Iraq forces launch offensive to retake IS stronghold Mosul

Iraqi forces backed by US coalition launch biggest battle against jihadists to retake major town.

Iraqi forces advanced on Monday after launching an offensive aimed at retaking Mosul and dealing a death blow to the Islamic State group’s “caliphate” in the city where it was declared two years ago.

Some 30,000 federal forces are leading the offensive, backed by air and ground support from a 60-nation US-led coalition, in what is expected to be a long and difficult assault on IS’s last major Iraqi stronghold.

Iraqi forces could be seen readying weapons and ammunitions as columns of armoured vehicles headed towards Mosul from the town of Al-Shura, some 45 km south of the city.

The Pentagon described the operation as a “decisive moment” in the fight against IS but the US-led coalition’s top commander warned it could last weeks or more.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the beginning of the assault in a televised address in the early hours of Monday.

IS forces are vastly outnumbered, with the US military estimating that 3,000 to 4,500 jihadists are in the city and surrounding area. In a statement released online after the beginning of the assault, IS claimed it launched a series of deadly suicide car bomb attacks against Iraqi forces.

As the assault began, federal forces moved from their main staging base of Qayyarah, south of Mosul, while peshmerga forces from the autonomous Kurdish region advanced from the east. Around 4,000 Kurdish peshmerga took part in a push to reclaim villages once inhabited by members of the Christian and Kakai minorities, a statement said.

Several villages were promptly recaptured and peshmerga forces had moved to the edges of Qaraqosh and Bartalla, two Christian towns seized by IS in August 2014, commanders said.

At a staging area near the village of Khazir east of Mosul, Kurdish forces could be seen firing artillery and rockets as smoke rose from houses in the distance.

The United Nations and other aid organisations warned that a huge number of civilians were in immediate danger. Iraqi forces advancing on multiple fronts are some distance from Mosul and are expected to eventually take up positions on the edge of the city.

Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday indicated that Turkey would also play a role in the offensive despite concerns raised by Baghdad over Ankara’s involvement.