Iraqi Armed Forces Announce Progress in Mosul Campaign, Another District North of Old City Liberated

RNA - With the loss of the Zanjili neighborhood, the enclave still held by ISIL in the Northern Iraqi city has shrunk to two districts along the western banks of the Tigris river, the densely populated Old City center and the Medical City, Iraqi News reported.

Iraqi government forces retook Eastern Mosul in January and began a new push on May 27 to capture the remaining enclave, where up to 200,000 people are trapped.

The Mosul offensive started in October, the battle has taken much longer than expected as ISIL is fighting in the middle of civilians, slowing the advance of the assailants.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the “caliphate” declared in 2014 over parts of Iraq and Syria by ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a speech from a historic mosque in the old city.

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