weeping softly gunfire narrator tonight, on this special edition of frontline two stories about survival, determination, and the battle for iraq. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontliis provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust, supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Isiss socalled caliphate is under attack. Its been an effective summer for iraqi forces battling isil fighters. The edge of mosul is close. Iraqs Prime Minister says the battle to retake mosul from isis is going more quickly than expected. Iraqi forces are saying its going much faster than planned. Narrator mosul, northern iraq. Reporter Ghaith Abdulahad is on his way to the front line. For more than two years, this city of over a Million People has been under isis control. Now the iraqi army, backed by Kurdish Forces and u. S. Airstrikes, is trying to retake it. Abdulahad iraqs my own country, i lived in iraq, i grew up in iraq. I knew mosul since i was a child. My father used to take me with him. I walked in the old city, in the old market. I had this connection to mosul. In 2016, mosul was declared as this final battle, the final showdown with isis. I went to mosul to see if the liberation of the city will usher the end of this endless war that has been going on in iraq since 2003. Narrator the operation began in october 2016, and the army quickly defeated isis in the villages surrounding the city. But when they entered mosul itself, the advance was slowed by fierce fighting. Isis used snipers hidden amongst the civilians to exact heavy casualties. gunshot men speaking arabic narrator and they began an Unprecedented Campaign of suicide attacks. It is now five weeks since the battle began. Ghaith is with the elite Iraqi Special operations forces, known as the golden division. Theyre taking him to their commander in eastern mosul. Narrator the route to the front line passes through areas that until recently were controlled by isis. Abdulahad the narrative was, the iraqi armys moving very quickly. Isis lines are collapsing. As we start driving in, you realize youre not driving through a liberated neighborhood per se, but youre driving through a battle zone. Narrator unknown to the soldiers, isis fighters are lying in wait. gunshot narrator ghaith and the soldiers make it past the isis snipers and stop at a base the unit has set up in a local house. Abdulahad where we are is 380 meters from one front line, 400 meters from another front line. The fire is really close. As we drove, even the socalled liberated neighborhoods, which we are now, is under constant fire. A bullet whizzed over our heads. The distance between war and civilian life is almost nonexistent. Its kind of street by street. Narrator the units leader, Lieutenant Colonel munthadar, is using drones to direct his men to isis positions. He commands around 125 soldiers and has survived several isis attacks. Munthadar has a reputation for toughness. To his men, he is known simply as fuladh, which means steel. This is gokjeli. The Radio Station is here. We want to clear all this area back to gokjeli. We will close this area off. I want to secure the residential area. These are tall apartment buildings. So its very hard to fight here. Narrator the iraqi army has a Bad Reputation in mosul. The population here is mainly sunni muslim the army, mainly shia. Before the isis takeover, the army was accused of sectarian abuses and illegal detentions. Abdulahad the civilians, i am sure they look at the soldiers and they worry who will be detained next. Its like two people of one nation finally meeting. A week ago, three days ago, those people would have not imagined sitting there having a conversation with a shia iraqi soldier from the south. Narrator munthadar says he understands the residents fears, but he is trying to convince them that he is on their side. translated people are starting to trust us, and they are telling us where isis infiltrators are hiding. The people whove been liberated, they say the army is not sectarian. This is not a Sectarian Army or a shia army or anything of the sort. Its an iraqi army coming to liberate. Narrator but the fight has become bogged down in mosuls densely populated neighborhoods. translated before one of our soldiers pulls the trigger, he needs to be aware of exactly who is in front of him. I mean, an army can fight against a regular army in the usual way. Tank against tank, soldier against soldier. But what is happening here is a dirty battle. Against dirty people. Its difficult liberating these areas from this filth. gunshots in distance narrator its dangerous to stay so close to the front line at night, so ghaith and some of the soldiers pull back. Narrator the soldiers seem nervous. Isis fighters are in the area. Narrator they arrive in the neighborhood where they will spend the night, and meet up with some of their fellow soldiers. radio beeps narrator the soldiers are on the lookout for isis collaborators among the civilians. They have orders from the Lieutenant Colonel to treat captives humanely. But away from the fighting, one of the soldiers watches videos of isis suspects being tortured. man in video screaming man screaming man talking on radio man talking on radio man talking in video man screams in video narrator a local family has agreed to let ghaith and the soldiers spend the night in their house. They are a mile back from the front line, and feel safe. But theyre wrong. The war is about to come to them. Abdulahad i wake up early in the morning. I went outside to the street. And i saw the soldier across the street from me, and he shouted, mufakhkhakha mufakhkhakha car bomb, car bomb this is the other entrance of the building. Yes. Get it quickly. gunshots narrator an isis truck bomb has exploded a few feet in front of the house where ghaith and the soldiers spent the night. The house has collapsed. Ghaith immediately starts filming. He finds the soldier who warned him. gunfire narrator isis gunmen are now trying to pick off the soldiers, who fire back. Abdulahad we were in the middle of this huge scene of carnage. Everything is this dark, black, grey, mixture of concrete and burnt plastic, puddles of water, debris, burnt humvees. Then the civilians start emerging from the collapsed houses. Narrator ghaiths colleague and producer, josh baker, has dug himself out of the rubble. He will later discover he has a fractured spine. children crying narrator no soldiers have been killed. The civilians have borne the brunt of the attack. Several are feared dead under the debris. Those that survived are now homeless. gunfire in background narrator the soldiers think the attack was meant to kill Lieutenant Colonel munthadar. Abdulahad i think that day, we realized the complexity of the battle. The civilians are still there. This is a battle happening between two enemies on a land inhabited by the civilians. No one knows how many civilians have been killed in this battle of mosul, not even the government of iraq. Narrator in the weeks that followed, ghaith and many other journalists pulled out of iraq, and mosul slipped from the headlines. In december, when ghaith returned, iraqi forces had made little progress and isis suicide bombings in mosul had become routine. siren blaring horn beeps child crying narrator today, three truck bombs have detonated in a market. The casualties are rushed to a hospital in the nearby kurdish city of erbil. child crying monitors beeping narrator since the battle began, thousands of civilians have been injured in mosul. The hospitals senior surgeon has been struggling to cope. Abdulahad so you dont have enough medicine . Abdulahad so no preparation for the war . Narrator these residents of mosul have all spent more than two years living under isis rule. children chattering and yelling narrator more than 160,000 people have fled the fighting in mosul. Many are living in camps outside the city. Abu yasin is a computer engineer who worked at mosuls university. translated compared to home and what we have experienced, we see this camp as a blessing. Yes, its miserable, but it is still better than death. Narrator he tells ghaith that when the Iraqi Special forces first drove isis out of his neighborhood, it was a moment of hope. translated people started making jokes, saying its time to shave our beards. The barbershop opened and we all went and shaved. We were happy to see the end of the oppression. Narrator but then isis began launching suicide attacks near his home. translated the iraqi army is taking ground, but nobody is holding it. So what is the use of liberating us, but then letting isis come back in to kill not only the army, but the people, too . Narrator he is now worried that even if the iraqi army defeats isis, life will not improve in mosul. translated yes. What im hearing now, speaking to people in mosul on the phone, is that things are changing. The soldiers who liberated us were one thing, but those coming now are different, so people are scared. Things could change. People have limited patience, and time is running out. When you feel youre being killed by the shia militia, by isis, by your neighbor, by the army, whats the point of living . You might as well join the fight yourself. Narrator since the rise of isis in iraq, thousands of their fighters have been arrested and detained. Some have been taken here, to the kurdish town of sulaymaniyah. Ghaith has been given permission to interview a captured isis fighter, with a kurdish Intelligence Officer in the room. Adil ali ahmed says that when isis took over his hometown in 2014, many welcomed them, as they were sick of the iraqi army acting like an occupying force. translated they came suddenly. It was like a miracle. They lifted all the checkpoints. There were no arrests. Nobody would ask where you were going. Because of this, i became convinced and joined them. translated i was forced to do this. I feared them. I had no other choice. siren blaring narrator kurdish Authorities Say he confessed to his role in the suicide attacks. translated in the beginning, yes. But when i started seeing death and destruction i regretted it. If i could, i would tell the people i have hurt to take their revenge on me. I mean. Narrator back in mosul, the battle has not been going according to plan. Lieutenant colonel munthadar and his unit have advanced only a mile further into the city since they were hit by the truck bomb. Narrator he says that more than half his men have been wounded or killed in isis attacks, but he remains determined to win over the local population. translated i want my troops to make a good impression. So i win the trust of the people. Because the people in mosul have lost trust in the police and army units who were here in 2013 and 2014. There were mistakes. Mistakes were committed here that our military and civilian leaders have acknowledged. There were abuses, there was oppression of the people. Narrator the commanders approach pays off. He gets a tip from a resident that three local men are suspected of being isis collaborators. Ghaith is filming as the men are being taken to iraqi intelligence for interrogation. man laughing translated we are here to bring peace and security inside mosul and defeat isis. There are two forces at work here, good and evil. The world is divided in this way. There are people with isis and there are people helping us against isis. Abdulahad the commander is treading on a very delicate balance, a balance between defeating isis, killing his enemy, and not repeating the same mistakes that led to the people of mosul realizing that the army is a force of oppression. In that delicate balance rests the future of mosul and the future of iraq. Narrator on the street, a local man complains to munthadar that iraqi forces have arrested his son. Narrator suddenly, someone spots an isis drone armed with a grenade. people shouting explosion gun firing man talking on radio gunfire narrator the soldiers try to shoot down the drone. Once again, they think it was an isis attempt to kill munthadar. The grenade exploded on the spot he had been standing seconds before. Then they spot more drones. translated the battle for mosul is the key to the future of iraq. Its an international battle. The whole world is watching as long as i have the ability to help the people, i will help them. But the enemy we are fighting is the most vicious enemy in the history of the world. The people we are fighting, they dont believe in retreat. They will fight to the death. Isis has destroyed much of the city. Special forces now control the eastern side. A war of atrrition has set. They have yet to enter the west of mosul. Once a vibrant city. Abdulahad i started this journey thinking, feeling a glimmer of hope that the war might actually end after liberating mosul, that maybe we can have a moment of peace. By the end, because of the level of bloodshed, the level of trauma, i dont think peace will come easily. Its not about liberating a land, its not about capturing or defeating isis. Its about how much hatred there exists in the society. That cycle of violence, unless its broken, i dont think well have peace in this country. Im leaving with, with far much less hope than when i started this jrney. Narrator the battle for mosul goes on. Munthadarrs men, and other uns of the golden division, face many more months of fighting isis. In a city that still contains hundreds of thousands of civilians. Narrator coming up next on frontlinwe go deeper into mosul. missile launches narrator with a special unit from the golden division, battling isis. Narrator as they advance into neighborhoods full of trapped civilians. And struggle to tell the enemy from the innocent. Hunting isis begins right now. Narrator these are the soldiers of the 1st commando battalion. They are a special unit of iraqs elite golden division, trained for intense urban warfare. In the brutal battle for mosul, the 1st battalion is at the tip of the spear. Their job is to push into the city, killing or capturing isis fighters who are hiding among the local population. Narrator this squad is led by 25yearold First Lieutenant anmar alshamry, a sunni muslim from baghdad. gunfire gunfire narrator anmars unit pushes into the tahrir district of eastern mosul. They must root out isis street by street in an area still full of civilians. Narrator anmar leads his soldiers house to house looking for isis. They dont trust the civilians anyone could be an isis sympathizer. shouting, crying and the civilians fear the soldiers. baby crying narrator anmars unit has pushed isis back and needs to establish a base in the neighborhood. Narrator the soldiers occupy a house and move onto the rooftop. distant gunfire narrator they set up sniper positions to look for isis gunmen and suicide attackers. Mustafa alghazi is the units best sniper. In such densely populated areas, it is difficult to distinguish fighters from civilians. Narrator sergeant naif alqairani has served in the iraqi army for 11 years. He fought alongside u. S. Marines in 2006. This rooftop is the farthest he and the other soldiers have gotten into mosul. The other side of the road is isis territory. Narrator the family goes back into the house, but the soldiers spot an isis fighter. Narrator then across the road where he was shooting, another family emerges. Narrator the soldiers are not supposed to let civilians inside in case they are suicide bombers, but they allow the family in. Narrator forced to wear a veil in isiscontrolled mosul, this woman, maryam, can now show her face in public for the first time in more than two years. Narrator a moment of calm. Residents come out of hiding to greet the soldiers. Narrator but the soldiers still suspect isis fighters are hiding among the locals. The unit arrests two men. One of them was informed on by his wife, who said he had been fighting for isis. Narrator after questioning, the men were eventually released. But the soldiers detain another man they suspect of being an isis member. Narrator they want to check the mans trigger finger for signs he has been in battle. Narrator the soldiers later handed over the prisoner to iraqs feared military intelligence. Narrator sergeant naifs family had to flee their home after isis captured their town in northern iraq. Narrator as the unit is pushing into a new neighborhood, they come under a surprise attack from isis gunmen. gunfire narrator then an airstrike from the u. S. Led Coalition Takes out the isis position. In the aftermath, a disturbing scene. The soldiers find the decapitated body of an isis fighter. They say they dont know who did it. Narrator inside the humvee the soldiers listen to local isis radio. Its an interview with a boy planning a suicide attack. screaming, gunfire narrator out on the street, an isis suicide bomber has broken through the units defenses. shouting gunfire, screaming screaming narrator the attack came from the neighborhood they thought they had cleared. gunfire narrator at night, isis uses a mosque to broadcast its propaganda, calling for more attacks. gunfire gunfire narrator early the next morning, a new wave of civilians rush to flee the city, with whatever belongings they can carry. Narrator the only way out is to walk. sobbing next time on frontline at the height of the war on terror guantanamo held almost 700 detainees. Now, all but 41 have been released. Npr correspondent arun rath investigates where theyve gone. Do you think there was a misunderstanding about the terms of your release . And whos responsible now that theyre out of gitmo. Go to pbs. Org frontline for our Virtual Reality film battle for mosul 360 with reporter Ghaith Abdulahad. Two, three months since isis fled this area. It was set alight by isis. And read more of his reporting for frontline and the guardian. Find out more about the making of battle for iraq in our interview with producer, josh baker. Connect to the Frontline Community on facebook and twitter, and sign up for our newsletter at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontliis provided by the john d. And ine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust, supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org for more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlinebattle for iraq is available on dvd. To order, visit shoppbs. Org or call 1800playpbs. Frontline is also available for download on itunes. Youre watching pbs. Youre watching pbs. David pogue whats going wrong with our batteries . Reporter massive recall. Pogue theyre critical for electric vehicles and fighting climate change. We need Renewable Energy storage. Pogue which elements can solve the worlds problems . Hmm. Pumpkin spice. Im david pogue. Can batteries be better . Its still on more powerful . Oh cleaner . The stakes are huge as we search for the super battery. Next time on nova. Narrator how did it happen that a wild harbor seal found lifelong friendship with a salty guy from maine . Harry goodridge why hes so popular . Hes great, thats why. 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