matt bradley joins us from erbil, iraq. any indication on which advancing forces can reach mosul? >> i can't tell you exactly when the iraqi security forces are going to penetrate from their perimeter into mosul itself, but i can tell you that this battle is going apace and we'll the plan now is for the persch murga and iraqi security forces to take more of the christian villages surrounding mosul. a lot of these villages are uninhabited as they have been for the last several days of the fight. some will be presenting quite a bit of defense. we were down at the front line yesterday and we saw some of the weaponry that the iraqi security forces are up against. we're talking about vehicle-borne explosive devices, mines. this is all going to make for a pretty slow advance, but the real barrier, as you mentioned earlier, is going to be civilians both in mosul and some of the surrounding villages. we know there are about 1.2 million civilians still left in mosul and we believe that islamic state is going to be using a lot of them as human shields as they have in the past. >> all right,

the agreement between erbil, president bararzani. melinda: the kurdish -- amir: yes, and the iraqi prime minister. two weeks before the beginning of operation mosul. that made it possible that iraqi army has an access to the from the side of the kurdish area.. this is, all these months we hearard about the preparation of the mosul operation. ,he iraqi government tried to around mosul there is a sunni tribe. these tribes should play thee main role to get control of the city after liberating. and you cannot do the job without this tribe, without the backing of the sunni tribes in the region. i have to disagree on this point, relative to u.s. election or influence by the schedule of the u.s. election. i agree it is not the main reason, but i think there is an element here. those political decisions, the campaign against mosul has been announced for a long time and has been on for a long time, but i'm very sure the americans told those who take the decision in iraq, not only in the political but also in the military chain of command, if

richard engle joins us live from erbil, iraq. are reports that isis has launched a new attack on an iraqi town. what can you tell us about that? >> well, isis is trying a variety of different strategies. they have fighters who are d a senior iraqi official said that there are probably 5,000 fighters in the city, among them, 1,500 foreign fighters. they also have been spreading out, some of the militants in the towns and villages around the city of mosul itself. that's one front. and they're planning to defend it and already are defending it. then there is the terrorist attacks that isis has been launching, particularly we saw one just a few days ago in tactic, and then today, in central iraq, an area that had largely been not pacified, but an area where isis had been cleared out already, we see the militants going on the offensive there as well. so it seems that isis is trying to deflect attention away from mosul by launching these terrorist attacks outside of its area of comfort and reigniting old war zones. >> richard engle liv

matt bradley is in iraq for us and he joins us live from the city of erbil.'s the latest on the ground there? >> reporter: good morning. the situation in kirkuk right now is quite fluid. what we do know is about 20 isis militants flooded into the city. they managed to take over several security positions, mostly police stations and former police stations and they attacked a construction site for a power plant that was being built by iranian construction workers. why attack a construction site? isis does consider iran to be one of their primary enemies in the region because it's considered the center of shiite influence in the region. right now, that situation is still unfolding. the iraqi special forces specially trained by the u.s. have gone into kirkuk and are now trying to arrest the situation and take them down. one building is still occupied by the isis militants carrying small arms, suicide vests and grenades. as you know, this is very typical isis behave. . they're trying to create a diversion from the attack in mosul. they have kind of succeeded. they

nbc's matt bradley joins us live from erbil. there are reports now that isis is going after civilians. tell us how. >> well, that's true. there's isis is now going door to door in villages and towns south of mosul, taking families and telling them to move north into the city itself, where they will no doubt be used as human shields. that's what righters and the associated press are both reporting this morning. we know that islamic state has used human shields in the past, especially when faced with overwhelming force from iraqi security forces or from forces trying to attack them in syria. now, what this indicates is that isis is actually planning for a sustained assault on one of their headquarters in mosul. this dashes the idea that isis might just forfeit that city and move back into syria where they have some strategic depth and their main capital in raqqah. as we saw over the weekend, defense secretary ashton carter told nbc in an exclusive interview that the u.s. defense department is trying to raise a force in order to ma

benjamin paul is live in erbil, ooerk. what more do we know about the death of this serviceman?> yeah, high sandra. it is just breaking in the last half our or so. we know it is from injuries sustained from an ied roadside bomb. they're not supposed to be on the front line, but today was the fiercest fighting we have seen so far. the only hope that isis had been suppressed by these bombs was misspent. a suicide car bomb emerged and drove twaroward the drivers. it was stopped by another, now nine such cars are deployed by isis today. one of them got through the lines. we don't know what the casualties were for that or if it was connected to the death of the servicemen, but fierce fighting that we're seeing. >> what do we know about what is happening inside of mosul itself. >> just today we were speaking to people that managed to escape last night from the brutal city. >> this is the very human side of the isis tragedy. men, women, and children. thousands of families displaced by the brutality of the terror groups. this is where they come and the battle may be raging to save their

matt bradley, nbc news, erbil." hundreds of families who have been caught in the crossfire of the wars in mosul, tikrit and other areas.. are flocking to a refugee camp near mosul. they're arriving by the busloads. volunteers have been giving them water and some supplies. the syrian military has announced a ceasefire to let trapped civilians leave aleppo. syrian state t-v has shown buses waiting for them.but rebels say it's a psychological campaign to get them to surrender.the rebels have offensive to break the takeover of aleppo. tonight, you're invited to a ceremony to honor the 25th anniversary of the vietnam memorial in veterans park on milwaukee's lakefront.it's the first celebration since the memorial was built back in 1991.the ceremony starts at five with an after party at on the northside the war king memorial. for your health now- the center for disease control now says pre-teens only need ?two? two does is enough to protect against the human papillomavirus.. which causes a variety of cancers.and spacing th

richard engel, nbc news, erbil, northeew the government of equador admits it took away internet access for wikileaks founder julian assange, but denies it was pressured by the u-s. assange has been living in ecuador's london embassy since 2012.he suspects 2012.embassy since 2012.he suspects the u-s has been pressuring ecuador because wikileaks leaked material it cliaims came from the clinton campaign. the u-s state department says it has had nothing to do with it. closer to home, families in waukesha are feeling unsettled hawthorne stem elementary school.the principal says the threats were made using an app called musicly. the app allows students to send messages anonymously. the district has ordered the app be removed from all school devices.police say they are still investigating the messages. now the latest in the so called slender man stabbing investigation in waukesha.the journal sentinel reporting the defense wants one of the girls' confessions thrown out. ( attorney's suggest morgan geyser's confession should she was too young and disturbed to understand and give up her rights t

he is inn erbil, i should say. lot of advancing to the city center. >> reporter: still fighting to be done. john, that's right. those 900 dead isis fighters which is interesting and not surprising, we are not getting fatalities from kurdish forces. this has been a fierce fight at times. we are have seen wounded fighters brought back from the frontlines. it is not a one-way street that's for sure. we did hear this morning from iraqi government official of a town about 25 kilometers south of mosul that has been retaken by iraqi forces that 5,000 to 6,000 civilians were freed during that operation. a place called shiru. those are taken to camps to be processed. it is feared that the isis fighters are trying to blend in with those. and the city north of shiru, that is surrounded by iraqi forces and that is a place with foreign fighters inside. some of the better fighters that isis has. 90% surrounded. we are told an assault will begin in hours ahead south of mosul. we know iraqi counterterrorism forces are within eye s

i am back of the city of erbil. we were on the front line earlier today, we were watching iraqis troops who are pushing those front lines right through the edge of mosul. they have been advancing quickly and this operation is just a few days old and already iraqis troops have taken over and pushing out a number of villages and arrived at the doorsteps of mos mosul. the iraqis prime minister today celebrated that this is a success. getting to mosul is one thing and clearing the city which had a million of people in it right now. there were concerns of isis waiting for a last stand. it is going quickly for the last few days and we won't know how tough this fight is until they reach mosul. it does look like how they'll reach the edge of mosul and how they'll push into the city relatively soon. >> all right, richard engel following all of that for us. thanks so much. up next if hillary clinton wins on november 8th, who do republicans want representing their party, the answer when we come back. >>> the state of this elec

michael holmes live in erbil, we appreciate your reporting. we wish you and our other teams there continued safety as you continue bringing us the news. thank you. >>> many of the families rescued from isis control are traumatized but are happy certainly to be free. cnn's arwa damon visited one refugee camp and heard horror stories of life before liberation. >> reporter: despite the basic conditions at this refugee camp sprouting east of mosul, there are still smiles. it's over. they survived. 9-year-old fatima hid with her family under the stairs. she says she was scared. there were a lot of air strikes. her uncle says an air strike destroyed the wall in their home. and they escaped by using a ladder to try and jump over the wall of their house into another house where they thought that they would be safer. like everyone here, this man cannot stop talking about isis' iron fist. in this particular village he's saying that isis took their cell phones a year ago. two to three months ago, they forced everyone to remove their television satellite

. >>> and joining us live from erbil, iraq, matt bradley. good day to you.news surrounding raqqah. >> reporter: that's right. secretary of state -- secretary of defense, excuse me, ash carter, said they are planning on moving in on raqqah. that is a very, very ambitious plan for what could be an extremely bruising fight. if isis seems to be putting up a suicide standoff in mosul, which is very near to us, it's going to be literally a last stand for raqqah. now, basically ash carter is saying this is going according to plan, that's why he's turning his attention to raqqah, raqqah being the capital of the self declared capital of the islamic state, but let me pour cold water on that for a moment, if you will. the iraqis and americans have said they've taken about 70 to 90 towns and villages on the outskirts of mosul. that's not representative of the kind of fight the iraqi security forces are going to be seeing as they move closer and closer into mosul. remember, mosul has 1.2 million civilians and most of the towns and villages on the outskirts have almost no

of course, arwa damon there in erbil.> back here, a lot of people have their eyes on the cleveland indians and the cubs. andy scholes? >> could be, christi. the indians one win away from winning their first title in 68 years. what the team is saying about tonight's possible clinching game up next. i had so many thoughts once i left the hospital after a dvt blood clot. what about my wife... ...what we're building together... ...and could this happen again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? i spoke to my doctor and she told me about eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots. but eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. knowing eliquis had both... ...turned around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless you doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial h

defense secretary ash carter, is meeting with kurdish officials in erbil iraq.ouraged by the process in making the fight against isis, peshmerga forces are launching a new offensive on yet another town to the northeast of mosul. in the meantime, the governor of kirkuk says 60 isis fighters have been killed since friday. after the terror launched an offensive on that city, he says that situation there now is stable. millions of people fled their homes in iraq and syria when isis moved in and that includes thousands of christians who now live in neighboring jordan. here's the report for us. >> most of those gathered here at st. mary's church in east amman gave up everything for their faith when isis took over their city two years ago, christians were given two choices. leave or be killed. some ended up in neighboring jordan with only the clothes on their backs. they sing our father who art in heaven in the language of jesus christ. the father has dedicated the past two years to helping refugees. the church has provided families with shelter, food and support. the

mosul, as you know, i was over there in baghdad and erbil. very encouraged by what i see there.t is all proceeding according to plan. meanwhile, raqqah, we also have a plan for. it starts in the next few weeks. and that's long been our plan. and we'll be capable of resourcing both. >> hans, one of the criticisms from not just donald trump but other republicans as well is this idea we would telegraph our plans. the defense secretary announcing this new assault if you will is going to start in weeks, not months. what's the wisdom behind announcing the military strategy in advance? >> well, i think the theory for carter is he wants to keep the nato alliance together on this. the tyiming on this, you have t juggle a lot different equitequ. there are reports the french wanted to go on raqqah sooner, almost simultaneous with the assault on mosul. what the defense secretary is saying is these are local foercs that are going to be making this decision and that the u.s. is playing a supporting role with their air assets as well as the so-called enablers. these are special forceses that a

we want to get to matt bradley in erbil, iraq. matt, what are you hearing? >> reporter: it's truly ma cab. they've done this. beheadings, electrocutions and drownings, bizarre and very sort of creative disastrous ways of killing people but a side show when it comes to the main point of the battle. we see civilians south of mosul and villages and towns around mosul forcibly brought into the center of the city to be positioned alongside isis positions and used as human shields as a kind of human rampart against the threat of coalition air strikes that could be targeting some of the isis positions in the heart of the city. now, that's very distressing. it was reported a couple of days ago by "associated press" and news agencies and now confirmed by the united nations. we know isis does this. they've done it in the past. they're doing it now south of mosul in shora area a town south of the city. it goes to show this battle is going apace and all of these different coalition forces moving in on the city but who knows what will happen when they move into mosul its

joining me now from erbil is matt bradley, foreign correspondent.rlier this week, we were told this could take months. not expected to be a fast operation. what changed on the ground there? >> reporter: thanks, tamron. you know, it's very true. this has been a day of some relatively heavy fighting but the fact is that the villages liberated today and on monday earlier this week were villages almost void of any people. the civilians in these christian villages liberated by the pe peshmerga have almost no civilians and that's the real barrier. the advancements we've seen in the last couple of days bear no resemblance that kind of fight that the iraqi military and the pesh mer kmerga will face in mo with 1.2 civilians thought to remain. i'm glad you mentioned this paris conference because it's important and it's been really swallowed up by the news of the actual battle itself. the paris conference will look to how to deal with the 1.2 million civilians that i mentioned are still in mosul but deal with the governance issues. he made issue of the fact th

joining us live from erbil, iraq, matt bradley. good day to you.but it does feel like progress is being made. >> reporter: that's right, alex. progress was made yesterday. today we're entering the familiar holding pattern, the kind of pattern that tends to develop in fallujah and ramadi, a lot of these recent battles. the iraqi style of attack, especially for a city as large as mosul, which you mentioned is the second largest in iraq, is really kind of medieval. they're encircling the city and the defenses have been built. isis has been occupying mosul for the past two years which means they've created defensive berms around the city. they have a network of defensive tunnel works. they have ieds placed all around the area. we're rear moving into a time where this is going to roach a pause where the battle is going to just reach an encirclement and we're going to have to wait until the iraqi officials can decide who is going to penetrate is isis' outer barriers and move into the center of the city. right now this is just extending the agony of the 1

benjamin hall is live in erbil, iraq about 15 miles east of mosul. what's the word on how successful this operation has been thus far? >> reporter: well, shep, centcom general joeft patel says this is on schedule, in fact it's ahead of schedule, everything is going well, but it's only been two days now and i can tell you having been on the front lines that this is going to get a lot harder, it's going to take a lot more time. just over the last two days we've already seen some fierce fighting in small villages around mosul as various forces try to clear a path into that city. but in those villages there were only five or six isis fighters and even they proved difficult to dig out. the next isis-held village is only a mile in front of us and the kurdish peshmerga fighters we were with are waiting for the order to move forward. what's becoming clear is this is going to make a lot longer than thought. isis have held this territory for over two years. in that time they have crisscrossed it with tunnels and covered it ieds. as such this operation is going

joining me from erbil, iraq, richard engel.e have a slight delay but you've been embedded with the u.s. forces. tell us what you are seeing. >> reporter: well, i've been mostly embedded with the iraqi troops. we've spent a little bit of time with the americans who are deliberately trying to stay in their shadows and stay on their bases, offer advice and intelligence and guidance to the ir iraqis. it's not americans driving the tanks here. it's the iraqis. actually, the offensive is going much more quickly than anticipated. i was with iraqi forces a few hours ago, in fact, and they have advanced almost to the doorstep of mosul. it's still early days in this campaign but these early indications don't match up with what donald trump was saying. he was saying it's been bloodier, more time consuming, much harder than anyone thought. so far, it's been easier than everyone thought but there's a huge caveat. troops have not yet made it to mosul and things could very badly turn around once they do. it could be that the isis fighters are

. >> thank you very much, matt bradley live for us in erbil, iraq. >> we now know what killed katie may. the new details leading the news. the los angeles coroners office says a visit to the chiropractor may have killed the social media star. 34-year-old katie may tweeted she pinched aer for treatment for the injury. people is reporting the l.a. assistant coroner told them a chiropractor shifted her neck, tearing an artery. the tear blocked blood flow to her brain, causing a stroke. she died in february, and a coroner lists the official cause of death as infraction of brain and ruled the death as an accident. an accomplished model appearing in gq and playboy, she waw also a single mom. more on her dearth including reaction from the family coming up on the "today" show. >> outrage this morning spreading across the state of montana over a lenient sentence handed to a man who admits to have committed incest with his 12-year-old daughter. nearly 65,000 people have signed a petition calling for the impeachment of the judge. he decided on a 60-day sentence over the 25-year plea deal made betw

>> reporter: well, i'm in a refugee camp just outside of erbil where there's 30,000. many of the people who we have spoken with have come from the villages and towns under isis control. we spoke with a man named hussein who is an english teacher. he was saying he and people to kill in their village by isis because they did not support isis now, the u.n. has warned that around a million people could flee the fighting from mosul. so far we have not seen that happening yet. keep in mind, the battle is barely 36 hours old. so in the coming weeks and possibly months there could be that fighting. the u.n. and other aid agencies warning this could be the biggest humanitarian crisis this year. the u.n. officials who are speaking with now are certainly bracing themselves for it. we know that the emergency camps that have been set up by the u.n. and other agencies can only accommodate several hundred thousand, so there's still a great need, and there's a great fear, in fact, that that million dollar -- sorry -- that million person number could be reached. >> abc's alex maua giv

meetings up in iraqi kurdistan, and erbil, very near to mosul, where a lot of the different leaders arefollows islamic state control of mosul. but, again, there's a the lot of conflicting objectives here. >> rose: they're grouping now for retaking of mosul. they're to go things-- everybody knows this battle is coming. >> yes. there is a base being reestablished up there. it's called kiaro wef airfield, a huge sort of strategic-level airfield that housed one of our brigade combat teams and probably 80 or 100 helicopters when 101st, a division was deployed in na, in o province. that's a very important base to project a lot of different power, undoubtedly manned aircraft, attack helicopters, perhaps some long shooters from the ground and so forth. so that's another very important element. it is a huge base, though, and it requires enormous force protection if you're going to put a lot of vulnerable american assets and coalition assets on the ground. so it's interesting now that we're approaching 6,000, the count that i've seen as an estimate of what we may end up on the ground. i very much

holly williams just visited one of the liberated towns and in erbil this morning. >> reporter: iraqind kurdish forces ten miles within mosul but meeting fierce resistance from isis. humded vicious, a used to be a christian town of 50,000 people but after two years under isis it's shattered and deserted and it's cruise a fix defaced. a day after iraqi forces entered the town, we returned with a mayor of hamdani who fled in 2014 with the other residents. it used to be beautiful here, he told us. now look at it. the streets still ring out with gunfire. in some place, isis has used tunnel networks to launch surprising attacks. even after iraqi forces think they are in control. these troops now shoot at anything that moves. lieutenant general talfi is in charge of iraq's ground forces and insisted that humdani had been liberated with only pockets of resistance. that sounds like quite a lot of resistance, i have to tell you. no, he said, this is the military way. they are just clearing the area. local christian militia men have arrived to help secure the town. one of them is hussein salam

this is courtney lare with the norwegian refugee council in the iraqi city of erbil. they are prepararing for massive waveves of f this claim. we a are expececting up to 200,0 individuals. the humanitarianan community is trying to prepare. amy: well for more we go to london to speak with patrick cockburn, middle east correspondent for the independent. his recent article is headlined, "mosul braces itself for next chapter, having been ravaged by 13 years of war." his book has just been published titled, "age of jihad: islamic state and the great war for the middle east." welcome back to democracy now! >> this is a decisive battle. this was the great victory of islam escape. in junek it by surprise 2014. is different from what one has been seeing on the television. the forces attacking at our fragmented. iraqi army,d the , they alllitaries have different agendas. they have extreme rivalry. of the things keeping the islamist state and business in the past and will affect the course of the battle. the other thing to bear in mind, it would not be happening without u.s. sup

i want to bring in cnn's nick paton walsh live from erbil, iraq.en hairy for the peshmerga fighters and american coalition. tell us what you know about the american fatality, nick. >> reporter: minimal at this stage. i can tell you from our experience, we are seeing u.s. soldiers very much at the frontli frontline. we see the peshmerga move against isis, there are american vehicles and look like american special forces close to the armored vehicles that make that attack. sad news today. one death yesterday of one american death. it appears he has died from wounds after medevac away from the battle field. this is a sign of the difficulty of the fight with the peshmerga and iraqi army. the peshmerga themselves referring in a statement yesterday to how they like to see more coalition air power and more decisive on the battle field. they were having a tough fight to move in from the north around the territories and mosul yesterday and one particular area. very intense on isis holding back from villages which look very small. as well isis making the pre

>> holly williams reporting from erbil, thank you. driving errors. >> the top three mistakes teens make behind the wheel. i'm kris van cleave in rockville, maryland, with new research that says the teens' bad driving behavior could be, in part, due to their parents. that is ahead on "cbs this morning." >> you want to hear that if you have a teenager in the house. take us with you on the go. we invite you to subscribe to podcast. you get the news of the day and extended interviews and podcast originals. find them on itunes and apple's podcast app. we will be right back. we asked a group of young people when they thought they should start saving for retirement. then we asked some older people when they actually did start saving. this gap between when we should start saving and when we actually do is one of the reasons it's going to pay off in the future. if we all start saving a little more today, we'll all be better prepared tomorrow. no one's surprised tender pieces and crunchy bites ended up together. that's just what happens when ca

she is now in erbil, iraq. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. american troops thought they had left iraq for good back in 2011. but fast forward five years, there are now around 6,000 u.s. decisive battle against isis. 40 miles outside of mosul, this air base was isis territory just over three months ago. now recaptured, its operated by the 101st airborne division from ft. campbell, kentucky. near camp swift is the headquarters for the mosul battle, where officers from the u.s. coalition and iraq are working together. colonel brett sylvia did two tours of iraq after the u.s. invasion in 2003 but insisted this time around american troops are not here for combat. >> that is not the fight that we have today. today, we advise them. and we assist them. >> reporter: so you won't be fighting on the front lines? >> no. >> reporter: and, yet, we have seen americans lose their lives here the last few months. >> well, this is a combat environment. it's not to say it's not dangerous here. vilesky served in mosul during the u.s. occupation in 2009 and now in

we have nbc's richard engel in erbil this morning. >> reporter: he came to meet with the iraqi primary and battle field update in the campaign to drive isis out of the city of mosul. with every advance, there are more signs of isis brutality and radical intolerance. in the town of mosul, authorities cleared a church desecrated by the militants. they wrote the islamic state or caliphate reigns supreme the cross. that caliphate is shrinking. with the help of u.s. aircraft and jets launched from "uss eisenhower" in the mediterranean. isis is under attack in and around mosul. but finding isis without killing civilians is a challenge. >> bad guys mixed in with families. there are people in the wrong place at the wrong time. none of us wants to kill ground too. we saw them in combat gear clearing bombs. it is the same job chief petty officer jason finan had. he was killed this week when an ied went off near his vehicle. isis so far is pursuing a dual strategy. fighting to defend mosul and key villages and using terrorist attacks. using a soft target like came in yesterday and killed dozens o

alex marquardt abc news erbil, iraq olympic runner...tyson gay....is mourning the loss of his daughter. early this morning in lexington, kentucky. police say trinity gay was hit in the neck ...when a group of men in two cars began shooting at each other. the teen was rushed to the hospital, but later died. police have located one of the c involved... and are questioning possible suspects. three people were killed and 12 others were hurt ... during a shooting at a birthday party in south los angeles. left... and then returned with weapons. the group opened fire ... and shots were returned. officers believe this may be gang- related. i'm sorry they lost their lives but that we cant get together and you know...enjoy ourselves...and have fun or nothing like that...now, even dangerous. some of the other victim's were injured critically... police believe the death toll could rise. so far...2 suspects have been arrested. (montrail ross, wrote letter to mayor): "can you make the world a better place? can you stop the gun shooting?" a young boy who lost his brother in a shooting asks the kansas

we want to go live to erbil, iraq, michael holmes is at the front. >> reporter: yeah, christine, it'sll, the iraqi and kurdish leadership and also the americans, they're all saying this advance on mosul is on schedule or even ahead of schedule. it's a very are deliberate methodical advance, though. they're taking and clearing territory as they go. and then having to hold it as well. iraqi forces say they're continuing to liberate towns and villages on route to mosul. in fact, the commander of one division telling cnn that his forces have destroyed, in his words, dozens of suicide vehicles. also saying they've cleared a large number of ieds. and have killed at least 50 isis fighters over the last two days since this offensive began. they also found, and we had heard an these, too, they found networks of tunnels used to transport weaponry. and they found food in one of those tunnels that was still warm. those iraqi forces and kurdish forces working to take on the areas they've taken before moving on closer to mosul. there are perhaps some units perhaps within 10 kilometers of mosul. so

holly williams, cbs news, erbil, iraq. week here in the valley. ((dave courvoisier)) >> conditions could change though... tedd florendo has you weather now forecast up next on the valley's news leader./// announcer: you're watching 8 news now at four. the desert is where bad guys go when they want to make evidence disappear. but hiding the evidence won't help danny tarkanian. sure, he can bury all those property taxes he skipped out on for years... ...or all those fake charities he helped set up... ...or the scams against seniors he formed... or the $17 million judgment he never paid. he can try, but he can't make his record disappear. we all know you have to work together in order to get things done. but in washington, too often joe heck has been part of the problem, putting his party and special interests before nevada. i'm proud of my work with the bush and obama administrations on homeland security. and every bill i sponsored as attorney general was passed by democrats and republicans. i'm catherine cortez masto. i approve this message >>> tho

let's go live to erbil and bring in senior correspondent ben wedeman.eporter: this has been going on for nine hours. we have seen a calm of about 4,000 peshmerga fighters approaching the city from the eastern side. they already apparently, we have been told by people at the frontline, encountered one truck bomb approaching their position, but it was taken out by a u.s.-led coalition aircraft. this operation will take a long time. at this point, it appears the iraqi and kurdish forces will even si encircle the city before they go inside mosul who are secretly phoning us on mobile phones that isis fighter s in the city are n an agitated state. the mosques are calling on the si citizens to resist the infidels. we know they are fed up with isis and misrule and hoping to quickly be delivered from them. now the iraqi government did the night before last drop leaflets instructing people on what to do when the offensive begins. they told them to tape up windows and put white flags out and stay away from isis positions and if possible, call the number with infor