West Mosul, Iraq – As Iraqi military recaptured the al-Nuri Mosque Thursday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi claimed victory in the long fight against ISIS. Retaking the mosque was symbolically important – ISIS used the site to declare a so-called caliphate in 2014 – and Iraqi forces have fought a grueling battle to claw back lost territory in the three years since.VICE News has been following the Iraqi Army’s painstaking fight against the terror group, as they trying to cut the route between two of ISIS’s last remaining positions in west Mosul: the al-Jamhuri Hospital, which gives ISIS snipers a huge military advantage, and the old city, where most of the remaining fighters are hiding among civilians as they take their brutal last stand.
This segment originally aired June 29, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO