Driving out Daesh

The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service leads the fight to liberate the Mosul suburb of Bartella

UNIPATH STAFF

Located on the left bank of the Tigris River, the town of Bartella is considered the eastern gateway to Mosul. Its territory is a mix of plains and highlands and is surrounded to the north by mountains, including Mount Mar Daniel. Perhaps this mountainous terrain is the reason people have settled here, in what is considered an impenetrable fortress, since time immemorial. Bartella’s past is rich with history. Its churches date to the 13th century. Its inhabitants have for centuries embodied tolerance and peaceful coexistence. A majority of the city’s inhabitants are Christian, though Muslims, including Arabs, Shabaks and Turkmen, also live there. It is one of the most important cities dating back to the ancient Assyrian kingdom, and its name is associated with Al-Qosh, Bashiqa and other Christian villages in Mosul.

Daesh tried to upset this balance through ethnic cleansing, burning places of worship and resettling foreign fighters whose hearts were filled with hatred of religious and ethnic minorities. But the long nightmare finally came to an end, and the terrorists did not achieve what they had planned. Instead, they were defeated by the Iraqi Armed Forces, who raised the flag of Iraq over Bartella. The media cited a statement by Staff Gen. Talib Shaghati Alkenani, commander of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service, in which he announced to Iraqis and all the world:

“The district of Bartella has been completely liberated from Daesh gangs, and the inhabitants of Bartella and their churches, mosques and international institutions are fully under the control of Iraqi forces. The heroic counterterrorism force made a massive effort during this battle to expel Daesh and protect the lives and property of the city’s inhabitants. This city, which was considered the first line of defense in repelling our forces around the city of Mosul, is now in the grasp of the men of our counterterrorism forces.”

Unipath magazine met with Gen. Alkenani, who, with his typical generosity, supplied details about the battle to liberate Bartella.

UNIPATH: The liberation of Bartella garnered attention from local and international media, despite the fact that it was not the first city to be liberated. Why is that?

Gen. Alkenani: That’s correct, we’ve liberated a number of villages south of Mosul, and the heroes of the Iraqi Army and the federal police have recorded a number of victories in defeating Daesh on the battlefield. But [our victory in] Bartella was a shock to Daesh thugs because of its strategic location, and because it is considered one of the suburbs of Mosul, about 10 kilometers from the Grand Mosul Mosque. It has also received attention because Bartella is the home of Christians and other ethnic minorities, all of whom who have suffered at the hands of terrorists trying to change the social fabric, resettle foreign fighters and burn churches. For that reason, Daesh set up large defensive fortifications with the aim of repelling the attacks of counterterrorism forces. But counterterrorism fighters shattered Daesh’s dreams and scored a major victory, surprising observers and creating a local and international media event.

UNIPATH: What was the state of the city after you
liberated it?

Gen. Alkenani: Bartella was invaded by Daesh in 2014, a terrifying nightmare for its residents. They raised black banners over all of the buildings, broke the bells of the churches, and set fire to the crosses of churches. They turned churches into prisons and weapons caches. They degraded women and demanded people’s allegiance, forcing many Christians to risk their lives and flee under the cover of darkness or disguise themselves as Muslims. No one can imagine the bitterness, pain and fear experienced by our Christian brothers in Bartella.

In addition, the terrorists used many excuses to oppress Muslims, as well, including Shabaks and Arabs. The foreign fighters became a source of contempt and anger for the city’s inhabitants, as they insulted people, treated them with disdain, and acted as though they were the masters and the city’s residents were the intruders. The terrorists looted food from residents during inspection campaigns, leaving children to starve. For that reason, we worked with the local government to distribute food to the population before a humanitarian catastrophe occurred.

UNIPATH: How many people were in the city?

Gen. Alkenani: According to the official sources available to us, the number of the city’s residents used to exceed 60,000; it was a large city. But we found a much smaller number of people when we entered the city, since a majority of the population had fled. Daesh’s brutality made it nearly impossible to know exactly how many people remained. But after the liberation of the city, there was an atmosphere of fearful silence hanging over the streets.

Perhaps the reason was that the people feared the return of the terrorists, or perhaps the brainwashing they were subjected to during the last two years taught them to fear the Iraqi Armed Forces. In addition, terrorists had blocked satellite TV and radio, so citizens didn’t know what was happening around them.

Counterterrorism fighters were ordered to ring church bells and announce the defeat of the terrorists using mosque loudspeakers. In fact, it was the sound of the bells that demonstrated to residents that it was safe to go out into the streets and welcome the sons of the Armed Forces. The joyful shouts of men mixed with the songs of children and cries of women, and the people embraced the Soldiers warmly. There were tears of joy upon their liberation, and they told Soldiers of the enormity of what they had witnessed at the hands of the terrorists, which was worse by far than what the media had portrayed.

Happily, however, our people in Mosul have a high level of confidence in their security forces — and the seeds of distrust and sectarianism the terrorists tried to sow have disappeared with the final defeat and expulsion of Daesh from Bartella.

UNIPATH: How fiercely did the terrorists fight in Bartella?

Gen. Alkenani: Daesh thugs used highly experienced, elite foreign fighters in Bartella. They mobilized many groups of fighters and planted explosives on every street and in every building. They prepared an army of suicide bombers, deployed snipers, and dug many tunnels in their desperate fight for Bartella, a city of symbolic and strategic importance. The location and terrain of the city make it a defensive area that is difficult to storm from the outside, so it was Daesh’s plan to fight with all they had to protect the citadel. Their aim was to repel the attacks of the heroic counterterrorism forces and destroy our morale, but they were quickly surprised by our invasion and the toughness and cohesion of our forces.

After our men defeated the first line of defense, we could see Daesh beginning to crumble. But the Daesh thugs focused on placing snipers and suicide bombers inside the neighborhoods, so our forces had to be especially careful to protect the lives of civilians. The terrorists exploited this, since they already knew that we are committed to the rules of engagement and to protecting the lives and property of our citizens. Because our forces are professional, and Daesh thugs are simply gangs of killers, we couldn’t fight in their despicable manner. This sometimes slowed our liberation operations in populated areas.

UNIPATH: The media shows the remains of a church that Daesh burned. What is its significance?

Gen. Alkenani: This is the historic Church of St. George, which survived a violent history that included pre-Islamic turmoil and the Mongol invasion of Iraq and remained untouched and unviolated. But the barbarity and monstrosity of Daesh terrorists exceeds that of all of these groups, and they burned down this church. This tragedy proves to the civilized world the savagery of these terrorists. Daesh has tried to obliterate Iraqi identity by demolishing ruins and historical buildings. This church endured through multiple epochs and became a symbol of peaceful coexistence among the country’s citizens. Terrorists rip at the flesh of our nation and sow hatred and rancor between the factions of the Iraqi people, and these criminal acts are evidence of their bankruptcy and their defeat.

UNIPATH: How did the counterterrorism force perform?

Gen. Alkenani: Frankly, these are men of a special class; I am unable to find words to describe them. I am honored to be a part of this heroic force. Day after day, the men of the counterterrorism force prove that they are a strategic force that strikes with an iron fist against anyone who tries to threaten our national security. They acquired a very high level of expertise during the battles. Their performance in the battle to liberate Ramadi was outstanding and heroic, but I observed a notable improvement in their performance during the battle of Fallujah.

Now, in the battle of Mosul and especially in Bartella, I see in their operations the experience of more sophisticated armies. For example, they traveled from house to house wearing full equipment and carrying weapons, climbing walls and jumping over obstacles as if they were in a movie, having been trained for the scene several times. There is no doubt that the performance of these professional fighters confused the enemy, and its defenses crumbled against the progress and steadfastness of our fighters.

UNIPATH: Did civilians cooperate with liberating forces?

Gen. Alkenani: Iraqi people are open-minded and peace-loving, the inheritors of a long tradition of peaceful coexistence — this is the secret of our strength as a people. Iraqis reject foreign ideas that incite marginalization of others and the displacement of their brothers from other sects. This is what the terrorists didn’t understand. Since the fall of Mosul to Daesh, we have been receiving detailed messages from the people of Mosul about the terrorists’ crimes and their movements. When the operation to liberate Mosul began, the flow of information increased through cellular networks and on social media pages.

Most of what we received was subject to the analysis of intelligence and reconnaissance, and in most cases, the intelligence we gained was very important. We know the movements of Daesh, as well as the locations of their weapons caches and tunnels, thanks to the citizens. In Bartella, citizens played a huge role in guiding troops to houses in which terrorists were hiding and to bomb factories and weapons stockpiles in the area.

With their typical unscrupulousness, terrorists seized the property of people who fled because of their religion or ethnicity. They tampered with the property of both Christians and Muslims. Entering people’s houses without permission is a crime condemned by all the holy books, but just as Daesh finds false justifications for murdering innocent people, it also justifies these other immoral acts. That was what led to the residents’ clear rejection of Daesh, as evidenced by their communication with security forces and their welcome and support of troops who liberated them.