Iraqi army captures more neighborhoods in northwest Mosul, clashes ongoing

Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan - The remaining ISIS territory keeps dwindling at the hands of the advancing Iraqi troops as they have managed to enter Islah Ziraai and bring Maamli neighborhood in northwest Mosul under control on Wednesday.

The Mosul Operation Command announced that the Iraqi Counter-terror Forces (ICTS) have been able to capture Maamli neighborhood and enter Islah Ziraai after they captured the city’s western industrial area on Monday. 

Iraqi armed forces launched a massive assault on ISIS held districts in northwestern Mosul over the weekend.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi army’s 16th division broke into Hawi al-Kanisa neighborhoods, taking control of half of it, with clashes still ongoing. 

Jabar Daraji, commander of the 16th division told Rudaw yesterday after they entered the neighborhood, that their engineering teams discovered some 16 bomb manufacturing depots used by ISIS militants.

Iraqi forces were able to bring the Musharifa area under their control on Saturday, three days after they opened the new front against the extremist group northwest of the city.

Iraqi forces faced strong resistance when they tried to make advances against ISIS militants in Old Mosul, where it is more densely populated and the streets are narrower than the eastern part of the city. As a result, Iraqi armed forces were forced to shift their focus and instead open a new front in northwestern Mosul.

The ISIS militants are now “besieged” in all areas they control in Mosul and are “under the fireline” of the Iraqi forces, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, the spokesperson of Iraq’s Joint Command told Rudaw on last week.

Rudaw has learned that only 8 neighborhoods are left to be retaken in western Mosul.

More than 350,000 thousand people have been trapped between both sides of Mosul for a month and a half now, awaiting the liberation of their areas from ISIS.

The operation to retake Mosul from ISIS, named ‘We Are Coming Nineveh,’ started in October last year with the Iraqi army gaining swift victories in the eastern half of the city. Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army Osman Ghanimi has said that the operation to recapture the entire area of western Mosul which began on February 19 will be completed within a month.