The recapture of Baaj will further shrink the northern region under the extremists’ control as part of an ongoing campaign to retake the city of Mosul, the Iraqi military said on Sunday.
Eight months into the Mosul offensive, ISIS militants have been dislodged from all of the city except an enclave along the western bank of the Tigris river, according to Reuters.
The ISIS’ grip on the Iraqi side of the northern region along the border with Syria, a desert area where sources believe ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is hiding, has been ebbing as forces fighting on the side of Iraq’s government have advanced.
