Amid upbeat Iraq reports from the Obama administration, the Islamic State has unleashed a series of deadly bombings inside government-controlled territory near Baghdad and across the war-torn country.
Death-wish bombers for the Salafist Sunni group even spread carnage into southern Shiite territory, where they infiltrate Iran-backed forces and trigger improvised explosive devices.
“ISIS conducted a wave of explosive attacks across Iraq aimed at disrupting the forward operations of the Iraqi Security Forces,” says a report by the Institute for the Study of War. The Islamic State group, which holds ground in western and northern Iraq, is also known as ISIS and ISIL.
The Pentagon on Wednesday continued its optimistic appraisal. A war planner said Islamic State fighters are losing land and are restricted in maneuvers on the battlefield as coalition precision airstrikes destroy vehicles, locations and munitions.
Indeed, Islamic State counterattacks do not necessarily mean the fighters can retake land lost in Ramadi in the west and Tikrit in the north.
But they do indicate that the extremist militants have lots of fight left and will be able to inflict many casualties as U.S.-backed Iraqi and Kurdish forces move to recapture Mosul. At 660,000 residents, Mosul is the country’s second-largest city, presenting a formidable mix of terrorists and booby traps, block by block.
The Pentagon said airstrikes are limiting Islamic State maneuvers but individual suicide bombers have been able to move around the country.
A battle map from the Institute for the Study of War shows over a dozen attacks — averaging more than two per day — across Iraq by suicide vest and vehicle bombs.
On Monday, Islamic State forces unleashed three attacks by vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and suicide bomber vests to kill a dozen government soldiers west of Baghdad.
Around the same time, Iraqi counterterrorism forces moved into the town of Hit, west of Ramadi, but found that all homes were rigged with explosives.
“Look at the fight now raging in Hit. Iraqis say they lack sufficient engineers to clear IEDs,” said Robert Maginnis, a retired Army officer and terrorism analyst. “Mosul will be a major fight for Iraqi Security Forces, and it will be very slow.”
The Islamic State is also showing its terrorists can penetrate Shiite lands, including the large city of Basra in southern Iraq.
On Monday, a suicide bomber killed five members of an Iranian-controlled militia at a restaurant. At roughly the same time, a car bomb killed six people at an intersection in Basra.
“Don’t forget ISIS hates the Shia as much as it does the Christians,” Mr. Maginnis said. “They enjoy freedom of movement throughout Iraq and have the expertise with plenty of indigenous support to create horrific distractions once the [Iraqi Security Forces] start to put significant pressure on Mosul.”
On the generally optimistic Pentagon war reports, Mr. Maginnis said, “I wouldn’t trust any analysis vetted by team Obama.”
This was a reference to a burgeoning scandal at U.S. Central Command, where intelligence analysts say they were pressed by higher-ups to produce reports showing that the Islamic State was in decline. The Pentagon inspector general has launched an investigation.
From March 29 to April 4, Islamic State fighters targeted the capital of Baghdad, according to the institute’s report.
In quick succession, a suicide bomber struck a crowd near the green zone, killing three and wounding 27. A few days later, bombers hit two military convoys just outside Baghdad. Multiple IED attacks west of Baghdad killed an unspecified number of soldiers, the government reported.
Presenting the Pentagon briefing Wednesday on the war against the Islamic State was Navy Rear Adm. Andrew Lewis, vice director for operations on the Joint Staff of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He repeated the assessments of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, Joint Chiefs chairman.
“As has been stated by the chairman and secretary recently, the military coalition fighting ISIL has momentum,” Adm. Lewis said. “Broadly, the coalition has degraded ISIL’s ability to move freely on the battlefield, has regained significant territory in both Iraq and Syria, and has degraded ISIL’s leadership and resources.”
He added, “Iraqi Security Forces have begun shaping an isolation operation for retaking Mosul, with U.S. and coalition partners supporting them with air power and other enabling capabilities. We have seen steady progress as the ISF continues to recapture territory, to include Hit and Makhmur. These are vital nodes in ISIL’s communication networks both in Iraq and Syria, and are important steppingstones in isolating Mosul.”
Adm. Lewis declined to answer several questions, such as why there is no immediate plan to retake Raqqa, Syria, the heart and brain of Islamic State operations locally and abroad.
“I’m not really qualified to answer that question, frankly,” he said.
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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