THE FIGHT FOR MOSUL ON THE GROUND WITH MARTIN CHULOV

Over the next four hours it became clear to the peshmerga creeping through the plain that they would have to fight for every yard. As they moved forward, the mortar fire intensified, landing either side of a hesitant line of troops and vehicles increasingly exposed by the sun that by now had risen over the dusty horizon. A pre-dawn dance around a burning orange oil drum, in which the peshmerga had sung along to victory hymns, suddenly looked decidedly premature.