As Mosul battle ends, struggle over Iraq's future intensifies

Displaced Iraqi people wait for security forces during fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - After almost nine months of fierce fighting, the campaign to recapture Mosul from Islamic State is drawing to a bitter end in the ruins of the city's historic quarter, but the struggle for Iraq's future is far from over.

Aside from Mosul, across the border in Syria a battle is raging to dislodge IS from Raqqa, the second capital of its self-declared caliphate. Fighting will push down the Euphrates valley to Deir al-Zour, the jihadis’ last big urban stronghold.