♪ >> narrator: tonight, two stories from a war-torn region. (explosion) >> iraq's prime minister declared victory over isis in mosul. >> narrator: a nine month fight to save a city. street by street with iraqi special forces, as they drove out isis. (explosion) and liberated mosul. and later tonight, a reporter's journey through a country rarely seen by foreign journalists. >> (crying) >> narrator: correspondent martin smith's first-hand

account of the toll of war and disease "inside yemen". >> (imitating missile) boom. >> narrator: two gripping stories on this special edition of "frontline". ♪ >> "frontline" is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. major support is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. additional support is provided by the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the john and helen glessner family trust, supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. the heising-simons foundation, unlocking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities. the wyncote foundation.

and by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. major support for "frontline" and for "inside yemen" was provided by the corporation for public broadcasting, with additional support from the henry luce foundation. corporate support is provided by: >> ♪ oooh >> us lives here. where we can be surprised by others. and ourselves. the y, for a better us. ♪ (radio chatter) (speaking foreign language): (distant rapid gunfire)

(distant gunfire continues) (gunfire) (speaking foreign language): (loud gunshot) (gunshots, debris falling) (glass crunching) (distant rapid gunfire) (glass crunching)

(clicking tongue) (distant shouting) (distant rapid gunfire) (gunshot) (rapid gunfire) (loud explosion, debris falling) (man shouting) (rapid gunfire) (man gasping) (radio chatter) (gasping)

>> 13 years after the u.s. military invasion, the country still faces profound challenges, none more dire than the threat posed by the islamic state. (radio chatter) >> the capture of mosul in june 2014 shocked the world and became a symbol of the emerging threat of the so-called islamic state group. >> there are over a million civilians in mosul, isis is not letting them leave and using them as human shields. >> they're describing a life of torture under the islamic state's brutal rule. >> the iraqi prime minister has announced just moments ago

the offensive to take back mosul is now underway. >> isis recognizes that there is a big battle ahead for mosul, iraq's second largest city. >> this is the place where is proclaimed its caliphate. here it was born, and here iraqi forces say it will die. (speaking foreign language) (gunshots) (men shouting) (distant rapid gunfire) (gunshots)

(gunshots) (explosions, gunfire) (distant gunfire) (distant explosion)

(gunfire, explosion) (rapid gunfire) (rapid gunfire) (rapid gunfire) (gunfire) anmar:

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♪ ♪ hussein:

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(distant gunfire) (radio chatter) anmar: (distant gunfire) (men shouting)

(gunshots) (men shouting) (gunshots) hussein:

(men shouting) (water bubbling) >> hello? (water bubbling)

(bubbling) ♪ (indistinct chatter) ♪ (laughter) ♪ jamal:

(distant gunfire) (distant rapid gunfire) jamal: (radio chatter) (distant rapid gunfire) (distant rapid gunfire) (loud rapid gunfire)

(loud gunfire continues) hussein: (distant gunfire) (laughter) (nearby gunshot) (chuckles) (dance music playing)

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(men shouting on phone) (rapid gunfire on phone) (sheep bleating) (men shouting) ♪ ♪ anmar: (din of the crowd) (din of the crowd)

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(indistinct chatter) (indistinct chatter) anmar: (indistinct chatter) (door thudding, clanging)

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hussein: (distant gunshots) (sniffles) (indistinct chatter)

♪ (lighter clicks) (aircraft flying overhead) (bullets clanging) (man shouting in the distance) anmar: ♪ (men chatting) (distant gunfire) (man shouting)

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(explosion) anmar: (explosions) (rapid gunshots) (rapid gunfire) (distant gunshots)

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hussein:

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(distant, inaudible voices) ♪ hussein:

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♪ (crickets chirping) jamal: ♪

♪ ♪ >> narrator: up next, correspondent martin smith was one of the few journalists allowed into yemen. >> you were standing right here. >> narrator: his first hand reflections on the rarely seen consequences of the country's devastating war. >> they were there working in spite of the fact that they hadn't been paid. >> if i will not work, then they

will die. and maybe tomorrow i will be sick and nobody will see me, because of no salary. >> narrator: "inside yemen" begins right now. ♪ >> smith: when we were in yemen in may of 2017, we were the only foreign journalists that were able to get permission to enter the country. we wanted to come in and see the consequences of two-plus years of war and airstrikes by a saudi-led coalition. you have the region's wealthiest country bombing the region's poorest. and people are not seeing what's going on. we're talking thousands of civilian dead. (imitates jet streaking)

boom. (imitates jet streaking) (music playing on radio) >> smith: the current war began when the houthis, a rebel group from northern yemen, took the capital in 2014. (car horn continuously honking) months later, the saudis responded with a massive air campaign. and there's a lot of blame to go around here. the houthis have blocked aid shipments. they've detained and even tortured their opponents, and they've prevented human rights organizations from doing their work. but nothing has really caused as much death and destruction as the saudi bombs.

we went to the site of a funeral bombing. it had taken place late last year. and the saudis say they mistook it for a gathering of houthi officials. you were standing right here? (man speaking arabic) >> he was the last... >> smith: it was what's called a "double tap." as people ran back inside to save lives, a second missile hit. about 150 people died there... 400 to 500 people were injured.

this man says he lost 26 members of his family. the saudis say this was a mistake. that they didn't intend to bomb a funeral. >> smith: we were taken to other bombing sites by our houthi minders, but the fact is you can see the war in yemen wherever you go. it's just not always immediately evident. we were in one supermarket in the capital, sanaa, and it was a fairly well-stocked supermarket. it looked like a lot of supermarkets in the u.s. we then noticed that people were paying not with cash, but with coupons.

>> smith: we ran into people who were working and hadn't been paid in many, many months. the whole banking system had pretty much collapsed, so the cash just wasn't there. that's just a small example of how you see the war affecting people's daily lives everywhere you go. it's not just the jets you hear overhead or the buildings that are bombed or the airport that's demolished. it's the knock-on effects of the war on infrastructure. when we came into town, what struck me right away was the amount of garbage on the streets. the garbage workers hadn't been paid in eight months. the rains came, washing through the garbage. bacteria carried into the water supply. people drinking bad water. and they were hit by a cholera epidemic.

(chattering) cholera simply dehydrates you quickly, so that anything you ingest-- any water you drink or food you eat-- just completely passes through your system and you get no nutrients out of it. (woman speaking arabic) (woman speaking english): >> smith: the world health organization is saying that they expect more than 700,000 cases of cholera, and that 2,100 people have died. most of those are children. the hospital we visited, they were already beyond capacity. the nurses and doctors were suffering from a lack of medicines and equipment. and they were there working in spite of the fact that they hadn't been paid. (woman speaking english):

>> smith: people often ask why the saudis are bombing yemen. it's a question for the saudis. they'll tell you that the houthis are a proxy of their archrival, iran. and the houthis are getting some iranian support and training, but the extent is unclear. and certainly they lack the firepower of the saudis. parts of the country have been isolated because of bomb strikes on bridges. people on the ground in yemen are suffering. they're caught in the crossfire of this war. in hajjah, we went to a

hospital, and i met a nurse there who showed me pictures she'd taken a day or two before of a young boy who came in severely malnourished, and died. (woman speaking arabic): (baby crying) >> smith: she then was called away to go take care of a new severe malnutrition patient. a mother came in with her child. it was a little girl named aaleen, a seven-month-old baby. (crying)

>> smith: there were always malnutrition cases in yemen, but the nurse told us that the number of cases had more than doubled since the war. then maybe an hour later, another mother came in with her daughter. ruqayyah, her name was, was a five-year-old girl. ruqayyah had come from an idp, an internally displaced persons' camp that was quite a ways away, up near the saudi border. traveled several hours because the hospital up near her had been bombed. (woman speaking arabic):

(crying) >> smith: and who do you blame for the war?

>> smith: we had to leave the hospital before i knew what the fate of those two girls was going to be. i don't know what happened to them. what i do know is that health workers in yemen say that every ten minutes, a child dies of preventable causes. (car horns honking) americans may not be aware of american involvement in the war in yemen, but yemenis, in sanaa and in northern yemen, certainly

know where the weapons are coming from. just a few days after we arrived, there was a huge rally in the middle of sanaa called the "say no to american terrorism" rally. (man speaking arabic over loudspeaker) >> smith: thousands gathered to protest the arrival of president trump in riyadh, where he announced his intention to approve a $110 billion arms package to the saudis. >> we respect the united states of america, and we hold respect in our hearts. but we came here in order to express our outrage against the united states policy. (chanting in arabic) >> it was pretty evident that we were an american tv crew, but absolutely no hostility was directed at us. there was only a sense that our

government was to blame and ordinary yemenis want the world to be aware of what's going on. >> there's this grievance that's eating away at vladimir putin. >> the fbi detected more attempts to hack... >> russian hackers are behind those attacks... >> america in the crosshairs... >> this is the first time they have gone out and weaponized that information. >> he's going to employ whatever means he can to undermine the united states. >> in a two night special investigation, the epic inside story of putin's revenge.

>> go to pbs.org/frontline for an interview with mosul filmmaker, olivier sarbil. >> then, listen to the frontline dispatch, our new podcast series. >> we're going to be tackling the toughest subjects. >> i was caught in a car bomb in mosul. >> the thought of marriage at fourteen. >> subscribe now at pbs.org/frontline. >> "frontline" is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. major support is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. additional support is provided by the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the john and helen glessner family trust, supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires.

the heising-simons foundation, unlocking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities. the wyncote foundation. and by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. major support for "frontline" and for "inside yemen" was provided by the corporation for public broadcasting, with additional support from the henry luce foundation. corporate support is provided by: >> ♪ oooh >> us lives here. where we can find common ground, big enough to dance on. the y, for a better us. ♪ captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> for more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

>> frontline'"mosul" is available on dvd. to order, visit shoppbs.org or call 1-800-play-pbs. frontline is also available for download on itunes. you're watching pbs

(birds chirping) bob poole: i'm in zimbabwe. i had to leave mozambique when the political situation around gorongosa national park got so intense and i'm just chomping at the bit, as they say, to get back in there. ♪ i've been documenting the park's comeback. and we've been on such a roll. i can't wait to see this guy. how exciting. where's the plate? the lion team just collared the first lion ever in gorongosa. we went from 200 lions to single-digit population. there's a sense that lions should have recovered at a faster pace. poole: imagine how this lion is going to lead us to others.