MOSUL FREE, RAQQA NEXT: After nine months of the deadliest, dirtiest urban combat in recent military history, Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, with air and artillery support from the U.S.-backed coalition, have wrested the city of Mosul from the brutal rule of the Islamic State. The top U.S. commander in Iraq issued a formal statement congratulating the Iraqi troops on their “hard-fought victory,” even as some areas of the old city of Mosul still must be cleared of explosive devices and possible ISIS fighters in hiding.
“Make no mistake; this victory alone does not eliminate ISIS and there is still a tough fight ahead,” Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said in statement yesterday. “But the loss of one of its twin capitals and a jewel of their so-called caliphate is a decisive blow.” Later President Trump added his congratulations in a statement from the White House. “The victory in Mosul, a city where ISIS once proclaimed its so-called ‘caliphate,’ signals that its days in Iraq and Syria are numbered,” Trump said. “We will continue to seek the total destruction of ISIS.”
