Daesh fighting ability reduced in Mosul: Iraq commander

BAGHDAD (AA) - Daesh’s fighting ability in western Mosul has been drastically reduced as a result of repeated airstrikes, Iraqi Air Force Commander Hamid Maliki said Monday.

“Daesh’s defenses are buckling under the pressure,” Maliki told Anadolu Agency, going on to predict that western Mosul would likely be recovered from the terrorist group "within the next six weeks".

The commander also pointed out that Iraqi warplanes had carried out as many as 3,250 reconnaissance flights in and around Daesh-held western Mosul.

He went on to stress that the Iraqi military had “more than enough” aircraft to maintain the current pace of airstrikes in its ongoing campaign to wrest the entire city from Daesh.

Some observers have noted that, despite the purchase by Iraq of numerous Russian-made military helicopters in the period following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, most of the aircraft were only delivered to the Iraqi military following the emergence of Daesh in 2014.

In mid-February, Iraqi forces -- backed by a U.S.-led air coalition -- began fresh operations aimed at purging Daesh terrorists from western Mosul.

The offensive comes as part of a wider campaign launched last October to retake the entire city, which Daesh overran -- along with much of northern and western Iraq -- in mid-2014.

*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara