Mosul

Mosul is a city in northern [Iraq]], 390km north of Baghdad, with the Iraqi V Corps surrendering without a fight, which dominates the northern oil industry. Iraqi Kurds consider it a Kurdish city, but this makes Turkey uncomfortable, as part of overall Turkish concerns both of insurgency from Turkish Kurds, and regarding the status of Turkomen in Mosul. Mosul also has the largest number of Iraqi Christians of any Iraqi city, including Nestorians, Jacobites, Catholics and Chaldeans. There are churches in Mosul that are historically and culturally important for several of these Christian sects. It is fairly close to both the Turkish and Syrian borders.

Sarah D. Shields, associate professor of history at UNC, Much of the province is included in what the British and U.S. have called the ‘northern no fly zone.’ That region is now the second front....The Turkish government hasn't really given up their claims to the Mosul region, and the Turks are very worried that the Kurds will attain some sort of autonomy in Iraq. Their fear is that that would re-ignite the demands of the Kurds within Turkey for their own autonomy, a situation comparable to the Basques seeking independence from Spain...[US-Kurdish cooperation]... makes the Turks nervous...Kurds promise that they will not tolerate a Turkish invasion. Turks promise they will not tolerate Kurds taking over northern Iraq."

History
Mosul has a long history in Assyrian culture, and a role as the bridge between linking Persia and the Mediterranean. "In the 8th century, Mosul became the principal city of northern Mesopotamia under the early Muslim Abbasid dynasty. In the Ottoman period it was one of the provincial seats of administration.

The largest city in Iraqi Kurdistan, Mosul is predominantly Kurdish with a sizeable Turkomen minority. The Yazidi sect is most numerous in the surrounding mountainous area.

Iraq War
It was the headquarters of the Iraqi V Corps, which surrendered without fighting.