Iraqi troops face stiff resistance from IS in eastern Mosul

Mosul, November 19

Iraqi troops faced stiff resistance Saturday from Islamic State militants as they pushed deeper into eastern Mosul, backed by aerial support from the US-led international coalition, a senior military commander said.

At dawn, troops moved into the Muharabeen and Ulama neighborhoods after fully liberating the adjacent Tahrir neighbourhood on Friday, said Maj Gen Sami al-Aridi of the Iraqi special forces.

Al-Aridi said Islamic State militants were fighting back with snipers, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds.

Thick black columns of smoke were seen billowing from the two areas, while dozens of civilians were seen fleeing to government-controlled areas. Shortly before noon, a suicide bomber emerged from a house in the Tahrir neighborhood and attacked security forces, wounding four troops.

Another suicide car bomber hit the troops in Aden neighborhood afternoon, killing a soldier and wounding three others.

Late on Friday, a group of Islamic State militants attacked the village of Imam Gharbi south of Mosul, controlling most of it for hours before airstrikes from the US-led international coalition were called in, an officer said. The clashes and multiple suicide bombings left three policemen dead, including an officer, and four others wounded, he said.

Nine Islamic State fighters were killed, he added. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to brief media.

To the west of Mosul, government-sanctioned Shiite militias took full control of the Tal Afar military airfield Friday night, said Jaafar al-Husseini, spokesman for the influential Hezbollah Brigades. Al-Husseini said the clashes almost destroyed the airport and that it will be an important launching pad for the troops in their advance.

The extremist group captured Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, in the summer of 2014.

The offensive to retake the city, which was launched on October 17, is the biggest military operation in Iraq since American troops left in 2011. If successful, the retaking of Mosul would be the strongest blow dealt to Islamic State's self-styled caliphate stretching into Syria.

The Shiite militias are leading an assault to drive the jihadists from Tal Afar, which had a majority Shiite population before it fell to the militants in the summer of 2014, and to cut supply lines linking Mosul to Syria.

According to the United Nations, more than 56,000 civilians have been forced from their homes since the operation began out of nearly 1.5 million civilians living in and around Mosul. — AP