“We broadcast every day from eight in the morning until ten at night, in Arabic and in Kurdish,” says Firas al-Jibouri, a colonel and the director of the new radio station. “Most of our programmes are about information and on the progress made by the military as they advance toward Mosul. It’s about keeping the spirits of the people who live in IS-controlled areas up.”
Intelligence suggests that a lot of people in Mosul listen to the army radio, al-Jibouri adds, but that they do so in secret for fear of being punished by the IS group.
“We have heard from people who escaped the IS-controlled areas that they were able to hear the army’s radio,” says Najim al-Jibouri , the commander of the Iraqi army’s Ninawa outpost. “It’s good that people living under the IS group can hear our voices too.”
“We are starting a media war on the radio,” he confirms. “But we’re also taking other steps in the media that are going to impact positively on the campaign to liberate Mosul.”
Al-Jibouri would not reveal further details, citing military sensitivity.
Through other sources in the military, NIQASH learned that the Iraqi military had tried to block Radio Imam several times but that they didn’t succeed because the extremists kept switching frequencies.
Comments are closed.