Iraqi forces soldiers wait to begin training at Camp Taji, Iraq, on Sunday. The soldiers were learning from coalition personnel how to search personnel and vehicles for improvised explosive devices. On Tuesday, Iraq officially declared east Mosul has been fully liberated from the Islamic State
Jan. 25 -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has
officially declared east Mosul is fully liberated from the Islamic State though the battle for the western half
of the city is expected to be much more difficult.
Abadi's declaration on Tuesday comes a week after the Iraqi
Counter Terrorism Service said it was victorious
in east Mosul over the Islamic
State, also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh.
"I congratulate the Iraqi people on the full liberation of
east Mosul, made possible by the courage and sacrifices of our armed
forces," Abadi said in a statement.
In one of the last neighborhoods taken from the Islamic State,
Iraqi security forces found bomb factories and many types of explosives,
including rockets and improvised explosive devices, Rudaw reported.
Iraqi troops experienced heavy casualties mainly due to mortar attacks and car
bombs in the latest effort to fully clear the Islamic State from the east.
"After more than 100 days of hard urban combat, Iraqi
officials announced the liberation of eastern Mosul," Combined Joint Task
Force: Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led international coalition against
the Islamic State, said in a statement. "While clearance operations are
ongoing, the Iraqi security forces control all areas inside the city east of
the Tigris River, the east bank of the river around all five bridges crossing
the Tigris River, Mosul University and the Nineveh Ruins."
The second phase of the battle to retake Mosul -- which is led
by Iraqi security forces and aided by the Kurdish Peshmerga, a Shiite-led
militia, and the U.S.-led international coalition against the Islamic State --
began Dec. 29 after the initial offensive, which began Oct. 17, was suspended.
Since Oct. 17, the coalition has conducted 558 airstrikes,
destroying at least 151 car bombs, 361 buildings and facilities,140 tunnels,
408 vehicles, 392 bunkers, 24 anti-air artillery systems and 315 artillery and
mortar systems, the coalition said.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commanding general of
the international coalition, called the victory in the east a "monumental
achievement for not only the Iraqi security forces and sovereign government of
Iraq, but all Iraqi people."
"This would have been a difficult task for any army in the
world ... and to see how far the Iraqis have come since 2014, not only
militarily, but in their ability to put their differences aside and focus on a
common enemy, gives real hope to the people of Iraq that after years of
fighting and instability, peace and security are attainable," Townsend
said in a statement. "There is still a long way to go before ISIL is
completely eliminated from Iraq, and the fight for western Mosul is likely to be
even tougher than the eastern side."
The United Nations has warned that the hundreds of thousands of
people in western Mosul, which is more densely populated than the east, are facing a humanitarian crisis.
"The reports from inside western Mosul are distressing ...
all evidence points to a sharply deteriorating situation," U.N.
humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, said in a statement. "We
don't know what will happen in western Mosul but we cannot rule out the
possibility of siege-like conditions or a mass exodus."
The United Nations estimates about 750,000 civilians remain in
west Mosul, where food prices have soared and water and electricity services
are irregular.
"The warriors of the coalition join me in congratulating
our comrades in the Iraqi security forces on this achievement and wish them
good luck and Allah's blessings for the fight on the west side that lies
ahead," Townsend said.
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