Here are 15 photos of ISIS' final days in its Iraqi stronghold

Felipe Dana/Associated Press

In July 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - the leader of ISIS who may have been killed in a Russian airstrike last month - declared a caliphate in the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, just weeks after ISIS fighters seized the city.

But now, ISIS only holds about 3% - no more than the length of a few football fields - of Iraq's second-largest city.

Nevertheless, the few hundred remaining ISIS fighters in Mosul have not stopped their brutal tactics in the face of defeat.

They're reportedly detonating bombs among civilians attempting to flee and using children as human shields, among other cruel tactics.

But Iraqi forces believe final victory is imminent, as their grueling eight-month assault on the city appears to be nearing its end.

This is what ISIS' last days in Mosul look like: