The battle against so called 'Islamic State' in the Middle East has been a long and difficult journey. However, the territory controlled by the Islamic extremist group across Iraq and Syria has progressively shrank over the last two years as the Kurdish and Iraqi forces have worked together to eradicate them.
Yesterday, The Mail reported another step towards the final elimination of the terrorist force. A Kurdish peshmerga unit on the outskirts of Mosul was filmed surrounding a group of ISIS fighter and forcing their surrender.
The Kurdish troops promised not to kill the fighters that surrendered, giving the names of those already captured to prove they were still alive. One of the Jihadi fighters gave himself up and told the Kurdish troops that there was another "three, maybe four [ISIS fighters] inside. They're still alive. They don't want to surrender."
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Credit: Rudaw
This victory comes as the forces were able to secure the ruins of an ancient Assyrian city in the Nimrud area. The city was characterised by its rich culture, huge palaces and monuments which brought about its reputation as one of the great centres of the ancient Middle East.
However, the city was destroyed in April 2015 as part of ISIS' campaign of destruction against cultural monuments across Iraq and Syria, deemed as heretical and offensive towards Allah, according to its extreme sect of Islam.
With Mosul standing as the only city still controlled by IS in Iraq, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for the struggle against this brand of Islamic extremism.
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Iraq's deputy culture minister, Qais Hussain Rasheed, has said:
"Liberation of ancient Iraqi archaeological sites from the control of forces of dark and evil is a victory not only to Iraqis but for all humanity."
But Iraqi special forces commander Brigadier Ali Abdulla has emphasised the need for caution as they continue to push towards taking back Mosul, with the presence of car bombs on many roads and the use of civilians as human shields inside the city limits.
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He described the progress in to the city borders as going to be "very slow and cautious".
Words Mike Thomas
Main image credit: Rudaw
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