IRGC Quds Force Advisor:

ISIL Supply Routes Blocked in Mosul

Rasa - Brigadier General Iraj Masjedi, a senior advisor to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani, declared that the Iraqi army and popular forces have blocked all ISIL supply routes in Mosul, adding that Nineveh province will be liberated soon.

News ID: 428020

Date: 09 March 2017 - 23:41

RNA - "At present, a highly serious war is underway in Western Mosul and the ISIL forces are weak and on the verge of defeat and Mosul and Nineveh province will be fully liberated soon," General Masjedi said in a press conference on Thursday.

"The ISIL is fully under siege in Mosul and their supply routes have been blocked and they have no way but to surrender, die or flee," he added.

Masjedi has been named in earlier news reports, and by himself, as Iran's new ambassador to Baghdad but the Iranian foreign ministry has not yet confirmed his appointment.

The commander of the army’s Counter-Terrorism Force announced on Wednesday that the Iraqi government forces recaptured 60 percent of the Western side of Mosul since operations to clear the region from ISIL militants began in February.

"Districts like Wadi Hajar, al-Sumoud, al-Ma'amoun, Tal al-Rayyan, al-Tayaran and Josaq had all seen ferocious fighting as they served as ISIL’s primary defense lines, but have now become under government troops control," Abdul-Ghani al-Assadi said in a statement.

Assadi’s announcement came after the Joint Operations Command said its forces recaptured a major government complex as well as the Turkish consulate building in Western Mosul from the ISIL militants.

The complex contains a courthouse, a main branch of the central bank and a police department besides other government agencies. Iraqi generals say the complex’s recapture could put the battle’s outcome in their favor. Troops had earlier retaken a vital bridge leading to the Old City, planning to use it as a channel for backup.

Iraqi troops took over Eastern Mosul in January and launched a new offensive to take the Western region in February.

Iraqi security officials and their allied forces predicted the city to be fully liberated within six months from the start of the campaign.

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