Iraqi leader congratulates troops in Mosul; fight goes on
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Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated Iraqi troops Sunday in the streets of Mosul for driving Islamic State militants out of most of the city. But airstrikes and sniper fire continued amid the revelry, and the extremists stubbornly held small patches of ground west of the Tigris River.
Over the nearly nine-month campaign, Iraqi forces — backed by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition — reduced the IS hold on Iraq’s second-largest city to less than a square kilometer (less than a mile) of territory.
Still, al-Abadi and Iraqi commanders stopped short Sunday of declaring an outright victory against the extremists, who have occupied Mosul for three years. Losing Mosul would be a major defeat for the Islamic State, which has suffered major setbacks in the past year.
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