Baghdad is investigating allegations of torture and rights abuses meted out by Iraqi security forces to Islamic State prisoners in Mosul, two Iraqi officials said at the Pentagon on Thursday. A video released online shows men in Iraqi military uniforms beating a bearded detainee, then drag him to the edge of a cliff, throw him … Read more
Iraqi forces are advancing on the last areas of Mosul held by the Islamic State group but the presence of large numbers of civilians is slowing their progress, a military spokesman said Thursday. More than seven months into the massive operation to retake Iraq’s second city, security forces have recaptured all but a handful of … Read more
Iraqi forces pressed forward on Monday with a broad offensive targeting Islamic State group-held areas in west Mosul and called for civilians to leave areas where fighting is taking place. More than seven months into the massive operation to recapture Mosul from IS, Iraqi forces have retaken the city’s east and large parts of its … Read more
Iraqi forces pressed forward on Monday with a broad offensive targeting Islamic State group-held areas in west Mosul and called for civilians to leave, the military said. More than seven months into the massive operation to retake Mosul, Iraqi forces have recaptured the city’s east and large parts of its western side, but the jihadists … Read more
Iraqi forces made major gains in the six months since launching the operation to retake Mosul, but the battle for Iraq’s second city and the war against the Islamic State group are far from over. Tough close-quarters fighting in heavily-populated areas of Mosul is still ahead, and IS also holds territory in other parts of … Read more
The Islamic State group now controls less than seven percent of Iraq, down from the 40 percent it held nearly three years ago, a military spokesman said Tuesday. Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes and other support are now battling IS inside second city Mosul, after retaking much of the other territory the jihadists … Read more
The Islamic State group now controls less than seven percent of Iraq, down from the 40 percent it held nearly three years ago, a military spokesman said Tuesday. “Daesh controlled 40 percent of Iraqi land” in 2014, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told reporters, using an Arabic acronym for IS. “As of March 31 (this year), … Read more
The Islamic State group shot down an Iraqi helicopter operating over Mosul Thursday, as security forces announced they recaptured another neighbourhood in their nearly six-month-old offensive against the jihadist stronghold. The operation to retake west Mosul — which the helicopter was supporting when it was downed — has become a slow, grinding battle that has … Read more
Iraqi forces renewed their assault Monday against jihadists in Mosul’s Old City, after days in which the battle was overshadowed by reports of heavy civilian casualties from air strikes. Iraqi forces began the massive operation to retake west Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) group last month and have recaptured a series of neighbourhoods, but … Read more
Iraq has deployed snipers to target jihadists using civilians as human shields in Mosul, as it investigates air strikes that reportedly killed large numbers of residents in the city, the military said Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are still trapped in Mosul, caught between advancing Iraqi forces and the Islamic State group jihadists that … Read more
Any so-called Islamic State (IS) fighters left in Mosul will die in the Iraqi city, a US envoy co-ordinating the offensive has said. Brett McGurk, the senior US official in the counter-IS coalition, issued the warning after Iraqi forces cut off the last road out of the city, trapping IS fighters inside. The jihadists have … Read more
Iraqi security forces have seized control of more than a third of west Mosul, a commander said Sunday, after a week of steady gains in their battle to retake the city from the Islamic State group. Fierce fighting has shaken Mosul in recent days as thousands of US-backed Iraqi soldiers and police battle to reclaim … Read more
Iraqi forces have retaken more than a third of west Mosul from the Islamic State group, a commander said, as Baghdad’s troops fought Sunday to advance deeper into the city. Iraqi forces launched the operation to recapture west Mosul — the most populated urban area still under IS control — on February 19, retaking a … Read more
Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State group in west Mosul reached the city’s southernmost bridge Monday, a key step in efforts to defeat the jihadists in their stronghold, a spokesman said. “The Rapid Response force and the federal police have liberated Jawsaq neighbourhood and now control the western end of the fourth bridge,” Brigadier General … Read more