ISIS' three-year-long occupation of Mosul, Iraq may have come to an end this summer, as Iraqi forces reportedly reclaimed the city's mosque from the imposed caliphate.
The seizure of the almost 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque - from where Islamic State proclaimed the caliphate almost three years ago to the day - is a huge symbolic victory.
Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped among the shattered buildings and infrastructure in Islamic State's redoubt in the Old City by the western bank of the Tigris river, the aid organization said.
A commander from the division said that some 10,000 civilians remained trapped with little food, water or medicine, in a shrinking rectangular area under the control of a few hundred terrorists. Farah was told that it was her "duty to the city", Express reported.
In Raqqa, Islamic State's headquarters in northern Syria from where it plotted attacks around the world, US -backed militia were fighting inside the historic Old City after coalition air strikes breached its walls in two places. In addition to military casualties, thousands of civilians are estimated to have been killed.
For most of the soldiers in Mosul, the final days of the grueling battle caps more than three years of fighting the militants.
"The presence of civilians has affected the troops' advance a lot".
Suspected Boko Haram Islamist militants killed nine people and abducted dozens more in southern Niger on Sunday night.
"All those forces are now turned and focused all on an axis on ISIS from what we call 'Old Mosul, '" says Croft, deputy commander for air operations in Operation Inherent Resolve, using an alternative name for the Islamic State group.
Authorities are planning a week of nationwide celebrations, according to a government statement, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is expected to visit Mosul to formally declare victory. Although the northern city of Mosul was Daesh's main stronghold in Iraq, it is not its only base. The city, located some 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, fell to Daesh in June 2014.
Iraqi Special Forces soldiers gather before advancing against Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, Sunday, July 2, 2017.
For its part, the joint Command operations (JOC), which coordinates the fight against the IS in Iraq, has assured Monday that the federal police was still pounding and was not coming to the end of all of his goals.
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