Mosul
The high winds in the desert which separates the Syrian Kurdish-Arab militia alliance from the jihadists’ stronghold in the Euphrates Valley had slowed their advance on Thursday as visibility levels plummeted. Iraqi forces too had regrouped after meeting stronger than expected resistance from IS fighters on the east bank of the Tigris River which runs through Mosul after thrusting into the built-up area last week. The jihadists had been expected to pull back to the west bank, a stronghold of Sunni Arab insurgency even before IS swept through the minority community’s heartland north and west of Baghdad in mid2014. The battle to retake Mosul is now in its fourth week, and while troops have entered the built-up area, there are weeks, if not months, of fighting still to go.
IS slaughters 60 people
Islamic State group fighters reportedly shot dead more than 60 people this week and hung some of their bodies from poles after alleging they had collaborated with Iraqi troops, the United Nations said on Friday. The UN human rights office has raised alarm over hundreds of grotesque atrocities allegedly committed by IS as Iraqi forces have pushed their nearly month-long offensive to retake Mosul, the last jihadist bastion in Iraq.
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