Iraqi government forces take over in Mosul

[pbrower2a]

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi traveled to Mosul on Sunday to declare victory during the final phase of the long campaign to drive the self-described Islamic State militants out of the city of Mosul.

Armed forces were still battling over the last part of the Old City under militant control on Sunday as Abadi congratulated Iraqi fighters and Baghdad residents celebrated by dancing in the streets. 

On Monday, the U.S.-led coalition that supported Iraq throughout the battle announced that fighters had managed to clear the rest of the city. “While there are still areas of the Old City of Mosul that must be backed-cleared of explosive devices and possible ISIS fighters in hiding, the Iraqi Security Forces have Mosul now firmly under their control,” the coalition said in a statement.

As the end of the battle neared, the destruction brought on by nine months of fierce fighting came into plain sight. 
Thousands of Mosul residents have lost their lives in the violence. Nearly a million people have been displaced. Entire districts have been leveled.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mosu...mg00000009

[Warren Dew]

What's with the declarations of victory when the end of the battle is only nearing?

[pbrower2a]

(07-10-2017, 10:59 PM)Warren Dew Wrote: What's with the declarations of victory when the end of the battle is only nearing?

There might still be pockets of guerilla resistance, but all in all, the Infernal State no longer has control of any significant power centers in Mosul.

[pbrower2a]

BAGHDAD, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Iraqi forces have captured the town of Hawija and the surrounding area from Islamic State, the military said in a statement on Thursday.

With the capture of Hawija, the militants’ last stronghold in northern Iraq, the only area that remains under control of Islamic State in Iraq is a stretch alongside the western border with Syria. Hawija is close to the oil-city of Kirkuk.

The offensive on Hawija was carried out by U.S.-backed Iraqi government troops and Iranian-trained and armed Shi’ite paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation.

“The army’s 9th armored division, the Federal Police, the Emergency Response division and (..) Popular Mobilisation liberated Hawija,” said a statement from the joint operations commander, Lieutenant-General Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah.

Iraq launched an offensive on Sept. 21 to dislodge Islamic State from the area north of Baghdad where up to 78,000 people were estimated to be trapped, according to the United Nations.

The militants continue to control the border town of al-Qaim and the region surrounding it. They also hold parts of Syrian side of the border, but the area under their control is shrinking as they retreat in the face of two different sets of hostile forces - a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition and Syrian government troops with foreign Shi’ite militias backed by Iran and Russia. Islamic State’s cross-border “caliphate” effectively collapsed in July, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group’s de facto capital in Iraq, in a grueling battle which lasted nine months.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/iraq...mg00000009