The Iraqi Army and its allies prepared to storm the Islamic State group stronghold of Mosul over the weekend or early next week, even as the terrorist outfit — also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) — executed 58 people in the city on charges of trying to orchestrate a revolution.
The Iraqi Army has already enacted a huge troop build-up around the Iraqi city in preparation for a war for its liberation. Local reports say as many as 30,000 soldiers have gathered around the city and are awaiting executive orders. They are expected to receive some support from the US special forces and warplanes belonging to the coalition forces.
If Mosul falls, it will mark the end of Isis's dominance in the country, because this is the last stronghold of the terror group in the country, and it has tried to hold on to it with every ounce of its strength.
Reports emerged recently that a deputy of Isis chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had tried to orchestrate a revolution in Mosul — which also happens to be Iraq's second-largest city — but failed in the process, leading to a veritable bloodbath. A total of 58 people were killed by Isis members and then buried in mass graves. However, it was unclear if the leader of the revolution was among them.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Air Force has also recently dropped leaflets — with the words "Time to celebrate a clean Iraq without Daesh or any dark belief" — in Mosul, ostensibly to warn people about the forthcoming fight to liberate the city from Isis. Experts, however, see this as a move to further demoralise the Islamic State group. The Air Force was using the Arabic acronym for the terrorist group.
Dabiq in Syria liberated
Rebels from the Free Syrian Army have reportedly managed to recapture the Syrian town of Dabiq from Isis in less than a day, according to a statement released by the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.
The UK-based monitoring group said: "It is worth mentioning that Isis tried strongly to keep the town by calling for reinforcements from the al-Ishra army, before rebels advance between Ikhten and Marea and besiege Isis and cut its supply roads between the area and the northern eastern countryside of Aleppo."
