Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Flames billow from an explosion during a clash between Iraqi forces and ISIS fighters in Mosul, Iraq, on Sunday, March 5. An offensive began in February to reclaim western Mosul, ISIS' last major stronghold in Iraq, after Iraqi forces liberated the eastern half of the city earlier this year. Hide Caption 1 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Families are forced to evacuate as Iraqi forces advance in western Mosul on Thursday, March 2. The number of internally displaced people has surged in recent weeks as the offensive effort has intensified. Hide Caption 2 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi forces advance in tanks and armored vehicles toward the village of Sheikh Younis, south of Mosul, on Sunday, February 19. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi described the operation as a "new dawn" in the liberation of Mosul. Hide Caption 3 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Mosul residents cross a damaged bridge in the al-Sukkar neighborhood on Saturday, January 21. Hide Caption 4 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city French President Francois Hollande and French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, right, view territory held by ISIS during a visit to a military outpost near Mosul on Monday, January 2. Hide Caption 5 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A young girl takes part in a Christmas Day Mass at a church in the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh. The area's churches were heavily damaged by ISIS militants before the town was freed by Iraqi forces during the Mosul offensive. Hide Caption 6 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi Shiite fighters ride through a desert area near the village of Al-Boutha al-Sharqiyah, west of Mosul, on Friday, December 2. Hide Caption 7 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Internally displaced Iraqis who fled the fighting in Mosul watch as a civilian drone films them at the al-Khazir camp on Thursday, December 1. Hide Caption 8 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi soldier searches a home for ISIS militants after Iraqi forces retook the village of Al-Qasr on Wednesday, November 30. Hide Caption 9 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi soldiers transport a comrade who was injured during a battle near the village of Haj Ali on Tuesday, November 29. Hide Caption 10 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A man mourns during the funeral of four Iraqi paramilitary fighters who were killed in battles in the town of Tal Afar. Hide Caption 11 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Displaced civilians return to the village of Tall Abtah on Friday, November 25, after Iraqi forces retook the village from ISIS. Hide Caption 12 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Mosul residents are seen through the windshield of an armored truck as they flee the city, while Iraqi special forces battle ISIS fighters in the northeastern district of the city on Thursday, November 24. Hide Caption 13 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi civilians sit on the ground in Mosul on November 24. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged ISIS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. Hide Caption 14 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi woman holds her child after crossing the Tigris River on Saturday, November 19. Hide Caption 15 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi soldier treats a civilian injured by a mortar shell at a field hospital in Mosul on November 19. Hide Caption 16 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi soldier jumps onto a Humvee escorting an Abrams tank in Mosul on November 18. Hide Caption 17 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An injured baby receives treatment at a field hospital in Mosul on November 15. Hide Caption 18 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A woman cries Sunday, November 13, after seeing the St. Addai church that was damaged by ISIS fighters during their occupation of the Keramlis village. Hide Caption 19 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi special forces soldier prays next to a Humvee before troops pushed toward Mosul's Karkukli neighborhood on November 13. Hide Caption 20 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A man stands guard in the al-Shallalat district as the military operation continued on November 13. Hide Caption 21 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A young shepherd watches over his flock of sheep near the town of Qayyara on Saturday, November 12. The sheep were blackened by smoke after oil wells were set ablaze by ISIS militants. Hide Caption 22 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter holds part of a defused bomb planted by ISIS militants in Bashiqa, Iraq, on Friday, November 11. Hide Caption 23 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A member of Iraq's special forces guards two suspected ISIS fighters found hiding in a house in Mosul on November 11. Hide Caption 24 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi woman displaced by war holds her cat near a checkpoint in the Iraqi village of Shaqouli, east of Mosul, on November 10. Hide Caption 25 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi troops watch a broadcast of Donald Trump's acceptance speech in a house in Arbid, on the outskirts of Mosul, on Wednesday, November 9. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated Trump on his win and said he hoped for continued support in the war on ISIS. Hide Caption 26 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city US Marines install equipment at a coalition base in Qayyara on November 9. Hide Caption 27 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Smoke rises from Bashiqa after a coalition airstrike targeted ISIS positions on Tuesday, November 8. Hide Caption 28 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter races to take a position on a street in Bashiqa as coalition forces battled to reclaim the town from ISIS control on November 8. Hide Caption 29 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi forces member investigates a mass grave that was discovered after coalition forces recaptured the area of Hamam al-Alil on Monday, November 7. Hide Caption 30 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Smoke rises from ISIS positions after an attack by Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Bashiqa on November 7. Hide Caption 31 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi children witness a man being interrogated by a member of the Iraqi army at a base next to the Al-Intissar neighborhood of Mosul on November 7. Hide Caption 32 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A civilian man who fled the fighting trims his beard after reaching an Iraqi army position in Mosul on November 7. Hide Caption 33 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Children play in debris created by an airstrike in Qayyara on Sunday, November 6. Hide Caption 34 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan sing as they hold a position near Bashiqa on November 6. Hide Caption 35 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A sniper takes aim at ISIS positions as Iraqi forces advance toward the Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul on November 6. Hide Caption 36 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A baby is passed through a fence back to his mother at a refugee camp in the Khazir region on Saturday, November 5. Hide Caption 37 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city People line up to receive food at a refugee camp in the Khazir region on November 5. Thousands are taking refuge in camps set up for internally displaced people. Hide Caption 38 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi soldiers pass near a bridge destroyed in an airstrike in Qayyara on November 5. Hide Caption 39 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi soldiers patrol an alley on the outskirts of Mosul on Friday, November 4. Hide Caption 40 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Rockets are fired from the Qayyara military base on November 4. Hide Caption 41 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A suspected member of ISIS is detained at a checkpoint near Bartella, Iraq, on November 4. Hide Caption 42 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A convoy of trucks carries displaced people away from Mosul on November 4. Hide Caption 43 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi families flee the fighting on November 4 near the village of Gogjali. Hide Caption 44 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A girl pauses in the doorway of a tent in the Khazir camp on November 4. Hide Caption 45 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi families pack into a truck to be moved to camps on Thursday, November 3. Hide Caption 46 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A member of Iraq's special forces uses a helmet as a decoy while a sniper takes aim at ISIS positions in Gogjali on November 3. Hide Caption 47 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A child peers through a car window in the village of Bazwaya on November 3. Hide Caption 48 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Children play near a burning oil field in Qayyara on November 3. Hide Caption 49 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A woman waves to Iraqi soldiers patrolling Gogjali on Wednesday, November 2. Hide Caption 50 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi special forces soldier searches for the location of an ISIS sniper in Gogjali on November 1. Hide Caption 51 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A man fleeing the village of Bazwaya carries a white flag as he arrives at a checkpoint on November 1. Hide Caption 52 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi forces run for cover after a mortar shell struck near the village of Bazwaya on Monday, October 31. Hide Caption 53 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi soldier receives treatment after being injured during clashes with ISIS fighters near Bazwaya on October 31. Hide Caption 54 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi soldiers carry an injured comrade near Bazwaya on October 31. Hide Caption 55 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi soldier navigates through a shattered windshield as coalition forces advance on Bazwaya on October 31. Hide Caption 56 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Archbishop Yohanna Petros Mouche, center, performs Mass in the liberated town of Qaraqosh on Sunday, October 30. Hide Caption 57 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Children play in a camp for internally displaced people near Kirkuk, Iraq, on October 30. More than 600 families from Tel Afar, a town west of Mosul, have been living in the camp since ISIS took control of the area in 2014. Hide Caption 58 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Shiite fighters launch missiles against ISIS in the village of Salmani, south of Mosul, on October 30. Hide Caption 59 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Displaced families are seen on the road near Qayyara on Saturday, October 29. Hide Caption 60 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city U.S. military personnel take cover in a bunker after a mortar alarm was sounded at a coalition air base in Qayyara on Friday, October 28. Hide Caption 61 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi forces member stands on top a military vehicle near the village of Sin al-Dhuban, south of Mosul, on Thursday, October 27. Hide Caption 62 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Women and children grieve over the grave of a family member at a Qayyara cemetery damaged by ISIS on October 27. Hide Caption 63 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqis who fled Mosul reunite with relatives at a refugee camp in the Khazir area on Wednesday, October 26. Hide Caption 64 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi federal police vehicle clears a checkpoint in Qayyara on October 26. Hide Caption 65 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Residents of Qayyara wait for distribution of food and water rations on October 26. Local water sources have been contaminated by the burning oil and sulfur. Hide Caption 66 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi forces patrol the Kirkuk area for members of ISIS on Tuesday, October 25. The terror group has launched surprise attacks in other parts of Iraq, including Kirkuk, to distract coalition forces from the Mosul campaign and to tie up their resources elsewhere. Hide Caption 67 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraq's counterterrorism forces advance toward ISIS positions in Tob Zawa on October 25. Hide Caption 68 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Soldiers give first aid to an injured boy in Tob Zawa on October 25. Hide Caption 69 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Displaced families gather near Qayyara on Monday, October 24. Hide Caption 70 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Kurdish Peshmerga forces take positions as they start to move toward the Imam Reza and Tizxirab villages of the Bashiqa district on Sunday, October 23. Hide Caption 71 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi forces distribute fruit to children in the village of al-Khuwayn, south of Mosul, after recapturing it from ISIS on October 23. Hide Caption 72 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Kurdish security forces detain a suspected member of ISIS in the eastern suburbs of Kirkuk on Saturday, October 22. Hide Caption 73 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi forces member helps a man push a car as they arrive at a refugee camp in Qayyara on October 22. Hide Caption 74 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi boy who lost an eye in fighting between government forces and ISIS poses for a photograph in the Debaga refugee camp on October 22. Hide Caption 75 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Spent bullet cartridges litter the street around the Jihad Hotel, where ISIS militants battled Iraqi security forces in Kirkuk on Friday, October 21. Hide Caption 76 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Gen. Abdel Ghani al-Asadi, who leads Iraq's counterterrorism forces, sits in Bartella on October 21 after the town was reclaimed. Hide Caption 77 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Peshmerga fighters look over a village during an assault near Bashiqa on Thursday, October 20. Hide Caption 78 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A Peshmerga fighter takes aim near Naveran on October 20. Hide Caption 79 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi soldiers travel along a road near Qayyara as clouds of black smoke rise in the sky on Wednesday, October 19. Hide Caption 80 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi forces fire a howitzer toward the village of Tall al-Tibah on October 19. Hide Caption 81 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A street is covered with smoke from the Qayyara fire. Hide Caption 82 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi forces head toward the front lines near Qayyara on Tuesday, October 18. Hide Caption 83 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi forces in Bajwaniyah on October 18. Hide Caption 84 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Civilians herd sheep from a village near Mosul on October 18. The smoke came from oil wells ISIS set on fire to limit the visibility of coalition pilots. Hide Caption 85 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A Peshmerga fighter peers up from an underground tunnel in the liberated town of Badana on October 18. ISIS fighters have built tunnels below residential streets to escape from airstrikes. Hide Caption 86 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Kurdish security forces take up a position near ISIS-controlled villages on Monday, October 17. Hide Caption 87 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Peshmerga forces attack ISIS militants with howitzers from Zardak mountain on October 17. Hide Caption 88 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Smoke rises from a suicide car bomb attack carried out by ISIS in the village of Bedene on October 17. Hide Caption 89 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A Kurdish Peshmerga convoy drives towards the Khazer front line, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of Mosul on October 17. Hide Caption 90 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Members of the Iraqi coalition gather around a fire at Zardak mountain ahead of the offensive. Hide Caption 91 of 93

Photos: Mosul operation: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Peshmerga forces deploy in the dark near the village of Wardak early on October 17. Hide Caption 92 of 93</s>Smoke rises at ISIS positions in the town of Naweran, near Mosul, on Sunday.

AZAD LASHKARI / Reuters</s>Since Iraqi and Kurdish forces began their mid-October campaign to liberate the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State, the jihadis have responded with terror, obstruction and diversion.

Scores of villagers living near Mosul have been rounded up and used as human shields to dissuade the Iraqi army and its allies from targeting retreating Islamic State fighters.

Soon after the launch of the operation to retake Mosul, militants reportedly seized 500 civilians and executed 284 men and boys to warn civilians against collaborating with the US-led coalition.

According to the UN, jihadis have fired upon civilians fleeing towards the Syrian border and Iraqi army and Kurdish militia lines.

Well dug in, surrounded by roadside bombs, mines, berms, tunnels and trenches, Islamic State fighters have blown up bridges over the Tigris river to hinder the progress of the attacking forces and to trap civilians. Oil wells have been set alight, filling the air with thick black smoke to choke attackers and make visibility difficult.

A week ago, the group – also known as Isis – set fire to a sulphur plant south of Mosul near the Qayyara base hosting units of the Iraqi army and US special forces. Two people died and hundreds were treated for breathing problems due to toxic sulphur dioxide fumes, revealing Islamic State’s intention to use local industrial sites as weapons of war.

To ease pressure on Mosul, the terror group has counter-attacked in three widely spaced locations. At least 100 jihadis armed with machine guns, grenades, and explosive vests infiltrated the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk , 175km from Mosul.

Islamic State activated sleeper cells in Kirkuk as fighters blasted a broad swathe across the city, killing 99 civilians with the loss of 63 jihadis. Clashes continued for two days. Kurdish militiamen mopped up the jihadis and expelled Sunni Arab civilians, who had taken refuge in Kirkuk, on suspicion they support Islamic State.

Last Saturday, Islamic State demonstrated its long reach by mounting an attack 664km from Mosul and capturing the centre of the strategic town of Rutba, straddling the Amman-Baghdad highway, a main artery for imports of food and other goods. Suicide bombers killed 70 Iraqi troops while dozens of jihadis were said to have died. Occupied by Islamic State in 2014, Rutba had been regained by government forces in March this year.

In response to the Kurdish recapture of Bashiqa and Qarakosh, two towns near Mosul. Islamic State attacked the city of Sinjar, 127km west of Mosul. The assault was repulsed by the Kurds, who cannot afford a second defeat at Sinjar. Soon after seizing Mosul in June 2014, Islamic State drove Kurdish fighters from Sinjar, massacred hundreds of Yazidi men and enslaved several thousand women and children

Islamic State’s aim is to delay the urban confrontation in Mosul between up to 8,000 defenders and 30,000 attackers and inflict major damage on advancing forces, handicapped by the presence of civilians still in the city. This strategy indicates Islamic State intends to fight for Mosul rather than flee to Raqqa, its capital in Syria.</s>Those who have been executed included civilians who have refused to comply with the relocation orders and 190 former Iraqi Security Forces officers.

Islamic State group fighters slaughtered at least 232 people in and around Mosul this week as Iraqi troops advanced on the city, the U.N. rights office said Friday.

"Last Wednesday, 232 civilians were reportedly shot to death. Of these there were 190 former Iraqi Security Forces officers," rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

"These reports have been corroborated to the extent possible," she added, stressing that the number of people killed in recent days could be higher.

Ms. Shamdasani said the execution-style killings came as IS was pushing forward with its strategy of forcing people living near the northern Iraqi city into Mosul, the group's last bastion in Iraq.

The rights office has said the jihadists aim to use these people as "human shields" in the ensuing battle for Mosul against US-backed elite Iraqi troops.

"ISIL has been forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes in some districts around Mosul," Ms. Shamdasani said .

Those who have been executed included civilians who have refused to comply with the relocation orders and those who previously worked for the government security services.</s>The battle for Mosul is expected to be the biggest in the 13 years of turmoil unleashed in Iraq by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion which toppled former president Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, and brought Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims to power.

A spokesman for the Shi'ite militias, known as the Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) forces, said thousands of fighters "started operations this morning to clean up the hotbeds of Daesh (Islamic State) in the western parts of Mosul".

The city is by far the largest held by the ultra-hardline Sunni Islamic State and its loss would mark their effective defeat in Iraq, two years after their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate overlapping Iraq and Syria from the pulpit of a Mosul mosque.

The Shi'ite militias aim to capture villages west of Mosul and reach the town of Tal Afar, about 55 km (35 miles) from the city, the Hashid spokesman said. Their goal is to cut off any option of retreat by Islamic State insurgents into neighboring Syria or any reinforcement for their defense of Mosul.

The Iran-backed and battle-hardened paramilitaries bring additional firepower to the nearly two-week-old campaign to recapture Iraq's second largest city from the jihadist group.

Iraqi soldiers and security forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been advancing in the last 12 days on the southern, eastern and northeastern fronts around Mosul, which remains home to 1.5 million people.

The United Nations has warned of a possible humanitarian crisis and a potential refugee exodus from Mosul - though the start of operations on the city's western flank could leave Mosul's civilians with no outlet to safety, even if they are able to escape Islamic State control.

Villagers from outlying areas around Mosul have told Reuters that women and children were being forced to walk as human shields alongside retreating Islamic State fighters as they withdrew into the city this week.

Iraqi and Western military sources say there had been debate about whether or not to seal off Mosul's western flank. Leaving it open would have offered Islamic State a chance to retreat, potentially sparing residents from a devastating, inner-city fight to the finish.

Some civilians fleeing Mosul have also used the roads to the west to escape to Qamishli, in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria. Others, from villagers just outside Mosul, have exploited the confusion of the conflict to flee in the other direction.

"Some people fled the other day so we took a chance. Daesh fired two bullets at us but they missed and we made it," said Ahmed Raad, 20, from the village of Abu Jarbuaa northeast of Mosul, who had found refuge at a peshmerga base.

Around 30 km (20 miles) south of Mosul, Iraqi rapid response forces entered the village of al-Shura, once a significant base for Islamic State where the jihadists enjoyed strong support.

An officer told a Reuters correspondent on the southern front that most of the Islamic State insurgents appeared to have pulled back north towards Mosul, leaving just a small number to try to slow the advancing security forces.

Air strikes were continuing in the area on Saturday morning and the sound of artillery could be heard, as well as gunfire. Islamic State returned fire with machine guns and mortars.

Nearly two weeks into the Mosul campaign launched by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the advance along the Tigris river valley south of Mosul has been slower than on the eastern front, where Kurdish peshmerga fighters and an elite army unit have reached within a few km (miles) of Mosul.

Saturday's announcement by the Shi'ite militias added another force to the coalition of fighters seeking to crush Islamic State in Iraq, but will also raise concerns about the role the Popular Mobilisation fighters will play.

Targeting the Islamic State-held town of Tal Afar, close to Turkey and home to a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population with historic and cultural ties to Turkey, will alarm Ankara. The Popular Mobilistion forces say many of Tal Afar's Turkmen population are Shi'ites.

Human rights groups have warned of possible sectarian violence if the Shi'ite paramilitaries seize areas where Sunni Muslims form a majority, which is the case in much of northern and western Iraq.

The militias, formed in 2014 to help push back Islamic State's sweeping advance, officially report to Abadi's Shi'ite-led government, but have close links to Iran.

Amnesty International says that in previous campaigns, they committed "serious human rights violations, including war crimes" against civilians fleeing Islamic State-held territory.

In July, the United Nations said it had a list of more than 640 Sunni men and boys reportedly abducted by a Shi’ite militia in Falluja, a former militant bastion west of Baghdad, and about 50 others who were summarily executed or tortured to death.

The Abadi government and the Popular Mobilisation forces say a limited number of violations had occurred and were investigated, but they deny abuses were widespread and systematic.</s>Four days after Iraqi government forces and allied Kurdish troops began advancing on the city of Mosul, Islamic State militants launched a surprising counterattack about 150 km away. Dozens of fighters besieged the oil-rich city of Kirkuk before dawn on Oct. 21, setting off gunbattles, suicide bombings and sniper attacks.

After two days of fighting, most of the assailants were killed, captured or had blown themselves up. Nearly 100 others were also killed, most of them members of the Kurdish security forces. As the militants went on their rampage throughout Kirkuk, they broadcast a message from the loudspeakers of a local mosque: “Islamic State has taken over.”

Kirkuk, which is near some of the richest oil fields in northern Iraq, has been under the control of Kurdish forces for more than two years. The surprise attack by Islamic State showed that even while under siege in Mosul, the group could still sow chaos in parts of Iraq far from its strongholds. The offensive also demonstrated that even if it loses Mosul, Islamic State would go back to its roots as an insurgency entrenched in the rural Sunni Arab regions of Iraq — as its predecessor, al-Qaida in Iraq, did after losing several urban areas under its control.

Islamic State has been weakened over the past year, after intensive U.S.-led bombing and defeats by its opponents in Iraq and Syria. The group lost thousands of fighters, was forced to relinquish nearly half of the territory it once controlled and has been cut off from smuggling routes it used to move weapons and troops. But with every setback, it found new ways to adapt.

When it is eventually forced out of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, Islamic State will want to prove its resiliency in neighboring Syria. One consequence of the Mosul battle has been to push the group’s fighters and leaders into Syria, especially its self-proclaimed capital in Raqqa. U.S. and allied warplanes have sporadically bombed the city and its outskirts for nearly two years. While U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter indicated on Tuesday that the coalition was making plans to attack Raqqa, even as it fought for Mosul, there is no significant ground force right now that could oust Islamic State from its Syrian stronghold.

American military officials said that in the days leading up to the Mosul offensive, some senior leaders fled the city, heading to Syria or other parts of western Iraq that are dominated by Sunni Arabs. “We’ve got indications that leaders have left,” Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, said in a news conference in Baghdad on Oct. 20. “A lot of foreign fighters we expect will stay as they’re not able to exfiltrate as easily as some of the local fighters or local leadership, so we expect there will be a fight.”

U.S. officials said most of the leaders and fighters who fled were Iraqis or Syrians, who might have abandoned their weapons and shaved their beards so they could blend in with thousands of civilians who escaped from Mosul ahead of the battle. It’s more difficult for the thousands of foreign jihadis in Mosul to escape by hiding among Iraqi civilians, so they are making a stand in the city. Volesky, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said the militants were burning forward positions in nearby villages, and withdrawing toward the city to fight behind a network of walls and trenches.

As the Mosul battle unfolds, Islamic State could become even more entrenched in Syria, especially in both Raqqa and the eastern city of Deir Ezzor. And as the group is pushed out of urban areas in Iraq, life for Syrians living under Islamic State’s control will become more difficult. Over the past year, the jihadis were already being denied access to revenue sources — including oil and gas smuggling, taxation and bank deposits — that brought in over $1 billion in 2014.

With the fall of Mosul, Islamic State would lose one of its most important profit centers. In 2015, U.S. officials estimate, Islamic State generated about $30 million per month from taxation and extortion in Iraq. In Mosul alone, the group made about $4 million per month in taxation, especially on salaries paid to workers by the central government in Baghdad. But with those revenues drying up as the militants lose territory and lucrative routes for oil smuggling, Islamic State’s leaders will likely impose harsher taxation and extortion schemes on Syrians living under their rule.

More broadly, the influx and entrenchment of Islamic State leaders in Syria will make it even more difficult to end the conflict there, which has expanded into a regional proxy war involving Russia, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United States and other powers. Russia and Iran, which are the two main backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad, are mainly targeting rebel factions opposed to Assad, rather than trying to dislodge Islamic State from its bastions. For its part, Washington does not intend to commit ground troops to oust the jihadis from Raqqa, and would instead rely on a coalition of Syrian Kurdish and opposition groups backed by U.S. airstrikes.

The Iraqi government and its Western allies are facing the massive challenge of rebuilding Mosul — and reaching a political accommodation with Iraq’s Sunni Arab community, so that militants will not be able to continue exploiting sectarian divisions. But there has not been much planning for the impact that pushing Islamic State out of Mosul will have on Syria.

Syrians too deserve to be freed from Islamic State’s brutal rule.

Mohamad Bazzi is a journalism professor at New York University and former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday.</s>QAYARA, Iraq -- The Islamic State extremist group appears to be using tens of thousands of people as "human shields" in and around Mosul, where Iraqi forces are waging a large-scale offensive aimed at retaking the country's second-largest city, the United Nations human-rights office said Friday.

The agency has received reports that more than 200 people were killed for refusing to comply with the extremists' orders or previously belonging to Iraqi security forces. It said "credible reports" suggest the Islamic State has been forcing tens of thousands from their homes in districts around Mosul.

"ISIL's depraved, cowardly strategy is to attempt to use the presence of civilian hostages to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations, effectively using tens of thousands of women, men and children as human shields," spokesman Ravina Shamdasani said in Geneva, using an alternative acronym for the extremist group.

The human-rights office's statement came as Iraqi forces paused their advance toward the city of Mosul to clear pockets of Islamic State supporters and booby traps, a U.S. military spokesman said Friday.

Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq, said that at least some Iraqi forces had taken the pause "to do some back clearing and make sure that their flanks and their rear are clear" of militants or attacks laid by them.

"We expected that there would be instances where they needed to pause and reposition forces, you know, because the enemy gets a vote," Dorrian said at the Pentagon. "The Iraqis have made the determination that now is the time to do that, and we've continued to conduct strikes in support of them, to go against tunnels, the command and control network for Daesh."

Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

The extremist group has massacred perceived opponents on several occasions, and is widely believed to be rooting out anyone who potentially could rise up against it, focusing on Iraqis with military training or past links to security forces.

The U.N. office said civilians from across the region south of Mosul were being herded into Hamam al-Alil, a militant-held town where the population has more than doubled to 60,000 since the forced displacement began.

There the militants separated former members of the security forces from women and children, and took both groups onward to Mosul, the U.N. agency said. It said 190 former security forces were killed Wednesday at the Ghazlani military base on the southern edge of Mosul, and 42 civilians were killed at another base for refusing to join the Islamic State. Another 24 people reportedly were shot dead Tuesday.

Shamdasani said that the reports "have been corroborated to the extent possible," but she warned that "it doesn't mean there aren't more."

Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. human-rights chief, in a statement called the extremists' use of human shields a "depraved cowardly strategy."

Iraq opened a large-scale operation on Oct. 17 aimed at retaking Mosul, which fell to the Islamic State in a matter of days in the summer of 2014. Iraqi forces are advancing from several directions, but are still well outside the city itself.

Iraqi forces, including the Iraqi army, elite counterterrorism forces and Kurdish peshmerga, have made significant progress in recapturing territory surrounding Mosul since the operation began.

Dorrian said the pause was not an indication that the operation had veered off course.

Maj. Gen. Najim Jabouri, who heads the operations command for Nineveh, the home province of Mosul, said forces on Mosul's southern front had paused to "consolidate the achievements" and reorganize, also blaming poor weather.

"Tomorrow if the weather is good, we will advance according to the plan," he said.

Iraqi forces are within 4 miles from the edge of Mosul on the eastern front, where the elite special forces are leading the charge. But progress has been slower in the south, where Iraqi forces are still 20 miles from the city.

"We are now waiting for the other [forces] to get as close to the city as we are," said Lt. Gen. Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, head of the counterterrorism force.

The U.S. military, which is providing airstrikes and ground support for the operation, said it tried to disrupt the forced displacement of civilians south of Mosul earlier this week by striking militant vehicles being used in the operation.

U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Matthew Isler said the U.S.-led coalition conducted "precision strikes" on vehicles that were unoccupied and far away from civilians.

"We were able to do that without harming any civilians and we verified we were able to degrade their planned use of those vehicles," he said. He said the forced displacement was another example of the group's "atrocities."

Reports emerged earlier this week that Islamic State militants were going door to door in villages south of Mosul, ordering hundreds of civilians at gunpoint on a forced march north into the city, apparently using them as human shields.

"IS took all of us from our homes at gunpoint and told us they were taking us with them to Mosul," Ahmed Bilal Harish said Wednesday. "They said if you don't come with us you're an unbeliever."

He said he and his family escaped when a volley of airstrikes caused the fighters to scatter during the 25-mile trek from their home in the town of Shura to Mosul.

The U.N. and rights groups fear that more than 200,000 civilians could be displaced in the opening weeks of the offensive. Mosul is still home to more than 1 million people.

The Islamic State has built up elaborate defenses on the outskirts of the city, including an extensive tunnel network, and has planted large numbers of explosive booby traps to slow the troops' progress.

Isler said Iraqi forces have retaken 40 villages from the Islamic State near Mosul since the operation began. But most of the fighting has taken place in a belt of sparsely populated farming communities outside the city.

Isler said Iraqi troops were consolidating gains made east and south of the city earlier this week, but insisted "momentum" was still on their side. He said the U.S.-led coalition has stepped up airstrikes against the militants, and is carrying out three times as many as it did during previous campaigns to drive the Islamic State from other Iraqi cities.

The operation to retake Mosul is the largest military offensive by Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and involves more than 25,000 troops, Kurdish forces, Sunni tribal fighters and state-sanctioned Shiite militias.

It is expected to take weeks, if not months, to drive the extremist group from its last urban bastion in Iraq.

Information for this article was contributed by Susannah George, Geir Moulson and Joseph Krauss of The Associated Press; by Missy Ryan and Mustafa Salim of The Washington Post; and by Nick Cumming-Bruce of The New York Times.</s>KHAZER, Iraq — Iraqi special forces east of Mosul probed a network of underground tunnels and uncovered a bomb-making facility on Thursday in a village recently retaken from the Islamic State group as their allies battled the militants in a push toward the city from the south.

Special forces commanders said the operation was proceeding as planned, but that they were waiting for forces in the south to advance further before resuming their push toward the country's second largest city, which fell to IS in 2014.

"The operation has not been stopped and is proceeding as planned," special forces Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil said.

Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabori said forces south of Mosul retook the town of Staff al-Tut in the Tigris River valley the day before, and are now 20 miles (35 kilometers) from the city. He said local tribal and militia forces have been deployed to protect the gains while his troops regroup for their next push toward the city.

The special forces, who are 5 1/2 miles (9 kilometers) east of the city, continued cleanup operations in the village of Tob Zawa. They found a tire shop that had been converted into a factory for making roadside bombs and attaching armor to vehicles.

They also found a tunnel equipped with fans and lights that ran from beneath a mosque out to a road. Iraqi forces have found extensive tunneling networks in areas retaken from IS, which the militants used to elude U.S.-led coalition warplanes. IS has also rigged homes and other buildings with explosives to slow the troops' advance.

Many fear IS may resort to more brutal tactics as the forces converge on the city, which is still home to more than a million people.

The U.N.'s public health agency said Thursday it has trained 90 Iraqi medics in "mass casualty management," with a special focus on chemical attacks. The extremist group is believed to have crude chemical weapons capabilities, and Iraqi forces say they are prepared to encounter them on the battlefield.

The World Health Organization said that of the 700,000 people expected to flee Mosul, some 200,000 will require emergency health services, including more than 90,000 children needing vaccinations and 8,000 pregnant women.

The International Organization for Migration says around 9,000 people have fled so far. Until now, the battles have taken place in a belt of sparsely populated farming communities around the city.

The United Nations' refugee agency is shipping tents, blankets and other aid from the United Arab Emirates to northern Iraq to help those affected by the military campaign. Soliman Mohamed Daud, a senior UNHCR supply officer, told The Associated Press that 7,000 units of the relief aid will be sent to northern Iraq starting Thursday.

The Mosul offensive is the largest Iraqi military operation since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and involves more than 25,000 Iraqi soldiers, Federal Police, Kurdish forces, Sunni tribal fighters and state-sanctioned Shiite militias.

It marks the first time that Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region has allowed federal forces to operate in its territory since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, but the two sides remain deeply divided over the boundaries of the Kurdish region and the sharing of the country's oil wealth.

Ammar al-Hakim, the Shiite cleric who leads Iraq's largest parliamentary bloc, visited a staging area near Mosul on Thursday and held a joint press conference with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, hailing their alliance against IS.

"There's no doubt that this great security and military cooperation will be an important beginning and a window to address all the pending issues," al-Hakim said. "The liberation of Mosul will be the beginning of a new Iraqi reality, with more cooperation."

George reported from Qayara, Iraq. Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.</s>Iraqi troops and security forces advanced towards Mosul from the south and southeast of the city on Sunday, Iraqi officials said, backed by air and ground support from a US-led coalition as they edged closer to the so-called Islamic State stronghold.

A military statement said the army’s ninth armoured division took the village of Ali Rash, about 7 km (4 miles) southeast of Mosul, and raised the Iraqi flag.

Further south, an officer said Interior Ministry security forces were advancing from the town of al-Shura, recaptured from Islamic State on Saturday, along the Tigris river valley towards Mosul, about 30 km (20 miles) to the north.

The officer said they were heading in the direction of Hammam al-Alil, midway between al-Shura and Mosul, and the last major town before Mosul itself, Iraq’s second largest city.

The army and security forces are part of a wider force, which also includes Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Shi’ite militias, which are seeking to encircle Mosul and crush Islamic State fighters in the largest city of their self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

The loss of Mosul would mean the effective defeat of Islamic State in Iraq, but the battle itself could become the biggest in more than a decade of turmoil since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled former president Saddam Hussein.

Around 1.5 million people are still living in Mosul, and the United Nations has warned of a humanitarian crisis and possible refugee exodus as the fighting closes in on the city.</s>QAYARA AIR BASE, Iraq — The Islamic State group appears to be using tens of thousands of people as "human shields" in and around Mosul, where Iraqi forces are waging a large-scale offensive aimed at retaking the country's second largest city, the U.N. human-rights office said Friday.

It has received reports of more than 200 people being killed for refusing to comply with Islamic State orders or previously belonging to Iraqi security forces. It said "credible reports" suggest the Islamic State has been forcing tens of thousands from their homes in districts around Mosul.

"ISIL's depraved, cowardly strategy is to attempt to use the presence of civilian hostages to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations, effectively using tens of thousands of women, men and children as human shields," spokesman Ravina Shamdasani said in Geneva, using an alternative acronym for the extremist group.

The group has massacred perceived opponents on several occasions and is widely believed to be rooting out anyone who could potentially rise up against it, focusing on Iraqis with military training or past links to security forces.

The U.N. office said civilians from across the region south of Mosul were being herded into Hamam al-Alil, a militant-held town where the population has more than doubled to 60,000 since the forced displacement began.

There the militants separated former members of the security forces from women and children, and took both groups onward to Mosul, the U.N. agency said. It said 190 former security forces were killed Wednesday at the Ghazlani military base on the southern edge of Mosul, and 42 civilians were killed at another base for refusing to join the Islamic State. Another 24 people were reportedly shot dead Tuesday.

Iraq launched a large operation Oct. 17 aimed at retaking Mosul, which fell to the Islamic State in a matter of days in the summer of 2014. Iraqi forces are advancing from several directions but are still well outside the city itself.

The U.S. military, which is providing airstrikes and ground support for the operation, said it tried to disrupt the forced displacement of civilians south of Mosul earlier this week by striking militant vehicles being used in the operation.

U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Matthew C. Isler said the U.S.-led coalition conducted "precision strikes" on vehicles that were unoccupied and far away from civilians.

"We were able to do that without harming any civilians and we verified we were able to degrade their planned use of those vehicles," he told The Associated Press. He said the forced displacement was another example of the group's "atrocities."
The UN reports 232 civilians have been murdered in and near Mosul by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.