18 Western Mosul Neighborhoods Freed So Far: Commander

Mosul (BasNews) Since the beginning of the western Mosul operation in February, the Iraqi army has managed to liberate 18 neighborhoods from the grip of Islamic State (IS), said an Iraqi counter-terrorism official.

In the remaining neighborhoods, IS uses civilians as human shields in hopes of decelerating the Iraqi army’s advances, said Commander Abdulwahab Sa’idi, noting that they follow a plan to push deeper into the IS-held districts and oust the extremists from every inch of Iraqi soil.

Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, is considered IS’ main stronghold in Iraq where the group has recently been suffering bitter defeats at the hands of the Iraqi army, Peshmerga forces and the coalition airpower.

In January of this year, after more than three months of constant military operations, the Iraqi government announced the full liberation of eastern Mosul. It later launched a new phase of the assault on 19th of February to free the western part of the major city.