Islamic State under pressure in Iraqi and Syrian strongholds

By Stephen Kalin and Goran TomasevicMOSUL, Iraq/RAQQA, Syria (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Iraqi forces pressed Islamic State fighters holding out in Mosul's Old City on Friday, while in Syria the militant group launched a counter-attack against an alliance of militias trying to oust it from its de facto capital of Raqqa.In Iraq, dozens of civilians poured out of Mosul, long held by IS, and fled in the direction of the Iraqi forces, many of them women and children, thirsty, tired and some wounded.Iraq