Iraq reverses earlier claim of E. Mosul’s ‘liberation’

By Ali Sheikho

BAGHDAD (AA) - Iraq’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday retracted a statement issued one day earlier in which it claimed eastern Mosul had been "totally liberated" from the Daesh terrorist group.

Army Brigadier-General Yehiya Rasoul, a spokesman for the Iraqi army’s Joint Operations Command, told reporters Tuesday that efforts were still underway to clear Daesh militants from eastern Mosul’s Rashidiya and Baisan districts.

"The only authority responsible for announcing the liberation of areas in [eastern Mosul] is the Joint Operations Command," Rasoul clarified.

The Defense Ministry had announced Monday that the Iraqi army had "fully retaken" eastern Mosul.

Last October, the Iraqi army -- backed by a U.S.-led air coalition and local allies on the ground -- began a wide-ranging campaign to retake Mosul, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.