Iraq army sitting at Mosul’s doorstep: Military sources

By Ibrahim Salih and Ahmed Qassim

MOSUL, Iraq

The Iraqi army on Thursday recaptured the villages of Ain al-Jahesh (west of Mosul) and Al-Khorta (south of Mosul), according to military sources.

"The army’s 92nd Brigade has completely restored Ain al-Jahesh," Brigadier-General Mohamed al-Jubouri, an officer in the army’s Nineveh Operations Command, told Anadolu Agency.

Al-Jubouri added that the army’s 16th Division now stood on the outskirts of Daesh-held Mosul and was surrounding the city’s Al-Sada Baawiza district from the north.

Earlier Thursday, Iraqi forces captured Al-Khorta village south of the city, establishing control over the road linking southern Mosul to Baghdad, Lieutenant-General Abdul-Amir Raheed Yarallah, commander of the Mosul campaign, said in a statement broadcast by Iraqi state television.

Meanwhile, U.S.-led coalition warplanes destroyed a bridge located north of Mosul in a move aimed at cutting Daesh’s supply lines.

And on Thursday afternoon, Iraqi forces -- backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes -- began advancing on eastern Mosul’s Al-Intisar neighborhood, Army Colonel Watheq Hamdoun al-Jaf told Anadolu Agency.

"The operation is being carried out along three axes, with the participation of Iraqi anti-terrorism forces and other elements of the army, and in coordination with coalition warplanes," al-Jaf said.

"Iraqi troops are calling on residents to stay in their homes to avoid being hurt," he added.

Meanwhile, Mosul’s eastern neighborhoods have witnessed the first wave of civilian displacement since the campaign began on Oct.18.

"More than 20,000 civilians have come to refugee camps set up by our ministry from liberated towns on Mosul’s outskirts since the operation began," Iraq's Ministry of Migration and Displacement said in a Thursday statement.

Ministry spokesman Qassim Atiyye told Anadolu Agency that the camps were able to accommodate up to 300,000 people.