Iraqi forces patrol near the Halab neighborhood in western Mosul. Photo: Rudaw TV
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A top US official described the ISIS group as being completely surrounded in western Mosul, and added that the Iraqi army now controls the last road leading out of Mosul. Additionallly, it was reported one-third of the neighborhoods on the right bank have been recaptured.
Brett McGurk, the special US presidential envoy for the global coalition against ISIS said the remaining western Mosul neighborhoods held by the [ISIS] group are now completely surrounded and the Iraqi army is now in control of the last road leading out of Mosul during a press conference in Baghdad capital Sunday.
Iraqi forces, supported by the US-led international coalition have recaptured more than 16 western Mosul neighborhoods from ISIS, as of Sunday, with 48 remaining, Rudaw correspondent Sidad Lashkiri, embedded with Iraqi forces reported.
"Around more than a third of the right bank (west Mosul) is under the control of our units," AFP quoted Iraqi Staff Major General Maan al-Saadi of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS) as saying.
Lashkri, embedded with Iraqi security forces, said in Sunday’s battle, fighting has taken place from two directions: one rapid response force and federal police have reached the end limits of the old Mosul Bridge, and from other direction the ICTS have reached the limits of the Risala and Arubin neighborhoods.
He added that the Iraqi Rapid Response Force, federal police, and counter-terrorism forces continue to advance, but the battle has become more intense as they enter narrow alleys.
There are still ISIS snipers in the Mosul government complex, Lashkiri reported, targeting Iraqi armed forces; therefore, Iraqi forces have not been able to retake the area.
Forces from the Rapid Response Division and the federal police continued attacking ISIS fighters in the Bab at Tawb district, according to AFP news agency.
"The battle is not easy... we are fighting an irregular enemy who hides among the citizens and uses tactics of booby-trapping, explosions and suicide bombers, and the operation is taking place with precision to preserve the lives of the citizens," AFP quoted Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, the spokesman for the Iraq's Joint Operations Command, as saying.
Iraqi state news wrote that federal police chief Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat stated “Troops of the Federal Police liberated Souk al-Arbaa and al-Remah Square in Bab al-Toub, in central Mosul.”
Rudaw correspondent Hevidar Ahmed, also reporting from war-torn western Mosul, said Iraqi forces have planned to retake on Mosul bridge number five (from the west).
He added that Iraqi and coalition helicopters continuously are targeting ISIS positions.
“The enemy has lost its fighting power and its resolve has weakened,” Saadi was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. “It has begun to lose command and control.”
Saadi was reported as saying he expected it would take less time to recapture the western half of the city than the east. Operations to retake western Mosul began on Feb. 19.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared eastern Mosul had been liberated on Jan. 24. The Mosul offensive began on Oct. 17, 2016.
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