The northern city was where IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi publicly proclaimed a 'Caliphate' straddling Iraq and Syria in June 2014.
Washington: US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has said that operations to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group were key to defeating the jihadist group.
-"This is a decisive moment in the campaign to deliver ISIS a lasting defeat,-" Carter said in a statement on Sunday.
-"We are confident our Iraqi partners will prevail against our common enemy and free Mosul and the rest of Iraq from ISIL's hatred and brutality.-"
Carter promised continued support for Iraq.
-"The United States and the rest of the international coalition stand ready to support Iraqi Security Forces, Peshmerga fighters and the people of Iraq in the difficult fight ahead,-" he stressed.
The northern city was where IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi publicly proclaimed a -"Caliphate-" straddling Iraq and Syria in June 2014.
With the support of Iran and a US-led coalition, Iraqi forces have since regained much of the ground lost to IS and Mosul is the extremist group's last major stronghold in Iraq. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said only government forces will enter Mosul, a Sunni-majority city that IS seized with relative ease partly amid local resentment towards the Shiite-dominated security forces.
Shiite militia groups have been accused of serious abuses against Sunni civilians in the course of operations to re-conquer territory from IS.
