TALE OF TWO CITIES: In the twin capitals claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, things are coming to a head. In Mosul, it’s the beginning of the end; and in Raqqa, the endgame is about to begin.
MOSUL: In Iraq’s second largest city, the remaining ISIS fighters — numbering somewhere south of 1,000 — are surrounded in a six square mile section of west Mosul’s old city. They are concentrated in three neighborhoods, with no way of escape, as Iraqi Security Forces slowly press ahead through the dense and dangerous urban terrain. “Liberating these final neighborhoods will be among the most difficult fighting the ISF has faced in their campaign to defeat ISIS,” said Col. Ryan Dillon, the new U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.
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