RNA - The comprehensive military campaign by Iraqi military forces to liberate the Northern city of Mosul from ISIL militants continued on Monday, as local reports quoted an Iraqi commander as saying that the government forces gained control over 75 percent of the Western side of ISIL's last urban bastion in Iraq.
Iraqi Forces Control 75 Percent of Western Mosul
Iraqi government forces gained in control over 75 percent of the Western side of Mosul as battles continue with ISIL militants, according to a local official.
Hossam al-Abbar, a member of the Nineveh province council, said in statements Monday that security troops were controlling 75 percent of the western side, Iraqi News reported.
He said battles are currently concentrated around the Grand Nuri al-Kabir Mosque in the Old City, where troops prepare to storm the area with snipers, hand grenades and assault rifles, excluding artillery and aircraft to prevent civilian casualties.
Iraqi Forces Fight Door-to-Door in Mosul as Battle Enters Seventh Month
Iraqi forces gained fresh ground in door-to-door fighting in the Old City of Mosul, a military spokesman said Monday, as the offensive to capture ISIL' de facto capital in Iraq entered its seventh month.
A correspondent saw thick smoke billowing over the Old City, near the Grand al-Nuri Mosque, from where ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi held his infamous sermon in 2014, the Daily Star reported.
Heavy exchanges of gunfire and mortar rounds could be heard from the neighborhoods facing the old city across the Tigris river that bisects Mosul into a Western and Eastern sides.
ISIL Suddenly Withdraws from Rawa towards Qa'im
A local commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said that members of the ISIL terror group suddenly withdrew from Rawa District towards Qa'im District, reports said.
The Commander of PMF, also known as Hashd al-Shaabi, in Anbar Province, Sheikh Qatar al-Obeidi said in a press statement that the ISIL members suddenly withdrew from different areas of Rawa District to al-Qa'im District, near Iraqi-Syrian borders, Iraqi News reported.
Leaders of the ISIL terrorist group ordered their members to evacuate Rawa, in addition to 17 other locations, due to the intensified airstrikes carried out by the Army Aviation, Obeidi added.
ISIL Launches Chemical Attack in Iraq's Mosul for Second Time in 2 Days
The ISIL terrorist group carried out another chemical attack in a recently-liberated area in Western part of Mosul in Nineveh province to push back Iraqi government forces in the group's de facto capital.
According to reports, at least six Iraqi soldiers suffered inhalation problems following a chemical attack launched by ISIL on Sunday which occurred in a recently-liberated area of Mosul, where the Federal Police and Rapid Response forces are advancing towards the old city.
The Spokesman for the Joint Operation Command in Iraq, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, said that six soldiers suffered breathing problems from the ISIL attack, adding that the victims are now being treated at a field clinic.
ISIL on Verge of Collapse in Mosul's Old City
The Iraqi army troops continued to hit ISIL's positions in Western part of Mosul and drove the terrorists out of more region in groups's de facto capital in the Arab country.
Iraqi government forces recaptured more lands in the new round of military operation in Nineveh province against ISIL militants in Mosul's Old City, trying to fully liberate the terrorist group's last bastion, al-Sumariya television network reported.
"Iraqi forces advanced at least 200 meters deeper into the Old City after they launched their operation on Sunday morning from Qadheeb al-Ban area in Western Mosul," the commander of the federal police Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat said.
Iraqi Troops Gain Control of Strategic Regions in Western Mosul
The Iraqi army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) controlled one of the biggest markets in Mosul, while Federal Police reached the boundaries of two districts in the western flank of the city, a security source said.
“CTS continued its advance in al-Tanak district, western Mosul and controlled al-Maash market, the biggest vegetables market in Nineveh province,” said the source, Shafaq News reported.
Meanwhile, “Federal Police controlled the Bab Ghaz yard in Sinjar, in west of Mosul, reaching to the boundaries of Zanjili and al-Borsa districts.”
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