Iraqi forces consolidated positions Tuesday after blasting their way to the southern edge of Mosul in an assault Baghdad and its partners hope will spell the doom of the jihadist “caliphate”. They were upbeat on the third day of a rekindled offensive in the operation which was launched on October 17 to retake Iraq’s second … Read more
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 … Read more
The commander of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group said Monday he expected its forces would be allowed to stay in Iraq after Mosul is recaptured. “I don’t anticipate that we will be asked to leave by the government of Iraq immediately after Mosul,” Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend said. The US commander was … Read more
The U. S. military is not in Iraq “to seize anybody’s oil”, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump at the start of a visit to Iraq on Monday. Mattis, on his first trip to Iraq as Pentagon chief, is hoping to assess the war effort as U.S.-backed Iraqi … Read more
In the arid hills, Iraqi forces drive their armed vehicles towards a village of around a dozen small stone houses. There is a sudden explosion. “Got it!” shouts an officer. Just a few hundred metres (yards) from the front line of an offensive launched on Sunday at dawn to oust the Islamic State group from … Read more
A wide array of Iraqi and international forces are involved in the operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group, which overran the country’s second city in 2014. The eastern side of the city has now been retaken and, four months into the offensive on Mosul, Iraq announced Sunday that its forces were launching … Read more
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday announced the launch of military operations to retake west Mosul from the Islamic State group, a statement from his media office said. “The prime minister announced the launch of liberation operations on the western side of Mosul,” a statement said. Iraqi federal forces launched a huge offensive on … Read more
Iraqi forces have thwarted an attempt by around 200 jihadist fighters to flee their bastion of Tal Afar towards Syria, west of the city of Mosul, a security spokesman said Monday. Forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), a paramilitary organisation dominated by Shiite militia groups, said the Islamic State group used tanks in their … Read more
British Defence Minister Michael Fallon said Saturday in Iraq that he expected to see the Islamic State group expelled from the country’s major towns by the end of 2017. “We expect to see Daesh (IS) expelled from the major towns and cities of Iraq during the course of the year,” he told reporters in Arbil, … Read more
Iraqi special forces have taken full control of a strategic university in eastern Mosul, according to senior commanders, the latest advance in a major push to drive ISIL out of its last urban stronghold in Iraq. The capture of the Mosul University campus, seized by ISIL fighters when they took over the city in 2014, … Read more
At least 33 people were killed and 48 wounded in a car bomb attack on a busy square in Baghdad’s sprawling Sadr City district, police and medical sources said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday’s attack but the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group regularly … Read more
Separate bombings in and around Baghdad have killed at least 11 civilians and wounded 34 others, according to Iraqi officials. The deadliest attacks took place in the southeastern Nahrawan district and southwestern Suwaib district, where three civilians were killed in each, police said on Sunday. A total of 15 civilians were wounded in the two … Read more
Islamic State fighters retreating in the face of a seven-week Iraqi military assault on their Mosul stronghold have hit back in the last two days, exploiting cloudy skies which hampered U. S.-led air support and highlighting the fragile army gains. In a series of counter-attacks since Friday night, the jihadist fighters struck elite Iraqi troops … Read more
Nearly 2,000 Iraqi troops were killed across Iraq in November as they battled to force ISIS extremists from the country, according to newly released UN figures. That’s nearly triple the number of military casualties reported in October, when an offensive to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS first began. The toll for November includes … Read more
An Australian militant thought dead is still alive and under arrest in the Middle East, according to reports. The Australian government in May said Neil Prakash, a senior recruiter for the so-called Islamic State group, had been killed in a US air strike. He died in the Iraqi city of Mosul, Attorney-General George Brandis said … Read more
An Iraqi paramilitary force says it has seized a key road west of Mosul, effectively encircling the city controlled by so-called Islamic State. The Popular Mobilisation (Hashd al-Shaabi) declared it had taken control of the road between Tal Afar and Sinjar after linking up with Kurdish forces. IS militants still control the section of the … Read more
As U. S.-backed Iraqi forces close in on the Islamic State’s hub of Mosul, the leader of the terror network has become so insecure about his own safety that he refuses to emerge from his underground hideouts and never sleeps without his suicide vest on, Reuters reported. DUTCH INTELLIGENCE EXPERTS SAY ISIS HAS 60-80 OPERATIVES … Read more
Iraqi security forces have discovered two mass graves near the city of Mosul containing around 250 bodies, police said Thursday. The graves were found near the town of Hammam al-Alil and were created by ISIS militants, Iraqi Federal Police Commander Brig. Gen. Faris Radhi Abbas told CNN. Their discovery follows the uncovering of 100 decapitated … Read more
Islamic State has summarily killed 21 civilians in Mosul it accused of collaborating with U. S.-backed security forces, which said their offensive to recapture the city from the jihadists had made further advances. The killings, reported on Tuesday by a medical source, indicate that the ultra-hardline group has maintained its ability to police Mosul, more … Read more
Men dressed in Iraqi federal police uniforms are reported to have tortured and killed residents of villages south of Mosul, Amnesty International says. Evidence gathered by the group suggests up to six people from the Shura and Qayyarah sub-districts were shot dead after being detained on suspicion of having ties to so-called Islamic State. There … Read more