BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces fighting Daesh in Mosul have reached the Nineveh province governance building and raised the Iraqi flag there, a senior US defense official said on Friday.
By late on Friday, elite Iraqi forces had taken control of part of the Mosul University complex and reached two more of the five bridges that link east and west Mosul, said Sabah Al-Numan, spokesman for the counter-terrorism service (CTS).
“God willing, in a very short while, we will announce the clearing of the entire left bank ... There are not many areas left (under Daesh control) on this bank,” he told state television.
Maj. Gen. Sami Al-Aridi, a senior CTS commander, said the university was the most important Daesh base in the eastern half of the city.
“Forces are heading into the depths of the university,” he said earlier in the day after bulldozers had smashed through a wall surrounding the campus and dozens of CTS troops sprinted through carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Iraqi forces have now reached Mosul’s three southernmost bridges, having battled their way to the fourth bridge several days ago.
The US-led coalition that is backing the offensive with airstrikes, training and advice praised Friday’s advances.
“Work still needs to be done, but Daesh days in Mosul are quickly coming to an end,” US Air Force Col. John Dorrian said in a statement.
Iraqi forces have now recaptured most districts in eastern Mosul, nearly three months into a US-backed offensive, which accelerated at the turn of the year with new tactics and better coordination.
They aim to take full control of the eastern bank of the Tigris, which bisects Mosul from north to south, before launching attacks on the western side still fully in Daesh hands.
Driving the ultra-hardline group out of its Mosul stronghold will probably spell the end for the Iraqi side of the caliphate it declared in 2014 which stretches into Syria.