Iraqi forces advance further in eastern Mosul

Members of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) have made further advances against the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in Mosul, pushing the militants out of several districts in the eastern quarter of the strategic northern city.

The commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, said on Friday that special forces had retaken the Technical Institute, Technical College and a number of buildings inside the University of Mosul following clashes with Daesh extremists.

The high-ranking Iraqi military figure said government forces inflicted heavy losses on militant ranks and military equipment during the offensive, and hoisted the national flag over several buildings there.

Yarallah went on to say that counter-terrorism forces are now purging the area of the last remaining pockets of Takfiris as well.

The 15th and 16th divisions of the Iraqi Army wrested control of the northern outskirts of al-Hudaba in eastern Mosul.

Moreover, Iraqi Special Forces liberated Mosul’s eastern neighborhoods of al-Nasr and al-Faisaliyah from the clutches of Daesh terrorists, and established control over a bridge across the Tigris river.

The commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation also announced that counter-terrorism forces regained control of al-Kefa’at al-Oula neighborhood in the eastern part of Mosul on Friday noon.

Earlier in the day, Iraqi forces had retaken the neighborhood of Sadriya in eastern Mosul from Daesh militants.

Additionally, Iraqi Air Force fighter jets carried out a series of strikes against Daesh positions in Mosul, killing the terror group’s director for foreign nationals’ affairs and bombing units. The slain top Daesh figure was identified as a Dutch man known by the nom de guerre Babu Omar Hollandi.

Iraqi army soldiers, supported by fighters from Popular Mobilization Units – commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi – and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched a joint operation on October 17 to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

A total of 137,880 people, or 22,980 families, have been displaced from Mosul and neighboring areas ever since the start of the operations, according to figures released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on January 9.