Iraqi forces hold a position on October 17, 2016 in the area of al-Shurah, some 45 kms south of Mosul.
Progress
was swift on the first day of the operation, as coalition forces
advanced on the oil-rich northern city, retaking more than 75 square
miles of territory and wresting nine villages from ISIS control.
Forces
east of Mosul also secured control over a significant stretch of the
Erbil-Mosul road, a key strategic route, the General Command of
Peshmerga Forces of Kurdistan Region said, while Iraq's military
declared that it had inflicted "heavy losses of life and equipment" on
ISIS to the southeast.
Pentagon
spokesman Peter Cook said Monday that Iraqi forces had "met their
objectives" so far and were "ahead of schedule," while US Central
Command spokesman Col. John Dorrian said: "The noose is tightening on
Mosul."
Iraqi forces hold a position on October 17, 2016 in the area of al-Shurah, some 45 kms south of Mosul.
Progress
was swift on the first day of the operation, as coalition forces
advanced on the oil-rich northern city, retaking more than 75 square
miles of territory and wresting nine villages from ISIS control.
For now, the fighting has been
restricted to the villages on the city's outskirts. But the going is
expected to be tougher once the coalition reaches Mosul's urban center,
where ISIS fighters will await them with suicide bombs, car bombs and
booby traps.
The 94,000-member
Iraqi-led coalition greatly outnumbers its opponents and includes air
support from roughly 90 coalition and Iraqi planes, although not all
will be directly involved in the assault on the city.
But
ISIS, which has been on the back foot in Iraq and some parts of Syria
in recent times, has constructed elaborate defenses, including a network
of tunnels, in the city. Up to 5,000 ISIS fighters are in Mosul,
according to an estimate from US military official, however the terror
group's supporters put the number at 7,000.
Forces
east of Mosul also secured control over a significant stretch of the
Erbil-Mosul road, a key strategic route, the General Command of
Peshmerga Forces of Kurdistan Region said, while Iraq's military
declared that it had inflicted "heavy losses of life and equipment" on
ISIS to the southeast.
Pentagon
spokesman Peter Cook said Monday that Iraqi forces had "met their
objectives" so far and were "ahead of schedule," while US Central
Command spokesman Col. John Dorrian said: "The noose is tightening on
Mosul."
Iraqi forces hold a position on October 17, 2016 in the area of al-Shurah, some 45 kms south of Mosul.
Progress
was swift on the first day of the operation, as coalition forces
advanced on the oil-rich northern city, retaking more than 75 square
miles of territory and wresting nine villages from ISIS control.
For now, the fighting has been
restricted to the villages on the city's outskirts. But the going is
expected to be tougher once the coalition reaches Mosul's urban center,
where ISIS fighters will await them with suicide bombs, car bombs and
booby traps.
The 94,000-member
Iraqi-led coalition greatly outnumbers its opponents and includes air
support from roughly 90 coalition and Iraqi planes, although not all
will be directly involved in the assault on the city.
But
ISIS, which has been on the back foot in Iraq and some parts of Syria
in recent times, has constructed elaborate defenses, including a network
of tunnels, in the city. Up to 5,000 ISIS fighters are in Mosul,
according to an estimate from US military official, however the terror
group's supporters put the number at 7,000.
Forces
east of Mosul also secured control over a significant stretch of the
Erbil-Mosul road, a key strategic route, the General Command of
Peshmerga Forces of Kurdistan Region said, while Iraq's military
declared that it had inflicted "heavy losses of life and equipment" on
ISIS to the southeast.
Pentagon
spokesman Peter Cook said Monday that Iraqi forces had "met their
objectives" so far and were "ahead of schedule," while US Central
Command spokesman Col. John Dorrian said: "The noose is tightening on
Mosul."
The largest city under ISIS control in
Iraq and Syria, it was the city from which the group first declared the
establishment of its so-called caliphate.
Since
then, ISIS has gradually lost its other Iraqi cities -- Ramadi, Tikrit
and Falluja -- to government forces, with the government's eye
ultimately on recapturing the country's second city of Mosul, once a
cosmopolitan trade hub of two million residents. Today, about one
million are estimated to remain.
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