Battle for Mosul: How IS is making life tough for Iraq’s elite forces

"The problem was always the over reliance on airpower, which by the time Mosul had started had still not been overcome," said Michael Stephens, head of the Royal United Services Institute Qatar. "The Golden Division has little artillery to rely on and almost no air support. It is really difficult to target ISIS in some of these areas without causing huge civilian casualties. ISIS have no such qualms, and so what we have is an imbalance tactically."