U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces on Sunday began a multi-pronged military operation to retake the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, from the Islamic State group, Iraq’s prime minister announced.
Getting their asses handed to them repeatedly has had an effect on ISIL gunmen in Iraq:
Prisoners and deserters report low morale and panic among many of the less resolute ISIL members.
I have argued again and again and again that it is not futile to fight jihadis because they love death and denied that fighting jihadis only recruits more jihadis. Liberals love that argument.
It is true that ineffectively fighting jihadis creates more jihadis. But the fact is that only a small fraction of the jihadis are the true believers unaffected by anything short of flatlining their brain activity.
Most jihadis can be discouraged from dying for a losing cause rather than thinking they'll get a statue in the new caliphate they are building one dead Infidel at a time.
And many who haven't signed the jihadi recruiting document rediscover the value of that associate training program at Macy's that their moms have been pushing.
I just worry that the long gap since the victory at Mosul will provide time--that precious commodity in war--for jihadi morale to recover to prolong the fight and raise casualties needlessly.
It is always best to pursue a broken enemy and kill and scatter the survivors while you can.
You don't take your military advice from liberals, do you?
UPDATE: Iraqi forces are making gains.
Apparently ISIL isn't putting up much resistance on the outskirts. I assume they have some smaller area they plan to fight to the death to hold.
We'll see how many are that determined to die for their losing cause.
UPDATE: The Iraqis are making pretty good gains, actually:
Iraqi forces have dislodged Islamic State from 70 percent of Tal Afar, a stronghold of the militants in northwestern Iraq, including its central citadel neighborhood, officials and military commanders said on Saturday.
We shall see if the ISIL gunmen have pulled into a tight fortified perimeter within a small part of the city to fight to the death.
So far it doesn't seem like ISIL is trying to slow the Iraqis down with suicide car bombs forward of whatever main line of resistance ISIL plans.
UPDATE: Now the Iraqis claim to hold 90% of the city, including the city center.
Where is ISIL making its stand? Or did they flee already and make it through the cordon the popular militias supposedly established?
UPDATE: Sunday morning I see that Iraq appears to have largely captured the city. Morale was seriously bad if this is true.
Where did the estimated 2,000 ISIL defenders go? The failure to fix and kill them--assuming they weren't killed and aren't trapped right now somewhere--will give the terrorists the chance to live and kill another day.
