BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – Iraqi security forces have pushed deeper into western Mosul, liberating the largest neighborhood in the area in a major blow to the Daesh terror group.
Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, the commander of ‘We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations,’ said Iraqi forces have completely recaptured the neighborhood of al-Tanak from Daesh on Tuesday, al-Sumaria news website reported.
He added that Iraqi forces inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists during the operation.
To the east of Tanak, Iraqi armed forces have been facing tough resistance from Daesh in Mosul’s Old City, an area stretching along the Tigris River, which divides Mosul into its eastern and western half.
The Old City’s narrow alleys and densely-populated areas have made it hard for Iraqi troops to move forward.
Meanwhile, Iraqi group Popular Mobilization Units has delivered a counterblast to the Turkish president who had called the volunteer force fighting Daesh a "terrorist organization” and part of Iran’s regional policy.
The group, known as Hashd al-Sha’abi by its Arabic name, has joined forces with the Iraqi government against Daesh terrorists.
Last November, the Iraqi Parliament approved a law, giving legal status to the fighters and recognizing them as part of the national armed forces.
On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made incendiary remarks about the fighters in an interview with Doha-based Al Jazeera television channel, calling the group a terrorist organization.
The accusations prompted Hashd al-Sha'abi spokesman Ahmad al-Assadi to issue an angry riposte on Sunday, saying Erodgan had clearly targeted the Arab country and its leadership.
Meanwhile, at least six Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces have reportedly been killed as Turkey resumes air raids on Kurdish positions in northern Iraq and in northeastern Syria.
Kurdish sources said they were killed "by mistake” in a Turkish strike on a position held by the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) militants on the Sinjar Mountain in northern Iraq.
"Six people were martyred, five from the Peshmerga and the sixth from Asayish,” the Kurdish security organization, said Lieutenant General Jabbar Yawar, secretary general of the Peshmerga ministry in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish government.
"Nine others were also wounded by the air strike on the Sinjar mountain,” he added.
The deaths came hours after the Turkish army said in a statement that it had conducted airstrikes against PKK militants in an alleged bid to prevent the Kurdish forces from sending weapons to Turkey.