A synchronized attack on ISIS militants by unknown persons in the city of Mosul suggests spreading unrest in the last large city held by ISIS in Iraq.
Local sources in Mosul have told Iraqi media that ISIS terrorists were shot at by unknown men in several areas in Mosul. ISIS has deployed its fighters in the city to find the shooters. This is the largest synchronized attack since ISIS occupied the city in 2014, Daesh Daily reported Friday.
Additionally, a local activist says coalition warplanes bombed an ISIS vehicle on Masaref Street in Mosul, and bombed the location two more times after terrorists gathered there, according to the Syrian news site ARA.
Former Nineveh Province Governor Atheel Al-Nujaifi, who commands the National Mobilization Force of Sunni fighters, confirms that attacks are taking place inside Mosul with increased frequency.
"There was an attack in the Old City of Mosul on Friday. A man threw a hand grenade at Daesh militants. He was captured, executed and his body dragged through the streets behind a truck," Nujaifi told the Washington Free Beacon by telephone Sunday. Daesh is an alternative name for ISIS.
"In another incident, an ISIS militant was shouting at a local woman who was not wearing her head scarf and an unknown man attacked the Daesh soldier with a knife," Al-Nujaifi added.
The news site Sumaria reported Friday that Daesh militia are looking for unknown people in Mosul who tore up Daesh posters and pictures of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in different areas in the city. There are also reports of firefights within the ISIS police force as tension mounts and morale for the ISIS soldiers plummets. According to a Friday report by the Iraqi newspaper Mada, seven Daesh terrorists were killed in internal clashes between Daesh’s Islamic rules police, the hisbah, and security members.
Some Iraqi politicians have predicted that an insurrection will break out as the Iraqi army moves closer to liberating Mosul. An MP from Ninewa, Ahmed Al-Jubouri, who also leads an armed group, told an Iraqi newspaper on Wednesday that "People of Mosul are awaiting the start of the Ninewa liberation operations in order to revolt against Daesh." He also says some of his fighters sneaked into Mosul city to carry out assassinations against ISIS terrorists.
ISIS executed four of its top commanders in a public square in Mosul on Wednesday, according to multiple sources, including Bas News, a Kurdish news site. The commanders reportedly were convicted by a Sharia Court for high treason on June 22nd and hanged in Mosul the same day, according to media reports. The executions follow the hanging or beheading of 21 ISIS commanders since April and the executions of scores of ISIS fighters charged with desertion or collaborating with Iraqi Army agents.
The Mosul incidents happened as major battles were underway in the northwestern tip of Saladin Province 140 miles north of Baghdad. The Iraqi Army’s elite counter-terrorism units are pressing into the city of Shirqat, an ISIS stronghold. They are supported by the 4,000-man 92nd Brigade, an armored unit including tanks and infantry composed of predominately Turkmen volunteers from Tel Afar, according to Dr. Ali Al Bayati of the Turkmen Rescue Foundation.
The Salahuddin Operations commander says his troops destroyed 30 ISIS vehicle bombs. ISIS media reported more than 10 suicide attacks in the Shirqat areas.
Nujaifi says the subjugation of Shirqat, will be followed by a campaign to liberate Qayara, an oilfield town of 80,000 people 60 km south of Mosul. After Qayara is secured, which he estimates should need only a few days, the full force of the Iraqi Army can turn toward Mosul.
"The Iraqi Army wants to capture the airfield at Qayara, much more than the city. But as the Qayara campaign gets underway, Daesh is expected to burn the oil field," Mr. Nujaifi said.
Mr. Nujaifi says that most of the elite fighters in Mosul, who are foreign nationals, have fled in recent days to the ISIS stronghold in Tel Afar, 30 kilometers west of Mosul.
Ali Sada, editor of Daesh Daily, contributed to this report.