Iraq sentences ISIS foreign fighter to death

Iraqi forces advance towards the al-Ayadieh area north of Tal Afar in August.

A Russian national convicted of being an ISIS fighter has been sentenced to death by a criminal court in Baghdad, Iraq's High Judicial Council announced Tuesday.

This is the first time that a foreign ISIS fighter in Iraq has received a death sentence.

The man was arrested by Iraqi forces during an operation to retake the eastern bank of Mosul -- the country's second largest city -- from ISIS earlier this year. In July, Iraq's Prime Minister announced that all of Mosul had been recaptured from the terror group.

ISIS' retreat accelerates, but reports of its demise are exaggerated

The man was accused of being member of the al-Zarqawi brigade, an armed wing of ISIS, and confessed to "carrying out several terrorist operations against the security services since 2015," Judge Abdul Sattar al-Beeraqdar, the High Judicial Council's spokesman, said in a statement.

He has been sentenced to death by hanging in accordance with article four of Iraq's anti-terrorism law, al-Beeraqdar said.

It is unclear exactly how many ISIS fighters, including foreigners, have been captured by Iraqi and Kurdish forces as they've recaptured territory from ISIS in recent months.

ISIS's retreat has accelerated in both Iraq and Syria over the past few weeks.

Iraqi forces seized the town of Tal Afar from the terror group in late August. Last Tuesday, Syrian troops broke the group's three-year siege of the strategic city of Deir Ezzor.

Meanwhile, in northern Syria, US-backed forces have captured two-thirds of Raqqa, ISIS's self-declared capital.

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