BAGHDAD, IRAQ (5:30 A.M.) – The Iraqi Army’s 9th Division, backed by the Popular Mobilization Units (Hashd Al-Sha’abi) and Nineveh Plains Protection Unit (Assyrian paramilitary), liberated the key city of Bashiqa in the southern Mosul countryside last night.

Bashiqa’s liberation by the Iraqi Armed Forces and their allies on Sunday night marks the first phase of the Mosul offensive.

The city of Bashiqa itself was historically Assyrian; however, it was quickly depopulated after the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham’s (ISIS) reign of terror began in 2014.

With Bashiqa under their control, the Iraqi Armed Forces will now turn their attention to the remaining villages along Mosul’s southern countryside.