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Mohandes made the remarks during an interview with the al-Alam television network on Saturday.

He stressed that both the ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorist groups are the product of Saudi Arabia, and that ISIS's psychological and media campaign is partially funded from Riyadh.

Mohandes noted that the operations to free Mosul from the Takfiri terrorists will take some time as the militants are receiving intelligence from several external sources, mainly the US.

He went on to praise Iran’s support for Iraq’s battle against terrorism, stressing that if Baghdad had not called for Tehran’s assistance, the Iraqi army would never have reached Mosul.

He also noted that the Hashd al-Shaabi forces, also known as the Popular Mobilization Units, will move on towards Tal Afar after Mosul is cleared of ISIS militants.

He stressed that the units’ goal is not just to push back ISIS militants, but to destroy them.

ISIS leaders rob own treasury, flee Mosul

Meanwhile, as Iraqi forces push on with operations to liberate Mosul, five high-ranking ISIS commanders have looted the terrorist group’s treasury and fled towards Syria.

The robbers, including ISIS’s treasury official Abu al-Bara al-Qahtani and several other terrorists, have taken millions of dollars.

The terrorists have launched a manhunt to reclaim the stolen money and arrest and execute the escapees.

Iraqi troops fighting house to house in east Mosul

Heavy fighting is underway in eastern Mosul as ISIS tries to hinder Iraqi forces advance in the city. The militants are using car bombs, mortar fire, and snipers to stop the government troops.

A separate group of troops are advancing on the city’s northern side and have reached just within four kilometers of Mosul’s airport.

Iraqi forces have also attacked ISIS-held positions in the town of Hamam al-Alil which is located along the Tigris River some 15 kilometers south of Mosul.

Iraqi army troops, backed by Hashd al-Shaabi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, are closing in on Mosul, ISIS’s last stronghold in Iraq, from almost all directions in a full-scale operation launched on October 17.

Iraqi troops managed to enter Mosul’s limits earlier in the week for the first time since June 2014, when the city fell to ISIS amid a large-scale terror campaign in northern and western Iraq. So far, a large number of the villages and districts around the city have been purged of the terrorists. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has vowed that the country’s second largest city will be fully recaptured by year-end.