Official: Iraq has plan in place to free towns of Hawija, Tal Afar from ISIS
Iraq’s Counter-terrorism service (CTS) has a plan in place to recapture the towns of Hawijah and Tal Afar from ISIS militants, its spokesman Sabah al-Numan said Friday.
Numan said once orders are issued to liberate Hawija in the center-north and Tal Afar in the northwest, CTS is ready to participate against ISIS to free these areas.
Although the northern city of Mosul was ISIS’s main stronghold in Iraq, it is not its only base. The group still fully controls five other Iraqi towns, albeit much smaller than Mosul.
These are Tal Afar, Hawija, and the towns of Qaim, Rawa and Ana in the far west near the Syrian borders.
Hundreds of civilians fled Mosul’s Old City on Friday as Iraqi forces slowly squeezed the last pockets of ISIS resistance, and the UN warned that the “intense and concentrated” fighting put innocent lives in even greater danger.
People climbed over mounds of rubble and through narrow alleys as gunshots and explosions rang out nearby. The neighborhoods where government forces are fighting have been under siege for months as grueling urban warfare drew out the operation to retake Iraq’s second-largest city.
iraqs flee mosul reuters
Also Read
-
Iraq forces gain control of Faruq neighborhood in Old Mosul
Iraqi forces on Monday seized control of al-Faruq district on the northwestern side of Old Mosul on Monday. Faruq is located on the opposite side of ... Middle East -
AFP photographer says his new technique on Mosul conflict sees higher demand
An Iraqi photographer for Agence France-Presse told Al Arabiya News Channel in an interview aired Monday that his new technique in using ... Media -
Iraqi forces seize more ground in Mosul, PM sees victory soon
Iraqi forces on Tuesday pushed towards the river side of Mosul’s Old City, their key target in the eight-month campaign to capture ISIS’s ... Middle East -
Iraqi Army liberates two neighborhoods in Mosul’s Old City
The Iraqi Army said on Wednesday that it has recaptured two neighborhoods - Al-Sadeh and Al-Ahmadiya - in Mosul’s Old City. Al Arabiya News ... Middle East -
Iraq declares ‘end of caliphate’ after capture of historic Mosul mosque
The recapture of the Mosul mosque where ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only known public appearance marks the “end” of the ... Middle East -
Hundreds flee Mosul as Iraqi forces squeeze extremists
Hundreds of civilians fled Mosul’s Old City on Friday as Iraqi forces slowly squeezed the last pockets of ISIS resistance, and the UN warned ... Middle East
