Iraqi forces storm Old Mosul from 3 axis

The Iraqi security forced stormed, on Saturday, a new neighborhood, south of Mosul, while iraqi forces began entering the ancient Mosul to restore it from the grip of ISIS.
 
This came at the time that the Ministry of Migration and Displacement announced its camps received 12.458 refugees from western Mosul over the past 24 hours.

The ministry's statement said that the numbers of refugees escaping battles between Islamic State militants and security forces in western Mosul have reached 89.245 since operations launched mid February.

Iraqi Ministry of Defense said that the international coalition aircraft carried out  several airstrikes, which destroyed many strategic sites of ISIS in Mosul.

A security source confirmed that the Iraqi joint forces began to break into Bab al-Toub area, which is the first areas in ancient Mosul, from three axis, to accelerate its liberation from the control of ISIS organization with less human and material losses.

A local source in Nineveh province, said, on Saturday, that teader of ISIS terror group Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi has been spotted near the Iraqi-Syrian borders.
He added that ISIS leader appeared at the Iraqi borders with Syria, near Bukmal area, stating that Baghdadi is still moving in the area controlled by the terrorist group. He seemed unable to talk as well as he was moving in an unguarded vehicle in order not to raise suspicions about his whereabouts, the source noted.
 
According to the source, the leader of the terror group gathered a number of his supporters, from the tribes pledging allegiance to ISIS, and addressed them, blasting the Iraqi's dwindling support for the group. Battles that the terror group is waging are fought by Arab and foreign recruits.
 
Intelligence information indicates that Baghdadi is moving in the desert area between Anbar and Nineveh as well as the areas between the Iraqi-Syrian borders, the source stated.

On the other hand, Russia denounced the position of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons ( OPCW) toward using chemical weapons in Mosul.

Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said ISIS's use of chemical weapons against Mosul residents has strangely gone unnoticed in the West.
 
"But even more surprising is the lukewarm attitude of OPCW towards these facts," he stated, adding that it has made no attempts to dispatch experts to the site, nor were there any statements condemning the attack.

On Friday, Iraqi UN envoy Mohamed Ali Alhakim said that there was really no evidence that ISIS has used this chemical weapon.