28 Mar 2024
Tuesday 18 October 2016 - 13:13
Story Code : 235460

Day 2 of the battle for Mosul



Tuesday marks the second day of military operations by the Iraqi army, volunteer Shia and Sunni fighters as well as Kurdish Peshmerga forces to liberate the city of Mosul, the last stronghold of Daesh Takfiri terrorists in Iraq, which they overran in June 2014. Operations to free the city have been the subject of long planning, and the large-scale offensives are targeting the city from three different directions. Below is a series of live updates on the second day of the battle for Mosul.

(To read about military developments on the first day of the operations, see here.)

Iraqi fighter jets have targeted a convoy of Daesh terrorists as they were fleeing Mosul. A military source told Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network on Tuesday that the Iraqi military aircraft had struck 30 vehicles the previous night in an area close to the border with Syria. The source added that the slain terrorists, mostly non-Arabs, were escaping Mosul toward Raqqah, which is Daeshs so-called headquarters in Syria.

Hissam Abaar, a member of the Nineveh Provincial Council, has said that Kurdish Peshmerga forces are only 12 kilometers way from Mosuls downtown and are making advances through Khazar region east of the city.



Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraqs Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has announced that up to 200 square kilometers were cleared in the first phase of the battle to liberate Mosul, thanks to close coordination between the Iraqi army and Peshmerga forces.



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Kurdish forces take up a position overlooking Daesh-held villages surrounding Mosul, in Khazer, about 30 kilometers east of Mosul, Iraq, October 17, 2016. (Photo by AP)[/caption]

Camps in Iraqs semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region are preparing for an influx of more internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Mosul. Thousands of IDPs are fleeing to the Debaga camp on the outskirts of Erbil following the launch of the Mosul operations.

The more civilians will feel protected inside Mosul, the less they will be displaced. And for those who feel they have to go because it is dangerous, they have to be treated with dignity, with respect in full respect of their rights, Filippo Grandi, the United Nations (UN)s High Commissioner for Refugees, said after visiting the camp and learning of the refugees situation.

Tensions around the Turkish embassy

Meanwhile, thousands of angry demonstrators have marched on the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad to condemn Ankaras military presence in northern Iraq. The military deployment by Turkey inside Iraq has come without permission by Iraqi officials and has becomea source of real tensionbetween Ankara and Baghdad.

Iraqi security forces later moved tocloseall roads leading to the diplomatic mission.

Prominent Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had called on his followers late on Monday to converge outside the Turkish Embassy in a show of support for the Iraqi armys operations to retake and voice their outrage over the deployment of the Turkish forces at the Bashiqa military camp, located roughly 12 kilometers northeast of the militant-held city.

Battles elsewhere

Iraqi government forces are also making headways in operations against Daesh extremists elsewhere in the country.

Iraqi warplanes struck militant hideouts in al-Harariyat region near the oil-rich city of Baiji, leaving 40 terrorists dead.

Iraqs Joint Operations Command said government forces had intercepted and targeted a Daesh surveillance drone as it was flying in the skies over al-Khanoukah district in the countrys northern province of Salahuddin.

Elsewhere, in the town of al-Shirqat, located 100 kilometers south of Mosul, at least 50 Daesh members were killed as Iraqi army soldiers engaged them in two separate offensives.

Daesh has been ravaging the northern and western parts of Iraq since June 2014.

EU should brace for return of home-grown extremists

Moreover, the European Union (EU)s security commissioner, Julian King, has warned that many European extremists fighting for Daesh in Mosul may return to their home countries once the Iraqi city is retaken by Baghdad.

The retaking of Daeshs northern Iraq stronghold, Mosul, may lead to the return to Europe of violent Daesh fighters, King told German national daily newspaper Die Welt.

He said the return of even a handful of terrorists from Mosul would pose a serious threat that we must prepare ourselves for.

By Press TV

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