In Syria ISIS Loses Major City After Three Years

Iraqi fighter jets struck Isis positions in neighbouring Syria on Friday, in what officials said was retaliation for a spate of auto bomb attacks in the capital Baghdad. Some of those American forces have recently engaged in combat during the battle for Mosul, Air Force Col. John Dorrian told reporters via teleconference at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

On Dec. 26, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend issued a tactical directive sending more coalition troops away from the safety of their outposts, deeper into Mosul and closer to front lines to work side by side with their Iraqi counterparts.

About 75 percent of the Ghazlani military base southwest of Mosul has been secured, he said.

Private broadcaster Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen aired live footage from the Mosul airport perimeter, showing a military helicopter buzzing overheard and firing at IS positions as gunfire rattled.

The airstrikes destroyed ISIS bases in the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal and Husaiba in Iraq’s western Anbar province, the statements said.

REUTERS/Zohra BensemraSmoke is seen rising after a rocket landed in the middle of the Iraqi rapid response forces’ position during a battle against Islamic State militants in the south of Mosul, Iraq on February 19, 2017.

ISIL’s strategy reportedly includes waiting for “darkness to fall” before hidden fighters launch a series of attacks on surrounding soldiers.

Loss of Mosul could spell the end of the Iraqi side of IS’s self-styled caliphate, which it declared from the city after sweeping through vast areas of Iraq and Syria.

The burnt corpses of two militants and the motorcycle from which they had fired at Iraqi forces were lying under a tree, apparently hit by an air strike.

“The fight to take back Mosul has been going on since October, but the push for the western half of the city is just four days old”. Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of the United States Central Command who arrived in Baghdad on Thursday, said that about 500 Iraqi troops were killed and another 3,000 were wounded in three months of fighting.

CTS has led the weeks-long effort to retake areas of the city on the east bank of the Tigris river, only fully liberating it last month.

By early afternoon, federal police commander Maj.

US forces have played a key role in the advance of Baghdad’s troops, launching airstrikes and providing advisers on the ground. While not admitting to defeat, the group said the battles ended after 104 days of fighting, but did not declare a victor.

There are an estimated 750,000 civilians in western Mosul, essentially under siege by Iraqi forces, along with IS fighters.