After taking the eastern portion of the city, Iraqi forces paused for three weeks to form a strategy to reclaim the western half without enduring such punishing attrition. The Islamic State first conquered the city in 2014, but it has consistently lost ground in recent months to Iraqi forces backed by coalition air support. Iraqi forces have been attacking with a three-pronged approach. Moving south to north, Iraq’s federal police took Abu Saif, a town that sits on high ground overseeing the Mosul airport, before moving on to the airfield itself. Abdulhadi Ahmed of Iraq’s counterterrorism unit said that Islamic State snipers had taken up positions in the air traffic control towers.

Source: New York Times February 23, 2017 17:27 UTC