When ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ascended to the pulpit of the Great Mosque of Nour al-Din in the Iraqi city of Mosul on July 5, 2014, it marked the jihadist group’s arrival at the pinnacle of its power. A few days earlier the militants had swept into Mosul, routing the Iraqi army and police…

via Iraqi Forces Close In on Great Mosque Where Baghdadi Took ISIS Public — TIME