ISIL losing its grip on Mosul?

Business Insider:

It almost seems inevitable.

With such an oppressive regime and a weakening infrastructure, the organisation that touts itself as the caliphate is facing growing dissent within its civilian populace.

And it looks like this gap is widening, especially after the efforts of a secret group called the Mosul Battalions.

In Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and one of the few remaining ISIS bastions, this secret network has been causing disarray for ISIS members by carrying out assassinations and hit-and-run strikes against ISIS targets.

In a report by CNN, online video from the Mosul Battalion has shown the capture and assassinations of ISIS members and the bombings of the militant’s checkpoints.

“The roadside bombs they used, they would steal from ISIS,” “Abu Ali”, a Mosul Battalion intermediary told CNN. “ISIS puts bombs in certain areas and those who have previous military experience go and steal these bombs and place them to target ISIS.”

After ISIS captured Mosul on June 2014, the jihadists conducted a search for weapons that were both abandoned by fleeing Iraqi soldiers as well as arms held by citizens; however, many remained hidden outside of ISIS’ grasp. It is with these rifles and pistols that the Mosul Battalion wreaks havoc for ISIS, Ali explained to CNN.

“Saddam militarised the population, all Iraqi people have weapons training,” continued Ali.

Risking torture and death, the organisation claims to be so secretive that many of their members don’t know the identities of others. Contacting each other via cell phone — a crime that’s punishable by cutting the hand off the offender or even death — the rebels have developed a crude, yet effective, way of communicating.

“They work in two-person formations and a third person is at a higher level to avoid compromising the group if one is captured,” he said.

Initially established by two close friends, the Mosul Battalion now claims to have between 100 and 300 fighters, many of them youth and former military members. If this figure is correct, their efforts may be invaluable in the coming months as coalition forces begin their massive campaign to liberate the city from ISIS.
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The group sounds a little like the French Underground involved in the fight against the Nazis who helped pave the way for the Allied invasion of France.  They could provide valuable information to the liberation forces as they move through Mosul.