US-trained Iraqi special forces strengthen battle for Mosul

The Iraqi military effectively announced its full participation in the battle for Mosul with the arrival of a huge convoy of its elite Golden Division at positions hard won by Kurdish Peshmerga forces at the start of the week.

The professional, US-trained special forces unit rumbled along the Erbil to Mosul highway before turning off the road and occupying an entire, recently liberated village.

They were welcomed by a slightly bemused but relatively accommodating group of Kurd fighters.

Tanks, armoured Humvees, mobile multiple rocket launchers, mine clearance vehicles and diggers queued to find space before soldiers piled off their vehicles to begin clearing out abandoned houses to spend the night.

A commander told me that for him, this is personal.

He was in Mosul when the Iraqi army fled in June 2014 in the face of just a few thousand Islamic State fighters.

He lost a lot of friends before escaping, re-training and joining the Golden Division.

"This is revenge," he whispered.

These soldiers are certainly revved up.

As we walked passed the convoy they opened windows to make the now ubiquitous V for Victory sign with promises that they will take the immediate towns in front of them and push on to Mosul within days.

However, everyone concedes that timings are impossible to predict when IS is involved.

Their arrival is symbolic but important as well.

The Golden Division have been tasked to enter and take the city. They are telling civilians to stay in their houses and wait for their rescue.

They are being cast as saviours but it comes with a huge responsibility because if they fail, Islamic State wins. It is that simple.

A huge push is now imminent.

A column of Peshmerga armoured vehicles headed out of town to be repositioned for a new attack on a series of IS-controlled towns across an enormous battle space.

The Iraqi and Kurd armies are taking the lead but thousands upon thousands of Sunni and Shia militiamen have been assigned targets as well.

For now, an ever-growing berm - a vast mud wall - being formed by the Peshmerga is the effective front line.

They have built hundreds of miles of these over the past two years to protect their lands. But the latest is far inside Iraq proper, which in the future could pose a real political headache.

For now, the berm suggests that the Kurds have accepted that this is their forward line of control.

In one of the small sentry posts that run along the wall of the berm, a Peshmerga commander pointed out the positions of Islamic State a few hundred metres away across the desert.

"We are preparing for them to attack, it is always like this," he told me as we crouched beneath the ridge line to avoid sniper fire.

It is those IS positions that the Golden Division will imminently attack. They know that after two years IS are well dug in but they are confident.

The point is that the towns ahead are far bigger than those already taken and, of course, Mosul dwarfs them all.

There is not just military movement taking place here. A few miles from the front, men queue for forms requesting permission to enter their now-liberated homes to see what is left.

In truth it is probably very little, but they are optimistic and happy. Maybe, just maybe, soon they could actually go home with their families.