Iraqi commanders said Saturday their forces are “tens of meters” away from defeating the Islamic State group in Mosul, a day after a major counterattack by the militants. The battle for the Old City, with its narrow alleyways and dense population, has been among the most brutal of the offensive. IS seized Mosul in the summer of 2014 when it swept across northern and central Iraq. That summer the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made his first and only public appearance at the Al-Nuri mosque in Mosul’s Old City. The militants destroyed the mosque and its famed minaret as Iraqi forces closed in last month.

Source: Egypt Independent July 08, 2017 19:30 UTC