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Iraqi forces launch new offensive, pushing deeper into Mosul
[RUDAW.NET] After a couple of days of calm, focusing on clearing explosives and pockets of ISIS fighters from liberated areas, Iraqi forces have resumed their push into djinn-infested Mosul... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... on Friday afternoon. "After some days of calm, we launched a new attack this afternoon against the Karkukli neighbouhood," Mountadhar Salem, a commander with the Iraqi counter-terrorism forces, told AFP. Karkukli is located in eastern Mosul, west of Gogjali where Iraqi forces began their push into Mosul city itself. Friday is the 26th day of the Mosul offensive. From ARA News: Erbil – The US-led coalition said on Friday that ISIS has lost 4 per cent of territory in Iraq, and 2 per cent of territory in Syria with ongoing operations in Raqqa and Mosul. “This means the group have now lost 56% of the territory they controlled in Iraq in August 2014, and 27% in Syria, as they are continually defeated on the battlefield. Key losses in October include the town of Dabiq in Syria, as well as areas near Ar Ramadi and Hadithah in Iraq,” the US-led coalition said in a statement. A map released by the coalition showing ISIS areas of influence, indicated ISIS territorial losses —30,000 to 32,000 square kilometres of the territory it had dominated in Iraq and 11,500 to 12,500 square kilometres of the territory it dominated in Syria—since August 2014. “Daesh [ISIS] probably has a presence and freedom of movement in much of the unpopulated areas depicted on the map, but we cannot determine its level of influence in these areas. These estimates are subject to change because of the dynamic nature of the conflict,” the coalition said. In the meantime, the US anti-ISIS envoy Brett McGurk said: “ISIS’s ‘caliphate’ is crumbling month-by-month. 56% [of territory] retaken in Iraq. 27% in Syria.” McGurk added that they are working now on transition after the election of the new president Donald Trump. “I had the privilege of working with President Bush during the transition to POTUS and now orderly transition begins to new President-Elect,” he said. “This democratic transition process is what makes our country great & our enemies — ISIS terrorists — will have no chance to breath,” the American envoy said. “Operations are ongoing now towards Raqqa and Mosul with seventy new airstrikes in the last 48-hours alone.” Mosul offensive pushing more Iraqi civilians into Syria Geneva (UN) – Amid the intensification of the military offensive against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq’s Mosul city and the resulting displacement of civilians, the United Nations human rights wing said Friday that it has received reports that Iraqi civilians are also fleeing into Syria, which itself is reeling under a five-year long conflict that has displaced millions of Syrians and left hundreds of thousands trapped in besieged cities. “We have received reports that Iraqi civilians from rural areas around Mosul city have been arriving in Syrian governorates of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and al-Hasakah,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told journalists at the UN Office at Genevan Friday. “They reportedly left, after the Iraqi Security Forces and allied armed groups captured the areas, fearing they would be seen as affiliated to ISIS,” she added. OHCHR further said it also received reports that several hundred Iraqi civilians are in a “dire humanitarian situation” in Rajm al-Sleibi in the Syrian governorate of al-Hasakah (on the border with Iraq), which is under the control of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). These people include those who have fled the current Mosul fighting and those who had earlier crossed into Syria from Iraq. Reports have also been received that in the ISIS-controlled Syrian governorate of Raqqa, newly arrived families have been housed at the entrance to Raqqa city, in the neighbourhood of al-Mashlab, which is under the strong control of ISIS. “We are concerned that [such] ISIS tactics […] endanger the civilian population […] – namely taking civilians hostage and planting improvised explosive devices in civilian houses and residential neighbourhoods,” said Ms. Shamdasani noting possible ground operations by Kurdish and other forces as well as airstrikes by the US-led Coalition. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Syria continues to deteriorate and according to reports, civilians – including women and children – continue to become casualties in air and ground-based strikes as well as lose their lives in want of medical treatment, said the UN human rights arm. From al-Manar: Iraqi Counter-terrorism Units Enters into Qadesiyya Neighborhood in Mosul Iraqi anti-terror units managed on Friday to enter into the Qadesiyya neighborhood in the city of Mosul, local media outlets reported. A security source told Al-Forat News agency the counter-terrorism units are still battling to clear the area from the terrorists of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) takfiri group. Earlier on Thursday, commander of the anti-terrorism forces, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Ghani al-Asadi, had confirmed that the security forces have a wide experience in dealing with all methods of ISIL terrorist group, adding that ISIL has lost its fighting spirit since several months after losing many of the occupied areas. “ISIL cannot withstand before the attacks of the Iraqi security forces,” Asadi stressed. Iraqi forces launched a wide-scale operation to retake Mosul on October 17, with federal and Kurdish regional forces closing in on the city from three sides. Pro-government forces later began an advance on the town of Tal Afar, which commands the city’s western approaches, with the goal of cutting the Takfiris off from territory they control in neighboring Syria. Yet more from al-Manar: Elite Iraqi Troops to Resume Mosul Push Troops of Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service will resume their offensive against the Takfiri ISIL group in east Mosul on Friday after several days of relative quiet, an officer said. The battle to retake the city, the insurgents’ last major bastion in Iraq, is now in its fourth week, and while troops have pushed into the built-up area, there are weeks, if not months, of fighting still to go. “After a few days of quiet, we will start a new attack this afternoon on the Karkukli neighborhood,” Lieutenant Colonel Muntadhar Salem said, referring to an eastern district of Mosul. “We’ll start this attack from our positions in the Al-Samah neighborhood,” he added. Iraqi forces launched a huge operation to retake Mosul on October 17, with federal and Kurdish regional forces closing in on the city from three sides. Pro-government paramilitaries later began an advance on the town of Tal Afar, which commands the city’s western approaches, with the goal of cutting the Takfiris off from territory they control in neighboring Syria. ISIL overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant ground. Posted by: Fred 2016-11-12 |
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