Army says 50% of Nineveh liberated

Baghdad – (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi army said Saturday that joint police and army operations have managed to retake 50 percent of Nineveh regions since launching in mid October, whereas police forces said they killed 50 Islamic State militants south of the city of Mosul.

“Our forces have become in control of 50 percent of Nineveh since the launch of military operations,” said Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasoul, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.

Earlier on Saturday, army forces said they had advanced towards the eastern shores of Tigris River, which cuts through Mosul, and liberated the village of Geliokhan.

Nineveh’s Mosul is the last outstanding ISIS stronghold in Iraq, and the group has been sustaining losses in lives, ground and equipment fighting off the successfully-advancing Iraqi government and popular troops over the past month.

Recent military victories over ISIS in Nineveh reportedly isolated the province from Iraq and the group’s strongholds in Syria.