Iraqi forces liberate 14 villages from Daesh in Mosul neighborhood

Sputnik
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 16:59 UTC

© REUTERS/ Ahmed Saad

Iraqi forces liberated 14 villages in a Mosul neighborhood from Daesh during the first day of the military operation to retake the western part of the city, Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah, the commander of the operation, said.

On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the start of the operations to liberate the western part of Mosul from Daesh militants.

According to the statement of the operation command, the Iraqi forces have also managed to take control of the main power station, which supplies the Mosul's entire western bank with electricity.

The Iraqi army, the federal police, the elite Quick Response Units and the mainly Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi forces are taking part at the joint operation to liberate western Mosul, according to media reports.

On Friday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that some 5,000 Iraqis had finished months-long training to join the campaign to liberate Mosul and fight against the terrorists holding the city.

Iraqi and US-led coalition forces liberated the eastern part of the city in January.

Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, was captured by Daesh militants in June 2014. Iraqi and US-led coalition forces liberated the eastern part of the city in late January 2017, while its western part remains under terrorists' control.

Comment: As the Iraqi Army advances on Mosul, Sputnik reports that hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled; those remaining have stockpiled emergency food rations:

"To date, some 160,000 of the almost 217,000 people who have fled hostilities since 17 October are living in displacement, while over 57,000 have returned to their homes in newly-retaken areas," the OCHA report, published on Sunday, read.

According to the reports, serious concerns remain for the protection of the estimated 750,000-800,000 civilians in the densely populated west of the city, where "food, water and fuel are already running low."