Another western Mosul district retaken as troops push toward riverside
Iraqi troops raise the Iraqi flag on a liberated area in Mosul
In a statement, Lt.Gen. Abdul Amir Yarallah, commander of Nineveh Operations, said troops “have been able to liberate al-Mushahada district in the Old City of Mosul.” The Iraqi flag was raised above its buildings.
Earlier on Tuesday, Federal Police said it dislodged IS insurgents from the Ziwani mosque, located in Bab al-Beid area.
According to Iraqi military estimates, up to 350 militants are dug in there among civilians. More than 50,000 civilians, representing about half the Old City’s population, are believed to be still trapped behind IS lines with little food, water or medicines,
Iraqi troops captured on Monday the neighborhood of al-Faruq in the northwestern side of the Old City, facing the mosque, according to military.
Last week, IS fighters destroyed the historic Grand al-Nuri Mosque and its leaning minaret from which their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate covering parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014. The mosque’s grounds remain under the militants’ control.
Iraqi forces took the eastern side of Mosul from Islamic State in January, after three months of fighting, before another offensive was launched to retake the western side in February.