Mosul: Heartbreaking video emerges of baby desperate for water after being rescued from rubble

A video of Iraqi soldiers discovering and rescuing a child trapped in the rubble of Mosul's Old City has emerged.

The footage was first shared on Facebook by user Abu Ali Zubaidi, who said the toddler was the son of a Chinese militant who had joined the Isis terror group in Iraq. However, soldiers in the video said the boy was from Tajikistan.

The footage emerged on 24 July, as Mosul reels following the recent end of years of occupation by Isis.

The group captured Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, in 2014, imposing a strict interpretation of Islam throughout the occupied territories. Civilians who did not abide by the group's strict rules were subjected to punishments including lashing, beheading and lapidation.

Earlier this month, the Iraqi army declared Mosul liberated from Isis after months of fierce fighting.

The victory was the result of what became known as the 'Battle for Mosul', a joint military offensive that began in October 2016 and aimed to retake control of the besieged town. The Iraqi army, the Kurdistan Regional government and a US-led coalition were all involved in the offensive.

In June, the Iraqi troops' advancement into Mosul's Old City prompted Isis militants to destroy the al-Nuri Mosque.

The mosque was highly symbolic as it was used by Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to deliver his declaration of the establishment of an Isis caliphate (religious state) when the group emerged in 2014. Isis used it as a base to become an unprecedented global terror threat.

Isis used to control larges swathes of Iraq and Syria, but the group has progressively lost several controlled areas due to joint offensives launched in both countries.