Battered by U.S. airstrikes and persistent clashes between Iraqi and Islamic State forces, western Mosul has taken a beating over the past few weeks. Four months into the anti-Islamic State campaign in the city, Iraqi troops retook the eastern portion of the city and moved into the west.
Western Mosul is the core of the Islamic State's resistance. An estimated 2,000 Islamic State fighters are still in the area, along with more than 750,000 civilians, some of whom are suspected sympathizers of the extremist group. On top of that, the dense, cramped quarters of western Mosul's Old City present an urban warfare environment even more challenging than that of the city's east. The fight for western Mosul is a critical turning point in the operation to retake the city, and it is the most grueling battle yet.
The air power and artillery fire that Iraqi forces can bring to bear significantly reduce the Islamic State's chances of maintaining its hold on Mosul. But they have also taken a heavy toll on the city. According to several recent reports, at least 141 civilians were killed in the western Mosul neighborhood of Jadida in mid-March, around the time the United States launched a series of airstrikes in the area. An ongoing investigation into the incident has yet to rule conclusively on what the airstrikes' role in the casualties was. A number of houses in the neighborhood have partially or completely collapsed as a result of explosions.
Several high-ranking officials in the U.S. military have indicated that the Islamic State used Jadida's civilians as human shields. Others have raised the possibility that the jihadist group rigged Mosul residences with explosives and detonated them while the buildings' occupants were still inside.
The steep civilian price tag highlights the obstacles the Iraqi military — and the U.S.-led coalition backing it — have encountered in the operation to recapture western Mosul. Regardless, barring a military disaster, the question is not whether coalition forces will manage to rid western Mosul of Islamic State forces, but when — and at what cost to Iraq's military, Mosul's civilians and the city's infrastructure.
