IS on the Brink of Total Defeat in Mosul: Coalition’s Spokesperson
The Islamic State (IS) militants are controll only 12 square kilometers in western half of Mosul and the Iraqi forces have launched a massive operation to thrust into the last IS-held districts in the city.
Iraqi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahiya Rasoul stated at a news conference on Tuesday that the Iraqi forces have managed to reduce the area controlled by IS to only 12 square kilometers in western part of Mosul.
The militants have been completely surrounded and “the enemy is on the brink of total defeat in Mosul,” US Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesperson for the US-led coalition backing the Iraqi forces told the news conference in Baghdad.
Iraqi forces, backed by the coalition’s air power, have made rapid gains since opening a new front in the northwest of Mosul earlier this month, closing in on the Old City district in west Mosul.
Iraqi forces however will be fighting the hardest battle against the militants in the last strongholds of the group in the city. According to an Iraqi security source cited by Sky News Arabia, the Iraqi army has launched a military operation to push into the most dangerous strongholds of the militants in the city.
The Iraqi military claimed they will declare full liberation of Mosul by the coming month of Ramadan, expected to begin on May 27.
The operation to recapture Mosul began on October 17, 2016. The eastern part of the city was declared liberated in January, with the operation proceeding to the western half in February.