ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The state-backed Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi forces in Iraq said Tuesday they are 18 kilometers from ISIS-held Tal Afar, a strategically important town whose recapture would cut the Sunni militants’ supply lines from Syria to Mosul in northern Iraq.
“The Hashd al-Shaabi forces are 18 kilometers from Tal Afar airport,” the paramilitary force that is allied with the Iraqi military said in a statement.
“Hashd al-Shaabi control over the airport will pave the way to liberate the Tal Afar district and will cut the last ISIS supply lines between Tal Afar and Mosul,” the statement added
Since after the start of the Iraqi and Kurdish offensive to evict ISIS from Mosul on Oct. 17, the Hashd forces have been fighting on the city’s western front, tasked with closing the route between Mosul and the militants’ so-called capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa.
The Hashd statement also claimed that “tens of ISIS militants were killed and others injured” in clashes Tuesday in which the Shiite fighters liberated several villages.
Tal Afar, 60 kilometers west of Mosul, has been under ISIS control since mid-2014.
