Iraqi forces 300 meters away from Mosul mosque

MOSUL: US-backed Iraqi forces on Wednesday began a push toward the mosque in Mosul where Daesh declared a self-styled Caliphate three years ago, military officials said.

The forces had encircled the militant group’s stronghold in the Old City of Mosul, where the mosque is located, on Tuesday, they said.

The Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) is 200 to 300 were meters away from the medieval Grand Al-Nuri Mosque, an Iraqi military statement said.

Maj. Gen. Rupert Jones, the British deputy commander of the international coalition fighting Daesh, told Reuters the Iraqi forces were about 300 meters from the mosque.

The US-led coalition is providing



air and ground support to the Mosul offensive that started on Oct. 17.

The militants’ leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, proclaimed himself caliph from its pulpit after the insurgents overran parts of Iraq and Syria. His black flag has been flying over its famous leaning minaret since June 2014.

Iraqi officials have privately expressed the hope that the mosque could be captured by Eid Al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month. The first day of the Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.

The battle for the Old City is becoming the deadliest in the 8-month-old offensive to capture Mosul, Daesh’s de facto capital in Iraq.