With ISIS having committed most of its defenses to the larger western half of Mosul, Iraq committed a lot of its special forces in the invasion toward the eastern side, with the expectation that they could take the whole eastern shore of the Tigris River before moving west into what was left.
With Iraqi forces trickling into the eastern districts, however, ISIS is not simply staying put and waiting for that to happen, but rather shifting significant amounts of their defensive forces into eastern Mosul to resist the offensive.
That was an eventuality that Iraqi forces appear to have been totally unprepared for, with indications that there are no offensive forces anywhere near western Mosul, and nothing to prevent ISIS from concentrating its defensive forces on the limited portions of the city facing direct attack.
While officials say the recent defenses in western Mosul were weakening, they say this influx is likely to bring more of ISIS’ best, most battle-hardened fighters into the area, potentially dramatically slowing the Iraqi military’s advance, which was already struggling with a broadening front line and only a fraction of Iraqi troops prepared and equipped for the urban combat that was inevitable to invading such a major city.
I have to wonder if this article is really based on fact. Given the years of urban combat experience that Iraqi commanders have, and given the fact that more experienced and expert American commanders have reportedly been advising the Iraqis from prior to the actual beginning of this long-planned assault on Iraq’s second largest city, it does not seem possible that the Iraqi commanderss did not anticipate the very simple tactics that ISIS forces are now pursuing. What sources is the author relying upon for this article? I don’t think that “officials say” is sufficient to explain how this incredible situation could be happening.