Fierce Fighting Rages in Mosul as ISIS Nears Defeat
HOWELL: The battle for Mosul. ISIS is on the brink of defeat in that city in Iraq, but fierce fighting continues.</s>ALLEN: Now, photographer Gabriel Chaim has been on the ground there capturing harrowing video of the battle. Our Nick Paton Walsh has some of that for you. We want to warn you, you're going to see some disturbing video, and it shows you just how close and dangerous this last fight is.</s>PATON WALSH (voice-over): From here to the river is all ISIS has left of Mosul. And this is the story of how it fell on the streets around the mosque they once held sacred but then destroyed. Brazilian photographer Gabriel Chaim is on foot with Iraqi Special Forces. Every footfall could hit a booby trap. An eerie silence, holes in just about everything, endless soot. Streets empty. And each human they meet is either desperate to escape or the enemy. In the alleyways, two men approach them. One is carrying a bomb. They rush in to help their wounded.</s>HOWELL: Nick, thank you.</s>ALLEN: No, they won't.</s>HOWELL: Yes.</s>ALLEN: My goodness. Well, in a CNN exclusive coming up Monday, we will look at this war in Syria. We will take you to the Netherlands where our Atika Shubert speaks with a Syrian mother who received desperate messages from her daughter who is trapped in Raqqa.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm exhausted, Mom. I can't bear this life anymore. My son is sick, and there's no medicine or clean water or anything for my child. It was really hard to find some milk yesterday.</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You've never seen your grandson before?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): No, I haven't seen him. My dear, I wake up in sadness. I go to bed in sadness. I don't know any other emotion than sadness. Every day, I live in fear of tomorrow.</s>HOWELL: You'll hear more of those desperate messages, and you'll hear the response of hope from her mother. That story, only on Monday, only here on</s>CNN. ALLEN: We might cling to that word, hope.</s>HOWELL: Absolutely.</s>ALLEN: After all of that.</s>HOWELL: Yes.</s>ALLEN: Well, the defeat in Mosul appears imminent for ISIS but ISIS is expanding beyond the Middle East. It has brought groups like Abu Sayyaf under its black banner, now waging in the Philippines.</s>HOWELL: Our Ivan Watson recently spoke to a former Abu Sayyaf member. In a CNN exclusive, he detailed that group's bloody history.</s>TEXT: Inside the mind of a Former Extremist.</s>IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What was the attraction in those days to join an armed militant group?</s>ABU JIHAD, FORMER MEMBER OF EXTREMIST GROUP: To us, it was a noble obligation to take part in jihad.</s>TEXT: "Abu Jihad" is from the Philippines Island of Basilan. For more than a decade, he was a member of Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines' most notorious extremist group.</s>WATSON: What was the justification at that time for killing people?</s>JIHAD: At first, we thought that the organization is for religious purpose. It is for the propagation of the Islamic teachings. It is to establish the sharia. We never thought that the group would resort to kidnappings, bombings, and many other atrocities.</s>TEXT: Over the past quarter century, Abu Sayyaf kidnapped scores of people.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- had $15 million in ransom for the release of 20 of 21 hostages kidnapped 4-1/2 months ago.</s>TEXT: The militants ransomed and released some victims. Some were beheaded.</s>JIHAD: Especially during the start of the group, the foreign connection, foreign support is very important.</s>TEXT: Abu Sayyaf allied itself with the al Qaeda in the 1990s. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Among those sent to train Abu Sayyaf, al Qaeda member and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.</s>WATSON: What kind of things did these men teach you?</s>JIHAD: They provided us with their experience in Afghanistan, how to conduct ambush, and what are the things needed during warfare.</s>TEXT: Extremists have long taken advantage of Southeast Asia's porous maritime borders.</s>WATSON: Did you use the islands and boats to smuggle people and money and weapons?</s>JIHAD: Yes. It was very easy for us. By using the fastest speedboats that they have, they can easily transport firearms and money very easily.</s>WATSON: How much money would be on a boat?</s>JIHAD: Millions.</s>TEXT: At least 14 different insurgent groups have joined ISIS in the Philippines.</s>JIHAD: This has never happened before, that militant groups in the Philippines have come together.</s>TEXT: Abu Jihad was arrested and jailed in 2002. He has since renounced violence.</s>WATSON: Do you feel any guilt about your time with the militant group?</s>JIHAD: Yes. Yes. I resented having joined this kind of organization, having known people who brought these destructions.</s>ALLEN: From Ivan Watson there in the Philippines. Well, in the middle of a devastated economy, many Venezuelans are heading across the border to try and find food. We'll take you along on what they're having to do, coming up next here.</s>HOWELL: Plus, as President Trump makes more controversial comments about a woman, we'll take a look at how his wife and daughter are reacting.</s>ALLEN: And later this hour, amazingly well preserved ruins discovered while digging for a new subway line underneath Rome.