Mosul: Fight against ISIS from the sky in 360 video - BBC News

what you're about to see over the next couple of minutes is the battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul in a way that it's never been seen before from above and in 360 degrees [Applause] in fact we think this is the first time a live helicopter combat mission has ever been filmed like this we're on an Iraqi mi-28 helicopter more commonly known as a havoc they're made by the Russians but this one is being flown by two Araki pilots it's just taken off from a place called hmmm Ally that's an airbase about 30 kilometers south of the city of Mosul we're currently flying north to our right is the famous Tigris River we're currently over the West Bank just so you can get your bearings my name is Joe in Word and I'm a BBC journalist I spent nearly a week living on the base and flying with these pilots I'm going to be your guide over Mosul as we see the results of years of is occupation and the battle to take the city back if you look behind us now you can see the second helicopter on a mission it's called a bell and is made by the Americans it's an attack and reconnaissance helicopter and is much less heavily armoured than the havoc as it happens just a few days after we shot this footage one was taken down over Mosul we think it was the exact helicopter that you're looking at now though we can't be certain both pilots died [Applause] okay so we're now over the east part of Mosul this was the first thing to be retaken by the Iraqi army and is now firmly in their hands we're going to cross over to the West now which is where the fighting have been taking place most recently just below us is the Forth Bridge now like all the crossings over the Tigris it's been completely destroyed so just ahead of us is the old International Airport now this was a crucial battleground in the fight to take back the city just take a look around try and imagine that just a couple of years back this was a busy International Terminal it was only rebuilt in 2007 and with it now it's completely destroyed okay so the airport is now behind us ahead you should ever see two big plumes of smoke rising just so you get your bearings we're going to pause and highlight some of the key features in the battle to take back Mosul now flashing red now is the old city now this is where the is fighters are really dug in and it's where the fighting has been fiercest now just beyond that is the third bridge like all the crossings it's been completely destroyed just in front of that is the old museum now when Isis took the city a couple of years ago there were some famous footage that went out you can see some of it there of them destroying all the antiquities in the museum causing outrage around the world now just left of that is the al nouri mosque that was here that the leader of is Abu Bakr al Baghdadi spoke shortly after they declared the caliphate it's also been the main target of the Iraqi army offensive on the city okay so we're now going to move over to the east side and look at a couple of key features over here so just to the left of the helicopter of the Nineveh ruins that's the site of an ancient Assyrian city just beyond that is the location of Mosul University and slightly to the right is the shrine where it's believed that the prophet Jonah was buried and unfortunately during the ice occupation that was significantly damaged now at this point the helicopters have been circling for more than an hour without firing a shot this isn't necessarily unusual because they're waiting for targets to come in from the ground as they offer air cover look at the front of the helicopter they're about to get one now just to the right of the front of the helicopter now we've enlarged in an area watch closely you're about to see a tiny flash come up from the ground that is return fire coming from the fighters on the ground now it's impossible to say exactly what the helicopters target was we think it's probably something in the old city most likely the al nouri mosque because that's where the offensive was taking place while we were filming and there you have it the battle for Mosul just a tiny tiny part of it in a way that it's never been seen before you

Channel: BBC News

Views: 4,156,466

Keywords: mosul 360, joe inwood mosul 360, isis mosul, joe inwood, mosul fighting, mosul isis, mosul, 360 video, Nafiseh Kohnavard, 360, mosul islamic state, mosul iraq, bbc, mosul offensive, mosul is, bbc news, news, iraq, iraq news, iraq war, isis, isil, islamic state, daesh, islamic state mosul, is mosul, vr, virtual reality, iraqi

Id: RKseZzSL2jM

Length: 5min 49sec (349 seconds)

Published: Mon May 22 2017