Iraqi forces liberate west Mosul district

Iraqi forces have managed to wrest control over a neighborhood in the west of the city of Mosul where Daesh is taking its last breaths in the face of multi-pronged operations by government troops.

According to reports, members of Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) retook the al-Saha al-Oula district, said Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, who heads the military command coordinating the Mosul operation.

The announcement came hours after Iraqi Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat, the commander of the federal police, said his forces were advancing on another district to the west of Mosul.

Iraqi federal policemen "continue to advance cautiously, and have imposed their control over 40 percent of al-Zanjili neighborhood,” he said.

A similar operation is also underway by the Iraqi forces in Mosul’s al-Shifaa area. The three districts are located north of Moul’s Old City, a densely populated warren of narrow streets.

The United Nations estimated recently that up to 200,000 civilians are still trapped in harrowing conditions in Mosul’s Daesh-controlled areas, most of them in the Old City.

"Because of the tightness of the area and the presence of a number of residents and fear of injuries and damage... to civilians and buildings, we have avoided entering [the Old City] at the present time," said CTS commander Staff Brigadier General Haidar al-Obeidi.

SS