Iraqi jets kill 32 ISIS fighters west of Mosul, Hashd recapture 15 villages

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army jets have killed 32 Islamic State militants west of Mosul, military intelligence said Sunday as government forces and volunteer militias continue to close in on the group’s last major foothold in Iraq.

Meanwhile, he volunteer-turned-official militias, al-Hashed al-Shaabi, say they had liberated 15 villages in the latest round of operations.

“Army air forces, in collaboration with al-Hashd al-Shaabi, targeted ISIS havens with airstrikes that left 32 terrorists killed,” said the statement. It added that seven vehicles belonging to the group.

Jawad al-Tleibawi, a senior leader at al-Hashd al-Shaabi, said Sunday that a fifth round of operations by the militia, which launched on Friday, resulted in the recapture of 15 more villages. The next target is the village of Tal Abta, another stronghold for ISIS.

Iraqi army forces, backed by popular militias and US-led air forces, continue a major campaign that launched in mid October to liberate Mosul, ISIS’s last bastion in Iraq.

Popular militias said recently that victories over the extremist group practically isolated the province of Nineveh from the rest of Iraq as well as from escape routes to Syria.

ISIS has reportedly been losing ground, lives and equipment since the start of operations, with many of its prominent cadres reported as either dead or fugitive.