iStock/Thinkstock(MOSUL, Iraq) – The Iraqi government has captured Mosul’s al-Hurriya (Freedom) Bridge over the Tigris River according to BBC News, citing Iraqi military and Kurdish sources.
The al-Hurriya is the second of five bridges that the Iraqi government set out to recapture in its offensive to retake Mosul, once Iraq’s second-largest city. Bridges allow Islamic State to resupply or reinforce positions in the east according to BBC News. All five were damaged in coalition airstrikes.
It comes as Iraqi forces push to recapture the western part of the city. Forces recaptured the Eastern part in January amidst heavy fighting.
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed the creation of a “caliphate” at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, located in the western part of Mosul, in July 2014.
BBC News adds that The International Organization for Migration has counted 45,000 people who have fled as fighting intensifies.
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