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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Pentagon said Wednesday that US air strikes in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State group may have killed 119 civilians since 2014, a figure far lower than casualty estimates by monitoring groups. The figures released by Centcom, the US military command in the Middle East, came from a months-long review of reports and databases, it said, adding that the deaths and injuries stemmed from 24 air strikes. London-based […]
BASHIQA, Iraq (AFP) – by Maya Gebeily with Delil Souleiman in Ain Issa, Syria Iraqi Kurdish forces have seized the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from the Islamic State group, an official said Tuesday, as US-backed militia forces advanced on the jihadists’ Syrian stronghold Raqa. Capturing Bashiqa would be one of the final steps in securing the eastern approaches to Mosul, three weeks into an offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the country’s second city. Iraqi […]
by Sarah Benhaida with Ali Choukeir in Baghdad GOGJALI, Iraq (AFP) — Jihadist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on his fighters to resist as Iraqi forces were poised Thursday to enter the city of Mosul where he declared a “caliphate” two years ago. The appeal was made in an audio recording released on the Internet and purported to be by the elusive leader of the Islamic State group, his first message this year. “Do not […]
by Sarah Benhaida with Ammar Karim in Baghdad BARTALLA, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi forces fought their way into jihadist-held Mosul on Tuesday, the military said, as a top commander declared the “true liberation” of the city from the Islamic State group had begun. Just over two weeks into the massive offensive to retake Mosul — IS’s last major stronghold in Iraq — soldiers managed to push within city limits. Troops had “entered the Judaidat Al-Mufti […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — A US general told AFP on Thursday that between 800 and 900 Islamic State group fighters have been killed since the Iraqi-led operation to recapture Mosul from the jihadists began. “Just in the operations over the last week and a half associated with Mosul, we estimate they’ve probably killed about 800-900 Islamic State fighters,” General Joseph Votel, who heads the US military’s Central Command, said in an interview with AFP, speaking […]
by Thomas WATKINS QAYYARAH, Iraq (AFP) — A top US Army general on Tuesday flew in to an airbase south of Mosul that will prove vital in Iraqi forces’ offensive on the Islamic State-held city. US Army General Joseph Votel, who heads the military’s Central Command, arrived at the base, which boasts a newly repaired runway, on a cargo plane to see the facility and receive an update on the battle for Mosul, now in […]
ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) — US defence chief Ashton Carter said Sunday that an operation to isolate the Islamic State group in Syria’s Raqa should begin in conjunction with the assault on the jihadists’ Iraqi bastion Mosul. “We want to see an isolation operation begin around Raqa as soon as possible,” Carter said during a visit to Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan to review an ongoing offensive to retake Mosul from IS. “We are working with […]
KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) — Suicide attackers stormed the site of a power plant being built by an Iranian company in Dibis in northern Iraq on Friday, killing at least 16 people, the mayor and security officials said. “Three suicide bombers attacked the power plant at around 6:00 am (0300 GMT), killing 12 Iraqi administrators and engineers and four Iranian technicians,” Dibis mayor Abdullah Nureddin al-Salehi told AFP. © 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The offensive to recapture Mosul from Islamic State jihadists has so far progressed faster than planners anticipated, but military experts fear the fighting could get tougher as US-backed Iraqi forces enter the city. Here is an overview of some factors determining the size and length of the battle. Will IS defend Mosul at any cost? Jihadists in Mosul are expected to put up a fierce fight. The city is the […]
NAWARAN, Iraq (AFP) – by Wilson Fache with W.G. Dunlop in Qayyarah Elite Iraqi forces Thursday retook a town on the eastern edge of Mosul while Kurdish peshmerga opened a new front in the offensive to wrest back the jihadists’ last bastion in Iraq. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told an international meeting in Paris that the four-day-old offensive was “advancing faster than expected”. France and Iraq were co-chairing the meeting on the future of Mosul, […]
by W.G. Dunlop and Safa Majeed TINA, Iraq (AFP) — Families who fled their village in the early days of the battle to retake Mosul from jihadists sit on the dusty ground amid discarded plastic bottles and other trash. This group is one of the first of what the United Nations said could be up to a million people who flee their homes during the operation to recapture Iraq’s second city, which has been held […]
by W.G. Dunlop with Ahmad al-Rubaye in Al-Shura and Colin Bertier in Arbil QAYYARAH, Iraq (AFP) — Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces were making gains from the Islamic State group in Mosul Tuesday in an offensive US President Barack Obama warned would be a “difficult fight”. With the crucial battle in its second day, Iraqi commanders said progress was being made as fighters pushed on two main fronts against the jihadists’ last stronghold in […]
