The city is experiencing shortages in essentials such as food, water, heating oil and medical supplies and many civilians have been caught in the crossfire between state troops and IS militants.
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USA military personnel had largely maintained positions well behind the front lines since returning to Iraq in 2014, but after the battle to retake Mosul launched in October, the administration moved to allow U.S. trainers and advisers to move closer to the battlefield for the operation, the New York Times reports.
The coalition has already taken over eastern Mosul, and in October launched a campaign to force Islamic State out of western Mosul as well. But, skilled in guerrilla tactics, the militants familiar with what’s left of the city.
Commander of Federal Police Forces Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat also announced in a press statement that rapid response teams had raised the Iraqi flag over the Engineering College and Olympic Swimming Pool in Mosul’s western neighborhood of Jawsaq.
The militants set ablaze homes, shops and cars to hide their movement and positions from air surveillance.
“Women had to cover up, you couldn’t walk in the street without a guardian”.
The southernmost bridge has two sections… He described capturing the bridge as “strategically important” military gain as it will help shorten supply lines and could potentially allow civilians now trapped in western Mosul to flee to its government-controlled eastern side.
Closing the western route further traps the estimated 750,000 civilians estimated to be living in Mosul’s western areas.
Thamir told The Associated Press that IS fighters fought back with snipers, anti-tank missiles and suicide vehicle bombs, describing the clashes as “fierce”.
The Iraqi army’s 9th Armoured Division was within less than a mile of Mosul’s “Syria Gate”, the northwestern entrance of the northern Iraqi city, according to a general.
Families escaping with children are reportedly taping their mouths with duct tape to ensure they don’t cry or make a sound that would alert Islamic State.
An officer called out the name Mushtaq and one man stood up. They also said: “What was this animal’s crime?”
Jones said the number of foreign fighters travelling to join IS had dropped by between 75 and 90 percent, both due to it being harder to get in and out of Iraq and Syria and because the reality of doing so had been exposed as unappealing.
Mosul is the last major Daesh bastion in Iraq. There are still about 650,000 residents living in western Mosul, and there are fears of a growing humanitarian crisis.
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IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes and other support have since regained most of the territory they lost. USA personnel are operating close to the frontlines to direct air strikes.
