Recapture of Mosul mosque signals the ‘fall’ of Isil’s caliphate
Iraqi army reclaims holy site at which the jihadist group declared its violent crusade three years ago
THE Iraqi army yesterday declared that Isil’s “fictitious state” had fallen after troops recaptured the iconic Mosul mosque from where the group’s leader declared its so-called caliphate.
The 12th-century Grand Mosque of al-nuri – now in ruins after the jihadists blew it up last week – was liberated yesterday, exactly three years to the day since the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) proclaimed its caliphate and Abu Bakr al-baghdadi as its caliph.
The mosque’s famous leaning minaret, which earned the nickname of Iraq’s Tower of Pisa, had dominated the skyline of the country’s second city for centuries. After the grand mosques of Mecca and Medina, al-aqsa in Jerusalem and the Umayyad mosque in Damascus, al-nuri was one of the great monuments in Islam.
“Their fictitious state has fallen,” said Brigadier General Yahya Rasoo, an Iraqi military spokesman.
Haider al-abadi, Iraq’s prime minister, said the retaking of the destroyed mosque was “an announcement of the end of the illegitimate Daesh state”.
“We will continue to fight Daesh until every last one of them is killed or brought to justice,” he added, using the derogatory Arabic name for the group. Footage of the site showed only the base remains.
The destruction of the minaret, which took place on the holiest day of the Islamic calendar, Laylat al-qadr – the moment the Koran was revealed to the prophet Mohammed – shocked Muslims worldwide.
Its recapture, more than eight months into the offensive to liberate the city, is a sign of the quick progress to overcome Isil’s last bastion.
The operation to take the Old City, where some 50,000 remained trapped, began 10 days ago. Officials estimate they have already liberated half the ancient part of the city. Federal police and elite units of the counter-terrorism service have been fighting inside the district’s maze of narrow alleyways.
The military estimates up to 350 militants are dug in among civilians.
Speaking before a meeting of Nato defence ministers, Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said: “Three years on from when Daesh declared its so-called caliphate in Mosul, this evil death cult faces its endgame in the city.” Isil has now lost 70 per cent of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and 51 per cent of the area it held in Syria.
“The Islamic State’s remaining caliphate is likely to break up before the end of the year, reducing its governance project to a string of isolated urban areas that will eventually be retaken over the course of 2018,” said Columb Strack, senior Middle East analyst at IHS Markit consultancy.
Meanwhile, Us-backed forces yesterday fully encircled the Isil-held city of Raqqa after closing the militants’ last way out from the south, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.