Mosul battle: Troops retake main government office

IS controlled the city until October 2016, when Iraqi and coalition forces launched an operation to recapture the urban center spanning the Tigris River. “We are making every effort to make sure that we’re ready for it”. More than 1 million civilians were still in the city when the offensive to retake it began almost five months ago.

Saleh said he expected his forces would raise the Iraqi flag over the governorate building in a matter of hours.

USA -trained Counter-Terrorism Service units meanwhile pushed through Tal al-Ruman and the Somood districts, in the southwest, Rasool said.

The operation for west Mosul has made significant progress, but has been somewhat hampered by bad weather conditions.

The eastern part was recaptured in January after heavy fighting.

The government compound includes the main local government and provincial council buildings, a police headquarters and a court building, said Lt. Gen. Raed Shakir Jawdat, commander of Iraq’s federal police.

The fighting in west Mosul has forced more than 50,000 people to flee, the International Organization for Migration said.

It added that units had captured the Danadan district, southeast of the city, while US-trained counter-terrorism service units thrust through the Tal al-Ruman and Somood districts, in the southwest.

Iraqi forces have been gaining ground against the murderous regime as they fight to reclaim the war-torn city of Mosul.

Uribe said IS retains control of that city.

US Central Command, which leaders Operation Inherent Resolve, confirmed 21 civilian deaths in nine new incidents in its latest round of investigations.

After the defeat in Palmyra, IS set gas fields on fire. Its capture shields the back of the forces advancing toward a nearby complex of government buildings.

Activists said IS has imposed an “Afghan-style” dress code in Raqqa to help its fighters blend into the civilian population.

Before that, coalition advisers were working with Iraqi forces at the division level, whereas now they are embedded at the brigade level making tactical decisions, Isler said.

“Anyone who does not comply faces prison and a fine”, he said. Former CIA director John Brennan, who stepped down in January, said in an interview previous year with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that the Islamic State was thought to have “the ability to manufacture small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas”.

Around 66,000 people have fled north Syria in recent days, the United Nations said.

Isler was speaking at the Qayyarah West Airfield, also known as “Q-West”, which Islamic State overran in the summer of 2014 after taking Mosul.