The Battle for Mosul: Sky News on the frontline

The Battle for Mosul: Sky News on the frontline

On the frontline

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent in Mosul

Sky News has witnessed house-to-house fighting in west Mosul as Iraqi forces try to push Islamic State out of their last stronghold in the country.

On the frontline in Mosul

The US-led coalition is attempting to recapture the Old City from the extremists but the ancient quarters are densely populated and there have been concerns over civilian casualties.

The jihadists have been sheltering behind families, mounting attacks from their homes while terrorising them into remaining in a bid to stave off reprisals.

Image: An Iraqi army sniper takes aim during the advance on Mosul's Old City

Cubs of the caliphate

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent in Mosul

There have been many horrendous propaganda videos produced by Islamic State, but the latest I have seen is genuinely the worst.


IS turns boys into deadly soldiers

It shows young boys being trained to fight and let loose in a disused warehouse.

Dressed in black combat fatigues and masked, the boys run through military drills. It is standard propaganda stuff. Every terror organisation films this type of thing.

But there is a difference.

Image: The children in this detention centre face spending their entire youth behind bars

Losing territory

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor in Mosul

IS caliphate fragments; ideology remains

For the hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in paralysed terror, the rattling of constant gunfire in Mosul hardly sounds like "victory".

But Islamic State is under pressure. The group has lost about 80% of the territory it controls in Iraq and perhaps half in Syria - and its revenues have collapsed.

It is safe to say IS no longer really exists - but the ideology that brought it to life still does.

Image: The Khasfa sinkhole near Mosul

Mass graves

By John Sparks, Correspondent in Mosul

The IS mass graves hiding thousands of bodies

Officials fear Islamic State may have used a sinkhole south of Mosul to bury an estimated 6,000 bodies - maybe more.

But surveying the Khasfa crater is not easy, as the terror group has saturated the wasteland with landmines. Sky News understands five people have already lost their lives trying to access it.

It is believed IS turned the crater's rim into an execution site and threw their victims down the hole - acts of depravity committed so frequently that the Khasfa is almost certainly Iraq's biggest mass grave.

Image: Plumes of smoke rise from a neighbourhood in west Mosul

Islamic State is 'bankrupt'

By Alex Rossi, Middle East Correspondent

Iraq's former finance minister has told Sky News that Islamic State is nearly bankrupt and is running out of money to pay its fighters.

At its peak, IS was the richest terrorist organisation in the world - with a huge network of criminal enterprises to finance its network.

The oil fields it captured in northern Iraq, and later set fire to, still belch out thick and acrid smoke.

Image: A boy rides his bike past an oil field set on fire by retreating IS fighters

Suicide car bombers

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent, in west Mosul

Iraqi soldiers brave car bombs in Mosul fight

Iraqi forces are facing waves of suicide car bombings as they attempt to push their way towards the Old City and recapture west Mosul from Islamic State extremists.

Their new tactics include circling the Old City using a number of different units which are approaching from different points.

But they are facing strong resistance from a indeterminable number of IS militants who have been bedded down in the ancient quarters for nearly three years and are prepared to die.

Image: Mosul's al Jadida area

British IS fighter

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent in Mosul

British IS recruit on the run from Mosul

Islamic State in Mosul is made up of locals and backed by foreign fighters, including Britons. But not all are keen to fight.

Many were forced here and as the fighting intensifies they are trying to desert what is almost certainly the most dangerous battlefield in the world today.

For the first time, a self-confessed IS member on the run from Mosul and hiding in Syria has spoken.

Image: A car bomb blast rocks Mosul during the offensive to retake the city from IS

Hunt for a bombmaker

By Alex Rossi, Middle East Correspondent in Mosul

We joined a SWAT team on the hunt for an IS explosives expert called Ali Khattar.

Mosul snatch squads hunt IS suspects

The neighbourhood in east Mosul - which is now under the control of Iraqi forces - was home to many IS fighters.

At the house where he was staying the suspect was dragged on to the street. Warning shots were fired as he was interrogated.

Image: Children at a refugee camp in Mosul, visited by Sky Presenter Anna Botting

Life as a refugee

By Anna Botting, Sky News Presenter in Mosul

In areas of Mosul cleared of Islamic State fighters life is returning to normal, but there are fears about the trauma suffered by children who have grown up under the militants.

Healing the hearts of Mosul's children

In Chamakor camp, which was clean, spacious and carefully laid out, there are 11,800 refugees from west Mosul. Some 6,600 of them are children.

A camp official told me he saw some of them, aged six or seven, cutting the head off a mud figure.