Iraq's Prime Minister is declaring an end to the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed caliphate after Iraqi forces captured the compound of a landmark mosque in Mosul that was blown up last week. Haider al-Abadi says "we are seeing the end of the fake Daesh state ... we will not relent, our brave forces will bring victory," according to a statement posted to Twitter Thursday where he used the Arabic acronym for IS.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Yahoo!. </s> Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Sunday "victory" over Islamic State in the city of Mosul, his office said.

"The commander in chief of the armed forces (Prime Minister) Haider al-Abadi arrived in the liberated city of Mosul and congratulated the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people for the great victory," said a statement from his office. </s> Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi formally declared victory over Islamic State in Mosul on Monday (July 10) as only a few dozen militants put up resistance after 9 months of gruelling urban warfare. </s> MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Iraq’s Prime Minister is declaring an end to the Islamic State group’s self-proclaimed caliphate after Iraqi forces captured the compound of a landmark mosque in Mosul that was blown up last week.

Haider al-Abadi says “we are seeing the end of the fake Daesh state … we will not relent, our brave forces will bring victory,” according to a statement posted to Twitter Thursday where he used the Arabic acronym for IS.

The retaking of the al-Nuri mosque is a hugely symbolic win. The site is where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance in July 2014, declaring an Islamic “caliphate” on territory captured in Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi and coalition officials say IS fighters blew up the site last week, but IS blames a U.S. air strike for the destruction.

The advances Thursday come as the Iraqi troops are pushing deeper into the Old City, a densely populated neighborhood west of the Tigris River where IS fighters are making their last stand in Iraq’s second-largest city.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Iraq declared the Islamic State group's "caliphate" was coming to an end after it recaptured Mosul's iconic Nuri mosque Thursday, three years to the day after it was proclaimed by the jihadists.

The jihadist group announced its self-styled "caliphate" on June 29, 2014 across swathes of territory its fighters overran in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

Its rule since then has been marked by repeated atrocities including mass beheadings and other executions documented in photos and videos that its supporters share online.

"Counter-Terrorism Service forces control the Nuri mosque and Al-Hadba (minaret)," Iraq's Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior CTS officer, also confirmed its recapture, telling state TV that "the mosque is (now) behind our units."

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi hailed the recapture of the mosque as a sign of IS's impending defeat.

"We are seeing the end of the fake Daesh state," Abadi said in an English statement on his Twitter account, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

The mosque and its famed Al-Hadba (hunchback) leaning minaret were Mosul landmarks and also held major significance in the history of IS rule in Iraq.

IS declared its "caliphate" in an audio recording three years ago.

A video released a few days later showed IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi speaking at Friday prayers at the Nuri mosque and calling on Muslims to obey him, his only known public appearance as "caliph".

Baghdadi's fate and whereabouts remain unknown, and IS has lost much of the territory it overran in 2014.

The jihadists blew up the mosque and minaret on June 21 as they put up increasingly desperate resistance to the advance of Iraqi forces.

Only the base of the minaret remains, and while the mosque's dome is still standing, much of the rest of it has been destroyed.

Officials from Iraq and the US-led anti-IS coalition said the destruction of the site was a sign of the jihadist group's imminent loss of Mosul, with Abadi calling it an "official declaration of defeat".

The loss of the iconic 12th century minaret -- one of the country's most recognisable monuments sometimes referred to as Iraq's Tower of Pisa -- left the country in shock.

But the destruction had been widely anticipated, with commanders saying IS would not have allowed Iraqi forces to score a hugely symbolic victory by recapturing the site.

IS claimed on its Amaq propaganda agency that the site was hit in a US air strike, but the US-led coalition said it was the jihadists who had "destroyed one of Mosul and Iraq's great treasures".

Russia has said it is seeking to verify whether the IS leader, whose whereabouts have been unknown for months, was killed when its warplanes hit the group's leaders in a night air raid in Syria last month.

The mosque in Mosul's Old City was the latest in a long list of priceless heritage and historical monuments destroyed by IS during its three-year rule over swathes of Iraq and Syria.

The minaret, which was completed in 1172 and had been listing for centuries, is featured on Iraq's 10,000-dinar banknote and was the main symbol of Iraq's second city -- giving its name to countless restaurants, companies and even sports clubs in Mosul.

After seizing Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland in June 2014, IS reportedly rigged Al-Hadba with explosives but was prevented from blowing it up by the local population. The jihadists consider the reverence of objects, including of such sites, as heresy.

The mosque's destruction came three days after government forces launched an assault on the Old City, the last district of Mosul still under IS control.

Tens of thousands of residents are believed to still be trapped in the district by IS, which has been using civilians as human shields to defend its last redoubt in Mosul.

The area still controlled by the jihadists is small but its narrow streets and the presence of so many civilians has made the operation perilous.

Dozens of civilians were brought out of the area of the Nuri mosque in military vehicles on Thursday.

"We don't believe that we made it alive," said Umm Karam, one of those who fled. </s> Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday and congratulated Iraqi armed forces for driving the extremist militant Islamic State (ISIS) group out of its major stronghold in the country.

Iraqi armed forces, backed by a United States-led coalition, were battling ISIS in Mosul for months. The victory marks the end of the battle that left Iraq's second largest city in ruins, killed hundreds of people and displaced almost a million civilians.

Abadi's office said he was visiting "liberated" Mosul to congratulate his "heroic fighters". However, the Prime Minister later suggested he would only declare victory once final pockets of resistance were cleared.

"Victory is certain, and the (IS) remnants are surrounded... and it is just a matter of time for us to announce the great victory to our people," Abadi said in a statement.

The delay "comes out of my respect and support for our... forces who are continuing the clearing operation," he said.

"There are only one or two pockets of Daesh remnants left," and "the major victory is in hand," the premier added, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Iraqi troops are reportedly still battling ISIS militants in some of the last areas of resistance, and could be facing guerrilla attacks for weeks.

The prime minister's office said that Abadi met commanders in Mosul and issued a series of orders on "sustaining victories and eliminating the defeated remnants" of ISIS, as well as "establishing security and stability in the liberated city."

Although most of Mosul has been reclaimed by the Iraqi forces, they still face dangers ahead with ISIS sleeper cells and suicide bombers.

The forces would also need to clear all the houses in the city, which are rigged with explosive traps so that civilians can return to the region.

The battle against ISIS is still a long way to go in Iraq as other cities continue to remain under the group's control. </s> Mosul: Iraqi government troops recaptured captured the historic mosque in Mosul from where Islamic State proclaimed its self-styled caliphate three years ago, the Iraqi military said on Thursday.

Seizing the 850 year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque hands a symbolic victory to the Iraqi forces who have been battling for more than eight month to recapture Mosul, the northern city that served as Islamic State`s de facto capital in Iraq.

"Their fictitious state has fallen," an Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told state TV referring to ISIS.

The insurgents blew up the medieval mosque and its famed leaning minaret a week ago as US-backed Iraqi forces started a push in its direction.

Their black flag had been flying from al-Hadba (The Hunchback) minaret, since June 2014.

Iraqi authorities expect the battle to end in the coming days as Islamic State has been bottled up in a handful of neighborhoods of the Old City.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi "issued instructions to bring the battle to its conclusion," his office said on Wednesday. </s> Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says his US-backed forces have begun the fight to take back the city of Tal Afar from Islamic State militants.

Iraqi security forces have launched an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar, their next objective in the US-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says.

"You either surrender, or die," Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the militants.

A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni insurgents, Tal Afar, 80km west of Mosul, was cut off from the rest of the Islamic State-held territory in June.

The city is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shi'ite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.

About 2000 battle-hardened militants remain in the city, according to US and Iraqi military commanders.

Islamic State's self-proclaimed "caliphate" effectively collapsed last month, when US-backed Iraqi forces completed the takeover of the militants' capital in Iraq, Mosul, after a nine-month campaign. </s> BAGHDAD—Iraq’s parliament on Thursday called for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops, putting pressure on the country’s leader ahead of May elections as he seeks to prevent a resurgence by Islamic State militants.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over the terror group three months ago, after U.S.-backed Iraqi forces ousted Islamic State from the last territory it controlled in the country. But since then, Islamic State militants have reverted to guerrilla warfare in northern Iraq, exposing persistent...
Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declares the end of the Islamic State's self-declared caliphate following the capture of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul.