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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2016)
NATION/WORLD Tuesday, October 18, 2016 East Oregonian Iraqis push toward ISIS-held Mosul in long-awaited offensive Backed by U.S. airstrikes, artillery bombardments KHAZER, Iraq (AP) — The long-awaited offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group began Monday with a volley of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and heavy artillery bombardments on a cluster of villages along the edge of Iraq’s historic Nineveh plain east of the militant-held city. Iraq’s Kurdish peshmerga ighters led the initial assault, advancing slowly across open ields littered with booby- trapped explosives as plumes of black and orange smoke rose overhead — the opening phase of an unprecedented campaign expected to take weeks if not months, and involve more than 25,000 troops. By the end of the day Kurdish forces had retaken some 80 square miles, according to the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Peshmerga commanders on the ground estimated the offensive retook nine villages and pushed the frontline with IS back ive miles. But the forces’ hold appeared fragile and the gains largely symbolic. Some of the villages were so small they comprised no more than a few dozen homes, and most were abandoned. And though some troops were less than 20 miles from Mosul’s edges, it was unclear how long it would take to reach the city itself, where more than 1 million people still live. Aid groups have warned of a mass exodus of civilians that could over- whelm refugee camps. Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul fell to IS in the summer of 2014 as the militants swept over much of the country’s north and central areas. Weeks later the head of the extremist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced the formation of a self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria from the pulpit of a AP Photo Kurdish security forces take up a position as they ight overlooking the Islamic State-controlled in villages surrounding Mosul, in Khazer, about 19 miles east of Mosul, Iraq, Monday. Mosul mosque. If successful, the liber- ation of the city would be the biggest blow yet to the Islamic State group. After a string of victories by Iraqi ground forces over the past year, IS now controls less than half the territory it once held, and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has pledged the ight for Mosul will lead to the liberation of all Iraqi territory from the militants this year. Al-Abadi announced the start of the operation on state television before dawn Monday, launching the coun- try’s toughest battle since American troops withdrew from Iraq nearly ive years ago. “These forces that are liberating you today, they have one goal in Mosul, which is to get rid of Daesh and to secure your dignity,” al-Abadi said, addressing the city’s residents and using the Arabic acronym for IS. “God willing, we shall win.” In Washington, Defense Secretary Ash Carter called the Mosul operation “a decisive moment in the campaign” to defeat IS. The U.S. is providing airstrikes, training and logistical support, but insists Iraqis are leading the campaign. On Monday, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said a small number of U.S. troops were serving as advisers to Iraqi and peshmerga forces on the outskirts of Mosul. More than 25,000 Iraqi and Kurdish troops will be involved in the operation, launching assaults from ive directions, according to Iraqi Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil. The troops include elite Iraqi special forces who are expected to lead the charge into the city, as well as the Kurdish forces, Sunni tribal ighters, federal police and state-sanctioned Shiite mili- tias. In a political deal between the country’s Kurdish region and the central government, it was agreed that Kurdish forces would advance irst, bringing the villages they retake under their regional control, according to Iraqi special forces Lt. Col. Ali Hussein. Once the Kurdish forces advance far enough, the Iraqi special forces will move to the new front and pick up the ight. Speaking at a news confer- ence just a few miles from the frontline, the Kurdistan region’s President Massoud Barzani called the Mosul operation a “turning point in the war against terrorism,” but said there was not yet a plan for governing the region after the ight. Political and military oficials in the Kurd- istan region have previously said the peshmerga will not withdraw from any territory they retake. Saud Masoud, a soldier with Iraq’s special forces watched the frontline on the horizon Monday while waiting for orders to advance. Originally from the Christian village of Bartella, the outskirts of which were obscured by plumes of smoke, he said he personally didn’t want his hometown to become part of the country’s Kurdistan region, but he understood why Iraqi leaders struck the deal. “People are tired of the situation, very tired honestly, so everyone including myself is willing to compromise,” he said. As airstrikes and heavy artillery pounded the squat, dusty buildings, the area — historically home to religious minorities brutally oppressed by IS — was almost completely empty of civilians, thus allowing air power to do much of the heavy lifting. Lt. Col. Mohammad Darwish said the main roads and ields were littered with homemade bombs and that suicide car bomb attacks slowed progress. The IS-run news agency, Aamaq, said the group carried out eight suicide attacks against Kurdish forces and destroyed two Humvees belonging to the Kurdish forces and Shiite militias east of the city. Kurdish forces conirmed at least one such attack. Hisham Kazar, a Kurdish peshmerga ighter said one of his relatives died Monday as the Mosul operation got underway when a suicide car bomber rammed the Humvee he was riding in. The operation so far hasn’t run into what is expected to be one of its most signiicant obstacles: Mosul’s civilian population of more than a million people. The United Nations said Monday that the largest wave of displaced people is expected to begin next week as Iraqi forces enter territory where thousands are living. Page 9A U.S. policing leader apologizes for historical racial abuse SAN DIEGO (AP) — The president of one of the largest police organizations in the United States on Monday apologized for historical mistreatment of minorities, calling it a “dark side of our shared history” that must be acknowledged and overcome. The reaction from leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement was mixed, saying words needed to be backed by actions, while the head of an oficers’ union in Minnesota said there was no need to apologize. Terrence Cunningham, president of the Inter- national Association of Chiefs of Police, said at the group’s annual conference that police have historically been a face of oppression, enforcing laws that ensured legalized discrimination and denial of basic rights. He was not more speciic. Cunningham said today’s oficers are not to blame for past injustices. He did not speak in detail about modern policing, but said events over the past several years have under- mined public trust. “While we obviously cannot change the past, it is clear that we must change the future,” Cunningham said. “We must forge a path that allows us to move beyond our history and identify common solu- tions to better protect our communities. “For our part, the irst step in this process is for law enforcement and the (International Association of Chiefs of Police) to acknowledge and apol- ogize for the actions of the past and the role that our profession has played in society’s historical mistreatment of communi- ties of color,” he said. Russia sets brief cease-ire for Aleppo as strikes kill 36 BEIRUT (AP) — Russian and Syrian forces will halt hostilities for eight hours in the eastern districts of Aleppo, Russia’s military announced on Monday, a day on which opposition activists said their airstrikes killed at least 36 people, including several children, in and around the divided city. The two militaries will observe a “humanitarian pause” between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Oct. 20 to allow civilians and militants safe passage out of the city, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of Russia’s general staff said in Moscow. Militants, the wounded and sick would be allowed to evacuate to the neighboring rebel-held province of Idlib. U.N. humanitarian oficials have pleaded with combatants to observe weekly 48-hour cease-ires to allow humanitarian relief into the city’s besieged eastern districts, but Russian and Syrian forces have only escalated their aerial and ground assault on the rebel-held areas in recent weeks. The airstrikes have claimed hundreds of lives, wounded many, lat- tened apartment buildings and laid waste to the already crippled medical sector. Russia’s U.N. Ambas- sador Vitaly Churkin told reporters at U.N. head- quarters in New York that the eight-hour pause was a unilateral halt to ighting. A 48-hour or 72-hour cease-ire “will require some sort of mutual arrangement,” he said. Sun Terrace Hermiston At Sun Terrace Hermiston we engage in a philosophy that is centered on Bringing Independence to Living and Quality to Life for the residents we serve. Sun Terrace Hermiston offers retirement and assisted living options with compassionate care in a professionally managed, carefully designed retirement community. Our focus on wellness and enabling residents to remain as independent as possible provides the perfect alternative for seniors who can no longer live on their own. 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