Iraq: Victory in Mosul about to be Announced

Local Editor

Iraqi security forces expect to take full control of Mosul in the next hours as Daesh's [Arabic Acronym of the terrorist "ISIS"/"ISIL"] defensive lines collapse, state TV reported on Saturday.

Air strikes and artillery salvos pounded the extremists' last bastion in the city as black smoke billowed over it.

"We are seeing now the last meters and then final victory will be announced," said a TV speaker, citing the channel's correspondents embedded with security forces battling in Daesh's redoubt in the Old City of Mosul, by the Tigris River. "It's a matter of hours," she said.

A military spokesman cited by the TV said the insurgents' defense lines were collapsing. Iraqi commanders say the insurgents are fighting for each meter with snipers, grenades and suicide bombers, forcing security forces to fight house-to-house in the densely populated maze of narrow alleyways.

Mosul was by far the largest city seized by Daesh in its offensive three years ago where the terrorist group declared its so-called "caliphate" over adjoining parts of Iraq and Syria.

Stripped of Mosul, Daesh's dominion in Iraq will be reduced to mainly rural, desert areas west and south of the city where tens of thousands of people live. The militants are expected to keep up attacks on selected targets across Iraq.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of Daesh's "state of falsehood" a week ago, after security forces took Mosul's medieval Grand al-Nuri mosque.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team