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Mosul Offensive News
Iraqi security forces begin their advance towards western Mosul(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Media officials with the Ministry of Defense announced on Monday, that the security forces started to advance toward the west coast of Mosul from three axes. The officials said in a press statement, “Forces from the Anti-Terrorism Directorate, army’s 9th Armored Brigade, 3rd regiment of 1st brigade and infantry’s 16th brigade started, at dawn today, to advance toward the west coast of the city of Mosul from three axes.” “The sons of Iraqi Armed Forces are fighting honorably to liberate the west coast of Mosul,” the officials added. Security forces from the army, al-Hashd al-Watani and Kurdish Peshmerga continue advancing in the liberation battles of Nineveh, backed by the international coalition and Iraqi aviation. Iraqi security forces continue advance into eastern Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – The Anti-Terrorism Directorate announced on Monday, that its troops started to advance toward the eastern areas of the city of Mosul. Anti-Terrorism Forces Commander, Lieutenant General Abdel Wahab al-Saadi, said in a press statement, “Troops of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate started to advance toward the village of Kokjla,” adding that, “This village is considered the first of the western areas of Mosul.” Earlier today, Iraqi security forces stormed into Hayy al-Karama area, in eastern Mosul, after two weeks of ongoing battles in the surrounding areas against members of the Islamic State. The liberation battles of Nineveh are ongoing for the fifteenth day on row, while security forces started today to advance toward the west coast of Mosul from three axes. US air forces bomb ISIS explosive plants in Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – The US-led international coalition air force bombarded an explosives plant belonging to the Islamic State in central Mosul, Al Sumaria News reported on Monday. The Iraqi media outlet stated, “Today, international coalition aircraft bombarded a large plant that was used by the ISIS to manufacture explosives and booby traps in al-Okaydat area near a train station in the east coast, in central Mosul.” “The aerial bombardment resulted in a massive blast,” Al Sumaria added. Earlier today, Media officials with the Ministry of defense announced, that the security forces start to advance toward the west coast of Mosul from three axes. From al-Manar Iraqi special forces neared the eastern city limits of Mosul on Monday, tightening the noose as the offensive to retake the ISIL group stronghold entered its third week. Forces from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) faced mortar fire as they pushed from the Christian town of Bartalla towards Mosul’s eastern suburbs, AFP correspondents at the front said. As an aircraft struck a suspected ISIL mortar position in the distance, a convoy of Humvees sprayed gunfire across the arid plain at an industrial area held by terrorists. Lieutenant Colonel Muntadhar al-Shimmari said CTS had recaptured Bazwaya, one of two ISIL-held villages that had been standing between Iraqi forces and the eastern edges of Mosul. “Tonight, if everything is secured, we will be 700 meters (yards) from Mosul,” Shimmari said. CTS forces had entered the second village, Gogjali, and were battling to retake it, Staff Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, a senior CTS commander, told AFP by telephone. He denied reports that Iraqi forces had entered the Al-Karama area — about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) from Gogjali — inside Mosul itself. Backed by air and ground support from a US-led coalition, tens of thousands of Iraqi fighters are converging on Mosul on different fronts, in the country’s biggest military operation in years. On the northern and eastern sides of Mosul, the extremist group’s last major bastion in Iraq, peshmerga forces from the autonomous Kurdish region recently took several villages and consolidated their positions. From Asharq Al-Awsat Iraq troops made a dashing advance breaking through ISIS defense lines in an eastern suburb of Mosul on Monday, taking the battle for the insurgents’ stronghold into the city limits for the first time, a force commander said. They made the gain as the U.S.-backed offensive to recapture Mosul — the largest military operation in Iraq since the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 — after two weeks of fighting to clear surrounding areas of insurgents. Commanders had warned earlier that the battle for the city, the hardline militants’ de facto capital in Iraq, could take weeks and possibly months. Troops of the Iraqi army’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) moved forward on Gogjali, an industrial zone on the eastern outskirts. They then reached Karama district, their first advance into the city itself, an officer said. “They have entered Mosul,” he said. “They are fighting now in Hay (district) al-Karama.” A Reuters correspondent in the village of Bazwaia saw plumes of smoke rising from a built-up area a few kilometres away which a commander said was the result of the clashes in Karama. A Kurdish peshmerga intelligence source said he received a report saying seven ISIS militants were killed in the Aden district, adjacent to Karama, and two of their vehicles destroyed. Iraqi state television said there were clashes inside the city between residents and ISIS fighters. The fighting ahead is likely to be more difficult as civilians still live there, unlike most villages taken so far by the Iraqi forces which were emptied of their Christian population. ISIS singled out religious minorities in northern Iraq, including Christians and Yazidis, for killing and eviction after leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate in 2014 over territory they captured there and in neighboring Syria. Posted by: badanov 2016-11-01 |
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