Iraqi government claims fall of ISIS as war goes on
By
Bill Van Auken
30 June 2017
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Thursday hailed the retaking by government security forces of the site of Mosul’s demolished al-Nuri mosque as a decisive victory in the battle to wrest control of Iraq’s second-largest city from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which swept across one-third of the country’s territory three years ago.
It was a pyrrhic victory at best for Baghdad and the US forces that have supported the nine-month siege of Mosul with devastating air strikes and barrages of artillery fire.
The bulk of the al-Nuri mosque, where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi first proclaimed his “caliphate” in 2014, was demolished a week before, with its iconic leaning Al-Hadba (hunchback) minaret toppled. ISIS claimed that the destruction was the work of US bombs, but it appears the Islamist militia itself blew up the structure to deny the government a symbolic triumph.
While the regime in Baghdad celebrated the retaking of the demolished mosque, Iraqi commanders on the ground in Mosul admitted that many weeks of fighting remain before they can claim control of all of Mosul. And, even as they advance on the last strongholds of ISIS in western Mosul, there have been repeated attacks by the Islamist fighters on positions supposedly secured by the army and the police months ago. In one, ISIS members disguised as police were reported to have wiped out an entire Federal Police unit, up to 90 men.
Iraqi security forces were reportedly only 150 feet away from the mosque when it was blown up on June 21. It has taken them a full week to advance that short distance in fighting that has left many civilians as well as many government troops and ISIS fighters dead.
“There…