"The hour has come and the moment of great victory is near," he said in a speech on state TV, surrounded by the armed forces' top commanders. "I announce today the start of the operation to liberate the province of Nineveh."

The assault on Mosul is backed the U.S.-led coalition and could be one be the biggest military operations in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

"We are proud to stand with you in this historic operation," Brett McGurk, U.S. envoy to the coalition against Islamic State, said on Twitter at the start of the Mosul offensive.

Mosul is the last major stronghold of ultra-hardline Sunni group in Iraq.

With a pre-war population of around 2 million, the northern Iraqi city is the largest city Islamic State has controlled after it declared a "caliphate" in Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014.</s>IRBIL, Iraq — The Latest on the Iraqi operation to retake the northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State group (all times local):

Iraq's military and the country's Kurdish forces are on the move to the south and east of the Islamic State group-held city of Mosul.

The early Monday morning development follows Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's announcement that the long-awaited fight to retake Mosul has begun.

Convoys of Iraqi, Kurdish and U.S. forces could be seen moving east of Mosul into the early hours of Monday. Along the front line, U.S.-led coalition airstrikes sent plumes of smokes into the air and heavy artillery rounds could be heard.

Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, has been under IS rule for more than two years and still home to more than a million civilians according to estimates from the United Nations. The fight is expected to be the most complex yet for Iraq's military.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has announced the start of operations to liberate the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants.

State TV showed a brief written statement in the early hours on Monday announcing the start of the widely anticipated military offensive to drive IS out of Iraq's second largest city.

The push to retake Mosul will be the biggest military operation in Iraq since American troops left in 2011 and, if successful, the strongest blow yet to the Islamic State group, known also by its Arabic language acronym, Daesh.

Broadcasts showed the prime minister, dressed in the uniform of the elite counterterrorism forces, speaking while flanked by senior military officers.

Al-Abadi addressed the people of Mosul, saying that "these forces that are liberating you today, they have one goal in Mosul, which is to get rid of Daesh and to secure your dignity. They are there for your sake."</s>KHAZIR, Iraq -- Iraq's offensive for the northern city of Mosul has begun, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said early today.

The U.S.-backed operation aims to push the Islamic State militant group out of its de facto capital in Iraq. It will be the biggest military operation in Iraq since American troops left in 2011 and, if successful, the strongest blow yet to the Islamic State.

State TV showed a brief written statement announcing the start of the widely anticipated military offensive in Iraq's second-largest city.

Broadcasts showed the prime minister, dressed in a military uniform, speaking while flanked by senior officers. State TV broadcast patriotic music minutes after the announcement.

Al-Abadi has repeatedly promised that Mosul would be retaken in 2016, but Maj. Salam Jassim, a commander with Iraq's elite special forces, said he is not sure that's possible, with booby traps and explosive devices expected to slow the way.

Civilians, too, will complicate the battle. Between 1.2 million and 1.8 million are still inside the city, he said.

To avoid a humanitarian crisis, the Iraqi government has asked civilians to stay in their homes.

"The operation will take much longer because of this," said Brig. Gen. Haider al-Obeidi, another commander with Iraq's special forces. "It also means each neighborhood needs to be surrounded and searched as we clear it."

Late Sunday, dozens of ambulances were lined up at checkpoints on the edges of Iraq's northern region of Kurdistan, ready for casualties.

Mosul has come to symbolize the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq. It was in Mosul's Great Mosque that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced his self-proclaimed caliphate more than two years ago.

But since then, the group's grip on its territory has crumbled. Tikrit, Ramadi and Fallujah have been recaptured by Iraqi forces relying on U.S.-led airstrikes.

It's only a matter of time before Mosul is recaptured, too, Iraqi commanders say.

"We'll take it," Jassim said. "There's no doubt."

Troops have massed to the north, south and east of the city in recent weeks. Trucks packed with Iraqi soldiers and military vehicles have clogged the roads as forces have moved into place. Tanks, armored vehicles and weaponry have been hauled nearly 250 miles from the capital, Baghdad.

Iraqi forces began moving into Nineveh province to surround Mosul in July, when ground troops led by the country's special forces retook Qayara air base south of the city.

Before the prime minister's announcement, Brig. Gen Haider Fadhil said more than 25,000 troops, including paramilitary forces made up of Sunni tribal fighters and Shiite militias, will take part in the offensive. The U.S. military believes 3,000 to 4,500 Islamic State fighters are still in the city.

In addition to carrying out airstrikes, the U.S.-led international coalition will also provide artillery fire, he added.

The role of the Shiite militias has been particularly sensitive, as Nineveh is a majority Sunni province. Shiite militia forces have been accused of carrying out abuses against civilians in other operations in majority Sunni parts of Iraq.

For the first 48 hours, the offensive on the eastern front will be led by the Kurdish Peshmerga, Iraqi military officers said.

"Then they will stop," al-Obeidi said. "We'll start after them and move after them to support them."

Federal police and Iraqi army units will move up the main highway from Baghdad, while Shiite militia forces are expected to focus on Tal Afar to the west and the town of Hawijah to the southeast. The Kurdish Peshmerga, Sunni fighters and the Iraqi army will also attack from the north.

The U.S.-led coalition will provide closer support than in any other operation, al-Obeidi said, and Apache helicopters will probably be used. On Sunday night, preparatory airstrikes rattled windows in the special forces base near Khazir.

In addition to U.S. air support, President Barack Obama this month approved the deployment of 615 U.S. troops to aid the Mosul offensive by providing intelligence and logistical assistance. That brings the U.S. forces in Iraq to more than 5,000.

The coalition has requested that the airspace be cleared of Iraqi jets, whose air support will be limited to the areas where Shiite militias are on the ground, al-Obeidi said.

"All the sky will be for the coalition," he added.

Mosul will not be besieged. The western side of the city will be left largely open, which may make for a less protracted fight.

"We'll try to give them an escape to run to Syria," al-Obeidi said of the militants.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul, a spokesman for the Iraqi military, said that even if the western side is left open, it doesn't mean a safe escape for the Islamic State.

"If we do that, then this area will become a killing zone as we target them with our aircraft," he said.

The offensive was announced hours after a suicide bomber struck a gathering of Shiite mourners in Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding another 12, Iraqi officials said.

The attack took place in Baghdad's Shiite-dominated Jadriyah neighborhood on the Tigris River, where the bomber approached Shiites commemorating the seventh-century death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, a police officer said.

A medical official confirmed the toll. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information to the press.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement carried by the Islamic State-linked Aamaq news agency. The claim could not be independently verified.

The stakes in the offensive are high for Mosul, a Sunni stronghold long disaffected from Iraq's Shiite leaders. The grievances among the country's Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish populations that allowed the Islamic State to rise to power in the first place have not been resolved.

Interviews with roughly three dozen people from Mosul, including refugees who managed to sneak out in recent weeks and residents reached by contraband cellphones in the city, portrayed a pressure-cooker-like atmosphere. Just getting out of Mosul has become difficult and dangerous: Those who are caught face fines of about $850, or about two months' salary for most residents. If they are former members of the Iraqi police or army, the punishment for fleeing is beheading.

Some of Mosul's remaining residents have grown bolder in showing resistance against the Islamic State force ruling the city. Graffiti and other displays of dissidence against the Islamic State have become more common there in recent weeks, as have executions when the vandals have been caught.

Early this month, 58 people were executed for their role in a plot to overturn the Islamic State that was led by an aide of al-Baghdadi, Reuters reported.

When fewer than 1,000 Islamic State fighters forced about 60,000 Iraqi army and police defenders to abandon Mosul in June 2014, many in the city's Sunni population cheered their arrival. They saw the militants as fellow Sunnis who would end corruption and abuse at the hands of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government and security services.

But much of that goodwill has dissipated after more than two years of harsh rule by the militants, a mix of Iraqis and Syrians with a few foreign fighters.

Mosul residents have chafed under social codes banning smoking and calling for splashing acid on tattoos, summary executions of perceived opponents, whippings for those who missed prayers or trimmed their beards, and the destruction of "un-Islamic" historical monuments.

"Anyone who has accepted Daesh before, they've changed their minds now," said Azhar Mahmoud, a former Education Ministry official who recently fled his home village near Mosul, and who initially accepted rule by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh.

In addition, there have been recent reports of at least some underground resistance within the city. Photos and oral accounts abound of the Arabic letter M scrawled on walls -- standing for "moqawama," or "resistance." The Islamic State beheaded two men in front of one such slogan and posted a video of the killings.

Another execution video identified the victims, punished for Internet use, as members of the resistance group Suraya Rimah, according to the group's leader, Omar Fadil al-Alaf, who is based in Irbil.

"People are just waiting for liberation so they can fulfill their promises to take revenge on Daesh and kill them," al-Alaf said.

Resistance groups in the city -- at least five claim to have a presence -- say they have concentrated on assassinating individuals, said Abdullah Abu Ahmed, who described himself as a leader of an anti-Islamic State brigade in Mosul called The Resistance. He was reached by telephone through intermediaries.

"All Mosul people, whenever they have the chance to fight and kill ISIS terrorists, they do so," he said.

Information for this article was contributed by Rod Nordland of The New York Times; by Loveday Morris of The Washington Post; and by Adam Schreck, Sinan Salaheddin, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Murtada Faraj and Susannah George of The Associated Press.</s>(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – General Commander of Iraqi Armed forces and Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, announced on Monday launching the battle to liberate Mosul from the ISIS grip, and pointed out that the security forces that will participate in the battle are Iraqi army, police and national police.

Prime Minister Haider Abadi said in a speech on state TV, “I announce today the start of the heroic operations to free you from the terror and the oppression of Daesh (ISIS).”

“We will meet soon on the ground of Mosul to celebrate liberation and your salvation,” Abadi added.

Abadi also called the people of Mosul to cooperate with the security forces, and emphasized that the battle will be handled by the Iraqi army and national police only.

Nearly 65,000 military personnel including Iraqi soldiers, Kurdish Peshmerga militia and Sunni tribal fighters were expected to participate in the offensive to liberate the city of more than 5,000 ISIS militants.</s>An Iraqi policeman unloads ammunition at the Qayyarah military base, about 60 kilometres south of Mosul, on Sunday, as they prepare for an offensive to retake Mosul, the last Daesh-held city in the country, after regaining much of the territory the extremists seized in 2014 and 2015 (AFP photo)

BAGHDAD — Iraqi aircraft dropped "tens of thousands" of leaflets, some bearing safety instructions for Mosul residents, ahead of an operation to retake the city from extremists, the military said.

Iraq has dropped leaflets over Mosul before, and has also done so as part of operations to retake other cities seized by the Daesh terror group in 2014 and 2015.

Aircraft dropped "tens of thousands of newspapers and magazines on the centre of the city of Mosul carrying important news... to inform them of updates and facts and victories", said Iraq's Joint Operations Command, which distributed images of some of the leaflets.

One image showed a leaflet containing safety instructions for Mosul residents, urging them to tape over windows to prevent the glass from shattering, to avoid the sites of air strikes for at least an hour after a place is bombed, and saying they should not drive if possible.

The launch of the operation is expected to be announced soon, but it will mark only the start of a battle that is likely to be the most difficult and complex yet in the war against Daesh.

A coalition of heterogenous and sometimes rival Iraqi forces will have to fight their way through Daesh defences to reach the city, in some cases over distances of dozens of kilometres.

 Then they will likely seek to surround the city before launching an assault, marking the start of deadly street fighting with die-hard extremsists in a city with a large civilian population.

 The battle may spark a humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations warning that up to 1 million people may be displaced by the fighting as winter sets in.

Even the recapture of Mosul will not mark the end of the war against Daesh, which still holds other territory in Iraq and is likely to turn increasingly to insurgent tactics such as bombings and hit-and-run attacks as it loses more ground.</s>BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces have launched operations to retake Mosul, a city whose capture by the Islamic State group two years ago left the country on the brink of collapse, the prime minister said Monday.

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.

“Today I declare the start of these victorious operations to free you from the violence and terrorism of Daesh (IS),” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a televised address.

The commander-in-chief of Iraq’s armed forces did not divulge details of the latest movements on the ground but forces have recently been tightening the noose around Mosul.

A coalition of myriad and sometimes rival Iraqi forces — including the US-led coalition, Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi government forces — will have to fight their way through IS defences to reach the city, in some cases over distances of dozens of kilometres.

Then they will likely seek to surround the city before launching an assault, marking the start of deadly street fighting with die-hard jihadists.

Abadi vowed that only government forces would enter Mosul, a Sunni-majority city that IS seized with relative ease partly because of 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 reconquer territory from IS.

“The force leading liberation operations is the brave Iraqi army with the national police and they are the ones that will enter Mosul, not others,” Abadi said.

Baghdad is also keen to check the influence of the autonomous Kurdish region, which significantly expanded the territory it controls on the back of the 2014 jihadist assault.

The Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary organisation, which is dominated by Tehran-backed militia groups, has made clear it wants to take part in the Mosul operation.

Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces have been moving in from the eastern side of the city while a US-led coalition is also providing support in the air and on the ground.

Turkey, which borders northern Iraq, has also offered to join the offensive on Mosul.

The start of the much-delayed offensive on Mosul risks sparking a humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations warning that up to one million people may be displaced by the fighting as winter sets in.

The jihadists are not thought to number more than 5,000 and will be vastly outnumbered but the battleground is vast and the area’s ethnic and religious diversity makes it politically complex.

Abadi’s announcement came a day after rebel forces in the Syrian half of IS’ shrinking “caliphate” retook Dabiq, a town which holds crucial ideological significance for the group and where it had promised an apocalyptic battle.

Iraqi forces recently retook Qayyarah, an area some 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Mosul, setting the stage for the final push on IS’s northern bastion.

The force that has led operations to recapture other IS strongholds in Iraq, such as Fallujah in June or Ramadi earlier this year, is the elite counter-terrorism service.

Thousands of other army and police forces have also been converging on Mosul in recent weeks.

Abadi has promised that Iraq would be rid of the most violent organisation in modern jihad by year’s end.

But even the recapture of Mosul will not mark the end of the war against IS, which still holds other territory in Iraq and is likely to turn increasingly to insurgent tactics such as bombings and hit-and-run attacks as it loses more ground. – AFP</s>EAST OF MOSUL/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi government forces launched a U.S.-backed offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, a high-stakes battle to retake the militants’ last major stronghold in the country.

Two years after the jihadists seized the city of 1.5 million people and declared a caliphate from there encompassing tracts of Iraq and Syria, a force of some 30,000 Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Sunni tribal fighters began to advance.

Helicopters released flares and explosions could be heard on the city’s eastern front, where Reuters watched Kurdish fighters move forward to take outlying villages.

A U.S.-led air campaign has helped push Islamic State from much of the territory it held but 4,000 to 8,000 fighters are thought to remain in Mosul.

The Pentagon said that Iraqi forces were meeting objectives and were ahead of schedule on the first day of the offensive.

Residents contacted by phone dismissed reports on Arabic television channels of an exodus by the jihadists, who have a history of using human shields and have threatened to unleash chemical weapons.

“Daesh are using motorcycles for their patrols to evade air detection, with pillion passengers using binoculars to check out buildings and streets,” said Abu Maher, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

He and others contacted were preparing makeshift defenses and had been stockpiling food in anticipation of the assault, which officials say could take weeks or even months. The residents withheld their full names for security reasons and Reuters was not able to verify their accounts independently.

The United States predicted Islamic State would suffer “a lasting defeat” as Iraqi forces mounted their biggest operation in Iraq since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

But the offensive, which has assumed considerable importance for U.S. President Barack Obama as his term draws to a close, is fraught with risks.

These include sectarian conflict between Mosul’s mainly Sunni population and advancing Shi’ite forces, and the potential for up to a million people to flee Mosul, multiplying a refugee crisis in the region and across Europe.

“We set up a fortified room in the house by putting sandbags to block the only window and we removed everything dangerous or flammable,” Abu Maher said. “I spent almost all my money on buying food, baby milk and anything we might need.”

The United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Iraq said the military had told the U.N. it expected the first significant population movement to begin in five to six days, suggesting that is when the assault would move to the city itself.

Lise Grande said Iraqi security forces would transport fleeing civilians, who would be vetted to ensure Islamic State fighters could not hide among them, following residents’ reports that militants had shaved off their beards to escape detection.

Video showing rockets and bursts of tracer bullets across the night sky and loud bursts of gunfire was shown on Qatar-based al-Jazeera television after Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced what he called “the heroic operations to free you from the terror and oppression of Daesh”.

“We will meet soon on the ground in Mosul to celebrate liberation and your salvation,” Abadi said in a speech on state television in the middle of the night, surrounded by commanders of the armed forces.

KURDISH FIGHTERS

The commander of the coalition, U.S. Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, said the operation to take Iraq’s second largest city would likely continue for weeks, “possibly longer”.

The Pentagon played down any new role for U.S. forces in the battle saying American personnel were behind the forward line of troops and acting in an advisory role to support Iraqis.

“Americans are again playing an advisor role, an enabler role for these Iraqi forces ... Most of the American forces in Iraq are not anywhere close to the front line,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told a news briefing, saying many U.S. troops were on advisory or logistical support missions.

If Mosul falls, Raqqa in Syria will be Islamic State’s last city stronghold.

“This is a decisive moment in the campaign to deliver ISIL a lasting defeat,” U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement, using another acronym for Islamic State.

“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.”

Islamic State has been retreating since the end of last year in Iraq, where it is battling U.S-backed government and Kurdish forces as well as Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi’ite militias.

But in a blow to the anti-IS campaign, last week the jihadists crushed a planned rebellion in Mosul intended to ease the recapture of the city.

The Iraqi Kurdish military command said 4,000 Peshmerga were taking part in an operation to clear villages held by Islamic State to the east of Mosul, in an attack coordinated with a push by Iraqi army units from the southern front.

Massoud Barzani, president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, said the operation was the first time the two forces had fought against Islamic State together and had taken about 200 square km of farm land and villages east of Mosul from the militants.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency said the group had launched 10 suicide attacks on advancing forces near Mosul and that Peshmerga forces had encircled five villages but failed to take them. None of the reports could be independently verified.

Peshmerga forces gather in the east of Mosul to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, October 17, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

A column of black smoke was rising from one IS position on the eastern front, a Reuters correspondent said, apparently from burning oil being used to block the path of the Kurds and obscure the jets’ view.

“We are the real Muslims, Daesh are not Muslims, no religion does what they did,” said a young Kurdish fighter in battle dress as he scanned the plain east of Mosul from his position on the heights of Mount Zertik.

As he spoke a Humvee drove by with the word Rojava, or Syria’s Kurdistan, painted on the machine gun turret.

“This is all Kurdistan,” Major Shiban Saleh, one of the fighters onboard, said. “When we’re done here, we will chase them to Raqqa or wherever they go,” he said.

He said about 450 Syrian Peshmerga fighters were involved in the offensive, which aimed to take back nine villages on Monday.

Abdul Rahman Waggaa, a member of the exiled Provincial Council of Nineveh of which Mosul is the capital, told Reuters the advancing forces had yet to enter the city: “Activities are still outside of Mosul and the operation is not at full strength yet.”

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS FEARED

Early on Monday, Abadi sought to allay fears that the operation would provoke sectarian bloodletting, saying that only the Iraqi army and police would be allowed to enter the mainly Sunni city. He asked Mosul’s residents to cooperate with them.

Local Sunni politicians and regional Sunni-majority states including Turkey and Saudi Arabia warned that if Shi’ite militias take part in the assault they could spark sectarian violence.

The Iraqi army dropped tens of thousands of leaflets on Mosul before dawn on Sunday, warning residents the offensive was imminent, assuring them it “will not target civilians” and telling them to avoid known locations of Islamic State fighters.

Reflecting authorities’ concerns over a mass exodus that would complicate the offensive and worsen the humanitarian situation, the leaflets told residents “to stay at home and not to believe rumors spread by Daesh” that could cause panic.

Resident Abu Abdullah said he had wanted to witness the beginning of the offensive.

“We heard repeated explosions at a distance, so I went to the rooftop to see fireballs, even if it was dangerous. I was happy that the operation to liberate Mosul started,” he said.

In 2014, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a “caliphate” in Iraq and neighboring Syria from Mosul’s Grand Mosque. The group faced little resistance but has employed brutal methods to maintain control. On Monday, it circulated photographs showing children executing alleged spies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, criticized over the level of civilian casualties during Syrian government operations backed by Moscow in and around the city of Aleppo, said on Sunday he hoped the United States and its allies would do their best to avoid hitting civilians in the attack on Mosul.

Slideshow (29 Images)

The United Nations has said the battle would require the world’s biggest and most complex humanitarian effort, which could leave up to 1 million people homeless and see civilians used as human shields or even gassed.

There are already more than three million people displaced in Iraq as a result of conflicts involving Islamic State and up to 100,000 Iraqis may flee Mosul to Syria and Turkey. Medicine is in short supply in Mosul and food prices have risen sharply.

“Families in Mosul started stockpiling food yesterday in case the fighting reaches our streets and we can no longer go out,” said Saeed, a resident.

“Daesh are still in Mosul and it’s not true that they left. They are continuing to erect blast walls in the streets to obstruct any advance.”</s>A Peshmerga convoy drives towards a frontline in Khazer, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of Mosul, Iraq, Monday, Oct. 17, 2016. The Iraqi military and the country's Kurdish forces say they launched operations to the south and east of militant-held Mosul early Monday morning.

KHAZER, Iraq — Iraqi government and Kurdish forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition air and ground support, launched coordinated military operations early on Monday as the long-awaited fight to wrest the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State fighters got underway.

Convoys of Iraqi, Kurdish and U.S. forces could be seen moving east of Mosul into the early hours of the day. Along the front line, U.S.-led coalition airstrikes sent plumes of smokes into the air and heavy artillery rounds could be heard.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the operations on state television, launching the country on its toughest battle since American troops left nearly five years ago.

Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, has been under IS rule for more than two years and is still home to more than a million civilians according to U.N. estimates.

"These forces that are liberating you today, they have one goal in Mosul which is to get rid of Daesh and to secure your dignity. They are there for your sake," al-Abadi said, addressing the city's residents and using the Arabic language acronym for the Islamic State group.

"God willing, we shall win," he added, dressed in the uniform of the elite counterterrorism forces and flanked by military commanders.

The push to retake Mosul will be the biggest military operation in Iraq since American troops left in 2011 and, if successful, the strongest blow yet to the Islamic State. A statement on Al-Abadi's website pledged the fight for the city would lead to the liberation of all Iraqi territory from the militants this year.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Ash Carter called the launch of the operation to liberate Mosul "a decisive moment in the campaign" to deliver a lasting defeat to IS. He said the U.S. and other members of the international coalition stand ready to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

Iraqi forces have been massing around the city in recent days, including elite special forces that are expected to lead the charge into the city, as well as Kurdish forces, Sunni tribal fighters, federal police and Shiite militia forces.

South of Mosul, Iraqi military units are based at the sprawling Qayara air base, but to the city's east, men are camped out in abandoned homes as the tens of thousands of troops massed around the city have overwhelmed the few military bases in the area.

Kurdish forces are stationed to the north and east of Mosul, a mostly Sunni city that has long been a center of insurgent activity and anti-central government sentiment after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Iraqi officials have warned that the Mosul operation has been rushed before a political agreement has been set for how the city will be governed after IS.

Lt. Col. Amozhgar Taher with Iraq's Kurdish forces, also known as the peshmerga, said his men would only move to retake a cluster of mostly Christian and Shabak villages east of Mosul and would not enter the city itself due to their concern for "sectarian sensitivities."

"To eliminate the threat we must eliminate (IS) from Mosul," Taher said at a makeshift base in an abandoned house along the frontline some 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of Mosul.

The city fell to IS fighters during the militants' June 2014 blitz that left nearly a third of Iraq in the extremists' hands and plunged the country into its most severe crisis since the U.S.-led invasion. After seizing Mosul, IS 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 battlefield losses in Iraq and their power in the country has largely shrunk to Mosul and small towns in the country's north and west. Mosul is about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad.

The operation to retake Mosul is expected to be the most complex yet for Iraq's military, which has been rebuilding from its humiliating 2014 defeat.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, said in a statement that the operation to regain control of Mosul could take "weeks, possibly longer."

Earlier, Iraqi Brig. Gen Haider Fadhil told The Associated Press in an interview that more than 25,000 troops, including paramilitary forces made up of Sunni tribal fighters and Shiite militias, will take part in the offensive that will be launched from five directions around the city.

The role of the Shiite militias has been particularly sensitive, as Nineveh, where Mosul is located, is a majority Sunni province and Shiite militia forces have been accused of carrying out abuses against civilians in other operations in majority Sunni parts of Iraq.

Fadhil voiced concern about potential action from Turkish troops based in the region of Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul. Turkey sent troops to the area late last year to train anti-IS fighters there. But Baghdad has seen the Turkish presence as a "blatant violation" of Iraqi sovereignty and has demanded the Turkish troops withdraw, a call Ankara has ignored.

Military operations are also predicted to displace 200,000 to a million people, according to the United Nations. Just a few kilometers from the eastern front line, rows of empty camps for displaced civilians line the road, but aid groups say they only have enough space for some 100,000 people.

"It is the future of Iraq at stake," said Aleksandar Milutinovic, the Iraq country director for the International Rescue Committee. He stressed that the population of Mosul is not all supporters of IS, "they're just people who had no other opportunity or a place to go" and urged Iraqi forces to "show will and a very serious commitment to protecting civilians and ensuring their wellbeing."

In the midst of a deep financial crisis, the Iraqi government says it lacks the funds to adequately prepare for the humanitarian fallout of the Mosul fight. In some cases commanders say they are encouraging civilians to stay in their homes rather than flee.

"While we may be celebrating a military victory (after the Mosul operation is complete)," said Falah Mustafa, the foreign minister for Iraq's Kurdish region, "we don't want to have also created a humanitarian catastrophe."

Schreck reported from Irbil. Associated Press journalists Ahmed Sami in Baghdad, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Khazer, Iraq, and Vivian Salama in Washington contributed reporting.</s>An Iraq-led military operation to recapture the city of Mosul - ISIS' last stronghold in the country - is being live streamed on the internet.

War in the digital age entered a new era with footage from the battleground being beamed to viewers' computers or devices at work or homes around the world.

Iraqi government and Kurdish forces - backed by the US-led coalition in the air and on the ground - have launched a mass attack on the northern city, which has been under ISIS rule for more than two years.

The historic battle could be ISIS' last stand in Iraq and it could deliver a massive blow to the terror group, although hundreds of thousands of civilians are caught up in the bloody conflict.

Government troops are trying to free around a million residents, including hundreds of thousands of children, trapped by the 'brutality' of terrorists, the country's prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, said in a televised address.

He announced the start of a siege that is Iraq's toughest battle since American troops left nearly five years ago.

The UN refugee agency warned that up to 100,000 Iraqis may flee to Syria and Turkey as a result of the assault on Iraq's second-largest city.

Save the Children said people are already making a dangerous escape, with 5,000 people fleeing villages and crossing into Syria, where they are living in desperate conditions, in the past week.

Convoys of Iraqi, Kurdish and US forces were seen moving on the ISIS stronghold and US-led coalition strikes sent plumes of smoke into the air as the battle intensified.

In his televised address Mr al-Abadi, joined by military commanders, told viewers: "These forces that are liberating you today, they have one goal in Mosul, which is to get rid of Daesh and to secure your dignity.

"They are there for your sake. God willing, we shall win."

Iraqi troops, including elite special forces, have been gathering around Mosul for days in preparation of the assault.

They were joined by Kurdish forces, Sunni tribal fighters, federal police and Shiite militia forces.

With a lengthy battle expected aid groups have expressed concern for the city's residents, saying safe escape routes do not exist.

Aram Shakaram, Save the Children’s Deputy Country Director in Iraq, said: "Unless safe routes to escape the fighting are established, many families will have no choice but to stay and risk being killed by crossfire or bombardment, trapped beyond the reach of humanitarian aid with little food or medical care.

"Those that try to flee will be forced to navigate a city ringed with booby traps, snipers and hidden landmines.

"Without immediate action to ensure people can flee safely, we are likely to see bloodshed of civilians on a massive scale.”

Save the Children said military commanders have asked vulnerable families and children to stay inside and put white flags on their homes.

The organisation said: "At best this is impractical in a brutal urban conflict. At worst, it risks civilian buildings being turned into military positions and families being used as human shields. This is unacceptable."

Families have been preparing shelters in case of bombardment but cannot afford to buy water, food or basic medical supplies, said Save the Children.

Most are too scared to leave the city until the roads out are secured, and the organisation has called for safe routes to be immediately identified, maintained and cleared of deadly explosives.
• ISIS stronghold of Mosul 'will be turned into Stalingrad' and Allies will face months of bloody fighting

Shakaram added: "Vast sums of money have been spent on military planning, equipment and ordinance - but an investment in the safety of children must be the priority."

Those who do escape face an uncertain situation as UN refugee camps are only ready for around 60,000 people, he added.

The UN refugee agency has appealed to foreign leaders for an additional $61m to fund Mosul-related relief operations in Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

It said the funds will be used to provide additional tents and winter items, including heating stoves.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the country is ready for hundreds of thousands of refugees.

But he said Turkey does not expect an influx of refugees if the operation is conducted "correctly".</s>(CNN) The offensive to liberate Mosul from ISIS control has begun, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a televised statement early Monday.

"Our dearest people in Nineveh province, the victory bell has rung, and the operations to liberate Mosul have begun," he said. "I am announcing today the beginning of these heroic operations to liberate you from the brutality and terrorism of ISIS. God willing, we will meet soon on the ground of Mosul where we will all celebrate the liberation and your freedom."

The fight is expected to last weeks, if not months, and if the battles to wrest Falluja and Ramadi from ISIS' grip are indicators, Mosul will be a messy melee.

The assault's buildup has been ongoing for some time. US-led coalition and Iraqi forces have hammered ISIS targets with airstrikes for more than a year.

The Nineveh Liberation Operations Center, which was set up to coordinate the offensive, has brought in dozens of American and British advisers. A US artillery unit has provided cover for operations south of Mosul.

On ISIS' side of the fight, there have been reports of a growing network of tunnels leaving the city. The terrorist outfit has also allowed wounded fighters to leave Mosul and freed prisoners jailed for low-level offenses. The militants were also taking measures to combat the effectiveness of airstrikes.

Skirmishes flared outside Mosul in the days leading up to the battle, and Sunday brought several signs that the fight for Mosul was near, including an airstrike on one of the city's main bridges.

Not only did Abadi declare, "God willing, the decisive battle will begin soon," but leaflets proclaiming, "It's victory time," also rained over the city Sunday.

The 30,000-strong force tasked with recapturing the largest city under the terrorist group's control comprises many groups, with the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga making up the bulk.

"Godspeed to the heroic Iraqi forces, Kurdish #Peshmerga, and #Ninewa volunteers. We are proud to stand with you in this historic operation,' he wrote in a second tweet.

"There are no major objectives after that," Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said. "This is it. This is the last big holdout in Iraq for (ISIS)."

Before becoming the top prize in the Iraqi portion of the militant group's self-declared caliphate, Mosul was inhabited by more than 2 million people.

About 1 million residents remain today -- in the clutches of an organization known to use civilians as shields.

Camps are being set up to accommodate the refugees, who will need transport and basic necessities once the Iraqi security forces and Peshmerga screen them as they leave the city.

Others expect a quicker victory, with ISIS leaders retreating to the desert west of Mosul.

Bracing for the offensive, ISIS in recent days allowed wounded fighters in Mosul to move to Raqqa, Syria, the group's de facto capital, a source inside Mosul said.

ISIS also released some low-level prisoners, including those jailed for their beards, cigarettes or clothing, the source added.

A tunnel network large enough to accommodate motorbikes stretches from the outskirts of the city to the nearby village of Hamdania, according to the source.

US military officials estimate there are 3,500 to 5,000 ISIS fighters in Mosul. ISIS supporters put the number at 7,000.

Plumes of black smoke rose from oil-filled trenches on fire outside northeastern Mosul, an attempt by ISIS to obscure its fighters' positions during airstrikes, military sources said.

At checkpoints, ISIS fighters wore masks to disguise their identities in what is seen as a sign of decreasing confidence, as well as concerns about retaliation from Mosul residents.

There is concern among diplomats and Kurdish officials about plans for stabilizing and governing Mosul once ISIS is evicted, and according to US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a holding force of about 15,000 Sunni elements was being trained and equipped to secure the city once it's liberated.

The push to Mosul is being felt more than 200 miles south, in Baghdad, where ISIS has launched suicide attacks. At least 34 people were killed in a Saturday suicide bombing at a Shiite gathering in the capital, police sources said.

Kurdish forces have dug in to the east, north and west of Mosul, and Iraqi forces have been moving slowly from the south.

On Friday, Abadi visited oil-rich Kirkuk province, where he met with leaders ahead of the operation to liberate the ISIS-controlled city of Hawija, about 100 miles south of Mosul. It has been under ISIS control since 2014, and Iraqi security forces estimate about 1,200 ISIS fighters occupy the city and nearby villages.

Abadi inspected military units and spoke to security officials. He said he was preparing for a military operation to take back more cities from ISIS.

Having nearly cleared ISIS from Anbar and Salaheddin provinces, the retaking of Hawija would be a coup as it would lessen or eliminate the threat to Iraqi and Peshmerga forces who would have their backs to the city during the battle for Mosul.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announces the start of the Battle of Mosul, backed by the U.S.-led coalition, to retake ISIL-held Mosul, the self-declared caliphate's capital in Iraq.