now pinned down in the west. the iraqi army began this offensive back in october. the campaign had slowed in recent weeks as troops got caught up in heavy street fighting. there has been fierce resistance from isis. but iraqi troops control around a quarter of the city and confident of winning this battle against isis very soon. bill: we ll watch for progress there. live in london, thanks. martha: big week at hand as the senate gears up for a time in their session as lawmakers are set to hold a series of hearings with the confirmation process in full swing. rex tillerson the secretary of state nominee expected to face serious scrutiny from democrats as well as jeff sessions, the choice to be our next attorney general. judge michael mccasey is former u.s. attorney general. he understands this process. what would you tell these
and get 25% off your entire order. we ll even throw in free shipping. life hurts. feel better. bill: 9:41 now. to the video that shows the desperation and depravity of isis. this material is graphic. isis releasing footage of a child solder as young as 10 years old shooting and beheading kurdish prisoners in syria. our reporter is live in london with more on this. kitty. bill, it s not the first time we ve seen these kind of brutal images coming from isis. it is not the first time videos
emerged of extremists using children, either. soldiers as executioners. isis is under pressure now. coalition air strikes are continuing to put isis on the back foot and drive them into smaller pockets of territory in syria. just yesterday turkish forces killed 48 isis militants and turkish planes destroyed a mber of buildings. in iraq isis is also struggling to hold onto a major stronghold there, the city of mosul. bill: how is that battle progressing? well, iraqi forces say they re making good progress to try to retake the city of mosul. we ve seen just in the last few days them pushing isis militants out another district in the east of the city. they ve reached in the last few days over the weekend, in fact, they reached the river tigris in the center of that city. this has put the iraqi army in a much stronger position to take on isis fighters who are
potentially might come as the regime makes this push. they re doing tactics similar to what they did in the suburbs of damascus. surround entirely with ground forces, rebel-held area, start bombing the area. they don t allow food, weapons or medicine to get in and send a message to the people saying, can you starve to death, we ll put you on buses and move you to perhaps another rebel-held area. it s a successful stacktic and criticized by the u.n. in terms of human rights with the number of civilian casualties. people are running out of food. the last u.n. aid supplies were delivered in july. they handed out the last of the rations last week. winter is coming so people won t be able to grow the vegetables. one two-pound piece of meat is going for $40. most people can t afford that. they can t afford to eat. as far as iraq is concerned, isis apparently digging new trenches, we re told, building
wall, creating bear yee inbarri u.s. advisers from taking mosul, the second largest city. what are you hearing? reporter: the progress has slowed significantly in the two weeks or so since those iraqi counterterrorism forces punched into the eastern side of mosul. we know isis has built a very elaborate underground tunnel. they re using dekois, putting white flags over their weaponry and built up huge banks over the tigris river. this is a city isis knows very well. they know the tunnels, they know their attack plan. you saw when arwa was caught in that warfare, it s a house to house battle. the isis fighters have an advantage in the sense they ve been strategically building up this city like a fortress like like in raqqah as well. those isis militants willing to dry to try to fight back.