A major Islamic State group counterattack Friday along the northern edge of Mosul's Old City neighborhood has pushed Iraqi Army forces back some 75 meters (82 yards) and is threatening recent gains in other Old City fronts, an Iraqi military officer said.
That is a "major" counter-attack? You'll want to see the ISIL briefing on the glorious counter-offensive. I guess the ISIL defenders of Mosul didn't die horribly in vain after all.
Meanwhile, the media elevates a terror attack into a "diversionary" attack:
Islamic State militants attacked a village south of Mosul, killing several people including two journalists, even as they were about to lose their last redoubt in the city to an Iraqi military onslaught, security sources said on Friday.
The assault on Imam Gharbi village appeared to be the sort of diversionary, guerrilla-style strike tactics Islamic State is expected to focus on as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces regain control over cities IS captured in a shock 2014 offensive.
It's only a diversionary attack if it diverts the attention of the Iraqis who are in the process of wiping out the last holdouts inside Mosul.
The ISIL attack on the village was not a diversionary attack. This kind of strike would have been a diversionary strike if conducted 6 months ago.
Now ISIL is just upping the body count with no real effect on the outcome.
