Iraqi security forces (ISF) have liberated the villges of Nayif, Rakrak, Sirwal, Um Hijara and al-‘Ulya in the countryside of Mosul from the ISIS terrorist group. These developments show that the ISF continues its effort to isolate the ISIS-controlled city in the province of Nineveh.
Click to see the full-size map. Map source: @Tutomap/Twitter
At the same time the US-backed campaign of ISF to inside Mosul made a slow progress. The ISF are clashing with ISIS in a number of Mosul neighborhoods, but can hardly secure the most of them. Pro-government reports said that up to 200 ISIS fighters were killed in the recent clashes inside the city. In turn, local sources indicate that the ISF lost about 100 servicemen and up to 10 units of military equipment.
The main problem of anti-ISIS forces is that they were unable to isolate Mosul before storming the city itself.
