Mosul: Town of Tal Afar in focus on western front Shia militia groups open new front west of ISIL-held city, blocking off potential escape routes to Syria. Mosul and Aleppo: A tale of two besieged cities We examine the difference in the coverage of Mosul and Aleppo. Plus, the Lebanese media mosaic.

Mosul: Town of Tal Afar in focus on western front

Shia militia groups open new front west of ISIL-held city, blocking off potential escape routes to Syria.

30 Oct 2016 12:19 GMT | Battle for Mosul, Iraq, Middle East

More to this story

• Iraq: Can Mosul survive ISIL?
• Why Iraq needs more than a military victory in Mosul
• Battle for Mosul: Who controls what

Mosul: Town of Tal Afar in focus on western front

Shia militia groups open new front west of ISIL-held city, blocking off potential escape routes to Syria.

The involvement of yet another armed force in the battle to retake Mosul from ISIL brings fears for the civilians caught in the crossfire [Reuters]

Iraqi Shia militia groups have launched an operation to retake the town of Tal Afar from ISIL and cut the armed groups's supply lines from Mosul to Syria, a spokesman said.
Forces from the Popular Mobilisation Units, a paramilitary umbrella organisation dominated by Iran-backed Shia militias, had largely been on the sidelines since the operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group was launched almost two weeks ago.

Battle for Mosul: Civilians flee homes

"The operation aims to cut supplies between Mosul and [ISIL's de facto capital of] Raqqa, and tighten the siege of [ISIL] in Mosul and liberate Tal Afar," militia spokesman Ahmed al-Asadi was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.
Asadi said the operation, which began on Saturday, aimed to retake the towns of Hatra and Tal Abta, as well as Tal Afar.
The operation could bring the fighting perilously close to the ancient city of Hatra, located northeast of the town of the same name, a UNESCO world heritage site that has already been vandalised by ISIL.
The fighting so far has mainly involved Kurdish Peshmerga forces, pushing from the east and northeast, and the Iraqi military and specialised counterterrorism units, pushing from the southern front.
The involvement of Shia militia groups in the Mosul operation has been a source of contention.
Rights groups have accused them in the past of committing atrocities when entering Sunni-majority towns, although some of top militia commanders insist they do not plan to enter the largely Sunni Muslim city of Mosul.

Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Arab politicians have opposed their involvement, as has Turkey, which has a military presence east of Mosul despite repeated demands by Baghdad for the forces to be withdrawn.
On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured that Turkey "would not look favourably" on an attack by the militia groups on Tal Afar.
The president also warned them against attacking Turkmen residents of Tal Afar during their offensive.

Why does the battle for Mosul matter to Turkey?

"If the Hashed al-Shaabi [Arabic term for Popular Mobilisation Units] sow terror there, then our response will be different," Erdogan said, in comments carried by the state-run Anadolu news agency, without specifying what measures would be taken.
Tal Afar was a Shia-majority town of mostly ethnic Turkmen before ISIL overran it in 2014.
Relations between the militias and the US-led coalition fighting ISIL are also tense, but they do enjoy support among Iraq's Shia Muslim majority.

'Wildcard'

Michael Pregent, Middle East analyst and a former US intelligence officer who served in Iraq, told Al Jazeera the militias' move was not sanctioned by Iraq's government.
He said the hope by Baghdad and Washington was that ISIL would use the western route to flee Mosul for a "final battle" later in its Syrian bastion of Raqqa.
"The Shia militias are operating outside the control of the Iraqi government. They're not responsive to US requests not to participate," said Pregent.
"The military operation wasn't to encircle Mosul, it was to force ISIL out into Syria. The Shia militias are blocking that now. It sounds like a good military tactic but it's not synced, it's not coordinated. And the Shia militias remain a wildcard, based on what they've done in Ramadi and Fallujah."
The Mosul offensive involves tens of thousands of soldiers, federal police, Kurdish fighters, Sunni tribesmen and Shia militias.
Many of the militias - considered to be backed by Iran - were originally formed after the 2003 United States-led invasion to fight US forces as well as Sunni fighters. They were mobilised again, and endorsed by the government, when ISIL swept through northern and central Iraq in 2014, capturing Mosul and other key towns and cities.

Mosul and Aleppo: A tale of two besieged cities We examine the difference in the coverage of Mosul and Aleppo. Plus, the Lebanese media mosaic. 29 Oct 2016 12:39 GMT | Media, Journalism, Battle for Mosul, Battle for Aleppo, Lebanon Mosul and Aleppo: A tale of two besieged cities We examine the difference in the coverage of Mosul and Aleppo. Plus, the Lebanese media mosaic. 29 Oct 2016 12:39 GMT Media, Journalism, Battle for Mosul, Battle for Aleppo, Lebanon On The Listening Post this week: How does coverage of Mosul and Aleppo differ? Plus, the Lebanese media mosaic. Mosul and Aleppo: Two cities under siege  With conflicts in the Middle East ongoing, it's up to the media to inform us about what is happening on the battlefield. Both, Mosul in Iraq and Aleppo in Syria are cities held by armed groups, surrounded by avenging armies and bombarded by international air power. But with all the geopolitics in play, reporting from the field is seldom black and white. Talking us through the story are: Dmitry Babich, journalist, Sputnik International; Howard Amos, independent journalist, Russia; Lina Khatib, head of the MENA programme, Chatham House; and Kim Sengupta, defence editor, The Independent (UK). On our radar: Hungary's largest-selling opposition newspaper, Nepszabadsag, has landed in the hands of an oligarch with ties to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling party. After the recent passing of the king, the Thai government is making sure that its lese majeste laws remain effective in the digital age - by asking Google to remove any content that defames the royal family. To avoid an alleged media bias, US presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign has decided to start reporting on itself - the daily 'Trump Tower Live' looks a bit like a 24-hour news channel with budget issues. Lebanon's media and the politicisation of a rubbish crisis Lebanon's media is crowded, diverse and highly politicised. We analyse the impact of the media's politics on its output. Our case study: Last year's protests over the rubbish crisis. It's a story of how a deeply divided media fractured the consensus on a civic issue - and the activists who are pushing for alternative narratives ever since. Talking us through the story are: Karma Khayat, vice chairwoman, Al Jadeed TV; Nabil Dajani, professor of communication and media studies, American University Beirut; Jad Melki, associate professor of journalism and media studies, Lebanese American University; and Habib Battah, editor, BeirutReport.com Source: Al Jazeera

Source: Al Jazeera News And Agencies

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