BREAKING: ISIS NEAR WATERLOO IN IRAQ AS IRAQI FORCES ENTER THEIR STRONGHOLD OF MOSUL

Iraqi forces have finally entered the Iraqi city of Mosul, the last ISIS stronghold in Iraq, signifying an end may be in sight for the battle to rid Iraq of the terrorists. The second largest city in Iraq has been under ISIS control since 2014. Fighting is on going to flush out the insurgents who are trapped in the city as the special forces approached the city from different points effectively cutting off escape routes. 

The US military estimates ISIL has 3,000-5,000 fighters in Mosul and another 1,500-2,500 in its outer defensive belt. The total includes about 1,000 foreign fighters.

Mosul before ISIS invasion

Earlier on Monday the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi appeared on state TV in combat fatigues and urged ISIL fighters in Mosul to surrender or be killed. "We will close in on Daesh from all angles and, God willing, we will cut the snake's head," he said while visiting troops in the town of Shura, south of Mosul. "They will have no way out, and no way to escape ... Either they die, or surrender."

Now that they have entered the city, the fight is still expected to be quite difficult with war experts predicting it could take weeks or even months to finally end.

There are still about one million civilians holed up inside the city with some of them expected to be used as human shield by the terrorists. In the last one week relatives of ISIS fighters were reported to be fleeing Mosul into Syria perhaps in preparation for this.