Iraqi troops besieged ISIS militants in Mousl’s Nuri Mosque

Iraqi forces managed to kill one of ISIS senior leaders in the Hamrin basin northeast of Baquba during an ambush installed by the Iraqi governmental troops. Meanwhile, leader of Federal Police Shaker Jawdat said that his troops managed to besiege ISIS militants in Nuri Mosque.

Jawdat added that the military operations in Mousl’s right bank are continuous in cooperation with the intelligence, praising the efforts exerted by the residents of Nineveh to provide information to the Iraqi forces working to liberate the city from the grip of extremist group.

“Federal Police and Rapid Response units tightened the noose on the elements of Daesh in the areas surrounding the Nuri Mosque,” Lt. Gen. Raed Shaker Jawdat, head of the Iraqi federal police, said in a statement Thursday, referring to the extremist group by its Arabic acronym.

Jawdat added that troops were closing in on the mosque from three sides, and that Islamic State “had lost its supply routes” and there was “confusion in its ranks.”

This month, the Old City became the epicenter of a large-scale U.S.-backed campaign to oust the jihadists from Mosul.

Baghdadi’s choice of the Great Nuri Mosque for his first (and only) video appearance was no accident. The mosque, built sometime around 1172, is named after Nur Al-Din Zenki, the scion of the Turkish Zengid dynasty that once controlled both northern Syria and Iraq.

Nur Al-Din’s ambitions, however, went further; he sought to bring together all Muslim forces between the Euphrates and the Nile to fight as one against the Crusaders. He brought not only Damascus but also Egypt and parts of modern-day Lebanon under his grip. It was Saladin, however, the indefatigable military commander and future Sultan, who would eventually realize Nur Al-Din’s dream of unification of Muslim lands.

In the same context, Military Intelligence Directorate announced, on Saturday, killing the Islamic State officials of communications, defense detachments and commando, in an air strike carried out by the international coalition aircraft, in western Mosul.

The directorate released a statement saying that based on information obtained from the Military Intelligence Directorate, US-led international coalition targeted via an air strike a vehicle carrying a number of the Islamic State foreign leaders in the intersection of 17 Tammuz and Mushayrafa, in western Mosul.

The air strike resulted in the killing of three Islamic State officials including the communications official Abu Huzaifa, Russian nationl, defense detachments official Abu Tamara, Chechen national and commando official, known as al-Matuni, the statement added.

Iraqi security forces are going through fierce battles to recapture the city of Mosul from the Islamic State terrorist group, after the announcement of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to start an offensive, in 19 February 2017, to retake the western side of the city.

On the other hand, Pro-Iraqi government paramilitary forces killed four Islamic State members during an attack the group launched on the Iraqi borders with Syria.

Shaker al-Rishawi, a commander at al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) in Anbar, was quoted Sunday by Alsumaria News saying the troops thwarted an attack by IS on al-Waleed border crossing in Rutba desert area (440 west of Ramadi). He said the attack was launched from the Syrian city of Boukamal.

Al-Hashd forces killed four of the attackers and destroyed three booby-trapped vehicles, according to Rishawi. Last August, tribal fighters said they took over the crossing from IS militants.

Iraqi Parliamentarian Abdel Rahman Al Lewizi said that ISIS militants have killed dozens of civilians attempting to flee Mosul in recent days, hanging several dead bodies from electricity poles as Iraqi forces fight to retake the city.

Troops are meeting fierce resistance as militants retreat into the Old City, where street fighting is expected in the narrow alleyways and around the mosque where Islamic State declared its caliphate nearly three years ago.