The Battle For The Iraqi City of Mosul -- News Updates February 18, 2017

Reuters: U.S. coalition says Islamic State command center destroyed in Mosul; IS says civilians killed

The U.S.-led military coalition on Saturday said its forces destroyed a building in the main medical complex of western Mosul, suspected to house an Islamic State command center.

The militant group disputed the assertion, saying in an online statement that Friday's strike killed 18 people, mostly women and children, and wounded 47.

Independent media have no access to western Mosul or other areas under Islamic State control in Iraq and Syria.

The militants are essentially under siege in western Mosul, along with an estimated 650,000 civilians, after U.S.-backed forces surrounding the city dislodged them from the east in the first phase of an offensive that concluded last month.

The coalition accused Islamic State of using the five-story building as a military command and control facility.

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The Battle For The Iraqi City of Mosul -- News Updates February 18, 2017

Coalition destroys ISIS headquarters in west Mosul hospital -- RUDAW
US airstrike may have killed 18 women, kids in Mosul -- Middle East Monitor
Obliterated! ISIS headquarters in Mosul is blown away by RAF Typhoon strike mission -- Daily Mail
Islamic State Readies for Close Combat in Alleyways of West Mosul -- US News and World Report
Battle in West Mosul Could See Siege, Mass Displacement: U.N. -- US News and World Report
Iraqi Forces Ready For Effort To Retake Western Mosul -- NPR
Some 5,000 Iraqis Finish Coalition Training to Join Mosul Operation - CENTCOM -- Sputnik
Mosul offensive: US-led coalition trains 5000 more Iraqi security personnel to fight Isis -- International Business Times
Coalition spokesman: ISIS threats to west Mosul civilians to end in 'coming weeks’ -- RUDAW
There is a humanitarian crisis in west Mosul, says UN -- RUDAW
Iraqi forces’ actions in Mosul ‘may amount to war crimes,’ Human Rights Watch tells RT -- RT
Thousands return to Iraq's Mosul as fighting continues -- Al Jazeera
In the half of Mosul freed from Islamic State, life returns to not-quite normal -- L.A. Times
Life Inches Back To Normal In East Mosul, But Worries Remain -- NPR