Supported by the US-led coalition, Iraqi forces on Sunday began storming the ISIS-held Old City of Mosul, like reported by aranews.net .
The district is the last stronghold of Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants in Mosul city, in Iraq’s northwestern Nineveh province.
“Iraqi forces early this morning breach into old Mosul, the final ISIS-held district in the city,” said Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the international coalition fighting ISIS.
“We are proud to stand with them [Iraqi forces],” McGurk tweeted on Sunday.
According to reports, the Old City of Mosul is a densely-populated maze of narrow alleyways, where fighting is often conducted house by house.
The US-backed Iraqi forces have been combatting ISIS in Mosul for nearly eight months, in a campaign considered to be the largest against the radical group in Iraq.
Mosul has been the major stronghold for ISIS in Iraq since June 2014.
In the meantime, the United Nations reported that about 100,000 civilians remain trapped in the ISIS-held Old City district, living in harrowing conditions, with little food, water and medicine and limited access to hospitals.
