Army forces recapture al-Sukkar district, east of Mosul
Iraqi army forces. File photo.
Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah, commander of operation “We Are Coming, Nineveh”, said in a statement that the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service forces raised the Iraqi flag above the neighborhood’s buildings.
The force said Monday they were getting closer to storming Mosul University campus, a major Islamic State stronghold in eastern Mosul.
Iraqi forces, backed by US-led fighter jets, popular militias and Kurdish troops, have been carrying out a major campaign since mid October to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and the Islamic State’s last urban stronghold in Iraq.
Iraqi generals said recently they became in control over more than 70 percent of the eastern section of the city and are hoping to retake it entirely so as to move onwards to fight for IS’s western hideouts. The current operations are the second phase of the campaign that began on December 29th after weeks of recess.
The Pentagon said through a spokesperson on Monday that the extremist group’s days in Mosul are “numbered”, and that its capabilities were waning.
The conflict has forced at least 169.000 civilians to flee the city to refugee camps.