The Iraqi army advanced on a Christian region near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Saturday, driving Islamic State out of towns controlled by the terrorist organization since 2014. Eye witnesses said Iraqi forces took down the Islamic State flag from towns and villages that had been liberated and raised the Iraqi flag in its place, to the joy of town residents. Civilians were reported rising up against Islamic State in Mosul and the surrounding villages and towns in collaboration with the Iraqi and Kurdish forces besieging the city. According to reports, the Iraqi Army's 9th Division and Kurdish militia are positioned a few miles from the entrance of Mosul. Tanks and artillery forces continue to heavily shell Islamic State positions in the city entrance. Sources in Kurdish forces participating in the offensive said the massive shelling is to neutralize the roads and the public buildings. Islamic State terrorists have boobytrapped the city with heavy explosive charges to cause as many casualties as possible to Iraqi forces and their allies. Baghdad reported six Iraqi soldiers killed in the battle for Mosul so far. Senior sources in the advancing forces emphasized that the liberation of Mosul from Islamic State would end the terrorist group's control over the city, but the battle is far from over. Islamic State terrorists do not intend to give up Mosul easily, as the city was declared the capital of the Islamic State caliphate established in territories conquered in Iraq and Syria. Meanwhile, over 1,000 people were injured from inhaling toxic fumes rising from a sulfur processing plant and oil wells Islamic State terrorists apparently set on fire Thursday, according to Arab media outlets. This was part of the effort to halt the Iraqi and Kurdish advance on the city. Arab television stations broadcasting the skirmishes in the Mosul region showed videos of a heavy, black smoke from the oil wells and sulfur plant engulfing the city and the surrounding area. The injuries from the toxic gases occur a few days after senior Iraqi and American officials expressed worries Islamic State would use mustard gas in its stockpile. Arab media outlets reported that hundreds of residents were evacuated to receive medical treatment in hospitals around Mosul. According to Al Jazeera news network, three have died so far. Medical sources in hospitals around Mosul said the death toll is expected to increase. Reports said minutes after Islamic State terrorists set the sulfur processing plant on fire, two citizens near the plant were killed from being exposed to the toxic vapors. Arab news agencies reported that American soldiers in Qayyara West airfield, less than 20 miles from Mosul, were instructed to put gas masks on. The U.N. told CNN that over 500 Iraqi families from surrounding villages were brought by force to the city, apparently part of Islamic State policy to use human shields. Earlier, Iraqi police said a broad Islamic State offensive on Kirkuk, northern Iraq, had ended. A senior army official said most of the Islamic State terrorists had blown themselves up with explosive belts. Over the weekend, the Russian Foreign Ministry blamed the coalition fighting Islamic State for killing dozens of civilians on Friday in Daquq, a northern Iraqi town south of Kirkuk. Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said all the signs indicated this was a war crime, and the international coalition was doing this on a daily basis. He said there were no Islamic State terrorists in the area. It is possible he intended to express criticism over the international coalition in Syria, where tensions between the U.S. and Russia are rising. The mayor of Daquq said the attack happened during a funeral procession in the center of the city. Seventeen people were killed, mostly women and children, and 50 were injured. On Saturday, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Iraq for a surprise visit to assess the battle for Mosul up close. "
Over 50 villages and towns have been liberated since the massive offensive of combined Iraqi-Kurdish forces began last Monday to free Mosul, according to the Iraqi military. An estimated 5,000 to 6,000 Islamic State terrorists are entrenched in the city.
Credit: Reuters
Reports also came of residents fleeing the horror. So far, thousands have left, most of them arriving in Syrian territory, where they find refuge in improvised camps in the outskirts of Hasakah, a town by the Iraqi-Syrian border.
"We are gravely worried by reports that ISIL is using civilians in and around Mosul as human shields as the Iraqi forces advance," said the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein. CNN also reported that Islamic State executed 284 men and youths in the city on Thursday and Friday.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry said the Islamic State offensive had been conducted to take world attention off the battle in Mosul, but it failed completely. The few terrorists who did not commit suicide or flee were killed by Iraqi forces. The reports from Baghdad said there were no losses to the Iraqi army.
The campaign is proceeding according to plan and the schedule that we've had," Carter said. The U.S. is aiding Iraqi forces with logistics and airpower.
Earlier, Carter met with Turkish officials, who agreed that Ankara would play a role in conquering Mosul. However, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday thanked the Turks for wanting to participate, but insisted they leave the liberation of Mosul to Iraqi, Kurdish and local forces.
As battle of Mosul rages, Iraqi army pushes ISIS to city outskirts
Six Iraqi soldiers reported killed as battle enters seventh day • Thousands of civilians flee area • Islamic State sets oil wells, sulfur plant on fire, over 1,000 injured • U.S. defense secretary visits Iraq • Iraqi PM resists Turkish involvement.
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