ISIS cowards fleeing Mosul as Iraqi forces push closer
ISIS extremists on Thursday were fleeing their last Iraqi stronghold in Mosul as US coalition forces made final preparations to retake the city amid reports that the terror group’s elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was cornered.
A top Kurdish official, Hoshiyar Zebari, told Reuters that his military forces received “solid” information that al-Baghdadi and ISIS bombmaker Fawzi Ali Nouimeh were hiding in Mosul while other leaders of the jihadist organization had scattered and left.
French President François Hollande expressed concern early Thursday that the fleeing soldiers would regroup in ISIS’s makeshift capital of Raqqa, Syria. Hollande ordered authorities to seize the militants if they try to cross over into Syria.
US Army Major General Gary Volesky, who’s in charge of the land operation against ISIS in the region, confirmed that he has seen the savage jihadists dashing out of Mosul, referring to them by an acronym, Daesh.
“We are telling Daesh that their leaders are abandoning them. A lot of foreign fighters we expect will stay as they’re not able to exfiltrate as easily as some of the local fighters or local leadership, so we expect there will be a fight,” Volesky reportedly said, according to the International Business Times. “All I can tell you is there are fewer Daesh fighters today than there were yesterday and there will be fewer tomorrow than there are today.”
As rumors run rampant about whether al-Baghdadi is, indeed, in Mosul, Iraqi forces have been fast drawing closer to Iraq’s second largest city.
“The forces are pushing towards the town more quickly than we thought and more quickly than we had programmed in our campaign plan,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced during a stop in Paris, France.
Reports of al-Baghdadi being surrounded by US coalition forces follow unconfirmed reports that the ISIS leader fell seriously ill after being poisoned during a lunchtime feast.
Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters march down a dirt road, about six miles north east of Mosul
ISIS extremists on Thursday were fleeing their last Iraqi stronghold in Mosul as US coalition forces made final preparations to retake the city amid reports that the terror group’s elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was cornered.
A top Kurdish official, Hoshiyar Zebari, told Reuters that his military forces received “solid” information that al-Baghdadi and ISIS bombmaker Fawzi Ali Nouimeh were hiding in Mosul while other leaders of the jihadist organization had scattered and left.
French President François Hollande expressed concern early Thursday that the fleeing soldiers would regroup in ISIS’s makeshift capital of Raqqa, Syria. Hollande ordered authorities to seize the militants if they try to cross over into Syria.
US Army Major General Gary Volesky, who’s in charge of the land operation against ISIS in the region, confirmed that he has seen the savage jihadists dashing out of Mosul, referring to them by an acronym, Daesh.
“We are telling Daesh that their leaders are abandoning them. A lot of foreign fighters we expect will stay as they’re not able to exfiltrate as easily as some of the local fighters or local leadership, so we expect there will be a fight,” Volesky reportedly said, according to the International Business Times. “All I can tell you is there are fewer Daesh fighters today than there were yesterday and there will be fewer tomorrow than there are today.”
As rumors run rampant about whether al-Baghdadi is, indeed, in Mosul, Iraqi forces have been fast drawing closer to Iraq’s second largest city.
“The forces are pushing towards the town more quickly than we thought and more quickly than we had programmed in our campaign plan,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced during a stop in Paris, France.
Reports of al-Baghdadi being surrounded by US coalition forces follow unconfirmed reports that the ISIS leader fell seriously ill after being poisoned during a lunchtime feast.
Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters march down a dirt road, about six miles north east of Mosul
