ISIL Operations Commander for Western Mosul Killed in Airstrike

“The ISIL commander for military operations in Western Mosul was killed in an airstrike in al-Saqafeh street West of Mosul,” the Arabic-language al-Mayadeen satellite TV channel quoted unnamed security sources as saying on Sunday.

Meantime, the Iraqi forces continued their Mosul liberation operations and entered al-Afereh district located between al-Vahdeh and al-Entesar regions in Western Mosul where fierce clashes erupted between the Iraqi army and the ISIL.

The Iraqi army also repelled ISIL’s large-scale offensive near al-Shari’a village in Western Tal Afar.

At least two bomb-laden vehicles and nine special-purpose vehicles of the terrorists were also destroyed in the Iraqi army’s military operation.

In a relevant development on Sunday, a senior commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) disclosed that the ISIL’s supply routes were being disconnected one after another from the West of the city of Mosul to the Syrian border.

“The Iraqi joint military forces are planning to cut all the supply routes of the ISIL terrorist group from the Western flank of Mosul towards Syria’s border regions where Tal Afar region plays a strategic role,” Mohammad al-Basri told FNA.

He reiterated that the ISIL has been surprised by Hashd al-Shaabi’s military operations in Western Mosul.

“The Iraqi volunteer forces has started its operation to win back villages and towns located in the Northern part of Tal Afar airport and advance towards Iraq-Syria border after seizing back Tal Abta Westward of Tal Afar,” al-Basri added.

Iraqi forces liberated more areas in the Western areas of Nineveh Province as part of an operation to retake the province and its capital Mosul from the ISIL terrorists.

A Hashd al-Shaabi commander said the Iraqi forces have flushed the terrorists out of ten villages West of the city of Tal Afar.

The commander reiterated that the gains were made during the fifth phase of the Nineveh liberation operations that took three days.

Iraqi forces also managed to establish control over a key highway linking Tal Afar to Tal Abta.

ISIL terrorists used the road for transporting arms and vehicles. This comes as Iraqi counter-terrorism units are only a couple of kilometers away from recapturing the whole Eastern side of the provincial capital Mosul.