More Civilians are Fleeing Mosul

These forces were closing in on Grand al-Nuri Mosque, where the Daesh leader founded his terror group. Police forces advanced in the al-Faroug district near the mosque and killed 60 Daesh terrorist.

Security forces are now controlling 75 percent of western Mosul and plan to launch an assault on the mosque using hand grenades and assault rifles under cover of snipers and not artillery units and airstrikes in order to reduce civilian casualties.

Earlier, the UN announced that nearly half a million civilians had fled the fighting since the offensive started and said: “The sheer volume of civilians still fleeing Mosul city is staggering.” 

As many as 500,000 civilians remain trapped in the Daesh-controlled neighborhoods of western Mosul.

Iraqi army soldiers and fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi, have made sweeping gains against Daesh since launching the operation to retake Mosul.