Key dates in battle for Mosul

Iraqi government forces launched a major offensive to recapture the city of Mosul from the Daesh group on Oct. 17, 2016. On Wednesday, the head of the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), Staff Gen. Talib Al-Sheghati, said they now controlled the entire eastern side of the city, though districts to the west of the Tigris River are still firmly in Daesh hands. Here are key dates:

• Oct. 17: Iraqi forces launch a drive to force Daesh out of Mosul, where the militant group declared a caliphate in June 2014. Daesh overran Mosul and swathes of other territory north and west of Baghdad in 2014, sweeping aside security forces ill-prepared to face the assault. Around 30,000 troops from army, police and counter-terrorism units are thrown into the long-awaited counter-attack with air and ground support from the US-led coalition. By the end of October, the army has recaptured the village of Qaraqosh, 15 km from Mosul. Dozens of other nearby towns are retaken within two weeks.
• Nov. 1: The army says it has entered Mosul itself for the first time since June 2014.
• Nov. 3: Daesh chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi breaks a year-long silence to urge his fighters to defend Mosul to the death, and the advance of Iraqi forces begins to slow down.
• Nov. 8: Kurdish peshmerga fighters say they have reached Bashiqa, a dozen km north of Mosul.
• Nov. 13: Iraq says it has recaptured Nimrud, an ancient city southeast of Mosul.
• Nov. 23: Shiite-dominated paramilitary units known as Hashed Al-Shaabi say they have cut Daesh supply lines between Mosul and Raqqa, the self-declared capital 400 km to the west in Syria.
• Dec. 27: Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi says Iraqi forces need another three months to eliminate Daesh fighters putting up stiff resistance with car bombs, mortar attacks and sniper fire.
• Dec. 29: Government troops end a two-week pause by launching the second phase of their offensive with a change of military tactics.
• Jan. 4: A US-led coalition spokesman indicates the number of Western advisers in the battle has doubled to around 450.
• Jan. 8: Iraqi units reach the Tigris River that divides Mosul and take up positions near one of the city’s five bridges, which have been knocked out one by one in air strikes.
• Jan. 14: CTS units take control of the sprawling campus of Mosul University.
The UN puts the number of displaced persons at over 125,000 since the offensive began, of which some 14,000 have been able to move back into their homes. The number of estimated military casualties has yet to be released.
• Jan. 18: Gen. Al-Sheghati announces “the liberation... of the left bank” of the Tigris River, two days after Iraqi forces reach the iconic Nabi Yunus shrine, also known as “Jonah’s tomb” and which Daesh destroyed in 2014.
The western side of Mosul, home to the old city and traditional militants’ bastions, is expected to offer much stiffer resistance.

Source : Arab News