Four months ago, thousands of Iraqi and Kurdish troops, supported by the United States, France, Britain, and other western nations, began a massive operation to retake Iraq's second largest city of Mosul from ISIS militants. About two weeks ago, Iraqi government troops began to push into the western half of ISIS-occupied Mosul, after securing the eastern side. Beginning with the airport, troops have been going from neighborhood to neighborhood, house to house, facing fierce resistance from ISIS militants, including suicide attacks, improvised drone bombings, snipers, and booby traps. Tens of thousands more Iraqis have fled the new battles, joining many more thousands in overfull refugee camps throughout Iraq. Also, see previous stories on the battle for Mosul here, here, and here.
The Battle for Mosul Moves West
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Read moreA man cries as he carries his daughter while fleeing from an ISIS-controlled part of Mosul towards Iraqi special forces soldiers during a battle in Mosul, Iraq, on March 4, 2017. #
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Read moreSmoke rises following an airstrike in western Mosul on March 6, 2017, during an offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the western parts of the city. #
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Read moreAn Iraqi special forces soldier fires at a drone operated by ISIS militants in Mosul on March 4, 2017. #
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Read moreAn Iraqi Air Force helicopter fires missiles at ISIS fighters on the outskirts of Mosul on February 26, 2017. #
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Read moreAn Iraqi special forces soldier shot dead an ISIS suicide bomber in Mosul on March 3, 2017. #
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Read moreA door of an Iraqi special forces vehicle is seen during a battle with ISIS fighters on the outskirts of Mosul on February 25, 2017. #
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Read moreIraqi special forces soldiers walk on a street in Mosul during a battle with ISIS on March 3, 2017. #
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Read moreAn injured Iraqi Emergency Response Division (ERD) soldier hit by a mortar is held by another officer as they wait for medics to arrive at the ISIS-occupied Mosul Airport in west Mosul on February 23, 2017. Iraqi forces encountered stiff resistance with improvised explosives, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance before they successfully took the airport. #
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Read moreDisplaced Iraqis flee their homes due to fighting between Iraqi security forces and ISIS militants, on the western side of Mosul on February 25. 2017. #
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Read moreIraqi families walk down a road as they flee the fighting in Mosul on March 3, 2017. #
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Read moreDisplaced Iraqis flee their homes as Iraqi forces battle with ISIS militants, in western Mosul on March 6, 2017. #
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Read moreKhatla Ali Abdullah, 90, is embraced while she flees her home as Iraqi forces battle with ISIS in western Mosul on February 27, 2017. #
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Read moreA view shows Khazer camp for displaced Iraqi people who fled the ISIS stronghold of Mosul on February 6, 2017. #
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Read moreDisplaced Iraqi children who fled Mosul with their families play on a swing hung from barbed wire at Khazer camp, Iraq, on February 6, 2017. #
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Read moreA vehicle of Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service drives through a heavily damaged street in Mosul on March 1, 2017. #
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Read moreAn Iraqi special forces soldier checks men for explosive belts as they cross from an ISIS-controlled part of Mosul to an Iraqi forces-controlled area on March 4, 2017. #
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Read moreAn Iraqi Federal policeman gives water to one of two handcuffed suspected ISIS militants after they were arrested inside their home on the western side of Mosul on February 27. 2017. #
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Read moreIraqi security forces launch a rocket against ISIS positions during clashes on the western side of Mosul on March 5, 2017. #
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Read moreDisplaced Iraqis flee their homes as Iraqi forces battle with ISIS, in the district of Maamoun in western Mosul, on February 25, 2017. #
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Read moreA member of the Iraqi federal police walks up the stairs of a house in the city of Mosul while Iraqi forces fight against jihadists on February 26, 2017. #
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Read moreA view of ISIS slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel that was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in a hillside overlooking Mosul, on March 4, 2017. The slogan reads, "We will conquer Rome, God willing". #
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Read moreA member of the Iraqi forces stands over a body in Mosul on March 5, 2017, during an offensive to retake the western parts of the city from the jihadists. #
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Read moreAn explosion follows an airstrike during the battle against ISIS in the district of al-Mamoun in Mosul on March 1, 2017. #
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Read moreDisplaced Iraqis flee their homes in the Al Mansour district, western Mosul, on March 6, 2017. #
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Read moreIraqis holding white flags flee Mosul on March 1, 2017. #
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Read moreA convoy of tanks and armored vehicles of the Iraqi army's 34th brigade advances near Talul al-Atshana, on the southwestern outskirts of Mosul, on February 27, 2017. #
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Read moreAn Iraqi special forces soldier runs across a street in Mosul during a battle with ISIS on March 3, 2017. #
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Read moreFire and smoke billow following a car bomb explosion as Iraqi forces clash with ISIS fighters in Mosul on March 5, 2017. #
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Read moreA lion in its cage looks at a dead lioness in a grave in Mosul's zoo on February 2, 2017. Once a peaceful animal park, the zoo, like much of the city, was destroyed by months of fighting between Iraqi forces and ISIS militants. #
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Read moreAn Iraqi special forces soldier carries a woman injured during a battle between Iraqi forces and ISIS in Mosul on February 28, 2017. #
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Read moreZakaria Imad Ahmed, 12, is treated by doctors in a first aid clinic in the Zahra neighborhood after he was hit in the head by shrapnel from a mortar fired by ISIS militants on February 6, 2017. He and his younger brother and sister were playing outside when a mortar dropped nearby and shrapnel hit parts of their bodies. #
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Read moreAn Iraqi special forces soldier fires as other soldiers runs across a street during a battle in Mosul on March 1, 2017. #
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Read moreAn Iraqi special forces soldier reacts after ISIS militants shot dead another Iraqi special forces soldier during a battle in Mosul on March 3, 2017. #
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
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