11:13pm
An updated map of the Mosul offensive:
Legend:
Dark green – under Peshmerga control
Light green – encircled by Peshmerga
Red – under Iraqi forces’ control
Pink – encircled by Iraqi forces
Yellow – under Shiite militia, Hashd al-Shaabi, control
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9:03pm
Shiite militia takes 8 more villages
The Shiite militia Hashd al-Shaabi said Sunday it has taken control of eight more villages today, southwest of Mosul.
The villages are Al-Jarn, Al-Salmani, Al-Mustanqa’ al-Thaniya, Marj Al-Dibaj, Qariya Al-Shik, Ayin Al-Baiyza, Amrini, and Zarka, the group announced on its official website.
It added that the group has liberated an area of 280 square kilometres in the last two days, “killing large numbers of Daesh [ISIS]” militants and destroying their machineries.
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7:36pm
300 ISIS child soldiers killed in Mosul to date
An estimated 300 Syrian child soldiers brought in by ISIS to Iraq have been killed since the start of the Mosul offensive a fortnight ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday.
The UK-based watchdog said that the dead bodies of 40 ISIS militants killed in Mosul had arrived in the group’s de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria over the last 24 hours.
“This will raise the death toll to at least 480 Syrian fighters killed in the ranks of the Islamic State since the start of the battles in the Mosul area, among them more than 300 child soldiers from the ‘lion cubs of the caliphate,’” the Observatory said.
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5:44pm
Peshmerga liberate another 6 villages
The General Command of Peshmerga Forces has released a statement announcing the liberation of another six villages in the Mosul offensive. Over the two weeks of the offensive, the Kurdish forces have cleared more than 500 square kilometres from ISIS.
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2:26pm
Peshmerga liberate two more villages
Peshmerga forces liberated two more villages Sunday on the Bashiqa front, northeast of Mosul.
The villages of Kanuna and Rozhbayan had been surrounded by the Peshmerga for several days.
Rudaw’s Ranja Jamal reported from Fazliyah village that Peshmerga bomb experts are busy defusing bombs and booby traps in the two newly-liberated villages.
Both villages are located in the Fazliyah district of the Bashiqa front.
Peshmerga forces have been advancing on Mosul from the northeast and the Iraqi Army from the southeast.
On Sunday, day 14 of the international offensive to evict ISIS from Mosul, the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi forces that are allied with the Iraqi army were fighting west of Mosul to cut off the ISIS route from Mosul to the militants' Raqqa stronghold in Syria.
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Iraqi forces have liberated the village of Ali Rash, southeast of Mosul, the military’s media center said. The army’s 9th armored division has control of the village and an Iraqi flag has been raised there.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country opposes any presence of the Iraqi Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militia in the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul.
“Tal Afar is a very sensitive issue for us. We definitely do not regard it [Hashd involvement] positively in Tal Afar and Sinjar. I already told this to officials clearly,” Erdogan said on Saturday.
“Tal Afar is a totally Turkmen city, with half Shia and half Sunni Muslims. We do not judge people by their religious affiliation, we regard them as Muslims,” he added, “But if Hashd al-Shaabi terrorizes the region, our response would be different.”
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A spokesman for the Iraqi Shiite militia known as Hashd al-Shaabi has said the group will cross the border into Syria to fight for President Bashar al-Assad after ISIS is defeated in Mosul.
Several of the larger and more powerful militias in the Hashd al-Shaabi are funded and supported by Iran, which is the primary backer of the Assad regime in Syria and has been supporting him throughout the course of the ongoing war there.
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A commander of the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militia said that the main task of his forces in the Mosul offensive is to cut the western road between Mosul and Raqqa.
“The task of our forces is to cut the road between Raqqa and Mosul and protect that border,” he said.
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