(VOVworld) – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Monday that operations to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group have begun. He said in an address broadcast on TV that the time of victory has come and operations to liberate Mosul have started. The force leading liberation operations was the Iraqi army with the national police.

An Iraqi soldier in a recent operation (Photo: VNA)

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Syrian opposition fighters backed by Turkey have taken control of the IS-held town of Dabig in northern Syria and town of Sawran.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu reported on Saturday that 9 gunmen of Syrian opposition force were killed and 28 other wounded during the operation.