characterization? reporter: i would say the iraqi troops fighting like never before in iraq. they are on the ground and in the front lines. the role the u.s. is playing in terms of bringing in their various different enablers, the air strikes, various different assets that the u.s. is bringing has been very isn t. iraqis acknowledge they couldn t do this alone. it s worth noting the kind of fight that s transpiring in mosul is unlike anything the u.s. military faced during its more than eight decade long occupation of iraq. it s arguably one of the toughest battles in modern history because not only your trying dislodge an enemy like isis that s incredibly sophisticated, complicated, that has no rules of engagements, that does take populations as human shields, that does hold civilians at gunpoint in their homes while using their room tops as fighting positions.
are up against an enemy unlike anyone the u.s. has faced in either iraq or afghanistan. isis is much more sophisticated, much more capable and has many more fighters deeply entrenched inside a city that was home to 1.2 million civilians. even in this last portion of western mosul you saw how hundreds of thousands of civilians who cannot flee even if they wanted to because everyone we spoke to who tried to escape said isis turned them back at gunpoint. we also spoke to numerous civilians who lost loved ones or some who hand nagged to survive the situation, isis would hold them at gunpoint in their homes while at the same time using their roof tops for fighting positions. this is a tragedy, of awful proportions. while we were in mosul yesterday we spoke to a handful of people that were in a neighborhood that had already been liberated, describing the sheer terror and horror of war. one woman we met, in fact, was
there on the ground? reporter: it is just how densely populated these areas are, how brutal and vicious that warfare is. there are no rules. isis is holding families as human shields. the iraqis are trying to advance. air strikes, no matter how precise, can quite possibly cause secondary explosions, cause other buildings to collapse. plus in the vast majority of cases there are families that are hiding inside these buildings that isis is using as fighting positions, which puts the iraqi security forces as they move forward in a very difficult position. they are really going to have to engage as they re now saying they re going to and a lot more house-to-house combat if they re going to try to clear these isis fighters out. even that will potentially have its toll on the civilian population. in fact, according to the united nations high commission for human rights, between the dates that are under investigation both by the u.s. and iraqis, the 17th of march to the 22nd some
because of the intensity of the fighting and according to the head of the civil defense team, at least 80 bodies were pulled out of the rubble, one of the iraqi generals who is the spokesman for the iraqi military joint military command, he said that they believe that in one house alone, there were 130 people. now, the iraqis are saying because of how densely populated this part of mosul is and because of these various reports of civilian casualties, they are going to be modifying their tactics using less air strikes, advancing more on foot. these are very narrow streets, using more drones and precision artillery. this is the ugly battle that they re facing. isis is holding the civilian population hostage. if isis catches them they turn them back at gun point. they don t allow families to use isis uses as fighting positions.
unfortunately there s going to be these kind of incidents. one of the things when the iraqis make these advances and they see the fighting positions oftentimes they ll call an air strike. if you ve got troops in context and you call for an air strike, most likely you ll get it. it s up to the commander to gauge how much danger he s putting the civilian population in. they air on the safety of their own troops. this is a no-win situation. they re being faced with these trapped cars, they come rushing at them. they have to act very quickly. top u.s. commander in the middle east caused these civilian debts. he said the coalition is taking extraordinary measures to keep people safe. more now from northern iraq. the investigations are on going what we ve been able to preliminary piece together on march 17th, according to one of