DAMASCUS, SYRIA (11:00 P.M.) – After a week-long hiatus to evacuate civilians through humanitarian corridors, the Iraqi Armed Forces resumed their military operations around the last three ISIS-held neighborhoods in Mosul.
Led by the Rapid Response Division, 9th Division and Counter Terrorism Units, government forces finally managed to impose full control over the Al-Zinjili neighborhood amid deadly door-to-door combat and a ferocious battle with ISIS insurgents on Saturday.
Advancing southwards along the Tigris River, the Iraqi Army also took control of roughly 75% of the Al-Shafaa district which neighbors the largely ISIS-held Old City, a densely populated residential area which has been held in check by the Iraqi Federal Police for months.
With barely two suburbs under Islamic State control, the battle for Iraq’s second largest city is expected to come to an end within a fortnight. Nevertheless, a couple hundred exhausted jihadist fighters appear determined to fight to the bitter end.
