Alwaght-Iraqi army forces and local allied forces resumed late Friday operations against ISIS terrorist group in the north and south of the eastern section of Mosul after reorganization of fighting units.
According to Iraqi News website, the army’s 16th and 9th divisions, along with the elite Counter Terrorism Service, engaged in battles with ISIS after midnight at the city’s Police Academy in the north and near Ghozlani in the south.
Iraqi government forces backed by Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Al-Hashad Al-Shabi launched a wide-scale military campaign mid-October to retake Mosul, ISIS’s last major stronghold in Iraq.
While government forces fought on the eastern shore of the Tigris River, recapturing almost 40 districts out of nearly 60 since then, PMF has been fighting the group in the western region, claiming to have isolated ISIS’s hideouts there from both Syria and Iraq.
As admitted by military media, progress in battles at the east slowed down over the past week. That is reportedly due to bad weather conditions and the density of the targeted districts.
The Iraqi forces’ advance has also been slowed down due to the presence of hundreds of thousands of civilians, many of whom are prevented by ISIS from leaving Mosul.
Human Rights Watch reported on Wednesday that ISIS terrorists in Mosul are deliberating targeting the civilians who decline to join their ranks as Iraqi armed forces are making headway during an operation to liberate the northern city.
On Thursday Iraqi Air Force airdropped some four million letters on the city of Mosul to assure its residents of upcoming liberation from ISIS.
The letters encouraged Mosul residents to be patient and reassured them that the victory against ISIS "will come soon."
The Iraqi troops managed to enter Mosul’s limits early November for the first time since June 2014, when the city fell to ISISamid a large-scale terror campaign in northern and western Iraq.
