Mosul beckons
It will not be easy to retake Iraq’s second city
IN A barren military camp near Mosul in Iraq, 500 balaclava-clad men train for urban warfare under the watchful eye of their leader, a former general in Saddam Hussein’s army. They are among 4,000 volunteers for the National Mobilisation Unit, a multi-ethnic force being assembled by Atheel al-Nujaifi, the governor of Mosul’s Nineveh province.
The men are preparing to be deployed to keep the peace in Mosul, if and when Iraq’s second city is retaken from Islamic State (IS). They would replace the police and military forces that melted away in the face of the jihadists’ onslaught last June. A combination of Iraqi soldiers, mainly Iranian-backed Shia militiamen and American air power recaptured Tikrit on March 31st. Now Mosul beckons.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline "Mosul beckons"
From the April 11th 2015 edition
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