"Iraqi Security Forces transmitted information to residents of West Mosul a week or two ago telling them that, due to ISIS' use of vehicles (both automobiles and motorcycles), moving or static, could be considered a threat," US Col. Ryan Dillon, the spokesperson for the coalition told Rudaw English.
As many as 180,000 people are reportedly hungry and living in miserable conditions, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
According to reports by Iraqi state media, thousands of leaflets have been dropped over the Old City "urging people to go out towards the security forces through the safe corridors for their own safety."
In addition to regular strikes against tactical units, fighting positions, mortars, and command nodes, there has been a concerted effort by the coalition to limit vehicle movement in western Mosul.
In the past three days (May 28-30), the coalition has reported strikes against 84 vehicles, 24 ISIS supply routes, five vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), seven roadblocks and a check point.
“ISIS uses VBIEDs and car bombs to indiscriminately target Iraqi Security Forces and civilians,” Dillon said. “For the safety of our Iraqi partners and civilians in Mosul, the Coalition will target ISIS wherever we find them. We will target ISIS fighters, leaders, weapons, and resources.”
The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) reported the death of an ISIS leader in Mosul on Tuesday.
“Our Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD) announces coalition airstrikes killed top ISIL leader Omar Mahdi Ahmad Zaidan in Mosul,” KRSC announced in a tweet.
Zaidan, also known as Abu Monzer Al-Urdoni, was a Jordanian and chief of ISIS’s education department, according to a Senior Fellow for the Long War Journal.
ISIS partially retains control of five neighborhoods in Mosul, including the Old Mosul district, Shifa, Saha, Bab al-Sinjar and Zanjali.
