"Our fighters cut the road linking the villages of Ain Talawi and Telal Silo northwest of the Tal Afar district and have already captured the first village," Hashd al-Shaabi First Lieutenant Hameed Khafaji told Anadolu Agency.
According to Khafaji, some Hashd al-Shaabi forces have joined up with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters south of Sinjar and cut the road linking Mosul with Tal Afar, which Daesh had used as a supply route. During the operation to capture Ain Talawi, he added, Hashd al-Shaabi forces had successfully extended their control over some 40 square kilometers of territory.
Established three years ago with the express purpose of fighting Daesh, the Hashd al-Shaabi is an umbrella of pro-government fighting groups. Last December, Iraq passed legislation calling for the group’s formal incorporation into the Iraqi armed forces. In October, the Iraqi army -- backed by a U.S.-led air coalition and local allies on the ground -- began a wide-ranging campaign to retake the northern city of Mosul, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.
Last week, the Iraqi army announced the "total liberation" of eastern Mosul -- after three months of fighting -- from the grip of the terrorist group.