A Sunni fighter from the Popular Mobilization Forces stands guard in an area east of Mosul, as displaced Iraqi families flea areas of unrest, on October 22, 2016.

The leader of the Popular Mobilization Units (PUM), also known as al-Hashd al-Shaabi, said although he had predicted that the battle against ISIS would drag, he is optimistic about liberating Mosul, al-Hadth reported on Monday.

The secretary general of the Badr Organisation, and the leader of the OMU, Hadi al-Amiri, explained that although ISIS has resisted strongly, the conflict should be resolved quickly.

Amiri said that army troops, federal police and counter-terrorism units are fighting fierce battles to recapture the city from the militant group.

Advanced

Forces from Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service have advanced deep into eastern Mosul, and nearly half of that side of the city has been recaptured.

But forces on the southern front have stalled south of Mosul, and those north of the city have also not entered it so far.

West of Mosul, Iraqi paramilitaries aim to retake Tal Afar, located between the city and Syria, but have yet to launch an assault on the town itself.

ISIS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained much of the territory they lost that year.

100,000 displaced

More than 100,000 people have been displaced as a result of the massive operation to recapture Iraq’s second city Mosul, the International Organization for Migration said on Sunday.

Since the battle began, 103,872 people have been displaced, the vast majority from Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, the IOM said on its displacement tracking webpage.

Iraqi Displacement and Migration Minister Jassem Mohammed al-Jaff told AFP that 118,000 people had been displaced since the operation started, a figure that includes those who fled the ISIS-held Hawijah area in another province.

Popular Mobilization Forces commander Hadi al-Amiri speaks to journalists in Nbaie (20 kilometers) of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 12, 2015.

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