RNA - The Nineveh operations command said the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service forces took over al-Maamel area on Wednesday, and raised Iraqi flags at the area. It also said forces killed Abu Ayoub al-Shami,ISIL’s military commander for the Islah al-Zeraie district, along with three of his aides, Iraqi News reported.
The developments come as Iraqi forces opened last week a new front targeting the strategic, ISIL-held Old City from the Northwestern direction, having struggled for weeks to invade the densely populated and narrowly structured area from its southern entrances.
Iraqi commanders have reported dozens of deaths among ISIL militants and the recapture of large parts of districts on the targets list.
Iraqi commanders say they currently control at least 70 percent of territory in the Western side of Mosul. Some were quoted expecting the city to be fully under security forces’ control before the end of May. Retaking Mosul will be the strongest blow to the ISIL’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” which its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared from the Old City’s Grand Mosque in 2014.
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