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Civilians leave the city to escape from clashes. Photo: Reuters

‘Liberated’: Iraqi troops declare ‘full control’ of eastern Mosul

Plans are now being drawn up to retake the western part of the city, top Iraq commander says

US-backed Iraqi government troops announced on Wednesday they were in “full control” of eastern Mosul, after routing Islamic State militants from that part of the northern city almost exactly three months since the major operation started.

The achievement was a “big victory,” said Iraqi Army Lieutenant General Talib Shaghati, who commands the counterterrorism forces, describing the success of the Iraqi forces as “unprecedented”.

The “important lines and important areas are finished,” he said, adding that “there is only a bit of the northern [front] remaining”.

Shaghatai, who spoke to reporters in the town of Bartella, just east of Mosul, said plans were now being drawn up to retake the western part of the city. He did not elaborate on when that part of the operation would begin.

Lieutenant General Talib Shaghati speaks during a news conference in Bartella, on the fight with Islamic State. Photo: Reuters

Wednesday’s advance came after Iraqi troops over the past days intensified their push into the last IS-held neighbourhoods in Mosul’s eastern sector, closing in on the Tigris River, which roughly divides the city. Stiff resistance by the militants, thousands of civilians being trapped in their houses by the fighting and bad weather had in the past slowed the advances of the troops.

However, skirmishes and clashes continued in some pockets along the Tigris in eastern Mosul, according to Iraqi special forces Maj. Ali Hussein who said his unit was still pushing into the Ghabat area along the river bank. Small arms fire could be heard and at least one civilian was wounded by mortar fire.

A military vehicle of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF)during an operation to clear the al-Zirai district of Islamic State militants. Photo: Reuters

Also, some commanders on the ground disputed Shaghati’s claim of “full control” of eastern Mosul, with Lieutenant General Abdul-Amir Raheed Yar Allah saying the eastern side “has not been fully liberated ... and the advance is still continuing”.

Yar Allah, who commands army operations in Ninevah, where Mosul is the provincial capital, said the special forces “have done their duty” in eastern Mosul.

The prospect of retaking western Mosul looms heavy on Iraqi forces, despite all the support they have by the US-led coalition, and Sunni and Shiite volunteer militias. The western half of the city is home to some of Mosul’s oldest neighbourhoods, with narrow streets packed with buildings that will further complicate the urban fight.

So far in the Mosul offensive, Iraq’s counterterrorism forces, which are by far the military’s most battle seasoned unit, have done most of the fighting, advancing from east of the city.

Civilians leave the city to escape from clashes during a battle with Islamic State militants, in al-Zirai district in Mosul. Photo: Reuters

Regular Iraqi army troops are pushing from the city’s southeast and northern edges, and the federal security forces from farther to the west.

Mosul – Iraq’s second-largest city and the Islamic State group’s last urban stronghold in the country – fell to IS in the summer of 2014, when the militant group captures large swaths of northern and western Iraq.

The operation has also left more than 148,000 people homeless, according to the United Nations. Nearly 12,500 people have been forced to flee their homes just over the past week, the UN said.

More than 1 million people were estimated to still be living in Mosul in October, when Iraqi forces launched the operation to retake the city.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

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