Iraqi security forces are seen on military vehicles as they advance towards Mosul International Airport Soldiers during an operation carried out to retake western part of Mosul from Daesh in Mosul, Iraq on February 20, 2017. ( Yunus Kele? - Anadolu Agency
Iraq: Iraqi security forces on Wednesday -- backed by air and artillery support -- began advancing on Mosul airport located west of the city of the same name, according to high-ranking Iraqi security sources.
“This morning, joint forces -- comprised of federal police and rapid-response forces affiliated with Iraq’s Interior Ministry -- began progressing towards the Mosul airport," Police Captain Uday Mohamed told Anadolu Agency.
Mohamed noted that Iraqi ground forces were receiving air and artillery support from a U.S.-led coalition drawn up to fight the IS terrorist group.
The Iraqi army’s Joint Operations Command said Wednesday that the “liberation” of the airport represented a “primary strategic objective” on the way towards retaking the city from IS.
Army Brigadier-General Yahia Rasoul, a spokesman for the Joint Operations Command, told Anadolu Agency that the airport, once captured, “will be used as a launch-pad for liberation operations in western Mosul”.
On Sunday, the army began a wide-ranging operation aimed at purging remaining IS terrorists from Mosul’s western districts.
The offensive comes as part of a wider operation launched last October to retake the entire city, which IS overran in mid-2014.
