Iraqi government forces attempted to evacuate civilians from Mosul's Islamic State-held Old City on Tuesday so that troops could clear the area, but militant snipers hampered the effort, Iraqi officers said. "Our forces control around 60 percent of the west now," Defence Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told a news conference in eastern Mosul. We know it means a lot to Daesh," he said, using an Arab acronym for Islamic State. Baghdadi and other leaders have fled the city for the hinterlands, where Islamic State remnants may regroup and wage a new phase of insurgency. At the same time, IS forces in the Syrian city of Raqqa are under attack in a parallel conflict.

Source: Egypt Independent March 21, 2017 14:15 UTC