Nearly 3 years after Da'ish took the city... #Iraq's flag has been raised above #Mosul's government buildings

[fancy]

Thanks yota, amazing news.  Times up ISIL. 

[yota691]

Alliance temporarily halt military operations in Mosul

October 28, 2016

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Iraqi forces in southern Mosul site

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A spokesman for the international coalition, which is led by the United States Friday, the Iraqi forces to "stop" for two days from launching attacks to consolidate the successes achieved since the start of the restoration of Mosul organization Islamic State "Daesh" process announced.

He said US Colonel John Dorian, in a video conference from Baghdad, "We believe that it will take approximately two days before resuming progress toward Mosul," explaining that this stop of the scheme within the coalition.

The US General Matthew Isler, announced Friday, freeing the Iraqi forces to 40 villages near Mosul from the grip of the organization Daesh since the start of the start of the fighting to expel the organization last week.

 

Source: agencies

[Theseus]

Iraqi Anthem!

[Kraidle]

NO. Why are you stopping? Don't give them any chance to regroup or retreat. Plant flags in the center of the city, and burn the ISIS flags with pig oil!

[Candy01]

On 10/28/2016 at 2:13 PM, fancy said:

Thanks yota, amazing news.  Times up ISIL. 

[yota691]

Iran accuses the United States of failing to eliminate Daesh Iraq

Political

 Since 10/29/2016 17:53 pm (Baghdad time)

 Scales News - Follow-up

The president of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, on Saturday, as the US has failed to eliminate Daesh in Iraq.

Larijani said in the news agency reported, "Fars News" Iranian I followed / balances News / "The movement of terrorists in the region, a disgrace to the great powers, which formed an alliance of 60 countries to fight terrorism," noting that "the US and its alliance failed to eliminate Daesh Iraq."

 

He added that "This case is an order we walked for the countries that claim to be a superpower, but has worked to stoke the flames of war in the region," adding that they "do not want to end this crisis in the region and their goal is clear," .anthy 29/33 h

 

[yota691]

Iran-backed Shiites join Iraqi attack on Mosul

By Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports

Posted: October 30, 2016 at 4:02 a.m.
Updated: October 29, 2016 at 4:02 a.m.

MARKO DROBNJAKOVIC
Credit: AP
Iraqi federal police officers watch air and ground strikes slam Shura on Saturday as Iraqi troops move in on their way to Mosul. U.S.-led airstrikes and artillery fire targeted Islamic State positions inside Shura.

 

 

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SHURA, Iraq -- State-sanctioned Shiite militias joined Iraq's Mosul offensive Saturday with a pre-dawn assault to the west, where they hope to complete the encirclement of the Islamic State-held city and sever supply lines from neighboring Syria.

• INTERACTIVE: Islamic State timeline and map

Other Iraqi forces aided by U.S.-led airstrikes and heavy artillery meanwhile drove the Islamic State from the town of Shura, south of Mosul, where the militants had rounded up civilians to be used as human shields.

The twin thrusts come nearly two weeks into the offensive to retake Iraq's second-largest city, but most of the fighting is still taking place in towns and villages far from its outskirts, and the entire operation is expected to take weeks, if not months.

The involvement of the Iran-backed Shiite militias has raised concerns that the battle for Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could aggravate sectarian tensions. Rights groups have accused the militias of abuses against civilians in other Sunni areas retaken from the Islamic State, accusations the militia leaders deny.

The umbrella group for the militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Units, said they will not enter Mosul itself and will instead focus on retaking Tal Afar, a town to the west that had a Shiite majority before it fell to the Islamic State in 2014.

Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for the group, told reporters in Baghdad that the militias had retaken 10 villages since the start of the operation. But there was likely still some fighting underway, and he said forces were removing explosive booby traps left by the Islamic State to slow their advance.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said his group and the other militias had advanced 4 miles toward Tal Afar and used anti-tank missiles to destroy three suicide car bombs that were heading toward them.

He said the U.S.-led coalition, which is providing airstrikes and ground support to the Iraqi military and Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga, is not playing any role in the Shiite militias' advance. He said Iranian advisers and Iraqi aircraft were helping them.

The presence of Iranian-backed militias could give Turkey, which has insisted on a role in the Mosul operation despite opposition from Baghdad, an excuse to deepen its involvement.

Turkey has said it has a duty to protect the people of Tal Afar, who are ethnic Turkmen, but it also has a strategic interest in countering Iranian influence in Iraq. It has stationed hundreds of troops near Mosul and trained Sunni fighters, ignoring Baghdad's repeated requests for the Turks to leave.

Any Turkish forces in Iraq will be dealt with "as the enemy," said Jawad al-Tleibawi, a spokesman for the Asaib Ahl al-Haq Shiite militia. "We already have plans to confront any intervention by them," he said. Tleibawi said Shiite militias also planned to retake Hatra and Baaj, putting them in the vicinity of Kurdish peshmerga forces, who have clashed with them in the past.

U.S. diplomats earlier this month failed to broker an agreement between Turkey and Iraq about what role the Turks would play in the offensive.

Many of the militias were originally formed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to battle American forces and Sunni insurgents. They were mobilized again and endorsed by the state when the Islamic State swept through northern and central Iraq in 2014.

Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura after a wave of U.S.-led airstrikes and artillery shelling against militant positions inside the town. Commanders said most of the Islamic State fighters withdrew last week with civilians, but that U.S. airstrikes had disrupted the forced march, allowing some civilians to escape.

"After all this shelling, I don't think we will face much resistance," Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri said as the advance got underway. "This is easy, because there are no civilians left," he added.

But hours later, a few families who had hunkered down during the fighting emerged. The government has urged people to remain in their homes, fearing a mass exodus from the Mosul area, which is still home to more than 1 million people.

By the afternoon, Brig. Gen. Firas Bashar said his forces were clearing explosives and searching for Islamic State fighters in Shura. The sound of artillery echoed in the distance.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, an Islamic State suicide bomber targeting an aid station for Shiite pilgrims killed at least seven people and wounded more than 20, police and hospital officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief reporters.

The Sunni extremist group often targets Iraq's Shiite majority, which it views as apostates deserving of death.

The Mosul offensive involves more than 25,000 soldiers, federal police, Kurdish fighters, Sunni tribesmen and the Shiite militias.

Iraqi forces moving toward the city from several directions have made uneven progress since the offensive began Oct. 17. They are 4 miles from the edge of Mosul on the eastern front, where Iraq's special forces are leading the charge. But progress has been slower in the south, with Iraqi forces still 20 miles from the city.

The U.N. human-rights office said Friday that the Islamic State has rounded up tens of thousands of civilians in and around Mosul to use as human shields, and has massacred more than 200 Iraqis in recent days, mainly former members of the security forces.

The militants have carried out mass killings of perceived opponents in the past and boasted about them in grisly photos and videos circulated online. The group is now believed to be cracking down on anyone who could rise up against it, focusing on men with military training or past links to the security forces.

Elsewhere, pathologists at the Kirkuk hospital morgue were undertaking the gruesome process of gathering intelligence on the Islamic State's sudden counterattack on the city by analyzing the corpses of 84 militants.

One by one, the bodies were removed from black body bags so fingerprints and DNA could be preserved. If no relatives claim the remains, the bodies will be burned.

A counterterrorism unit, meanwhile, was searching the fighters' cellphones for data and trying to find any residents who might have been on the calls. They were trying to discern whether the city is still at risk of infiltration or another assault.

"What they did to us inside Kirkuk was by far the worst we have ever seen," said Polad Talabani, the commander of the Kurdish counterterrorism force, which was summoned from nearby Sulaimaniya to help put down the assault that drove deep into the city's heart before dawn Oct. 21.

Beyond the militants, 116 people were killed in the fighting, including 43 police officers, 33 peshmerga and other security force personnel, and 21 civilians, among them several Iranian technicians who worked at a power plant, officials said. About 265 people were wounded.

Information for this article was contributed by Susannah George, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Joseph Krauss and Maamoun Youssef of The Associated Press; by Loveday Morris and Mustafa Salim of The Washington Post; and by Michael R. Gordon and Kamil Kakol of The New York Times.

A Section on 10/30/2016

[Wiljor]

Iraq, October 29, 2016 

More than 5,600 people have been displaced in just the first three days of fighting after Iraqi forces launched their offensive on Mosul to oust the Islamic State from Iraq’s second-largest city.

In the first few weeks of the campaign, which began Oct. 17, more than 200,000 people are expected to flee to camps and shelters in the north of Iraq. The daily battles lead to daily struggles to save lives in Iraqi Kurdistan, where thousands of internally displaced Iraqis live. Some have been there since the summer of 2014, when Mosul and its entire governorate, Ninevah, fell under IS control.

In the Iraqi Kurdistan capital of Erbil, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Mosul, local women work with the Zhyan Women’s Reproductive Health project. Zhyan is run by the Italian nongovernmental organization Un Ponte Per (A Bridge To).

All the medical staff there are displaced nurses, gynecologists or general practitioners. In the Kurdish language, “zhyan” means “life,” which suits these workers trying to bring themselves, other displaced people and refugees back to life in an Iraq still far from stabilization and reconciliation.

Raunak, a nurse, graduated from the University of Mosul in 2010. She and the others asked that only their first names be used for safety reasons. The Mosul native has worked with Zhyan since February 2015, seeing about 25 patients every day at Kasnazan Clinic on the outskirts of Erbil. “I follow courses and training to improve my skills,” Raunak said. “I don’t want to interrupt my education and my life.”

The patients are displaced from all over Iraq, and there are also women from Syria. Some women go to the clinics when they discover they are pregnant. Others receive their first-ever gynecological exam.

 

iraq-businessnews

 

http://iraqdailyjournal.com/story-z14172577

[Wiljor]

tober 2016 18:54

 

60 Villages Liberated from ISIS by Iraqi Army Troops in Mosul Operation

  

 

60 Villages Liberated from ISIS by Iraqi Army Troops in Mosul Operation

A high-ranking Iraqi security figure says government forces have taken back more than 60 villages from ISIS (Daesh / ISIL) Takfiri terrorists since the beginning of the massive and multi-pronged offensive to free the northern city of Mosul started nearly a fortnight ago.

Commander of Federal Police Forces Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat announced on Sunday that Iraqi forces have managed to establish control over 61 villages, purge 1,400 square kilometers of ISIS militants and evacuate 1,396 displaced families to safety zones since October 17, Arabic-language al-Sumaria satellite television network reported.

Iraqi government forces and fighters from Popular Mobilization Units advance towards the village of Ayn Nasir, south of Mosul, on October 29, 2016, during the ongoing battle against Takfiri Daesh terrorists to liberate the city of Mosul. (Photo by AFP)

He added that 747 ISIS terrorists have also been killed and 88 others captured during the mentioned period.

Jawdat went on to say that 164 cars rigged with explosives, 42 armored vehicles, 61 explosive belts and 47 motorcycle bombs were also destroyed.

Additionally, Iraqi forces confiscated 25 vehicles and 170 rounds of ammunition, defused 1,066 explosive devices and destroyed 13 workshops for booby-trapping vehicles and manufacturing bombs.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command (JOC) also stated that Iraqi security forces have managed to retake the village of Ali Rash, located southeast of Mosul, and raise the national Iraqi flag above several buildings in the area.

The statement added that scores of ISIS terrorists have been killed and a large amount of their munitions destroyed in the process.

Volunteer fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units enter the village of Ayn Nasir, south of Mosul, on October 29, 2016, after recapturing it from Daesh terrorists in an ongoing operation to retake the city of Mosul. (Photo by AFP)

Separately, fighters from pro-government Popular Mobilization Units retook the villages of Amerini, Ayn Baydha and Shik southwest of Mosul.

The volunteer forces also advanced on Zaeiziyah region, forcing ISIS militants to flee en masse to the nearby Ajya region.

Also on Sunday, Popular Mobilization Units entered Mostantaq al-Oula amd Mostantaq al-Thaniyah villages and laid a siege to Moshirfah village.

In another development, pro-government volunteer forces marched into al-Jern and al-Salmani regions in pursuit of ISIS terrorists.

The International Organization for Migration said on Saturday that more than 17,500 people have fled their homes toward government-held areas since the Mosul liberation operation began, warning that the number is expected to rise drastically as Iraqi army soldiers, volunteer forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters close in.

An Iraqi woman and children collect wood and metal at a site, which was targeted by an airstrike a couple of days ago, in Qayyarah region south of Mosul, on October 29, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations has also pointed to the sufferings that civilians are enduring in terrorist-held territories, stating that there are credible reports that ISIS extremists are carrying out mass executions and seizing tens of thousands of people for use as human shields.

ISIS's "depraved, cowardly strategy is to attempt to use the presence of civilians to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations", UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in a statement on Friday.

He said the terrorists are “effectively using tens of thousands of women, men and children as human shields.”

http://en.alalam.ir/news/1879271

 

[Wiljor]

Iraqi  PM Haider Al-Abadi Rejects US Claim of “Suspension” in Mosul Operations

  

 

Iraqi PM Rejects US Claim of “Suspension” in Mosul Operations

Iraq has denied a recent claim made by the US-led coalition supposedly targeting ISIS in the Arab country that there was going to be a “pause” in Iraqi military operations to liberate the northern city of Mosul.

Coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorian had alleged on Saturday that the suspension was aimed at helping the forces to “regroup.”

“We believe that [regrouping] will take two days before continuing the advance towards Mosul,” he had said in Baghdad.

Later in the day, however, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said via the country’s al-Iraqiya television network that, “Since the beginning of the operation to date, Iraqi forces have liberated a large number of districts, villages, and towns [in Nineveh Province, of which Mosul is the capital], and this trend is to continue as scheduled.”

The operation, he said, would last until the liberation of the province in its entirety.

The Iraqi premier said obstructive efforts by infiltrators and ill-wishers would not hamper the efforts to liberate Mosul.

Lieutenant General Abdul Wahhab al-Saadi and General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, commanders with Iraq’s elite counter-terror force, have also rejected the remarks by the US-led coalition spokesman.

Together with dozens of its allies, the coalition has been pounding what it says are the positions of the Takfiri terrorist group of Daesh since 2014. It is not clear if the strikes have done anything to dislodge the terrorists, however.

Reports have, meanwhile, pointed to alleged instances of obstruction or non-cooperation by the US-led coalition in the operations for Mosul, whose potential liberation would mean a severe blow to ISIS in Iraq.

 

"The Iraqi premier said obstructive efforts by infiltrators and ill-wishers would not hamper the efforts to liberate Mosul."

The coalition reportedly stopped operations in the areas lying to the south of Mosul just as the push was gathering momentum since its launch on October 16.

Separately, some Iraqi Special Forces’ commanders said the coalition had withheld its support as the Mosul operation was going through one of its toughest embryonic stages.

Iraqi Armed Forces have also blasted the US-led forces for downing a drone belonging to its rapid reaction forces in Mosul’s general area at one point during the operation.

Mosul has been under Daesh control since 2014. The terrorist group has described the city as its so-called headquarters in Iraq.

Also on Saturday, Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi forces opened a new front in the Mosul operations to cut ISIS supply lines between the city and neighboring Syria.

The Hashd al-Shaabi volunteer forces also seek to retake the town of Tal Afar on the western side of the city, the only site where the Armed Forces are yet to be deployed to.

Hashd al-Shaabi fighters, meanwhile, freed the route connecting the Hamam al-Alil and Bou Hamad Badri to the west of Mosul. Popular forces also liberated two more villages in the same area.

On Sunday, the first military aircraft landed at the main airport in the town of Qayyarah, located 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Mosul, following its liberation from the terrorist group, which had been holding it for two years, Iraq’s al-Sumariah TV network reported.

Saturday witnessed the liberation of 14 more villages near Mosul, as well as the al-Shourah district, which was of strategic importance to the terrorists, Press TV reported.

 

http://en.alalam.ir/news/1879141

[MyLadiesDaddy]

OH BOY , It's getting serious now

[MyLadiesDaddy]

6 hours ago, yota691 said:

Iran accuses the United States of failing to eliminate Daesh Iraq

Someone needs to take the football from Obummers and eliminate Iran

[MyLadiesDaddy]

OMG  people, it was just a joke. 

[Jaxinjersey]

2 minutes ago, ladyGrace'sDaddy said:

OMG  people, it was just a joke. 

But, you're right about Iran.  Sanctions worked... now they're lifted... now what?  That's the real joke!

[blueskyline]

A little push back to show the people he is in control  ???

[MyLadiesDaddy]

28 minutes ago, Jaxinjersey said:

But, you're right about Iran.  Sanctions worked... now they're lifted... now what?  That's the real joke!

Finally!  someone who understands me. 

[yota691]

An intelligence source: the battles forced terrorist leaders to flee

 

 

31/10/2016 0:00  Mosul / morning / agencies  published the newspaper « The Observer» British in its edition, on Sunday, in order to achieve a writer «Emma Garaham Harrison» entitled «explosives cunning and cruel used by the gang« Daesh »terrorist to disable Mosul process», at the time reported intelligence reports and certificates of citizens Mosul that the leaders of the so - called «Army of brackish» associated with the leader of the terrorist gang «Abu Bakr al - Baghdadi» left the battle and fled towards the Syrian border by civilian cars. Says Garaham Harrison in her article: The «Kids doll with bright colors in the form of a bear and placed near the wall , citing explosives that was supposed to be hidden within them, may not draw the doll looked deep passes its neighborhood, but for a child, the eyes Allowasotain Allamotain fur orange will represent an irresistible temptation ».  Colonel Nawzad Kamel Hassan, an engineer with the Peshmerga forces to participate in the process of Mosul , told the newspaper:« Why use «Daesh» something nice CDP or rabbit? Because they know that the Peshmerga soldiers will not be concerned her, but the children Selhzawnha ».  It adds the press that« a box of playing cards or a doll or a lighter or a wristwatch is left can be designed to attract Mar attention bomb driven by curiosity to approach them ,which in danger of being killed or maimed. » In the meantime, said an intelligence source from Mosul, on Sunday, the establishment of the so - called «Army of brackish» is directly connected to the leader of the terrorist gang «Abu Bakr al - Baghdadi» hide its wheels and was buried military mechanisms for fear of targeted air, pointing to the escape of a large number of leaders of the wheels regulation a civilian.  The source added that « a large number of leaders of the « army that went »civilian cars fleeing the city of Mosul to the Syrian city of Raqqa to ensure that targeted by the air force flight international Alliance».

[yota691]

31-10-2016 01:31 PM

Abadi field held meetings with security chiefs to operations coming Aaninoy

 

 

 

The general commander of the armed forces , Prime Minister Haider al - Abadi field meetings with security chiefs. 
As Abadi lose during his visit today to the battle fronts in the fighters on the front lines. 
He was Abadi had arrived the day area of operations are coming Aaninoy ...

[yota691]

Abadi inspects military units in the coming Aaninoy operations

Political

 Since 31.10.2016 at 12:47 (Baghdad time)

Baghdad balances News

Lose the Prime Minister General Commander of the Armed Forces, Haider al-Abadi, Monday, military units in the area of operations are coming Aaninoy.

Ebadi's press office said in a statement received / balances News / copy of it, "Prime Minister and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces held today Haider al-Abadi, an inspection visit to military cuts in the area of operations are coming Aaninoy."

Security forces have been since the 17th of October 2016, and up to today's fierce military operations deduced from the terrorist organization "Daesh" to liberate the city of Mosul from Qdth.anthy 29 / A 43

[yota691]

WORLD NEWS | Mon Oct 31, 2016 | 7:34am EDT

Iraqi forces attempt first push into Mosul as offensive enters third week

 

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By Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli | EAST OF MOSUL/BAGHDAD, IRAQ

An elite Iraqi army unit advanced towards the built-up area of the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul on Monday after two weeks of fighting to clear surrounding areas of the insurgents.

Military commanders said that the U.S.-backed offensive to recapture Mosul -- the largest military operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 -- could still take weeks and possibly months.

"The battle of Mosul will not be a picnic," Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organisation, the largest Shi'ite militia fighting with Iraqi government forces, said from the southern frontline.

"We are prepared for the battle of Mosul even if it lasts for months".

Troops from the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) were moving in on Gogjali, an industrial zone on Mosul's eastern outskirts, and could enter it later on Monday, an officer from the U.S.-trained unit told a Reuters correspondent just east of Mosul.

The zone lies about a kilometer from the administrative border of Mosul.

"The operation to liberate the left bank of Mosul has started," a military statement said, referring to the eastern bank of the river that flows from north to south.

The capture of Mosul would mark the militants' effective defeat in the Iraqi half of the caliphate that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared two years ago from the city's Grand Mosque.

It is still home to 1.5 million residents, making it four of five times bigger than any other city they seized in both Iraq and Syria.

Other military statements said five villages were taken north of Mosul, where Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are also being deployed, while army units advanced in the south.

Pro-Iranian Iraqi Shi'ite militias joined the fighting on Saturday, aiming to cut the route between Mosul and Raqqa, Islamic State's main stronghold in Syria.

Islamic State militants has been fighting off the offensive with suicide car bombs, snipers and mortar fire.

They have also set oil wells on fire to cover their movements and displaced thousands of civilians from villages toward Mosul, using them as "human shields", U.N. officials and

villagers have said.

"Scorched earth tactics employed by retreating ISIL members are having an immediate health impact on civilians, and risk long-term environmental and health consequences," the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

 

SHI'ITE FLAGS

U.N. forecasts see up to 1 million people being uprooted by the fighting, which U.N. aid agencies said had so far forced about 17,500 people to flee -- a figure that excludes those taken into Mosul by the retreating militants.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Iraqi troops enter Karama, first district inside Mosul: officer

Islamic State said it killed 35 Shi'ite militia fighters and pro-government Sunni fighters in a suicide attack near Hadditha, in the western Anbar province, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. forces and the Shi'ite-led government that took over after the overthrow of Saddam. Iraqi officials didn't confirm the attack.

The flying of Shi'ite flags by the militias and also some regular army and police units in the mostly Sunni region around Mosul has been a cause of concern for local officials.

But the Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization forces, as the militias are collectively known, have not been linked to any sectarian incidents so far.

The deployment of Shi'ite forces in northern Iraq brought warnings from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday.

The town of Tal Afar, which the Shi'ite forces say they will recapture, is Turkmen - inhabited by people with strong cultural and historical links to Turkey, Erdogan said.

He said he would act if the Popular Mobilisation forces "unleash terror" in this town located about 55 km (35 miles) west of Mosul.

[yota691]

Iraqi coalition enters Mosul for first time in fight to recapture city from Isis

• Bethan McKernan Beirut 
• 34 minutes  ago
• 0 comments

 

Iraqi troops have entered the Karama district of the city of Mosul, Reuters is reporting.

An army officer said the US-backed coalition forces had managed their first advance on the city itself on Monday.

Iraqi forces have been edging closer to the Isis-controlled stronghold over two weeks of fighting.

[chinadawg]

But did we not see a pic our U.S. commander and chief (OBOOMA) on the battle front one time ?..............Oh wait, that was him at a CHICAGO BULLS basketball game.

[bostonangler]

CNN

• October 31, 2016

Iraqi troops to enter Mosul in ‘matter of hours,’ counter-terrorism chief says

Iraqi special forces are hundreds of meters from ISIS-controlled Mosul and will enter in a “matter of hours”, the country’s counter-terrorism chief said Monday.

“The soldiers of the Counterterrorism Force are advancing very fast. I wouldn’t say a matter of days but matter of hours before advancing and (to) start cleansing the city of Mosul from terrorism,” General Talib Shegati said in an interview with state-run Iraqiya TV.

A coalition of around 100,000 Iraqi-led forces have been in a decisive push toward Mosul since October 17 to end more than two years of the militant group’s brutal rule.

On Monday, they launched a new phase in the offensive, advancing on three separate fronts.

Experts have said that entering Mosul will likely trigger the fiercest fighting seen yet in the offensive, and that the battle is expected to be fought “street to street.”

Mosul has been an ISIS stronghold for more than two years, and although the ISIS fighters are vastly outnumbered, they have put up fierce resistance in pockets of the territory around the city.

Since the offensive began, they have carried out mass executions of civilians, lit toxic sulfur and oil fires to fend of coalition forces, and used civilians as human shields to ward of air strikes.

Full Article Link

Edited October 31, 2016 by bostonangler

[Big_J]

[jg1]

Yaaaaahooooooooo. I gust wish they would not announce what they are going to do, Like trump would say.