MOSUL, Iraq (July 7, 2017) – After 10 months of fighting with the Islamic State, Iraqi Armed forces managed to fully capture Mosul City. According to “MosulEye” the last ISIS positions in the Old City of Mosul were cleared by Iraqi Forces today. We can expect a official announcement by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi soon.
The assault on Mosul by the Iraqi government started on 17 October last year and lasted for for 263 days. Iraqi fighters pushing towards the al-Maydan and al-Shareen districts of Mosul broke the defense of the Islamic State fighters and reached within 100 meters of the riverbank yesterday. But the Iraqi fighters encountered stiff resistance from a few hundred ISIS fighters hiding among thousands of civilians. Especially suicide bombers had an easy job against the attackers in the Old City’s maze of alleyways and houses.
Mosul was the largest city ruled by the Islamic State. In this city the Islamic State declared the founding of its caliphate over Iraq and Syria. After ISIS lost Mosul, Islamic State’s territory in Iraq will be limited to areas west of Mosul, west of Kirkuk and areas along the Syrian border (Go to our Interactive Map to see the current Frontlines of the Iraqi War and the Syrian Civil War).
Months of urban warfare have displaced almost a million civilians. That’s about half of Mosul’s pre-war population. Thousand of civilians were killed by the heavy fights. The offensive also damaged and destroyed thousands of structures and historical sites in Mosul, including the famous “Great Mosque of al-Nuri”, where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi held his only public speech.
