The closest we were to Mosul would have been Tatvan or Van Johnny which was still over 400km away. We did see lots and lots of what appeared to be refugee camps though near both the Syrian and Iraqi borders.
It will be interesting to see if the same trip would be possible next year bearing in mind that up until January of this year we were still intent on circling the Black Sea. Unfortunately the situation in Ukraine deteriorated to the point that it just became too risky. Even though this was a "second choice" trip it was still very memorable.
Respect, for your inspiration in this RR