CNN news 2015-03-05 加文本

cnn news 2015-03-05

CARL AZUZ, HOST: cnn STUDENT NEWS is 10 minutes of commercial-free current events.

I`m Carl Azuz.

We start today in Tikrit. It`s a city in northern central Iraq. It`s the birthplace of former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, who was killed in

the Iraq War. It was one scene of fighting in the Iraq War and now it`s a battlefield once again, this time between Iraqi forces and the ISIS

terrorist group.

ISIS took over the city last June.

The Iraqi Army and militiamen are fighting to take it back. They`ve failed to capture it several times before. This new assault is important

for several reasons. For one, these troops were trained by U.S. and other coalition forces. This battle could indicate whether that training made a

difference.

It`s expected to last a while. If it succeeds, it could show that recapturing Mosul, a much larger city controlled by ISIS, is possible. If

it fails, it could spell disaster for the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and the fight against ISIS in Iraq.

TIM LISTER, cnn CORRESPONDENT: Mosul, Irbil, Fallujah, Raqqa -- these are names we hear every day as the world focuses on the battle against

ISIS, the key cities, the key battlefields.

But just why are they the key battlefields?

Why do they matter so much?

(ON SCREEN)

ISIS Battlegrounds

LISTER: Let`s start with Mosul, the jewel in ISIS` crown in Northern Iraq, a symbolically important city and one that is now the second largest

in Iraq.

Last July, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared at the city`s grand mosque to declare his caliphate. And ISIS has begun building

fortifications around the city.

The big question is when an offensive to retake Mosul might begin. Kurdish Peshmerga forces have sealed off all but the southern exits and the

Iraqi prime minister promises that there will be an operation to retake Mosul.

But just when?

It seems, according to most analysts in this region, still months away.

To the west in Iraq`s Anbar Province, ISIS appears to be in better shape. And it`s the Iraqi security forces who`ve lost ground. The cities

of Ramadi and Fallujah, both under ISIS control, are key battlegrounds if the Iraqi government is to relieve the pressure on the capital and persuade

the Sunni tribes in this area that it will come to their aid.

The Syrian battlefield is much more complex and there are signs that ISIS is trying to reassess its priorities in the face of intensive

coalition airstrikes.

Elsewhere in Syria, ISIS appears to be reassessing its priorities, perhaps pulling out of certain areas of the northwest and northeast where

it`s under pressure. And it may well be reprioritizing in Damascus, where there`s every chance that a complex battlefield will emerge in the coming

months, pitting different rebel groups against each other and against the regime.