Iraqi military says only 12 sq km of Mosul held by Islamic State

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iraqi forces have reduced the area of Mosul controlled by Islamic State to 12 square km, military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told a news conference on Tuesday, May 13, according to Reuters.

U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the coalition backing Iraqi forces in the war against Islamic State, said the militants were completely surrounded and "on the brink of total defeat" in the city.

Islamic State is expected to make a last stand around the Old City's Grand al-Nuri Mosque, where the Islamist group's black flag has been flying since June 2014.

Backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes and advisers, Iraqi forces have made rapid gains since opening a new front in the northwest of Mosul earlier this month, closing in on the Old City.

Outnumbered, militants have retaliated with suicide car bombs and snipers embedded among the hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in west Mosul. Many local people have been killed by militants or heavy bombardments.