this is iraq's second largest estimate while the iraqi forces and the iraqi military were able to move into surgeon parts of the city, we are seeing something of a pause today. we haven't seen any movement quite yet. is these with theles tend to unfold. they work in a medieval offensive way. they encircle a city like this, which is how the with theles went in fallujah and ramadi last year. they closed off the area around the city and gradually penetrate into the center of the city. while this mansion so save the iraqi security forces, it can

and also, a very important question, is the post isis -- will the iraqi army and the iraqi government be able to provide reconstruction for the 800,000 civilians in mosul. will the iraqi army and its allies, the kurds and others in iraq be able to put the iraqi house together? i think this is the question. the americans have invested a great deal. not only in the training of the iraqi army, not only in positioning major american military assets in terms of special forces, but also the americans have invested a great deal of time trying to bridge the divide between the iraqi government and the kurds. between the turkish government and the iraqi government. trying to impress on the iraqi government the need for a very important post reconstruction plan to provide medical supplies to the civilians in mosul. all in all, i think it seems to me that isis is on the retreat. isis is besieged. it realizes this will be the last battle, the last major battle in mosul. mosul is the second largest iraqi city. this is the capital, the de facto catch tal. if mosul falls in the next few weeks or mont

katty: we heard the iraqi commander talking about sources inside the city. how good is the intelligence? >> i would say probably pretty good. this is a deliberate attack and the first thing you do from the attacker's standpoint is to prepare the battlefield with intelligence and information. my suspicion is we have done a very good job in understanding how the defense for the main battle area of mosul is laid out, and that we are getting information from sources that have been pre-planted or open inside the city. katty: i imagine watching the pictures brought back memories for you of the iraq war. how does the battle to retake mosul leave iraq, do you think, given your knowledge? >> this is a great question, because we have had a battle in ramadi, battle in falluja, this battle in mosul. i think the mosul battle will be successful. it will take will beyond the inauguration before it is over. but the real question is what happens afterwards? will the united states say that the fighting is over so our participation is done, isis has been ejected, and leave and

launching artillery and air strikes to back up the iraqi advance. while the americans weren't authorized to talk to us, the iraqi ground commander says so far coordination is working well. >> the american and the iraqi, one team. >> reporter: this base, keyara west, is now home to hundreds of american troops. they're working hard to fix the runway dug up by isis back hoes are filled in, american planes will land here, to support iraqi troops in mosul. taking mosul is such a high priority because

they are supporting iraqi and so on. this, they are trying to balance the political situation with iran's role inside iraq. americans, i think, play the main role to bring all the shia, sunnis,, in this, and they invest a lot. melinda: alan posener, you say the u.s. election doesn't really play a role here, but what if things turned really ugly in this assault? what if we saw massive civilian casualties, knowing that u.s. forces are involved. could that not have an impact on public opinion in the u.s., and indeed make things rather difficult for the successor to president obama? alan: yes, it could. which is why i think that this is not determined by electoral politics. this is simple determined by necessity. the fact is, what is going on here, there is a major war, across the whole of this area, between sunni and shia. and the shia, starting from iran, going around to their allies in syria and lebanon, mr. bella h --ezbollah, has been pushing the sunnis out of the area for years now. the new thing by the obama administr

besides this, civilians, innocent people, this is really a challenge for iraqi forces and also the iraqiovernment. how they are going to manage the situation inside the city with a lot of ethnic groups. brent: two years ago, the people of mosul welcomed islamic state. tell us more about the background to this battle. obviously, it is going to competent the outcome. should we expect the people in mosul to be against i.s.? >> yes and no. a small minority is still believing in that propaganda. but the majority of the people understand what the islamic state looks like and the style of life it should look like. a lot of people try to escape from the city and they could not. they were also, i think some of their going to fight with the iraqi army against i.s. brent: the future of iraq as a modern state depends on the battle of mosul. is that your opinion as well? if mosul falls in states of the islamic state, iraq will also fall? >> i think so. what is the day after deliberation -- if iraqi officials managed to solve all the ethnic problems inside the city i think iraq will have a better chan

the iraqis are in the lead. the air strikes that are being carried out are being carried out in coordination with baghdad. this is not the americans leading the iraqis to battle. this is the americans trying to support the iraqis to battle. did they learn from the mistakes of the past, when they were trying to train the iraqi security force in the past? yes. the criticism back then was that the americans basically trained a checkpoint army and then left the country. one of the concerns right now is perhaps maybe the americans are training an air strike army. at the end of the day, that is perhaps what is needed at this stage. but it also is important to point out that not only is the p battle very important, but also what comes next. because it's not just about defeating isis in mosul and pushing the isis fighters out of mosul. what comes next is arguably even more important if we're going to be talking about establishing long-term stability in iraq. what does that mean? long-term stability in iraq means that or

now the iraqi government is going public in its opposition. it has been a war of words in recent weeks. it got to the point where the iraqi prime minister said it was a regional war and they have renewed the presence of its troops to combat terrorist forces, which could be kurdish militants. the turkish government has already sent eight delegation to baghdad to try to defuse the situation. this operation in basel -- in mosul plays a key role not in the decisive battle for crisis in the region itself, in iraq or in syria, but also for the future. it will be a key role in shaping the future of the coalition's and potentially beyond the region. it is not just about the battle of the city and for moving isis. it plays into the wider geopolitical context of the laura: situation. laura: when you look at comments made by president erdogan today, he is concerned about what will happen after the offensive in mosul, that there will be sectarian clashes, revenge attacks on the sunni arab population in mosul. there is a concern on ankara's issuesat there

rather than see them go back to the iraqi government. isis could fight to keep its capital in iraq, or just burn it down. the iraqi government said in all today was a successful first day. what we saw was a tightening of the noose around mosul. the worst violence could come when troops reach the built-up areas i no sign exactly when that could happen. lester? >> richard engel, thank you. >>> staying overseas for a moment, as we see new and shocking images out of syria. the video shows a boy hanging from the side of a building that had just been hit by an air strike in aleppo. his legs pinned in the rubble, his yellow t-shirt with the words "don't shoot" written on the front. >>> back at home in kentucky today, three today for a shoot-out that tragically left an olympic sprinter's daughter dead. police say 15-year-old trinity gay, daughter of tyson gay, was hit by a stra bullet when gunfire was exchanged in a lexington parking lot. they asked for prayers and privacy. >>> we turn now to a dramatic rescue caught on camera in florida when an

iraqi officers on one side, their american advisers on the other. the americans control the skies, have about 5,000 troops in country, and have been launching artillery and air strikes to back up the iraqi advance. while the americans weren't authorized to talk to us, the iraqi ground commander says so far coordination is working well. >> the american and the iraqi, one team. >> reporter: this base, qayyarah west, is now home to hundreds of american troops. they're working hard to fix the runway dug up by isis backhoes. as soon as the holes are filled in, american planes will land here, to support iraqi troops in mosul. taking mosul is such a high priority because mosul is isis's last stand in iraq, the biggest city it holds. a symbol of isis power, attractive to would-be terrorists. we will liberate mosul, god willing, a soldier told us. but there are signs this won't be easy. isis is very literally pursuing a policy of scorched earth. iraqi commanders say today they don't plan to actually enter mosul itself, but to take a village nearby. here isis

iraqi forces backed up by u.s. air cover.he ground assault to recapture mosul from isis. mosul under occupation for more than two next. we have more information on the assault launched overnight when "early start" continues. you just double the heat--right?" "no reason." "hey mom, for laundry, the maximum load is just a suggestion--right?" "oh--that makes sense." "ummm--mom, how do i monitor my credit?" "ok. thanks mom." "that was easy." "sign up for credit karma's free credit monitoring today. >>> all right. breaking news this morning. ground assault against isis under way. defense secretary ash carter calls it a decisive moment. launching an offensive to recapture mosul. two years under isis control. u.s. led coalition forces providing cover from the air. i want to go live to irbil, iraq. let's bring in cnn's correspondent ben wedeman. we have been waiting and talking about coiling for the offensive for some time. what's happening now? >> reporter: the offensive seems to be going fine so far. we are nine hours into it. so f

in iraq, the u.s. hoped to resuscitate the iraqi armed forces. in syria, they faced a much bigger challenge. >> in iraq, i think there was a fairly coherent strategy crafted by the administration. but the big, gaping hole in the strategy that was debated vociferously inside was syria. >> smith: this is raqqa, a city of over 200,000 people. seized months before mosul, raqqa was capital of the islamic state's self-declared caliphate. >> smith: it was clear that routing isis from here would require a large ground force. bombing alone would not work. >> (man shouting) >> smith: isis was intermingled with the local population and was attempting to build a state. >> smith: they fixed roads, collected garbage, repaired phone lines, ran the banks, and carried out justice. >> smith: the question was who would fight them here. >> so then do you do an iraq-style invasion, or afghanistan invasion? president obama was not going to do that. the congress would've never gone along with that. the american public would've run away. we've never been in this spot be

the iraqis are in the lead.ied out in coordination with baghdad. this is not the americans leading the iraqis to battle. this is the americans trying to support the iraqis to battle. did they learn from the

iraqi forces begun ground offensive to recapture mosul.cupation for nearly >>> the breaking news this morning. ground assault against isis. defense secretary ash carter calls it a decisive moment. launching an operation to recapture mosul after more than two years of isis control. carter says the hope is to deliver the terrorists a lasting defeat. u.s.-led collisiu u.s.-led-coalition forces providing cover from the air. let's go live now to cnn's arwa damon live near mosul. arwa. >> reporter: we are about 15 to 20 miles to the east of the city overlooking the planes below where the bulk of the fighting has been taking place. it is hazy this morning, but that is caused by the black and white plumes of smoke rising from the villages where the kurdish peshmerga pushed in at 2:00 in the morning. around 11 hours ago. a little bit of quiet on the ground right now, but not too long ago, pretty intense gunfire and throughout the course of all this, we have been hearing a variety of explosions. anything from car bombs, suicide car bombs we have bee

the iraqi army and the iraqi forces, the iraqi police are still around 45 to 50 kilometers around the city, and they have a lot of work to do yet. claire: what about the peshmerga forces? james: they are making a lot of progress at the moment. we were told they retook 20 cities yesterday. there's also the golden brigade, the anti-terror forces, attacking from the east. they have made important progress because they are retaking a city that is the largest christian city that was ever held by islamic state around 50,000 people living there before he was captured by the jihadist group. they are advancing inside that city. they have retaken some of the neighborhoods, but there is still resistance. with a bit of luck, they should be up to liberate it completely in the hours to come. it is a difficult progression with a lot of car bombs being used, as well as shelling from the islamic state position. it is true that they are a lot closer to the city on this side the eastern front, than they are from the south. claire: what is the latest your hearing on the humanitarian front? james: as far

counterterrorism services, and the iraqi police. those are the only forces that will be entering the city of mosul eventually once they get the villages to be captured around the outskirts. but all of those other things on the list, they are either informally or totally not officially in the project. the u.s.-led coalition are obviously backing up special forces all of that. they are not officially going to be accompanying the iraqi army into mosul, but they may be there. all the other forces -- the kurdish peshmerga from the north will be launching this operation. they will be playing a very big role. that you have all these other forces. the shia militias, there is a lot of potential for clashing and conflict. they have very different agendas. christian militias -- you also have the is edie -- the turk men. you have the turkish backed troops as well. it is extreme the confusing. you can imagine there is a recipe for a lot of misunderstanding and a lot of confusion. genie: and a lot of controversy particularly when it comes to the

iraqi armynows the fled when it was attacked by isis. each of these sites, they have some -- troops. kurdish troops's had not been paid for much -- for months. it is much more ramshackle than it looks when you see it on television. officers look as though they are very much in control. what is going to happen when they get close to the city. there must be some chance isis will withdraw, but i doubt it. this w was their big victory. they are probablbly betttter off fighghting in muzzle. ul.fighting in mos the likelihood is that it will be a long battle. amy: they said it was uncertain how long the operation would last. not aware of a specific time frame for when the operation would he completed. this represents the next important step in our campaign iraq.t isil in there is a coalition to support e iraqi government as they seek to rid iso-from their country. amy: this is russian foreign minister sergei lavrov speaking tuesday about mosul. >> of course we are following this operation. we are all interested in defeating the islamic state. i

iraqi time. it's progressing as expected and the coalition, the united states, our international partners, all standing shoulder to shoulder with iraqis offering support we have been providing for some sometime and will continue to provide. >> what's the u.s. assessment? how long do you expect this operation to last? >> wolf, this will be operating under the iraqi's timeline. prime minister abadi would like to wrap it up before the end of the year, but, of course, the enemy has a vote in all this. we'll proceed according to the iraqi plan worked out carefully with not only commanders on the ground but secretary c.a.r.arte involved talking with the prime minister how this plays out. it's a difficult fight, wolf. be clear about that. but we stand ready to, again, support iraqis and ready to take the fight to isil and to try and once again restore some seam ambulana semblance of a decent life, in this city taken over by isil and those in the city suffering through the bar barrebarity of . >> what's

iraqi forces from the south. on the east, a mixture of iraqi and kurdish forces. from the north, mainly kurdish forces. charlie: is there any conflict between the forces who are opposing isis in mosul in terms of they come from different strategic interests and different cultural and historical backgrounds? holly: as you know, there are there may come a very deep divisions along ethnic and religious lines in iraq. so far, i am not aware of any infighting, but in recent months there has been fighting between the shiite militias and kurdish forces, both ostensibly enemies of isis. but they are jostling for position also in iraq. of course, the big fear here is that during the offensive inside mosul, and perhaps even after isis has been defeated, those different groups come into conflict with each other. charlie: mosul is primarily a sunni city, or not? holly: that is correct, predominantly as sunni muslim arab city. charlie: how long do they think the battle will last? holly: i don't know, and i don't think anybody knows. there are a lot of variables. first of all,

>> well, it's the kurdish and iraqi forces, so far.en things begin to heat up and move towards mosul city itself, i think we'll see the participation of more local sunni militias. then you have iraq's shiite militias. now, they have been very effective in defeating i.s.i.s. in other parts of country, but they're also accused of carrying out atrocities of exacting, you know, retribution on local sunni muslim populations. now, my understanding at this point is that they are not going to go into mosul city. they are going to fight on the southwest edge of the city. >> rose: what's happening to the people inside mosul? >> well, we know very little. there are around, you know, a million residents inside mosul. i.s.i.s. tried to stop them communicating two the outside world. it's prevented them from leaving. mobile phones are banned. some people are getting out. they often have very little intelligence. they can say what's happening in their neighborhood. they can talk about friends and neighborhoods who may have been imprisoned or tortured

iraqi forces fell apart. do you think that -- if the rules of engagement are still restrictive, that the u.s. still scan be the backbone for the iraqis to lead the way here. >> you know, mosul is heavily populated very large urban area. we are going to, unfortunately, probably, see civilian casualties. we can't tie the hands of our forces the first time that happens. the other piece is that you have multiple actors on this battlefield. yes, you have the iraqi army. but you also have shiaa militia. influenced advised by iranians. you have various kurdish, and sunni militias many of which are being trained by the turkish army. again, critical that we are kind of the honest broker and able to tie all of those operational pieces together. and then importantly, we have to be forward to kind of win the piece. it truly does matter who holds mosul after we kicked isil out of it. is it going to be the militia which have not behaved well in many of the sunni towns like tikrit. or the kurd. or is it going to be the iraq

is supporting iraqi and peshmerga forces. their artillery and shells being used to target so-called islamic state. >> there are days when we are going to impose our will, there are days the enemy gets a vote, and he is going to come out on top. this is a big operation in a long war. when you pull back and look at it, here is what i see. i see the iraqi security forces have largely encircled mosul, and they are imposing their will on the enemy in mosul now. reporter: there are 5000 u.s. troops in iraq, not directly joining the fight. nor, general townsend tells me, is the offensive an american-imposed plan. but he is in close contact with iraqi commanders. at his next meeting with the chief of defense staff, he looks for reassurances that have enough equipment and men. defeating i.s. in mosul won't be easy. >> they are a very resilient and challenging foe. they are very adaptable, creative, cunning. we have seen all kinds of examples of that. it is a challenging opponent. they saw people's heads off on tv, they drown people an

and that's a good thing because the iraqis have to put an iraqi face on this. shia, not a kurdish, not a sunni face on this. this has to look like the country of iraq liberating one of their own cities. and that's important for what happens after the battle. i think everybody all military analysts i've talked to believe that the iraqis have amassed the proper forces to liberate mosul. the question is how long is it going to take, what are the civilian casualties. what is the cost in human life, resources, and what's the refugee situation going to look like? but in the end, mosul will be liberated. then, we face the real problem, is what do we do with the northern part of iraq now that it's no longer in isis' hands? >> okay, so before we get there, let's talk about the matter at hand just a little bit more. coalition forces led by the americans are helping from the air, of course. they're using a-10 wart hogs, c-130 gunships. several different variation of fighter jets and drones. how do they employ these different types of air power? >> there's a coordinated ef

we climbed into one of the iraqi special forces old american humvees. it's battle-worn, shot up, and the driver said damaged by an isis suicide bomber today. then it was on foot. quickly, because rounds whizzed by. this predominantly christian village and one of isis's main defensive positions leading towards mosul, and they're fighting bombs. but iraqi troops are advancing faster than u.s. commanders anticipated. we'll be in mosul in two days, a soldier boasted. but isis has had two years to prepare for this fight. the soldiers showed us a tunnel they had just found. this was an isis escape route. also seems to be like one of their positions. isis fighters lived here, safe from u.s. warplanes. just based on the number of mattresses we've seen, this could 50 people, more if they packed them in. the tunnel extended for about a half a mile. at the far end, we came up into what appeared to have been an isis headquarters. food still in the kitchen area. half-made bombs too. and chemicals for more. on the walls, isis's infamous logo. the sight of the black f

the iraqi government and most iraqis understand that they have to bring back the sunni arab 20%, 25%e population. it won't work with these shia militias running amok in these areas. >> brown: briefly, i.s.i.s., if it gets kicked out of mosul, what then? >> it will fall back on its capital raqqa in eastern syria but a dusty little town compared to mosul and pressed by kurdish and syrian opposition forces from the north as well as american and american-supported forces, so i think the end will be near for i.s.i.s., and then we'll face all the other problems in the middle east that i.s.i.s. covered up in the last two years. >> brown: ambassador james jeffrey, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: back to this country now. as we heard earlier, donald trump continues to claim that the presidential election process is rigged against him. that claim seems to be resonating with some voters. just one-third of republicans say they have a great deal of confidence that their votes will be counted fairly this election, that's according to a recent associated press poll. for more on all

and then the iraqi government fightinging back saying this would be an infringement on iraqi sovereignty. what we saw on friday unfold here is that the u.s. defense secretary paid a meeting here to try and shore up support to help resolve some of these differences between different american allies in the region in the middle of this critical and deadly battle taking place in mosul. after that meeting, carter told journalists that it appeared that there was an agreement in principal for turkey's future participation in the mosul operation but that the practicalities still had to get sorted out. now, why would turkey be so concerned? part of it is that it has taken in millions of refugees, mostly from syria, but also from hundreds of thousands of refugees from iraq. mosul is considered to be a largely sunni muslim city in the north of iraq that turkey has long standing historical and cultural ties with. the turkish president, air due want sees himself as a protector even though the iraqi government, the see use it dominated government has vowed that will not take place. so these are part o

the united states has mobilized 67-member coalition to support the iraqi government and iraqi security forces as they seek to rid isil from our country. mosul is the city -- it's the second largest city in iraq. it's the city where isil's leader announced their unfulfilled intent to form a caliphate. it is now the last major center of isil in iraq. the beginning of this campaign has been months in the making, and there have been a number of important steps that iraqi security forces have taken with strong support of the united states and our coalition partners to prepare for this assault against mosul. but this is obviously an important part of this broader effort to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. it's an indication that that of the is moving forward, but there's still a lot of important work to be done before that goal will be realized, even inside of iraq. >> does the president also see the operation as a test of his theory that you can defeat isil on the ground without putting u.s. troops on the ground? >> i would describe it as the next test. because the trust is, there's imp

officials say iraqi forces launched a major offensive against an iraqi stronghold. the white house is optimistic. >> dislodging them from the city would be a working closely over the last several months to prepare for this operation. >> our own matt bradley has the latest developments. we start with too developments from washington, just released fbi documents that have to do with the investigation into aryl server. the trump campaign pointing to what they call a quid pro quo. a deal between the bureau and the state department, although they are pushing back on the claim. it's what's known as a 302, a form for the release of information requested. in those forms, an fbi official talked about a deal and classified information for helping fbi overseas. to explain that, i'm joined by kristen welker with more. >> reporter: you did a great job laying it out, katy. these are notes taken by fbi officials about secretary clinton's e-mails. so they're not exact transcripts. and the fbi and state department pushing back against this information that there was any discussion a

let's be clear the iraqis in the lead and the iraqis taking the fight to isol. >> peter, can you tellhow many u.s. troops are involved? >> approximately 5,000 u.s. forces in iraq right now. they're doing a variety of different things. a substantial amount have been providing the training to the 12 iraqi brigades that we've trained over the last few months. all part of this operation. we also have logistical folks. we have engineers. we have force protection for our own people. they're all doing a variety of things but the main thing, alisyn, they're providing capabilities and enabling capabilities for the iraqis to carry out this fight. >> critics of the obama administration say why telegraph this information for weeks before the battle started to isis? i mean, basically what they suggest is that the administration somehow gave isis a running start. let me play for you what donald trump has said. >> so, we have announcements coming out of washington and coming out of iraq. we will be attacking mosul in three weeks or four weeks. all these bad leaders from isis are leaving mosul. why c

militants attacking the iraqi ci of kirkuk.ast 14 have died in a coordinated assault on targets in and around the city. time to get you up to speed with the latest business headlines. a report on venezuela, still in crisis mode as we speak? reporter: that is right. unfortunately, the situation keeps getting worse and worse. it seems venezuela is on the brink of collapse. the opposition blames president nicolas maduro and his government for the deep economic crisis of the country and wants to impeach him, but the election council blocked the effort. the state owned oil company is at risk of defaulting, and with it the entire country. reporter: for these people, president nicolas maduro is a hero. they are overjoyed about the election council's decision. it prevents the opposition from collecting any more signatures to back the maduro recall referendum, for now. others call the decision a farce. >> they are only doing all that to stop the changes we want. people here want to see the back of this government. we are fed up with the

could still be the backbone for the iraqis to lead the way here? >> well, you mosul is heavily populated and very large urban area and we are going to, unfortunately, probably see civilian casualties and we can't tie the hands of our forces the first time that happens. the other piece is that you have multiple actors on the this battlefield. yes, you have the iraqi army, but you also have shia militia, many of which are influenced by the iranians and you have ku kurdish factions and sunni militia, many of which are being trained by the turkish army and again it is critical that we are the honest broker and able to tie the operational pieces together and then importantly we have to be forward to kind of win the peace. it truly does matter who holds mosul after we kicked isil out of it. is it the shia militia that has not behaved well in towns like tick rick or is it the kurds or the army and we have to be engaged that they act in a way that is responsible. >> you've been on the groundworking with indigenous forces and if they are side by side, we co