Three military figures accused of letting Iraq’s Mosul go

Shortly after jihadist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took over Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul, the city’s mayor has blamed three senior Iraqi military commanders for letting the city slip into rebel hands, Al Arabiya New Channel reported on Thursday.

Atheel al-Nujaifi, who fled before ISIS took over the city and the rest of the regions in the province of Nineveh, blamed Lieutenant General Ali Ghaidan, the commander of all of Iraq’s ground army forces; General Abboud Qanbar, the commander of joint operations in Mosul and Major General Mahdi Subaih al-Ghraoui, chief of the federal police’s third division in Mosul, for collectively failing to save the city from capture.

Infographic: The three Iraqi military commanders who let Mosul go

Infographic: The three Iraqi military commanders who let Mosul go

Nujaifi also added that the three men had misinformed the government about the situation in the city beforehand.

Both Qanbar and Ghaidan visited the city 72 hours before its fall, but did not use the opportunity to prevent ISIS advancing, he said.