Watch a US-led strike knock out an ISIS tank near the terrorist group's shrinking Iraqi stronghold

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February 21, 2017 2:12 AM

US-led coalition aircraft continued targeting ISIS weaponry and infrastructure around Mosul ahead of Iraqi forces' advance on the western side of the city.

An Iraqi soldier with his weapon near corpses of ISIS militants killed in clashes in Mosul, February 6, 2017.

Iraqi government forces recently launched the next phase of their offensive against ISIS in Mosul, the terrorist group's last urban stronghold in the country.

US-led coalition forces have supported Iraqi troops since the campaign against ISIS in Mosul began in mid-October, and that backing as continued in the weeks since the eastern side of the city was retaken in late January.

In a February 11 strike, shown in footage below provided by the US Defense Department, coalition aircraft knocked out an ISIS tank near the city.

The strike against the tank near Mosul was one of 28 engagements conducted during six airstrikes in the country that day, Operation Inherent Resolve officials said in a release.

Five airstrikes near Mosul targeted two ISIS tactical units and destroyed three motor systems, two supply caches, two ISIS-held buildings, and engineering equipment. The strikes also destroyed 13 watercraft like the ones the group has used to maneuver along the Tigris River, which divides Mosul into western and eastern portions.

Farther north, near Irbil, a coalition strike destroyed an ISIS-held building and a weapons cache.

Iraqi forces recaptured eastern Mosul in late January, after three months of fighting that took a heavy toll on elite Iraqi units charged with leading the offensive as well as on Iraqi civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom remain in both sides of the city.

While eastern Mosul is back in Iraqi government hands, many people in that part of the city say ISIS fighters remain and pose a deadly threat. Suicide bombers have targeted Iraqi troops and government-allied tribal forces, as well as restaurants and civilians on the eastern side of Mosul.

Despite that latent danger, Iraqi forces early on Sunday kicked off the next phase of the campaign against ISIS in Mosul, as ground units advanced on villages southwest of the city, backed by US-led coalition air support and artillery fired by .

"They'll try to cause as many losses as possible, because they know they're going to die anyway," said Alaa, an Iraqi trooper, referring to ISIS fighters.

"This battle of Mosul is my first, and with the help of God we will rid the country of these Daesh rats," he added, according to AFP, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

US special-operations forces are also embedded with some Iraqi units, and they appear to be involved in operations against western Mosul.

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