MOSUL: Iraqi forces recaptured a prison northwest of Mosul where Daesh reportedly executed hundreds of people and held captured Yazidi women, the military said on Wednesday.
Iraqi special forces units are spearheading the operation to retake west Mosul, which began on Feb. 19, while soldiers and pro-government paramilitaries are fighting Daesh in areas outside the city.
Forces from Iraq’s 9th Armored Division and the Furqat Al-Abbas paramilitary group recaptured Badush prison, Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said in a statement.
It did not specify whether anyone was still being held inside the prison when it was retaken.
According to Human Rights Watch, Daesh gunmen executed up to 600 inmates from Badush prison on June 10, 2014, forcing them to kneel along a nearby ravine before pushing them in and setting fire to the bodies.
And Iraqi lawmaker Vian Dakhil said that year that the terrorists were holding more than 500 Yazidi women at Badush.
Daesh targeted the Yazidi religious minority in a brutal campaign of executions, kidnapping and rape, killing men and holding women and girls as sex slaves.
Iraqi forces worked to clear bombs and flush out any remaining militants in retaken areas to set the stage for an offensive against the Old City.
Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi vowed he would “not hesitate” to strike terrorists in neighboring countries as well if they posed a threat, after Iraq carried out air raids in Syria last month.
The battle for the Old City may see some of the toughest fighting in west Mosul.
“The liberation of the city center is a first and very important step for beginning the liberation of the Old City,” said Lt. Col. Abdulamir Al-Mohammedawi of the elite Rapid Response Division, referring to an area near the Old City that Iraqi forces have recaptured in recent days.
“The Old City is a very difficult area” of narrow streets and closely spaced houses, he said.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said heavy Russian bombing struck Daesh positions near the town of Al-Khafsah, where regime forces retook a key water pumping station the day before.
A correspondent saw dozens of trucks and cars full of suitcases and bedding waiting on the road between Al-Khafsah and the town of Manbij.
“The shelling began and we fled — wherever we found somewhere safe, we’d settle there,” said Abu Hammoud, an elderly man who left his home near the pumping station.
“We need help for the children. They’re sleeping in the open air. There’s no food here. Everyone can see us, but no one is doing anything.”
We will take out terrorists outside Iraq if they pose threat, warns premier
We will take out terrorists outside Iraq if they pose threat, warns premier
Israel says carrying out ‘large-scale strikes’ on Tehran
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it launched “large-scale strikes” on Tehran on Monday, two days since the start of a US-Israeli campaign against Iran.
“The Israeli Air Force... has begun an additional wave of strikes against the Iranian terror regime at the heart of Tehran,” the military said in a statement.
Israei's new “large-scale” strikes followed mile fire from Iran that injured three people in Jerusalem late on Sunday.
“A direct impact of a munition was identified on one of the main roads in Jerusalem,” police said in a statement, sharing footage showing officers at a highway section littered with rubble.
Israel’s emergency medical service Magen David Adom said three people were injured, including a 46-year-old man with moderate shrapnel wounds.
The medical organization earlier said several others were treated for light injuries at the site.
AFP journalists heard a series of loud blasts above the city, after the Israeli military said it had detected missiles launched from Iran.
Israel’s Kan public television and Channel 12 broadcast footage showing police officers and rescuers deployed in areas where visible damage could be seen, one “in the center of the country” and the other in the Jerusalem area.
In the Jerusalem area, the footage showed a road strewn with debris and rocks.
In the center of the country, damaged cars could be seen.
Military censorship prohibits the media from disclosing the exact locations of the impact sites.
In other developments:
• The European Union has warned of the cost to the Middle East of a long war, and said it was reinforcing its naval mission in the Red Sea with additional vessels as Iran’s retaliation to US-Israeli strikes threatens maritime traffic, a European diplomat said.
Two new French ships will join the EU’s Aspides mission, bringing to five the number of warships taking part, the diplomat told AFP.
• Gulf states vowed to defend themselves against Iranian attacks, including by “responding to the aggression” if need be, after the Gulf Cooperation Council convened via video-link to formulate a unified response.
• Top US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make the case Tuesday to Congress for the attack on Iran. Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and military chief General Dan Caine “will brief the full membership of both chambers of Congress,” White House spokesman Dylan Johnson said.
• Container shipping company Maersk said it was halting passage through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz for “safety” reasons.
The Danish group was the latest of several shipping groups to make similar announcements after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards declared the strait closed on Saturday.
• Seven people were injured in the Jerusalem area following the latest salvo of missiles fired from Iran, Israeli firefighters said.
• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had agreed to let the United States use UK bases to fire “defensive” strikes aimed at destroying Iranian missiles and their launchers. But in a video address posted to social media, he added: “We were not involved in the initial strikes on Iran and we will not join offensive action now.
• Iranian media reported that a police station in a city on the outskirts of Tehran had been hit, killing an unspecified number of people, with others reportedly trapped under debris. “According to initial reports, a number of citizens were martyred and some were trapped under the rubble,” the Tasnim news agency reported.
• Iranian news agency ISNA reported that Gandhi hospital in northern Tehran had been targeted by strikes. The Fars and Mizan agencies published a video, presented as being from inside the facility, showing debris on the floor among wheelchairs.
