Iraqi forces fought their way into terrorist-held north of Mosul, the military said, as a top commander declared the “true liberation” of the city from the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group had begun.
Just over two weeks into the massive offensive to retake Mosul, soldiers managed to push within city limits.
Troops had “entered the Judaidat Al-Mufti area, within the left bank of the city of Mosul,” said the Joint Operations Command.
Mosul is split by the Tigris River, with the eastern half of the city known as the left bank. Judaidat al-Mufti is on the southeastern side of the city.
Elite Iraqi forces had also recaptured the key village of Gogjali and taken control of a television station building belonging to a local affiliate of Iraqiya state TV on the eastern edge of the city.
Fighters from the Counter-Terrorism Service had pushed into the area amid heavy fighting on the eastern front in the past two days.
“Now is the beginning of the true liberation of the city of Mosul,” Staff General Taleb Sheghati al-Kenani, the commander of the CTS, told Iraqiya from Gogjali.
“We are working with army units to secure the area and advance on Mosul together,” Muntathar Salem, a lieutenant colonel with CTS told an AFP reporter near the front line.
Soldiers from Iraq’s 16th Division also retook a series of villages north of Mosul, according to the Joint Operations Command, while pro-government paramilitary forces said they captured villages southwest of the city.
Since the offensive was launched on October 17, federal forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have retaken a series of villages as they advance on the city from the north, east and south.
As his forces advanced, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned the terrorists they would have no place to run.
“We will close in on (ISIL) from every place,” he said on state television on Monday, dressed in a camouflage uniform.
“They don’t have an exit, they don’t have an escape, they can only surrender — they can die or they can surrender,” said Abadi.
Paramilitary forces from the Popular Mobilisation Forces launched an assault at the weekend to cut off that route.
They have been advancing north, their sights set on the town of Tal Afar which commands the city’s western approaches.
On the northern and eastern sides of Mosul, peshmerga forces from the autonomous Kurdish region have taken a series of villages and towns and consolidated their positions, while federal forces have advanced toward the city from the south.
Iraqi forces are expected to try to open safe corridors for the million-plus civilians still believed to be inside.
Aid workers are bracing for a long-feared exodus of civilians from Mosul, a relief group said on Wednesday. The United Nations says up to one million people could be displaced in the coming weeks.
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