Iraqi forces liberate two more neighborhoods in Mosul

The commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, announced on Monday afternoon that Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) had established control over Mosul al-Jadida district and hoisted the national flag over a cluster of buildings in the area, Arabic-language al-Sumaria satellite television network reported.

Earlier, CTS troopers had managed to reclaim Naft neighborhood following bitter clashes with Daesh terrorists.

Yarallah added that Iraqi forces had inflicted heavy losses on Daesh ranks during the operation and destroyed a large amount of their military hardware.

The developments came only a day after the spokesman for Iraq’s Joint Operations Command (JOC), Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, announced that Iraqi forces had recaptured some 65 percent of territories in western Mosul from the Daesh terrorist group.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi military officer, Jabbar Hassan, said Iraqi forces had evacuated around 5,200 civilians from western Mosul over the past 24 hours.

He added that civilians continued to leave the city’s western side as Iraqi forces and fighters from Popular Mobilization Units – better known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi – were struggling to dislodge Daesh terrorists from their last urban stronghold in the country.

Iraqi forces launched their offensive to retake Mosul last October and since then they have made sweeping gains against Takfiri elements.

Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting and launched the battle in the west on February 19.

KD