U.S.-Led Coalition Says Eastern Mosul Has Been Liberated From ISIS

Eastern Mosul has been liberated by Iraqi security forces, the U.S.-led military coalition said Tuesday.

“After more than 100 days of hard urban combat, the government of Iraq and Iraqi security forces announced the liberation of Eastern Mosul, Jan 24,” read a coalition statement.

The coalition said “clearance operations are ongoing” but that the Iraqi forces control all areas inside Mosul east of the Tigris river.

“This is a monumental achievement for not only the Iraqi security forces and sovereign government of Iraq, but all Iraqi people,” said Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, the multi-national coalition tasked with militarily defeating ISIS.

Mosul is the second largest city in Iraq, and is ISIS’s last stronghold in the country. ISIS had seized the city in 2014 in a lightning advance from Syria that took Iraqi forces off guard. It held more than a million residents.

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SOURCE: The Hill, Kristina Wong