Military operation to recapture Mosul from IS begins in Iraq

In Iraq, a military operation to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State terror group has begun, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says. Mr Abadi said in an address broadcast on state television in the early hours of today that the time of victory has come and operations to liberate Mosul have started. Today I declare the start of these victorious operations to free you from the violence and terrorism of Daesh, he said, using another name for IS. An offensive to retake the city, Iraq's second largest, has been planned for months. Mosul has been under IS control since June 2014. 

The UN has warned that the humanitarian impact could be enormous, and possibly affect up to 1.2



million people living in and around the city. According to the United Nations, the ongoing fighting between Iraqi forces and IS has displaced more than three million Iraqis and left an estimated 10 million in need of humanitarian assistance. The UN has described the country's crisis as one of the world's worst.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said that the United States and the rest of the US-led international coalition stand ready to support Iraq in the difficult fight ahead, as Baghdad announced its offensive to retake Mosul from Islamic State. Carter said in a statement, using an acronym for Islamic State, this is a decisive moment in the campaign to deliver ISIL a lasting defeat.