In Syria ISIS Loses Major City After Three Years

Iraqi forces, backed by aerial support by the USA -led global coalition, launched a new push last week to drive IS militants from Mosul’s west, capturing so far the city’s worldwide airport and an adjacent military base.

Along with reports out of Iraq that Iraqi forces have seized the airport in the city of Mosul, Syrian rebels say they’ve wrested back the city of al-Bab from ISIS, which had held the area for three years.

Displaced Iraqis flee their homes during a battle with Islamic State militants, in the district of Maamoun in western Mosul, Iraq, February 23, 2017.

Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) units that have been in charge of a front in desert areas west of Mosul said on Friday they were attacked by ISIS fighters coming from Syria.

Mosul, which ISIS took control of in 2014, is the group’s last remaining major stronghold in Iraq.

Worldwide relations professor Houchang Hassan-Yari of the Royal Military College of Canada told VOA’s Persian Service the concentration of civilians in western Mosul will make it harder for Iraqi government forces and their coalition allies to retake that part of the city.

Since the operation began on Sunday, Iraqi forces say they have retaken some 120 square kilometers – almost 50 square miles – south of the city.

“They have come under fire at different times, they have returned fire at different times, in and around Mosul”, Dorrian told reporters on Wednesday.

An Iraqi air strike against the Islamic State group inside Syria on Friday was coordinated with the Damascus government, a source close to the Syrian foreign ministry said.

Remarks from some of the president’s top military advisors could hint at a proposed increase in US forces in Syria, where 500 USA special operators are assisting local forces in their efforts.

The east and west is divided by the Tigris River, and US-led coalition airstrikes have damaged all five bridges connecting the two sides in an effort to contain the militants in the west.

“We’re not able to get into western Mosul, but we can only predict that the situation there remains dire”.

The review and subsequent recommendations will address “not only core ISIS in Iraq and Syria” but also include civilian and possibly military options to engage the group’s growing presence in Afghanistan, Southeast Asia and elsewhere, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said Tuesday. This means that the troops responsible for talking to USA and coalition aircraft have moved closer to the front lines.

Iraqi federal policemen celebrate the retaking of Mosul airport, outside western Mosul, Iraq, Feb. 24.

Several armoured coalition vehicles could be seen in the line of military vehicles, and security officials said coalition troops were embedded with the forward advancing forces, advising the Iraqi troops as they conducted the assault.

In addition, the United Nations estimated that about 750,000 civilians are trapped in the western neighborhoods, according to the AP.