capital. chaima spent months with them. speaking from syria, he explained why the battle for raqqah was different. mostly there was like really heavy clashes going on, like street by street, corner by corner. but here, no. reporter: he said the biggest challenge was the extraordinary number of improvised explosive devices left behind by isis before they retreated. the traps were usually set on lower floors. so the fighters learned to enter buildings higher up by blasting holes in external walls. and crawling perilously across narrow makeshift bridges. the other challenges he said, was snipers firing from tall buildings. those guys they know how to fight very well. they know how to shoot very well. reporter: chaim said the best answer to sniper fire was air
talk to your doctor about xarelto®. there s more to know. welcome back to cnn newsroom. i m george howell. u.s.-backed fighters in syria are celebrating a major victory over isis. that s the scene there in raqqah syria, on friday, as the city was declared totally liberated. syrian democratic forces danced at the stadium where isis fighters made their last stand just a few days ago. raqqah was the de facto isis capital for more than three years. the terror group isn t finished in iraq and syria, but its grip is crumbling. take a look at the map. it shows the territory held back in 2014 compared to what it now holds. the battle for raqqah was raged for many months.
us, raqqah, syria, is now job number one. and we re prosecuting that fight there just like we did here by with and through our local partners. we re performing the same kind of missions. the coalition is performing the same kind of missions there. we ll take raqqah. cnn has more. good morning. reporter: good morning, dave. of course, the recapture of mosul a great victory for the iraqis and a major blow for isis. there still is a tough task ahead for the iraqis when it comes to securing and stabilizing and holding areas where they pushed isis out of. there s also the reconstruction effort to try and rebuild that devastated city, mosul. an effort that is probably going to cost them billions. it s unclear at this point where iraq is going to get the money for that. and isis still does control several towns in iraq, some key
towns in the north, and also to the west in anbar province. they still hold some territory, not as significant as mosul. the iraqis will be moving on next to try and push them out of there. with that comes the concern that when isis loses territory, it s going to revert to its insurgent roots carrying out attacks in urban centers like baghdad, for example. when it comes to the international coalition, their main focus there turns to syria. specifically that self-declared capital of isis, raqqah, where we have seen fighting going on now for weeks. and it s expected that it could go on for months, perhaps. a different terrain, different kind of fighting force that is on the ground. the local partners of the coalition are different. but perhaps one thing that is going to be similar and we would expect isis to fight until the end, as they did in mosul. there s really it s not clear at this point how many civilians
not the one who came on the air hey, hold on, mike your career i m not the guy who came on the air, swore on the air, and who swore? you did. get the heck out of here. you know, you re swearing on the air, mike. you re a bum. so let s you have that bad optics mike, i d like to look at your optics every day. communist in montclair. despite christie s historically low 15% approval rating in new jersey, wfan confirms he is a candidate to take over the afternoon time slot of the legendary mike francesa who s retiring later this year. boy, will that be an entertaining drive time if in fact christie gets the job. i was entertained. what his sports knowledge is, but it would be interesting. 18 minutes past the hour. this morning, mosul at last finally free of the grip of isis. what s next for the city, and is the isis stronghold in syria