Iraqi forces have launched a campaign to retake Mosul, the self-declared capital of Daesh, the prime minister said Monday in what the U.S hailed as a "decisive moment" in the battle to crush the jihadist group.
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.
"Today I declare the start of these victorious operations to free you from the violence and terrorism of Daesh," Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a televised address.
Mosul fell to Daesh fighters two years ago as they marched through Iraq and Syria, where the civil war left a power vacuum that they easily exploited.
Its recapture would shatter the group's claim to be running a "caliphate" and would all but end its presence in Iraq as a land-holding force.
That claim received another body blow on Sunday when Syrian rebels retook the town of Dabiq from the group.
The anti-Daesh alliance -- including the U.S-led coalition, Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi government forces -- has recently been tightening the noose around Mosul, and the assault has long been predicted.
But they will have to fight their way through Daesh defences to reach the city. Some groups are still dozens of kilometres from Mosul.
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