Scenes from Mosul, the Stalingrad of Iraq

[timmy]

Woman and children try to escape the fighting

[timmy]

Iraqi soldiers pass dead ISIS fighters (which apparently aren't smelling too good)
 

[timmy]

Iraqi sniper using a .50 rifle captured from ISIS

[timmy]

Civilians try to escape the fighting (note: ISIS refused to let civilians flee the city)

[timmy]

Iraqi soldiers help civilians get through the rubble.

[timmy]

Iraqi soldier perched above the city, just before victory was announced by the Iraqi government.

[timmy]

An air strike fucks up (and makes more rubble).

[timmy]

Iraqi soldiers take a break from the fighting.

[timmy]

Iraqi soldier rests beneath twisted rubble.

[timmy]

Vehiles lying in a big-ass bomb crater.

[timmy]

A woman is told that her son, hit in the leg by an ISIS sniper, will be all right. These people are Americans and a unique unit called the Free Burma Rangers, a multiethnic group who focus on helping the wounded: http://www.freeburmarangers.org

[timmy]

Iraqi soldiers make their way through what remains of the Old City of Mosul.

[timmy]

Iraqi soldier making his way between positions.

[timmy]

Iraqi soldier makes his way into a ruined theatre. Seconds later ISIS soldiers opened up from across the hall.

[timmy]

The shattered remains of Mosul's old city.

Mosul dates back at least 25 centuries, and by the time ISIS took it the population was around 1 million people. By all accounts they governed the city with extreme viciousness and terror, and worst of all they refused to let civilians flee. Iraqi forces, with Western and allied help, fought long and hard to take the city back. No one yet knows how many civilians have died in the fighting.

The capture of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, is without a doubt a major defeat for ISIS. However that organization will probably not vanish -- most likely they'll go underground as they lose more territory.

http://imgur.com/gallery/FePF8