Iraq starts final push to liberate Mosul from ISIL extremists

The Islamic State group on Monday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack near Mosul it said was carried out by a British suicide bomber, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.

“West Mosul has the potential certainly of being more hard, with house-to-house fighting on a larger and more bloody scale”, said intelligence analyst Patrick Skinner.

A top army commander announced that forces led by federal police units took villages south of Mosul, leaving them within striking distance of the airport. “God willing Albu Saif will be fully liberated today”.

With the Tigris River to the east blocking possible escape routes as well, ISIS fighters will be effectively encircled in the city’s western half.

The ISIS already uses weapons such as rifles, mortars, artillery and suicidal vehicle bombs.

Where are the Iraqi forces?

“We’re going to make certain that we’ve got good situational awareness of what we face as we work together and fight alongside each other”, Mr Mattis said.

The United Nations estimates from 650,000 to 750,000 civilians are now in Mosul amid a humanitarian crisis in which shortages of food, water and fuel are widespread.

The western side of Mosul, on the left bank of the Tigris River, is more densely populated than the eastern side and it is believed that ISIS fighters will take advantage of the narrow streets to slow down the Iraqi military offensive. Tanks and armoured vehicles can not pass through its narrow alleyways. The city – Iraq’s second biggest – is the largest urban centre captured by ISIL in both countries and its de facto capital in Iraq.

Government military commanders say they have learned from their experiences in east Mosul and will try to advance on west Mosul from all sides in order to spread out the Isis defenders.

President Donald Trump last month gave Mattis 30 days to formulate his plan for defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Of those, more than 1,000 have been killed, according to Iraqi estimates.

Unlike in previous battles in Ramadi and Fallujah, the vast majority of Mosul residents have stayed in their homes as Iraqi forces close in rather than fleeing out of the city.

The westward road that links the city to Syria was cut in November by the Shi’ite paramilitary known as Popular Mobilization forces. He noted that despite the casualties it’s taking, the Iraqi army has “has reconstituted itself”, as it take the fight to ISIS in west Mosul. It later retracted that statement and fighting continues in some parts of the east.

Iraqi forces are receivng substantial air support from the US-led coalition as well as from Iraqi army aviation helicopters. He declined to go into further detail, saying he owed “confidentiality” to the troops.

Mosul, the area we’re referring to, is the last grip that the Islamic state has.