Fighters of the Islamic State [Daesh] terror group (outlawed in Russia) are now trapped in Mosul after Iraqi forces recaptured the city’s airport, US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State Brett McGurk said on Thursday.
"Congratulations to Iraqi forces for completing complex maneuver ops to secure Mosul airport from ISIS [Islamic State] terrorists. ISIS is now trapped," McGurk said in a Twitter post.
Earlier on Thursday, Iraqi troops and federal police, backed by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State, entered the Mosul airport. The airport had been occupied by Daesh fighters.
Iraq’s state media later reported that the country’s special forces were fully in control of the airport.
The advance was part of the operation to retake western Mosul from the Daesh. Iraqi and US-led coalition forces liberated the eastern part of the city in January.