UPDATED: Iraqi forces recapture Mosul village, gas facility upon opening new front
Members of Iraqi rapid response forces are pictured during clashes with Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq March 13, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat said in press statements were advancing from the northwestern axis towards Haramat area, and had recaptured Hassouna village and the “Nineveh gas lab”.
Iraq’s armed forces opened a new front against Islamic State in Mosul on Thursday, advancing on the militants’ enclave from the northwest, a military commander had told Reuters.
The army’s 9th Armoured Division and the Rapid Response units of the Interior Ministry were headed towards the city, he said.
The attack would help the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) and Interior Ministry Federal Police troops who were painstakingly advancing from the south, he said.
A U.S.-led international coalition is providing key air and ground support to the offensive on Mosul, Islamic State’s de facto capital in Iraq, which started in October.
The militants are now besieged in the northwestern corner of Mosul which includes the historic Old City centre and the Grand al-Nuri Mosque.
It was from the pulpit of this mosque nearly three years ago that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a “caliphate” that also spanned parts of Syria.
Earlier this week, Asharq al-Awsat quoted an army colonel saying the new front opens from the recaptured region of Badush, with the aim of charging at the districts of 17 Tamuz (July 17th), Harmat, Mesherfa and Hawi al-Kanisa in order to accelerate the liberation of the city.
Iraqi army forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, recaptured eastern Mosul from Islamic State members in January after three months of fighting. A complementary offensive launched in February to retake the western region.
Iraqi generals say they control 70 percent of the western side of Mosul, and that the total of territory held by IS in Iraq is less than seven percent.