Volunteer fighters are secretly battling ISIS in Mosul

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

They're called the Mosul Liberation Battalions, comprised of former military officers, tribesmen, students, and businessmen, and Iraq's vice president said they are behind more than 300 attacks against ISIS in Mosul and Nineveh Province.

Osama al-Nujaifi told NBC News that the relatively unknown battalions are targeting ISIS fighters on a daily basis and have killed senior leaders. Mosul fell to ISIS in June, making it impossible to get any weapons into the city, so the fighters have to use whatever they can find. "All their operations are planned and implemented according to resources they have," al-Nujaifi said.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.