Despite suicide attacks, snipers and roadside bombs, Iraqi commandos swept into the eastern edge of Mosul today, setting foot in the city for the first time since it was seized by Isis militants more than two years ago.
It was a rapid and symbolic incursion into the northern Iraqi city at the heart of the militant group's self-proclaimed "caliphate".
But bringing the fight into Mosul's limits does not change the overall challenges facing Iraqi troops trying to oust the militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq. Ahead lie booby-trapped defence lines, networks of tunnels and neighbourhoods packed with civilians.
Explosions and heavy exchanges of gunfire could be heard from Mosul's Gogjali district as Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces battled to retake it. Jets streaked overhead.
Iraqi commanders and US officials say they can only guess how hard the militants will fight for the city, the most populous that Isis (Islamic State) controls.
More than a million civilians are said to remain in Mosul, and the militants have kidnapped the populations of entire villages on the city's outskirts to use as human shields, according to those who have escaped.While it is central to the group's state-building aspirations, it is also a prize that the militants appear likely to lose. Tens of thousands of Iraqi and Kurdish troops have closed in since the launch of an ambitious offensive just over two weeks ago, backed by air and artillery strikes by a US-led coalition.
"There was desperate resistance by the enemy," said Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saedi, a commander with Iraq's counterterrorism forces. By the end of the day, Gogjali had largely been secured, although mines, explosives and some "pockets" of resistance were still being cleared, he said.
The elite forces were building on their momentum and moving deeper into Mosul, fighting on the edge of neighbourhoods farther east, he added. The 9th Armoured Division of the Iraqi Army also said it had reached the city's edge.
The speed of the gains, however, appeared to come at the expense of thorough operations to secure and clear territory as government forces advanced.
The elite Iraqi troops are making a sharp push into Mosul from the east. But forces on other fronts remain farther away, exposing advancing troops to attack from their flanks as they attempt to press forward. The militants' extensive networks of tunnels allows them to evade airstrikes and launch surprise attacks.
Reposting the video:The fearless @FerasKilaniBBC and his team were caught in the crossfire near Mosul. Stay safe! https://t.co/yBfVZbYwuM— Hassan Hassan (@hxhassan) November 1, 2016
On the outskirts of the village of Bazwaya - about 6.5km east of today's main clashes - the crack of gunfire sent journalists and Iraqi forces running for cover. "Enemy fire!" shouted one soldier, as bullets pinged off the metal shutters of a deserted row of shops where they had been camped out.
The troops fired back with machine guns and later said they found and killed three armed militants holed up in a building in the village.
"There are still sleeper cells around in the villages," said one Iraqi captain. "There are some gaps in our control, and they are using their tunnels."
Earlier in the day, the militants sent a military vehicle packed with explosives to the village, leaving a gaping crater in the road. The sand-coloured Humvee was flying the Iraqi flag in an attempt to look like a friendly Iraqi Army vehicle, soldiers said.
"We knew it was the enemy as there are only counterterrorism forces here," said 1st Lieutenant Baraa al-Sultani, noting that Humvees used by the elite forces are black. "We opened fire."
A man near the front lines of the #Mosul offensive removes an #ISISlicense plate from a destroyed vehicle. pic.twitter.com/oNEAPirVvb— Ben Kesling (@bkesling) November 1, 2016
With a fragile grip on some of the territory behind them, Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Asadi, commander of the counterterrorism units, said he would meet army and tribal fighters today to seek an agreement on sending forces to hold the ground as the elite units progress.
"We are going to advance farther, so we don't want to be exposed," he said.
So far, many of the areas retaken by Iraqi forces have been largely empty of civilians. Iraqi forces say their advance may slow as they near heavily populated areas of the city. An overwhelming humanitarian crisis is feared if Mosul residents flee en masse, and civilians have been advised to stay in their homes.
But many inevitably are uprooted during the conflict, and some have been forced into the city at gunpoint by the militants. Today, Isis brought dozens of trucks and buses to attempt to transfer 25,000 civilians from the village of Hamam al-Ali into Mosul to use as human shields, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
"We have grave concerns for the safety of these and the tens of thousands of other civilians who have reportedly been forcibly relocated by [Isis] in the past two weeks," said spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.
The real battle of Mosul just begun. Urban combat. Pray for civilians.— weddady (@weddady) November 1, 2016
On the main road to the front lines, small convoys of civilians could be seen leaving the surrounding area, holding white flags out of their car windows as they drove. Shepherds waving white flags herded their livestock out, as vehicles of the Iraqi elite forces sped in the other direction.
Inside Mosul, civilians were staying inside, according to Iraqis in touch with relatives there.
"They can hear the clashes and shooting and feel that the security forces are very close," said one former Mosul resident who fled two years ago but spoke to family members in the city's eastern Muthanna district. He declined to be named to protect his relatives from reprisals. "I cried when I spoke to them because I felt like I'm going to see them again soon."
He said his relatives have mixed feelings about the advance, although they desperately want the militants to be ousted after more than two years of Isis oppressive and fanatical rule.
"They are happy, but they are afraid of airstrikes and afraid that Daesh will kidnap them and take them to another part of the city," he said.
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