ISIS commander code-named ‘Prince of Battles’ is captured in Iraq 

ISIS commander code-named ‘Prince of Battles’ because of the large number of assaults he took part in, is captured in Iraq

  • Commander was captured in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, after fleeing Syria
  • He had been fighting against Iraqi forces near ISIS’s last holdout in Baghouz 
  • Thousands of fighters have either fled or been captured as caliphate collapses 

An ISIS commander known as the Prince of Battles because of the number of attacks he took part in has been captured in Iraq, local media reports. 

The terrorist was arrested on Sunday in western Mosul having fled to Iraq from Syria, where ISIS is staging its last stand.

He ‘was involved in several fights against security forces in Anbar province’ which sits along the border with Syria, Iraq’s Alghad Press agency reported.

An ISIS commander known as the Prince of Battles has been arrested in Mosul after fleeing Syria where he fought against Iraqi forces as part of the group’s final stand (file image)

Mosul became a stronghold for ISIS after the terror group captured it in 2014 in an assault which announced the group to the world as a major security threat. 

It was from the minaret of Mosul’s Great Mosque of al-Nuri that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed ISIS’s ‘caliphate’ before the city was recaptured in 2017, though not before the terror group destroyed the mosque. 

Now, with it’s so-called caliphate in ruins, many ISIS fighters have fled back into Iraq in the hopes of fighting a guerrilla war against the government.

Following the Prince of Battle’s capture, the Iraqi Military Intelligence Directorate said: ‘The so-called Islamic State’s prince of battles was apprehended in Rabia district, west of Mosul.

‘He has just returned from Syria, where he escaped after the liberation of Iraqi territories from the terrorist group.’

At the height of its power, ISIS controlled a swathe of territory that covered much of northern Iraq stretching to the outskirts of Baghadad, across to Aleppo in Syria.

But attacks by American-backed coalition forces, including the Kurds, and Russian-backed government forces, including Iran, has driven the group back.

At its height ISIS controlled a swathe of territory across Iraq and Syria but has since collapsed and now controls a small enclave near the town of Baghouz, Syria, which is surrounded (file)

At its height ISIS controlled a swathe of territory across Iraq and Syria but has since collapsed and now controls a small enclave near the town of Baghouz, Syria, which is surrounded (file)

It has now lost 99 per cent of the territory it once controlled and is staging a last holdout near Baghouz, in Syria.

Every day, hundreds of fighters, their families and civilians are either fleeing or being captured by the advancing forces, including a number of foreigners. 

With the terror group facing ruin, President Trump has vowed to pull US troops out and hand responsibility for containing the remaining fighters to Turkey.

The US has also told its allies to take any ISIS members on foreign soil back home, or risk having them turned loose.

That includes British ISIS bride Shamima Begum, who fled east London to join the group in 2014, before being found in a refugee camp earlier this month.

She has been stripped of her British citizenship and banned from returning to the UK after the Home Secretary deemed her a security risk, but her family has threatened a legal challenge. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk