The War Against The Islamic State In Iraq Is Just As Intense In The Countryside As In Mosul

A still image taken from a video posted to a social media website by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq News Agency on March 26, 2017, shows men, said to be Islamic State fighters, firing their weapons, said to be in Western Mosul, Iraq. Social Media Website via Reuters TV

Reuters: Bomb factories, village command posts: Islamic State's rural fight

Islamic State fighters have pulled out of this deserted village on the Tigris river, which Iraqi commanders say was a crucial outpost defending their nearby stronghold of Mosul, but signs of their presence abound.

As the sounds of battle echo in the distance, the stinking corpses of dead militants line a path from a home they used as a command post down to the river bank.

An enormous cement plant nearby still contains dozens of rockets and booby-trapped car bombs, one of which killed sappers entering the facility on Sunday.

The fighting here is different from the intense street battles raging further to the southeast in Mosul, Islamic State's last major urban stronghold in Iraq. The U.S.-backed offensive to drive the group out of Mosul has recaptured most of the city.

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WNU Editor: The countryside is where the Islamic State is going to try and hide once the major battles have ended. I suspect that pacifying wide open space is going to be more harder than the urban centres once Mosul has finally been recaptured by the Iraqi army.