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| Why Mosul Is Critical in the Battle Against ISIS | Why Mosul Is Critical in the Battle Against ISIS |
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| Iraqi security forces and Kurdish pesh merga fighters have begun an assault to dislodge Islamic State militants from the city of Mosul. Here are some reasons the city is strategically and symbolically vital. | Iraqi security forces and Kurdish pesh merga fighters have begun an assault to dislodge Islamic State militants from the city of Mosul. Here are some reasons the city is strategically and symbolically vital. |
| POPULATION: Mosul, once home to more than two million residents, was the biggest prize captured by the Islamic State. It gave the group its best claim to legitimacy as an Islamic caliphate, and it has been its most vital source of tax revenue and forced labor. | POPULATION: Mosul, once home to more than two million residents, was the biggest prize captured by the Islamic State. It gave the group its best claim to legitimacy as an Islamic caliphate, and it has been its most vital source of tax revenue and forced labor. |
| RELIEF: If recaptured, the city could eventually welcome back hundreds of thousands of people who were displaced. It is also where hundreds of enslaved Yazidi women and children are thought to be held. | RELIEF: If recaptured, the city could eventually welcome back hundreds of thousands of people who were displaced. It is also where hundreds of enslaved Yazidi women and children are thought to be held. |
| CULTURE: Mosul is an ancient Assyrian city and a vital center of antiquities and historical sites threatened by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh. The city’s heritage makes it central to Iraqi identity and hopes that the country might again move forward as a multicultural society. | |
| DEMOGRAPHICS: In a country dominated by Shiite political groups, Mosul is the biggest Sunni-dominated city. It was also the center of the biggest Christian population before the Islamic State invasion. | DEMOGRAPHICS: In a country dominated by Shiite political groups, Mosul is the biggest Sunni-dominated city. It was also the center of the biggest Christian population before the Islamic State invasion. |
| RESOURCES: The Islamic State’s chemical weapons operation is based in the city, and the group got a huge boost from raiding American armories there. Mosul commands critical road networks and physical resources, and it was also where the group rebuilt in secrecy when it was known as Al Qaeda in Iraq. | RESOURCES: The Islamic State’s chemical weapons operation is based in the city, and the group got a huge boost from raiding American armories there. Mosul commands critical road networks and physical resources, and it was also where the group rebuilt in secrecy when it was known as Al Qaeda in Iraq. |