Battle of Mosul (2016–2017)
The Battle of Mosul (Arabic: معركة الموصل, Ma'rakat al-Mawṣil; Kurdish: شەڕی مووسڵ, Şerrê Mûsilê) was a major military campaign launched by the Iraqi Government forces with allied militias, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and international forces to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIL), which had seized the city in June 2014. The battle at the time was the world's single largest military operation since the 2003 invasion of Iraq and was considered the toughest urban battle since World War II. The operation, dubbed Operation "We Are Coming, Nineveh" (قادمون يا نينوى; Qadimun Ya Naynawa), began on 16 October 2016, with forces besieging ISIL-controlled areas in the Nineveh Governorate surrounding Mosul, and continued with Iraqi troops and Peshmerga fighters engaging ISIL on three fronts outside Mosul, going from village to village in the surrounding area in the largest deployment of Iraqi troops since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
| Battle of Mosul (2016–2017) | |||||||||
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| Part of War in Iraq (2013–2017) | |||||||||
Map of the advances by the Iraqi Army in Mosul city during the battle | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Supported by: Pakistan (intelligence sharing by ISI) Hezbollah Iran | Islamic State | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah (Commander of the operation) Lt. Gen. Talib Shaghati (Joint Military Command, ICTS) Maj. Gen. Fadhil Barwari (ISOF commander) Lt. Gen. Abdul Ghani Asadi (Mosul Counter Terrorism Service commander) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (Head of the PMU) Massoud Barzani (President of Regional Kurdish Government) Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend (CJTF–OIR commander) Muhammad Kawarithmi (Hezbollah commander of Iraqi operations) |
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Leader of ISIL) Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi (ISIL deputy, alleged involvement) Ahmad Khalaf al-Jabouri (military commander for Mosul) Aymam al-Mosuli † (Commander of the special security forces) | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| See anti-ISIL forces order of battle | See ISIL order of battle | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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Total: 108,500–114,000 fighters OP Inherent Resolve: U.S. Air Force
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6,000–12,000 militants (1,000+ foreigners) | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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900–1,200 killed, 4,000–5,000+ wounded 30 killed, 70–100 wounded 2 killed, 20 wounded 3 killed |
7,757–10,859+ (per Iraqi commanders during the battle) 16,467 killed (per Iraqi diplomatic official) 25,000+ killed (per top Iraqi commander) | ||||||||
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6,340 civilians killed and 17,124 injured (as of mid-March 2017, per observer Joel Wing) 8,000+ civilians killed or injured (as of 5 May 2017; per The Telegraph) 5,805 civilians killed (19 Feb.–19 June 2017, by Iraqi/Coalition strikes, per AI) 9,606–11,000 total killed (per AP) 40,000 civilians killed (per Asayish) 2,521+ civilians killed, 1,673 wounded (per UN) 2 French journalists killed 47 Iraqi journalists killed, 55 wounded (per Federation of Arab Journalists) 1 British journalist injured Displaced: 1,072,170 (per IOM) 920,000+ (per the UN and Iraq) | |||||||||
| a The Iraqi Government formally declared victory on 10 July 2017, but the fighting continued, with heavy airstrikes and shelling, until 20 July. The Iraqi military and CENTCOM said that these were "clearance operations." | |||||||||
At dawn on 1 November 2016, Iraqi Special Operations Forces entered the city from the east. Met with fierce fighting, the government advance into the city was slowed by elaborate defenses and by the presence of civilians, but the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared "full liberation of eastern side of Mosul" on 24 January 2017. Iraqi troops began their offensive to recapture western Mosul on 19 February 2017.
On 9 July 2017, the Iraqi Prime Minister arrived in Mosul to announce the victory over ISIL, and an official declaration of victory was proclaimed on 10 July. However, heavy clashes continued in a final pocket of ISIL resistance in the Old City, for almost another two weeks. It was estimated that removing the explosives from Mosul and repairing the city over the next five years would require $50 billion (2017 USD), while Mosul's Old City alone would cost about US$1 billion to repair.
The Battle of Mosul was concurrent with the Battle of Sirte (2016) in Libya and the Raqqa campaign (2016–17) conducted by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against ISIL's capital city and stronghold in Syria.