More Lands in Western Mosul Fall into Hands of Iraqi Forces

Rasa - The Iraqi village of Halila in West of Mosul in Nineveh province was liberated by Iraqi army troops.

News ID: 428931

Date: 15 April 2017 - 22:13

RNA - Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah said that troops from the Iraqi army’s 9th Armored Brigade liberated the Halila Village, located in West of Mosul from ISIL, Iraqi News reported.

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command had announced that the Iraqi government forces have now recaptured approximately 60% of Western Mosul from the ISIL militants, as part of the operation for liberating the Northern Iraqi city, which has been ongoing since October last year.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced in October 2016, the start of a military operation to recapture Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq which fell to the ISIL since 2014.

The Iraqi defense ministry announced earlier in January that the ISIL terrorist group has lost over 50 percent of its militants in the city of Mosul in Nineveh province as Iraqi troops have managed to recapture the Eastern part of the de facto Capital of the ISIL.

"The intelligence obtained by us indicates that there have been over 6,000 ISIL terrorists in Mosul and around 3,400 of them have been killed in battles with Iraq's joint military forces in the major city of Nineveh province," Iraqi Defense Ministry Spokesman Colonel Laith al-Naimi said.

He added that over 250 bomb-laden vehicles and the entire bomb-making workshops of the terrorists have been destroyed in Mosul which means that the ISIL has been paralyzed by the Iraqi forces.

The Iraqi Army started a new phase of its military operation in Nineveh province late February to drive the ISIL terrorists out of their bastion in the Western part of the city of Mosul.

With half the city under the control of Baghdad forces, the Iraqi Armed Forces will likely face heavier resistance in the Western part of Mosul, as the ISIL attempts to hold onto their final positions.

Local sources had disclosed that the ISIL is preventing civilians in the Western part of the city of Mosul from leaving the region in a move to use them as human shields as the terrorist group's positions are under intensifying attacks by various troops.

Commanders expect the battle in Western Mosul to be more difficult, in part because tanks and armoured vehicles cannot pass through the narrow alleyways that crisscross ancient districts of the city.

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