The apocalyptic scene underscores the sort of destruction that the militants are likely to wreak as Iraqi forces move toward Mosul, the biggest prize still held by IS in Iraq. Unlike previous ground assaults against IS in Iraq that left entire cities and villages emptied of civilians, thousands of civilians remained in Qayara as militants inside quickly folded up and fled, a sign of their weakening morale and damaged supply lines, commanders say. That means residents did not join the ranks of hundreds of thousands of people displaced by recent fighting with IS and now languishing in camps around the country. But the situation for the some 9,000 civilians still in Qaraya is precarious. The battle left the town without electricity and little running water, and the large international aid groups who normally help the displaced say they cannot deliver aid to people so close to frontline fighting.
Najim al-Jobori, the commander of military operations in Nineveh Province where Qayara and Mosul are located, said Iraqi forces are increasingly trying to keep civilians in place while pushing IS fighters out. The Qayara operation, he said, raises his hopes that the approach on Mosul will become increasingly easier as morale among IS fighters crumbles He said that previously when an airstrike hit an IS unit, the survivors would stay and keep fighting. "But now, you never see that anymore, they all just run." Hundreds of civilians poured out into Qayara's main street Sunday as a convoy of Iraqi officials pulled into the town just days after the military retook it. Some children rushed to cheer on the Iraqi army Humvees, other families peered cautiously from behind garden gates in the town, which before 2011 had a population of 79,000.
Oil wells on the edge of Qaraya Sunday August 28, 2016 burn days after the key town south of was retaken from the Islamic State group by Iraqi ground forces backed by U.S.-led coalition airpower. Iraqi forces retook the militant-held town Thursday as part of a number of operations Iraqi forces are carrying out around Mosul in an effort to isolate the city. Iraq’s prime minister pledges Mosul will be retaken this year.
Walls still painted with colorful Islamic State group instructions and warnings were only partially obscured with hasty swipes of paint. IS banners at the town's entrance stood shredded. Salim Atiyya, a government employee, said that initially in the lead-up to the military's assault on the town, planes dropped leaflets on his neighborhood telling residents to flee along a road leading west. But IS fighters immediately mined the road with roadside bombs. A few days later, leaflets were dropped telling residents to stay put. "At the beginning of course we were so scared," the 33-year-old Atiyya said. "We found the smallest room in our house away from windows and doors and we all moved into there," he said. Extended family members also moved in, seeking safety, and eventually "18 of us were all in that one small room," he said.
Warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition bombed militants in the town for three days, and then Iraqi forces moved in, recapturing Qayara with only minor clashes. The militants set fire to the oil wells initially to try to thwart airstrikes, but then as they realized they were losing ground they set as many wells alight as possible in an attempt to leave behind a ruined prize, residents said. After the militants fled, Atiyya said he and his family emerged and found the bodies of three IS fighters killed by an airstrike in the street in front of his home. "We took them and threw them in the garbage dump," he said, adding, "if you go there now you'll see it's filled with the dead from Daesh" - using the Arabic acronym for IS.
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Originally Posted by Ivan88
