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by Sara Hussein Agence France Presse MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi forces battled jihadists in west Mosul on Sunday, aiming to build a floating bridge across the Tigris to establish an important supply route linked to the recaptured east bank. A week into a major push on the western side of the city, where an estimated 2,000 holdout jihadists and 750,000 civilians are trapped, government forces made steady progress. But after relatively easy gains on […]
by Wilson Fache with Thomas Watkins in Baghdad Agence France Presse AQRAB CHECKPOINT, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi forces backed by jets and helicopters battled their way towards southern Mosul on Monday and prepared to take on the Islamic State group’s stronghold in the city’s west bank. The fresh push in the four-month-old operation to retake Mosul has sparked fears for 750,000 trapped civilians who risk being killed if they try to flee and starvation if […]
by Ammar Karim Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) – Iraqi forces advanced Thursday after declaring a new phase in their offensive on eastern Mosul, stepping up efforts to reclaim the Islamic State group’s last major stronghold in the country. Elite forces have reconquered several parts of eastern Mosul since beginning the massive operation to recapture the northern city from the jihadists on October 17, but IS still occupies the city’s west. Security chiefs said several […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Children are being killed and wounded as well as witnessing horrific violence as Iraqi forces battle the Islamic State group in heavily populated Mosul, Amnesty International said on Thursday. Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to retake the country’s last IS-held city more than two months ago, and have pushed the jihadists out of several neighborhoods on Mosul’s eastern side. But the battle to retake the city — where a million […]
KHAZIR, Iraq (AFP) – by Rouba El Husseini Ihsan Ismail has spoken to his family just twice in a month. In the desperate flight from their village outside Mosul they were separated and are now confined to different camps for the displaced. More than 70,000 people have fled their homes since Iraqi forces launched their offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Islamic State group. As if living under IS rule […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) – by W.G. Dunlop and Ali Choukeir Iraqi forces have broken into jihadist-held Mosul and recaptured neighbourhoods inside the city, but a month into their offensive, there are still weeks or more of potentially heavy fighting ahead. Iraq launched the massive operation to recapture Mosul, which has been held by the Islamic State group since 2014, on October 17, advancing on the city from the north, east and south. Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service […]
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 […]
