MOSUL // Iraq special forces captured a new neighbourhood from ISIL in eastern Mosul on Wednesday, according to a senior commander – the latest gain in a massive military operation now its seventh week.
It came as the commander of the US-led coalition fighting the extremists said the battle for Mosul could take two more months.
“I think they are going to be working on Mosul for a number of weeks more, maybe a couple of months more probably,” said US Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend.
“I think we are not done when Mosul is over”, he added. “We are still not done in Iraq. We are still about a third of the Euphrates River valley up to the Syrian border that has to be cleared. There is still a tough fight ahead even after Mosul.”
Iraqi Lieutenant General Abdul-Amir Yarellah, the commander of a joint operations centre that oversees the Mosul campaign, said on Wednesday that troops had “fully liberated” the city’s Al Elam neighbourhood and raised the Iraqi flag over its buildings. He added that ISIL militants had “suffered losses” without elaborating.
The announcement came hours after an overnight attack carried out by ISIL militants against Iraqi security forces in the southeastern part of Mosul, a day after troops advanced deeper into that part of the city.
The attack “inflicted heavy losses,” said Iraqi army Sergent Major Hakim Saranbii, but gave no specific casualty figures or further details.
On Tuesday, army troops had rolled into the southeastern neighbourhood of Al Salam, taking a hospital before meeting stiff resistance from ISIL militants. Convoys of dozens of armoured Iraqi special forces and army Humvees could be seen moving into the southeastern neighbourhood on Wednesday morning.
* Associated Press, Reuters
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The specs
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
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Lowest Test scores
26 - New Zealand v England at Auckland, March 1955
30 - South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth, Feb 1896
30 - South Africa v England at Birmingham, June 1924
35 - South Africa v England at Cape Town, April 1899
36 - South Africa v Australia at Melbourne, Feb. 1932
36 - Australia v England at Birmingham, May 1902
36 - India v Australia at Adelaide, Dec. 2020
38 - Ireland v England at Lord's, July 2019
42 - New Zealand v Australia in Wellington, March 1946
42 - Australia v England in Sydney, Feb. 1888
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
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Specs
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The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
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Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
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Transmission: 10-speed auto
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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