MOSUL, Iraq – The Iraqi Federal Police and its elite Rapid Response Forces have managed to liberate the 4th bridge in Mosul from the western side of the Tigris river on Monday. They control the left bank of the river, declared liberated in January, to the right side which is still largely under the control of the ISIS militants, Iraq’s top commander for Nineveh operation Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yaralla said.
The US-led international coalition against ISIS “disabled” the bridge in late December in preparation for the launch of the second phase of the Mosul offensive back then. It was based on a request from the Iraqi government to stop the movements of ISIS suicide bomb attacks, and militants between the two sides.
The colaition said then that the Iraqis would be able to repair the bridge once the city has been liberated since it was not destroyed, but "disabled".
Iraqi Forces have launched a fresh offensive to liberate the right bank from ISIS more than a week ago, after a lull for weeks, and are now facing a strong resistance of ISIS militants deploying car bombs, sniper fire and armed commercial drones throwing grenades and explosives.
The ISF are now in control of the districts of al-Jawsaq and al-Tayyaran on the southern edge of the Tigris west of the city, and the southernmost district of al-Maamun from where more than 2,000 people fled in 24 hours this week.
The 9th armoured division, and the the mainly Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries jointly liberated two villages on Monday: Khubirat Atshana, south of Badush district located to the west of Mosul, and Tal al-Rumman, southwest of the city, Yarallah said.
The US-trained Counter Terrorism Service who spearheaded the Mosul offensive on the left bank of the city have stormed the southern district of Wadi al-Hajar. After they controlled al-Maamun district on Sunday.
Iraqi forces declared the liberation of the eastern half late last month, 100 days after the launch of the offensive last year in October.
The western half of the city is estimated to be home to approximately 750,000 civilians whom the United Nations warned on Saturday were in a humanitarian crisis, half of whom are said to be children, according to the Save the Children charity. The people are suffering from shortages of basic necessities including food and fuel. Prices for all the goods in the city have skyrocketed, the UN stated.
Speaking to Rudaw hours after their dramatic escape, a 25-year-old Yezi woman who was rescued on Monday said conditions had become “unbearable” over the past three months after the offensive had started to retake Mosul from the militants.
“We had very little food and water in the past month while under siege. The conditions were horrific,” she told Rudaw after arriving in the safety of Iraqi and Kurdish held areas north of Mosul.
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