Everything You Need to Know About Mosul
(CBS) -- On Monday October 17th, Iraqi forces banded with their allies to recapture Mosul from the jihadist group, ISIS. A deeply divided nation and weak government helped ISIS succeed in its attempt to control the second largest city in Iraq during the summer of 2014. Because the Islamic State recognizes the acquirement of Mosul to be its biggest achievement, the group fears its loosening grip on the prized city.
"Do they [ISIS] have a chance of holding the city in the long term? Zero," argues Dr. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Although the 94,000 Iraqi fighters and its Kurdish allies outnumber ISIS members, it's apparent that the terrorist group won't back down without a fight. The weakening state has enacted the use of military tactics like smoke screening, the creation of smoke to lessen warplane's visibility, to prevent the Iraqi government from seizing an opportunity to take back the city.
From the use of suicide bombers and the construction of trenches, it's evident that the road to snatching Mosul from ISIS will be bloody, long and difficult. While the fight may pose many hardships for Iraqi forces and its allies it is an important one.
Here are five facts about Mosul, a city with a rich and complicated history.
- ISIS militants use Mosul as a site to produce chemical weapons, and the terrorist state also relies on the city for much of its revenue.
- The majority of Mosul's population are Sunni in comparison to the rest of the Iraqi population, who adheres to Shiism.
- Before ISIS destroyed the city's most beloved historical treasures, Mosul was home to artifacts and sites that dated back to the Assyrian empire.
- In addition to housing a large Sunni population, Mosul was also home to other religious minorities like the Yazidis. ISIS has forced a staggering number of Yazidi women and girls into sex slavery. The group is said to have held these women and girls in Mosul.
- Mosul has an abundance of the most sought out natural resource: Oil.
