Iraqi Forces Deployed for Mosul Liberation

Local Editor

Hundreds of Iraqi forces arrived at a base southeast of the northern city of Mosul in preparation for a major operation aimed at retaking the city from "ISIS" terrorists.

Iraqi officers announced on Friday the deployment at the town of Makhmour, some 70 kilometers from Mosul. The Iraqi army's 15 Division contributed the troops to the mission.

Relatively, they said the military seeks reinforcing the number to 4,500. In the context, military spokesman Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool said: "Once we complete all the preparations, we will officially announce the date for the start of Mosul operations."

Mosul was the first city to be captured by "ISIS" in Iraq and has proven the Takfiri group's biggest conquest since June 2014, when it started ravaging the country.

The liberation operation would be part of ongoing efforts to flush the terrorists out of the entire Nineveh Province, of which Mosul is the capital.

However, the sheer size of the Mosul region, where the government believes around a million people still live, and other possible complications mean the Iraqi forces would have a harder task to accomplish.

The Iraqi military reportedly set up a radio station at the base in Makhmour to keep residents informed of military developments in the area.

"This station is a way of communicating with the people of Nineveh and broadcasting the army's voice," said Sergeant Salem Mahmud, who is in charge of operating it.

"It is intended to reassure the people, to tell them that they will be liberated from "ISIS"," he added.

For his part, Iraqi PM Haidar al-Abadi also told a security conference in Berlin that his government was determined to bring an end to the existence of group's terrorists in the country this year.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team