Five years later .. Nujaifi reveals the "real cause" of the fall of Mosul

[Joe Sutherland]

On 5/6/2017 at 7:34 AM, danielchu said:

1. Danielchu, thanks for bringing over these tweets!

   I'm sure I speak for the rest when I say we'd really like to keep seeing these military tweets.

 

 

 

[tigergorzow]

Dozens of ISIS terrorists killed in air strike at Baghdad-Trebil road

May 06 2017 05:51 PM

Dozens of ISIS terrorists killed in air strike at Baghdad-Trebil road

 

 

US-led coalition warplanes on Saturday killed dozens of ISIS terrorists at Baghdad-Trebil road in western Iraq, Iraqi War Media Cell reported.
 

The jets targeted more than 60 ISIS terrorist who were riding  15 vehicle. The vehicles were destroyed while dozens of the terrorists were killed.

These efforts are part of an Offensive launched on 19^th of February by the US-backed Iraqi forces, supported by Iranian-backed sectarian IMIS Shiite militias to oust ISIS terrorists from Mosul, their last major stronghold in Iraq.

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/10208/Dozens-of-ISIS-terrorists-killed-in-air-strike-at-Baghdad-Trebil-road

[ChuckFinley]

More and more are dropping like flies.  

[tigergorzow]

Humanitarian crisis Mosul looms over drinking water shortage

May 07 2017 01:39 PM

Water shortage in Mosul

 

 

As the military operations against ISIS terrorists in Mosul continue, humanitarian crisis in the city aggravates as the left bank of the city's residents can't find water to drink.
 

Government's projects to rehabilitate the left bank of Mosul's infrastructure included only neighborhoods that officials live in, a local resident Bariq al-Naemi said.
 

Al-Naemi said asserted that the government has left the left bank of Mosul resident to suffer a slow death.

This crisis heightens as residents can't constantly afford to buy drinkable water.
 

Local resident Mohamed Jasim stressed that the city's residents can't afford to buy water anymore and soon will be forced to drink contaminated water.

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/10230/Humanitarian-crisis-Mosul-looms-over-drinking-water-shortage

[tigergorzow]

Flooding forces Mosul residents to flee war in rickety boats

May 07 2017 02:12 PM

.

Reuters

 

The Iraqi man laid the body of his wife, wrapped in a black shroud, gently on the bow of a small wooden boat and held onto it as a second man rowed slowly to pick up the man's three children standing a few meters away, Reuters reported.

The two teenage girls and young boy climbed in, careful not to disturb the balance, for the crossing taking their mother, killed in an air strike this week, to the east bank of the Tigris River.

This crossing is no ancient rite, however.

It is an extra hardship heaped on the family by the flooding of the Tigris and the disassembly of the last pontoon bridge linking the two sides of Mosul, where U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have been fighting to oust ISIS militants who seized the city in 2014.

Loading up everything from clothes and food to injured or dead relatives, hundreds of families exhausted by war have been crossing the river on small, rickety fishing boats capable of holding only five or six people.

Many have been leaving the Musherfa district of western Mosul after U.S.-backed Iraqi forces took it from ISIS on Friday, hoping to reach the relative safety of the eastern banks of the river.

"We suffered ISIS injustice, and now that we are free we were promised five bridges," said 45-year-old Mushref Mohamed, an ice factory worker from Musherfa. "Where are the bridges? We have been waiting for two days."

"So many of my neighbors and friends died. We were freed, but we are not happy because we lost the people closest to us."

The flooding has cut off all crossing points between east and west and forced the military to dismantle the makeshift bridges linking the two sides of Iraq's second-largest city.

DESTROYED BRIDGES

Mothers carrying babies, men in wheelchairs, and families of up to 15 people have been paying 1,000 Iraqi dinars ($0.86) per head to make the short journey, with many needing to make two or three trips.

Even soldiers carrying green army crates full of military documents and cigarettes have had to use the boats. The army initially planned to transport people using steamboats when they took down the pontoons, but now say they have run out of gas.

"We came from the early morning at 7am and have been waiting until now. It is noon. The steamboats do not have gas. This government cannot provide gas?" asked Mohsen, a pensioner from the Wadi Hajar area in west Mosul.

Mosul's permanent bridges have mostly been destroyed during the seven-month campaign to take the city back from ISIS.

The army opened a new front in the war with an armored division trying to advance into the city from the north on Thursday and taking back two areas on Friday.

The militants are now besieged in the northwestern corner of Mosul which includes the historic Old City, the medieval Grand al-Nuri Mosque and its landmark leaning minaret where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a "caliphate" spanning swathes of Syria and Iraq in June 2014.

The Iraqi army said on April 30 that it aimed to complete the retaking of Mosul, the largest city to have fallen under ISIS control in both Iraq and Syria, this month.

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/10233/Flooding-forces-Mosul-residents-to-flee-war-in-rickety-boats

[tigergorzow]

People of Mosul tell of horrors under the rule of 'the devil's murderers'

May 07 2017 02:32 PM

.

Independent

 

“The cigarette kills, so do we,” read Isis’ slogan, which was accompanied by an image showing blood flowing out of a cigarette on a glass ashtray, The Independent reported.

Smoking is considered a sin under the group’s brutal interpretation of sharia law and death was the punishment or flogging was the punishment for anyone who disobeyed.

Ahmed Yasir was caught with a cigarette in Tel Kaif, a town sitting on the northern outskirts of Mosul, as the extremists tightened their grip in 2015.

After finding a packet in his pocket during a search, he was severely lashed and locked up in a basement prison alongside 120 others.

Some were fellow smokers, others had drunk alcohol, had a “modern” hair cut or simply worn trousers deemed too tight.

”I could not think of anything other than death,” Mr Yasir said.

“If it was not for execution, we thought [we] would be buried by a bomb.”

On the 11th day, he and fellow inmates were moved to a field at dawn.

They expected to be executed, with Mr Yasir recalling: “I thought, it's over. And I began to pray for my family, for my soul.”

But instead of a bullet to the head he received a broken right hand, was blindfolded and then ordered to walk straight back home.

When Isis was finally driven out, the first thing Mr Yasir did was smoke. “It's not easy to leave a 32-year-old vice,” he added.



Part of Tel Kaif was destroyed in January’s fighting, with homes flattened and those still standing pockmarked with bullet holes and littered with mines.

Residents are returning to find no electricity, no drinking water, no work and just one hospital.

Action Against Hunger (ACF) is leading efforts to give civilians the means to rebuild their lives, including water, sanitation, food and mental health care to help them overcome the trauma of the past three years.

“Every day we smelled fear, we smelled death,” Hadiya, a 56-year-old woman, told aid workers.
Her three sons are all dead, including one who launched himself at a man about to set himself on fire, and two police officers taken away by Isis.

“These men are murderers of the devil, not men of the Quran,” she said. “We educate our children in Islam, but also in freedom and dignity.”

In Tel Kaif’s only working health centre, doctors have been sorting through damaged vaccines and equipment and repairing missile damage.

ACF is working to refurbish the hospital and install boreholes and pumps taking clean water to thousands, which previously came from a water treatment plant in Mosul which was bombed.

Aneta Sarna, the charity’s country director for Iraq, said civilians ordered to stay in their homes during fighting had suffered a dire lack of food and fuel.

Some residents had been diagnosed with malnutrition, she said, with aid agencies bracing for worsening conditions in the shrinking Isis territories in western Mosul.

“We’re preparing for intense fighting in the Old City where all supply routes are already cut off,” Ms Sarna said.

“We’re expecting people to come out with some type of malnutrition.

“The longer we see military operations continuing then the risk of malnutrition is increasing. 

“Food, water, health, medicine – the basic needs will be more and more severe.”

ACF psychological teams are running mental health sessions for traumatised residents, who have witnessed fighting, shelling and atrocities committed by Isis.

As villages remain contaminated with unexploded devices planted by militants to slow their enemies’ advance, the fear continues.



“In east Mosul, we see a lot of casualties because people just touch something and it explodes,” Ms Sarna said.
But amid the wreckage, hope is starting to bloom.

Dr Dryounis Mahmood Alkhafajee, who stayed in Tel Kaif throughout Isis’ occupation, believes Iraqis can forge a new future.

“I want to believe that I will see with my eyes a prosperous country where my friends, Shias, Sunnis and Christians, live in harmony, as we did before the arrival of Isis,” he said.

“Some say that Iraqis will know no other future than war, but I am a dreamer. I'm confident we will get through it together.”

 

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/10234/People-of-Mosul-tell-of-horrors-under-the-rule-of-the-devil-s-murderers

[tigergorzow]

[IN PICTURES]: Five IS Suicide Attackers Eliminated in Kirkuk

 

They attacked the Peshmerga forces at K1 base in Kikruk

• 
   

Basnews English

07/05/2017 - 14:17

Kurdistan

 

 

 

 

KIRKUK — Five Islamic State (IS) suicide bombers were eliminated when they attacked Kaywan (K1) military base in Kirkuk province, northern Iraq.

A group of five militants, disguised in Peshmerga uniforms, managed to reach K1 base controlled by Peshmerga. Two of the militants detonated their vests at the entrance to the base, leaving two Peshmerga troops killed and six injured.

The rest of the attackers were killed by the Peshmerga forces who have been defending the base since it was abandoned by the Iraqi army ahead of the invasion of the IS insurgents in 2014.

Kurdish authorities in Kirkuk previously warned that Kirkuk may not be completely secured as long as IS rules the nearby town of Hawija, from where the militants launch and direct attacks against Kirkuk.

Hawija, some 30 miles west of Kirkuk, is a strategic town which has fallen into the hands of IS in mid-2014. The Iraqi authorities postponed an operation to liberate the town last year, instead they moved onto central Mosul.

Postponing the Hawija operation affected the stability in Kirkuk since some of the terrorists and sleeper cells captured in Kirkuk are found to be in direct contact with IS in Hawija, according to the security forces.

 

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/kurdistan/348488

[ChuckFinley]

More and more are biting the dust. 

[tigergorzow]

IS Car Bombings Kill 9 Iraqi Troops in West Mosul

 

Basnews English

07/05/2017 - 11:03

Iraq

 

 

 

MOSUL — An Iraqi security source said 9 policemen, including two officers, were killed Saturday night in an offensive carried out by the Islamic State (IS) militants in west Mosul.

Lieutenant Safaa al-Bahadli, the officer from the Iraqi federal police, said the IS militants attacked the Iraqi government forces in the Wadi Akkab industrial area, northwest of Mosul, using four car bombs driven by suicide bombers.

He added that "the car bombings killed 9 of the Iraqi Rapid Response Forces, including two lieutenants, as well as wounding three others. Two Humvees belonging to the Iraqi forces carrying heavy machine guns were also destroyed in the attack.

The operation to recapture the city from IS progressed to the western side of Mosul in February, following the declaration of the eastern half’s liberation in January.

The Iraqi military continues to close in on the extremist group in western half of Mosul where fierce street fights are ongoing.

 

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/iraq/348422

[tigergorzow]

Iraqi Forces Retake Further Areas in West Mosul

 

Shoguna B. Sobir

06/05/2017 - 18:37

Iraq

 

 

 

 

MOSUL — The Hawi al-Kanisah area as well as 50 percent of the 17 Tamuz neighbourhood in western Mosul have been recaptured by the Iraqi forces.

“The Rapid Response forces now control 50 percent of 17 Tamuz region after killing more than 40 Islamic State [IS] militants, including 12 suicide attackers,” Brigadier General Mohamed al-Jabouri, of the Joint Operations Command, told BasNews. Additional 10 IS militants were also killed as a result of the shelling of two booby-trapping workshops in the region.

“Safe passageways were opened by troops to allow exit of civilians,” al-Jabour added.

“The Iraqi troops liberated Hawi al-Kanisah area from the militants, in addition to 16 surrounding farms and seizure of weapon stashes and factories,” said Captain Kadhim Hassan, of the Iraqi army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS).

“CTS arrested eighteen militants, including leaders, during the liberation of the region,” he told BasNews.

The operation to recapture the city from the IS progressed to the western side of Mosul in February, following the declaration of the eastern half’s liberation in January. The operation was launched by the US-led international coalition and the Iraqi forces on October 17, 2016.

 

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/iraq/348290

[tigergorzow]

IS Militants Under Siege in Nine Districts of Mosul

 

Basnews English

06/05/2017 - 22:34

Iraq

 

 

 

MOSUL — With the Iraqi forces continuing advancing against the Islamic State (IS) in Mosul, the extremist group is said to be encircled in nine districts of the northern city.

According to an updated map published by the Iraq’s Joint Operation Command, the IS militants are now besieged in the neighborhoods of 17 Tamouz, Najjar, Zanjili, Islah Zira’i, Arabi, southern industrial zone, Ayoub industrial zone, Haramat, as well as areas of Old Mosul.

Mohammed Rawi, an Iraqi officer, stated on Saturday that the counter-terrorism forces have been leading a “fierce battle” against the IS insurgents in western Mosul, attempting to oust the jihadists from Akab industrial zones of the city.

Rawi further revealed that the Saturday clashes resulted in the killing of 14 IS militants while three counter-terrorism forces lost their lives with seven others injured.

He claimed that the liberation of the industrial zones of Mosul is now “a matter of hours”.

 

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/iraq/348342

[tigergorzow]

Peshmerga Wards off IS Attack on Kaywan Base in Kirkuk

 

Basnews English

07/05/2017 - 10:04

Kurdistan

 

 

 

 

KIRKUK — Peshmerga forces managed to ward off an attack carried out by the Islamic State (IS) militants on Kaywan military base in Kirkuk province in the early hours of Sunday.

On Sunday morning, a number of IS militants, including suicide bombers, attacked Kaywan base, the largest military base in Kirkuk province located on Kirkuk-Dibis road, Kirkuk's imposing district police chief Brigadier General Sarhad Qadir said in a press conference.

Peshmerga forces stationed in the base repelled the offensive, killing the entire group of the militants. However, one of the attackers blew himself up, leaving two Peshmerga troops dead and two more injured.

Peshmerga forces took over Kaywan base after nearly 12,000 Iraqi army personnel fled the base ahead of the IS insurgents in 2014. Ever since, the Peshmerga forces have been defending the military base.

 

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/kurdistan/348383

[tigergorzow]

Iraqi Military Refutes IS Allegations on Airstrike Targeting Civilians

 

Basnews English

06/05/2017 - 18:17

Iraq

 

 

 

 

MOSUL — The Iraqi military admitted that a disused school has been bombed in western Mosul. However, they refuted the Islamic State (IS) allegations that they had targeting civilians.

According to the IS statement published on its Amaq website, Thursday’s air raid on the school killed 68 people, including 47 children and women. Eighty-six others were injured. The IS claimed that the US-led coalition is responsible for the attack.

The Iraqi military claimed that the building was used as a bomb factory.

Earlier, an Iraqi federal police official had told Al Jazeera that at least 80 people were killed as a result of a strike in the ‘July 17’ neighborhood, which is the same area the IS said the raids took place.

"These were people that were fleeing the clashes, the fighting [that is] going on between Iraqi security forces and ISIL in that neighborhood of western Mosul, and that they had taken refuge in a 'school house' in that area," reported Al Jazeera, citing the source in the Iraqi federal police.

The US Department of Defense has not yet commented on the incident.

Earlier in March, the US-led coalition admitted to launching an airstrike on a building which killed over 100 civilians, claiming that it contained IS militants who had forced civilians inside. However, the two survivors of the attack spoke against the Pentagon claim. According to the survivors no IS militant was present among the people who only sought shelter inside the building.

 

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/iraq/348287

[ChuckFinley]

Thanks Tiger, ton of Pesh news articles today. 

[tigergorzow]

ISIL raids US military base in Iraq: Al-Amaq

By

News Desk

-

07/05/2017

0

BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:00 P.M.) – The Islamic State raided a U.S. military base in northwestern Iraq, today, the terrorist group’s official media wing claimed this morning.

According to Al-‘Amaq News Agency, five suicide bombers managed to sneak past security outposts at the Kiwan Airbase, west of Karkouk, before attacking the installation during the wee hours on Sunday.

The terrorist group claimed they destroyed two Humvees and killed a number of American and Kurdish soldiers during a two hour engagement, which ended with the five ISIL militants blowing themselves up.

 

 

Al-Amaq alleges that nearly 2,000 US troops have been stationed at the airbase for the last 2 months; however, there has been no corroboration to this claim by the Pentagon.

 

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/isil-raids-us-military-base-iraq-al-amaq/

[tigergorzow]

IS militant kills Kurdish fighters in suicide attack at Kirkuk airbase *GRAPHIC*

By

News Desk

-

07/05/2017

0

BEIRUT, LEBANON (5:40 P.M.) – Two Kurdish fighters were killed after a member of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS; formerly ISIS/ISIL) detonated explosives on his persons in the Kurdish K-1 airbase on the outskirts of Kirkuk, Sunday.

Five IS militants reportedly launched the attack on the base.

 

 

Four of the militants were killed on the outskirts of the site, but one reportedly broke through Kurdish defences, killing two Kurdish fighters with a suicide bomb.

 

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/militant-kills-kurdish-fighters-suicide-attack-kirkuk-airbase-graphic/

Edited May 7, 2017 by tigergorzow

[tigergorzow]

+18 graphic propaganda video: ISIS conducts deadly raids across western Iraq

By

Chris Tomson

-

06/05/2017

2

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (1:00 A.M.) – The Islamic State released a characteristic 16-minute video on Friday, showing large jihadist convoys and Inghimasi units attacking Iraqi outposts and army bases, including Asad Airbase, in western Anbar.

Islamic State fighters could also be seen boosting moral before the battles and cheering after capturing spoils of war from the Iraqi Armed Forces.

The footage is highly graphic and must not be viewed by adolescents:

 

https://www.almasdarnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ISIS-propaganda-video-from-western-Anbar.mp4

Al-Masdar News does not in anyone condone terrorism but insists on allowing readers perspective from both sides. The video is for educational use only.

 

 

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Army has won the upper hand in the battle for Mosul as Iraq’s second largest city is expected to be brought under government control within weeks.

Once this northern campaign is concluded, the Iraqi Armed Forces and allied paramilitary factions are expected to hunt down ISIS insurgents across the vast Anbar desert, known to be a jihadist hotbed.

Given the current rate of Iraqi advances, ISIS is likely to be defeat in Iraq within two years although suicide bombings, especially in the capital, are likely to continue.

 

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/18-graphic-propaganda-video-isis-conducts-deadly-raids-across-western-iraq/

[tigergorzow]

Libyan Islamic State leader killed in security offensive west of Mosul

 

by Mohamed Mostafa May 7, 2017, 2:25 pm

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Federal police members aim their weapons at a man, whom they thought was a member of Islamic State but later turned out to be mentally handicapped, during a battle with Islamic State fighters at Bab al Beed district in the old city of Mosul
REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

 

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) A Libyan senior leader of the Islamic State was killed in western Mosul on Sunday as Iraqi security forces sweep through districts on a new axis of operations taken last week.

Federal Police chief, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat, said Khaled ibn al-Waleed, a prominent IS leader, and five of his sentry, were killed when security troops pounded the group’s main police headquarter in the city.

He also said 40 IS members were killed in police bombardment on al-Zanjili district, and became close to the fifth of bridges linking western and eastern Mosul.

 

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Zanjili district, western Mosul (google maps)

Jawdat added that other IS casualties fell down when a drone guided by militants mistakenly bombarded their gathering near the Grand Nuri Mosque in the Old City, an area besieged by the forces for weeks.

The developments come as Iraqi commanders say they recaptured Mesherfa and most of Haramat and 30 Tamuz (July 30th) districts which fall on the northwestern axis of operations, a new front which Iraqi forces resorted to having found it difficult to invade the Old City from the south.

Iraqi troops took over eastern Mosul from the Islamic State in January, and have been advancing through the west since mid February, recently claiming control over 70 percent of that region.

*correction: 17th Tamuz district corrected to 30th Tamuz

 

http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/libyan-islamic-state-leader-killed-security-offensive-west-mosul/

[tigergorzow]

Dozens of IS members killed, troops advance toward al-Haramat al-Thaniya district

 

by Nehal Mostafa May 7, 2017, 2:52 pm

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Federal Police forces. File photo.

 

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Federal Police have declared killing dozens of Islamic State militants and destroying their anti-aircraft weapons as the troops advanced toward al-Haramat al-Thaniya district, in central Mosul, on Sunday.

Clashes erupted between the Rapid Response forces and the militants while combing al-Haramat, according to Lt.Gen. Shaker Jawdat, chief of the Federal Police.

The troops, according to Jawdat, “killed dozens of IS members, blew up several booby-trapped vehicles, destroyed three anti-aircraft weapons and ammunition stash and defused 50 bombs.”

Jawdat added that the troops advanced toward al-Haramat al-Thaniya reached near al-Jisr al-Khamis regions in central Mosul.

Speaking to Youm 7 news website, Jawdat said the troops are besieging the Grand al-Nuri al-Kabeer mosque, located in the Old City. The militants are taking shelter through thousands of the civilians in the densely-populated city.

The troops are 300 meters away from the mosque, which is besieged from three axis. Jawdat said, adding that the troops are now in control of the high buildings.

Meanwhile, Abdul-Ghani al-Assadi, commander of the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Forces, revealed ‘strategic’ changes to liberate the rest of the western side of Mosul.

“Strategic changes to the military plan will eliminate the presence of IS in Mosul,” according to Assadi, who did not rule out possibility of changing the locations of the military units at the final phase of fighting in the city.

 

http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/dozens-members-killed-troops-advance-toward-al-haramat-al-thaniya-district/

[tigergorzow]

Police arrest Islamic State’s mayor for “Southern State” in Fallujah

 

by Mohamed Mostafa May 7, 2017, 4:03 pm

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Iraqi government forces are seen near the Falahat village west of Fallujah on June 27, 2016.
Iraqi forces took the Islamic State group’s last positions in the city of Fallujah on June 26, establishing full control over one of the jihadists’ most emblematic bastions after a month-long operation. / AFP PHOTO / MOADH AL-DULAIMI

 

Fallujah (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi police arrested a senior Islamic State area mayor during a security raid on Sunday on the city of Fallujah, Anbar, according to a police source.

NRTTV quoted the police source saying forces had arrested the governor of Islamic State’s so-called “Wilayat al-Janoub” (Southern State) along with three others during a raid on Amiriyat al-Fallujah.

The source declined, however, to give details of the suspect’s identity, saying all of the arrested were taken for interrogation over involvement in attacks that had targeted security and civilians.

 

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Fallujah, Anbar (google maps).

Islamic State militants have held Anbar’s western towns of Annah, Qaim and Rawa since 2014. Fighter jets from the Iraqi army and the allied U.S.-led coalition have also regularly pounded IS locations in the province. Local officials believe Islamic State is holding thousands of civilians at its western strongholds to use them as human shields against any future security offensive.

The Iraqi government and army commanders say they will aim at IS havens in Anbar once it is finished with eliminating the group from Mosul, its biggest bastion in Iraq.

IS has escalated its attacks against army and paramilitary forces in the province over the past few months, leaving several personnel and civilians dead.

 

http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/limited-military-offensive-launches-clear-anbar-desert-2/

[tigergorzow]

Iraqi army raid western Mosul district as troops advance through northwestern axis

 

by Nehal Mostafa May 7, 2017, 12:31 pm

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Iraqi army forces. File photo.

 

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi army troops raided on Sunday the northwestern axis in western Mosul, a military source has said.

“The 9th armored division, covered by the Iraqi and international coalition fighter jets, stormed the 30 Tamuz (July 30th) district,” Cap. Jabbar Hassan, from the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service, said

“Fierce clashes are ongoing against the Islamic State militants,” he added. “The operation started from two axis heading from Mesherfa region, one day after driving the militants out of it.”

The militants, according to Hassan, “now basically depend on snipers.”

Meanwhile, a leader with the paramilitary troops of al-Hashd al-Shaabi in Tal Afar town declared arresting a Moroccan IS member while attempting infiltration toward the Syrian borders

The Iraqi troops opened last week a new front in the northwest of Mosul seeking crackdown on the militants in the Old City after weeks of attempts to invade the area from the south.

The 9th armored division, Federal Police and Rapid Response troops retook more than 30 percent of al-Haramat al-Thaniya district, the Kurdish-owned Rudaw network reported earlier on Sunday indicating fierce clashes ongoing there.

The troops tightened the grip on more than 50 percent of al-Zanjili district, the report said adding that the airstrikes targeted two IS booby-trapping workshops.

The report quoted military sources as saying that three armed militants were killed during the clashes.

On Saturday, the Nineveh Operations Command declared full liberation of Mesherfa region. Previously, the troops announced gaining full control on Hawi al-Kanisah region and taken over 50 percent of 17 Tamuz (July 17th) region in western Mosul.

 

http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/iraqi-army-raid-western-mosul-district-troops-advance-northwestern-axis/

[tigergorzow]

Iraqi troops declare full liberation of Mesherfa region, western Mosul

 

by Nehal Mostafa May 6, 2017, 6:28 pm

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Iraqi soldiers gather to go battle against Islamic State militants south of Mosul , Iraq, June 15, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

 

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The Nineveh Operations Command has declared full liberation of Mesherfa region in the wake of fierce clashes that occurred earlier on Saturday between Iraqi troops and Islamic State militants in western Mosul

“The 9th armored division freed Mesherfa al-Oula district, completing the liberation of the full region of Mesherfa after inflicting huge losses on the enemy in lives and equipments,” the command said in statements.

“The Iraqi flag has been raised above the building in the district,” the command added.

Earlier on Saturday, the Iraqi troops declared gaining full control on Hawi al-Kanisah region and taken over 50 percent of 17 Tamuz (July 17th) region in western Mosul.

On Thursday, the Iraqi armed forces announced recapturing Mesherfa al-Thaniya district on Friday and Mesherfa al-Thalitha on Thursday.

A new front for ground offensives was opened last week targeting IS’s strategic stronghold at the Old City region from the north, having found it difficult to invade the area from the south for weeks.

Eastern Mosul was recaptured in January after three months of battles against IS. A major offensive was launched in February to retake the western flank of the city.

 

http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/iraqi-troops-declare-full-liberation-mesherfa-region-western-mosul/

[3n1]

fantastic tiger, ur mosul update compilations r second to none ... cheers

[tigergorzow]

Mosul: Uncertain future awaits children born under ISIL rule (Video in link)

Children are among the worst affected by the war in Iraq. Many born under ISIL rule do not have birth certificates recognised by the Iraqi government. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Jamjoom reports from Khazir camp near Erbil.

Children are among the worst affected by the war in Iraq.

Many born under ISIL rule do not have birth certificates recognised by the Iraqi government.

 

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Jamjoom reports from Khazir camp near Erbil.

Mohammed Jamjoom07 May 2017 14:30 GMT

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/news/2017/05/mosul-uncertain-future-awaits-children-born-isil-rule-170507143048742.html

Edited May 7, 2017 by tigergorzow

[ChuckFinley]

Thanks Tigers, they are really moving out here.