the civilian population. some of the villages on the outskirts of the city deserted. some not. one little boy burst into tears when he saw the iraqi soldiers because he associated that with the gun battle that happened that sent bullets flying into the wall of his house. no one was hurt, earlier that morning. of course, the great concern is the closer these forces get to mosul and actually reach the city itself, a lot of the tactics there relying on now, the tampgs, the artillery and air strikes, they won't be able to use that in a city like mosul with a population potentially upwards of 1 million people. so we're still very much in the initial stages of what promises to be a long and complex battle, one arguably the biggest challenge for iraq, one that will define its future and quite potentially the future of the region, wolf. >> arwa damon on the scene for us. be careful, arwa. we'll stay in close touch. coming up, back to the race for the white house.