Inside the fight to free Mosul

ISIS fighters are now on the defensive, two years after they stunned the world with their lightning-fast assault on Iraq's second-largest city.For the people ofMosul, work dried up and basic human rights were erased under the brutal control of the Islamic State,which proclaimed its caliphate herein 2014.

The eastern side ofMosulwas liberated in January, the result ofa fierce military campaign involvingthousandsof Iraqi and coalition forces that began last fall. They continue to face stiff resistance in the push tochase ISIS out of westernMosul.

CBC, which is one of only a handful of international news organizations to have gotten this close to the fighting, has been reporting from the Iraqi city all week.

• Battle to liberate Mosul from ISIS gains ground

Here, Iraqi soldiers runfor cover after ISIS fighters launcha counterattack on Wednesday near the front line in western Mosul.

The ground shakes

The Iraqis and the U.S.-led coalition have relied heavily on their air superiority. At times, the sound of fighter jets and attack helicopters reverberates across the western side of the city.

On the ground, Iraqi soldiers provide co-ordination for the coalition in advance of an airstrike, like this onethat targeted an ISIS position.

Pushing forward

Iraqi security forces, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shia militias have been involved in the military operation, which was launched in October2016.

Members of the Diyalabrigade of the Iraqi elite special forcesprepare to enter a Mosul neighbourhood to flush out ISIS fighters and check for booby traps left behind.

Bloody battle

ISIS snipers, often waiting in high positions such as mosque minarets, pose a real challenge to the Iraqi side. The jihadists also attack the Iraqis with car bombs and suicide bomb attacks.

An Iraqi soldier who was shot through the leg is helped to a military Humvee, which will take him to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.

Hearts and minds

Humanitarian needs are not forgotten, even amid the military offensive. Soldiers are instructed to have warm relations with the Mosul residents they meet during their patrols, in an effort to show the civilian population that the army is looking out for their best interests.

Here, ayoung Iraqi boy enjoys some sweets given to him by Iraqi soldiers in a newly liberated neighbourhood of Mosul.

Stiff resistance

Iraqi security forces have discovered improvised explosive devices and unused ammunition in buildings the militants have abandoned.

An Iraqi soldier shows off an anti-tank guided missilein what appears to have beenan ISIS weapons cache in western Mosul.

War takes its toll

More than four months of war has left parts of Mosul deeply scarred. Neighbourhood markets lie in ruins, while many key intersections have been destroyed by coalition airstrikes.

'Source of pride'

Soldiers from across Iraq have been called up to join in the battle of Mosul, viewing itas a chance to restore the image of the Iraqi armed forces, which abandoned the fight when ISIS stormed the city just over two years ago.

For 25-year-old Sgt. Gaith Rafid, a bomb disposal expert with the Diyalabrigade, liberating Mosul "is a huge source of pride. I fight with my country's flag on my shoulder."

Fightingand fleeing

The United Nations estimates that more than 215,000 civilians have fled the city since the second phase of the military operation got underway in late February.

This mother and her baby wait in an army HumveeafterIraqi soldiers said they would take thefamily to safety.