Iraq: normality returning to eastern Mosul, retaking the west begins

Summary: displaced citizens are returning to the eastern part of Mosul, following its recapture from IS. There are other signs of normality to be seen, too. But it will be a long time before eastern Mosul is fully back to normal. And the operation to re-capture the western part of the city has only just begun.

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1 thought on “Iraq: normality returning to eastern Mosul, retaking the west begins”

  1. The use of weaponised UAVs by terrorists is not particularly new: Hizballah used a couple of ARDEBIL drones against Israel in 2006. Even that is not really new, when one considers that an explosive packed UAV is merely a crude cruise missile, of which the earliest prototype dates back 100 years. The SWITCHBLADE close attack UAV has been on sale (and video available on YouTube) since 2012 for terrorists to imitate.

    If there is a mild novelty, it is that one of the UAVs was reported to have blown up while being ?disarmed / ?investigated. If the explosion was a deliberate ploy (ie to kill bomb-disposal personnel) that would be moderately new in the theatre, although booby-trapped VBIEDs have been seen in Ulster, and anti-tank landmines and IEDs have long been booby-trapped.

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