Iraqi and Kurdish forces have launched a military operation to retake the city of Mosul from Islamic State (ISIS). The operation, announced by Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi on state TV, aims to free Iraq's second largest city and will be backed by US-led airstrikes.
In what is perhaps a first for wartime media coverage, news channels are streaming the ongoing battle live on Facebook.
Doha-based Al-Jazeera and Channel 4 in the UK are among those sharing a live feed from the Kurdish media group, Rudaw.
Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, fell to IS in the summer of 2014. Weeks later the head of the extremist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced the formation of a self-styled caliphate from the pulpit of one of its mosques.