A military operation to liberate the northern front of western Mosul has kicked off on Thursday (May 4th), the Ninawa Operations Command said.
"Joint Iraqi forces, backed by coalition warplanes and the Iraqi army’s artillery, attacked the areas of Mashayrfa, al-Kanisa and al-Haramat using ground and armoured forces," Ninawa Operations commander Lt. Gen. Abdul Ameer Rashid Yarallah told Diyaruna.
"The battles, which have been ongoing since dawn on Thursday, have already achieved results on the ground," he said.
"We plan to further penetrate into those areas to besiege the 'Islamic State of Iraq and Syria' (ISIS) and force it to withdraw to the edge of Tigris River," he said.
Dozens of ISIS elements have been killed or wounded in the battles, Yarallah said, noting that the Iraqi forces’ morale is "very high".
