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Mosul Offensive News
 New offensive begins in western Mosul (IraqiNews.com/ Reuters)Iraqi forces recaptured two locations in western Mosul on Thursday as they moved from a new direction targeting Islamic State militants at the Old City area. Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat said in press statements were advancing from the northwestern axis towards Haramat area, and had recaptured Hassouna village and the “Nineveh gas lab”. Iraq’s armed forces opened a new front against Islamic State in Mosul on Thursday, advancing on the militants’ enclave from the northwest, a military commander had told Reuters. The army’s 9th Armoured Division and the Rapid Response units of the Interior Ministry were headed towards the city, he said. The attack would help the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) and Interior Ministry Federal Police troops who were painstakingly advancing from the south, he said. A U.S.-led international coalition is providing key air and ground support to the offensive on Mosul, Islamic State’s de facto capital in Iraq, which started in October. The militants are now besieged in the northwestern corner of Mosul which includes the historic Old City centre and the Grand al-Nuri Mosque. It was from the pulpit of this mosque nearly three years ago that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a “caliphate” that also spanned parts of Syria. Earlier this week, Asharq al-Awsat quoted an army colonel saying the new front opens from the recaptured region of Badush, with the aim of charging at the districts of 17 Tamuz (July 17th), Harmat, Mesherfa and Hawi al-Kanisa in order to accelerate the liberation of the city. Iraqi army forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, recaptured eastern Mosul from Islamic State members in January after three months of fighting. A complementary offensive launched in February to retake the western region. Iraqi generals say they control 70 percent of the western side of Mosul, and that the total of territory held by IS in Iraq is less than seven percent. Google Map at the link ISIS bomber, 3 others die in Mosul Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State booby-trapping expert was killed along with three of his aides due to a blast inside a workshop in Tal Afar town, west of Mosul, a local source in Nineveh said. “Abu Yusuf al-Halabi, a prominent expert of vehicles booby-trapping in Tal Afar, was killed along with three of his aides due to an explosion of a car while booby-trapping it inside a workshop,” the source told AlSumaria News on Thursday. The source, who preferred anonymity, added that “al-Halabi was a Syrian national in his forties. He was called as ‘al-mohandis’ [Arabic for ‘the engineer’]” Earlier this week, another militant, called abu-Yusuf, in charge of one of the group’s defense lines, was killed by a sniper in the vicinity of Tal Afar. Tal Afar is one of the important strongholds still held by IS in Nineveh. The group has sustained severe losses in personnel and ground since an offensive was launched in mid October to retake Mosul, the second-largest Iraqi city and the militants’ last urban stronghold in the country. The number of Islamic State fighters remaining in Mosul was recently estimated by Iraqi troops at 200 to 300, mostly foreigners, down from nearly 6,000 when the offensive started. Google Map at the link 8 ISIS operatives smoked in northwestern Mosul Mosul (IraqiNews.com) An Islamic State leader and seven others were killed during battles in the northwest of Mosul, according to Federal Police. “Troops resumed its advance in the northwest of Mosul to reach the bank of the river [Tigris] and besiege al-Jisr al-Khamis region, north of the Old City,” Lt.Gen. Shaker Jawdat said in statements on Thursday. “Eight IS members, including a leader called Abu Huthaifa al-Hadidi, in charge of al-Zanjili and Ras al-Jadda regions, were killed,” he added. In previous statements on Thursday, Jawdat said the troops were advancing from the northwestern axis towards Haramat area, and had recaptured Hassouna village and the “Nineveh gas lab”. A military commander told Reuters earlier that armed forces opened a new front against Islamic State in Mosul on Thursday, advancing on the militants’ enclave from the northwest. The militants are now besieged in the northwestern corner of Mosul embracing the historic Old City centre and the Grand al-Nuri Mosque, from which the group’s supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave a famous sermon in 2014 declaring the establishment of the ‘caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria. Eastern Mosul was recaptured in January after three months of battles. A major offensive was launched in February to retake the western flank. 11 die in Mosul airstrikes Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Eleven civilians including women and children, died Thursday in strikes by fighter jets at a district in Mosul targeted by a new offensive by the U.S.-backed Iraqi troops’ operations against the Islamic State. Shafaaq news website quoted local sources saying that the deaths occurred when fighter jets, believed to be from the U.S.-led coalition at Hawi al-Kanisa, northwest of Mosul. The district is on the list of targets for Iraqi troops as operations take a new axis towards the strategic, IS-held Old City district. The Iraqi command has reiterated it heeded civilians’ safety since it launched operations in October to retake Mosul from IS militants, accusing the group of fabricating reports about civilian casualties and causing the deaths itself. But the Pentagon said in March it was going to investigate reports that coalition jets killed more than 200 people in western Mosul’s al-Jadida district. Iraqi government troops, backed by coalition fighter jets and ground paramilitary forces, recaptured eastern Mosul in January after three months of fighting, and have been sweeping through the western region since mid February, claiming to have retaken 70 percent of territory from militants. According to the Iraqi government, the war in Mosul has displaced at last 600.000 civilians since October. Google Map at the link Iraqi forces capture more locations in western Mosul Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi armed forces have recaptured one whole district and part of another in western Mosul on Thursday. The army’s 9th Armoured Division took over Mesherfa al-Thalitha district, according to Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah, commander of the Nineveh Operations. Troops also gained control on the Mesherfa water purification project and liberated the northern part of Mesherfa al-Thaniya district. Security troops earlier liberated two villages and a street in northwestern Mosul as they resumed advance in the city, local sources said. Joint troops of armed forces and Federal Police controlled Mesherfa town, in the northwest of Mosul, and street 60, in the Mesherfa al-Thaniya district, the sources said. Islamic State militants used four booby-trapped vehicles, driven by suicide bombers, to hamper the troops advance. Moreover, the troops also took over Dijla village, northwestern Mosul and freed thirty families who were held by the militants in the village, according to news reports. According to local residents, IS militants began evacuating their families from Mesherfa and 17 Tamuz (July 17th) regions amid heavy firing to prevent civilians from fleeing. Earlier on the day, Iraqi forces recaptured Hassouna village and the “Nineveh gas lab” in western Mosul as Iraqi armed forces opened a new front against Islamic State in Mosul on Thursday, advancing on the militants’ enclave from the northwest. Eastern Mosul was recaptured in January after three months of battles between the militants and the Iraqi troops, backed by the U.S.-led coalition and the paramilitary troops. A new offensive was launched in February to retake the west. Iraqi forces attack ISIS positions in northwestern Msul [ARA News] The US-backed Iraqi forces imposed a siege on Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants in the northwestern part of the war-torn city of Mosul, officials reported on Thursday. “The remaining Daesh [ISIS] terrorists in Mosul are now under heavy siege by the Iraqi forces in the northwestern corner of the city,” an army officer told ARA News, adding that their troops are trying to storm the last ISIS stronghold in the Old City of Mosul. The Iraqi army said in an official statement on Thursday that its 9th Armored Division and the Rapid Response units of the Interior Ministry have opened a new front in the northwest of the city. “Our forces are making a steady advance in the first hours of the offensive and Daesh fighters are breaking and retreating,” Iraqi Army’s Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told state television. Mosul is Iraq’s second most populous city, and is deemed the ISIS de facto capital in Iraq. The city fell to ISIS in June 2014. After showing heavy resistance against the US-backed troops, ISIS is now slowly being pushed, especially since the Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched on 17 October, 2016, an operation to take Mosul. The major offensive is being supported by the US-led coalition. The Mosul assault involves a 100,000-strong ground force of Iraqi government troops, members of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Shia paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). Posted by: badanov 2017-05-05 |
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