Page 9 - Inside Mosul News Today

>> iraqi led forces continue the offensive to take the city of mosul which is held by isis for roughly two years now and also been a symbol of iraqi and u.s. failure to halt the spread of isis in that part of the world. i want to bring in jane harmon. former democratic congresswoman from new york and also sits on the commission on presidential debates. thank you for being with me. >> headed to vegas. >> i would imagine so. lets talk about the debate in a moment but start with whats happening rig...

Themselves. this is going to be very tricky in iraq. lets understand. even if this mosul campaign succeeds and its important it succeeds, what does the day after look like? the iraqi government isnt strong. shia militias that have been forbidden to be in this fight could come back in if the government doesnt really take control and hold the ground, and engage in ethnic cleansing. there could be a vacuum. iran moves in, et cetera. so this whole region is still enormously, enormously shaky and how...

Still left inside mosul. and thats something that needs to be explained. i mean, were talking about a situation thats going to get worse. the iraqi military and the u.s. military both said theyre ahead of schedule but this is a very modest schedule and we need to put this into perspective. this battle is probably going to extend for quite a while. this is just the first day in the battle probably going to last maybe even into next year, craig. >> matt, the significance of mos mosul. you mentione...

>> that is the fear for people living inside mosul. and again you have the shiite militia joining the iraqi army coming up from the south. there are all of these rules of engagement. specifically, only the iraqi army is going to enter the city of mosul. the kurdish forces will not go farther south, the -- its a big-time political problem. >> its a million people in the city, if they go, where do they go? >> there are humanitarian centers set up in the northern part of the city. lets look at irbi...

Eastern side. they already apparently, we have been told by people at the frontline, encountered one truck bomb approaching their position, but it was taken out by a u.s.-led coalition aircraft. this operation will take a long time. at this point, it appears the iraqi and kurdish forces will even si encircle the city before they go inside mosul who are secretly phoning us on mobile phones that isis fighter s in the city are n an agitated state. the mosques are calling on the si citizens to resis...

Vital role. the fact they are doing what theyre doing is making this offensive possible. >> do we have a sense what isis has been doing inside mosul for the last two years in terms of preparing for this? are they dug in? have they tunnelled through? we have seen this before with isis, do you think they will try to maintain their numbers and just flee and retreat? >> one of the real key elements of the way of war, the way people fight wars in the middle east is they have that option to flee. you ...

>> reporter: and they appear to be attacking sinjar from three areas. one from the north near sinjar mountain where you saw the terrifying pictures of people fleeing for their lives in brutality of isis. today, we understand the offensive started at 9:00 last night. intensification of coalition air strikes. we saw it throughout the sky in the dark. from where we are, toward the west of the city itself, we are seeing intense fighting around. you cannot see it in the distance behind me, but this i...

>> we were told by a very senior member of isis who ive been having regular conversations with over the last three years, that abu bakr alba baghdadi was immobilized. he was still functioning, still talking, still communicating, but hes been bedridden ever since. hes not been able to move. and there is a very real fear that he has enduring spinal damage. >> but he is conscious, yes? >> hes conscious. hes functioning. hes able to communicate with his subordinates. hes convening meetings. as far a...

Erbil and government officials that hes stepped in in a fill-in role. hes one of the people thats been put on the list with the $7 million bounty on his head. that happened last wednesday. we also learned today from inside mosul that a sermon was given at the grand mosque in mosul last friday. that was the very same mosque that al baghdadi made his only appearance last june when he claimed the mantle of caliph. >> if hes one of these four leaders with this bounty on his head im also wondering if...

Beheaded because they stood up for their christian faith. >> in the process they ended up killing all four of those boys, cutting their heads off for the their faith. it was a level of brutality we cannot relate to. these are modern day nazis. theeing are ideologues that feed on the blood and violence. were hearing more and more inside mosul and other places of more violence like this. theyre not desperate per se, but the radicalization takes them to a place where violence begets more violence. ...