IRAQI forces are assessing the damage to the ancient site of Nimrud, south of Mosul, after it was retaken from Daesh militants over the weekend.

Major General Dhiaa al-Saadi, the deputy commander of Iraqi ground forces, who oversaw the operation, said the terrorist group almost completely destroyed the town’s ancient Assyrian archaeological site. He said that even before he saw the site himself, he had heard by radio that “it was gone”.

As the operation to retake Mosul progresses, al-Saadi acknowledged that he expects to find more ruined heritage sites like Nimrud.

Iraqi troops entered the ruins on Sunday in what was the most significant gain in several days for government forces – the late 1980s discovery of treasures in Nimrud’s royal tombs was one of the 20th century’s most significant archaeological finds.

The government has said that Daesh, who captured the site in June 2014, destroyed it the following year.

Militants are understood to have used bulldozers and dynamite to destroy some of the most significant relics on the site; a 50-metre tall tower that once overlooked the site has been reduced to rubble, while only pieces of ancient statues litter the ground.The ancient Assyrian city had stood for almost 3,000 years, and was the capital of what is thought to have been the world’s first empire.

Sheikh Ali Mohammad Hussain Albyati had grown up in the shadow of the ruins, and returned to the site yesterday as a commander in the tribal forces fighting alongside the Iraqi army, who helped liberate the area.

“Ninety-five per cent of the site has been destroyed,” said Albyati. “I’m very sad about what I’ve seen. Sometimes we feel that the ruins are more important to us than our own lives, our souls and our children.

“We should have arrived in the first six months [after Daesh seized the ruins] but the political facts and lack of military means led us to arrive so late. However, better late than never.”

Iraqi special forces are also frustrated by their slow progress, as they pushed deeper into Mosul, backed by air strikes. The troops have been routinely impeded by militants armed with rockets, as well as suicide bombers.

However, the military forces have established a foothold in the city’s east, and continue to force their way northwards into the Tahrir neighbourhood, where families left their houses to flee the fighting. Mortar fire from Daesh-held territory wounded at least five children who were trying to escape.

Artillery and air strikes from the US-led coalition supported the advance – with smoke rising from all over the city as militant territory is bombarded. The special forces have been the tip of the spear, driving the furthest into the city itself, but they are still fighting over neighbourhoods in its eastern edges.

The offensive to drive Daesh out of the northern city – their last remaining stronghold in the country – began on Monday, October 17.

After immediate gains in the suburbs of Mosul, progress has slowed as troops move into more built-up areas of the city, still home to more than a million civilians.

Special forces have captured a large area in the east, and have been advancing slowly over the past week to avoid casualties and civilian deaths as Daesh fighters emerge to attack from the dense, urban landscape, often with armour-plated cars used for suicide bombings.