Image copyright AFP Image caption Lula the bear was suffering from pneumonia when found at the zoo in February 
 
 The only surviving animals of Mosul zoo have been rescued from appalling conditions in the war-torn Iraqi city. 
 
 Simba the lion and Lula the bear were found abandoned at the privately-owned zoo in February, still in their cages and covered in dirt and excrement. 
 
 The charity Four Paws International came to their aid, and on Monday it flew them to a better life in Jordan. 
 
 Troops are trying to drive Islamic State militants out of Mosul, their last major urban stronghold in Iraq. 
 
 Almost six months of fierce fighting has caused many civilian casualties, and hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption It took Four Paws International weeks to get the necessary permits from the Iraqi authorities 
 
 The Montazah al-Morour Zoo was nearly destroyed during the battle for the eastern half of the city earlier this year and most of its animals - including a lioness, monkeys and rabbits - were killed or died of starvation. 
 
 Amir Khalil, an Egyptian-Austrian vet who headed the Four Paws mission, said Simba and Lula were suffering from many diseases caused by malnutrition and lack of care when he first saw them in February. Both had very bad teeth, Lula was suffering from pneumonia and Simba from ill joints. 
 
 The next month, Dr Khalil started trying to acquire the correct paperwork from the Iraqi authorities so that the animals could be taken abroad for proper care. 
 
 Dr Amir Khalil speaks to BBC World Service 
 
 Two weeks later, their first attempt to fly the animals out had to be aborted after a lorry carrying them was detained at a checkpoint. 
 
 The lorry was stuck at the roadside for nine days until further permits were secured, during which time Simba developed a respiratory problem. 
 
 Before the plane carrying them to Jordan took off on Monday, Dr Khalil told AFP news agency: "This is a beginning of a new life for the animals." 
 
 "From now on, they won't have to be part of this war." ||||| ... 
 
 R PAWS Pod and you won’t want to miss the first episode. In episode one released on February 1st, Dr. Amir Khalil, FOUR PAWS veterinarian of 25+ years, provides a first- hand account of our rescue mission to Magic World Zoo near Aleppo, Syria. Relive the joys, the sorrows and the suspense of one of the most famous FOUR PAWS emergency response missions. 
 
 Have you heard?! FOUR PAWS USA is releasing a podcast called the FOU ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Iraqi FM Hoshyar Zebari: ''This is our fight... but it has regional and international dimensions'' 
 
 US Secretary of State John Kerry has vowed "intense and sustained support" for Iraq after meeting key politicians in the capital, Baghdad. 
 
 His visit comes as Sunni insurgents expand their control of towns across the country's north and west. 
 
 The rebels are bearing down on a vital dam near Haditha, and have captured all of the border crossings to Syria and Jordan from government forces. 
 
 The key airport in the northern town of Tal Afar has also fallen to the rebels. 
 
 There are reports the town itself has also fallen. Tal Afar controls the main road from the Syrian border to Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city, which was captured by the rebels two weeks ago. 
 
 Heavily armed Iraqi troops are protecting the dam near Haditha. Residents told BBC Arabic that rebels had surrounded the town but had not yet entered it. 
 
 An Iraqi military spokesman said that hundreds of Iraqi soldiers had been killed by Sunni Arab militants in the current offensive. 
 
 On Monday Mr Kerry met Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to discuss the crisis. Mr Kerry also met key Shia and Sunni figures. 
 
 The secretary of state later said: "The support will be intense, sustained, and if Iraq's leaders take the steps needed to bring the country together it will be effective." 
 
 A statement from Mr Maliki's office said the crisis in Iraq represented "a threat not only to Iraq but to regional and international peace". 
 
 Iraqi officials briefed on the meeting told the Associated Press that Mr Maliki had asked for targeted US air strikes, but that Mr Kerry had expressed concern about civilian casualties. 
 
 The BBC's Richard Galpin in Baghdad says Mr Kerry will have been pressing for a new government, more inclusive of minority Sunni Arabs. 
 
 Prisoners killed 
 
 Officials said the rebels of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant took two key crossings in Anbar on Sunday, a day after seizing one at Qaim, a town in the province that borders Syria. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Iraqi security forces fire artillery during clashes with militants on the outskirts of the town of Udaim in Diyala 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Sunni fighters, among them the jihadists of Isis, have taken large swathes of western and northern Iraq 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Kerry met Mr Maliki during his tour of the region to try to resolve the crisis 
 
 The capture of Tal Afar airport is a blow to the government, which was hoping to use it as a springboard to recapture Mosul, says the BBC's Jim Muir in northern Iraq. 
 
 Police sources also told the BBC that 70 prisoners had been killed near the city of Hillah, south of Baghdad. 
 
 The prisoners, who were all accused of terrorism, were being moved further south for security reasons when the convoy came under attack by gunmen. 
 
 They were killed in the crossfire. Several policemen were injured and six of the gunmen were shot dead, police said. 
 
 Analysis by Jim Muir, BBC News, in Irbil 
 
 John Kerry is trying to persuade politicians across the board to rise above the sectarian and ethnic divides and come together to pull their country back from the brink of fragmentation. 
 
 The question is no longer whether Iraq is splitting up - it is. The question is whether that process can somehow be reversed. The odds are not good. 
 
 A future Iraq will clearly have to involve a large measure of devolution, if not actual partition. It could happen bloodily, or by agreement. 
 
 It is unlikely Mr Kerry will find a single Iraqi leader apart from Prime Minister Maliki himself who believes the incumbent premier is the man to lead a reconciliation process necessary for a political solution. 
 
 But if Iran insists Mr Maliki has to stay - as it has with Bashar al-Assad in Syria - the chances of a settlement will be sharply reduced. 
 
 A solution would require some kind of understanding between the two major outside players, the US and Iran, but there is little sign of a meeting of minds so far. 
 
 Can Kerry pull Iraq back from the brink? 
 
 US-Iran differences 
 
 Since the fall of Mosul in early June, Isis has helped win large areas in the west and north. 
 
 It has taken four strategically important towns in predominantly Sunni Anbar province - Qaim, Rutba, Rawa and Anah - in the past two days. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Reda El Mawy met religious minorities affected by the conflict 
 
 Gunmen have captured the border posts of Walid, on the Syrian frontier, and Traybil, on the Jordanian border, after government forces pulled out. 
 
 The capture of frontier crossings could help Isis transport weapons and other equipment to different battlefields, analysts say. 
 
 The US, which pulled out of Iraq in 2011, is deploying some 300 military advisers to Iraq to help in the fight against the insurgents. 
 
 But Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he opposed any US intervention, and accused Washington of "seeking an Iraq under its hegemony and ruled by its stooges". 
 
 "The main dispute in Iraq is between those who want Iraq to join the US camp and those who seek an independent Iraq," he said, dismissing talk of sectarianism.
– Lula and Simba are headed to a new life in Jordan. The bear and lion, respectively, were discovered in February in the war-decimated Montazah al-Morour Zoo in Mosul, Iraq, apparently the only two animal survivors in the facility, the BBC reports. All of the other creatures had starved to death or were killed during clashes between Iraqi forces and ISIS, and Lula and Simba weren't doing so great themselves: They were found dirty, covered in feces, and suffering from various maladies between them, including bad teeth and malnutrition, Four Paws veterinarian Amir Khalil says. But the Four Paws International charity stepped in to tend to them, and after various paperwork issues, Lula and Simba finally had their big day on Monday: They were crated up and put on a plane to Jordan, where they'll be placed in a "species-appropriate home," per Four Paws' Facebook page. "From now on, they won't have to be part of this war," Khalil told AFP Monday, via the BBC. (These elephants were saved from a muddy demise.)