Video: Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICT)
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The liberation of Mosul is going according to plan, ISIS fighters are blocked in, and Iraqi forces expect to have control of the city within the timeline set out by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has said he wants to see the city free of ISIS by the end of this year.
“Hopefully, inshallah, we will do that,” Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICT) told Rudaw English on Friday.
As recently as late November, in an interview with AP, Abadi reiterated that Mosul would be taken this year.
“According to the situation on the ground all axes reached their goals and the enemy lost their initiative to fight,” al-Numan detailed, adding that ISIS fighters are blocked within the areas they are fighting.
Al-Numan confirmed that ISIS can no longer use the fifth and final bridge crossing the Tigris River. The bridge was not disabled but is being monitored 24 hours a day so that it is unusable for the militants.
Hand-in-hand with the military campaign, Iraqi forces are delivering necessities to the residents of Mosul who are facing hardship as food, fuel, and water are in short supply, al-Numan said.
The ICT forces liberated another three neighbourhoods on Friday, al-Saha, al-A'del, and al-Tahrir, in eastern Mosul, bringing the total to 27, according to a statement from S.Lt.Gen. Abdul Amir Rasheed Yarallah, Deputy Commander of Joint Operations Command.
“Hopefully, inshallah, we will do that,” Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICT) told Rudaw English on Friday.
As recently as late November, in an interview with AP, Abadi reiterated that Mosul would be taken this year.
“According to the situation on the ground all axes reached their goals and the enemy lost their initiative to fight,” al-Numan detailed, adding that ISIS fighters are blocked within the areas they are fighting.
Al-Numan confirmed that ISIS can no longer use the fifth and final bridge crossing the Tigris River. The bridge was not disabled but is being monitored 24 hours a day so that it is unusable for the militants.
Hand-in-hand with the military campaign, Iraqi forces are delivering necessities to the residents of Mosul who are facing hardship as food, fuel, and water are in short supply, al-Numan said.
The ICT forces liberated another three neighbourhoods on Friday, al-Saha, al-A'del, and al-Tahrir, in eastern Mosul, bringing the total to 27, according to a statement from S.Lt.Gen. Abdul Amir Rasheed Yarallah, Deputy Commander of Joint Operations Command.
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