Iraqi Popular Forces Repel Daesh Attack on Western Mosul
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi, on Tuesday repulsed a massive attack by the Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) terrorist group on western Mosul, killing dozens of the foreign-backed militants.
The Hashd al-Shaabi forces repelled the Daesh offensive in the village of Ain Hassan in the west of Mosul, the Arabic-language al-Ahed news website reported.
In the counterattack by the Iraqi popular forces, 36 Daesh terrorists were killed, dozens more injured, and a number of their vehicles were destroyed.
Iraq launched a military assault aimed at taking western Mosul from Daesh on February 19.
"We announce the start of a new phase in the operation. We are coming to Nineveh to liberate the western side of Mosul," Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on television at the time.
Iraq has been facing the growing threat of terrorism, mainly posed by Daesh.
Daesh militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing large swaths of northern Syria.
However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the volunteer forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for the fight against the militants, blunted the edge of Daesh offensive and later made the terror group withdraw from much of the territories it had occupied.