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Residents walk past the tilted minaret of al-Nuri mosque, also known as the Great Mosque, in Mosul. Militants have blocked the area around the highly symbolic mosque where the group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his first and only public appearance. Picture: AP / Maya Alleruzzo
ISLAMIC State has barricaded the streets around the Grand al-Nuri Mosque in western Mosul in preparation for a last stand against Iraqi government forces.
Residents have told Associated Press and Reuters that dozens of fighters have been seen taking up defensive positions in and around the mosque’s compound in the past two days.
Smoke billowing near the historic leaning minaret of the Great Moaque of al-Nuri in the old city of Mosul during ongoing battles between Iraqi forces to retake the city from Islamic State. Picture: AFP / KARIM SAHIBSource:AFP
The Al-Nuri Mosque is highly symbolic to the jihadists as it is where the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Calip Ibrahim) made his first and only public appearance to declare the physical formation of his Islamic State in July 2014.
“Daesh’s fighters know that the mosque is the most important target and they are preparing for a major battle there,” Hisham al-Hashemi told Reuters.
The resident, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for his safety, says the militants have ordered families living near al-Nuri mosque — also known as the Great Mosque — to leave their houses and sealed all the roads leading to it.
But any battle in and around the mosque would put its famed leaning ‘hunchback’ minaret at risk of collapse
US-made armoured vehicles drive down a road in western Mosul's al-Rifai neighbourhood on May 31, 2017 after it was retaken by government forces. Picture: AFP / KARIM SAHIBSource:AFP
The move comes as US-backed Iraqi forces are pushing to recapture the city’s remaining pockets. Up to 200,000 residents still live under Islamic State’s control inside the city.
The pending fall of Mosul would effectively mark the collapse of Islamic State within Iraq.
Syrian and Kurdish forces — supported by Coalition air strikes including Australian F/A-18s — are within sight of Islamic State’s self-declared capital of Raqqa.