be the path to isis becoming extinct. >> certainly from a strategic point of view, it is important. because it is the commanding city in northern iraq. the second largest in the country. it's near the syrian border. it's near the turkish border. it is iraq's most ethnically diverse city. symbolically, of course, it is the largest city that isis controls. it has a population -- or had a population in better times of up to about 2 million. now, however, many people have fled. what remains is somewhere between 700,000 and 1 million civilians there. it was there on the 29th of june, 2014, where the leader of isis, abu bakr al bagdadi, declared his so-called caliphate. that was the birth of isis as we know it today.