Iraqi Army liberates six villages in ISIS pocket of Tal Afar

After finally beginning the Tal Afar offensive last week, the Iraqi Army’s 15th Division – backed by the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and Kataib Hezbollah – overran six more villages in Nineveh province on Monday.

Targeting the eastern flank of the Tal Afar enclave, the Iraqi Armed Forces managed to impose full control over the villages of Shuhada, Azizyia, Shiekh Sufli, Tisha, Muwali and Atshana.

Effectively, the 15th Division have liberated a dozen villages in barely 72 hours, thereby capturing nearly half of the Tal Afar pocket with relative ease.

However, the main obstacle and military prize remains to be Tal Afar city itself, home to some 200,000 civilians of Sunni Arab and Turkmen descent.

Another picture of the 9th Division’s advance into the Tal Afar region: