UN Security Council debates chemical attack in Iraq’s Mosul on Russia’s initiative

Iraqi security forces on Saturday pushed further toward the old city center of the western side of Mosul amid fierce clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants, the Iraqi military said.

Since then, the terrorists have lost control of those territories, with Iraqi forces, backed by the US-led coalition, launching an operation against IS’s last stronghold in the country, Mosul, in October 2016.

“The Federal Police and Rapid Response forces have liberated the area of al-Mahata [Arabic for station] that houses the Mosul train station and residential buildings”, colonel Emad al-Bayati told dpa.

The officials said the terror honcho has likely asked to hide among his supporters in desert villages, instead of staying too close to the deadly fighting in more urban regions.

Islamic State (ISIS) militants have made a habit of deliberately destroying major archaeological sites in territories they’ve occupied in recent years, proclaiming objects from the Assyrian and Greek period as “idolatry”.

SDF forces were advancing slowly east of Raqa, it said, and several coalition air strikes hit the outskirts of the city early on Sunday.

The Hashed said the grave contained the remains of around 500 people killed by IS at the Badush prison, a figure that could not be independently confirmed, but which was in keeping with accounts from Human Rights Watch and the United Nations. Later Iraqi officials with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said numerous statues were replicas, that the originals had been sent to Baghdad for safekeeping.

They recaptured the eastern half of the city in January and launched assaults on the western side, across the Tigris river, on February 19.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the chief of global extremist cult Islamic State (ISIS), has left his commanders behind along with followers to fight and win the battle of Mosul.

Hours after announcing Tuesday’s advance, Iraqi state TV said Prime Minster Haider al-Abadi visited the troops in Mosul.

Troops penetrated deeper into the western bank of the city after weeks of battling the militant group. An Iraqi commander said the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service raised Iraq’s flag over buildings in the neighborhoods. Photo Credit: null If chemical weapons are used, he said, there is evidence of people injured and material left on the ground but “we don’t have anything from the operation in Mosul that tells us we have that”. He said 26 people were killed, majority children, and up to 67 were wounded. Muhammad al-Jabouri, a Mosul native from a nearby neighbourhood.

Shi’ite militias taking part in the Mosul campaign began to close in on Tal Afar late past year, after the offensive was launched.