Drone Footage Shows Mosul Operation One Week On
Shiite fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) marked one week into an operation to retake Islamic State-held Mosul by releasing drone footage on Monday, October 24, of the offensive. The video shows civilians who had fled IS flashing peace signs, and columns of tanks rolling through arid terrain, kicking up dust.
Kurdish peshmerga forces surrounded Bashiqa, a strategic town north of Mosul, on Monday, October 24, one week after Iraqi forces launched an offensive to retake Iraq’s second largest city from Islamic State. Bashiqa lies on a key supply route into Mosul, BBC reported, citing a peshmerga commander.
Peshmerga forces attempted to capture Bashiqa last week, but withdrew after fierce clashes with Islamic State militants in the town broke out.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Sunday that Turkish troops involved in the fight against Islamic State in Bashiqa. The Iraqi military’s join operations command later denied these claims. Credit: YouTube/Iraq Popular Mobilization Units Media
