Iraqi forces readied on Wednesday for an assault on Mosul airport after blitzing ‘jihadist’ positions in a renewed offensive to retake the ISIL group’s emblematic stronghold.
Elite forces reinforced positions that were taken since a fresh push south of Mosul was launched on Sunday while hundreds of civilians fled newly recaptured villages.
“Around 480 people displaced from Al-Yarmuk area are being transferred to liberated areas further south,” the federal police said in a statement.
Iraqi forces have retaken a key checkpoint on the main Baghdad highway south of Mosul and the village of Al-Buseif, a natural citadel overlooking the airport and the south of the city.
There were no major operations near Mosul on Wednesday, with Iraq’s new interior and defense ministers expected to visit the front lines.
However Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) paramilitaries continued to battle ‘jihadists’ further west, near the town of Tal Afar, which lies between Mosul and the Syrian border and is still held by ISIL.
The Hashed al-Shaabi said in a statement they blew up at least four car bombs in fighting near Ain al-Tallawi and killed several ISIL members.
The elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) that retook east Mosul and did most of the fighting since the offensive on the city was launched on October 17 have not yet been brought into action in the latest push.
The interior ministry’s Rapid Response units could also move in on the airport in the coming days, a key target before troops breach the city limits to face the ‘jihadists’ in the narrow streets of Mosul’s west bank.
Source: AFP
