Iraqi Forces Expel ISIL from 4 More Villages West of Mosul

Iraqi Forces Expel ISIL from 4 More Villages West of Mosul
Wed Nov 16, 2016 19:57:06

The Mosul liberation operation has entered a new phase as Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) took control of several more villages in the vicinity of the Northern city of Mosul.

"A sum of four villages were seized back by the Iraqi volunteer forces and many ISIL terrorists were killed," the Arabic-language media quoted the Hashd al-Shaabi as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

The sources noted that the villages of Ram Hajareh al-Sofla, Marisheh, Mabzali and Tal al-Savan, just to the West of Mosul, were won back and the ISIL terrorists sustained heavy losses.

The ISIL's military hardware were also destroyed by the Iraqi volunteer forces in the raid.

Hashd al-Shaabi forces started the third phase of the military operations in areas on the Western side of Mosul on Monday.

"The main purpose of the third phase of the military operations in Western Mosul is to help Iraq's joint military forces to take control of the remaining areas," Hashd al-Shaabi Spokesman Ahmad al-Assadi said in a statement.

He reiterated that another objective of the fresh military campaign in Western Mosul is to cut off the terrorists' supply routes from Mosul to Raqqa.

Al-Assadi said that the Iraqi volunteer forces plan to make further advances towards Tal Afar region after seizing back more lands to the West of Mosul city.

Based on an agreement made earlier, the Iraqi popular forces and Peshmarga Kurdish troops will not be part of the invading forces inside the two cities of Tal Afar and Mosul, while they will help tighten and maintain the siege on the rims of the two cities. Various units of Iraq's armed forces, including the army, police and anti-terrorism troops, will lead the assault.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hashd al-Shaaabi managed to take control of the village of Tal al-Maraj which is only 2 kilometers from Tal Afar airport.

"The Iraqi volunteer forces are only 1.5 kilometers away from Tal Afar airport," the Arabic-language media quoted senior Hashd al-Shaabi commanders as saying.

The commanders said that the airport is in the fire-range of the Iraqi volunteer forces' artillery units, adding, "In military terms, we have seized back Tal Afar airport."

Tal Afar airport is located to the West of Mosul and it used to be the military base of US marines.

218-11

Category:
string(1196) "[{"id":"1883467","sort":"3665324","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2016/11/09/alalam_636143211407501041_25f_4x3.jpg","title":"US Sends 1,700 Parachute Troopers to Iraq for Unspecified Objective"} ,{"id":"1884456","sort":"3665325","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2016/11/12/alalam_636145703150736082_25f_4x3.jpg","title":"Video Shows Iraq Military Jets Striking ISIS Positions in Mosul"} ,{"id":"1884850","sort":"3665326","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2016/11/13/alalam_636146657262129480_25f_4x3.mp4","title":"Aerial Footage: Kurds Accused of Destroying Arab Homes in Iraq after ISIS Flee"} ,{"id":"1884854","sort":"3665327","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2016/11/13/alalam_636146666287178738_25f_4x3.mp4","title":"VIDEO: Residents Return to Iraq’s Hammam al-Alil after Its Recapture from ISIS"} ,{"id":"1885143","sort":"3665328","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2016/11/14/alalam_636147353472675765_25f_4x3.jpg","title":"First Picture of Early Moments of Iraq’s Karbala Terrorist Suicide Attacks"} ,{"id":"1885172","sort":"3665329","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2016/11/14/alalam_636147398837552359_25f_4x3.jpg","title":"ISIL Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Is Still in Iraq, Hiding Somewhere Outside Mosul"} ]"