The first full month of Iraq’s Mosul offensive saw a precipitous rise in the already high monthly death tolls for combatants that have plagued Iraq in recent years, with the UN figures showing 1,959 Iraqi troops killed in the fighting, along with countless more wounded.
Between Iraq’s military, militias, and the Kurdish Peshmerga, some 50,000 troops invaded the area around Mosul. The Peshmerga is reporting that they lost a large chunk of fighters by themselves, with 1,600 killed and some 10,000 wounded since late October.
That of course is only a fraction of the overall death toll for the month of November, as some 2,227 ISIS fighters were also killed. Among civilians, the UN only counted 926 killed, but the figure is actually several hundred higher, with the UN continuing to exclude deaths in Anbar from their official figure.
All told, that puts the death toll at 5,719 for Iraq in November, which is roughly in line with October. the November figures show a six-fold increase in Iraqi troop deaths, with ISIS casualties on the decline.
If you combine the Pesh losses with those of the Iraqi army, the count is 2600 anti-ISIS to only 2200 ISIS. ISIS is winning. In spite of massive air cover and advantages in equipment, ISIS is still winning.
These are shocking loss rates for a small army like that of Iraq. Neither the Peshmerga or the Iraqi army can sustain these numbers.
Does anyone see the difference between the “good” and “bad” combatants in Iraq? Quite frankly, I don’t see any.
the sad part is ten years on this is just the beginning, the status quo has been overturned and returning to the old balance is impossible.