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Iraq attempts to seize last Daesh positions in Mosul

May 27, 2017 at 4:30 pm

Iraqis who left their homes due to clashes between Iraqi forces and Daesh, arrive to Iraqi army controlled Maghrib neighbourhood in Mosul, Iraq on May 16, 2017 [Yunus Keleş / Anadolu Agency]

Iraqi armed forces launched an operation today to capture the last Daesh-held enclave in Mosul, according to a military statement.

The fall of the city would effectively mark the end of Iraqi half of the “caliphate” declared nearly three years ago by Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, which also covers parts of Syria.

The Iraqi air force dropped leaflets yesterday urging residents in the enclave to flee, although humanitarian groups fear for the safety of civilians trying to escape.

The enclave covers mainly the Old City centre and three adjacent districts alongside the western bank of the Tigris river.

Read: Iraq calls on civilians to flee Old City of Mosul

The US and Iran-backed offensive on Mosul, now in its eighth month, has taken longer than planned as the militants are well entrenched, fighting back with booby traps, suicide cars and motor-bikes, snipers and mortar fire.

It has also been a campaign marked by brutality and atrocities committed by Mosul’s would-be saviours, including units from the Iraqi army, special police units and sectarian Shia jihadist groups fighting under the banner of the state-sanctioned but Iran-controlled Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). Iraqi forces have been documented perpetrating torture, abductions, rape and murder.

“The joint forces have begun liberating the remaining districts,” said an Iraqi military statement.

The push inside the Old City coincides with the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Its prime targets are the medieval Grand Al-Nuri Mosque and its landmark leaning minaret where Daesh’s black flag has been flying since mid-2014.

The forces hope to capture in the next few days the mosque where Al-Baghdadi revealed himself to the world and announced the “caliphate” that also spans part of Syria.