Iraqi Forces Still Fighting IS In Western Mosul Despite Abadi’s Victory Speech
Iraqi forces were battling Islamic State on Monday as they push to retake the remaining part of the extremist militia’s former stronghold of Mosul.
Iraqiya state TV reported that Iraqi forces continued their operations in the Old City of Mosul, west of the Tigris River, against Islamic State.
On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi toured Mosul and congratulated the soldiers “on achieving the big victory.”
The radical group seized Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, in mid-2014.
In October last year, Iraq started a US-backed military campaign to dislodge Islamic State from the city.
In February, Iraqi forces launched an offensive backed by the US to wrest the western section of Mosul from Islamic State, almost a month after they recaptured the eastern part of the city.
The Mosul operation coincides with a US-supported attack by local fighters in neighbouring Syria aimed at expelling Islamic State from its de facto capital of al-Raqqa.
