Coalition forces moved within 15 km of the northern city of Mosul yesterday amid signs that the Iraqi military's northern front lines are beginning to crumble and that the US is preparing for a big ground offensive, writes Michael Howard, in Harir, northern Iraq
Peshmerga troops for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), fighting alongside a US special forces unit, took control of a strategic ridge on Maqloub mountain early yesterday.
The assault was preceded by US air strikes and there appears to have been little resistance. There was no information about casualties or prisoners. Yesterday US heavy armour appeared in the north with tanks and fighting vehicles being flown in.
Maqloub mountain, 10 miles north-east of Mosul, is the last geographical barrier between Kurdish-US forces and Iraq's third largest city, said Mr Hoshyar Zebari, the KDP's foreign relations chief.
"This is our most important gain so far. The road to Mosul is now open militarily."
He said Maqloub had been vital for Iraqi defences against coalition air strikes and was the site of a big munitions centre. Retreating Iraqi soldiers abandoned radar equipment and many weapons, Mr Zebari added.
"The Iraqi army in the north seems to be very demoralised and their lines are beginning to break down right across the northern front-from the west to the east."
Mr Zebari predicted the northern front would become "much more aggressive" over the next few days.
Yesterday's advance toward Mosul came a day after peshmerga fighters, supported by US ground troops and air strikes, moved to within sight of the oil centre of Kirkuk.
A commander for the forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which controls the eastern part of the Kurdish self-rule from Sulaiymaniya, said the coalition now commanded a plateau 10 km north of the city.
"We have a panoramic view of the region," he said.
Kurdish-US forces are also advancing slowly on Kirkuk from the south-east, he said. "But we must be careful. Iraqis could ignite the oil fields like they did in Kuwait in 1991."
The US presence in the north was bolstered yesterday with the arrival of a number of tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, attack helicopters and other material at the Harir airstrip, 50 km north of the regional capital Arbil. Kurdish sources said more ground troops are due to arrive today and tomorrow, boosting their number to around 5,000.
The original intention for the northern front was to send around 60,000 troops into the Kurdish area from Turkey to mirror the coalition's push on Baghdad from the south. But following the Turkish parliament's rejection of the idea, the Pentagon's plan B was to deploy special operations troops and around 1,500 paratroopers alongside the 70,000 or so Kurdish fighters.
The new-look northern front has adopted a standard pattern: air strikes on Iraqi front lines to force a retreat, followed by Kurdish-US advances to occupy the abandoned territory. It is a tactic that has worked well.
But until now their combined strength has not been enough to launch serious ground offensives against the heavily defended cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. The US military build-up in the area could be a prelude to a ground assault on Mosul and Kirkuk, Mr Zebari said.
Kurdish control of the approaches to the cities may help those who want to escape. He suggested Kurdish soldiers could also "help to keep order in Mosul or Kirkuk if looting breaks out." Most observers here believe that Kirkuk rather than Mosul will be first on the coalition's hit list. "Mosul we have to leave till last," a Kurdish commander said.
"There is still some hardcore Saddam people there. It will be much more messy.
"In Kirkuk there is a large Kurdish population, and so it will be easier."
- (Guardian Service)