美国国家公共电台 NPR Life Inches Back To Normal In East Mosul, But Worries Remain

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The Tigris River divides Mosul, Iraq. ISIS has held the western side of that city for more than two years. And Iraqi forces backed by U.S. airpower retook the eastern side of the city a couple of months ago. They're now preparing to cross the river to try to retake the remaining ISIS area. NPR's Alice Fordham is in Iraq and joins us. Alice, thanks for being with us.

ALICE FORDHAM, BYLINE 1: Good morning, Scott.

SIMON: What can you tell us about the preparations to take on ISIS in western Mosul?

FORDHAM: Well, American and Iraqi military officials say they've stepped up airstrikes. That's something that's confirmed by civilians 2 still on the ground in western Mosul. A lot of troops have moved to the south of the city in preparation for the offensive. It seems like that's where most of the fighting is going to start. The bridges across the Tigris and the city itself were actually destroyed in the fighting. So they have to use bridges south of the city. There are reports they've set up floating pontoons also. We know it's anticipated that this will be a hard fight, maybe even harder than the eastern side of the city.

SIMON: How is the eastern side of the city that's been retaken from ISIS doing now?

FORDHAM: Well, of course, after it was retaken, there was celebration. One reason for that is that the fight to take it back from ISIS didn't leave it in as bad a state as we've seen in other similar situations in Iraq. And the Iraqi security forces use different tactics to keep the people in their homes and preserve the infrastructure 3 in place. So that's something that people are happy about, but it doesn't mean that everything is exactly OK now. It had been a very troubled place for a decade before ISIS took it. And there's a lot of dispute about who's actually in control there now. I was there last week and was able to talk to people about what life has been like. I can play you some of those voices now.

In the eastern half of Mosul in cinderblock neighborhoods that lived under ISIS for more than two years, there's a strong sense of relief that the battle to free that part of the city is over.

WAAD AL AMERI: (Foreign language spoken).

FORDHAM: The first thing that's changed is that the security situation, it's OK, says Waad al Ameri, a local leader here and also a civil servant in a tax office.

AMERI: (Foreign language spoken).

FORDHAM: Sure, he says, there aren't services yet. There's no electricity. And the United Nations is having to truck in water, but he says they're safe.

AMERI: (Foreign language spoken).

FORDHAM: When ISIS was in control, there was shelling and airstrikes. And then, this winter, there were months of heavy fighting as the extremists battled Iraqi security forces. I asked Ameri what he thinks the next few months hold.

AMERI: (Foreign language spoken).

FORDHAM: "Well, the government would bring back services," he says, "and the security will improve." But as I walk through this rural area, although it seems really peaceful, not everyone shares Ameri's optimism because there are still threats.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken).

FORDHAM: I speak with a teacher named Zainab Abdeljabbar.

ZAINAB ABDELJABBAR: (Foreign language spoken).

FORDHAM: She says there was a drone, an ISIS drone, the previous day that dropped a bomb on a family gathering 4 in a house very nearby. She points to it. Four people were injured. The drone probably came from somewhere in eastern Mosul. To get more insight into what ISIS is still able to do in eastern Mosul, I Skype with Brigadier General Matthew Isler with the U.S. forces assisting in Iraq who confirms the extremists are using armed drones.

MATTHEW ISLER: What they've not been able to do is precisely 5 target. Instead, they are looking for large gatherings 6 and dropping on civilians there. And it is just another example of the atrocities 7 that they commit.

FORDHAM: There have also been a few suicide bomb and sniper attacks. Isler also says ISIS - whom he refers to as Daesh - are firing mortars 8 from the west side of Mosul, which they still hold, into the eastern half of the city.

ISLER: Each day, over the past several days, Daesh has been shooting between 70 and 100 projectiles 9 per day from multiple locations.

FORDHAM: Not only is ISIS conducting attacks in eastern Mosul, but there are questions too about the forces holding this part of the city. There's competition for control and resources with some locals feeling they've been edged out in favor of national troops.

(CROSSTALK)

FORDHAM: I meet for tea with men from the Nineveh Guard, one of the local forces. One of their commanders, General Mohammed Saleh, wishes his men had more power and were stationed in the center of the city, not on the edge.

MOHAMMED SALEH: (Through interpreter) It was an unfair decision against the Nineveh Guards. All of us are from Mosul and we know the city streets and the ins and outs of the city. We know who's working with the terrorists there.

FORDHAM: The general is also highly critical of other forces here. The grumbling 10 doesn't seem to bode 11 well for the chances this patchwork 12 of troops can work together against the real threat still posed by ISIS here. Alice Fordham, NPR News, Mosul.