• Thousands of peshmerga forces advanced on ISIL-held villages east of Mosul as part of a broad operation to retake the city. Safin Hamed / AFP
    Thousands of peshmerga forces advanced on ISIL-held villages east of Mosul as part of a broad operation to retake the city. Safin Hamed / AFP
  • Kurdish fighters aiming their weapons near the town of Bashiqa, the frontline of fighting between Kurdish forces and militants from ISIL, 150 kilometres northeast of Erbil, Iraq. Ahmed Jalil / EPA
    Kurdish fighters aiming their weapons near the town of Bashiqa, the frontline of fighting between Kurdish forces and militants from ISIL, 150 kilometres northeast of Erbil, Iraq. Ahmed Jalil / EPA
  • Prime minister Haider Al Abadi announced on Monday that the long-awaited operation to recapture Mosul was in progress. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
    Prime minister Haider Al Abadi announced on Monday that the long-awaited operation to recapture Mosul was in progress. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
  • Iraqi forces deploy in the area of Al Shourah. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
    Iraqi forces deploy in the area of Al Shourah. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
  • Mosul fell to ISIL fighters two years ago as they marched through Iraq and Syria, where the civil war left a power vacuum that was easily exploited. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
    Mosul fell to ISIL fighters two years ago as they marched through Iraq and Syria, where the civil war left a power vacuum that was easily exploited. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
  • The push to retake Mosul will be the biggest military operation in Iraq since American troops left in 2011. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
    The push to retake Mosul will be the biggest military operation in Iraq since American troops left in 2011. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
  • Smoke rises from clashes in the east of Mosul during clashes with ISIL militants. Azad Lashkari / Reuters
    Smoke rises from clashes in the east of Mosul during clashes with ISIL militants. Azad Lashkari / Reuters
  • Recapturing Mosul would shatter ISIL’s claim to be running a ‘caliphate’ and would all but end its presence in Iraq as a landholding force. Azad Lashkari / Reuters
    Recapturing Mosul would shatter ISIL’s claim to be running a ‘caliphate’ and would all but end its presence in Iraq as a landholding force. Azad Lashkari / Reuters
  • Up to 1.5 million civilians remain in the city, the United Nations said, voicing fears the vastly outnumbered Islamists could use them as human shields as they seek to repel the assault on its last major stronghold in the country. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
    Up to 1.5 million civilians remain in the city, the United Nations said, voicing fears the vastly outnumbered Islamists could use them as human shields as they seek to repel the assault on its last major stronghold in the country. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
  • ‘Tens of thousands of Iraqi girls, boys, women and men may be under siege or held as human shields,’ warned UN deputy secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief Stephen O’Brien. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
    ‘Tens of thousands of Iraqi girls, boys, women and men may be under siege or held as human shields,’ warned UN deputy secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief Stephen O’Brien. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
  • Mosul fell to ISIL fighters two years ago as they marched through Iraq and Syria, where the civil war left a power vacuum that they easily exploited. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP
    Mosul fell to ISIL fighters two years ago as they marched through Iraq and Syria, where the civil war left a power vacuum that they easily exploited. Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP

World

Iraqi forces advance on Mosul as battle against ISIL begins - in pictures

Rob Gurdebeke

October 17, 2016

  • English
  • Arabic

Iraqi government and Kurdish forces, backed by US-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 ISIL fighters got under way.

ArmyIraqISISMosul