, not in a strategic, but in a symbolic sense - precisely because Baghdadi proclaimed the creation of the Islamic State from here. To win it back was, therefore, a great victory for the Iraqi forces; allegedly, the Iraqi authorities said that this is the same as regaining control over the city itself. Likewise, losing the mosque was a great symbolic defeat for ISIS.
According to the Iraqi military, they were 50-100 meters from the mosque when it was blown up. This can be interpreted as a signal from ISIS: "If we cannot maintain control of the mosque, you will not get it either." By blowing up the mosque, they prevented the photos of the Iraqi military and politicians from showing up inside the mosque, prevented them from declaring a great victory, what they would have done by recapturing the mosque, and they avoided the propaganda defeat that would have been the loss of it.
Thus, the explosion of the mosque shows in what corner ISIS has been driven. He says that the defeat of ISIS in Mosul is not far off.
Does this mean that the battle for Mosul is over?
Not yet, but surely it won't be long.
ISIS controls only a small part of the old city in West Mosul. On Sunday, Iraqi officers announced the beginning of a "final chapter" in their attack on the city, and Iraqi forces attacked the old city from all sides.
However, it will be most difficult for Iraqi forces to recapture this part of the city. There are densely populated narrow streets, making it difficult to attack from the air or using military vehicles, and Iraqi soldiers in some places have to move on foot. The offensive can become bloody for the civilian population. The UN claims that 100,000 residents are being held in the city as "human shields."
Nevertheless, restoring control over the old city, and, therefore, over all of Mosul, is a matter of time. Observers believe that after the bombing of the mosque, things could go faster than expected.
Context
End of ISIS - Long Live ISIS!
Al-Akhbar 06/14/2017Get ready - let's go to Mosul!
NoonPost 05/21/2017Americans in Mosul
Inosmi 14.05.2017Day of Wrath in Mosul
El Mundo 03/23/2017Is ISIS on the verge of defeat in general?
ISIS, without a doubt, has been very much pressed territorially, both in Iraq and in Syria.
While Mosul is the last large city to be held by ISIS in Iraq, Syria is attacking Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of ISIS. The American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) opposition group is reported to be making good headway.
But some territories still remain with ISIS, both in Iraq and in Syria. Over the years, the group has shown a great ability to survive, partly by changing its character. That may happen this time too, perhaps they will act more like a guerrilla group, but the likelihood is high that they will continue to be a source of concern in the Middle East. There are trends suggesting that while ISIS is losing territory in the Middle East, it will increasingly focus on attacks in the West.
What if the mosque was not blown up by ISIS?
According to Iraqi forces, ISIS planted explosives in the mosque. Since the start of the offensive on Mosul last year, there have been stories of ISIS doing it precisely because it did not want to see the mosque return to the hands of the Iraqi authorities.
ISIS, however, denies blowing up the mosque. ISIS website Amaq claims the mosque was destroyed in an American air raid. But in the video, which allegedly depicts the explosion of the mosque, there is no indication that what blew up the mosque was dropped from the air. On the contrary: it looks like the explosives were inside.
Americans also deny that the destruction of the mosque was their work.
“At the time, we were not carrying out any air operations in the area,” said Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the anti-ISIS coalition.
When it comes to a war in which an American-led coalition has inflicted great destruction and many lives in air attacks, nothing can be ruled out. However, the likelihood is high that it is still ISIS. It is ISIS that benefits the most from the destruction of the mosque. While it would be a big victory for the Americans and Iraqis to reclaim the mosque.
InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign mass media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial board.
