Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi on Tuesday urged Islamic State militants in western Mosul to surrender promising fair trials to those who give up fighting. “Daesh (Islamic state) militants should either flee or be killed. They have two options, either to surrender and we promise them that they will have fair trials and the second option is that they will be killed. They have no other option”, he have said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Tuesday to meet Iraqi forces taking part in the offensive against Islamic State militants in the city, this is the first visit of Mosul since Iraqi forces began the operation to regain the city. (On November 25 last year, Abadi visited Bartela sub-district near Mosul city). Abadi promised the residents of areas under ISIS control that Iraq will defeat the militant group, adding that Iraqi forces were advancing on all fronts with no retreat: “the defeat is inevitable”. Abadi’s visit to Mosul comes after Iraqi security forces regained control of the government complex and the museum building in west Mosul on Tuesday after a successful overnight raid.
Daesh (or ISIS) terrorists launched a counter-attack against advancing Iraqi forces in western Mosul during an overnight rain storm. Explosions and gun fire rang out across the city’s southwestern districts in the early hours of Thursday. The fighting eased in the late morning, although a Reuters correspondent saw an air strike and rebel mortar fire. The Takfiri militants are using suicide car bombers, snipers and booby traps to counter the offensive waged by the 100,000-strong force of Iraqi troops, Kurdish Peshmarga fighters and Hashd al-Shaabi forces. Hundreds of women and children gathered in one abandoned bus station in the rain to receive food from the army and a local charity.
U.S.- backed Iraqi forces pushed deeper into western Mosul on Saturday after retaking the city’s airport from Islamic State and punching into built-up areas of the jihadists’ last major stronghold in the country. The iraqi -Troops advanced in several southern districts that are more built-up and populated than outlying areas, and around 1,000 civilians walked across the frontlines – the largest displacement since fighting began a week ago to deal ISIS a decisive blow. Counter-terrorism forces were advancing on two directions towards Wadi Hajr and Mamoun districts, said Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, a senior commander. Around one thousand civilians, mostly women and children, left parts of Mosul on Saturday where they climbed into military trucks taking them to camps further south.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi authorized the country’s air force to carry out raids against the Islamic State inside Syria: “We are determined to chase terrorism that tries to kill our sons and citizens wherever it is found, so we gave orders to the air force command to strike ISIS positions in Hosaiba [an Iraqi town] and Albu Kamal inside Syrian territory, as they were responsible for recent bombings in Baghdad,” he have said. “The heroes of the sky executed the operation and responded to the terrorists with amazing success”, he added.
A weaponized drone guided by Islamic State militants killed five civilians in eastern Mosul, while five group members were arrested there on Wednesday. Anadolu Agency quoted Brig. Gen. Mohamed al-Bostani, from the army’s 16th division, saying that an advanced drone dropped two rockets on al-Rashidiya, northeast of Mosul, killing five civilians and wounding three others. He have said taht the situation in eastern Mosul was still “unstable” and in need for more intelligence and security effort. Iraqi officials have also voiced fears that dormant IS cells in those areas could pose a security threat.
Kurdistan’s army forces (Peshmerga) are not partaking in the Iraqi forces’ battle against Islamic State in western Mosul. JabbarYawar, secretary-general of the Peshmerga Ministry, told Bas News that the force maintains deployment at regions it had recaptured earlier from Islamic State militants. He added that no agreement had been made with the government in Baghdad regarding participation in western Mosul battles which, he said, are solely led by Iraqi forces contrariwise the operations in eastern Mosul which launched in October and ended with the retaking of the region late January.
U.S.-backed Iraqi forces fought Islamic State fighters on Monday to clear the way to Mosul’s airport, on the second day of a ground offensive on the jihadists’ remaining stronghold in the western side of the city. ISIS militants are essentially under siege in western Mosul, along with an estimated 650,000 civilians, after they were forced out of the eastern part of the city while Iraqi forces have been advancing so far in sparsely populated areas. The fighting is expected to get tougher as they near the city and the risk greater for civilians. to 400,000 civilians could be displaced by the offensive as residents of western Mosul suffer food and fuel shortages and markets are closed, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande told Reuters on Saturday.
Iraqi security forces launched an offensive on terrorists defending Mosul’s west Sunday, in what could be the most brutal fighting yet in a four-month-old operation on the city. “Our forces are beginning the liberation of the citizens from the terror of Daesh. We announce the start of a new phase in the operation. We are coming, Nineveh, to liberate the western side of Mosul”, have said iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a short televised speech.Federal police and interior ministry forces were expected to start the new phase in the offensive by moving on Mosul airport, which is on the southern edge of the city, west of the Tigris River.
The Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Sunday the formal start of a ground offensive on western Mosul, the federal police units are leading a northward charge on the Mosul districts that lie west of the Tigris River, aiming to capture the Mosul airport, located just south of the city, according to statements from the armed forces joint command. The airport is the first target of a ground offensive to capture the western side of the city. Commanders expect the battle in the west of Mosul to be more difficult than in the east because tanks and armored vehicles cannot pass through its narrow streets and alleyways but they have secured many southeastern districts along the Tigris, have superior weapons: Humvees, tanks, missiles, surveillance drones controlled by computers in a high-tech van, and support from U.S.-led coalition air strikes.