He said most civilians left in the Old City are believed to be IS family members. The push into western Mosul began the following month and in June, Iraqi forces started the weeks-long push through the Old City, Mosul’s most congested district. But airstrikes and sniper fire continued amid the revelry as the extremists stubbornly held on to a small area in the Old City. Over the nearly nine-month campaign, Iraqi forces have reduced the IS hold on Mosul to less than a square kilometer (less than a mile) of territory. Last month, as Iraqi troops closed in on the Old City, the militants destroyed the Al-Nuri Mosque and its famous leaning minaret to deny the Iraqi forces a symbolic triumph.

Source: Egypt Independent July 10, 2017 09:22 UTC