Islamic State militants have withdrawn from the last territory they held in Aleppo province after the Syrian army retook the Ithriya-Rasafa road and areas east of Khanaser, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday.
A military media unit run by the army's ally Hezbollah said soldiers had captured the Ithriya-Rasafa road and besieged Islamic State's positions east of Khanaser. It did not say the jihadist group had abandoned those positions.
On Thursday, Iraqi forces captured the hugely symbolic al-Nuri Mosque, where ISIS originally declared its so-called Caliphate. Lt Gen Abdul Wahab al-Saadi and Lt Col Salam Hussein told The Associated Press that their forces were continuing to clear territory in the Old City.
The withdrawal of the Old City of Mosul follows an 8-month long period of bloodshed and civilian casualties. Clashes have displaced more than 850,000 people, according to the International Organization for Migration.
(With agency inputs.)
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