Iraq forces press assault on Daesh
al buseif (Iraq) — Iraqi forces consolidated positions on Tuesday after blasting their way to the southern edge of Mosul in an assault Baghdad and its partners hope will spell the doom of the Daesh group.
They were upbeat on the third day of a rekindled offensive in the operation which was launched on October 17 to retake Iraq’s second city, the Daesh group’s last major stronghold in the country.
A myriad of forces including federal police, elite interior ministry Rapid Response units, soldiers and paramilitaries raced towards the disused airport which lies on Mosul’s southern approach.
On Monday, Iraqi forces backed by jets and gunships retook Al Buseif, a village which Daesh had used as its main base south of Mosul, said Brigadier General Abbas Al Juburi, of the Rapid Response force. “It was cleared successfully and in record time,” he said . “We were fighting from house to house... A few Daesh were wearing explosive belts.”
In the small hilltop village, all of Mosul visible in the distance, federal police manned armoured vehicles and fired mortar round.
Holes from shrapnel were visible in the perimeter walls and facades of several houses, including the peach-painted outer walls of one home commandeered by the police forces. A group of civilians, seven men and a few boys from a neigh- bouring village, came forward, some of them waving white flags. The security forces had them raise their shirts to check for suicide belts.
One of them was given a mobile phone to tell others who had stayed back that they could follow while another informed the federal police on Daesh positions. Juburi said that many Daesh fighters were killed in Monday’s battle, tunnels discovered and equipment recovered, and added that his forces were marking a pause on Tuesday.
“Today, we don’t have operations. In the coming days we will advance north,” Juburi said.—