Liberating Mosul from Daesh concerns Turkey: Deputy PM

ANKARA (AA) – The ongoing international campaign to liberate Iraq's second-largest city from Daesh "directly concerns Turkey," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Tuesday.

"No matter have you look at it, Mosul's today directly concerns Turkey. Our military presence in there concerns us directly." Kurtulmus said during a live interview on state-owned TRT Haber news channel.

A broad military campaign aimed at retaking Mosul entered its second day Tuesday with more losses sustained by the Daesh terrorist group.

Kurtulmus said there was nothing incompatible with Turkey's core policies about the campaign, referring to the Hashd al-Shaabi, an umbrella group of pro-government Shia militias, and the PYD terrorist group's possible participation in the Mosul campaign.

"We hope they will not," he said.

Meanwhile, an area of 352 square kilometers (220 square miles) in southern Mosul was seized from Daesh, according to Iraqi police sources.

Turkey's defense minister on Tuesday confirmed the country’s air force would join the Mosul operation.

In mid-2014, Daesh captured Mosul before overrunning large swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.

Recent months have seen the Iraqi army, backed by local allies on the ground and a U.S.-led air coalition, retake much of the territory.

Nevertheless, the terrorist group remains in control of several parts of the country, including Mosul.

In recent weeks, the army and its allies have staged a gradual advance on the city, which officials in Baghdad have vowed to recapture by year’s end.