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Islamic State Daesh under complete siege in western Mosul: Iraqi Defense Ministry

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The Islamic State Daesh terrorists are completely under siege by Iraqi forces in the west of Mosul, the terrorists’ last stronghold in the Arab country.

Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said on Friday that the terrorists were surrounded from all sides. The terrorists must either surrender and face a fair trial or wait for death, the Iraqi official said.

The military spokesman said Iraqi forces have successfully targeted the terrorists’ positions and headquarters.

He added that Mosul’s full liberation is “a matter of time.” The official said the forces will expel Daesh from the right side of the area.

Rasool also hailed Mosul’s residents for their cooperation in providing information on the positions of Daesh.

He said “more than 90 percent” of those fighting in the ranks of Daesh in Mosul are foreigners.

Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters launched an offensive to retake Mosul in October 2016. The forces took control of eastern Mosul in January and launched the battle in the west on February 19.

According to Alforat News Agency, Iraqi forces managed to recapture several strategic positions from Daesh in the old city of Mosul on Friday.

Iraq’s Federal Police took control of Basha mosque, Adala street and the market of Bab al-Sarai in the old city of Mosul, inflicting heavy losses and casualties on the terrorists.

Over 150,000 Iraqis flee amid operations to liberate western Mosul

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Iraq says more than 150,000 people have fled fighting in and around the western side of Mosul since security forces launched an operation to retake the area from Daesh terrorists.

According to Iraq’s Ministry of Migration and Displaced, civilians continue to leave Mosul’s western side as armed forces are struggling to dislodge Daesh terrorists from their last urban stronghold in the country.

The ministry said Thursday that 152,857 people have so far fled the operation zone since February 19, when the battle began.

In the figures released on Wednesday, the International Organization for Migration had put the number of those who have escaped at nearly 100,000.

Iraqi forces and allied fighters had gained control of the eastern side of Mosul in January, after 100 days of fighting.

They have managed to liberate several areas of western Mosul, a city divided into two halves by Tigris River.

On Thursday morning, Iraqi soldiers were trying to encircle Mosul’s Old City to bottle up Daesh elements, but military officials say the operations have been slowed due to bad weather as well as the bombs and booby traps planted across the combat area.

“Operations in the Mosul west Old City have been halted on Thursday due to bad, rainy weather. We can’t advance without airstrikes cover due to the fog,” Reuters quoted an Iraqi Rapid Response unit as saying.

A federal police officer confirmed the halt and said commanders were meeting to adjust their plans.

“The new offensive plans should adapt with the difficult terrain of the complicated, narrow alleys,” he said.

Federal Police Major General Haidar Dhirgham also said the complete liberation of Mosul to take at least a month.

“I will not tell you one or two weeks, because that’s not true, but within one or two months it will be completely liberated,” he said.

Iraqi Special Forces Capture Central Bank, Justice Court In Mosul

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Iraqi security forces have captured the central bank’s main branch in Mosul, and also seized a building that housed the extremist Islamic State (IS) group’s main court of justice, a military spokesman said.

The court was known for delivering harsh sentences, including stonings, throwing people off building roofs, and chopping off hands. The bank had been looted when IS overran Mosul in 2014.

The central bank branch and the justice court are located in the same zone as the main government buildings complex that Iraqi special forces stormed overnight, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Abdel Amir al-Mohammadawi said on March 7.

The overnight raid that led to the capture of government buildings and the surrounding government complex lasted about an hour, he said.

“They killed tens from Daesh,” he added, referring to the Islamic State group by one of its Arabic acronyms.

Mosul’s main museum,where IS militants infamously filmed themselves smashing priceless artifacts, was also recaptured, Mohammadawi said.

The capture of the government complex allows Iraqi forces to attack militants in the nearby old city center.

The old city lies on the western bank of the Tigris River. Some 750,000 people were estimated to have lived in west Mosul when Iraqi forces began the offensive in this part of the city last month.

The Iraqi military also said its troops now control the western side of a second bridge across the Tigris River.

U.S.-led airstrikes disabled Mosul’s five bridges last year in a bid to isolate the militants.

Iraqi troops, supported by a U.S.-led coalition which is providing key air and ground support to the offensive, took the eastern half of the city in January, after 100 days of fighting.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

Iraqi forces liberate Mosul airport from Daesh: Media reports

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Government troops and local fighters took control of the city’s airport as they fought to push “Islamic State” out of their last stronghold in the city. Losing Mosul could spell the end of IS’ power in the country.

The Iraqi military said on Thursday that special forces were closing in on “Islamic State” (IS) terrorists in the city of Mosul. State television reported that government soldiers had stormed the airport and a military complex in the western half of the city. Later, the army confirmed that it had taken control of the airport.

“The Rapid Response Forces and federal police are fully in control of the airport of Mosul,” state television proclaimed. The news came after hours of fierce firefights between coalition forces and the extremists.

“Our forces started a major operation early this morning to storm the airport of Mosul and the Ghazlani base to dislodge Daesh (IS) terrorists. We can confirm that the Mosul airport militarily has fallen and it’s a matter of short time to fully control it,” said Sabah al-Numan, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism service.

Some officials later told the Associated Press that some soldiers from the US-led coalition were amongst the advancing troops, but did not say which country they came from. On Lebanese television, live footage from the perimeter of the airport showed a military helicopter firing on IS targets amid blasts of gunfire.

At Ghazlani, heavy clashes continued into Thursday afternoon. But according to Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, Iraqi forces had been able to enter the base and hoped to take it soon.

The end of the “caliphate”?

Since successfully ousting the extremist fighters from eastern Mosul last month, the Iraqi army has sought to control the airport as a base for finally pushing IS out of the country’s second-largest city.

IS overran Mosul in June 2014, when a lack of troops and infighting among military personnel led to the abandonment of the city. Under IS occupation, the city has experienced a number of atrocities including ethnic cleansing of Christians, human trafficking mostly of young women, and the destruction of ancient heritage sites such as the tomb of the Old Testament prophet Jonah.

A 100,000 strong coalition of government troops, Kurdish fighters and local militias, backed by the US airstrikes, has made rapid

advances in retaking the city since January. If IS loses its territory in Mosul, that may well herald the end of the terrorists’ self-styled caliphate which at its peak straddled large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Taking the western half of the city is likely to pose more of a challenge, however, as its roads are narrower and older than in the east – soldiers will likely be forced to abandon their armored vehicles and fight in the streets.

es/se (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Iraqi Youth Hold Solidarity Marathon From Baghdad to Mosul

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A group of Iraqi youth representing the movement “Sports against violence” held a sprint marathon from Baghdad toward the eastern part of Mosul.

Upon reaching Mosul, the team performed some exercises in the midst of the ruins of destroyed houses. The head of the team and coordinator of the “Baghdad Marathon for Peace” Ahmed Alaa spoke to Sputnik about this event.

“There were 7 girls and 9 boys who took part in the race. We left from Baghdad to bring a message of peace to the liberated Mosul. Citizens of Mosul want to live in peace, so our team decided to build bridges to restore those relations, which were destroyed by the Daesh terrorists,” Alaa said.

https://youtu.be/wkbDpx_yHBs

He further said that the young Iraqis believe that restoration of peaceful life in the liberated areas is not possible without spreading of non-violence and a culture of peace. It is up to the citizens whether to accept it or not after the military liberates towns and cities.

The race started in Baghdad. However, the distance from Baghdad to Erbil was covered on a military helicopter which helped the team save their energy.

“The hardest stage of the race was from Erbil to Mosul because the road was very bad over there due to the potholes which were created following the hostilities,” Alaa said.

Daesh terrorists from western Mosul tried to sabotage the event by bombing the runners but were prevented by the Iraqi army.

Residents of Mosul, both adults and children, responded enthusiastically to this movement. Some children joined the group and ran with them side by side.

Some 350,000 children face siege-like conditions in western Mosul: Charity

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An Iraqi woman and her child, fleeing the Daesh-controlled Rashidiyah neighborhood, arrive at Arabi neighborhood north of Mosul on January 22, 2017 as a military operation against the extremists continues. (Photo by AFP)

An estimated 350,000 children are trapped in siege-like conditions and risk execution by the Daesh terrorist group in the western part of Mosul, an international non-governmental organization warns.

According to a report released by Save the Children on Monday, half of the 750,000 trapped civilians in west Mosul are children, who risk being killed by Daesh terrorists if they try to escape.

The London-based organization further urged Iraqi troops and the so-called US-led military coalition to take all necessary steps to minimize civilian casualties during the operation to liberate the western flank of Mosul, located some 400 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad.

“To a child it doesn’t matter where the bombs come from – it’s where they land that matters,” Save the Children’s Iraq Country Director, Maurizio Crivallero, said.

“The impact of explosive weapons in west Mosul is likely to be deadly and indiscriminate. We must ensure that every effort humanly possible is made to protect children and their families from harm,” he added.

Save the Children has described the situation in Mosul as “increasingly desperate,” noting that three quarters of a million civilians have no access to aid agencies and are running out of food, water and basic supplies.

Mahmoud, a medic living in a recaptured area of eastern Mosul, said his family in west Mosul did not have anything to eat or drink.

“No one is able to get the children anything, there’s no food or milk for babies – the markets are empty and the supplies they stockpiled have almost run out,” he said.

The Iraqi medic went on to say that there was a huge risk for families trying to flee.

“If Daesh see a family trying to escape, they kill them on the spot. I tried to get mine out and agreed with a smuggler to bring them here, but he opted out because he saw a family of nine killed in front of his eyes,” he said.

The report comes only a few days after the World Food Programme announced 50-percent cuts in monthly food rations distributed to 1.4 million Iraqis displaced in the wake of anti-Daesh military campaign.

The UN agency blamed delays in payments of funds from donor states for the measure.

Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, fell into the hands of Daesh terrorists in the summer of 2014.

Iraqi army soldiers, supported by pro-government Popular Mobilization Units – commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi – and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched a joint operation on October 17, 2016 to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

Iraq: Schools reopen in liberated Mosul areas

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A file photo of Iraqi children at a classroom

Scores of schools have resumed their activities in the recently-liberated areas of Mosul amid an ongoing military offensive to cleanse the entire northern city of  Daesh terrorists.

On Sunday, Iraq’s Shafaq News website quoted Iraq’s Education Ministry as saying that some 70 schools have officially reopened in Mosul.

Hessam al-Din Abar, a representative at Provincial Council in Nineveh, where Mosul is the capital, said Daesh’s presence had prevented the schools from running for two years and a half.

Only a handful of schools would operate under Daesh militants, according to reports.

The education centers had, instead, turned into places for the terrorists to barricade civilians in or train their new recruits and inculcate extremism in them.

Some families would preclude their young ones from attending schools while the terrorists were controlling such premises.

The outfit seized the city in 2014 after unleashing its terror campaign against the Arab country.

The terrorists have come under a concerted push by government and volunteer forces in the city, their last stronghold in Iraq, since last year.

The operation has liberated a good part of eastern Mosul, leaving the group largely in control of its west.

Speaking on January 9, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the counter-terrorism push against Daesh in Nineveh is in its final phase.

Daesh has named Mosul and the city of Raqqah in neighboring Syria as its so-called headquarters.

Their potential liberation would mean the ultimate blow to the terror group’s campaign of bloodletting and destruction in the Middle East

Life returns to Mosul neighborhoods freed from IS

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As the liberation of Mosul from the “Islamic State” group gathers pace, Iraq’s second city has been coming back to life with remarkable speed. DW’s Florian Neuhof reports from neighborhoods of freshly shaven men.

On a street just off the main road leading to the last neighborhoods in eastern Mosul still under “Islamic State” (IS) control, people throng around produce-laden handcarts. Mortar rounds come crashing into the area with alarming frequency, exploding with a sharp, dry bang. The insurgents have made a habit of bombarding areas no longer under their control and consider anyone who failed to retreat with them infidels worthy of death. The shoppers pay no heed as they stock up at the market. Fruit, vegetables, eggs and cooking gas feature prominently on the shopping list: cheap essentials for the city’s cash-strapped inhabitants.

The Iraqi military launched its campaign to end IS reign in Mosul on October 17, and the first troops entered the city on the east bank of the Tigris early in November. Since then, the front line has rolled through the eastern half of Mosul, exposing its inhabitants to the fighting while pushing back the insurgents. Since the start of the year, reinforcements and new tactics have quickened the pace of the offensive, and a string of neighborhoods have been liberated in quick succession.

Among them is Zuhour, where the street market sprang to life within days of the liberation. As the government and international aid agencies have failed to deliver sufficient supplies to the city, food, fuel and other goods are brought in and sold by merchants. A supply chain leading from the nearby Kurdish region right into the heart of the city was swiftly created, reconnecting Mosul with the world outside IS influence after over two years.

Zuhour is less than a kilometer from the frontline. Continue down the main road a little longer, and concrete blast walls stop the traffic from proceeding toward the Nineveh ruins, the remains of the Assyrian King Sennacherib’s capital, now a stretch of no man’s land. Behind it lies the ever-shrinking “Caliphate.”

But this has not stopped the neighborhood from coming back to life.

Cars drive on roads pockmarked with craters after earthen barricades and blast walls have been hastily cleared. Already, bulldozers are filling in holes punched into the tarmac by IS suicide car bombs or mines known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Children play in front of facades riddled with bullet holes and next to collapsed houses that are all that is left of IS positions destroyed by airstrikes. Clean-shaven men chat with their neighbors. Gone are the bushy beards that the terror group forced them to grow.

Back to cigarettes and cellphones

Zuhour is not the only neighborhood that’s been rejuvenated. In Gogjali, the first district to be retaken by the Iraqi military, a market has long been selling goods to people coming from the liberated areas.

On an unpaved square next to the road, Mosul’s inhabitants reacquaint themselves with the small luxuries they were deprived of after IS stormed the city in June 2014. Cartons of cigarettes are stacked high, mobile phones and SIM cards are displayed on wooden boxes, and a container has been fashioned into a rudimentary tea house where men sit and smoke water pipes.

Smoking had been strictly prohibited by the insurgents, who enforced a hard-line version of Islam, and phones were confiscated to prevent information from leaking out of the city. With IS now penned back at the river and unable to fire mortar rounds into Gogjali, people are relaxed as they roam the market in search of a bargain.

Mosul’s economy had stalled under IS rule, and the city’s many government employees were deprived of their salaries. This has left inhabitants with little money to spare.

“Life has returned back to normal. But we received no salary under Daesh [the Arabic name for IS], and we are still not receiving a salary now,” said Ziad Ahmed, a 41-year-old civil servant, as he carried his shopping from Gogjali to the adjacent neighborhood of Al Quds.

Iraqi forces battling Islamic State make further gains in Mosul moving into Nabi Yunus,

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Islamic state Daesh terrorists manufacture Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Members of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) have made further advances against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the strategic northern city of Mosul, pushing extremists out of three more eastern districts.

The commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, said the forces recaptured al-Jammasah neighborhood on Monday noon, and are moving to seize Nabi Yunus, Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported.

Earlier in the day, Iraqi special forces established control over al-Kandi and al-Qayrawan neighborhoods and raised the national flag over a cluster of buildings there.

Yarallah noted that government troops had inflicted heavy losses on Daesh ranks and military equipment during the operations.

Moreover, Federal Police forces managed to liberate Nabi Yunus Grand Mosque in central Mosul from the Daesh grip, and hoisted the Iraqi flag over it.

Members of the Iraqi Directorate of General Military Intelligence (DGMI) also uncovered a workshop in the Hodaba neighborhood of Mosul, which Daesh terrorists used to manufacture Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

The DGMI announced in a statement that Iraqi forces found drones as long as six meters, which were to be loaded with explosive charges inside the building.

Iraqi correspondent, cameraman injured in Mosul

The correspondent and cameraman for the US-based Arabic-language al-Hurra television network also sustained gunshot wounds while covering the Iraqi army advances in eastern Mosul.

An unnamed security source said Abdulhamid al-Zebari and Yasser Salem were injured as Iraqi forces and Daesh Takfiris engaged in a fierce gun battle. The pair have reportedly been transferred to a local hospital to receive medical treatment.

Iraqi army soldiers, supported by fighters from Popular Mobilization Units — commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi — and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched a joint operation on October 17, 2016 to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

Iraqi special forces liberate Mosul University from Islamic State

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MOSUL,— Iraqi special forces stormed the Mosul University complex in the city’s northeast on Friday and pushed Islamic State further back to reach another bridge across the Tigris river, the military said.

The militants were fighting back at the university, which they had seized when they took over the city in 2014. A Reuters reporter witnessed heavy clashes inside the campus.

Iraqi forces have recaptured most districts in eastern Mosul in nearly three months of a U.S.-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 river, which bisects Mosul from north to south, before launching attacks on the west, still fully in Islamic State hands.

Driving the ultra-hardline Islamist group out of its Mosul stronghold will probably spell the end for the Iraqi side of the caliphate it has declared, stretching into Syria.

Senior Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) commander Sami al-Aridhi said the university was the most important Islamic State base in the eastern half of the city.

BULLDOZERS

He said the CTS had taken over a hill overlooking parts of the campus, including the technical college. “Forces are heading into the depths of the university,” he said.

Earlier, bulldozers had smashed through a wall surrounding the campus and dozens of CTS troops sprinted through carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

An Iraqi officer said army units backed by air strikes had also taken control of Hadba district, north of the university, and would aid the assault on the complex.

Another CTS commander said the capture of the university would enable further advances as it overlooks areas closer to the river.

Advances by Iraqi forces have gathered pace in the last two weeks after troops got bogged down in fierce street fighting in late November and December and militants hid among the civilian population.

New tactics employed since the turn of the year, including a night raid and better defences against suicide car bombs, have given the campaign fresh momentum, U.S. and Iraqi military officials say.

Better coordination between different military divisions, such as the elite CTS and the regular army, has also helped, a senior Western diplomat told Reuters this week.

FIVE BRIDGES

“As (Islamic State) are pulled away to fight CTS, that’s the opportunity for the Iraqi army to attack against a much weaker defence,” the diplomat said.

Securing areas along the Tigris would be crucial, the diplomat added.

“Once you get to the river, you can then slowly mop it up, because you can then cut the lines of communication.”

CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numan told state television: “God willing, within a short period the complete clearing of the left bank of the Tigris will be announced.”

In a separate advance further south in the city, other elite CTS units reached the Second Bridge, also called Freedom Bridge, one of five across the Tigris, the military said in a statement reported by state TV.

Iraqi forces have now reached Mosul’s two southernmost bridges, having battled their way to the Fourth Bridge several days ago.

Assaults on the western half of Mosul are expected to begin once Iraqi forces have secured the east bank.

All the bridges have been hit by U.S. coalition air strikes in an effort to hamper Islamic State’s movements. U.S. and Iraqi military officials say Islamic State has further damaged at least two of them to try to hamper an army advance.

By Isabel Coles and John Davison | Reuters