According to US Joint Special Operations Command reports, elements of the Iraqi elite Counter Terrorism Service overwhelmed the Ureibi and Rifaie districts of Mosul. As Iraqi forces, backed by the US military, have pushed into those final areas of Mosul still occupied by ISIS, the brutal seven-month urban battle for the city is seen to be nearing its close.
A densely populated area of narrow streets, Mosul’s Old City — like much of the rest of the town — has been devastated in the long battle, and remaining civilians that have not been able to escape have been reduced to eating grass.
Iraqi Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul stated that ISIS militants are in control of no more than nine percent of the western area of the city – it’s a very small area.
In spite of this, the extremists continue using bombs and suicide car and inserting themselves as snipers, hiding among the hundreds of thousands civilians in the war-torn streets.