The M1-Abrams might be the best battle tank in the world, but at the tank's newest warground, Iraq, it faces off an old enemy.

This Iraqi M-1 Abrams, the same kind that the US Army uses was taken down by a Russian-made Kornet anti-tank guided missile (ATGM). The laser guided trajectory of the missile, fired by an ISIS fighter locks in, and within seconds the M1 explodes, in a furious blaze that seems more Hollywood than Mosul.

The M-1 Abrams has armour specially designed for cannon rounds and ATGMs, and was in play during the last big American campaign in Iraq. But even then, Kornet missiles took down these tanks.

The most recent edition of the Kornet can hit a target at five miles, and has a 'tandem-warhead' - to both defeat reactive armour and cut through the armour.

Thousands of troops, including a coalition of Western and Iraqi forces are marching into Mosul, Iraq's second largest city that ISIS invaded, and the centre of their 'Caliphate'. When they strike, supposed by US special troops and coalition warplanes, it will be the biggest "Iraqi military operation since the US-led invasion in 2003.