Mosul

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U.S. soldiers (left) participate in a training mission with Iraqi army soldiers outside Baghdad on May 27, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

The Latest: UN: Violence kills 1,792 Iraqis in October

Associated Press

Iraqi Federal Police officers observe as air and ground strikes hit the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Iraqi troops approaching Mosul from the south advanced into Shura on Saturday after a wave of US led airstrikes and artillery shelling against Islamic State positions inside town. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Iraqi special forces near Mosul from east in dawn assault

By Qassim Abdul-Zahra - Associated Press

An Iraqi special forces soldier clutches his weapon as he prepares for an offensive to retake Mosul from Islamic State militants at a camp near Khazer, Iraq, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. The US-led coalition says they are increasing airstrikes in and around the militant-held city of Mosul as Iraqi ground forces are building up ahead of a planned operation to retake the city. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck)

Mosul Today: Iraqi forces take last village east of Mosul

Associated Press

U.S. soldiers (left) participate in a training mission with Iraqi army soldiers outside Baghdad on May 27, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Iraqi special forces poised on eastern edge of Mosul

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA - Associated Press

U.S. soldiers (left) participate in a training mission with Iraqi army soldiers outside Baghdad on May 27, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

The Latest: Iraq premier urges IS in Mosul to surrender

Associated Press

In this Wednesday Oct 26, 2016 photo, Bakr Mahmoud Mahdi, a presenter at the private Nineveh TV talks to callers on his live studio show, in Irbil, Iraq. Mahdi prepares to go live with a show called “Freedom Studio,” which he says allows victims of war to vent. Television stations in Iraq have been hosting call-in shows that offer a rare line of communication between Mosul residents who have been displaced and those still residing in the Islamic State-held city. But as Iraqi forces push closer to the city and the militants viciously enforce a ban on phones and the internet, voices from inside Mosul are falling silent. (AP Photo/Fay Abuelgasim)

Iraq TV call-in show gives glimpse inside IS-held Mosul

By FAY ABUELGASIM - Associated Press

An Iraqi special forces soldier clutches his weapon as he prepares for an offensive to retake Mosul from Islamic State militants at a camp near Khazer, Iraq, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. The US-led coalition says they are increasing airstrikes in and around the militant-held city of Mosul as Iraqi ground forces are building up ahead of a planned operation to retake the city. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck)

Iraq’s Shiite militias join Mosul push; bombs rock Baghdad

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and BRIAN ROHAN - Associated Press

The Latest: Parked car bomb kills 10 in Baghdad neighborhood

Associated Press

Internally displaced persons clear a checkpoint in Qayara, some 50 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. Islamic State militants have been going door to door in farming communities south of Mosul, ordering people at gunpoint to follow them north into the city and apparently using them as human shields as they retreat from Iraqi forces. Witnesses to the forced evacuation describe scenes of chaos as hundreds of people were driven north across the Ninevah plains and into the heavily-fortified city, where the extremists are believed to be preparing for a climactic showdown. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Thousands of Iraqis being used as human shields near Mosul

By SUSANNAH GEORGE and GEIR MOULSON - Associated Press

U.S. soldiers (left) participate in a training mission with Iraqi army soldiers outside Baghdad on May 27, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

The Latest:

Associated Press

A soldier with Iraq's elite counterterrorism force, left, inspects a tunnel made by Islamic State militants in Bartella, Iraq, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016. The town of Bartella in northern Iraq lays about 20 kilometres east of Mosul. (AP Photo/Ali Abdul Hassan)

U.N.: ISIS militants using tens of thousands as human shields in Mosul

By Susannah George - Associated Press

An Iraqi Federal Police vehicle passes through a checkpoint in Qayara, some 50 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. Islamic State militants have been going door to door in farming communities south of Mosul, ordering people at gunpoint to follow them north into the city and apparently using them as human shields as they retreat from Iraqi forces. Witnesses to the forced evacuation describe scenes of chaos as hundreds of people were driven north across the Ninevah plains and into the heavily-fortified city, where the extremists are believed to be preparing for a climactic showdown. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Donald Trump on Mosul: ‘Why can’t they win first and talk later?’

By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times

An Iraqi special forces soldier clutches his weapon as he prepares for an offensive to retake Mosul from Islamic State militants at a camp near Khazer, Iraq, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. The US-led coalition says they are increasing airstrikes in and around the militant-held city of Mosul as Iraqi ground forces are building up ahead of a planned operation to retake the city. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck)

The Latest: Iraqi forces push IS out of town near Mosul

Associated Press

U.S. soldiers (left) participate in a training mission with Iraqi army soldiers outside Baghdad on May 27, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Iraqis find bomb factory, tunnels on long road to Mosul

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and JOSEPH KRAUSS - Associated Press

Smoke rises as Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces attack Islamic State positions, in the village of Tob Zawa, outside Mosul, Monday, Oct. 24, 2016. A convoy of special forces advanced toward the village of Tob Zawa, Monday, encountering roadside bombs and trading heavy fire with the militants. Loudspeakers on the Humvees blared Iraqi patriotic music as they pushed toward the village. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Turkish-trained militias in the fight for Mosul, U.S. eyes larger role for country in Iraq

By Carlo Muñoz - The Washington Times

A survivor looks for his family members at the scene of a deadly suicide car bomb attack in the New Baghdad neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, June 9, 2016. Two separate suicide attacks in and outside the Iraqi capital have killed at least 27 people and wounded dozens. Officials say the deadliest bombing took place in New Baghdad, a commercial area of a majority Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, killing over a dozen civilians. Another suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into an Iraqi army checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

IS driving hundreds into Mosul, using them as human shields

By SUSANNAH GEORGE and JOSEPH KRAUSS - Associated Press

Soldiers give the first aid to a boy injured during the clashes between Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces and Islamic State militiants in the village of Tob Zawa, about 9 kilometers (5&#189; miles) from Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016. Iraqi forces battled Islamic State fighters for a third day in a remote western town far from Mosul on Tuesday, but the U.S.-led coalition insisted the latest in a series of "spoiler attacks" had not forced it to divert resources from the fight to retake Iraq's second-largest city. (AP Photo/Qassim Abdul-Zahra)

Iraqi forces evacuate 1,000 civilians from Mosul front lines

By Qassim Abdul-Zahra - Associated Press

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016 file photo, youths ride bicycles next to a burning oil well in Qayara, about 31 miles (50 km) south of Mosul, Iraq. The Islamic State group has pioneered brutally innovative tactics and launched diversionary attacks that have shocked its opponents, and now many fear it has more surprises in store as Iraqi forces close in on Mosul. Last week’s assault on the northern city of Kirkuk offers a glimpse at the kind of asymmetrical response it might mount as Iraqi forces close in on Mosul, its last major urban bastion in the country. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic, File)

Threatened in Mosul, Islamic State uses alternative tactics

By JOSEPH KRAUSS - Associated Press

Illustration on the results of defeating the Islamic State by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

The Battle of Mosul

By Clifford D. May

"We're seeking the lasting defeat of ISIL. And a lasting defeat of ISIL can't be achieved by outsiders. It can only be achieved by those who live there," Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said. (Associated Press)

U.S., allies shift focus to ISIS capital Raqqa in quest for ‘lasting defeat’

By Carlo Muñoz - The Washington Times