Iraq announces Isis’s caliphate ‘has fallen’ after huge symbolic victory in Mosul

Iraqi troops have captured the ruins of Mosul’s grand mosque from Isis, the military said in an announcement, declaring the extremists’ reign in the country to be over.

“Their fictitious state has fallen,” Iraqi military spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told state TV on Thursday – three years to the day since Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of the so-called caliphate from the same spot.

Isis blew up the 12th century al-Nuri mosque last week after it became apparent US-backed Iraqi forces had begun a push in its direction.

Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi told the Associated Press elite Special Forces entered the compound and took control of the surrounding streets on Thursday afternoon after a dawn offensive.

The site will need to be cleared by explosives experts as Isis often rigs areas it has retreated from with booby traps.

While there are approximately 300 militants still fighting to the death in the Old City district, the Iraqi authorities expect the eight-month-long battle to end within the next few days. Isis now holds an area of the west side of the Tigris River less than one kilometre (0.5 miles) square.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has already “issued instructions to bring the battle to its conclusion,” his office said on Wednesday.

The victory has come at a cost: the fierce fighting and US-led bombing campaign have killed thousands of civilians and driven 850,000 in total from their homes. Huge swathes of the city have been reduced to rubble, and in the searing summer heat the stench of dead bodies is overpowering, soldiers on the front line say.

While the struggle for Mosul – once a cosmopolitan city of 1.5 million people and the jewel in Isis’ crown – has almost reached its end, the militants still cling on to pockets of northern Iraq near the border with Syria.

Operation Inherent Resolve to retake the city began in October 2016. It has dovetailed with US-backed Kurdish militia’s efforts across the border to drive Isis from it’s de facto Syrian capital of Raqqa.

The fall of both cities will mark the end of Isis as a land-holding force, although analysts expect the group to morph into a full-blown insurgency across the two countries, and for Isis to step up terror attacks around the world in future.