Is This The End Of ISIS?

Surrender Or Die -Iraq Prime Minister

Iraqi forces were on the doorstep of ISIS-held Mosul on Tuesday, encountering snipers, landmines and road-blocking boulders as they edged closer to the key city.

Troops came within hundreds of meters of Mosul on Monday evening and are now the closest they've been since launching an operation two weeks ago to wrest the city from more than two years of ISIS rule.

Experts and officials have said that entering Mosul will likely trigger the fiercest fighting seen yet in the offensive and that the battle is expected to be fought street to street or even house to house.
The plan is to squeeze ISIS fighters from different directions, commanders say. 

But reports that the militant group has brought thousands of civilians -- mostly women and children -- into Mosul as human shields raises serious concerns that there could be a high number of civilian casualties in the battle

Iraqi forces surrounded the ISIS-held village of Gogjali on Mosul's eastern outskirts Tuesday and by late afternoon had taken control of the village, Maj. Gen. Maan al-Saadi, commander of Iraqi counter-terrorism special forces, told CNN. A commander on the ground said troops are working to clear any explosives ISIS may have left behind in Gogjali.

The village is the last populated area before eastern Mosul and freeing Gogjali opens the path for forces to enter the larger city.

Other officers said that ISIS fighters had blocked the main road between the village and Mosul with boulders and that bulldozers were needed to clear them. The road is also laced with IEDs and mines, they said.

CNN correspondents near Gogjali said earlier Tuesday that they could see smoke rising on Mosul's perimeter from oil trenches being set on fire to obscure warplanes from striking ISIS targets and deter troops from entering. Iraqi armored divisions and coalition warplanes have responded by striking ISIS positions inside the village.

Troops are now in clear striking distance of the city and they appear to have begun an assault on Mosul from outside. Residents of an eastern neighborhood reached by phone said there had been heavy shelling in the area by Iraqi forces, and that they heard outgoing mortars and heavy fire from ISIS machine guns.

Two heavy impacts shattered windows, and everyone stayed in their homes to take cover. A large generator supplying power to the area was also hit and there was heavy fighting on the main road leading into Mosul from the city of Irbil.