Excerpt: “The Iraqi Army slowed the pace of its advance in order to minimize civilian casualties and clear scores of mines planted in villages it was retaking. “The Christian city of Qaraqosh [10 miles southeast of Mosul] was liberated on Tuesday, but the army had to pull back because of sniping,” said Sargis Sangari, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army who is advising the Assyrian Army in the Nineveh plains northeast of Mosul. “ISIS is using snipers to lure artillery shelling of the town so that all housing stock will be reduced to rubble. That way, Assyrian Christians will have no homes to return to,” Sangari said. “They did the same thing last year in Sinjar City and many other cities.”

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iraqi-advance-mosul-exceeds-expectations/