Iraqi prime minister declares end to IS caliphate
Iraq’s Prime Minister declared an end to the IS caliphate Thursday after Iraqi forces captured the compound of a landmark mosque in Mosul that was blown up last week by the Islamic State group.
“We are seeing the end of the fake Daesh state. The liberation of Mosul proves that,” Haider al-Abadi said using the Arabic acronym for IS in a statement posted to Twitter.
“We will not relent, our brave forces will bring victory,” he added.
But even as the Iraqi leader issued his statement, heavy clashes continued to unfold in Mosul – filling field hospitals and forcing hundreds to flee.
The destroyed al-Nuri mosque retaken by Iraqi special forces Thursday following a dawn push is a hugely symbolic win. The site is where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance in July 2014, declaring a self-styled Islamic “caliphate,” encompassing territories then-held by IS in Syria and Iraq.
Iraqi and coalition officials said IS blew up the mosque complex last week. The Islamic State group has blamed a U.S. airstrike for the destruction, a claim rejected by a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition who said coalition planes “did not conduct strikes in that area at that time.”
The advances Thursday come as Iraqi troops are pushing deeper into the Old City, a densely populated neighbourhood west of the Tigris River where IS fighters are making their last stand in Iraq’s secondlargest city. Clashes were ongoing into the evening Thursday, according to Associated Press reporters on the scene.
U.S.-led coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon told reporters at the Pentagon that victory in Mosul was “imminent” and would likely occur “in days rather than weeks.”