With Iraqi forces charting new progress daily in the battle for Mosul, the military plan to retake the city from the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) has entered its final phase, the Joint Operations Command said Tuesday (May 30th).
"Iraqi forces have rolled into al-Shefaa and al-Zanjili neighbourhoods [north of the Old City] and retaken more than 20 government buildings there," command spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasul told Diyaruna.
An Iraqi army officer said security forces were proceeding slowly in al-Shefaa in a bid to protect infrastructure, AFP reported.
"The problem is that it is a neighbourhood with four or five hospitals," Brig. Gen. Shakir Kadhim Mohsen said, adding that forces have permission to "take more time to spare the infrastructure and keep the civilians safe".
Meanwhile, the Federal Police have opened safe passages for civilians in al-Toub and Bab al-Bayd to facilitate their exit from combat zones, Rasul said.
