- Title: Iraqi forces push deeper into eastern Mosul
- Date: 6th November 2016
- Summary: TANK IN THE VILLAGE PEOPLE CLAPPING AND CELEBRATING IN THE STREET
- Embargoed: 21st November 2016 14:14
- Keywords: Iraq Mosul forces offensive eastern coalition Islamic State fighting gunfire
- Location: INTISAR NEIGHBORHOOD, MOSUL, IRAQ
- City: INTISAR NEIGHBORHOOD, MOSUL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA00357B2UYV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL
Iraqi special forces recaptured more districts of eastern Mosul on Sunday (November 6), expanding the army's foothold in the Islamic State bastion several days after its leader told his followers there could be no retreat.
The troops advanced further into the Intisar neighborhood, an area contested by the army and jihadists.
The advancing forces were greeted with happiness and celebration by the residents of the area.
The territory taken by the government still amounts to just a fraction of the sprawling city, which is divided into dozens of residential and industrial districts and was home to two million people before it was captured by Islamic State in 2014.
The battle to drive the fighters out is the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003, and is likely to decide the fate of the self-proclaimed Islamic State caliphate that has defied the world for two years.
The advances took the troops 1.5 km. inside the city. Districts captured so far, however, are less built-up than other areas, particularly those on the west bank of the Tigris, where the population is more exclusively Sunni Muslim Arab and the hardline Sunni Islamists could be more deeply embedded. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
