Members of the Iraqi federal police
© AFPMembers of the Iraqi federal police dance and wave their country's national flag in celebration in the Old City of Mosul on July 8
Iraqi military commanders have said they will take full control of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) militants at any moment, as the extremist group vowed to "fight to the death" in the city.

Earlier in the day, an Iraqi military spokesman said U.S.-backed Iraqi government forces took control of the medieval Old City of Mosul, the last area under control of IS militants in the city that previously served as the extremist group's stronghold in Iraq.
"We are just a few meters from the Tigris River. The Iraqi progress, backed by the army air power, is great," Brigadier General Yehia Rasul, a spokesman for the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, told state television.
Dozens of Iraqi soldiers celebrated amid the rubble on the banks of the Tigris River without waiting for a formal victory declaration.

A Reuters correspondent said that some soldiers danced to music blaring out from a truck and fired machine guns into the air.

Iraqi state television also reported that government forces were expected to take full control of Mosul -- which IS militants seized in mid-2014 along with large swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory.
"We are seeing now the last meters and then final victory will be announced," a TV anchor said, citing the channel's correspondents embedded with Iraqi security forces battling in the Old City by the Tigris River.

"It's a matter of hours," the Iraqi state television anchor said.
But the IS news agency Amaq reported "fierce fighting" around the riverside district of Maydan and said that its fighters "were holding onto their fortified positions."

In another online post, Amaq said that IS militants were "collectively pledging to fight to the death in Maydan."

The offensive to retake Mosul from IS militants began in October. Iraqi forces declared eastern Mosul "fully liberated" in January.

Their urban offensive against IS militants in the more densely populated western side of Mosul began in late January.

Iraqi Flags start to fly as Mosul's Old City becomes terrorist-free zone

It's official: the Iraqi forces have taken complete control of Mosul's old city, following months of intense clashes.

According to the Iraqi Joint Operations Command spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul, the Iraqi forces managed to secure the entire old city area of Iraq's second largest city, also known as the birthplace of Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria, dating back to 2014, noting that today's victory concludes the final chapter of ISIS in Mosul.

Although the area is now confirmed to be terrorist-free, the official announcement by Haider Al Abadi, Iraq's Prime Minister and Supreme Commander of its Armed Forces, is yet to be made.

According to police sources, units of the Iraqi Federal Police will begin their normal work within few hours.

The Iraqi soldiers have already raised their national flags in what was, until now, known as the last stronghold of ISIS in Mosul's old city.


During the last batch of operations, Abu Hafsa, a prominent Saudi leader of ISIS, was killed while trying to escape to the left coast of the connector.

The Iraqi forces have also confronted a great number of suicide bombers while cleansing Mosul's old city.

According to the field reports, the only place that remains under control of ISIS, is a tiny area, located at the edge of the city, and overlooking the Tigris River. The Iraqi forces are only few meters away from the area now.

The Iraqi forces also killed 35 ISIS terrorists and arrested six others when they were trying to make an incursion from the right coast of the connector to the left side of the city.

For his part, Lt. Col, Abdul Rahman Al Khazali, an Iraqi Federal Police spokesperson, said the Iraqi forces managed to kill 83 ISIS terrorists and arrested many more others, during the last battles in Mosul's old city.

He then pointed out that his forces discovered a laboratory for manufacturing car bombs, as well as a large tunnel, previously used by the terrorists to move between the neighbourhoods, adding that the Iraqi forces also managed to rescue the remaining civilians who were trapped inside the old city, and have since provided them with water, medicine and food.

Since Saturday morning, units of the joint Iraqi anti-ISIS coalition were involved in clashes with ISIS terrorists, prior to their demise.

According to Special Forces General, Abdul Amir Rashid Yar Allah, the final victory in the old city was achieved after retaking Najafi street, Bab Al Toub and Souk Al Sagha (jewelry market), all of whom were the very last remaining hubs of ISIS terrorists in Mosul.