UPDATE - Iraqi forces prepare to take Turkmen district of Mosul

*UPDATES WITH IRAQI COMMANDER’S REMARKS

By Sarhad Shaker

NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) - Iraqi forces, including elements of the Hashd al-Shaabi fighting group, prepared to storm western Mosul’s Turkmen-majority Al-Mahlabiyya district on Monday.

"Joint Iraqi forces have completed preparations to liberate Al-Mahlabiyya, located 35 kilometers west of Mosul, with a view to expelling Daesh militants from the area," the Hashd al-Shaabi’s Turkmen leader, Musa Hasan Julaq, told Anadolu Agency.

Established three years ago with the express purpose of fighting Daesh, the Hashd al-Shaabi is an umbrella of pro-government fighting groups.

Last December, Iraq passed legislation calling for the group’s formal incorporation into the Iraqi armed forces.

"Other forces that will take part in the campaign include the Iraqi army’s 72nd Brigade, the Ferqatu al-Abbas [fighting group] and the Jihad Brigades, along with the Iraqi air force," Julaq said.

"We have intelligence that Daesh has deployed a battalion of Chechen and Russian fighters in [Al-Mahlabiyya’s] Al-Zalimeen and Al-Askari neighborhoods with a view to repulsing the impending attack," he added, going on to assert that "dozens" of Daesh terrorists had been killed in preemptive airstrikes by Iraqi warplanes.

At least 15,000 people, mostly Turkmen, reside in the town of Al-Mahlabiyya, situated between the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar.

Al-Mahlabiyya’s capture would serve to cut Daesh fighters who remain in western Mosul from those deployed in Tal Afar, located some 60 kilometers west of Mosul.

-Crossing the Tigris

In a related development, Major-General Najim al-Jubouri, head of the Mosul operation’s northern command, said Iraqi forces had set up floating bridges over the Tigris River in advance of the planned push on western Mosul.

"We plan to liberate western Mosul by using the river as a natural defense against Daesh," he told Anadolu Agency on Monday.

"Iraqi Special Forces backed by the U.S. will take part in the operation," al-Jubouri added.

In 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.

Last week, the Iraqi army announced the "total liberation" of eastern Mosul -- after three months of fighting -- from the grip of the terrorist group.