Battle for Mosul Day 30:

Tal Afar Airport Taken Back

Rasa - Iraq's wide-scale operation continued on Wednesday as popular forces seized back Tal Afar airport in the afternoon.

News ID: 425101

Date: 16 November 2016 - 23:23

RNA - Iraq's wide-scale operation continued on Wednesday as popular forces seized back Tal Afar airport in the afternoon.

Hashd Al-Shaabi Wins Back Tal Afar Airport

The Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) managed to take control of the Tal Afar airport some 55km Northwest of Mosul city.

The airport used to be the military base of the US marines.

Iraqi Forces Take Control of Over 30 Percent of Lands East of Mosul

Iraqi Interior Ministry Spokesman Sa'ad Ma'an announced that Iraq's joint military forces have seized back one-third of the ISIL-held territories on the Eastern side of Mosul.

"Over 30 percent of the lands to the East of Mosul are now under the control of the Iraqi forces," Ma'an said.

He also said that Iraq's joint military forces have made considerable advances in the Eastern part of Mosul city as clashes are underway in different parts of the city.

ISIL Brainwashes 400,000 Kids in Mosul to Fight, Carry out Suicide Attacks

ISIL terrorists brainwashed thousands of children for the past two years in the militant-held city of Mosul, their stronghold in Iraq, according to a report by Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights.

The terrorists are said to have been modifying school curricula for two years to “brainwash student children, force hatred onto them and oblige them to join ISIL ranks,” according to the Commission’s media director, Jawad al-Shamri, Iraqi News reported.

He also said that ISIL had managed to meddle with the education of as many as 400,000 children in this manner.

“ISIL syllabuses taught children how to make explosive belts, take female hostages and prepare booby-traps,” al-Shamri noted.

Baghdad Deploys Forces only 4 Kilometers Away From Central Mosul

Mosul Liberation Operation has entered a new phase as Iraq's anti-terrorism units are inching closer to the Central part of the city, Arab media outlets reported on Wednesday.

"Iraqi forces, backed up by vast aerial coverage, started fresh attack on ISIL's positions North of Mosul. The offensive started in the Eastern part of Mosul at first, and the country's force are advanced towards different regions in four fronts," al-Arabiyeh news network reported.

"The anti-terrorism units attacked the strategic village of Adan East of Mosul in four directions," the network said.

"Iraqi forces are now deployed 4 km away from the fourth bridge of Mosul that is a major link between the Eastern and Western banks of the Tigris River," the network added.

Iraqi Forces Tap Terrorists' Turkish-Language Communications at Tal Afar Airport

Iraqi military forces, who are on the verge of liberating the ISIL-held Tal Afar airport, have managed to wiretap ISIL communications in Turkish language inside the airport West of the militant-held city of Mosul.

The Arabic-language TV channel Al-Mayadeen said in a report on Wednesday that the Iraqi forces eavesdropped ISIL's communications when they heard orders were given in the Turkish language by the ISIL commanders to those militants deployed inside the airport South of Tal Afar city, West of Mosul.

Over Dozen Civilians Killed in ISIL Attack in Eastern Mosul

More than a dozen civilians were reportedly lost their lives as ISIL terrorists launched a mortar attack against an Eastern neighborhood of Mosul in a desperate attempt to compensate for their huge losses inflicted on them by Iraqi government forces and their allied fighters.

On Wednesday, the terrorists lobbed a barrage of mortar rounds at al-Zahra district, which army soldiers liberated last week, leaving 14 civilians dead and seven others injured, presstv reported.

The development came shortly after the commander of Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces, Major General Ma'an al-Sa'adi, said his forces had marched into the Aden neighborhood on the Eastern flank of Mosul.

Iraqi Forces Expel ISIL from 4 More Villages West of Mosul

The Mosul liberation operation entered a new phase as Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) took control of several more villages in the vicinity of the Northern city of Mosul.

"A sum of four villages were seized back by the Iraqi volunteer forces and many ISIL terrorists were killed," the Arabic-language media quoted the Hashd al-Shaabi as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

The sources noted that the villages of Ram Hajareh al-Sofla, Marisheh, Mabzali and Tal al-Savan, just to the West of Mosul, were won back and the ISIL terrorists sustained heavy losses.

Another ISIL Financial Chief Flees Mosul with Millions in Cash

A local source in Nineveh province disclosed that ISIL's financial chief has escaped the city of Mosul with millions of dollars to become the second commander in charge of the terrorist group's financial affairs who disappears with huge sums of cash in just one month.

"Abu Hafas al-Halabi, a senior official in charge with ISIL's court of audit, and his three Iraqi aides have left Mosul for an unknown destination," al-Sumeriyeh news network quoted the local source as saying.

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