MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Iraqi troops succeeded in entering al-Intisar district located on Mosul's right bank, making it one of the first districts to be entered by Iraqi troops in the west part of Mosul since the launch of the Mosul offensive last month, Iraq’s spokesman for the Joint Military Command Yahya Rasool told Sputnik on Thursday.
"Right now, our ninth armored division troops started storming into the al-Intisar district coming from the South-eastern axis, it is one of the first districts that our troops enter on the right bank of Mosul. Now we will wait for further results," Rasool said.
On October 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the start of the operation to retake Mosul from the IS, a jihadist group outlawed in Russia and a number of other states. More than 30,000 Iraqi and 4,000 Kurdish fighters are taking part in the offensive, backed by about 5,000 US troops and supported by coalition airstrikes.