Iraqi forces take control of Mosul Airport following morning raid

US-trained Iraqi police forces captured the majority of Mosul’s global airport, including its only runway, from ISIS on Thursday.

Meanwhile on Thursday, the Iraqi military said its counterterrorism forces, known as the Golden Division, overran the ISIS-held Ghazlani military base to the west of the airport.

A 100,000 strong coalition government troops, Kurdish fighters and local militias, backed by the United States airstrikes, has made rapid advances in retaking the city since January.

The campaign involved 100,000 strong force of Iraqi troops, Kurdish fighters and Shi’ite militias.

The ISIS-controlled area is “shrinking steadily with each passing day”, Air Force Col. John Dorrian told Pentagon reporters in a news briefing from Baghdad.

The two-pronged advance is part of a US -baked offensive aimed at driving the Islamic State group from western Mosul. Iraqi forces are within mortar range and there are more civilians present, making the battle more complicated, Sommerville said.

An army plane late Wednesday dropped thousands of letters written by residents of the retaken east bank to their fellow citizens across the river.

The operation to retake Mosul began in October previous year.

The seizure of eastern Mosul came after nearly four months of intense fighting in which Iraqi forces met heavy resistance.

In a worrying trend, an increasing number of armed drone strikes have been conducted by Islamic State (ISIS) in northern Iraq after it formally announced its new “Unmanned Aircraft of the Mujahideen” unit last month. It is expected that forces from the Counter Terrorism Service will once again play a key role in the push into western Mosul.

“Our research demonstrates that Iraqi armed forces that are fighting ISIS to retake a couple of villages and a small town near Mosul – they looted, damaged and destroyed homes”. “They are living under siege, the price of flour and fuel have soared”. Prices of kerosene and cooking gas have skyrocketed, and numerous most destitute families are burning wood, furniture, plastic or garbage for cooking and heating.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, said UN agencies had “made the decision that until security improves it will be hard for us to provide assistance”.

In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Brig.

The operation is likely to be complicated by the terror group’s use of IEDs and the estimated 750,000 civilians still living there.

Two police officers say the airport buildings are now under fire from the Iraqi police forces.