They Will Have to Die Now. Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate

The battle is for a city. The war is for history.
In autumn 2016, Iraqi forces began operations to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State. Millennia-old, Mosul was a birthplace of Western culture but also infamous for its cruelty, from the Assyrians to Saddam Hussein. Through the eyes of soldiers and families and jihadis, award-winning reporter James Verini chronicles the combat that followed.
Among the most devastating urban conflicts since World War II, the battle for Mosul was both archaic