Welcome to bbc news. The Iraqi Government said today that the city of mosul has been liberated from so called Islamic State, three years after it was first occupied by the extremists. The second largest city in iraq was where is declared its caliphate in 2014. Since then, its grip on territory seen here in red has been gradually reduced in iraq and in syria. In the last nine months its been targeted in mosul by the iraqi army, backed by us and Coalition Air strikes and has lost Ground Street By street. Tonight, the defence secretary sir Michael Fallon congratulated the iraqis and highlighted the role played by the raf. But as our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale has seen in mosul, victory has come at a cost, with an estimated 800,000 civilians driven from their homes. What was once a beautiful old city is now mostly rubble. Every building deeply scarred or destroyed by months of war. We joined the Search And Rescue teams looking for survivors. But more often, they are just recoveri
Welcome to bbc news. The Iraqi Government said today that the city of mosul has been liberated from so called Islamic State, three years after it was first occupied by the extremists. The second largest city in iraq was where is declared its caliphate in 2014. Since then, its grip on territory seen here in red has been gradually reduced in iraq and in syria. In the last nine months its been targeted in mosul by the iraqi army, backed by us and Coalition Air strikes and has lost Ground Street By street. Tonight, the defence secretary sir Michael Fallon congratulated the iraqis and highlighted the role played by the raf. But as our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale has seen in mosul, victory has come at a cost, with an estimated 800,000 civilians driven from their homes. What was once a beautiful old city is now mostly rubble. Every building deeply scarred or destroyed by months of war. We joined the Search And Rescue teams looking for survivors. But more often, they are just recoveri
Welcome to bbc news. The Iraqi Government said today that the city of mosul has been liberated from so called Islamic State, three years after it was first occupied by the extremists. The second largest city in iraq was where is declared its caliphate in 2014. Since then, its grip on territory seen here in red has been gradually reduced in iraq and in syria. In the last nine months its been targeted in mosul by the iraqi army, backed by us and Coalition Air strikes and has lost Ground Street By street. Tonight, the defence secretary sir Michael Fallon congratulated the iraqis and highlighted the role played by the raf. But as our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale has seen in mosul, victory has come at a cost, with an estimated 800,000 civilians driven from their homes. What was once a beautiful old city is now mostly rubble. Every building deeply scarred or destroyed by months of war. We joined the Search And Rescue teams looking for survivors. But more often, they are just recoveri
Welcome to bbc news. The Iraqi Government said today that the city of mosul has been liberated from so called Islamic State, three years after it was first occupied by the extremists. The second largest city in iraq was where is declared its caliphate in 2014. Since then, its grip on territory seen here in red has been gradually reduced in iraq and in syria. In the last nine months its been targeted in mosul by the iraqi army, backed by us and Coalition Air strikes and has lost Ground Street By street. Tonight, the defence secretary sir Michael Fallon congratulated the iraqis and highlighted the role played by the raf. But as our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale has seen in mosul, victory has come at a cost, with an estimated 800,000 civilians driven from their homes. What was once a beautiful old city is now mostly rubble. Every building deeply scarred or destroyed by months of war. We joined the Search And Rescue teams looking for survivors. But more often, they are just recoveri
Grip on the territory has been degraded in iraq and syria. In the last nine months it has been targeted in mosul by the iraqi army, backed by us and coalition airstrikes. Victory has come at a cost with an estimated Eight Thousand civilians driven from home and stop what was once a beautiful old city is now mostly rubble. Every building deeply scarred or destroyed by months of war. We joined the Search And Rescue teams looking for survivors. But more often, they are just recovering bodies. With the heat, there is also the strong smell of decay. Ali is hoping against hope that his brother and his family are still alive. Their house was hit in an air strike just a few weeks ago. It was being used by Islamic State fighters. Ali says that he spoke to his brother on this phone while he was trapped somewhere under the rubble. And then, he stopped answering. All they find here is decaying corpses. Its a similar story everywhere they go. While that was happening, the iraqi Prime Minister was e