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Iraqi Army's Entire 5th Corps has Surrendered in Mosul

Aired April 11, 2003 - 06:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go get more now on the military aspect of this story, and that is getting word the U.S. confirming that the entire Iraqi 5th Corps has surrendered.
The military importance of that comes to us now from Chris Plante, who is standing by at the Pentagon -- Chris.

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. That's right. We reported here about an hour ago that the entire 5th Corps in charge of the defense of Mosul, the third-largest city in Iraq and the largest city in northern Iraq, did sign a surrender to U.S. forces there, taking the entire 5th Corps out of the fight. This is the largest military force remaining in northern Iraq.

The 5th Corps is expected, or it was at original strength at least of between 20,000 and 30,000 forces. With them out of the fight -- and those are the words that I was told, "They're out of the fight." They have capitulated.

The expectation is now, since Kirkuk fell yesterday to U.S. Special Forces and to Kurdish forces working with those U.S. Special Forces, that the last fight remaining in any major residential area or major urban area in all of Iraq is the city of Tikrit, which is north of Baghdad. It is Saddam Hussein's hometown. It is the regional center for the Baath Party.

The Republican Guard's Ab Nan (ph) division had been in charge of security for that city, but U.S. and British air power has been tearing away at that division for a couple of weeks now. It's not known exactly what their strength is, but certainly their strength has been greatly reduced.

So as of this time, there is still sporadic fighting going on in Baghdad and throughout the country, but only in small, very disorganized little battles, still can inflict casualties on both sides certainly. But the last major force-on-force conflict is expected now to take place at Tikrit, and that assumes, of course, that they won't be able to squeeze the city into surrendering as they had with other cities in northern Iraq.

It's not clear whether members of the Iraqi leadership are there in Tikrit, and whether there will be anything for these forces to defend, but it is expected, in the minds of the military planners at least at this point, that they will have to put up a fight for the city of Tikrit.

A little bit of fighting going on in Al Kahim (ph), also near the Syrian border, still wondering what it is they're defending there, but another major domino has just fallen with the surrender of the 5th Corps in the city of Mosul, and quite honestly in terms of major forces, nearly, now nearly the entire country of Iraq under coalition control with the single significant exception of the city of Tikrit -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Chris Plante at the Pentagon -- Chris, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired April 11, 2003 - 06:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go get more now on the military aspect of this story, and that is getting word the U.S. confirming that the entire Iraqi 5th Corps has surrendered.
The military importance of that comes to us now from Chris Plante, who is standing by at the Pentagon -- Chris.

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. That's right. We reported here about an hour ago that the entire 5th Corps in charge of the defense of Mosul, the third-largest city in Iraq and the largest city in northern Iraq, did sign a surrender to U.S. forces there, taking the entire 5th Corps out of the fight. This is the largest military force remaining in northern Iraq.

The 5th Corps is expected, or it was at original strength at least of between 20,000 and 30,000 forces. With them out of the fight -- and those are the words that I was told, "They're out of the fight." They have capitulated.

The expectation is now, since Kirkuk fell yesterday to U.S. Special Forces and to Kurdish forces working with those U.S. Special Forces, that the last fight remaining in any major residential area or major urban area in all of Iraq is the city of Tikrit, which is north of Baghdad. It is Saddam Hussein's hometown. It is the regional center for the Baath Party.

The Republican Guard's Ab Nan (ph) division had been in charge of security for that city, but U.S. and British air power has been tearing away at that division for a couple of weeks now. It's not known exactly what their strength is, but certainly their strength has been greatly reduced.

So as of this time, there is still sporadic fighting going on in Baghdad and throughout the country, but only in small, very disorganized little battles, still can inflict casualties on both sides certainly. But the last major force-on-force conflict is expected now to take place at Tikrit, and that assumes, of course, that they won't be able to squeeze the city into surrendering as they had with other cities in northern Iraq.

It's not clear whether members of the Iraqi leadership are there in Tikrit, and whether there will be anything for these forces to defend, but it is expected, in the minds of the military planners at least at this point, that they will have to put up a fight for the city of Tikrit.

A little bit of fighting going on in Al Kahim (ph), also near the Syrian border, still wondering what it is they're defending there, but another major domino has just fallen with the surrender of the 5th Corps in the city of Mosul, and quite honestly in terms of major forces, nearly, now nearly the entire country of Iraq under coalition control with the single significant exception of the city of Tikrit -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Chris Plante at the Pentagon -- Chris, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.