Mosul

(ANTIMEDIA) Iraqi forces, backed by American airpower, are set to launch a long-awaited offensive to retake West Mosul. There are reportedly 3,000 ISIS fighters left defending their last major stronghold in Iraq, and an estimated 650,000 civilians are trapped in the western-held area of the city. The U.N. has warned that these civilians are at “extreme risk,” with food, fuel, water, and electricity supplies extremely scarce.

(MEE) The US-led coalition is killing more civilians than Russia in its campaign in Syria for the first time since Moscw entered the country’s civil war in 2015, according to data from a war monitor.

President Donald Trump talks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP/Evan Vucci)
(REPORT) — Islamic State fighters in Mosul are celebrating US President Donald Trump’s ban on Muslims entering the US, according to media reports.

Around 750,000 civilians are out of the reach of aid agencies.

The hypocrisy is truly astounding.

With Palmyra still under ISIS control, and with ISIS threatening to capture Deir Ezzor, the Russian military has once against blamed the military crisis in eastern Syria on the US.
The Russian military first did so in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Palmyra in December when it complained – rightly – that the reason ISIS was able to send troops to Palmyra from Mosul and Raqqa was because ISIS is under no real pressure there.

UN warns civilian casualties are much larger than reported.

The Iraqi army’s offensive to liberate Mosul from ISIS has achieved its first important success, with confirmation that after 12 weeks of gruelling fighting Iraqi troops have finally reached the Tigris river.
The Iraqis also claim that their troops are present in 35 of the 47 residences of Mosul which lie east of the Tigris river.

US soldiers have moved into Mosul.

Another 21,795 were wounded.