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February 24th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Iraqi security forces on Thursday retook control of Mosul International Airport after heavy clashes with Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh). Federal police and elite interior ministry units, known as Rapid Response, have completely liberated the airport in southern Mosul after several hours of fierce clashes with the ISIL militants said Lt. Gen. Raid Shakir Jawdat, the commander of the federal police forces.
The troops also freed the adjacent compound of a sugar plant and its residential buildings, Jawdat said. He added that the battles in the perimeter and airport left 30 ISIL militants killed and dozens of others wounded. About 20 militants were arrested, said Jawdad, underpinning that there were non-Iraqi Arabs and foreigners among the killed and captured.
The airport facilities and runways were badly damaged, as the ISIL militants exploded all building before they withdrew, said Jawdad, without mentioning damages caused by Iraqi artillery, mortars, as well as coalition air strikes.
Meanwhile, the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) special forces seized part of Ghazlani military base near the airport after heavy battles with the extremist militants, a security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. In the morning, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah, from the Joint Operations Command, announced in a statement the start of an assault to retake control of Mosul’s international airport and a military base nearby from ISIL. The attacks on Thursday came as Iraqi security forces advance toward the fringes of the western side of Mosul to drive out IS militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, announced on Sunday the start of an offensive to drive extremist militants out of the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of Tigris River, which bisects the city. Late in January, Abadi declared the liberation of the eastern side of Mosul, or the left bank of Tigris, after more than 100 days of fighting against ISIL militants. However, the western side of Mosul, with its narrow streets and a population of between 750,000 and 800,000, appears to be a bigger challenge to the Iraqi forces.
Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under ISIL control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq’s northern and western regions. As ISIL is loosing its grip on Mosul on Raqqa, Syria, the insurgency is likely to intensify operations in Syria’s resource rich Deir Ez-Zor province. Most of Deir Ez-Zor province in Syria is either under control of ISIL or in “no-mans-land” where the insurgents are mainly threatened by air strikes while there is little resistance on the ground.
CH/L – nsnbc 23.02.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/02/23/iraqi-forces-recapture-mosul-airport-from-isil-battle-for-ghazkani-military-base-in-progress/
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