BAGHDAD // ISIL blocked all mobile phone networks in Mosul on Thursday, accusing informants in the city of tipping off coalition forces to their whereabouts.
Residents of Mosul – the largest Iraqi city that the militant group controls – described a scene of “chaos” and “paralysis” in the city on Thursday, a day after the militants announced their decision on their Mosul-based radio network.
Businesses were at a standstill as residents tried to understand what was happening, they said. Some are still able to access the internet, which operates under a different network.
The militants seized the city in June during their lightning advance across northern Iraq, after the Iraqi military virtually crumbled when confronted by the group.
The US began launching airstrikes on August 8 and has conducted at least 22 strikes around Mosul alone.
Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the group’s reclusive leader, made his first video appearance in Mosul in July to announce his vision for a self-styled caliphate.
Baghdad-based political analyst Hadi Jalo said that the latest move by ISIL is a clear sign that the militants are losing confidence after a string of recent victories by Iraqi troops, backed by Shiite and Kurdish militiamen.
“Even the people in Mosul, who hate the Shiite-led government, are becoming less sympathetic with the militants – whose main victims are Sunnis, not Shiites, nowadays,” said Mr Jalo.
The shutting down of phone lines is a notable change from what has been the group’s core strategy so far – focusing on providing services and establishing administration in areas it controls to win support of the locals.
In parts of Syria under its control, the group now administers courts, fixes roads and even polices traffic. In Syria, government warplanes kept up air raids on the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the ISIL group, killing at least seven people on Thursday, activists said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one of the raids struck the house of a judge facing the extremist group’s tax collection centre. Another air raid targeted an ISIL group checkpoint.
Also on Thursday, Iraqi forces held off a militant assault on the government headquarters in the capital of Anbar province, deploying reinforcements in the key battleground against ISIL.
Security forces, backed by tribesmen, managed to defend the complex in Ramadi, which lies 100 kilometres west of Baghdad and is one of the last major urban areas in Anbar under government control.
* Associated Press , with additional reporting from Agence France-Presse
Top tips
Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
Her most famous song
Aghadan Alqak (Would I Ever Find You Again)?
Would I ever find you again
You, the heaven of my love, my yearning and madness;
You, the kiss to my soul, my cheer and
sadness?
Would your lights ever break the night of my eyes again?
Would I ever find you again?
This world is volume and you're the notion,
This world is night and you're the lifetime,
This world is eyes and you're the vision,
This world is sky and you're the moon time,
Have mercy on the heart that belongs to you.
Lyrics: Al Hadi Adam; Composer: Mohammed Abdel Wahab
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Bridgerton%20season%20three%20-%20part%20one
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nicola%20Coughlan%2C%20Luke%20Newton%2C%20Jonathan%20Bailey%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A