"Sixty-five to 70 percent of the Old City has been liberated, there is less than a square kilometre left to retake," said Obeidi, from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service that has spearheaded the assault. He estimated that only "a few hundred Daesh fighters" were left in the Old City, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
The ornamental brickwork on the base of the 12th century "Hadba" (Hunchback) minaret, which was Mosul's symbol and one of the most recognisable landmarks in Iraq, was visible in the background.
The cylindrical shaft of the minaret came tumbling down when IS on June 21 detonated explosives the jihadists had rigged to it.
The jihadists simultaneously blew up the nearby Nuri mosque, where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave his first sermon as IS leader in July 2014, his last public appearance to date.