Baghdad eyes west Mosul
- Assad says Astana talks will focus on Syria ceasefire
- 'Dozens' of IS fighters killed in US strikes in Libya
Iraqi forces battled the last holdout jihadists in east Mosul yesterday after commanders declared victory there and set their sights on the city's west, where more tough fighting awaits.
The announcement that the left bank of the Tigris River that divides Mosul had been retaken was a key milestone in an offensive that began three months ago but could yet last several more.
Staff General Talib al-Sheghati, who heads the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) spearheading the fighting in Mosul, declared the left bank "liberated" at a big press conference on Wednesday.
Iraqi forces were still fighting there yesterday, flushing out fighters from the Islamic State group in two key northern locations by the river: a large hotel and a presidential compound.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said around the new year that ridding the country of IS, which seized around a third of Iraq in 2014, could take three more months.
He had initially promised to do so by the end of 2016 and many observers have argued his new timetable was still optimistic.
Before Iraq launched its massive offensive against IS-held Mosul on October 17, the west bank had always been thought to be where federal forces would meet the toughest resistance.
But elite troops struggled in the east too and only broke the back of the jihadists there in recent days, after stepped up coordination and increased aerial and advisory support from the US-led coalition.
Once they have fully secured the east coast, Iraqi forces will need to tackle the west bank of the river, which is a little smaller but more densely populated.
According to an estimate by the United Nations, around 750,000 people still live on Mosul's west bank, which includes the old city and key landmarks such as the mosque where IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his "caliphate" in June 2014.
In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad has said peace talks in the Kazakh capital next week will focus on enforcing a cessation of hostilities to allow aid access across the country.
"I believe that they will focus, in the beginning, and will prioritise, as we see it, reaching a ceasefire," Assad told Japanese television channel TBS, according to excerpts released by his office.
The talks, sponsored by rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran, are set to begin in Astana on Monday.
Rebel groups announced on Monday that they would attend the Astana talks to discuss the fragile truce and improved humanitarian access.
In Libya, several dozen Islamic State fighters were killed when US B-2 stealth bombers and drones struck two of the jihadists' camps southwest of their former bastion of Sirte, a US defense official said yesterday.
The strike comes one month after the United States officially wrapped up military operations in and around Sirte, where it had conducted nearly 500 strikes to help the GNA expel jihadists from the coastal city.
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