A month ago, thousands of Iraqi and Kurdish troops, supported by the United States, France, and Britain, began a massive operation to retake Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul from ISIS militants. Thousands of bombs have been dropped by coalition aircraft over the past few weeks, as ground forces move from village to village, house to house, advancing on central Mosul. ISIS fighters have put up strong resistance, setting fire to oil reserves, killing some civilians and using others as human shields, while thousands of refugee families continue to flee the violence. While progress is being made by Iraqi forces toward surrounding and recapturing Mosul, the campaign may drag on for many more weeks or months.