Iraqi air force hits Islamic State inside Syria for first time

The militant Islamic State group, or ISIS, took over the northern oil-rich Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014, in an attempt to set up a caliphate governed by strict sharia law.

Iraqi forces make further gains against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in western Mosul as tens of thousands of fighters are punching through the defenses of the extremists to expel them from their last major urban stronghold in the country.

On Saturday, Iraq’s Federal Police tweeted that more than 50 civilians were killed or injured by landmines since Friday night as they fled a village about 9 miles west of Mosul.

To do that, the “full range” of military options remains available, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford said Thursday.

The Pentagon has previously argued that this method was effective for helping Iraqi troops, but as the battle for eastern Mosul has dragged on against entrenched Islamic State fighters, the advancing Iraqi forces required a faster way for calling in airstrikes.

IS remain in retreat after eastern Mosul was retaken last month.

A commander of Hashd al-Shaabi, Sami Masoudi, said the elimination of the militant commander has caused a significant damage to the group in the strategic town of Tel Afar, West of Mosul, and his unit is now experiencing a bitter defeat, Basnews reported.

Iraqi forces reclaimed nearly all of Mosul’s airport from the control of the terror group, a key victory in the government’s months-long offensive to retake Iraq’s second-largest city. The federal police seized the town of Albu Saif, which overlooks the airport.

The campaign involves a 100,000-strong force of Iraqi troops, Kurdish fighters and Shi’ite militias.

In January, when east Mosul was recaptured, the United Nations reported that nearly half of all the casualties were civilians.

AFP reporters south of Mosul said heavy artillery and mortar fire could be heard coming from the southern edge of the city while jets also conducted strikes.

The push by Iraqi forces into Mosul’s western Mamun neighbourhood was followed by intense clashes with IS militants, according to an Iraqi special forces officer on the ground, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Ahead of the renewed push this week, American bombing raids targeted known ISIS buildings in the city, including a five-story building in the Al Jumhuri medical complex which intelligence officials believe has been operating as an ISIS command center. But he said decisions about how to accelerate the fight would include careful deliberation and consideration of the second- and third-order effects of USA military action.

The UN has voiced concern about the welfare of civilians trapped in western Mosul.