Iraqi forces tighten noose in Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces advanced Sunday in the last few meters held by Islamic State militants in western Mosul as Iraqis prepare to celebrate the group’s three-year-old occupation of the city.
Shafaaq News website quoted security sources saying the troops took over 50 percent of Qleyat and Shahwan regions, the last remaining areas under IS control near the western bank of the Tigris River which bisects Mosul. The remarks were supported by a map published by the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell, marking the two areas.
The WMC said earlier that 30 IS members were killed while fleeing western Mosul to its liberated eastern side via the Tigris River.
On Saturday, troops killed 35 militants and arrested six others on the same route.
Commanders from the Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition commanders said less than 250 meters remained under Islamic State’s control in western Mosul. Military media reported earlier on Saturday that police and army troops converged at Tigris’s western bank.
The Iraqi Joint Operations Command’s spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasoul, was quoted Saturday saying forces took control over the Old City, the birthplace of Islamic State’s self-styled “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria which was declared in 2014.
Iraqi media reports said Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was expected to make an official statement sooner declaring the end of Mosul operations and victory over IS.
Iraqi government forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, have been fighting IS out of Mosul since mid October. Late June, troops took over the Old City’s Nuri al-Kabir Mosque where IS first declared the establishment of its rule in 2014 in a sermon delivered by the supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
ISIS move HQ to Tal Afar
Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State has considered Tal Afar town, located west of Mosul, as an alternative headquarters for its main departments, after admitting its defeat in Mosul.
AlSumaria News quoted a source as saying that “IS issued a brief statement in Tal Afar announcing that all the IS departments are working through alternative headquarters at Tal Afar, which indicates the group’s defeat.”
“IS admitted its loss at its last stronghold in Mosul’s Old City after a battle between its militants against security troops,” the anonymous source added.
“The shock caused by losing the Old City was hard as the militants used to call it as Baghdadi’s [the group’s supreme leader] strongest lair in Mosul for the many Arab and foreign militants and suicide attackers there,” the source added.
In late June, a top leader in the town declared during a a sermon of Friday prayer that the town has become a temporary headquarter for the Caliphate.
On Friday, the group reportedly canceled the Friday prayers at all mosques in the town after a curfew was imposed in the wake of heavy shelling against procession of a prominent Arab leader there.
A source was quoted last week as saying that non-Iraqi IS militants executed the last local leader in Tal Afar and the town is currently run by Arab and foreign members after eliminating all the Iraqi leaders.
Tal Afar is one of the important strongholds still held by IS in Nineveh since August 2014.
ISIS continues to hold most of Imam Gharbi
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State still controls 60% of the Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State still controls 60% of the Imam Gharbi village in al-Qayara neighborhood located in southern Mosul, which was liberated several months ago, a security source told Shafaaq News.
“Joint military units have managed to liberate 40% only of the Imam Gharbi village after six days from the IS seizure of the village,” the source said.
Last week, twenty-five tribal forces personnel were killed and injured in an attack launched by the IS in the Imam Gharbi village.
The Tribal Mobilization Forces confronted the fighters, which left two personnel killed and 25 others wounded.
Iraqi troops liberated Qayara in August.
Earlier on Sunday, the office of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the prime minister headed to Mosul to declare the elimination of Islamic State extremists from the city, ending a three-year-old occupation under the extremist group. Government forces said they took over the Old City district from which IS supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of its rule over Iraq and Syria in 2014. village in al-Qayara neighborhood located in southern Mosul, which was liberated several months ago, a security source told Shafaaq News.
“Joint military units have managed to liberate 40% only of the Imam Gharbi village after six days from the IS seizure of the village,” the source said.
Last week, twenty-five tribal forces personnel were killed and injured in an attack launched by the IS in the Imam Gharbi village.
The Tribal Mobilization Forces confronted the fighters, which left two personnel killed and 25 others wounded.
Iraqi troops liberated Qayara in August.
Earlier on Sunday, the office of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the prime minister headed to Mosul to declare the elimination of Islamic State extremists from the city, ending a three-year-old occupation under the extremist group. Government forces said they took over the Old City district from which IS supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of its rule over Iraq and Syria in 2014.
3 ISIS suicide bombers die in Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Three suicide bombers were killed as they sneaked from the western flank of Mosul city toward the eastern side, the military intelligence department announced.
In a statement on Sunday, the statement said the 16th division killed three suicide attackers, including a leader and his assistant, who were wearing suicide belts and possessing explosives after they sneaked from western Mosul heading toward the eastern side of the city to target civilians and security personnel.
Ealier, a statement by the War Media Cell said that 30 IS members were killed while fleeing western Mosul to its liberated eastern side via the Tigris River.
On the same day, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul and congratulated Iraqi forces and citizens on the victory over IS militants who had held the second largest Iraqi city since 2014.
The victory in Mosul comes after eight months of fighting by Iraqi government forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, against IS militants.
On Saturday, Iraqi Joint Operations Command’s spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasoul, was quoted as saying forces took control over the Old City.
Iraqi troops took over the Old City’s Nuri al-Kabir Mosque, where IS supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi first declared the proclaimed caliphate covering parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, in late June.