Iraqi forces recapture two west Mosul neighborhoods

MOSUL, Iraq  — Iraqi armed forces reclaimed the embattled al-Tayyaran and Maamoun neighborhoods in western Mosul on Sunday as part of the third phase of a wide-ranging operation to retake the right bank of what was the country’s second-largest city, according to a Rudaw reporter.

Sidad Lashkiri, who is embedded with the Iraqi armed forces, said that the Iraqi troops have completely liberated the neighborhoods of al-Tayyaran and Maamoun in the southernmost parts of the western side of the city.

 
Lashkiri added that clashes have moved on to al-Mansour, al-Shuhadaa and Dawas neighborhoods and 10 percent of them have been cleared of ISIS with support from the US-led coalition warplanes and Iraqi jets.

In today’s clashes, ISIS has used 10 car bombs to halt the advancing Iraqi forces with many suicide bombers, he added.

Casualties among Iraqi armed forces have remained unknown, but 20 ISIS militants are believed to have been killed over the past six hours, according to Lashkiri.

Since the morning Iraqi and coalition warplanes have carried out 40 to 50 airstrikes against ISIS positions in Mosul, Lashkiri said.

He added that civilians are continuing to flee by bus and they are being sent to a refugee camp in Hamam Alil which is capable of taking in as many as 20,000 people.

The western half of the city is estimated to be home to approximately 750,000 civilians whom the United Nations warned on Saturday were in a humanitarian crisis. The people are suffering from shortages of basic necessities including food and fuel. Prices for all the goods in the city have skyrocketed, the UN stated.

On Saturday the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) said they controlled a major power station in Mosul that supplies electricity to the whole city, Iraq’s defense ministry claimed, following a similar takeover on the same day. 

“The 9th armoured division liberated the Yarmuk power station that supplies electricity to the entire city of Mosul,” the defence ministry said.

On Friday morning, Iraq’s special forces announced they had seized the beleaguered Mosul airport and the adjacent al-Ghazlania military base after a week of intense clashes.

The Iraqi army and US military advisors are said to use the airbase to lead the advancement of Iraqi troops into more populated and likely more dangerous neighborhoods in western Mosul where close street clashes are expected to take place.