Iraqi forces keep up fight for strategic areas south of Mosul
Despite its recent losses, the Islamic State was able to temporarily retake some liberated areas such as the village of Imam Gharbi, cutting the key highway between Qayyarah and Shirqat for weeks.
SHIRQAT, Iraq — A village retaken by the Islamic State (IS) in the southern part of Mosul’s Ninevah province in early July has been clawed back after weeks of fighting and a SWAT team being called in from another province.
The village of Imam Gharbi was cleared after "at least 10" coalition airstrikes, officers involved in the battle told Al-Monitor.
On a July 15 visit to the nearby front line, several officers told Al-Monitor that their requests for airstrikes had to travel a circuitous route: first to the regional operations command and then Baghdad, and then on to the coalition forces at the nearby Qayyarah air base.
Lt. Col. Kareem Aboud Alaw, the commander of the Salah Ad-Din SWAT team called in to assist in the operations, noted that IS had exploited a "gap" in security near the river and had managed to take back an area measuring about "3 kilometers by one and a half."
