once held in iraq. they say the operation to stop isis is working. this air campaign is the most precise air campaign in history. it has been relentless. we have killed 180 leaders frome leaders every day. harris: here is more from jerusalem. reporter: it took more than three months for iraqi forces to retake the eastern part of mosul. the push to reclaim the western half is moving much faster. with senior iraqi commanders saying this weekend that the anti- isis coalition is now in control of roughly one third of western mosul, insurgents continue to resist. the fighting is expected to become even more difficult as iraqi troops move in to the old city area where streets are narrow and armored vehicles cannot operate.
than 60% of the territory it once held in iraq. they say the operation to stop isis is working. this air campaign is the most precise air campaign in history. it has been relentless. we have killed 180 leaders from isis. we continue to kill these leaders every day. harris: here is more from jerusalem. reporter: it took more than three months for iraqi forces to retake the eastern part of mosul. the push to reclaim the western half is moving much faster. with senior iraqi commanders saying this weekend that the anti- isis coalition is now in control of roughly one third of western mosul, insurgents continue to resist. the fighting is expected to become even more difficult as iraqi troops move in to the old city area where streets are narrow and armored vehicles cannot operate.
once held in iraq. they say the operation to stop isis is working. this air campaign is the most precise air campaign in history. it has been relentless. we have killed 180 leaders from isis. we continue to kill these leaders every day. harris: here is more from jerusalem. reporter: it took more than three months for iraqi forces to retake the eastern part of mosul. the push to reclaim the western half is moving much faster. with senior iraqi commanders saying this weekend that the anti- isis coalition is now in control of roughly one third of western mosul, insurgents continue to resist. the fighting is expected to become even more difficult as iraqi troops move in to the old city area where streets are narrow and armored vehicles cannot operate.
a big shake up in the polls. one day to go before the cnn presidential republican debate. which candidate is targeted by his competitor? and president obama meeting with military advisors and hours from now working to reassure the public that the white house strategy and the war against isis is working. happy monday. welcome back to early start. i m alison kosik. i m christine romans. nice to see you. tomorrow s tuesday. big event. nine candidates converge in las vegas here for the debate here on cnn. the final debate of the year with 48 days left before voting in the iowa caucus. the focus will be on the terrorism with the paris attacks and san bernardino killings. we have cnn s athena jones in las vegas with the latest. reporter: i m here from the venetian theater on the las vegas strip. this is where it will go down on
pulling back, of course, both of them are outsiders. ted cruz may be a senator, but he is if there s anything that would give the republican party a second heart attack if not donald trump, it would be ted cruz. i think the outsider vote, just in general, is still very much in play here. i think you re right about that. i ve got to leave it there. thanks to both of you. you can watch the final gop debate of 2015 only on cnn. it starts tomorrow night, 6:00 p.m. eastern, live from las vegas. also later this hour, president obama makes a rare visit to the pentagon. while he ll meet with top military officials behind closed doors, the message is very public calm terror fears this holiday season and reassure americans that the strategy against isis is working. joe johns is our senior washington correspondent. he joins us from the white house with more. good morning. reporter: good morning, carol. this is not the first time the president has been over to the pentagon, right across