Mosul Air Strikes

The ISIS once drew recruits from near and far with promises of paradise but now bodies of terrorists lie in mass graves or at the mercy of wild dogs as its "caliphate" collapses

Iraq has begun an aerial bombardment of Tal Afar, a town under ISIS control west of Mosul, Baghdad-based al-Sumariya TV reported on Tuesday, citing an Iraqi Defence Ministry spokesman.

On a pontoon bridge connecting East and West Mosul, residents of a city shattered by the battle to expel ISIS cross back and forth trying to rebuild their lives from the rubble.

A U.S.-led airstrike carried out on a building in Mosul in March detonated a cache of Islamic State explosives, killing more than 100 Iraqi civilians, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Air strikes by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group have likely "unintentionally" killed 229 civilians since the offensive began in 2014, according to US Central Command.

French terrorist Rachid Kassim, suspected of inspiring several attacks in France, was targeted in a coalition air strike near the Iraqi city of Mosul, but his death is not yet confirmed, the Pentagon said Friday. Earlier in the day, several French media reports had reported Kassim's death.

A small white drone hummed into sight and Thaker, a member of Iraq's special forces, grabbed his machinegun and started lighting up the blue sky above eastern Mosul.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has arrived in Baghdad to meet with American commanders and Iraqi leaders and to assess progress in the fight to retake the northern city of Mosul from the ISIS group.

Rebels in Aleppo have told the United States they will not leave their besieged enclave in the city after Moscow called for talks with Washington over their withdrawal, signalling they will fight on even as their top commander was wounded.

ISIS terrorists have staged near simultaneous attacks on positions of state-sanctioned militias west and south of Iraq's northern city of Mosul, apparently taking advantage of bad weather conditions that normally disrupt air support, two militia officials said on Saturday.

ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi The top boss of the Islamic State - who on Thursday denied the terror group was on the brink of losing control in the besieged northern Iraqi city of Mosul -- has himself fled, Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson said on Friday.

Iraq's special forces entered the outskirts of Mosul on Tuesday and were advancing toward its more urban center despite fierce resistance by ISIS group fighters who hold the city, an Iraqi general said.

Fighting raged as Iraq's special forces began their assault on Mosul itself on Tuesday, part of operations to drive the ISIS group from the country's second largest city.

The smoke from fires lit by ISIS jihadists to provide cover from air strikes has painted the northern Iraqi sky black, providing a dramatic backdrop for the Mosul offensive.

The US-led coalition battling the ISIS group has unleashed an unprecedented wave of air strikes in support of Iraq's operation to retake Mosul, American officials said on Monday.

The ISIS once drew recruits from near and far with promises of paradise but now bodies of terrorists lie in mass graves or at the mercy of wild dogs as its "caliphate" collapses

Iraq has begun an aerial bombardment of Tal Afar, a town under ISIS control west of Mosul, Baghdad-based al-Sumariya TV reported on Tuesday, citing an Iraqi Defence Ministry spokesman.

On a pontoon bridge connecting East and West Mosul, residents of a city shattered by the battle to expel ISIS cross back and forth trying to rebuild their lives from the rubble.

A U.S.-led airstrike carried out on a building in Mosul in March detonated a cache of Islamic State explosives, killing more than 100 Iraqi civilians, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Air strikes by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group have likely "unintentionally" killed 229 civilians since the offensive began in 2014, according to US Central Command.

French terrorist Rachid Kassim, suspected of inspiring several attacks in France, was targeted in a coalition air strike near the Iraqi city of Mosul, but his death is not yet confirmed, the Pentagon said Friday. Earlier in the day, several French media reports had reported Kassim's death.

A small white drone hummed into sight and Thaker, a member of Iraq's special forces, grabbed his machinegun and started lighting up the blue sky above eastern Mosul.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has arrived in Baghdad to meet with American commanders and Iraqi leaders and to assess progress in the fight to retake the northern city of Mosul from the ISIS group.

Rebels in Aleppo have told the United States they will not leave their besieged enclave in the city after Moscow called for talks with Washington over their withdrawal, signalling they will fight on even as their top commander was wounded.

ISIS terrorists have staged near simultaneous attacks on positions of state-sanctioned militias west and south of Iraq's northern city of Mosul, apparently taking advantage of bad weather conditions that normally disrupt air support, two militia officials said on Saturday.

ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi The top boss of the Islamic State - who on Thursday denied the terror group was on the brink of losing control in the besieged northern Iraqi city of Mosul -- has himself fled, Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson said on Friday.

Iraq's special forces entered the outskirts of Mosul on Tuesday and were advancing toward its more urban center despite fierce resistance by ISIS group fighters who hold the city, an Iraqi general said.

Fighting raged as Iraq's special forces began their assault on Mosul itself on Tuesday, part of operations to drive the ISIS group from the country's second largest city.

The smoke from fires lit by ISIS jihadists to provide cover from air strikes has painted the northern Iraqi sky black, providing a dramatic backdrop for the Mosul offensive.

The US-led coalition battling the ISIS group has unleashed an unprecedented wave of air strikes in support of Iraq's operation to retake Mosul, American officials said on Monday.