Police leadership of Iraqi province of Diyala announced the end of the military operation launched on Wednesday morning, to clear areas of the Hamrin Basin north of the province, as the popular Mobilization Forces ended, preparations for the liberation of strategic areas near the central areas of Kairouan.
Iraqi government forces recaptured on Wednesday al-Rifaie district, a major area held by the Islamic State where intense battles have been running to retake the region. The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service took over the district completely and raised the Iraqi flags above its buildings.
Al-Rifaie is one of a handful of northwestern Mosul neighborhoods which Iraqi forces have been sweeping through over the past two weeks on its way to invade the strategic Old City, the most significant IS-held target where the group first declared the establishment of its rule in 2014.
Earlier this week, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said it controls 89.5 percent of western Mosul territory and that more than 16000 militants were killed since operations launched to liberate Mosul in October. Some generals were quoted saying they predict the city to be free before the end of ths month.
In a relevant context, Maj. Gen. Najm al-Jubouri, a senior commander of the JOC’s Nineveh Operations, said Iraqi forces had started erecting bridges to facilitate the movement of civilians from the western region to the eastern side which government troops recaptured in January.
Five bridges linking the city’s two sides above the Tigris River were destroyed by fighter jets ahead of launching the western Mosul offensive in February as part of a plan to prevent IS members from running from the east to the west. “Security troops are about to set up bridges linking Hawi al-Kanisah (northwest) with the east,” Jubouri said, adding that the step aims to speed up the movement of civilians.
Iraqi Federal Police forces have become in control over 291 square kilometers of western Mosul as operations running since February reach the Islamic State’s last havens.
Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat said Thursday that his forces had also evacuated 270.000 civilians since operations launched in February 19th to retake western Mosul.
“The group (Islamic State) resorted to submerging sewage networks at the south of 17 Tamuz with petroleum and setting it on fire in order to prevent our drones from tracking its defeated members towards the Old City,” Jawdat stated.
The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said Tuesday its forces took over 89.5 percent of territories in western Mosul, adding it had killed more than 16000 militants since the launch of Mosul operations in October.
Some generals were quoted saying they predict the city to be free before the end of this month.
Iraqi government forces are eyeing the ancient, densely structured and populated Old City, the place where Islamic State’s supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of an “Islamic Caliphate” in 2014. Troops besieged the area for weeks from the south, but turned to the northwestern axis to invade the city earlier this month. IS fighters are believed to have been holding hundreds of thousands at that area as human shields.
In the same context, Military operations have been launched from three regions in Diyala province, the Dijla Operations Command has declared.
“Security troops of police and army, backed by al-Hashd al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Units] andal-Hashd al-Ashaeri [tribal mobilization] forces and army jets, launched on Wednesday military operations at three regions to comb five areas is Hamreen basin, in north and northeastern Diyala,” Mag. Gen. Mazhar al-Azzawi, told Alghad Press.
“The troops will raid Islamic State havens in Hamreen including Anjana, Sarha, Qurret Tabah, Jisr Narin and Ain Laila,” he said adding that the outcome of the operations will be declared over the coming few hours.
According to Azzawi, the operations “come within the leadership strategy to eradicate shelters of the extremist groups in Diyala.”
Several offensives were launched over the past few months in eastern and northeastern regions in Diyala. Earlier this month, the command launched offensives at four regions of al-Nada basin, Hamreen, Wadi Thilab and Tilal Qazlaq in the province.
IS still holds a few areas in Salahuddin, Diyala, Anbar and Kirkuk, occasionally using them as launching points for its attacks against civilians and security. The Iraqi government is currently employing most of its military power in a major campaign to drive IS out of Mosul, its largest stronghold in Iraq.