UPDATE - Battle to oust Daesh from Iraq’s Mosul gathers pace

ADDS WHITE HOUSE COMMENTS

By Arif Yusuf and Jamal al-Badrani

NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) – The battle to free Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul gathered pace on Monday as Peshmerga forces loyal to northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region and Baghdad-controlled Iraqi army forces pounded Daesh positions from the east and west.

Peshmerga forces now stand just 7 kilometers (4 miles) east of Mosul, while Iraqi army forces have started penetrating the Al-Kuwer area southeast of the city, military sources told Anadolu Agency Monday.

The latest developments come within the context of a broad Iraqi army operation -- which kicked off early Monday -- to clear the beleaguered city of members of the Daesh terrorist group.

Peshmerga forces, which are now deployed along the Al-Kazir axis east of Mosul, began their advance dawn Monday, capturing eight villages on the city’s outskirts, according to Mustafa Sarhank, a Peshmerga major.

"The advance is continuing; we are now near the intersection of the Al-Hamdaniya district some seven kilometers east of Mosul," Sarhank told Anadolu Agency.

The captured villages are located along the road linking the cities of Mosul and Erbil, Sarhank said, adding that Daesh militants had torched several oil wells in Al-Hamdaniya as they retreated before the onslaught.

An international anti-Daesh air coalition led by the U.S., he added, had continued to strike Daesh positions along the Al-Khazir axis.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi army’s Ninth Armored Division has penetrated the Al-Kuwer area from two axes amid ongoing clashes with Daesh militants, Yassin al-Nuaimi, a first lieutenant in the division, said.

He went on to predict that the operation to retake Al-Kuwer would take "some time", noting that terrorist elements had mined and booby-trapped roads, buildings and sites in the area while deploying snipers in strategic parts of the city’s outskirts.

Al-Nuaimi also pointed out that, as of 1 p.m. (1000 GMT), U.S.-led coalition warplanes had not participated in the operation to capture Al-Kuwer.

In some of the first reports of casualties, five Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed by a suicide car-bomb -- and ten others injured -- east of Mosul, a Peshmerga officer told Anadolu Agency.

The source, who spoke anonymously due to restrictions on talking to media, said the son of the vice-president of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government had been among those injured.

Meanwhile, four Iraqi soldiers were killed while fighting Daesh south of Mosul, according to an Iraqi military source, who said advancing troops were encountering fierce resistance by the terrorist group.

A senior U.S. general on Monday also said the battle “will likely continue for weeks, possibly longer”.

"We can’t predict how long it will take for the Iraqi security forces to defeat Daesh in Mosul; but we know they will succeed, just as they did in Bayji, in Ramadi, in Fallujah and, more recently in Qayyarah and Sharqat," anti-Daesh coalition commanding Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said in a pre-recorded video message.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that the heavily-anticipated offensive began midnight Sunday.

The U.S.-led coalition is supporting Iraqi forces with "air support, artillery, intelligence, advisers and forward air controllers," according to Townsend. "This may prove to be a long and tough battle, but the Iraqis have prepared for it and we will stand by them," he said.

The offensive is likely to be complicated by Daesh’s use of “deeply unethical and dangerous tactics to try to hold on to that city,” the White House said.

“This is an important operation, but one that we anticipate is going to take some time given how significant the city is both strategically and symbolically, how large the city is, and how long ISIL has had to dig in and fortify their defenses in that city,” spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

He stressed that the U.S. is mindful of ensuring that the operation is “consistent with the need to look out for basic universal human rights and to ensure that these operations are not being used as a cover to carry out retribution against other religious groups”.

Early Monday, Abadi announced the launch of a much-anticipated army operation to "liberate" Mosul from Daesh, which overran the northern city -- along with many other parts of Iraq -- over two years ago.

In a statement, the Kurdish regional government’s Peshmerga Ministry announced that at roughly 6:00 a.m. Monday, a "large-scale, coordinated operation was launched by Peshmerga forces in Al-Khazir east of Mosul while Iraqi security forces mobilized from Al-Kuwer and Al-Qayyarah south of Mosul".

The twin moves, the statement added, constituted "a first step toward clearing Nineveh province [of which Mosul is the regional capital] of Daesh terrorists".

Along with Iraqi army and federal police personnel, Peshmerga forces, the Hashd al-Shaabi (pro-government Shia militiamen), the Hashd al-Watani (mainly Sunni pro-government militiamen), and the U.S.-led coalition are taking part in the campaign.

In mid-2014, Daesh captured Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, before overrunning vast swathes of territory in the country’s north and west.

Recent months have seen the Iraqi army, backed by local allies on the ground and the U.S.-led air coalition, retake much 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 "liberate" by year’s end.

*Anadolu Agency Washington correspondent Michael Hernandez contributed to this report from Washington