Iraqi forces liberate ISIS-held Nineveh Plain

AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2016 Displaced Iraqis arrive at refugee camp on October 22, 2016 in the town of Qayyarah, south of Mosul, as an operation to recapture the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group takes place. Iraqi security forces battled for a second day with Islamic State group gunmen who infiltrated Kirkuk in a brazen raid that rattled Iraq as it ramped up an offensive to retake Mosul. / AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC

Displaced Iraqis arrive at refugee camp on October 22, 2016 in the town of Qayyarah, south of Mosul, as an operation to recapture the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group takes place.
Iraqi security forces battled for a second day with Islamic State group gunmen who infiltrated Kirkuk in a brazen raid that rattled Iraq as it ramped up an offensive to retake Mosul. / AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC

Written by. Al Arabiya Tuesday, 29 November 2016

The “We Are Coming, Nineveh” Operation said on Monday that it liberated the Nineveh Plain area from ISIS.

Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yar Allah, commander of the operations of the Mosul battle which was launched on October 17, said security forces will resume their operations until they purge all of Mosul from ISIS.

In the east front, commanders in the counter-terrorism force said the countdown to restore the left coast from ISIS has begun. This comes after the counter-terrorism force liberated 20 neighborhoods from the east coast.

Lt. Gen. Abdul-Ghani al-Assadi, commander of the counter-terrorism force in east Mosul, said the people’s cooperation helped them restore most of these neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, the Iraq army announced killing 54 ISIS members in shelling that targeted the organization’s posts in south of Mosul. The US-led coalition also destroyed four booby-trapped cars for ISIS in east Mosul.

Mosul’s poor struggling to get food

Meanwhile, the United Nations said on Tuesday there were indications that poorer families in Mosul are struggling to feed themselves as food prices increase.

“Key informants are telling us that poor families are struggling to put sufficient food on their tables,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Lise Grande, told Reuters. “This is very worrying.”

Iraqi government and Kurdish forces surround the city from the north, east and south, while Popular Mobilization forces – a coalition of Iranian-backed Shiite groups – are trying to close in from the west. Last week the Popular Mobilization forces cut off the supply route to Mosul from ISIS-held territory in Syria.

“In a worst case, we envision that families who are already in trouble in Mosul will find themselves in even more acute need.” Grande said. “The longer it takes to liberate Mosul, the harder conditions become for families.”

ISIS kills civilians who don’t cooperate

ISIS militants in the Iraqi city of Mosul have killed civilians who refuse to allow rockets and snipers to be sited in their houses or whom they suspect of leaking information or trying to flee, a UN human rights spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

“On Nov. 11, ISIL reportedly shot and killed 12 civilians in Bakir neighborhood of eastern Mosul city for allegedly refusing to let it install rockets on the rooftops of their houses,” Ravina Shamdasani told a regular UN briefing.

Information received by the UN also showed that militants publicly shot to death 27 civilians in Muhandiseen Park in northern Mosul on Nov. 25, and on Nov. 22 an ISIS sniper killed a seven-year-old running towards the Iraqi Security Forces in Adan neighborhood in eastern Mosul.