Iraqi forces surround ISIS holdouts in Mosul

Mosul, Iraq (NBC News) – The Iraqi military says its forces have surrounded ISIS militants in Mosul’s old city.

The military says ISIS now controls only about ten percent of the territory in the western half of the city.

Black smoke could be seen Wednesday rising over a western district.

The military push to retake Mosul from ISIS started in October.

The city’s eastern half was declared liberated in January.

Iraq’s Shiite paramilitaries pressed on with their offensive to drive ISIS from a desert region near the border with Syria Wednesday.

Sustained gunfire and the sound of bombings could be heard in the area close to Sinjar Mountain.

The Iraqi military said in a statement that its air force was supporting the operation led by the paramilitary groups known collectively as Hashid Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

Unlike regular Iraqi security forces, the Popular Mobilization Forces don’t receive support from the U.S.-led coalition.

The paramilitaries have been kept on the sidelines of the battle for Mosul, but have captured a vast, thinly populated area to the southwest, cutting ISIS supply routes to Syria.

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