Al-Abadi, Barzani Agree on Joint Mosul Liberation Operation
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani agreed on joint military operations to take the strategic city of Mosul, capital of the Iraqi Nineveh province, back from ISIL control.
Al-Abadi and Barzani also agreed to set up a joint operation room to set Mosul free, Arabi-language Al-Mayadeen satellite TV channel reported on Monday.
Al-Abadi, heading a high-ranking delegation, is on a visit to Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
During the meeting, Al-Abadi reiterated that all the Iraqi people will participate in the operation to set free the capital of the Nineveh province, the ISIL terrorists’ last stronghold in Iraq.
Barzani, for his part, vowed to help Iraq’s central government with all means to free Mosul.
On Saturday, an Iraqi airstrike killed several terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, and injured a senior ISIL commander in Southern Mosul.
The Iraqi air force conducted an airstrike against the ISIL terrorists in al-Qiara district in Southern Mosul, and killed many of them, a security source said, adding that the so-called commander of Southern Mosul was severely injured.
Last month, a senior commander of Iraq’s popular forces underlined that his men are ready to launch a fresh offensive against the Takfiri terrorists in Mosul.
“All resistance groups who purged Salahuddin province of Takfiri terrorists are now fully prepared to liberate Mosul,” Abu Morteza Al-Sa’adi, commander of Asaeb Ahl Al-Haq Battalion (one of the popular forces fighting alongside the Iraqi army), told FNA.
He said during the Salahuddin battles, his Battalion was responsible for setting free Albu Ajil, Al-Dour and the roads leading to Samarra, and continued, “All Al-Dour, Al-Elm and Albu Ajil had been booby-trapped by the ISIL and we seized US and Israeli-made weapons and ammunition from the terrorists in these regions.”
Al-Sa’adi pointed to Iran’s supports for the military operations to free Iraqi provinces, and said, “Iran’s logistic and intelligence aids are important while the US-led anti-ISIL coalition has not helped Iraq at all and they have even helped ISIL.”
