Kurds Begin Large-Scale Assault in Mosul

As an assault to drive out so-called Islami State militants from Mosul continues, Kurdish fighters say they have started a large-scale operation north and east of the Iraqi city.

The Kurds say the plan is to tighten the noose around the militant’s last key stronghold in Iraq.

The Special Forces have now joined the offensive as the Iraqi army has been moving from the south.

The US military says there are indications that IS leaders have fled Mosul.

Nevertheless, there are an estimated 5,000 IS fighters still in the city.

The Kurdish Peshmerga forces said their campaign was on three fronts. They also followed recent advances by both the Kurds and the Iraqi security forces in the area.

The statement said that the intentions are to clear some of the nearby villages. This action will give them control of strategic sites to further constrain ISIL’s (IS) movements.

Meanwhile, Iraqi special forces joined the assault on Thursday, Iraqi Major General Maan al-Saadi said. They made a pre-dawn advance on the nearby town of Bartalla.

The special forces were backed by air strikes performed by a US-led coalition.

General Gary Volesky said earlier that they’ve seen movement out of Mosul and that they got signs that leaders have left. The American general, however, did not specify who had fled, nor did he state where they had gone.

The whereabouts of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are not known. Some accounts say he is in Mosul while others say he has escaped the northern Iraqi city.

BBC Middle East analyst Alan Johnston says it is likely that any fighters leaving the city had simply been heading to the front line areas, which still lie beyond the outskirts.

Nobody has any reservations that a die-hard IS militant would stay in the city and fight for it, the correspondent adds.

General Volesky said that foreign fighters are expected to form the bulk of the force who will hold out. The general heads the land component of the US-led coalition battling IS.

Save the Children charity asserts that 5,000 people from the conflict zone have fled to a refugee camp over the Syrian border in the last 10 days. There are 1,000 more waiting at the border.

UN camps ready to receive in excess of 200,000 Mosul refugees

Refugee camps are being set up in the south, north and east of Mosul in provision for an inflow of people fleeing the city. The UN says it anticipates more than 200,000 in the coming days and weeks.

An estimated 1.5 million civilians are believed to still be in Mosul. Those inside reported that IS was stopping them from departing the city and that they were running out of basic necessities.

Mosul has been under IS control since 2014. It is the militant group’s last major Iraqi stronghold.

The attack to retake the city started on Monday as the advancing forces seized several villages on the city’s borders ahead of a final push.

However, with IS fighters seeming to be putting up unyielding resistance in places, progress is expected to be slow.

There are also threats that the group could use chemical weapons or human shields.

With these challenges, it could be months before the city is liberated.

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