Baghddad - Najla Al Taee
The fall of rains in the Iraqi city of Mousl uncovered ISIS sites before the Iraqi air forces, as they managed to destroy four canons possessed by the extremist group. The attacks coincided with the air raids launched by the International Coalition’s fighter jets against the strongholds of the extremist group in both Iraq and Syria during the recent 24 hours.
Central Command of the International Coalition said, in a statement, the fighter jets executed five air raids against ISIS sites near Syria’s Deir Al Zour and Raqqa, while they targeted the group’s strongholds in Iraq’s Telaffar and Mousl.
According to a statement from Iraq’s Ministry of Defense, the Iraqi air forces managed to destroy a number of targets of ISIS in the western side of Mousl, in the framework of the current operations to liberate the city from the grip of the extremist group.
The statement added that ISIS foreign militants clashed with their Arab colleagues in Telaffar on Thursday, saying that the clashes led to the killing of dozens of extremists. It added that the extremist group decided to raise a state of emergence and to impose curfew in the Iraqi district.
A local source in Nineveh informed that more than 20 checkpoints belonging to ISIS, west of Mosul, disappeared in few hours.
The source said, “More than 20 checkpoints belonging to the Islamic State in the areas of al-Zera’i and Bab al-Taub, west of Mosul, disappeared along with their members in few hours.”
“The disappearance of the checkpoints reflects the internal collapse of the extremist group, that started to appear obviously with the start of the battle to liberate western Mosul,” the source added on condition of anonymity.
The battle to liberate western Mosul was launched in 19 February 2017, after the announcement of Prime Minister and General Commander of Armed Forces Haider al-Abadi.
On the other hand, member of Mousl’s local council Zohair Al Jabouri said that they decided to exempt the local officials who worked under ISIS in the city’s left bank. He added, in a press statement, that the council appointed 48 officials of 186 will be changed during the coming period.
On the other hand, Anti-Extremism Directorate announced, in a statement to “Arabs Today”, that they managed to kill ISIS member Yasser Haghour, known as Abu Baker Al Faransi, during his existence in the Syrian city of Al Tabaqa on February 20. He was serving as emir of military training in the group.
He was serving as the group’s military training emir in Mousl, as he joined the extremist group in 2014, while he was transferred to Syrian in the beginning of Iraqi military operations to liberate the city in October.
The directorate added that another leader called Ahmed Ibrahim Al Jobani during the current operations in the districts of the city’s right bank, revealing that he was targeted with a number of other extremists.