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Mosul Offensive News
 Iraqi forces capture ISIS HQ in Mosul
By late on Friday, elite Iraqi forces had taken control of part of the Mosul University complex and reached two more of the five bridges that link east and west Mosul, said Sabah Al-Numan, spokesman for the counter-terrorism service (CTS). “God willing, in a very short while, we will announce the clearing of the entire left bank ... There are not many areas left (under Daesh control) on this bank,” he told state television. Maj. Gen. Sami Al-Aridi, a senior CTS commander, said the university was the most important Daesh base in the eastern half of the city. “Forces are heading into the depths of the university,” he said earlier in the day after bulldozers had smashed through a wall surrounding the campus and dozens of CTS troops sprinted through carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Iraqi forces have now reached Mosul’s three southernmost bridges, having battled their way to the fourth bridge several days ago. The US-led coalition that is backing the offensive with airstrikes, training and advice praised Friday’s advances. “Work still needs to be done, but Daesh days in Mosul are quickly coming to an end,” US Air Force Col. John Dorrian said in a statement. Iraqi forces have now recaptured most districts in eastern Mosul, nearly three months into a US-backed offensive, which accelerated at the turn of the year with new tactics and better coordination. They aim to take full control of the eastern bank of the Tigris, which bisects Mosul from north to south, before launching attacks on the western side still fully in Daesh hands. Driving the ultra-hardline group out of its Mosul stronghold will probably spell the end for the Iraqi side of the caliphate it declared in 2014 which stretches into Syria. Airstrike kills 30 in Mosul An airstrike on a district held by ISIS targeting the house of senior militant Harbi Abdel Qader in the Iraqi city of Mosul killed up to 30 civilians, residents reported to Reuters. Abdel Qader was not in the building at the time, but several members of his family died, one resident said late on Friday. The witnesses said they saw at least three missiles hit the western Mosul al-Jadida area on Thursday. They said it was not immediately clear if the attack was carried out by the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS, or by Iraqi forces that have been making advances against the jihadists in the city. Iraq Body Count (IBC), a group run by academics and peace activists that has been counting violent deaths in the country since 2003, said 21 to 25 civilians were reported killed on Thursday in a strike on that area. Iraqi forces have been fighting for months to drive ISIS group out of Mosul, the jihadists’ last major stronghold in Iraq. In this regard, Iraqi special forces retook the eastern edge of a third bridge in Mosul Saturday and a cluster of buildings inside Mosul university, according to a senior Iraqi officer overseeing the operation. Iraqi forces now control the eastern sides of three of the city’s five bridges that span the Tigris river connecting Mosul’s east to west. Warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition bombed the city’s bridges late last year in an effort to isolate ISIS fighters in the city’s east by disrupting resupply routes. At Mosul University, senior commanders said that Iraqi forces have secured more than half of the campus Saturday amid stiff resistance, but clashes were ongoing into the afternoon. Iraqi forces entered the university from the southeast Friday morning and by nightfall had secured a handful of buildings, Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil and Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said on a tour of the university Saturday. “We watched all the ISIS fighters gather in that building, so we blew it up,” said special forces Sgt. Maj. Haytham Ghani pointing to one of the blackened technical college buildings where charred desks could be seen inside. “You can still see some of their corpses,” he added. Thick clouds of black smoke rose from the middle of the sprawling complex Saturday morning. By afternoon, clashes had intensified with volleys of sniper and mortar fire targeting the advancing Iraqi forces. Convoys of Iraqi Humvees snaked through the campus, pausing for artillery and airstrikes to clear snipers perched within classrooms, dormitories and behind the trees that line the campus streets. Head of Iraq’s Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) Sami al-Aridhi said that Iraqi forces also found chemical substances ISIS had used to try to make weapons. The United Nations says the militants seized nuclear materials used for scientific research from the university when they overran Mosul and vast areas of northern Iraq and eastern Syria in 2014. ISIS fighters have used chemical agents including mustard gas in a number of attacks in Iraq and Syria, U.S. officials, rights groups and residents say. As Iraqi forces have closed in on the Tigris river that roughly divides Mosul into eastern and western halves, their pace has quickened. ISIS defenses in the city’s east appear to be thinning and unlike in the surrounding neighborhoods, Iraqi officers said they believe Mosul university and recently retaken government buildings are largely empty of civilians — allowing them to use air cover more liberally. The massive operation to retake Mosul from ISIS was launched in October. Since then Iraqi forces have slowly clawed back more than a third of the city. ISIS maintains has tight control of the city’s western half where Iraqi forces will likely encounter another wave of heavy ISIS resistance. The west of the city is home to some of Mosul’s densest neighborhoods and an estimated 700,000 civilians. ISIS is increasingly modifying home drones to drop bombs - and US troops say they now see them in Mosul every DAY [DailyMail] Social media posts have revealed that ISIS have modified drones to drop bombs. Coalition air forces have hit ISIS-made drones and drone production sites in both Syria and Iraq. Hacker accesses ISIS's radio channel and taunts Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by saying: 'Mosul will be liberated' [DailyMail] An anonymous radio hacker has embarrassed ISIS by breaking onto their frequency and sending a message to Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that 'Mosul will be liberated'. Posted by: badanov 2017-01-15 |
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