Iraqi troops fight desperately for crucial Mosul hilltop

ABU SAIF, IRAQ // Iraqi troops fought desperately to secure a strategic hilltop overlooking Mosul’s international airport and a military base yesterday.

They feared ISIL, who still hold both facilities, may launch another wave of nighttime counterattacks.

The US- backed Iraqi forces advancing on western Mosul from the south have not seen the waves of car bombs that troops met when they moved into eastern Mosul late last year. But the latest battle, launched on Sunday, is still in its early stages.

The troops expect to meet many civilians when they enter western Mosul, the more densely populated half of Iraq’s second city.

Iraqi forces declared the half of the city stretching east of the Tigris River “fully liberated” last month after nearly three months of fierce fighting, but they still occasionally come under attack.

Since the new push for western Mosul began two days ago, Iraqi forces have retaken about 120 square kilometres south of the city, said Brig Gen Yahya Rasool of the Iraqi military.

ISIL mortar rounds hit Iraqi positions yesterday, and rockets struck the main staging base to the south in Hamam Al Alil, which was captured last year.

The extremists have also sent car bombs south of Mosul, although not as many as in earlier stages of the four-month-old offensive.

Four struck Iraqi forces on Monday, and another five were destroyed by air strikes before hitting their targets, federal police Maj Gen Saleh Nasr said.