Iraqi Prime Minister on Monday announced the start of military operations to liberate the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants. The push to retake Mosul will be the biggest military operation in Iraq since American troops left in 2011. The city fell to IS fighters during a lightning charge in June 2014.
Broadcast on state TV showed the prime minister, dressed in a military uniform, speaking while flanked by senior officers.
Iraqi forces have been massing around the city in recent days. They include members of the elite special forces, who are expected to lead the charge into the city itself.
After seizing Mosul in 2014 ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi visited the city to declare an Islamic caliphate that at one point covered nearly a third of Iraq and Syria.
But since late last year, the militants have suffered battlefields losses in Iraq and their power in Iraq has shrunk to Mosul, about 360 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, along with small towns in the country’s north and west.
The operation to retake Mosul is expected to be the most complex yet for Iraq’s military.
